How to Separate Escrow Service & Title Policy (CFFL 0270)
How to Separate Escrow Service & Title Policy
Jack Butala: How to Separate Escrow Service & Title Policy. 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: Jack Butala with Jill DeWit.
Jill DeWit: Howdie.
Jack Butala: Welcome to our show today. In this episode of Jill and I, Jill becomes a cowgirl. No, in this episode, Jill and I talk about how to separate escrow, escrow service, and title policies. Great show today, Jill. Sounds like it might be a little technical. We’ll have as much fun with it as we can. Before we get into it let’s take a question posted by one of our members on successplant.com, our free online community.
Jill DeWit: You’re just thinking about me in cowboy boots now.
Jack Butala: I don’ t ever stop thinking of you like that, trust me.
Jill DeWit: Chaz asks, “Hey guys, I got myself into a bit of a pickle. I’m not advertising terms on my ads, but after constantly getting emails from people asking, and also realizing I’ve sold a few and I could use some monthly cash flow, I started telling people I could. Most quit, never emailed back when I told them what I wanted for a down payment. Now someone bit and is in a time crunch to get them on the property.”
Jack Butala: That’s good.
Jill DeWit: “I have no idea where to start and I don’t feel like going back through the DVD’s.” This is great.
Jack Butala: I can’t take watching this thing anymore.
Jill DeWit: Oh my gosh, Chaz, that’s so good.
Jack Butala: That’s awesome.
Jill DeWit: I don’t feel like going back through the DVD’s.
Jack Butala: You know what, Chaz, I don’t feel like doing them anymore either.
Jill DeWit: That’s so good.
Jack Butala: You think that’s hard to watch, you should try actually doing it.
Jill DeWit: And editing it. “No offense, y’all, they were great, lol. I feel the same as I did when I was stuck on deeds. Every time I read through the file my eyes glaze over. What all is needed to get this transaction done? Property is in ex state. Any help is greatly appreciated.” It says, but I’m not saying it.
Jack Butala: Can I answer this first part of this?
Jill DeWit: Sure.
Jack Butala: Chaz, I am right there with you buddy, paperwork, me and paperwork, we don’t mix well. You’ve got to do a couple of these yourself. You’ve just got to get through it. Sounds like this is one of your first ones. The good news is that topic by topic Jill and I are creating companies to help you. If you can’t stand the paperwork, there are note servicing companies out there that can help you. They charge a little bit every month, but they’ll help you, they’ll take all the white paperwork out of your life. Jill and I were starting on, in the works several other companies. To help you really immediately there’s an evergreen note servicing will help you immediately. They have all the contracts, we have contracts in the program. There are note contracts that you can use directly.
Jill DeWit: That’s how I took what he was asking. You really have two choices, Chaz, you have to go back and you either A) Figure it out, or B) Hire somebody. It’s kind of whatever you want to do. You know what my number one is, don’t hire them yet. Hire them when you’re a pro and it’s taking up your time and it’s taking you away from other things that’s costing you money, then hire somebody. At the beginning, I hate to say it, but go back and figure it out.
Jack Butala: You’ve just got to. I hate to say it, she’s right.
Jill DeWit: The big thing is, Chaz, it’s not that big of a deal. Let me just bring it down just real quick here. You don’t have to go back and study what we talk about, let’s just think about the big picture. Your and your buyer just need to agree on the terms. That’s number one. Whatever makes you both happy it’s not like there’s any rule of thumb, “It has to be X amount of percentage down, X amount of this, X amount of that.” What down and what terms and what interest and all that stuff. It’s whatever you guys agree on. Don’t get bogged down on that. Number two, you just really need to put that on paper. That’s it. Like Jack said, in the back, in our stuff you have in there those contracts. You can pull it out, you have to spend a little bit of time, but go through them and make them your own. It’s all downloaded and there for you to edit, and update, and make your own, fill in those terms, send it to the guy, have them sign it, send it back, and now you have what you need to let him start doing what he wants you to do, after he pays you some money of course, and then the rest you’ll figure it out.
Jack Butala: It’s really not that bad once you get into it. It’s really like doing a deed. There’s 5, 6, 8, or 10 variables. It’s the guy’s name, their down payment like Jill said. Those are really the only variables. Whatever, 8 page agreement, I think you fill in 10 spots. It’s real simple.
Jill DeWit: We shared ours for a reason, Chaz.
Jack Butala: [Crosstalk 00:04:51] we tried to make it easier. I know this comes, I put a lot of paperwork in our program, the [inaudible 00:04:58] for land program because I can’t stand it either. We’re lucky, now we’ve gotten big enough so people do it for us. I know where you are man, I feel you.
