How to Sell Property Online 1 of 5 – Social Media Ball Rolling (CFFL 0156)
How to Sell Property Online 1 of 5 – Social Media Ball Rolling
Jack Butala: How to Sell Property Online 1 of 5 – Social Media Ball Rolling. Every Single month we give away a property for free. It’s super simple to qualify. Two simple steps. Leave us your feedback for this podcast on iTunes and number two, get the free ebook at landacademy.com, you don’t even have to read it. Thanks for listening.
Jack Butala:
Steven Jack Butala here for Land Academy. Welcome to our Cash Flow From Land show where we show you how to buy property for half and resell it the next day, the very next day. Great information and instruction from Jack, that’s me …
Jill DeWit:
… And inspiration from Jill, that’s me.
Jack Butala:
In this episode, Jack … In this episode, Jill and I talk about how to sell property online, episode 1 of 5. Tons of our members and other people are asking us to do series on how to sell property, not just buy it. This is episode 1 of 5, “Get the Social Media Ball Rolling.”
Jill, great show today. Before we start we’ll take a question from a caller or from a member like we always do on our free community SuccessPlant.com. Today I’m going to read the question. Question from Hobart, didn’t tell us where he’s from, but here’s the situation: “I have a guy who responded to one of my Craigslist ads a few months ago and he rejected my offer, but he came back and he really wants to unload the property. It’s 2 adjacent properties in Lima, Ohio and they’re just under a half acre each.” Then he gives us actual links to the property, which tells me he’s really on his way to putting his first deal together. “The owner said something about there being a slope one the properties and needing to work with engineers to build it which scares me a little bit. The slope isn’t apparent from Google Maps …” Boy, this guy’s doing everything right. Although the parcels are heavily wooded, they have houses on either side of them and a lake over next to the street. It looks like it’s a very good area to invest in, so he checked it out and he says, “Looking on LandWatch there are 10 or so vacant lots listed for 14 thousand dollars each in the Lima, Ohio area. One thing I’m concerned about is the fact that the owner obtained the properties at a tax deed sale.” Which is the real question I think here, Jill.
Jill DeWit:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala:
“Is it okay to buy property at a tax, or buy property from somebody who purchased it at a tax deed sale?” Here’s my answer: Man, my hat is off to you for doing all the research and really asking a well informed question. I was going to read this question right before we started the show and Jill said, “Oh my gosh. This is such a crazy long question, are you serious?”
Jill DeWit:
Right.
Jack Butala:
I chose it for a reason. Hobart, you’re doing everything right and I’m proud of you. You’re right on your way to doing your first deal. No, I wouldn’t be too concerned about buying property at a tax deed sale at all, as long as you do your homework, just as you’ve done all the way up til now. Can you go get title insurance on it? Yeah. In fact, the longer he’s owned it, the easier it’s going to be. People do this all the time. They buy properties at a tax sale and they either do a quiet title action or they get title insurance after the fact. Is it super simple, just like buying a house like we always do? No, but it’s something that you can work through very easily. I would not be afraid of the tax deed piece at all.
The engineering piece, however, on these properties … Jill and I always say this: On your first 2 or 3 deals, or let’s say 5, make it easy on yourself. Choose a property that has no issues whatsoever, no concerns. The type of property where you run into the bank saying, “Man, I hope this seller doesn’t change his mind.” While I think this, on the onset, is something maybe I would take on because I’ve done almost 16 thousand deals now. I’m not so sure this is the best first deal for you. You kind of want a slam dunk, so send a huge mailer out and choose from all the offers that come back and make it easy on yourself. Don’t you think, Jill?
Jill DeWit:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Exactly.
Jack Butala:
Do you have anything else on this that really kind of trips your … Your staff is on the front lines more than me these days.
Jill DeWit:
I know, and I agree with you. When you’re starting out. If you’ve got 3 things it sounds like going on here that you really want to make sure that you do them right. The changes of goofing up something are higher then if you had some really, really easy ones as you get rolling, and keep working on this one on the side too by the way.
Jack Butala:
Yeah.
Jill DeWit:
That’s one of the things that we talk about. I talked to someone the other day, we were talking about, “What if I just target 50 thousand dollar properties and sell them for 100 thousand dollars?” I’m like, well, okay, let’s think about this. You’re going to do a lot less of those and there might be more things to think about then doing 50 1000 dollar deals and doubling your money. You’re going to get there, you’re going to get to the same end, why don’t we make it easier on ourselves?
Jack Butala:
People use our data to do that all the time …
Jill DeWit:
It’s possible.
