Transcript:

Steven Butala:                   Steve and Jill here.

Jill DeWit:                            Hello.

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

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

Steven Butala:                   Today, Jill and I talk about up-and-coming area in a real estate listing really means ghetto.

Up and Coming Area means Ghetto (LA 847)

Transcript:

Steven Butala:                   Steve and Jill here.

Jill DeWit:                            Hello.

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

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

Steven Butala:                   Today, Jill and I talk about up-and-coming area in a real estate listing really means ghetto. All week. All week to this week, we're talking about infuriating real estate cliches.

Jill DeWit:                            The things you think of. The crap Jack says. Remember that?

Steven Butala:                   It's up-and-coming area.

Jill DeWit:                            I bet some of our listeners right now remember that. That was a whole thing for a while.

Steven Butala:                   Yeah, the crap Jack says.

Jill DeWit:                            I think there was even a thread. I think there was a thread. It might still be there. I'm sure it's still there in our online community about the crap Jack says. That was fun.

Steven Butala:                   All these cliches are used to describe real estate, and they're basically apologies in advance for something that's wrong with the property.

Jill DeWit:                            That's true.

Steven Butala:                   All last week we talked about cliches that actually are meaningful like location, location, location. That's not so bad. But in an up-and-coming area just means that it's in a bad neighborhood.

Jill DeWit:                            Exactly. There's something else going on. Thank you.

Steven Butala:                   Before we get into it though, let's take a question. That was actually the whole show. We're going to talk about statistics later about housing markets and why they're good or bad for what we do.

Jill DeWit:                            Okay.

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. As you're listening to us, please drop your questions into the comment section below.

Jill DeWit:                            Ivan asked, "I have a deal I'm working on, and when I do my due diligence, I found a judgment against the owner of the property I'm looking at buying. The plaintiff in the judgment is a state of Texas if that matters."

Steven Butala:                   It doesn't.

Jill DeWit:                            "I had a title report run for the property and for further confirmation, and they identified this abstracted judgment under personal liens which may affect title. There are no outstanding real property liens that were identified. Can the owner legally sell me the property? This is seven-figure judgment. If I can even buy- "

Steven Butala:                   Jeez.

Jill DeWit:                            ... "the property, I would go through a title company at this point. I appreciate the guidance on this deal."

Steven Butala:                   Okay, so what a judgment is in case you don't know is there's a lawsuit, and he lost. In this case, people lose lawsuits and there's a judgment. Whether it's civil or criminal, they get ... You know, you've seen lawsuits a million times even on TV where you do something wrong, somebody sues you, and you owe them money. But in this case, seven figures. He owes the state of Texas seven figures for whatever he did, and they can put a lien on everything you own, personally, corporate-wise and everything. It can destroy your life,

Transcript:

Steven Butala:                   Steve and Jill here.

Jill DeWit:                            Hello.

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 sunny, southern California.

Steven Butala:                   Today, Jill and I talk about north, south exposure. What it really means is there's just no other attribute.

North South Exposure means No Other Attribute (LA 846)

Transcript:

Steven Butala:                   Steve and Jill here.

Jill DeWit:                            Hello.

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 sunny, southern California.

Steven Butala:                   Today, Jill and I talk about north, south exposure. What it really means is there's just no other attribute. All this week, our infuriating real estate cliches that female real estate agents come up with-

Jill DeWit:                            How about just real estate agents?

Steven Butala:                   Okay. Well, real estate agents come up with because they think that the real estate industry and the business itself is cute.

Jill DeWit:                            Thank you.

Steven Butala:                   Before we get into it, let's take a question posted by one of the members, one of our members on the Landinvestors.com online community. It's free and as you're listening, please drop your questions into the comments section below.

Jill DeWit:                            Josh asked, "I apologize if this was addressed, but on one of the podcast episodes, the discussion was setting up your website to take credit cards and makes sales very simple. Is there a simple solution to setting up a site like this specifically for selling land?"

Steven Butala:                   There sure is.

Jill DeWit:                            There sure is. Go for it.

Steven Butala:                   If you got to Landinvestors.com and you scroll down on the right side of the homepage, you'll see accept credit cards now or something like that.

Jill DeWit:                            It says Jill Pay.

Steven Butala:                   It does, yeah. And we should change that.

Jill DeWit:                            Yeah.

Steven Butala:                   We spent almost a year negotiating with Heartland Payment Systems to accept our product type in the credit card processing part of buying and selling land on the internet and they finally did.

Jill DeWit:                            Whether it's payments, by the way.

Steven Butala:                   Whether it's a down payment, yeah.

Jill DeWit:                            Cash prize, maybe even ongoing. This is a beautiful thing hats nice that people don't realize, too, that you can use Heartland to have automatic payroll or automatic deductions from a debit card or however you wanna do it. Even I think an ACH, I think it does it all.

