A Deal We Killed Yesterday (LA 1416)

Transcript:

Steven Jack Butala:

Steve and Jill here.

Jill DeWit:

Hi.

Steven Jack 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 Jack Butala:

Today, Jill and I talk about a deal we killed yesterday. This is part therapy for Jill.

Jill DeWit:

Uh-huh (affirmative).

Steven Jack Butala:

Because she needs to vent, and an incredible source of entertainment for me.

Jill DeWit:

This doesn't happen very often. Usually, I'm killing a deal because we come across just a major title issue, or there're just liens that we miss, and it just now doesn't make sense. Access we thought we had, now we don't. There's usually some property-related reason why we have to kill a deal. It is very, very rarely that it's 100% the person involved in the deal, as in the seller, as the reason why we don't want to do it. I flat-out told this gentlemen-

Steven Jack Butala:

Before we get into it, let's take a question.

Jill DeWit:

All right. You're, "Hold it back, hold it back."

Steven Jack Butala:

Posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community. It's free. I can't wait to hear this.

Jill DeWit:

Oh yeah. Is this really who this is?

Steven Jack Butala:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Jill DeWit:

Okay. It's written by-

Steven Jack Butala:

It's Steve.

Jill DeWit:

It's Steve?

Steven Jack Butala:

Yeah. Steve says...

Jill DeWit:

Okay. Steve says, "Happy New Year. We're looking for a few folks who need money partners. We like purchases between $5,000 and $50,000 typical splits. We're getting pretty good at creative financing." Whatever that means.

Steven Jack Butala:

It means because they're private lenders or private partners being very flexible to what the person, the deal finder needs.

Jill DeWit:

Sure. All right. "We also buy seller finance notes and we'll even lend on performing notes, small shop with deep experience in credit and collection."

This is hilarious.

Steven Jack Butala:

So please, everybody, whatever you're doing, please stop and listen. I want you to never, ever worry about the money part of this ever again.

Jill DeWit:

Right.

Steven Jack Butala:

This is this, and then Steve leaves all his information and his cell number and all of that-

Jill DeWit:

Hidden in our group.

Steven Jack Butala:

Which I, yeah, there are probably a hundred people in our group that are like this and maybe 500 more that are lurking that are not part of our group, dying to finance our fund, your deal, starting with us.

Jill DeWit:

Beautiful example, today is Wednesday. The show that I did, the Facebook live and YouTube live show that I did eight days ago, we led the show with a survey about how many of you here are looking for money or how many are here to lend. And it was funny, because it was 100% the people that completed the survey were a 100%, I'm looking for money. And then halfway through the show, in comes all the lurking people. They didn't want to answer the question that I'm here to lend money. But when they heard someone had a good deal, here comes people's phone numbers, emails, contact information, "I'll help you, I'll help you, I'll help you." Just like Steve here.

Steven Jack Butala:

Many people are very shy.

Jill DeWit:

Yeah.

Steven Jack Butala:

They won't stand up in the front of the room. They'll stand up in the back of the room.

Jill DeWit:

That's where they are.

Steven Jack Butala:

But they will not stand up in the front of the room and say, "We would love to be your partner." They just don't. That's not their personality.

Jill DeWit:

They want to hear about the deal first.

Steven Jack Butala:

That's exactly right. They don't want to hear how great you are and how shiny your shoes are or any of that. They want to look at a deal. They want it to be presented easily and they want it to be an awesome deal.

Building Relationships with Buyers and Sellers (LA 1415)

Transcript:

Steven Jack Butala:

Steve and Jill here.

Jill DeWit:

Hello.

Steven Jack 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 Jack Butala:

Today Jill and I talk about building relationships with buyers and sellers.

Jill DeWit:

And more. I threw in there and escrow agents and money partners, because it's all tied together.

Steven Jack Butala:

Yeah.

Jill DeWit:

Thank you. You need to have them all on your team.

Steven Jack Butala:

This is quite possibly the single most important thing to get deals done, or really anything done in life that I can think of. The data part of this, I'm a what I think as a pretty good data person and a pretty good statistical person.