Jack Butala:
… But they’re not super new.
Jill DeWit:
Right.
Jack Butala:
They’ve done some inexpensive rural land deals, a lot of them before that. Jill and I do deals like that all the time. We send out offers on houses and larger acreage property and spend 50 and bring in 80.
Jill DeWit:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala:
The answer is heck yes.
Jill DeWit:
Even just on a smaller scale. It’s very realistic to make 5 to 10 thousand dollars on a transaction that you do right, so just do a couple of those instead of wait for that one big, big, big one that you’re going to spend a lot more time on.
Jack Butala:
Right.
Jill DeWit:
You could be doing … That’s what you and I come back to sometimes, like when we did some of the flipping that we did. When we sat down and really looked at the numbers and looked at the time and the energy and who all was involved and everything, we realized, gosh, we could’ve made so much more money and made it easier on ourselves doing multiple smaller deals.
Jack Butala:
Exactly. Well said
Jill DeWit:
Then if one little deal, maybe something didn’t work out right or whatever, big deal. The wheels aren’t falling off the bus, it’s one little thing.
Jack Butala:
Right.
Jill DeWit:
The 49 others make up for the one, especially when you’re new.
Jack Butala:
The whole idea is to get the machine rolling and not really concentrate on any one single deal too much.
Jill DeWit:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala:
Incidentally, I lived in this part of the country for awhile and there’s some really cool creative things to do with lots like this to make the really valuable. Long story short, you’ve gotta build a house on stilts kind of thing, and it’s not uncommon. For some of us who live in other areas, you’re kind of saying, “What?” But it’s really not an uncommon thing at all.
Hey, if you have a question, or you want to be on the show, call 800-725-8816. The topic today is Sales Episode 1 of 5, “Let’s Get the Social Media Ball Rolling.” Boy, I really wish somebody would’ve told me this a lot of years before I caught on. If you’re younger and you’re listening to this, you have a huge edge over some of us who are a little bit older. This whole social media thing, you were born with it or you got in tune with it when you were younger, you have a huge advantage.
Jill DeWit:
Can I just make sure you’re not talking about me?
Jack Butala:
Now we’re going to bring age into it.
Jill DeWit:
Wait, wait, wait. You said, “Those of us.” I’m like, which group am I in, Steven? I just want to clarify here. I hope I’m in the cool group.
Jack Butala:
Jill, you are the age that you feel like on the inside.
Jill DeWit:
Thank you. I have to admit by the way, as far as, without throwing myself under the bus, I think I’m pretty good compared to a lot of people as far as social media and things like that.
Jack Butala:
I think we both are.
Jill DeWit:
Okay, thank you.
Jack Butala:
It didn’t happen by accident, we learned.
Jill DeWit:
Totally.
Jack Butala:
Like way the hell after college learned.
Jill DeWit:
Steven, I use Snapchat. Do you use Snapchat?
Jack Butala:
I have used it.
Jill DeWit:
All right, just checking.
Jack Butala:
If I had somebody to Snapchat with I would use it more.
Jill DeWit:
Okay.
Jack Butala:
If I had a reason to delete everything … If my parents were looking at my phone I would use it.
Jill DeWit:
Oh, okay. Got it. Okay, thank you.
Jack Butala:
The meat of the show is this: Sales, sales, sales. How do I get … This whole series is a result of people requesting that we do it. Jill, our members and other people are saying, “You guys talk about acquisitions and buying stuff cheap all the time. You show us how to do it, you provide the tools, but what about sales?” Sure I’d get involved, but I don’t know how to sell the stuff.
Let’s start with step one, get the social media ball rolling. Here’s my saying and my mantra: Good acquisitions solve all sales problems, all sales issues or concerns, but no matter what, you still have to have a super strong web presence.
Jill DeWit:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala:
There’s just no replacing it and it doesn’t happen overnight. However, it doesn’t have to be hard either. You’ve got to create a website or get one created. It doesn’t take too much money or time. Make sure it’s got email addresses, you can’t use an email account. You could when you’re starting out but you want to have this in the back of your head. You want to make sure that you’re going to have a phone number that you’re going to use for a very, very long time. The same with a mailing address. I’m suggesting that it’s not your house or apartment and that your phone number’s not your cell phone. Then you want to make sure you have a Facebook and a Twitter account at the very least. There’s a few other accounts that I’m going to suggest in a few minutes here, but essentially that’s it. It’s not really that hard. Like any other business that you would create or any other type of web presence you have to start with a website.
