Failed Anatomy of a Spec Home Deal (HA 1640)

Transcript:

Steven Butala:

Steve and Jill here.

Jill DeWit:

Hello.

Steven Butala:

Welcome to the Land Academy Show, entertaining real estate investment talk. I guess this is the house academy show. I'm Steven Jack Butala.

Jill DeWit:

And I'm Jill DeWit, broadcasting from the valley of the sun.

Steven Butala:

Today Jill and I talk about the failed anatomy of a spec home deal.

Jill DeWit:

So this is interesting, because now where we are with housing, right? People are talking about housing shortages. People are talking about getting things rezoned, so you could have more homes, like LA county, have more homes on a lot to make it for, so there's more places where people to live, right, and affordable. And it's interesting. And there's a lot of building going on. Not just renovating now since COVID and people are home, but a lot of people are moving and choosing to buy land. Yay! Happy for us. And put houses on there. And it's just mind boggling to me, some of these, I think very risky decisions that they're making. Especially, it's one thing to buy your own piece of dirt and hire your own architect. And it's your own money. You're not going to sell it. You're buying it to build for you and you're going to move in. That makes sense to me.

Steven Butala:

Jill's emotional about this topic. Let's take a question first. And then we'll get into the show.

Jill DeWit:

Save it. [crosstalk 00:01:25]

Steven Butala:

Let's take it. Question posted by, members on LandInvestors.com. Online community is free, and don't forget to subscribe on the Land Academy YouTube channel and comment on the shows you like.

Jill DeWit:

Host wrote, how would you price a mailer if the sold comps are 50% low than the for sale comps? So, sold is $40,000, for sale right now is $80,000. And each data set consists of approximately 200 comps. Well, first of all, I'd be high fiving myself because this is going up. It's becoming more expensive area. Is there more to it or is at the end?

Steven Butala:

That's it?

Jill DeWit:

Okay, got it. So, what do you want to say?

Steven Butala:

There is brilliance and simplicity. And this is an absolute brilliant question from somebody in Discord that I have never heard of. I think they're new, and they're clearly smart. What they're saying is, I pull the data set and what we teach is you got to look at everything that's for sale, you got to look at thing that's sold, and this person's saying, there's 50% variance in this stuff. All the sold comps say they're 40,000. All for sales comps say they're 80,000. One of the moderators came in Kevin and said, first thing I check for is an error in data. Meaning, you might be the error Host, but I don't think that. It's what Jill said. Jill's initial thought was, hey, the market's going up so fast.

Jill DeWit:

It could be.

Steven Butala:

So that's one... No matter what, we can all agree this is a data exception. This is not usually what happens. So it fascinates me innately. Data exceptions fascinate me, not the normal stuff. We all know the normal stuff. So, maybe it's a hotness, market hotness thing like Joe says. Maybe it's a data exception like Kevin, our moderator says. Or maybe, you just do what I say all the time and follow the program. You take the $40,000, you take the $80,000, you average them out. That's 60,000, and you offer 10 or 20% of 60, 10% of 60,000 is six. So if you offer between six and $12,000 and you're right or wrong, at between 40 and $80,000 on the sale side, you win

Jill DeWit:

That's easy. I would make sure too, that they sold $40,000 comps, one thing I forgot to add. I go in and toggle and back and forth and play with the... When was that? Because if all your sold comps and it's going back to the beginning of time, that's not good. But it's the last 12 months, now I'm feeling good. And everything for sale, because it really could be going up. Some areas it is this nuts.

Steven Butala:

Land Academy Shifts into Third Gear for 2022 (LA 1639)

Transcript:

Steven Butala:

Steve and Jill here.

Jill DeWit:

Good day.

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 the valley of the sun.

Steven Butala:

Today Jill and I talk about how Land Academy is shifting into third gear for 2022.

Jill DeWit:

You just brought this up on Clubhouse last week.

Steven Butala:

I have. I have this thing about there are stages in everything. Usually four stages. Three or four stages in everything. So Land Academy is getting into stage three. Which, stage three of everything is the most exciting for me. It's like, "Yeah, we know what works!" I'll explain it all, but stage four is where it all works and you're just eating bonbons and hanging out. It's not that fun.

