Start with a Budget (LA 795)

Transcript:

Steven Butala:                   Steven 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, like my shirt, yellow, sunny southern California.

Steven Butala:                   Today Jill and I talk about starting with the budget. It is imperative that you start all this stuff staring at a blank, blinking excel spreadsheet.

Jill DeWit:                            I have a funny story.

Steven Butala:                   I can't express it enough. Should you tell it now?

Jill DeWit:                            Yes.

Steven Butala:                   All right.

Jill DeWit:                            I have a funny story real quick about a budget. My mom let my dad handle the budget for a brief time during their marriage. It was the funniest thing.

Steven Butala:                   Oh, no.

Jill DeWit:                            Yeah, it was only a short time that he did this, because here's dad's way of doing the budget. When the money came in every month, all the fun stuff happened. Trips got planned. We bought things. We had all this stuff, and then at the end of the month dad would sit down and try to pay the pills with what was leftover. As you can imagine, it was a disaster. It was a disaster.

So, she took that away, and the other thing she took away, which was actually kind of funny, though-

Steven Butala:                   She took it away.

Jill DeWit:                            She took it away.

Steven Butala:                   Like your mom.

Jill DeWit:                            She's awesome.

Steven Butala:                   Not your mom, but like a mother.

Jill DeWit:                            So this, by the way, this is important because I had to learn this whole budget thing, because I am way more like my dad than I am like my mom, and so that's the way I want to do it, too. I'm like, "Well, I got the money now. I can afford it." It's like, "Hold on a moment. We gotta take care of important stuff, too."

So, the other thing I have to say, 'cause this is funny, this is important, was grocery shopping. I loved grocery shopping with my dad. We bought Ding Dongs. We bought root beer. We bought popcorn. There were no fruit and vegetables, no way. All the good stuff. So, my mom took that away from dad too.

Steven Butala:                   Hold on a second.

Jill DeWit:                            Those of you, you know, I wonder if anybody knows what a Ding Dong is now. I mean, our kids don't eat Ding Dongs.

Steven Butala:                   Of course, they're Ho Hos or whatever.

Jill DeWit:                            Dad loved Ding Dongs.

Steven Butala:                   They're donuts. They're worse for you, not fresh donuts.

Jill DeWit:                            It was brown, wrapped in foil, in a box. Ding Dongs rock.

Steven Butala:                   I'm sure that your dad, somewhere in the back of his head, was like, "I'm gonna to screw this up good, so I don't have to do it anymore."

Jill DeWit:                            I have wondered that later on. I thought, Oh yeah, I'll do the grocery store shopping. Then she won't ever ask me again. [crosstalk 00:02:30]. It's like, I'll do the dishwasher, and no one will know where anything is, and half of them are broken.

Steven Butala:                   Crash this train,

Buying Your Way Out of Cash Crunch (LA 794)

Transcript:

Steven Butala:                   Steve and Jill here-

Jill DeWit:                            Jill and Steve here-

Steven Butala:                   Oh, I started going ahead. Go ahead, go ahead.

Jill DeWit:                            Jill and Steve here.

Steven Butala:                   Hi.

Jill DeWit:                            Welcome to the Land Academy Show, entertaining land investment talk. I am Jill DeWit.

Steven Butala:                   I'm Steven Jack Butala from sunny Southern California. Today, Jill and I are changing our roles.

Jill DeWit:                            Today, Steven and I talk about buying your way out of a cash crunch.

Buying Your Way Out of Cash Crunch (LA 794)

Transcript:

Steven Butala:                   Steve and Jill here-

Jill DeWit:                            Jill and Steve here-

Steven Butala:                   Oh, I started going ahead. Go ahead, go ahead.

Jill DeWit:                            Jill and Steve here.

Steven Butala:                   Hi.

Jill DeWit:                            Welcome to the Land Academy Show, entertaining land investment talk. I am Jill DeWit.

Steven Butala:                   I'm Steven Jack Butala from sunny Southern California. Today, Jill and I are changing our roles.

Jill DeWit:                            Today, Steven and I talk about buying your way out of a cash crunch.

Steven Butala:                   What the heck would I possibly mean about that? And I'll tell ya.

Jill DeWit:                            Oh, boy. We can buy ... We buy our ways out of a lot of things.

Steven Butala:                   Before we get into the topic though,

Jill DeWit:                            Let's take a question posted by one of our members, posted on the Land Investors online community. It's free.

Steven Butala:                   Christian says: "So a few months ago I purchased a property that appeared to have two broken vehicles on it. One's an RV, and other is some kind of trailer. The seller confirmed these were owned by his mother, who visited the property when she was still alive." Typical stuff here. "The seller wanted nothing to do with apparently the junked vehicles, so I bought the property, figuring somebody would see this a positive," which I agree with. "I'm now closing on the property through title, and they buyer is being represented by a realtor. The buyer is requesting I execute a Bill of Sale so they have an easier time scrapping or getting the registered title for the two vehicles. The title company sent me a Bill of Sale that they drafted up, and after reading it, it seems like I'm opening myself up to unnecessary liability," which you are.