Jill DeWit: You’ll fill in the pieces as you go, too, Chaz. Let’s really think about this. Say you don’t have something set up to do payments yet. That’s okay, get your down payment. People are so understanding. You can work it out for the first couple months, you discuss it. You’ve got to mail me a check, let’s be honest, like a rent check, the first couple months I’m getting this set up I need a check on this date or whatever you guys work out and then you’re going to call them in three months when you have your online payment system set up on your website and you’re going to roll them into that.
Jack Butala: It’s really true.
Jill DeWit: It’s not a rush, and it doesn’t have to be perfect out of the gate.
Jack Butala: I’ll tell you what though, don’t just do this one contract. This is going to happen the whole time. Set up a system for yourself. Now you’ve got one contract and you’re inputting 8 variables or something. Maybe highlight whatever your system might be in the crudest form. If it’s in Microsoft Word just highlight the 8 places that you do these variables and keep that as a template so the next time you can just kick it back right out.
Jill DeWit: Jack’s right. Now you have a checklist for every time you now have after this one terms guy and you figure all the pieces out you’re going to end up with a 20 step checklist or whatever it is, so for the next guy that comes along it’s going to be easy.
Jack Butala: You know what we do? We used to do, we have an even better system now, but what I used to do when I was a small shop like that for deeds I would buy, let’s say I buy 10-15 properties and we’re going through the acquisition phase, I would just take 10 minutes and do all the deeds. I know I’m going to sell these 10-15 properties individually to people, I would do the whole deed with the exception of who I’m selling it to. Now it’s all done, it’s in a [inaudible 00:06:43] computer somewhere, and when somebody buys it it takes you 13 seconds to fill their name in and get them to sign it and get it to the or record it or whatever.
Jill DeWit: Chaz doesn’t have to do that because he’s a pro and he has deed perfect.
Jack Butala: Oh, he’s actually just a member?
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Jack Butala: Why?
Jill DeWit: I know. That’s all good. That’s some good advice, but I was just throwing out there for people that they don’t have to do that anymore.
Jack Butala: You know, you talked to your kids one way and you talk to your kids friends another way. I’m not going to discipline my kids friends, but I it’s my kid … Chaz, if you’re a member.
Jill DeWit: You’re a kid, you’re one of our kids, just kidding.
Jack Butala: I’m going to be a little more hard …
Jill DeWit: Now we’re going to be hard on you.
Jack Butala: If you’re smart enough to become a member and get this far when you’re selling property, do not let this tiny little thing … The time that you wrote this question you could have been done with the whole thing.
Jill DeWit: You know what I hear? I hear Chaz being lazy. I’m just kidding.
Jack Butala: We’re going to do our first return.
Jill DeWit: You’re so silly. Chaz knows I’m kidding. That was very, very good.
Jack Butala: Today’s topic, how to separate escrow services and title policy services. What happened? Why do we have to talk about this kind of stuff? Here’s why … It’s so important. When you go to buy and sell a house, and I only bring this up because the vast majority of people in the real estate business, that’s their first experience. You throw everything at a title officer, or an escrow officer, you walk in their office and pile on a 2 inch thick file and say, “Good luck Nancy, I’ll talk to you in 30 days.” If you’re a real estate agent, you know exactly what I’m talking about. Real estate agents praise escrow agents because in my opinion they do 90% of the work in a real estate deal.
Jill DeWit: That’s true.
Jack Butala: Early in my career I said, “This is getting expensive.” $500-$600 for a title policy in escrow? I don’t really need a title policy on these things, but I don’t want to close the deal myself, I just want escrow. I went on a worldwide search and I came up with zilch. It’s nearly impossible, in my opinion, to find a company that will separate escrow services with title when it comes to real estate. If you are a member or anyone who has been able to accomplish this, please email us, I would love to know.
Jill DeWit: Email Jack.
Jack Butala: Escrow. For the sake of definition, escrow is a guy in the middle, an unrelated 3rd party, a person in the middle, between a transaction, a buyer, and a seller. The buyer gives the escrow person money, the seller gives them their signature, their documents and things that are required to get the property conveyed, and that person in the middle orchestrates everything so that one person can’t hose over the other person. Then they throw the title policy in. You have to get a title policy. Why do they do that? Is that a law? No. It’s so profitable. It’s insurance. It’s an insurance policy. What’s the cost to issue an insurance policy? Like 13 cents, and it’s expensive. You can’t separate escrow with title, as far as I know. What are Jill and I going to do? We’re going to start a company. It’s already started, specifically for this product type that separates those two, because we’re not money grubbing crazy people on Wall Street.
Jill DeWit: That’s hilarious. That’s so funny.