Jill DeWit:

By the way, I was going to thank everyone who suffered through yesterday's show. It was kind of a hodge podge of topics. I think it was funny though. I just wanted to get that out of there.

Steven Butala:

Oh yesterday's podcast?

Jill DeWit:

We were all over the place. It's kind of like, "Who are these people?"

Steven Butala:

You know, if your girl's like mine, the holiday season is here. So everything is a distraction from that. See, Jill's whole life right now is about Thanksgiving. By the time this airs, Thanksgiving might even be on.

Jill DeWit:

It will be Tuesday.

Steven Butala:

And then it's about Christmas after that. And then it's about New Year's. We have a tremendous amount of decorations for all of these holidays. It really starts with Halloween. So working for Jill is no fun.

Jill DeWit:

What?

Steven Butala:

Because it gets in the way of decorating and getting turkeys and stuff.

Jill DeWit:

You don't work for me. You don't work for me.

Steven Butala:

I didn't say that.

Jill DeWit:

Oh, okay.

Steven Butala:

I said, working for Jill is a real distraction against what she wants to spend time on, which is the holidays.

Jill DeWit:

I didn't understand the way you worded that, but I think I know where you're going.

Steven Butala:

It's a backwards compliment. So really Jill sitting here just doing the show is getting in the way of what she wants to do for Thanksgiving.

Jill DeWit:

Oh! I'm like, where are you going with this.

Steven Butala:

Mm-hmm.

Jill DeWit:

I understand.

Steven Butala:

That started yesterday with the podcast. 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 don't forget to subscribe on the Land Academy YouTube channel and comment on the show as you like.

Jill DeWit:

Nick wrote, "I got a 50 acre ... Are we going to use this word?

Steven Butala:

Fifty acre access list.

Jill DeWit:

Thank you. Parcel for 42,000. He used the word that started with an L for those of you who are listening and I just hate that word. We both do. Before acquiring, we spoke with property owners around it until we came across a nice lady who was willing to give us an easement for next to nothing. Now we're under contract to sell. What did we buy for again?

Steven Butala:

Fifty.

Jill DeWit:

Fifty thousand.

Steven Butala:

Forty two.

Jill DeWit:

Now we're under contract to sell for $210,000.

Steven Butala:

Buy for 42, sell for 210.

Jill DeWit:

Because he made a call and found a nice lady who would give access.

Steven Butala:

Because they got on the phone, ran down Joe's checklist for when you buy a property. Talk to the neighbors. And they made $158,000. More than that.

Jill DeWit:

Ding ding.

Steven Butala:

One-hundred and seventy.

Jill DeWit:

Beautiful. Is there any more to it?

Steven Butala:

Nope.

Jill DeWit:

Okay. That was awesome. So there was really no question.

Steven Butala:

No.

Jill DeWit:

That was just a statement.

Steven Butala:

This whole week is really a celebration of, because it's Thanksgiving.

Jill DeWit:

Good.

Steven Butala:

What to Do When you Can't Stay on Your Own Schedule (LA 1638)

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 Dewitt broadcasting from the Valley of the Sun.

Steven Butala:

Today, Jill and I talk about what to do when you can't stay on your own schedule.

Jill DeWit:

Hey, for a minute. I was like, "I'm going to be just like the listeners right now. I don't know what this topic is about." And then I remember what we were talking about earlier. I'm like, "Okay, I got it." This came out of your intensive, right?

Steven Butala:

Came out of a discussion that you and I had earlier-

Jill DeWit:

Oh shit.

Steven Butala:

...about writing topics for the podcast this week.

Jill DeWit:

Well, there is that.

Steven Butala:

And it was your idea.

Jill DeWit:

Thank you. Which came out of the intensive which wrapped up last week and I got to be a guest, if you will, on your last session, and that was very fun.

Steven Butala:

Yup.

Jill DeWit:

It was really cool.

Steven Butala:

Totally.

Jill DeWit:

Different groups. It was really interesting, I got to jump in on yours and you jumped in at the end of mine and we all talked about very different things. So it was cool. Awesome.

Steven Butala:

Before we get into it, let's take a question posted by one of our members on thelandinvestors.com online community it's free, and don't forget to subscribe on the Land Academy YouTube channel and comment on the shows you like.

