Jill Friday - How We Failed at Hiring (LA 1518)

Transcript:

Steven Butala:

Steve and Jill here.

Jill DeWit:

Happy Friday.

Steven Butala:

Welcome to the Land Academy Show, entertaining land investment talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala.

Jill DeWit:

And I'm Jill DeWit, broadcasting from pretty Paradise Valley, Arizona.

Steven Butala:

Today is Jill Friday. She's going to talk about how we failed at hiring, and bring it home this week. 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. And if you're already a member, please join us on Discord. This question is two parts.

Jill DeWit:

I see that. There's different dates, so this us going to be good.

Steven Butala:

So this is Austin asking a question on May 4th, and we'll read the question.

Jill DeWit:

Uh-huh (affirmative).

Steven Butala:

And then a million people in our group and outside of our group respond.

Jill DeWit:

As a follow-up.

Steven Butala:

Two or three weeks later, he gives us his decision.

Jill DeWit:

Okay, good. Okay. So this is Austin on May 4th. "Hello. I'm writing this in response to podcast number 1479 about recovering landlords." This is good. "I've owned a duplex for about 10 years. Cashflow is about $600 a month, depending on expenses. If I was to sell it right now, I could gross approximately $220,000 after paying off the underlying mortgage." I remember this, by the way.

Steven Butala:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jill DeWit:

"The real estate fees and other taxes would still need to be subtracted. I'm not sure what this looks like tax wise, until I have a chat with my accountant. Would you guys hang on to this asset and let rents and equity just go up? Or would you sell it and take this money and apply it to property acquisitions? I could also do a cash out refinance as well. Thoughts? Thanks, Austin." And a lot of people wrote in on it. I think I wrote in on this too, if I remember correctly, and I know what I said.

Steven Butala:

Jill and I said sell it.

Jill DeWit:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Steven Butala:

The vast majority, if not every single response, and there were tons of them, said to keep it.

Jill DeWit:

Really?

Steven Butala:

Yep.

Jill DeWit:

Okay, so this is good. So here's the follow-up.

Steven Butala:

Bear in mind, it's cash flowing $600 a month.

Jill DeWit:

$600 a month. Not counting the headaches.

Steven Butala:

That doesn't pay our utility bill.

Jill DeWit:

And the alcohol that he needs to consume for the headaches that go with this. I would spend that $600 easy. Okay, so Austin wrote back on May 21st. "Hello. So my question made the podcast." Yeah, it did Austin. Yeah, episode 1501. And now you're back too. I don't know what episode we're on today, but anyway. "I would have responded sooner except I was out of town doing important rural land research." Good for him. "I was comparing different areas and how affluent the flavor of wine and how they influence." Excuse me, affluent. "I was comparing different areas and how they influence the flavor of wine and charcuterie plates." That's my kind of research.

Steven Butala:

This is the same type of land research we do.

Jill DeWit:

That's exactly what we do. "After listening to the podcast, I'm leaning towards selling, but for a slightly different reason than it being an underperforming asset. Allow me to go on a tangent for a moment. I work for a small company and my employer is retiring at the end of the year. My current company will shut down. I will have a similar W2 job tentatively lined up. I don't find my current work very interesting."

Steven Butala:

Amen to that.

Jill DeWit:

"While I was on vacation, a land buyer contacted me and I set up most of the transaction from my camp site. For the next couple of days, I rode around on a deal high. Many of you out there who have done deals already should know what I'm talking about. Doing land deals is much more interesting and fun than many W2 situations.