Jill DeWit:                            Yeah.

Steven Butala:                   "I am warranting no one else will claim these vehicles, etc." You're signing off on a lot of stuff.

Jill DeWit:                            Right.

Steven Butala:                   We've all seen lawyer-driven documents like this. "I've never seen a property as much as inspected the vehicles, so I have no idea what I'm actually signing ..." You get the point.

Jill DeWit:                            Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Steven Butala:                   He goes on to say, "In a separate addendum it was not acknowledged that I make no warranties as to the vehicles on the property. However, executing this Bill of Sales seems to contradict the addendum." The fact is, is that you're writing this question. It's out of your comfort zone.

Jill DeWit:                            Right.

Steven Butala:                   He goes on to say, "Should I refuse to sign the Bill of Sale? And what happens?" Basically, what should I do? Should I spit on that lawyer? "Any ideas? Thank you."

Jill DeWit:                            Right.

Steven Butala:                   If this is out of your comfort zone, don't sign it.

Jill DeWit:                            Exactly, I wouldn't sign it.

Steven Butala:                   And I'll say this, too, this is what happens when you get a realtor involved in your deals. This is why we don't do business with realtors on acquisitions and sales. None of this would be happening. Do you think a title agent's going to say, "Oh, this Bill of Sale, you've got to sign it. Oh,

Managing Work Burnout (LA 793)

Transcript:

Steven Butala:                   Steve & Jill here.

Jill DeWit:                            Hi!

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 gorgeous, sunny, southern California.

Steven Butala:                   Today, Jill and I talk about managing your work burnout. This week.

Managing Work Burnout (LA 793)

Transcript:

Steven Butala:                   Steve & Jill here.

Jill DeWit:                            Hi!

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 gorgeous, sunny, southern California.

Steven Butala:                   Today, Jill and I talk about managing your work burnout. This week.

Jill DeWit:                            Thank you. We need to talk about this. We really need to talk about this.

Steven Butala:                   This week is all about. Kind of like non-land topics. It's just about stuff that goes on in work.

Jill DeWit:                            Boy, do I have a lot to say about this.

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

Jill DeWit:                            Jordan asks, I'm currently in the process of closing my first ever deal.

Steven Butala:                   Good.

Jill DeWit:                            For this reason, I have questions. Number one. How critical is it to have title insurance for a land transaction? I know most of you aren't lawyers here, but I guess I can ask whether or not people here typically purchase with it. Two, when is it too late to buy title insurance? I want to get this worry out of the way so I can get this deal closed.

Steven Butala:                   Good questions.

Jill DeWit:                            Three. If I should buy title insurance, does anyone know what company that we could go to. Anyone that will offer insurance itself and not part of the closing package?

Steven Butala:                   No.

Jill DeWit:                            Any help here is greatly appreciated. I'm pretty anxious about this whole thing. Thank you.

Steven Butala:                   May I?

Jill DeWit:                            Yeah.

Steven Butala:                   There's like three or four questions in there. Number one, it's very unusual, if not impossible, to find a company to separate escrow and title insurance and here's why. They're issuing a title policy and the process of escrow makes them much more comfortable.

In fact, it reduces a lot of risk for them because they've researched the property and they close the deal. They know this guy's got the money and the whole thing and they close it and they can issue a policy on it. It's a qualification to get ... Escrow is a qualification for title insurance.

Number two. We have a pretty hard-and-fast rule about the purchase price and whether or not we close the deal ourselves or do it with title insurance and it's about 5,000 bucks. Although more-and-more, with very few exceptions, we almost close everything with title now, just because ...

Jill DeWit:                            Because most of our transactions are more than $5,000.

Steven Butala:                   Yeah. In fact, all of them.

Jill DeWit:                            Yeah.

Steven Butala:                   I'll tell you, it's a lot of work to close your own deals. You should do it. You should learn how to drive a stick and then eventually just drive an automatic because it's easier. You should learn how to close your deals. It's something you need to know mechanically so you can manage title people the rest of your life, but, it's great to sub out all that work to someone else.

Jill DeWit:                            The reason we picked that $5,

Rules are Made for the Lowest Common Denominator (LA 792)

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 how rules are made for the lowest common denominator, not the people who listen to this show,

Rules are Made for the Lowest Common Denominator (LA 792)

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 how rules are made for the lowest common denominator, not the people who listen to this show, not the people who host this show, the lowest common denominator. I'll explain.

Jill DeWit:                            I have something funny to say by the way. Remember I was thinking about ... we always say we're from southern California, now people can see us, right? But they're like, "Yeah, right. We don't see it. There's a black studio. There's nothing behind you that we see."

Steven Butala:                   We're in a closet.

Jill DeWit:                            "I don't even believe that you're really there."

Steven Butala:                   We're in Jill's walk-in closet.