Jill DeWit:
I would suggest not only your business, but your name. Build them both up at the same time because, who knows? You might go off and do some other business, but it’s your name. You want to keep all these customers, these people that know you, and then be … People want to get to know you. It’s not just your business. We kind of joke about that and laugh about what it used to be. We talked to somebody the other day about it.
Jack Butala:
I was going to say that.
Jill DeWit:
He came from that too. He had a data company, didn’t he? No-
Jack Butala:
It was an IT company.
Jill DeWit:
An IT company, that’s what it was. He was like, Back when he started, “No one really cared to know who I was, it was all about my company,” which was true. Now it’s not that way. They want to know you too.
Jack Butala:
Yeah. If you’ve noticed in some of the television commercials right now, some very large companies like, let’s say Toyota and some insurance companies, and AT&T. For years and years and years the conventional knowledge for any size company was to say, “All right, we’re Toyota,” and that’s it. Brand that name. Now, this younger generation and the people that are up and coming and have a ton of money to spend, a disposable income, they want to see a face to that company. If you’ll notice that Progressive Insurance and Toyota, and AT&T on TV, they all have the face of a young woman, who’s kind of becoming the face or is the face now of that company.
Jill DeWit:
Like Flo.
Jack Butala:
Like Flo. I don’t know the other names of the people [crosstalk 00:11:23].
Jill DeWit:
I don’t know the other girls names. I know there’s the Toyota one, we hear her name, and the other girl, I don’t know if we hear her name, but the AT&T or something …
Jack Butala:
It’s eerie how much the look similar too.
Jill DeWit:
It’s true.
Jack Butala:
I’m sure that didn’t happen by accident, but you want to brand your name and your face and yourself, way more than some company name. It took me, again, a long time to get used to that but that’s really the conventional way to do this now. It’s all part of getting the social media ball rolling. What ends up happening with a lot of our members is that they say, “Well that’s great, Steve. I want to do a real estate deal so I’m going to skip this. I’m going to put it on the back burner …” Then they all come back one by one a couple of months later and say, “Man, you were right. I really should’ve gotten that done because I sent 2 mailers out and now I’m doing real estate deals and I got to go backwards. I’ve got to start this whole thing and it takes a long time …”
Trust me when I say, you really need to get this thing rolling, even if you just spent one weekend on it, getting the site up. It’s not real hard to find somebody to do a website for you pretty inexpensively. Make sure you’re going to use on that first mailer you send out the same phone number, mailing address, and you’re ready when parcels start coming in to have some type of Facebook and Twitter account so you can kind of tell everybody what’s going on on the internet with these properties that you’re buying or trying to buy.
Jill DeWit:
When I’m coaching some of our members too and they’re asking questions about the process and talking about where to post properties and all the different things that we’re talking about, one of the things I ask is, “Do you have a website?” If you say no, that might be holding you back. You may not know it-
Jack Butala:
What’s the percentage there, Jill? You ask a lot of people that question. How many say yes and no?
Jill DeWit:
The majority do say yes.
Jack Butala:
Oh good, okay.
Jill DeWit:
The majority do say yes and I can clearly tell the people, especially in SuccessPlant. I can absolutely pick out the very successful people and there’s a really common denominator. They have all done A, B, C, D, E, just like you and I had said.
Jack Butala:
Well said.
Jill DeWit:
Thank you. That’s what’s great, when I talk to people who are thinking about this they’re asking some questions, I’m like, Look, here’s the deal, we’re going to tell you A, B, C, D, E. If you do A, B, C, D, E in that order, you will be just fine. And it shows.
Jack Butala:
Excellent.
Jill DeWit:
Thank you. Don’t skip one. Don’t skip social media.
Jack Butala:
Yeah. Be glad you already have it going.
Jill DeWit:
Mm-hmm (affirmative), exactly.
Jack Butala:
This is the if/then segment of our show. If you do X, then Y will happen. If you want to sell properties efficiently, then post them on the internet in at least 6 places and email your A list. That’s the topic of Episode 2 so we’re not going to go into in too much detail now, but if you want to sell properties efficiently, then post them on the internet in at least 6 places. What are those 6 places? Oh, geez. Say it again, Jill.
Jill DeWit:
Website.
Jack Butala:
Facebook, Twitter, LandWatch, Land and Farm, Postlets, which helps you post Trulia and Zillow, and then finally, and most importantly, send a direct email about these properties that you’re buying to a list that you’re building, and we’ll cover that in the next episode.
Jill DeWit:
Exactly.
Jack Butala:
Hey, if you have a question or you want to be on the show, call 800-725-8816. Jill, do you have some inspiration for us today?