Jill DeWit:

Greg wrote, "Bought this 1.29 acre lot up in the mountains of Eastern blank for $2,259 back in February. Last week, we're going to a nearby city from Pennsylvania and after ignoring this property for most of a year-

Steven Butala:

Been there.

Jill DeWit:

We just, right?

Steven Butala:

Ignoring this, because he bought it, but-

Jill DeWit:

You forget.

Steven Butala:

He just didn't get around to sell it.

Jill DeWit:

Yeah.

Steven Butala:

Story in my life.

Jill DeWit:

Now you're know, Greg, you see how easy it is to forget, what, "Oh yeah. I still own that. Oh yeah." Okay. So anyway, we decided to stop by and take some pictures, do a drone video, dash cam video, and then put up a sign. It was a beautiful sunny day and I got some great colorful shots from both the ground and from the drone.

Steven Butala:

And so it's cool. He put all this in there.

Jill DeWit:

This is it.

Steven Butala:

He put the content in there, like the shot, you know-

Jill DeWit:

The pictures?

Steven Butala:

Yeah.

Jill DeWit:

That's cool.

Steven Butala:

It was really cool.

Jill DeWit:

After four hours or about four hours after we left, we got a call from a neighbor who had seen our sign and wanted to know our price. We hadn't quite settled on a price. So I told him somewhere around $16,000. He said, "I'm just curious" and local Tennessee folks wouldn't pay that much. But if you could get people from Florida to pay that, if not more. This seemed like an unusual but interesting opinion of the market value of the land in this area. So then, the next morning, this is so good. I get, "What did you pay?" You paid 2259, or something like that, right?

Steven Butala:

Let's see.

Jill DeWit:

Yeah. Wow, I have good memory 2259 and he said it's only around 16. So then the next morning I got a call from another neighbor who was out for her morning walk and saw our sign. She said she lived very close by and was looking for land for her daughter and daughter's husband, both of who live in Florida and want to move to this state.

Jill DeWit:

Given the opinion that I got from the local guy, I said that the price is $20,000. She thought about it for a minute and then said, "Yes." We now have signed purchase agreement and title company working on this. When all is said and done, we will make about $16,000 profit off our 2259 purchase. Although I was really looking forward to working on the listin...

Jill Friday - How to Sound Like a Professional Investor (LA 1637)

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 the valley of the sun.

Steven Butala:

Today Jill and I talk... Well, it's Jill Friday, and she's going to tell us how to sound like a professional investor. I'm as excited and interested as this as you are.

Jill DeWit:

Thanks.

Steven Butala:

Before we get into it. Let's take a question posted by one of our members on the LandInvestors.com online community, is free, and don't forget to subscribe on the Land Academy YouTube channel and comment on the shows you like.

Jill DeWit:

Okay. Erin wrote, "What are some good ways to recover from a mailer that was priced too high?"

Steven Butala:

I figure this is right up your alley.

Jill DeWit:

Totally. This is hard. I know it, it's hard to get used to. It's so much easier to come in low and add money than it is to come in high and take away money. But I've done it. And so I was just taught. This is part... I believe is into the topic today. This is all because of the intensive training that I'm doing. We're week two of three right now. By the time this airs it will be over. And it's just how I get deals done. Whether it's the buy side, the sell side, all of that. And what do you do with you come too high with these people. First of all, I want you to take a step back and, and double check your math because maybe there's something to it that you're missing because it could be zone something special.

Jill DeWit:

It could be in a very unique area. There could be some special attribute. So I never assume when people call in and say, "I like everything, but the price." When they say exactly like that. I will never assume that I'm wrong. I got to get some more information first. So I nicely say, "I may have goofed. Tell me what's going on." And then I ask a lot of questions. So say you've done that they came in... This is the opposite though. You price it too high. They love you by the way. Re roll back again. What's the exact question?

Steven Butala:

How do you recover from a mailer that's priced too high?

Jill DeWit:

Priced too high. Okay. So, and by the way, this is the funniest situation, because... Can you do that for me for a second? It's funny for me because everybody calls you back and they love you. That's usually how you know you did it. Like, "Oh no, I sent out a thousand offers and I got a thousand phone calls. Oops. I may have offered too much." All right. So, but anyway, you need to take all the information in and do it just like you would normally take all the calls down, take all the inbound information, go back, do your due diligence, pick the 10 best ones. Right? And then you got to re figure, what is the right price. And then you need to go back to them and tell them, "I goofed and here's why."