Jill DeWit:

You're getting there, babe. I love, you're trying to be so, not have a big head and I appreciate that, but you should have a big head.

Steven Jack Butala:

But it would all be wasted if we couldn't sell anything. And every single one of the people that I know that are real good at this, every single one of the advanced members, the Land Academy advanced members, they can either do both data and sell, or they have partners like us and a situation like us.

Jill DeWit:

I think most of them have partners.

Steven Jack Butala:

Yeah, they do.

Jill DeWit:

Yeah.

Steven Jack Butala:

Actually most of them-

Jill DeWit:

I'm trying to think of one. Can you think of one? Maybe one that can do both, but even he is not as good on the personal part of it as he thinks he is.

Steven Jack Butala:

You know what, Jill? There's a couple I can think of, but I think they have lot of people surrounding them. No, there is none. There are no people ...

Jill DeWit:

Thank you.

Steven Jack Butala:

They either have a partner or they have a staff already ...

Jill DeWit:

Right. Thank you.

Steven Jack Butala:

... that handles it, like a built-in sales staff from another company that just sells dirt.

Jill DeWit:

Right.

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.

Jill DeWit:

Brian asks, "Quick version. Is a higher or lower ratio of land postings like on Lands of America, et cetera, do total properties in a county preferable when identifying target county markets?"

Steven Jack Butala:

No. What he's saying is if there's a lot of properties for sale, tons of properties for sale, and then there's a bunch of properties that exist in that market-

Jill DeWit:

In that county.

Steven Jack Butala:

... is it better if that ratio is higher, that there's a lot of property for sale? The answer is hell no.

Jill DeWit:

Right.

Steven Jack Butala:

Go ahead.

Jill DeWit:

And then the longer version, he said, "Longer context, in Land Academy 1.0, chapter three," I love this, "while Jack and Jill don't go into a great detail on this, they seem to heavily imply that a higher land posting total property ratio is a positive sign, since they format the four chosen counties in green with higher percentages. And then they offer two cities with lower percentages formatted in red is what you don't want to see."

Steven Jack Butala:

And he goes on and on and on here. This is an incredibly intelligent question.

Jill DeWit:

This is Jack's red, yellow, green chart that he ...

Steven Jack Butala:

Yes. So, what Brian's saying is how do I pick a county or how do I pick a zip code to choose mail? We have a, Jill and I, well, I devised this system a lot of years ago for myself and now it's in our programs of this three, it's a red, green and yellow test. It's three statistics that involve percentage of property that's for sale versus the universe of properties in that county, land properties. And you want that to be very low. All right. So, he's going through Land Academy 1.0 and asking questions.

How to Get a Seller or Buyer to Perform (LA 1414)

Transcript:

Steven Jack Butala:

Steve and Jill here.

Jill DeWit:

Hello.

Steven Jack 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 kind of sunny southern California.

Steven Jack Butala:

Not really, not sunny at all. You know what's good about when it's not sunny, though?

Jill DeWit:

Tell me.

Steven Jack Butala:

The lighting's great.

Jill DeWit:

You know, I got this. I will make sure on recording days, this is it, because we need it just like this. This is perfect.

Steven Jack Butala:

If you've ever shot any video, if you have a show or ever done a YouTube, even one YouTube video, or if you shot family pictures, it's a huge challenge to shoot into glass, and then into the outside.

Jill DeWit:

Right.

Steven Jack Butala:

And then on top of that, the ocean is reflecting the sun.

Jill DeWit:

It's awful.

Steven Jack Butala:

Yeah, so it's really in the morning right now, and it's a little bit overcast. And I'm enjoying some pretty good lighting.

Jill DeWit:

Exactly.

Steven Jack Butala:

It has nothing to do with real estate.

Jill DeWit:

Correct.

Steven Jack Butala:

Before we get into it, well, today Jill and I talk about how to get a seller or buyer to perform.

Jill DeWit:

We didn't already say that?

Steven Jack Butala:

I don't know, maybe I did.

Jill DeWit:

I don't know.

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.

