Why You Don’t Need a Real Estate Agent (CFFL 0299)
Why You Don’t Need a Real Estate Agent
Jack Butala: Why You Don’t Need a Real Estate Agent. 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: Hey.
Jack Butala: Welcome to our show today. In this episode, Jill and I talk about why you don’t need a real estate agent.
Jill DeWit: Oh no! What? This is going to be our worst show, our worst listen-to. Just kidding.
Jack Butala: I have to be honest. When I started, I thought you had to be a real estate agent to buy and sell property. A lot of people think that in the beginning. Good show today. Before we get started, though, let’s share something interesting that happened to us recently, Jill.
Jill DeWit: Actually …
Jack Butala: Uh oh.
Jill DeWit: You know, I would imagine the office culture is suffering right now without me there. With you wreaking your havoc and just messing up everyone’s days. I just wanted to ask, how is the office culture right now? Please tell me they’re getting less done.
Jack Butala: There’s no way I can answer that honestly and still come out of this okay.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Do you miss me?
Jack Butala: Personally, I miss you a lot.
Jill DeWit: Thank you. I miss you, too.
Jack Butala: Personally is the key word.
Jill DeWit: Oh. Do you guys walk around all the day saying, “Oh, gosh, thank goodness Jill’s not here. This wouldn’t happen. We would never get this done.”
Jack Butala: Jill adds spice to everything that she’s involved in. Sometimes it’s, you know…
Jill DeWit: Too spicy?
Jack Butala: Yeah. Sometimes you have to spit it out.
Jill DeWit: What the heck?
Jack Butala: It’s too spicy!
Jill DeWit: Yuck. All right.
Jack Butala: No, the office culture is great. We’re just in a get-stuff-done mode. We just hired some high, pricey people to come in and really, really clean up some of the stuff. Specifically in Land Academy, because, look, I never thought Land Academy would go anywhere. We kind of just did it for fun. It was started out as a .org. Remember? We started out as a .org. It was a non-profit. All the resources have been, until very recently, just going into LandStay and buying and selling land. That’s our regular company, but it turns out, and I’ve said this several times on the air and I’m not joking. It turns out everybody likes it. They really like it.
Jill DeWit: And they’re doing it and they’re learning from it.
Jack Butala: We cannot develop the products that they’re requesting fast enough. They’re all asking. Here’s an example. “What CRM do you use? How do you do this? How do you locate the property? Do you get titled?” And on and on and on. Now we’re developing products to make that incredibly easy for our members. More people want it and more people are signing up, so Jill and I decided to get super serious about it. We hired some high price people that are coming in and mopping it all up and making it super simple.
Jill DeWit: We have 6 products down the road and I have 1 another person brought up the other day. I don’t know if I should mention it now or not.
Jack Butala: Yeah, go ahead. 6 that you know about. There’s probably 8 more. Go ahead. Did you hear about a new one?
Jill DeWit: I know. Someone brought up the other day about the whole notary, like do we have our own notary, 1, 2, 3.
Jack Butala: I saw that.
Jill DeWit: I’m like, “Oh.”
Jack Butala: I saw that and I talked to our staff about that and they said, “Yes, there’s an API specific way we can actually draw that into our own scenario.” Yes, that is on the list now. I saw that question and I prompted the same thing, Jill.
Jill DeWit: I’m like, “Oh, yeah. We don’t have that but maybe we should. Okay. We’re on it.”
Jack Butala: Let’s take a question posted by one of our members on SucessPlant.com, our free online community.
Jill DeWit: Okay. Pat asked, “I would like to auction a higher valued parcel, like $50,000, real fast. Which way is best? eBay, LandWatch, Bid4Assets? Anyone have any suggestions or strategies?”
Jack Butala: Once in a while we get an easy question. The answer is this: post it everywhere, always. This is not a commercial. We’re developing a product where you post it 1 place and it just shoots it out and connects it to everything. That’s not coming any time soon, but … Well, it is coming soon, but it’s not the next second.
Jill DeWit: Tomorrow.
Jack Butala: We say this over and over and over again. Do not put yourself in a box and just sell it in 1 place. One of the biggest errors, if not the biggest failure that I’ve made in my career, career wide, was using eBay as the only sales channel for 10 plus years. I really lost out on a lot of channels. The fastest place to sell an asset like that is on FaceBook.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala: There are lots of tiny little groups depending on what the asset’s like. If it’s a house, if it’s land, or which state it’s in. You’d be shocked and amazed at the people that scour FaceBook that are buyers, professional buyers, for these types of assets. The key is if $50,000 is the retail value, you’re not going to have any luck selling it anywhere or you’re going to have to wait 6 to 8 months.