Jill DeWit:

And it's not hard to come up... I mean, I will point out something that would make the property worth more and say, "I thought it was closer to town." I give them some reasons why not that I meant to buy it cheaper. I will never say that, but I will give them some reasons that shocks. "I hate to say this. I know I priced it at 10,000. I meant two. Here's the reason why I did not realize this was this far from X. I did not realize that the access needed a Y. I did not realize that you owed that much on back taxes." So you can come up with other things to do that... Don't do it on all of them. Still pick your best ones and then go back in and give them some reasons. And then let them respond.

Steven Butala:

Every property's got flaws. Every property's got attributes. Great stuff about it. No two properties are exactly the same.

Jill DeWit:

Exactly.

Steven Butala:

Point out the flaws, whatever they are and say, "Yeah, I offer you 10,000 bucks, but here's the deal,

Jack Thursday - Fishing for Land (LA 1636)

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 DeWitt broadcasting from the Valley of the Sun.

Steven Butala:

Today is Jack Thursday. I'm going to talk about fishing for land.

Jill DeWit:

I like this.

Steven Butala:

There's a lot of things about fishing.

Jill DeWit:

There's a lot of talk about fishing right now with you.

Steven Butala:

Well, I'm getting older and you know, this is what I told my bartender recently, I need a hobby.

Jill DeWit:

Like you have one bartender.

Steven Butala:

Yeah. One of the bartenders. I know, I know who's familiar with all my flaws.

Jill DeWit:

Got it.

Steven Butala:

And well, anyway.

Jill DeWit:

Oh, well finish the sentence.

Steven Butala:

Oh, I just need a hobby and I've always loved fishing. I grew up doing it. I grew up in Michigan, sometimes in Northern Michigan, and there's just nothing but fishing there. And we had a blast, lot of memories about that. And when you have children and jobs and things start things like Land Academy, there's just, you're pressed for time. And I'm getting to be the age where I need to start enjoying things a little bit more. There's enough money coming, buying and selling land all the time. We've got some good staff, Jill slowing down a little bit and you know I think bout fishing.

Jill DeWit:

That's good.

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. And don't forget to subscribe on the land academy, YouTube channel and comment on the shows you like.

Jill DeWit:

Buckley wrote: "My first mailer was 1900 units. I received over 10 responses with solid interest in selling. However, not a single one has a solid state or county maintained road access." That's okay. Hold on a moment. "Is it common to have so few replies with road access in a mailer this size, not sure if it's simply due the county I mailed or what plugging away, making the most of what I can though. Any thoughts are helpful." Well, what if it's a dirt road and it's still public and it's not like it's paved, but there's access.

Steven Butala:

Sometimes you can read my mind.

Jill DeWit:

Yeah, it doesn't have to be paved and plowed. It's not going to be that great. And depending on the area, this is rural. Let me back up here. This is rural vacant land everyone. Most of the time it is a dirt road. I'm happy with that.

Steven Butala:

Sorry Jill, get in there. Go. I mean it.

Jill DeWit:

Seriously, do you want an exit? Do you want your own exit sign with an arrow and a turnout or would you prefer a signal?

Steven Butala:

How about cut in sewers and roads. No here's the thing..

Jill DeWit:

Exactly. A big sign that says power right here. There's a blow thing sticking up out of the ground. Just kidding.

Steven Butala:

We're not in the business of alienating Land Academy members.

Jill DeWit:

No, no, I'm teasing you.

Steven Butala:

But and I want to point out too, there's a lot of questions and comments and successes. I can choose from hundreds and hundreds of entries in discord when we do the show. I'm here to tell you, I'm not always picking the peaches and cream. Oh my God I made a million dollars on this deal kind of comments. So this is a valid comment. It's a valid concern from somebody who sent out a mailer, got a positive response and got a bunch of people that wanted to sell at his price. 10.

Jill DeWit:

This is all good news.

Steven Butala:

So that's good, good, good and good.

Jill DeWit:

Yeah. [crosstalk 00:03:19].

Steven Butala:

Actually it's great, right?

Jill DeWit:

Yeah.