Jill DeWit:

Buck wrote, "The buyer of one of my owner finance deals is asking what happens if he dies." You know, I was thinking about this. Let me pause for just a second. You know, I was explaining to someone in one of my ... I was in, I think I was in an accountability group. I was a guest on somebody else's accountability group the other day. And I was talking about the number of deals we've done.

And I've pretty sure, you think you've had it all, right? You think that you've heard everything with the volume and the thousands of deals that we've completed, I feel good. But every now and then, something comes up when I'm like, "Wow, I actually have not had that one yet."

And I actually have not had anybody say this to me. Maybe you have, but I have not had this conversation.

Steven Jack Butala:

I've had people die during a deal.

Jill DeWit:

Yes, I have had that.

Steven Jack Butala:

During an acquisition and a sale, but never owner finance.

Jill DeWit:

Well, and like pre planning it, like, "I'm in bad health," or something. I don't know.

Steven Jack Butala:

Yeah.

Jill DeWit:

So, "Does his paid interest in the land become part of his estate? And his estate can continue making payments? He wants to make sure his wife and kids don't lose anything. Thanks for your help, Buck."

I just think it's how he sets it up. I don't know what I would tell him what to do.

Steven Jack Butala:

Totally, you nailed it.

Jill DeWit:

Yeah, I would say, let's just to make sure all the documents read, you know, buyer, as joint attendance with right to survivorship of his wife, and everything along the way. What all, I'm trying to think what other ...

Steven Jack Butala:

Well, if it's in a trust, then it's ...

Jill DeWit:

That, too.

Steven Jack Butala:

If the contract is in a trust ...

Jill DeWit:

Right.

Steven Jack Butala:

Because you don't get deeded. There's two ways to do this.

Jill DeWit:

That's true.

Steven Jack Butala:

I'm sure Buck's doing it the right way, which is just a land contract where the payments get made, the payments get made, nothing gets recorded until all the payments are made, and then the entity owns it. And the key word here is entity. So if the guy, the buyer, it's all in his name, there's going to be estate issues.

But if Buck sells it at asset to the trust that he sets up, as long as the trust keeps making payments,

Failing Repeatedly is First Requirement to Stay on Course (LA 1413)

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 sunny southern California.

Steven Butala:

Today Jill and I talk about failing repeatedly and how it's the first requirement to staying on course.

Jill DeWit:

This is clearly a Jack topic.

Steven Butala:

In hindsight, it could have been a different title, but what it really means is this. You got to be comfortable with the fact that some stuff's going to go wrong and sideways. It does with everything in life. And if you just get through the parts where it's not working, it's not working, eventually it's going to work. If you try hard enough at it, or either decide that it was not for you. I talk about this really early on in the Land Academy years about I will never play the guitar. I just won't. And it's not because I can't learn how to do it. It's just that I don't enjoy the process. The end, it doesn't justify the means and all kinds of stuff. It's not that I'm not smart enough. I just don't, for whatever reason, make it a priority.

Jill DeWit:

On that note, if you look on OfferUp right now, you'll see four left-handed guitars for sale.

Steven Butala:

Yeah. It's true. Yeah, just because I bought a cool guitar doesn't mean I really know how to play it at all.

Jill DeWit:

Yeah. I know where you can get a great price on a guitar right now.

Steven Butala:

And I tried and failed and tried and failed and decided nope.

Jill DeWit:

Not for me.

Steven Butala:

You know what? I tried and failed in my land career, too. Tried and failed, tried and failed.

Jill DeWit:

Well, that sung to you.

Steven Butala:

Yeah.

Jill DeWit:

That made sense.

Steven Butala:

But I decided I was still going to try because I want to do it.

Jill DeWit:

Okay. Let's talk about this more than the show because this will be a fun thing to talk about, things that we thought about and then we didn't pursue. 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.

Jill DeWit:

Jessica F... Hello, Jessica, wrote, "Hello all. I'm wondering what kind of due diligence you do related to the neighborhood the property is in? Do you analyze, if at all, if the property is in a nice neighborhood versus a not so nice one? How do you know where the desirable areas of town are outside the prices of houses sold? Are there specific indicators you look for, either good or bad, that can tell you more about a neighborhood beyond just the numbers of properties listed and sold?" Thanks.