Jill DeWit:                            "Really? Are you really there?" And it's funny because I thought, you remember a year and a half ago, I think it was a year and a half ago that we started to go out and do these on-location thinking that would be a good idea. Oh, that was such a pain-

Steven Butala:                   Very bad idea.

Jill DeWit:                            It was hard to do.

Steven Butala:                   Well, it wasn't even ... I would do it every day if that's what people wanted, but nobody liked it.

Jill DeWit:                            I don't remember.

Steven Butala:                   Nobody saw the value in it.

Jill DeWit:                            Oh.

Steven Butala:                   I got all kinds of stuff like, "Can you guys please go back to ... because I listen to this in the car and I don't care."

Jill DeWit:                            I thought the quality-

Steven Butala:                   "I truly don't care about your life."

Jill DeWit:                            I thought the quality was not the best, so.

Steven Butala:                   The quality was great.

Jill DeWit:                            Maybe once in a while, but I mean there's always background noise and there was people walking by, you know, that kind of thing. So you know what I'd like to do? Maybe we could do it once in a while on-location, though, because I would like to show everybody we really are here.

Steven Butala:                   In case you can't tell, this is a novice hobby of mine.

Jill DeWit:                            Key word being novice.

Steven Butala:                   This audio video thing, like, watch me change the cameras. Here, I have to do it myself.

Jill DeWit:                            I know.

Steven Butala:                   Most people have people in a studio and they have more than one person doing everything.

Jill DeWit:                            Okay. Thank you.

Steven Butala:                   Jill's right. Enjoy the inside of Jill's closet.

Jill DeWit:                            Thanks.

Steven Butala:                   I'm just joking. 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:                            Maria asks, "Hi all you land flippers, I am new to the group,

Working with Your Wife (LA 791)

Transcript:

Steven Butala:                   Steve and Jill here.

Jill DeWit:                            Hi.

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

Jill DeWit:                            And I am Jill DeWit, and we are broadcasting from sunny Southern California. Why is that funny?

Steven Butala:                   It's not.

Jill DeWit:                            Oh okay.

Steven Butala:                   We just have a lot going on. Today, Jill and I talk about working with your wife

Working with Your Wife (LA 791)

Transcript:

Steven Butala:                   Steve and Jill here.

Jill DeWit:                            Hi.

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

Jill DeWit:                            And I am Jill DeWit, and we are broadcasting from sunny Southern California. Why is that funny?

Steven Butala:                   It's not.

Jill DeWit:                            Oh okay.

Steven Butala:                   We just have a lot going on. Today, Jill and I talk about working with your wife. We decided to lighten it up a little bit just for a minute.

Jill DeWit:                            For a minute? This is actually valuable information I have to say because we have a number of people in our community that that this happens. I think sometimes by default like, "Hey sweetheart, I need to answer the phone. Help me with the phones. These sellers are calling back." And some by design, they want to have a business, a family business, and that's the first person that they look to is their spouse.

Steven Butala:                   I can't overestimate this topic enough.

Jill DeWit:                            Overestimate, like don't do it?

Steven Butala:                   No, I mean, it's just so important.

Jill DeWit:                            Because we're going to talk about that.

Steven Butala:                   It's so incredibly important. Here's a little anecdote before we start the show. Yesterday, I was horsing around on YouTube and there's this couple from Pennsylvania that bought a very large boat. They never had a boat before, and they bought this boat. The first episode of what is now like a very, very popular show on YouTube is them going over, "What the heck did we do? How much does it cost?" And so, I watched the whole thing, and it ended up being in the end cheaper than actually having a nice house.

Jill DeWit:                            True.

Steven Butala:                   So that's what they did. They went all ... They're doing it right now in real time. I'll call the loop, you know, on the East Coast. My comment on the YouTube page was, "Yeah, it's expensive and it costs money, but finding a woman ... " because his wife's like you, enthusiastic and interested and showing up.

Jill DeWit:                            Right.

Steven Butala:                   I'll tell you what. That's what my comment was. Yeah, it costs a lot of money. But finding an enthusiastic female who really is actually interested in this stuff-

Jill DeWit:                            And stuff that you're interested in.

Steven Butala:                   ... priceless.

Jill DeWit:                            Thank you. Exactly.

Steven Butala:                   She seemed like she was into it, or she should get an academy award.

Jill DeWit:                            She might get an award. Just kidding. Move on.

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

Jill DeWit:                            I love this person. They want to be incognito, I guess. So on our website, they're Land X. So Land X asks, "Hi there. I'm new to the land game. I need help calculating the price of a certain deal to see if it's worth it. We started by mailing out offers to a certain area, and when a lady called us back about one of her properties, she happened to say that she had another larger property in Kern County, California. It's 49.9 acres with road access but is on top of a hill wit...

Plan for Your Last Acquisition (LA 790)

Transcript:

Steven Butala:                   Steve and Jill here.

Jill DeWit:                            Hi.

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

Jill DeWit:                            And I'm Jill DeWitt, broadcasting from gorgeous southern California.

Steven Butala:                   Today Jill and I talked about planning for your last acquisition. What the heck does that mean?