Steven Butala:

What your question is that is this well, one of the five A's is access and it doesn't appear to me that this rural vacant land has access. So I'm going to tell you little story,

Learn More About House Academy Here

Why We Have Not Missed the Housing Boom (LA 1635)

Transcript:

Steven:Steve and Jill here.

Jill:Hello.

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

Jill:There was a long pause there. I'm Jill DeWit and we are broadcasting from the Valley of the Sun.

Steven:Today, Jill and I talk about why we've not missed the housing boom at all.

Jill:Personally or all of us?

Steven:All of us.

Jill:Good.

Steven:This all comes from... Jill and I have children between the ages of, let's say 26, 27 and 18, and all of them and all of their friends have all throughout their entire... Let's call it late teens, early twenties have said, "Well, you guys are the generation or two generations before us. And thanks for wrecking everything."

Jill:"You guys are the last homeowners," like, "Hold on a moment."

Steven:To which I say, "I said the same thing to my parents," to which my parents have said, "That's what I said to my parents." 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... Oh, please don't forget to subscribe, I should say, on the Land Academy YouTube channel and comment on the shows you like.

Jill:David wrote, "Could someone give me some insight? I'm closing on my first deal. It's a 9.37 acre parcel. And in 20 days, there's not a ton of comps in the immediate area, and I was originally thinking about trying to sell it for around 30 to $40,000. But I've been doing a deep dive on research and looking at active listings. I noticed two neighboring parcels at 1.4 and 1.3 acres sold at 10,000 an acre, but it took four to six months. I'm very tempted to list it for $79,900. Even 70% of 10,000 acre at 65,000 and some change I would be thrilled with. I don't want to get crazy and list"... Oh, "I don't want to get crazy and list too high"-

Steven:That was my fault.

Jill:"And have to sit and/or not sell. Am I getting too excited with the neighboring properties? I'm licensed. I'm probably going to list it myself. So, if I can get the buyers and save some money... But I'm tempted to consider using a local realtor. The MLS might be different than the local one, and I might assume a local realtor who's any good would have a better handle on the prices." Is that the end of it?

Steven:Yeah.

Jill:So, do you want to go first?

Steven:Congratulations. This is working for you. I'm really, really glad. I mean it, you're going to get through this first deal. It's going to be a lot easier. You're going to look back on it and say, "Wow, I learned a lot and I can't wait for the second one." Just like your first marriage. So...

Jill:Why do you do...?

Steven:I do it to annoy you.

Jill:Just poking me all day long. Does this happen to you? Poke, poke, poke.

Steven:It didn't bother you. If you just sailed right through it and didn't listen to anything I said, I'd never do it again.

Jill:Because clearly you don't want to get a rise out of me.

Steven:Here's a couple technical things, and a lot of people in our group in Discord commented the same way. Price per acre on small properties... We take a one acre property and it's priced at $10,000. So, it sells for 10,000 and apply that to even an adjoining property that's 10 acres or 40 acres... You can't use that same number. [crosstalk 00:03:27] The higher the acreage number... If it's 40 acres versus one acre, the price per acre's going to be lower. It's called the bottle case theory. When you buy a single bottle of Coca-Cola and then look at the case price, it's always cheaper to buy it by the case. It's just a pure economics thing. That's why people who subdivide property for a living make hoards and hoards of money. If you take a 40 acre property and buy it for four grand and, theoretically, divide it into 40 properties and sell it for a thousand dollars each, now you...

Jill:Buy four, sold it for 40.

Steven:I'm grossly oversimplifying it.

Introducing Land Academy Garage Sale (LA 1634)

Transcript:

Steven Butala:

Steve and Jill here.

Jill DeWit:

Hey.

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 the Valley of the Sun.

Steven Butala:

Today, Jill and I talk about what we're going to introduce: the Land Academy garage sale.

Jill DeWit:

I love it.

Steven Butala:

So do I and it was a smash hit. A lot of stuff we do, a lot of these [sub 00:00:20] and products that we do just don't catch on. We are in beta right here on this thing, and it really, really works. It's our way of internally auctioning off property that... Every land investor has a bunch of stuff, a bunch of [pieces 00:00:37] of property laying around that, for whatever reason, are accumulating taxes, they haven't gotten sold. They just fell through the cracks. I have properties since 25 years ago that we still have. And so, it's a $1 no-reserve of auction. We're just auctioning it off internally within the land academy group [crosstalk 00:00:56]

Jill DeWit:

We have long written it off, and our loss is your gain.

