Finance Friday with Steven, Jill & Justin (LA 918)

Transcript:

Steven Butala:                   Steven and Jill here, with guest Justin Sliva. Welcome to the Land Academy Show, entertaining land investment talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala.

Jill DeWit:                            And I'm Jill DeWit broadcasting from sunny Southern California.

Steven Butala:                   Today Jill and I talk with guest Justin Sliva about transactions that we're doing this week, and it actually happens every Friday now.

Jill DeWit:                            Exactly.

Justin Sliva:                         Yeah.

Steven Butala:                   Before we get into it, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the LandInvestors.com online community. It's free.

Jill DeWit:                            Abby asks, "Hi guys, I stumbled upon a 0.34 acre parcel in Santa Cruz County, California in a desirable location, but it's not buildable. There's no sewer line, and the county won't allow a septic permit unless the lot is at least one acre. Should I buy it? It does seem like I'm getting it a reasonable below market price." What?

Steven Butala:                   This is something that happens every single day to all of us.

Justin Sliva:                         Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jill DeWit:                            Yes.

Steven Butala:                   You know, you've got to make that decision. Man, it's cheap but it's not really usable. I don't know, what do you think, Justin? What do you do here?

Justin Sliva:                         The question is, what are going to do with it?

Jill DeWit:                            Exactly.

Justin Sliva:                         Yeah, it's an infill lot that you need to build something on to create the value for the next person. For me, I call it a pass. What can I do? It's pretty, it's in this great location, it looks great, it's got great views, but I can't really do anything with it.

Jill DeWit:                            Exactly.

Justin Sliva:                         So that's the bad thing about it.

Steven Butala:                   10 years ago, I would have said all that to the seller and said, "But I will take it off your hands for $100.00 because I know you're tired of paying the taxes," and sold it on eBay.

Jill DeWit:                            Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Justin Sliva:                         Yep.

Steven Butala:                   For $1,000.00.

Justin Sliva:                         Yep.

Steven Butala:                   We don't do that kind of stuff anymore.

Jill DeWit:                            Exactly, now it's too small.

Justin Sliva:                         That's a great way, the mantra, "Always be closing," and that's that idea right there. "Hey you're closing," they go, "Hey, this is why I don't want it." I'll give you a couple of hundred bucks and make [crosstalk]-

Jill DeWit:                            If you want to get rid of it.

Justin Sliva:                         Yeah.

Steven Butala:                   Every time we [inaudible], but we don't do that anymore. Every time we did that, I regretted it.

Jill DeWit:                            Yes.

Justin Sliva:                         Really?

Steven Butala:                   I mean, making $900.00.

Jill DeWit:                            Do you know why? You had passed it to me-

Steven Butala:                   Yeah.

Justin Sliva:                         Yeah.

Jill DeWit:                            [crosstalk] in my lap and then I'm like, "Oh man, I'd rather be spending my time on a bigger deal."

Steven Butala:                   What I really regret is giving it to Jill.

Jill DeWit:                            [crosstalk] oh, thank you.

Justin Sliva:                         Yeah.

Jill DeWit:                            Like, "What are you working on?" "A stupid $100.00 transaction. Thanks a lot."

Justin Sliva:                         Those aren't too bad. I've got a bunch of those going right now we've got automated.