Jill DeWit:
I always do because that’s me. Just kidding.
Jack Butala:
You’re a ball of inspiration.
Jill DeWit:
Thank you. Okay, so this came from a conversation I had with my girlfriend the other day and I thought it was really, really cool. She was talking about what keeps her going and what keeps her motivated on a day to day basis. For her it’s so great because she has to take … it’s funny, she says, “I have to take 2 trips a month, then I’m happy.” That’s what keeps her motivated.
Jack Butala:
Like business trips for just any trips?
Jill DeWit:
Any trips. It was so funny because she was here visiting you and I …
Jack Butala:
This is brilliant.
Jill DeWit:
I know.
Jack Butala:
I love this part of the show.
Jill DeWit:
This is really interesting because she realized that when I reached out to her to get her to come out and spend a couple days at the beach with us, she said, “Oh my gosh, Jill, thank you so much. It came at just the right time. I realized I had not been on an airplane in 6 weeks.” For her that was a lot. She said, “I took a step back and I realize I have to do 2 trips a month.” Whether it’s personal or business it doesn’t matter, so my inspiration and my question to you is, what motivates you on a daily basis, that gets you getting up in the morning and why you do what you do? Do you know?
Jack Butala:
You mean for me personally?
Jill DeWit:
Yeah, what are yours, Steven?
Jack Butala:
You got me really thinking because that’s such a great topic. The big picture piece to this is you can have all the information and instruction and tools, because that’s kind of my piece. I’m the more technical person about, this is how you do it, here’s the education piece and here’s the tools, but if you’re not inspired … I don’t mean like inspired one time, I mean constantly and consistently inspired or motivated to get it done, to reach that end goal, it’s not going to happen. Or your dramatically reducing the chance of it happening.
I am very, very motivated by 2 things: I’m motivated by the prospect of profit of money and for whatever reason, I’m extremely motivated and I get all jacked up and happy about buying stuff that’s undervalued, getting a good deal. It’s kind of the thrill of the chase. Every morning it’s like, “Man, what can we buy for half today and make a ton of money?”
Jill DeWit:
I think you’re being honest because that’s really true about you. Mine are so different.
Jack Butala:
I know and that’s why we’re partners.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah.
Jack Butala:
What are they?
Jill DeWit:
Mine are I love variety. Motivates me every day is waking up and kind of not knowing what the day’s going to bring. I know it drives you crazy. You want consistency, I love the variety. I really enjoy that, and I love big projects. I love the thought of where we’re going with X and all the steps it’s going to take to get to that point, like writing a book. I like the thought of a book and on the bookshelf, but man, there’s a lot of things that go into it and I kind of like the sitting down, dissecting it and planning it out and having that to look forward to, having that big end goal to look forward to.
Jack Butala:
Right. Hey, can I make a perception?
Jill DeWit:
Sure.
Jack Butala:
All day long I hear you communicating with people. Typically, we are in our own offices, right now we’re in an extended California on the beach situation, so we’re working in the same room right now. All day long I hear you communicating with people in different ways, whether it’s email, on the phone, or whatever. Some are brand new, some have been with us as members for a long time, and I can tell a difference between when you’re really getting through to somebody and when it’s maybe not so much. When you’re done and you go through to somebody and you actually helped them, forget about the money.
Jill DeWit:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala:
I think that that keeps … You’re-
Jill DeWit:
It does.
Jack Butala:
… Very inspired by helping people.
Jill DeWit:
I am, that’s true. Thank you.
Jack Butala:
That’s just my perception.
Jill DeWit:
That’s a great perception and it’s true. Thank you Steven. Jack. What’s your name? Just kidding.
Jack Butala:
My middle name’s Jack and everybody loves Jack and Jill so we’re making that transition and thank you listeners for your patience.
Jill DeWit:
Exactly.
Jack Butala:
I don’t really know … People are calling me all kinds of different stuff in my personal and professional life so if you think you’re confused …
Jill DeWit:
Just go with “Hey you”. That’s what I do sometimes.
Jack Butala:
Join us in another episode where Jack and Jill discuss how to use information, that’s me …
Jill DeWit:
… And inspiration, that’s me …
Jack Butala:
… To get just about anything you want. We use it everyday to buy property for half and sell it for more almost immediately. Immediately. Good show, Jill.
Jill DeWit:
It is. So tell me about your perception because I want to know your observation when, what do I do, is it physically that you see me that I’m, when people don’t get it, or they do get it, what’s the trigger? How do you know?
Jack Butala:
I’m going to give you 2 direct examples. I’m not going to name any names but they’re 2 recent conversations or connections that you’ve had.