Steven Butala:

Yeah. And it's a blast. People are stealing property, and we're happy with it.

Jill DeWit:

We'll explain more in a minute.

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. And don't forget to subscribe on the Land Academy YouTube channel, and comment on the shows you like.

Jill DeWit:

Jake wrote, "This might be a fairly obvious 'do not do this', but does anybody know about the legality of using pictures of another lot that is essentially the same in every aspect as yours, from the internet to help market your own property online?" Well, I have a lot to say about this.

Steven Butala:

Go ahead.

Jill DeWit:

Well-

Steven Butala:

So do I.

Jill DeWit:

Because we have personally taken for... As Land Academy member, you may or may not know this, you have access to a library of photos in several areas that we took, and made available to you when we launched the original cashflow from land program. We gave these photos, we took them. You took them. And back then, you or our engineering people, took these photos. And so they're ours. It's not like it's proprietary, we stole them or anything. No. They're ours, and we have given permission freely to use them.

Jill DeWit:

So the point, though, is we want to make sure you say... you have to properly say that these are of the area because it doesn't happen so much anymore. But sometimes you have properties in a, say a subdivision or certain area, maybe you own four or five 10. I don't know. You don't need to send the same guy out there 10 times. But you can, especially now with Google maps and Google earth and things, people can really look in and see that property really with detail. And back then we couldn't. So I have no trouble with this as long as you're not stealing it, A. Don't do that. Like you're not getting it off Canva or something like that. And then B, you let them know that maybe you took the... "This is a lot next door I visited last week. You can see it over here." You may or may not... You don't agree with me?

Steven Butala:

No. I just waiting, actually.

Jill DeWit:

I can't tell you're if agreeing or not. So anyway, you just properly say it's of area.

Steven Butala:

I would say I agree with you Jill, and now and forever.

Jill DeWit:

Okay. Yeah, I'm sure you would. I said, "Don't worry about that. You know what toes you're stepping on. If you think there's any legal issue, then definitely don't do it." But if someone says, "Sure, use this. It's fine" in the email or whatever, yeah. Go.

Steven Butala:

I have one word for you. And if you're a note taker or you're actually listening to the show, or if you're cooking dinner and you're listening to it, please listen to this.

When is it Time to Seek Professional Help (LA 1633)

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 DeWit, broadcasting from the Valley of the Sun.

Steven Butala:

Today, Jill and I talk about when is it time to seek professional help?

Jill DeWit:

No, we don't mean marriage counseling, or whatever issues that you're having.

Steven Butala:

Are you sure? I disagree. There's no way we can do this episode without addressing this stuff.

Jill DeWit:

Oh, okay. Got it. That's not where I was going, though.

Steven Butala:

Every week Jill and I sit down, usually pretty briefly and say, "All right. Let's come up with five topics," and so first thing I do is I go into Discord and see what's on everybody's mind and try to make this some semblance of intelligent. That's not what Jill does. She goes off and she's like, "This is what people need. We need to-"

Jill DeWit:

And this is my topic. You can [crosstalk 00:00:53].

Steven Butala:

I know. This is Jill's topic. That's my point.

Jill DeWit:

It's clearly mine.

Steven Butala:

It started out, what she really meant was this.

Jill DeWit:

We'll get to it.

Steven Butala:

Okay.

Jill DeWit:

Okay. It's-

Steven Butala:

I can-

Jill DeWit:

We'll get to you in a minute.

Steven Butala:

Before we get into it, maybe we need help. Let's take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community. It's free. Don't forget to subscribe on the Land Academy YouTube channel and comment on the shows you like.

Jill DeWit:

James wrote, "Kevin, I appreciate you simplifying problems such as pricing and picking the county and help me get past analysis paralysis. I'm finally closing on three deals and will continue to seek your safe consult to get me past stock points."

Jill DeWit:

Kevin wrote, "I've been watching your discussions here and you are looking good. Keep up the good work." I like this little blip, because it does tie into today and what I'm talking about. Pro help means someone beyond you.

