No Place for Emotion in Real Estate (LA 829)

Transcript:

Steven Butala:                   Steve and Jill here.

Jill DeWit:                            Hello.

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

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

Steven Butala:                   Today, Jill and I talk about how there's no place for emotion in real estate.

Jill DeWit:                            There's no crying in baseball. That's what it sounds like. Oh, my goodness.

Steven Butala:                   That's true, too. There's no crying in baseball. That's Tom Hanks, right?

Jill DeWit:                            Speaking of baseball, go Dodgers. Sorry, I had to get that in there.

Steven Butala:                   Hey, before we get into the show, though, let's take a question posted by one of our members on the LandInvestors.com online community. It's free. As you're listening to us, please drop your comments into the comments section below.

Jill DeWit:                            Kathleen asks, "Hi, all. I've had a few folks call asking me if my offer price is my best and final offer. My default position is to tell them that I need to do some due diligence on the specific parcel and get back to them. But, usually my initial offer price is close to where I want to be. Clearly, these folks are interested in selling, but want more money than my deeply discounted price point. Probably not the situation that needs to sell at our prices, but you never know. Do you all have a tactful way of engaging this type of seller either by one, telling them that the offer is my best and final offer-"

Steven Butala:                   That's what I do.

Jill DeWit:                            "... or two, hearing them out, but somehow avoiding [inaudible 00:01:25] yourself situation. Thoughts?"

Steven Butala:                   That's what Jill does.

Jill DeWit:                            Both. Yeah. It's kind of a combination of both. You're right, Kathleen, usually we're pretty darn good. It's pretty you.

Steven Butala:                   This is a really good question. This is a fantastic question.

Jill DeWit:                            You're pretty good, Steven, at coming in with a real good offer, and we, traditionally, don't need to adjust them at all. If anything, what we do is we will maybe send a video or I'll have a few minute conversation with them explaining our pricing and explain the situation. It's usually something like, "Have you seen the property in 10 years?" Usually, the answer is, "No."

Steven Butala:                   Yeah, if there's that much talking at all.

Jill DeWit:                            Right. Then they're usually ... When you explain that ... Yeah. Remember at that mall that was supposed to be built out that area? That didn't happen.

Steven Butala:                   Right.

Jill DeWit:                            They go, "Oh, that's what's going on." Yeah. Often they know, you know? That's the funny thing. They ask, it's like we all ask. Imagine most people don't walk up with a used car and look at it and expect ... or like you say, Craigslist ... expect that, "Well, that's the price of the car." We're kind of trained to try to ask and maybe see if we can get a little bit better deal. I think that's a little bit of what's going on, too. I understand that. But, usually in the back of their heads, they know it's vacant. They know there's not much going on. They know that we might have a need for it, and they're ... But, they just start trying to ask.