Jill DeWit:
Okay.
Jack Butala:
One is about a week ago or less, maybe 5 days ago, you had a talk on the phone with somebody who just was not ready in any way to participate in purchasing real estate and I could tell right from the get go. You didn’t show any frustration or anything like that, but you weren’t getting through to that person and it’s not your fault or their fault, they just were not ready. It’s kind of like teaching algebra to a 3rd grader. There’s a lot of steps that have to go on before that. You’re extremely good at meeting these people from where they come, communicating to them that way …
Jill DeWit:
Okay.
Jack Butala:
… But sometimes they just don’t hear it.
Jill DeWit:
Got it.
Jack Butala:
It’s not you or them, they’re just not ready.
Jill DeWit:
Got it.
Jack Butala:
I could tell it was frustrating for you. I’m not saying you weren’t helpful and I think that you did … In the end I think that person got steered in the right direction. I think a lot of people, Jill, would’ve sold them something or said … but you didn’t do that.
Jill DeWit:
Oh, yeah.
Jack Butala:
I think your heard was totally in the right place and you said, “You’re not ready and please go do this, this, this, and this,” completely outside of the family of companies here, “Go do this ad see if this is really what you want to do.”
Jill DeWit:
Yeah. Thank you, Steven. That’s the last thing I want. I don’t want somebody jumping into this when it’s really not the right thing for them or they really don’t understand how this works and all that. I don’t want … I’m not here to create a mess for anybody.
Jack Butala:
The flip side of that is, the positive side, the other side of the coin is that I just overheard you speaking with, or communicating about … I think you were talking to somebody else about this. You weren’t speaking directly to the person, but there’s a person who purchased one of our education programs and they were not ready to, and that’s fine, get involved with buying the tools to send out mailers and do the direct mail piece, the Data to Doorstep piece to this.
Jill DeWit:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala:
What was holding this person back was that a concern for the technical skill that they had for using Excel, specifically, and I think you got that person through that incredibly well, and I think that that person was ready to … You provided the tools for them, again, outside of our family of companies, to get the basic Excel skills. Not that you need it, but for whatever reason, everybody’s got a thing.
Jill DeWit:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala:
Everbody’s got a little thing in the back of their head saying, “Man, if I only just had this then I could do it.”
Jill DeWit:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala:
For whatever reason, Excel was this person’s thing. I had a bunch of things when I started too.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah, and this actually, this was not just one person. There were a couple people that were asking very similar questions that I was addressing and I was trying to help them all at the same time. It’s all good.
Jack Butala:
Right, exactly.
Jill DeWit:
You know what the biggest thing is? Thank you for asking. I don’t care what it is. That’s the thing about you and I, we are really here to help and we want to succeed. How we succeed is all of our people succeeding.
Jack Butala:
Right.
Jill DeWit:
I don’t want anyone to ever think a question’s dumb or small or whatever, if it’s a question, it’s a concern whatever, it’s valid and most of the time, people don’t even realize, you’re not alone. “Really? Other people have asked this?” Heck yeah.
Jack Butala:
That’s why we started SuccessPlant so you can go in there and see the questions that people ask.
Jill DeWit:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala:
I can almost guarantee now, the sites been up for awhile, there’s a lot of people in there asking questions that are going to be very similar to yours.
Jill DeWit:
Well here’s a beautiful example, you and I spent over 6 months writing, recording, putting together or whole [inaudible 00:24:00]. Over 6 months to come up with 14 hours of information, and we tried our best to think about every possible question, scenario, we gave working examples, recordings, all kinds of stuff, but there’s always going to be something. Somebody’s going to pick up on a little something or maybe they just learn a different way or something doesn’t make sense, or like you just said, where SuccessPlant came in. Now we’re just like, “Oh, okay, all right. We can help you with that.” Some people got it, some people learn different and we’re all here together.
Jack Butala:
I constantly adjust how we address people’s questions, constantly, and it’ll never end.
Jill DeWit:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala:
Based on the feedback that I get. I did a consultant call yesterday or 2 days ago and we were talking to some extremely bright people that they didn’t understand this one tiny little part. It’s not that they didn’t understand it, I just don’t think they thought about it that way.
Jill DeWit:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala:
I learned from them, they learned from me and now, in the future, I take a couple steps back before we even get into that topic.
Jill DeWit:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala:
I think that’s what it takes.
Jill DeWit:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala:
Hey, let’s go buy something for half price today and resell it. Jack and Jill, information and inspiration.
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