Steven Butala:

I can tell you that with extreme confidence, I don't look at this at all, not a single bit. And here's why, because if I look at days on market, if I look at date DOM, days on market, in a place, let's say, the Rust Belt is famous for having... I'm from Detroit. So there's terrible neighborhoods in Detroit. There has been since the 60s. But if the days on market in those markets was within a range where we actively invest, I would be buying there. I don't care why people buy property or don't buy property or what they're looking for. But if 50 properties sold in the days on market in any market, there were 50 properties... You have to take all the three statistics from the red, green, yellow test, and look at them together because... But I'll tell you what, if you don't have time to do that, or you don't have the interest or whatever, days on market is going to smoke it all out for you.

Jill DeWit:

So what I think you're saying is the numbers speak for themselves, which is I like this.

Steven Butala:

This is for land only. For houses it's a little different,

Jill DeWit:

Well, I was actually going to put it on houses a little bit too, because follow me on this here.

Understanding Money in Life (LA 1412)

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 sunny Southern California.

Steven Butala:

Today Jill and I talk about understanding money in life. And no, this is not going to be a lecture.

Jill DeWit:

Okay.

Steven Butala:

Jill said yesterday she's concerned this is going to be a lecture, no, it's not. This title came up for me, and it obviously made it to the light of the show because people ask me stuff, all the time, and I have been walking around the planet incorrectly perceiving a couple of things for quite some time. And I think it's funny that I've been misconceiving this, so we'll talk about it in a minute here. I think people understand accounting, just because I have an accounting background, and I think people understand real estate, and it's just not correct. People need to understand, or I need to be more clear, I guess I should say.

Jill DeWit:

Okay.

Steven Butala:

Are you taking notes?

Jill DeWit:

I am.

Steven Butala:

About what?

Jill DeWit:

Not about that. No, I'm just taking notes and thinking about some things I want to talk about with this.

Steven Butala:

Nobody understands money better than Jill, and I mean that. Most of the people I've ever had any type of relationship with are true cost center, and Jill is truly a walking profit center, and I'm amazed by her all the time. Whether it's at the grocery store, or buying a primary residence, or buying a trailer park, she just gets it.

Jill DeWit:

Thanks.

Steven Butala:

And I don't think there's any better compliment, well, there's probably some better compliments, but-

Jill DeWit:

Yeah, thanks.

Steven Butala:

For a former accountant, there's no better ... it's hard to find a person like that.

Jill DeWit:

Thank you.

Steven Butala:

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

Jill DeWit:

For the record, I think I learned ... there's some stuff that you taught me along the way, and really helped with, so thank you. I don't get all the credit, you helped. You're good, you're awesome. All right, James wrote-

Steven Butala:

This is a repeat question.

Jill DeWit:

Oh.

Steven Butala:

I made a mistake. It's actually from last Tuesday's question.

Jill DeWit:

Let's sub it with a different question. Or make up a question.

Steven Butala:

Yeah, make up a question is what I was going to say.

Jill DeWit:

Okay, let's make up a ... if I were going to read a question today, want to just read this one?

Steven Butala:

Yeah.

Jill DeWit:

Okay, I'll read this one.

Steven Butala:

Okay, sorry.

Jill DeWit:

Okay, Luke M. wrote, "Hey guys, I hope everyone had an amazing Christmas. I'm looking into Landmasters for helping me with mail merging and data scrubbing. I want to hear everyone's input if they have experience with them, or any suggestions on another VA service with these features to help me with the data part of the business. I've heard Jack and Jill mention outsourcing what you aren't good at, and focus on the strengths to be more productive. I suck at the data side of the house, and I was curious if anyone had a better company for these components, or if anyone's had a bad experience with Landmasters' services. Thanks so much, and happy new year." I want to add one little thing first real quick, don't worry anybody about mail merging, because O2O, offers to owners, will automatically do that for free. Now, that's-

Steven Butala:

Landmasters, here's the story of Landmasters. It's a group in the Philippines, run by an amazing person named Jillian. And she and her group, they contacted Jill and I years ago, at least two years ago, right?