Jack Butala: To separate the two, that is a lesson in why that stuff gets so expensive. It’s so interesting. You just need an unrelated 3rd party, it doesn’t matter who it is. For us it ends up being that notary, how we do deals. The notary doesn’t care, they want a signature, they want to deliver the check.
Jill DeWit: It’s kind of an extension of that. It really is, with a few more steps and a few more assurances required of each party that nobody’s going to, like you said, hose over the other person. That’s really it. You just want to make sure the money’s going to be delivered on this day at this time, as promised.
Jack Butala: The other person, whoever they are at the other end they want to make sure they get the real estate.
Jill DeWit: Hand over the keys.
Jack Butala: Yeah, get the keys.
Jill DeWit: That’s it, that’s really all it is. Why we have to sign a stack of papers and go through for the other stuff is annoying.
Jack Butala: When we were kids there was a commercial out. I wonder I you remember it. This guy, he’s in a suit and he stands there in front of the camera and he says, “I took a shave with this razor, and I liked it so much I bought the company.” Do you remember that?
Jill DeWit: No.
Jack Butala: I think it was Gillette. That’s what I feel like sometimes. Every time someone says, “You know what? I can’t separate title and escrow.” I’m like, “You know what, I’m going to start the company because I have that problem too.”
Jill DeWit: Exactly. It’s amazing to me.
Jack Butala: Taking the profit margin out of real estate by Jack and Jill.
Jill DeWit: Know what I was thinking about? Think about the other things. It’s so funny how these two, every company requires them to go hand in hand, because they can. Imagine what if you bought a car and you were required to buy the 5 year warranty on every time you buy a car period. That would take so much out of the profit of the car. I’m trying to imagine. Nobody else does that. Even in Best Buy you can say, “No, I don’t need the computer warranty, but the could require it.
Jack Butala: Exactly. That’s a perfect way to look at this. If you had to buy a warranty on ever piece of electronics you ever bought, it’s mandatory …
Jill DeWit: If you went to a store.
Jack Butala: That’s what this industry’s telling us, and nobody even questions it.
Jill DeWit: Isn’t that interesting.
Jack Butala: That is a good parlay into my technical tip.
Jill DeWit: Good, go.
Jack Butala: This is the Technical 2, 2 minutes of property investment advice from our 15 year, $15,000 deal experience. Think out of the box on these real estate deals. We don’t like that they can’t separate escrow and title. We’re going to do something about it, we’re going to get our escrow license and we’re going to separate them.
Jill DeWit: I thought you were going to say, “We’re going to get our ass in gear.” Escrow I thought was going to be ass. We’re going to get off our asses and we’re going to do it.
Jack Butala: Very, very specific real example of a transaction deal review call. We have this thing called deal review, you can call me and I’ll sit there for a half hour and review your deal and tell you whether I think you should do it or not. A lot of people use it. I did one this week for 2 guys in South Carolina. Very long story short, they opened the whole conversation by saying, “Your system works, this is awesome, I’ve been buying a bunch of property, we’re in a point right now where we need to close these 3 deals and you have to use an attorney in South Carolina.” I said, “Stop, stop, stop, stop. What do you mean you have to use an attorney to close a deal?” They said, “You have to use an attorney.” These are guys that have been … One’s a contractor and one is a house flipper. They have a lot of experience in real estate. I said, “I’m not so sure about that. I really would call the recorder.” You should be calling the reorder anyway on every deal because you’re making friends.
We had the call, I reviewed their deals, totally some of them I said maybe. Then I get an email back 20 minutes later and they said, “I grew up in the state doing real estate deals, my parents did real estate deals. I called the recorder and she said, ‘No, you don’t need an attorney at all. You just have to do this, this, and this, and go to this link!’ With exclamation points and smiley faces and the whole thing.” Please, think out of the box. Just because people have been telling you you can’t separate escrow and title or you need an attorney to close a deal, check it out.
Jill DeWit: Make sure.
Jack Butala: Your county recorder is a wealth of information.
Jill DeWit: Exactly.
Jack Butala: Now these guys are running a deed perfect, doing their own deeds and stuff. I made their deal.
Jill DeWit: I bet. How much money did that save, by the way, not having to have an attorney? Isn’t that funny? There’s so many things that we don’t question.
Jack Butala: You’ve got to think out of the box.
Jill DeWit: Exactly.
Jack Butala: Or put the box over your head, drink a scottle of botch and put a box over your head or a lampshade.
Jill DeWit: Love it.-
Jack Butala: If you have a question or you want to be on the show call 800-725-8816. My personal favorite part of the show, the inspiration part, Jill.
Jill DeWit: Thank you. My inspiration should be challenge everything, but maybe it is my inspiration. I am going to make that my inspiration. You should challenge everything, why not?
Jack Butala: This ties into my thing.