Steven Butala:

Kevin Farrell is one of our moderators. He is the Discord moderator. He's presented at our live events. He's truly doing this to give back and help everybody and do deals with everybody. He's coming at this from his heart.

Jill DeWit:

Yeah.

Steven Butala:

He's just a great guy. I can't say enough good stuff, and his advice is correct.

Jill DeWit:

Right.

Steven Butala:

Today's topic?

Jill DeWit:

I'm waiting for the topic [crosstalk 00:02:17]

Steven Butala:

When is it time to seek professional help? This is the meat of the show.

Jill DeWit:

Okay. So here's what I'm talking about. And it's not necessarily someone that's beyond you, so that's not really correct. Maybe it's someone who's doing something totally different that you want to learn from.

Steven Butala:

Maybe it's Kevin.

Jill DeWit:

I happened to, just the other day, I jumped on somebody else's Clubhouse chat. It was the funniest thing. Halfway into this guy's chat, it was on mobile homes and mobile home parks. So I'm like, "Okay, I want to hear what this guy's saying," so I jumped in the room and there was nobody else on stage. It was just kind of him talking. I think he answered some questions early on in the call. But at that point it was just him. He said something to me that, of course, struck a chord, so I raised my hand.

Jill DeWit:

If you're in Clubhouse, you know what I mean. You raise your hand and you get invited on stage. So for the second half hour, it was just this guy and I talking, and everybody else is listening.

Steven Butala:

Darn, Jill.

Jill DeWit:

It was so funny because we had a great conversation. I think what it was, I [inaudible 00:03:16].

Steven Butala:

You co-hosted his show. There's a little bit of cheating going on here.

Jill DeWit:

I kind of did, and he really thanked me. It was so funny. He's like,

Jill Friday - It's about Connecting with People, Not What You Know (LA 1632)

Transcript:

Steven Jack Butala:

Steve and Jill here.

Jill K DeWit:

Howdy.

Steven Jack Butala:

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

Jill K DeWit:

And I'm Jill DeWit, broadcasting from the Valley of the Sun.

Steven Jack Butala:

Today is Jill Friday, and she's going to talk about how it's all about connecting with people and not really as much about what you know.

Jill K DeWit:

Yep. So you've heard Jack this week talk about these intensive trainings, and his is Get Your Mailer Out. I'm doing one too. And mine, it's really called, How Jill Gets Deals Done. And I'm really trying to have everyone take a step back and think about ways and how, and techniques and words and listening to connect with people, because you're going to get more deals out of it. You mentioned that, I don't remember what day it was, we were talking. It was a data heavy day and you were mentioning, "This is all great. You want to improve your mailer yield? Do what Jill does." And that's what this is about today. Thank You.

Steven Jack 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. And don't forget to subscribe on the Land Academy YouTube channel and comment on the shows you like.

Jill K DeWit:

Buckley wrote, "Evening all, hope everyone is well. I'm reviewing emails from a mailer or the PATLive recorded calls. If the seller states they're not interested in selling, is it still worthwhile in following up and asking why or just leaving it be and moving on? The sales part of me moves towards ..." This is good, by the way. "The sale is in the follow up, but being my first mailer, I'm trying to put good energy into what is deserving and worth the time. Day job consumes a lot of my time, so I'm trying to put focus on where it's needed. Thanks guys."

Jill K DeWit:

So this is good, because this is actually stuff that we talked about. I've already, at the time of recording, I've got through week one of the session. And week one was a lot of theory and concepts and all that. And my first goal is you answer your own phones, because you can form that connection right away, find out what you need to find out, Buckley, and you'll know yourself. But you're just getting a message from a service. So what I'm talking to everyone about is, you got to, based on the feedback that you get, you need to see. Maybe you could tweak your questions with PATLive or whatever service you're using to find out, is it a price reason. Is the reason you're not wanting to sell because of price? That's easy. And then you know you need to call them back.

Jill K DeWit:

So, whether or not you are able to answer the phone, that's okay, but you still need to connect with them the first time that you do talk to them, and it probably is going to be in the follow up. So I tell people whether it's a voicemail ... My goal is not to have these scenarios, but sometimes life happens. You get a voicemail maybe, you get an email maybe, you get something in the mail back maybe. Any indication that there might be something there, I do reach out, just to find out for myself. It's too easy to bust out those phone calls, set up some time, "Thursday afternoon when I get home from work, that's the time I bust out these calls," just to see if there's some juice there, and then you'll know.