Steven Butala:                   Right.

Jill DeWit:                            But all through Heartland so you can set up just automated. So if you do have a terms property, terms are cash. They'll handle it all. It's great.

Steven Butala:                   Exactly. It's a must. If you're buying and seeling land ... the whole point to this, the business model is this, buy super cheap rural vacant land and post it on your website for sale so that you can check out with a credit card. And then, advertise it everywhere like on Land and Farm. Land Watch, all the other places on the internet to drive traffic to the website so they check on it.

Jill DeWit:                            Exactly.

Steven Butala:                   Check it on your site.

Jill DeWit:                            On social media, bring it up.

Steven Butala:                   If you need examples or if you'd like examples, look at Landcentral.com, Landcentury.com.

Transcript:

Steven Butala:                   Steve and Jill here.

Jill DeWit:                            Hello.

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

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

Steven Butala:                   Today, Jill and I talk about handyman special, means bulldozer needed.

Handy Mans Special means Bulldozer Needed (LA 845)

Transcript:

Steven Butala:                   Steve and Jill here.

Jill DeWit:                            Hello.

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

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

Steven Butala:                   Today, Jill and I talk about handyman special, means bulldozer needed. All this week, we talk about annoying real estate agent driven cliches.

Jill DeWit:                            This week is all about debunking ... What's the right term for that? Debunking-

Steven Butala:                   Well, what it says in the script is infuriating.

Jill DeWit:                            Ah.

Steven Butala:                   Infuriating real estate cliches because they all mean that something's wrong with the property.

Jill DeWit:                            I get it.

Steven Butala:                   Before we get into it though, let's take a question posted by one of our members, on the landinvestors.com online community. It's free and as you're listening, please drop your questions into the comment section below.

Jill DeWit:                            Milan asks "Title companies are driving me crazy with their long close." (laughs) Speaking to the choir.

Steven Butala:                   Wow. Jill's got a lot to say about this.

Jill DeWit:                            Boy, do I. (laughs) "Few properties I'm buying through a couple of title companies are now in one month wait and counting.

Steven Butala:                   Yeah.

Jill DeWit:                            "And still, nothing is happening. When you contact them, they're polite and they say 'Gosh, we're still waiting for the title report. Grrrr,'" he wrote in. "My question for you guys is, what is your strategy to make sure the seller doesn't change his mind in this never-ending wait? I know, I know, they signed the purchase agreement, but I believe they can back-off from the deal anytime they want if they want to."

Steven Butala:                   Yeah, that's true.

Jill DeWit:                            "I'm thinking about sending a check for 300 dollars or so to keep them committed, what do you guys do?" I don't do that. I don't do anything-

Steven Butala:                   It's not a bad idea. I've done things like that in the past.

Jill DeWit:                            I would just include it in part of the purchase sale, like say, send them a thousand dollars non-refundable deposit so they know you're in and committed, and they have money in it and they're not allowed to walk, because they have money now.

Steven Butala:                   Right

Jill DeWit:                            Already in place, so that would be a good way to start it out. If it keeps happening to you and you're worried about it.

Steven Butala:                   That's actually the key, the whole key is, I think, maintaining conversation with the seller. Just saying, "hey can you believe this is taking this long? These idiots to get this deal done".

Jill DeWit:                            That's exactly.

Steven Butala:                   And if you can laugh together about it then you're gonna be fine.

Jill DeWit:                            That's what we do.

Steven Butala:                   But making a positive out of a negative here, it's giving you some extra time to get your ducks in a row to sell the property.

Jill DeWit:                            That's true...

Transcript:

Steven Butala:                   Steve and Jill here.

Jill DeWit:                            Hello.

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 sunny southern California.

Steven Butala:                   Today Jill and I talk about if it's priced to sell it means you're too late, all week this week is infuriating cliches

Priced to Sell means You're too Late (LA 844)

Transcript:

Steven Butala:                   Steve and Jill here.

Jill DeWit:                            Hello.

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 sunny southern California.

Steven Butala:                   Today Jill and I talk about if it's priced to sell it means you're too late, all week this week is infuriating cliches, mostly that real estate agents made up, probably mostly female real estate agents, but we'll get to that in a second.

Jill DeWit:                            Why would you say that?

Steven Butala:                   We'll get to that in a second.

Jill DeWit:                            Thanks a lot. Hello ... I ... I have a lot to say about that. Oh my gosh, I wonder what the number is, you know, I'd like to know the national average of female to male ...

Steven Butala:                   Yeah, during the middle of the show I'll Google it and find out.

Jill DeWit:                            Okay, that'd be cool.