Jill DeWit: I stole it.
Jack Butala: You just made it up in your head right now?
Jill DeWit: Totally, just stole it.
Jack Butala: Oh my gosh.
Jill DeWit: I have something else written down but I’m like, this is better, it ties in.
Jack Butala: That’s hilarious.
Jill DeWit: It is inspirational.
Jack Butala: Steal everything, not challenge everything.
Jill DeWit: Steal it and challenge it.
Jack Butala: Steal your partners ideas and claim them as your own.
Jill DeWit: No.
Jack Butala: .com.
Jill DeWit: What it really means to me is trust your gut. If something doesn’t sound right just because everybody tells you this is the only way you can do it doesn’t mean that’s right. Pick up the phone, call and find out, for sure like these guys, challenge it.
Jack Butala: Vast majority of the people that come to us say, “What do you mean you can do your own deeds?” They don’t even know you can do your own deeds at all.
Jill DeWit: Right. My other thing is they think you have to buy them, or service, or special forms.
Jack Butala: You have to go through escrow.
Jill DeWit: Yeah, that too even. My thing is too, find out why. It’s okay to ask that question. “It has to go through an attorney.” Why? “Because the money has to be handled by an unrelated 3rd party.” Maybe it’s something like that. Okay, let’s figure that out.
Jack Butala: That’s what a notary is.
Jill DeWit: Maybe it needs an escrow or a notary and not an attorney. That would work. Maybe there’s some other work arounds. Don’t just take what people tell you for face value. This is your business, your life, this is your money, this is your efforts. Ask those questions.
Jack Butala: Good stuff.
Jill DeWit: Thank you.
Jack Butala: Sounds like what I said.
Jill DeWit: It does.
Jack Butala: She stuck her tongue out at me.
Jill DeWit: I did.
Jack Butala: Like she’s 13.
Jill DeWit: I did.
Jack Butala: Join us in another episode where Jill sticks her tongue out but you can’t see it.
Jill DeWit: That’s right. It’s still inspiration because that’s my half.
Jack Butala: To get just about anything you want.
Jill DeWit: We use it every day to buy property for half of what it’s worth and sell it immediately.
Jack Butala: You are not alone in your real estate ambition. The truth is it’s reinforcing it.
Jill DeWit: It’s inspirational too.
Jack Butala: This whole business model’s out of the box. It’s like wait a minute, we don’t need real estate agents, we don’t need escrow people, we don’t need appraisers, we don’t need any of that stuff.
Jill DeWit: That’s true.
Jack Butala: I have all these people who want to buy property, I have all these people who want to sell property, how about I just put it all in one spot on the internet and put all those deals together and maybe mark it up a little or maybe 200%.
Jill DeWit: Is that why we are both entrepreneurs? You and I do not run around trying to find something at a cheaper price and make it better, and sell it for more profit or anything. We’re out here trying to find a brand new spanking product, ways to help people, you know what I mean? It’s not reinventing the wheel. We are creating a lot of stuff.
Jack Butala: If you look up the word entrepreneur on the internet it’s a french word and it actually means taking something and looking at it in a different way.
Jill DeWit: I’ve never done that.
Jack Butala: It doesn’t mean create the assembly line. It just means look at something in an unusual way and apply some different stuff to it.
Jill DeWit: Isn’t that funny?
Jack Butala: It’s awesome.
Jill DeWit: I’ve never looked it up. Now i’m going to … I’m serious, I’m actually …
Jack Butala: Do you have a good one that you can actually read?
Jill DeWit: These are not good, one says a person who organizes and operates a business.
Jack Butala: That’s ridiculous.
Jill DeWit: That one’s dumb. I’m trying to find a better … Are you laughing at me?
Jack Butala: That was dumb.
Jill DeWit: It is dumb. French.
Jack Butala: I did a Facebook ad.
Jill DeWit: Undertake. Go ahead.
Jack Butala: I put a Facebook ad up a couple days ago, it was based on a billboard here in town that says, “Something, something is stupid.” And I said, “Flipping houses is stupid. Flipping land is smart.” It’s doing fantastic.
Jill DeWit: I love it. Check this out. You’ll love this.
Jack Butala: Espionage, man.
Jill DeWit: The origin, entrepreneur in French, [foreign language 00:19:29] meaning undertake. The English origin is enterprise. In the early 19th century it became entrepreneur. You’re undertaking a new enterprise is how I see it, which is really what we’re doing. I’ll go with that one.
Jack Butala: Catch us in the next episode and I’ll define the word correctly. If it’s incorrect my friend Jill will call me out on it on the air.
Jill DeWit: Stinker. Welcome to my world.
Jack Butala: Information and inspiration to buy undervalued property.
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