Jill DeWit:

Oh gosh, more like four or five years ago. Four, I want to say.

Steven Butala:

And so, at first, I'm like,

Value of our Thursday Deal Review Webinar (LA 1411)

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 the Value of our Thursday Deal Review Webinar.

Jill DeWit:

Webinars.

Steven Butala:

We just did some math, Jill and I, before the episode, and we calculated that between 2016 and 2020, once a week, we do between an hour and a half, usually two to sometimes four hours of webinars with our members. And the vast majority of it is taken up by us playing out the scenario called would you do this deal? And so there's just 500 hours of this in there.

Jill DeWit:

You're explaining the whole show. Should we [crosstalk 00:00:53] show?

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:

Tom wrote, "We'd like to find the right accountability group with a good fit on pace and goals. I have preconceived ideas of my strengths and weaknesses,-

Steven Butala:

So do I, Tom.

Jill DeWit:

- but I may find out differently in practice. Excited to get going." Isn't that true? You don't know until you get in there. You don't know about any of those till you get in there. You're like, "Oh, I'd think I love to do this. No, I hate to do this" or, "Yeah, I'm good at paperwork. Oh my God, I suck at deeds."

Steven Butala:

I'm great at being single, not so much at being married.

Jill DeWit:

Anyway...

Steven Butala:

I have some preconceived ideas of my strengths and weaknesses, too.

Jill DeWit:

I'm good at practicing getting pregnant. I suck at being a mom. Just kidding.

Steven Butala:

Oh, my God, Jill.

Jill DeWit:

I'm just kidding.

Steven Butala:

Where does that come from?

Jill DeWit:

Not me. [inaudible 00:01:46]. You were giving some wild-

Steven Butala:

The perceived ideas about yourself.

Jill DeWit:

Oh, sorry.

Steven Butala:

Not in judgment of other people. Wow, that took a right turn.

Jill DeWit:

No, I [inaudible 00:01:59]. All right, everybody erase that. Okay. Yeah, there's no do-over button here, is there?

Steven Butala:

We're not going to edit that out, no.

Jill DeWit:

I know that. I'm well aware of that. You know what the last time you edited something for me, it's probably been over a year.

Steven Butala:

Yep, it's true.

Jill DeWit:

I was probably crying. There was probably something that made me cry. I was having a really bad day.

Steven Butala:

I have to say... And I'll tell you, you're right, edited out... probably a year.

Jill DeWit:

Yeah. Definitely a year.

Steven Butala:

But we have had to start and stop over several-

Jill DeWit:

You know what it probably was... truth time. I'm sure you and I were getting into it. I think the last time I said, "Oh, we got to do this over," because you and I were getting in to it about something, [crosstalk 00:02:44]. Nobody's going to want to hear this, including me.

Steven Butala:

I listened to a podcast once... I think it was with you... about two people trying to have a podcast together, and they were married [crosstalk 00:02:54] and probably not married anymore actually.

Jill DeWit:

They were getting into it. Yeah, I have to-

Steven Butala:

I have to say that was a lot of fun to listen to.

Jill DeWit:

Yeah. So next time I promise we won't cut it. We'll just let it roll. So if we get into it, you decide... If you think we're getting into it, you're the judge.

Steven Butala:

It's always fun to watch or listen to other people failing at stuff. So it makes you just feel better about yourself. That's what the whole premise of reality TV is I know I'm I got some weird things going on with me, but I'm not as bad as that guy.

Jill DeWit:

That's very true. Like those hoarder shows... I'm like, "It will never be me."

Where Do I get the Money and Who is Going to Teach Me (LA 1410)

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 sunny Southern California.

Steven Butala:

Today, Jill and I talk about; where do we get the money? And who's going to teach me? Came directly out of Jill's mouth-

Jill DeWit:

Why?

Steven Butala:

... without any editing or without any polish.

Jill DeWit:

Thanks.

Steven Butala:

It went like this, "Hey Joe, what should we talk about today?" Well, somebody just asked me, "Where do we get the money? And who's going to teach me?"