Steven Butala:                   Before we get into it let's take an investment ... lets take a question posted by one of our members on the Landinvestors.com online community. It's free and as your listening to us, please drop your questions into the comment section below.

Jill DeWit:                            Greg asks hi, I tried researching an area in Zillow but the numbers don't seem to make sense at all, why are there similar properties priced so differently? I love this.

Steven Butala:                   Okay, this is a really really good question, it's extremely simple, here's the deal. The only real pricing that matters on this planet is the assessors data, the assessors completed sales.

Jill DeWit:                            For houses.

Steven Butala:                   For everything.

Jill DeWit:                            For everything, but we don't have a ... excuse me, I'm stepping on your toes.

Steven Butala:                   Oh my gosh, I have ... pricing happens to be one of the things I'm actually good at and interested in.

Jill DeWit:                            Wow.

Steven Butala:                   Of all the stuff that goes on in these crazy cockamamie companies that we have, pricing and data really matters and it's something I actually enjoy. It's the only thing I actually enjoy at this minute.

Jill DeWit:                            I will be quietly over here in the corner and I will face away, you want me to stand with my nose in the corner until you tell me it's okay to come back.

Steven Butala:                   You're going to get your turn, all right.

Jill DeWit:                            Yikes, whoa, sorry.

Steven Butala:                   The problem with assessor data is we don't have access to it, not everybody has access to it and since the internet, the MLS is completely online, so we have to settle for the MLS, that said. There's assessor data, number one, MLS data, number two, and then there's everything else, and Zillow, Land Watch, Land and Farm is all driven by people who input stuff and people are ding-dongs, and so you get ding-dong data. That's the name of a show.

Jill DeWit:                            It is. Well ...

Steven Butala:                   So is Zillow, specifically, is truly ... Zillow and Trulia and truly ridiculous, I wouldn't use them to price anything at all ever.

Jill DeWit:                            You know what I see them as,

Transcript:

Steven Butala:                   ... here.

Jill DeWit:                            Hello.

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 sunny Southern California.

Steven Butala:                   Today, Jill and I talk about days on market, DOM, and how it's a great equalizer.

Days on Market is the Great Equalizer (LA 843)

Transcript:

Steven Butala:                   ... here.

Jill DeWit:                            Hello.

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 sunny Southern California.

Steven Butala:                   Today, Jill and I talk about days on market, DOM, and how it's a great equalizer.

Jill DeWit:                            Days on Market. The great equalizer. That is a new cliché invented by ...

Steven Butala:                   By me.

Jill DeWit:                            Exactly. I-

Steven Butala:                   Because that market's so important.

Jill DeWit:                            Love it.

Steven Butala:                   It's so incredibly important, and we'll talk about ... Man, if there's one thing that you should really understand about infill lots and eventually wholesaling houses, it's looking at days on market, but why stop there? That's what I say.

Jill DeWit:                            Totally agree.

Steven Butala:                   Before we get into it, though, let's first take a question posted by one of our members on the Landinvestor's.com online community. It's free, and as you listen to us, please drop in your questions in the comments section below.

Jill DeWit:                            Walden asks, "Hey, guys, my first year of land investing is coming to a close, and I have no clue about taxes. I have $6,000 in cash and $40,000 in terms so far ..." Not bad.

Steven Butala:                   Yeah.

Jill DeWit:                            "No idea how to calculate profit and loss for land contracts, and I have no idea about the tax advantages I can utilize for real estate. Any suggestions would be great."

Steven Butala:                   Here's my suggestion and for the rest of your life this applies. Don't do your own taxes. Do not take this to someplace like H&R Block. Find yourself a good ... you should only ever go to an accountant in my opinion, and a lawyer, by the way, on the advice of somebody else who's already gone through six or seven or ten lawyers or accountants in the market wherever you are. Understands that this person is ... they get it. This is not child's play from a tax standpoint. You don't want to get behind the eight-ball. You want to make sure you're doing this stuff right. Because if you do it wrong, you're going to pay forever, and if you get an overzealous accountant, they're going to make you overpay. It's impossible, respectfully, for me to answer in giving two sentences of information on the tax implications and what's going on with you.

Jill DeWit:                            This person, I already forgot the first name-

Steven Butala:                   Walden.

Jill DeWit:                            Walden? Thank you. Walden, you did exactly the right thing, by the way. Walden put this in the our online community, and I'm willing to bet that right now there's probably 10 replies in there with 10 people that have good accountants that have already helped them out and already figured all this out, and for the record, that is one of the other real big benefits to being in a community like this. You're not walking around reinventing the wheel every day. This is a big deal. You have a question like this, where else can you go? Imagine normal business world, there's nowhere I can turn and say, "Hey, everybody who owns a restaurant …" I don't think it exists.

Jill DeWit:                            There should be an online restaurant community,