Steven Jack Butala:

Can I ask questions?

Jill K DeWit:

Absolutely.

Steven Jack Butala:

What if you don't like talking on the phone? You loathe it.

Jill K DeWit:

You need to get over that, and that's what this is about too. I'm really trying to help people. I think people who think that they're loathe it's because I think that they're not good at it.

Steven Jack Butala:

No, I don't think so at all. I think people loathe it because they loathe it, because I'm one of those people.

Jill K DeWit:

Jack Thursday - Get to Know Your Zip Code (LA 1631)

Transcript:

Steven Jack Butala:

Steve and Jill here.

Jill K DeWit:

Hi.

Steven Jack Butala:

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

Jill K DeWit:

And I'm Jill DeWit, broadcasting from the Valley of the Sun.

Steven Jack Butala:

Today is Jack Thursday. I'm going to talk about getting to know your zip code. And I can promise you this, this has nothing to do with the real estate, mailers, data. It has to do with your zip code and your life.

Jill K DeWit:

I'm thinking of all the times you use that phrase. "Jill, get to know your equipment. Jill, get to know your staff. Jill, get to know your job description."

Steven Jack Butala:

Get to know your life partner.

Jill K DeWit:

Get to know your life partner.

Steven Jack Butala:

Your job description?

Jill K DeWit:

I don't know. "Jill, get to know how an oven works."

Steven Jack Butala:

What?

Jill K DeWit:

No, I know how that is. They were like ... You use that phrase, that's one of-

Steven Jack Butala:

Okay.

Jill K DeWit:

Your phrases.

Steven Jack Butala:

Hold on. Let's put the breaks on this. Between the two of us, trust me on this, between the two of us, one of us is a pilot, one of us isn't. One of us is extremely technical and applies a checklist to everything. So when I say, "Get to know," fill in the blank, it's a joke.

Jill K DeWit:

Okay.

Steven Jack Butala:

Because really it's like, I need to get to know the oven, not you.

Jill K DeWit:

Okay, thank you. I appreciate that.

Steven Jack 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, and don't forget to subscribe on the Land Academy YouTube channel and comment on the shows you like.

Jill K DeWit:

Aaron wrote, "Do you ever look at demographics when choosing a place to send mail?"

Steven Jack Butala:

The answer is very directly, I used to and I don't anymore. And because the red, green, yellow test and the tests that I run smoke all that stuff out. What Aaron's really asking is, is it better to buy properties in affluent areas or-

Jill K DeWit:

I was going to say.

Steven Jack Butala:

... better to buy properties in Rust Belt, deteriorated inner cities. And the answer is, I don't care about any of that at all. What I care about is a red, green, yellow test, and whether or not days on market fit in my parameters. Whether or not how many properties are listed this month versus sold are in my favor. As an investor, I care about just the statistics that will lead to a real successful mailer.

Steven Jack Butala:

But invariably, there are innate problems with buying properties on both ends of the bell curve. In really affluent areas and in really rundown areas, both of those markets have undesirable characteristics for an investor. I want to be in the middle of everything when it comes to buying and selling land, or slightly to the ... It doesn't matter which way, the numbers all come out to show us where to send mail.

Jill K DeWit:

Thank you.

Steven Jack Butala:

Today is Jack Thursday. Get to know-

Jill K DeWit:

I concur. Jack, correct.

Steven Jack Butala:

Today's Jack Thursday, get to know your zip code. This is why you're listening.

Jill K DeWit:

Isn't that's funny, people ... Hold, please. People just dream up stuff. It comes back to some other days that we talked about this this week, people are dreaming up writing the algorithm and all this stuff. There's some secret. I'm sure.

Steven Jack Butala:

That's it, Jill.

Jill K DeWit:

I'm sure-

Steven Jack Butala:

There's some secret.

Jill K DeWit:

... that if I spend a month on this and do nothing, but try every little thing, maybe demographic, maybe it's money, maybe it's age, maybe it's education, maybe it's the weather in the area. How many snowbirds come in, I don't know. Maybe there's some secret sauce that no one else has got and I'm going to be the one to find ...