Jill DeWit:

Yeah. There you go. It happens a lot. I see new investors, I alluded to this a little bit yesterday on the show, new investors in multiple forums, all kinds of social media accounts and these are the two big things like, "Do I get lending? Do I get financing? Do I take a loan on my house? Do I run up my credit cards? Do I sell something? Do I sell a child? Whatever it is, where do I get the money to get this started?" I'll talk about this more, but, "Who's going to teach me?" and they just throw it out there like you're just going to say, "Who will teach me?" And there's going to be a flood of mentors. That's the funniest thing too, but we'll talk more.

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:

Paula says, 'Hi, all. I keep hearing investors say they won't touch a deal unless they see a potential for at least a hundred percent ROI, return on investment. Is there any reasoning to this other than just about maximizing profit within a range that will still accomplish high velocity sales, as in is this strategy directly related to my 1031 exchange in any way? Thanks."

Steven Butala:

No, it's not related to any 1031 exchange concept in any way. A hundred percent margin or return on investment in ROI, there's no direct association with that at all, but here's where it comes from. Very early on, I wrote a blog, ended up a little piece, a video piece on, "A 24 Month Millionaire." That's what I called it. As with everything, you do 20 of these things and one of them really stands out, well, that one stood out. I've gotten a lot of people over the years have asked me to do it again or talk about it more. So here's a total Cliff's notes version. You buy property for $4000 bucks. You sell it for eight. You buy two for $4000 and eight becomes 16, and 16 becomes 32 and if you do everything wrong under this scenario, you'll have about a million bucks in the bank profit, pure profit.

Jill DeWit:

Why do you say wrong?

Steven Butala:

Well, if you do everything wrong because in my- [crosstalk 00:02:57]

Jill DeWit:

Because you can't do better?

Steven Butala:

Yeah. No, it's just because it's so easy, I think this kind of stuff. That's what kind of desert property, which we don't talk about that much anymore because it's too easy to on a couple of deals the way Jill does these days to make a million bucks anyway. So at that return on investment, that arbitrary, it's doubling your money is where it comes from. In real estate, that's almost unheard of. Just don't do it. So the reason I included this, Paula, is because there's several people in Land Investors forum that are really, for whatever reason, I think they were bored this holiday season or something and they're just really active in it.

Jill DeWit:

That's true, by the way. I'm sure, "Hey, what do we usually do?" "We go to the mall." "Can't go there." "Hey, let's go to this outdoor activity." "Can't do that. That's closed too." Let's go to a movie." "Nope." That's why.

Steven Butala:

What it's become for me and Jill too, I'm sure I can speak for Jill is let's look at two simple deals. I buy a property for $10000. I sell it for $20000.

Why a Small Percentage of People Accomplish Their Goals (LA 1409)

Transcript: 

Steven Butala:

Steve and Jill here.

Jill DeWit:

Happy new year.

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 why a small percentage of people accomplish their goals. And I thought this was appropriate because it's January, well, it's the first real show in January.

Jill DeWit:

Well, it's the fourth. This is one of those rare occasions where we're recording on the actual day.

Steven Butala:

The same day. Why? Because we just got off of, like everybody, having some fun during the holiday season.

Jill DeWit:

Well, here's what's funny too. Last week was supposed to be with my ladies, Land Academy ladies group on Tuesday, which is the 29th or something. We were going to talk about work-life balance. And because I respect work-life balance, I needed some more life balance and not work balance. So I canceled our thing. So tomorrow we're going to pick up where we left on work-life balance. So this is partially why we're recording today too. We needed that work-life balance.

Steven Butala:

Awesome. Today's topic. Oh no... 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:

You're out of your mojo, out of your groove. Aren't you?

Steven Butala:

We haven't recorded in quite some time.

Jill DeWit:

Yeah. It's a week and a half. It's nice. James wrote, "Hello and happy new year. Transitioning military member signing up and excited to get started. The member guide appears to focus on the tools first, but I assume we should review the videos, which are the same thing as reference, the YouTube courses also references DVDs."

Steven Butala:

Yes. That's how long we've been doing this.

Jill DeWit:

Yes. You're right.

Steven Butala:

Used to be in DVD form.

Jill DeWit:

We did. And they provide the basics. "I have some of my family working with me and my initial thoughts about how to organize to take care of the most important responsibilities would be useful. Like step one, build a list, tutorial, step two, sort the list, et cetera. Noted we need a name and a website but we didn't understand the purpose of the website upfront. Is the purpose of the website to list on the mailer so sellers have a website with all your information and documents? Question. Thank you."

Steven Butala:

So this is a very, very popular question that usually Jill and I don't answer it, but I think everybody can benefit from it. We have a pretty substantial number of new members that signed up over the last 90 days. So it's really important to watch the programs, Land Academy One and Land Academy Two. And the Cash Flow From Land, the original program from 2015. And if you follow it step by step, all this stuff will get answered. And you will, at the end of it, have a comprehensive plan and a calendar, or you should anyway, from which to start at that point. So you don't want to build lists or whatever you mentioned in this, I'm not even sure what that means. Because we use database driven data, not lists. So the best thing you can absolutely do is follow the programming in order.

Jill DeWit:

Well, that's great. That's great, Jack. Let me answer your question, James.

Steven Butala:

Really?

Jill DeWit:

Yes. What's the fucking point to the website? Yes. I do want you to go out and spend a couple hundred bucks. Even if you need to do it on... Pay $200 and get something on Fiverr to get your website, pick a name. And you could spend, don't spend a week on this, but spend a day on it and make sure you find a name you like.

Steven Butala:

Yeah, but it's [crosstalk 00:03:32]

Jill DeWit:

Short as possible-

Steven Butala:

It's addressed in the program.

Jill DeWit:

I know, but I'm helping the planet right now.

2021 Mindset for Success (LA 1408)

Transcript:

Steven Butala:

Steve and Jill here.

Jill DeWitt:

Hi.

Steven Butala:

Welcome to 2021 and welcome to the Land Academy Show.

Jill DeWitt:

Yay.

Steven Butala:

Entertaining land investment talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala.

Jill DeWitt:

And I'm Jill DeWitt, broadcasting from sunny southern California.

Steven Butala:

Today Jill and I talk about the 2021 mindset for success.

Jill DeWitt:

I'm excited.

Steven Butala:

We made it.

Jill DeWitt:

We did. Happy New Year. Oh my goodness, glad that's behind us.

Steven Butala:

What a year.

Jill DeWitt:

I know. I can't wait. I have some things I'm going to talk about what I think ... I want to talk about first what I think everybody should do, and then let's talk about unique things for us, because I think that'd be fun.

Steven Butala:

Just a year packed with irony. In our case, it was a very good financial year, but a very sad one. It's sad to watch this happen to our world.

Jill DeWitt:

And our friends, and their businesses, and our community.

Steven Butala:

Right.

Jill DeWitt:

I agree.

Steven Butala:

It taught me personally a lot of humility and a lot of compassion. It's not just about money. For a lot of years, for years and years for me, it's just been about making sure my family's good, and making a bunch of money, and accumulating equity, and making good business decisions, but I'll tell you, what a new component that all was.

Jill DeWitt:

Right.

Steven Butala:

I can say was now. How weird is that?

Jill DeWitt:

Exactly.

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 DeWitt:

John says, "Hi guys. I was curious if anyone's using a CRM to manage their mailers that they would recommend. I'd like to move away from Google Sheets if at all possible. Thanks, John."

Steven Butala:

Yeah, if you're using Google Sheets, John, it's time to move away.

Jill DeWitt:

Yes, it is, like today.

Steven Butala:

It's funny that you say that, and it's 2021. We are actively developing a dashboard that will help you organize everything. It's not going to come out overnight by any stretch, but we're working on it, and it will be the solution. Between now and then, I would highly recommend a CRM like Airtable, which is real easy to develop. It's not free, but it's pretty inexpensive. It'll get the deal flow correctly in there. I think Jill did it.

Jill DeWitt:

They actually have a free version. You can start with that and see if you like it. Yeah.

Steven Butala:

Didn't you do a webinar on this or something?

Jill DeWitt:

Not yet. No, but there is a free version that's pretty robust. You could test it out and see. It's pretty phenomenal. We love it. It's really good to manage everything from the properties, as you move them through the whole system, from the acquisition, to the engineering, to the sales. There's places in there you can keep track of customers, and keep track of title agents, keep track of documents. We use it for everything, so I would do that. Having known all that now, like what you're saying, John, so now we also know its limitations. Here's what I would tell you. Get the free version of Airtable right now. Use it, and be ready for what we're going to develop because it'll solve all your problems.

Steven Butala:

Yep. Today's topic, the 2021 Mindset for Success. This is the meat of the show.

What do you think, just without thinking about it too much, because I know you took a bunch of notes for this, what do you think is just the difference between people that just have the right mindset to get something done, to become successful at something like this, or don't?

Jill DeWitt:

What's the difference? They have an innate drive that they won't stop.

Steven Butala:

Me too.

Jill DeWitt:

It's nature more than nurture.

Steven Butala:

I agree.

Jill DeWitt:

That's the thing.

Steven Butala:

I can write volumes on this,

2021 Market Update (LA 1407)

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 sunny Southern California.

Steven Butala:

Today Jill and I really may... Not Jill, give you a 2021 real estate market update.

Jill DeWit:

Here's the reason. When we were sitting, writing the topics, I asked for this topic. I said, "Babe, we talk a lot in the confines of our bathroom," early in the morning when we're getting ready, which is very true. Fortunately, we have a large bathroom. It's not like a closed door situation. Don't worry about that.

Steven Butala:

Fortunately, Jill has a large bathroom that she lets me into to talk to her, once in a while.

Jill DeWit:

We have a large bathroom. No. And there's actually places to sit in the bathroom, which is very nice. So often one of us is getting ready, usually it's me, not him and he sits down with his cup of coffee and we have these really great in-depth conversations. And lately, as I'm sure you are probably doing this also... I can't wait for 2021.

Steven Butala:

Yeah.

Jill DeWit:

What do you think is going to be possible? What do think is going to happen with this, X, this kind of real estate and these situations and all of that? So I said, "Babe, can we move the bathroom discussion to the podcast," which we are doing now and I'm lovingly calling it The 2021 Market Update by Steven.

Steven Butala:

Boy, that's like truth time effect.

Jill DeWit:

It is.

Steven Butala:

That's the most true thing I've heard with great detail.

Jill DeWit:

Yes. Do you want me to describe our bathroom more?

Steven Butala:

If you need to.

Jill DeWit:

Okay. It's Okay. All right. 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. Pete asks, I'm new to Land Academy but not new to real estate or investing.

Steven Butala:

Good. Good for you.

Jill DeWit:

I sent out my first 10,000 piece mailer... Nice... last week, and I'm waiting for the calls to come in. I'm in the middle of setting up my processes for when that does start happening next week. In a lot of businesses, I know that most of the money's made in the follow-up not the initial contact with a prospect.

In this business, the money's made when you buy it at the right price. Of course. Buy it right, what we say. So it makes sense to me that my focus should be on acquisitions and I'm confident that the rest will fall into place much easier. Is it typical for most of the sellers to agree to a deal on their first phone call, or is there a lot of, let me think about it.

Steven Butala:

These are good questions.

Jill DeWit:

And then you never hear back from them. If the latter is true, I'm thinking of having an extensive, automated follow-up campaign that were really help. By this, I mean putting these automated tools in place, emails, texts, ringless voicemails, Facebook retargeting ads, triggering them to visiting my website that I advertise on my offer letters. When I get a seller that's not ready to commit right away, I would just drop them into my CRM and the rest would be completely automated until they respond again.

It's not too hard to build up something like this that will follow up for a year. It would focus on a lot of contact within the first two weeks, then gradually get down to about one contact attempt a month. Has anyone built something like this out and does it bring a lot of deals that you may or may not have happened? Thanks in advance. Dying to know, did anybody comment on this yet?

Steven Butala:

Oh, there's a bunch of comments on this but I'll tell you, I just had this conversation with my tech team, like three days ago, that these tools are becoming prevalent, where somebody calls you, it goes into a CRM. You either took the call, hopefully. Jill and I just had in the bathroom,