Jill DeWit: You’re right. If it’s $100,000 retail value and you’re selling it for $50,000, now you’re talking.
Jack Butala: Yeah, then you’re going to sell it in 35 seconds in any venue. You still should post it because the more inquiries you get, the bigger the list that you build. If you’re new or relatively new or are in the first few years, you want to build a massive list. We have a list of, I don’t even know what it’s up to now, 80-90,000 people that have expressed … like an opt-in list for these asset types. It will always grow.
I have to say, we’re a little bit guilty of this once in a while. We flip it real fast, but the right way to do it is to post it everywhere, especially if you’re relatively new.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Jack Butala: Is that it, Jill? Do you have anything to add?
Jill DeWit: No. I’m just right there with you. Thank you. What? You know what it is? You’re like a teacher who just called, “Jill! Back row there. You. Attention.” That’s exactly what you just did. “Do you have anything you would like to add? Okay. Thank you. Then eyes up here.”
Jack Butala: Because I wasn’t listening at all.
Jill DeWit: “Jill? Yeah, uh huh. You with us? Thank you.”
Jack Butala: You know on Ferris Bueller where the clock, actually, at the end goes backwards? It clicks backwards right before 3:00. Remember that when you were in school? I swear the clock goes backwards.
Jill DeWit: It did that in Ferris Bueller?
Jack Butala: You just had that look on your face, like the clock is going backwards.
Jill DeWit: I know. I’m sorry. I have stuff on 1 screen and I was reading to see if there was any part of the question we missed. Thank you very much.
Jack Butala: Do you have a question or …?
Jill DeWit: Sure. Nothing.
Jack Butala: No, go ahead.
Jill DeWit: No, we’re good.
Jack Butala: If you have a question or you want to be on the show, reach out to either one of us on SuccessPlant.com. It doesn’t have to be either one of us. There’s lots of qualified people on there, maybe more than us, to answer your questions.
Today’s topic: why you don’t need a real estate agent all of the time. Jill, go ahead. Why don’t you take this one? Why don’t you need a real estate agent? People think … I used to think this … You need a real estate agent to do a deal. I thought there was some register, like some big list of people that could do real estate deals and you had to be licensed, you had to get a license.
Jill DeWit: My number 1 answer is because you’re not representing anyone but yourself. I’m not looking out for anyone’s best interests. They’re not trusting me with their finances and they’re blah blah blah blah blah. I am buying this for myself, and when I’m selling it, it’s me selling it. That’s why.
Like a car. I don’t have to go to a dealer. I can buy my next door neighbor’s car if I want. I could hand out cash and count out hundreds in cash and they hand me the keys and I drive away. I go get it registered. It’s like that.
Jack Butala: I’m glad you brought that up, that dealership thing, because unlike this, there’s no limit to the number of properties that you can buy or sell in a given year. With dealership licenses, even if you are doing a personal transaction, there’s a limit. In Arizona, it’s 5 or 6 cars. After that, even if you’re buying them for yourself, you’re supposed to get a license, a dealership license.
Jill DeWit: Oh. I didn’t know that.
Jack Butala: There’s a reason for this confusion. I think there’s a lot of things that you have to get licenses for. Insurance, you need a license. That’s what legitimately causes the confusion in everybody’s head.
Jill DeWit: You know what, you’re right, now that I think about that. Our own, in Arizona, Doug Ducey, one of the things that he was trying to do recently … I read about this several months ago … Was reduce the number of licenses. You have to have a barber license. You have to have a hairdresser license. You have to have a this license.
Jack Butala: Isn’t that crazy? A barber license. That’s ridiculous.
Jill DeWit: Right. There’s so many. I always look at is as it’s just a way to tax and get some revenue, right?
Jack Butala: That’s what it is. To create a database so you can charge money.
Jill DeWit: Exactly. And you have to renew your license every year and blah blah blah blah blah. My gosh. He even said, “We have too many licenses. It’s almost like if you’re a professional dog walker, you need a license.” It’s just getting out of hand. I should be able to get my hair cut by my next door neighbor and then pay them cash and not hide it. It’s the same thing.
Jack Butala: It used to be a long, long time ago that when you went to buy a piece of real estate, you would go to somebody, like maybe at their Chamber of Commerce, who knew everybody. A social butterfly, let’s say, and say, “You know, I want to buy or sell a house. Do you know anybody?” And they would say, “Oh, you know, I just had tea with this person, or whatever, beers and stuff, and they said they’re thinking about selling their house. I’ll walk over there. I’m going to introduce you.”
That’s the value. There’s no such thing as a database. There wasn’t even the MLS, the multiple listing service. Then there’s some huge value in somebody putting … That’s information that’s really valuable. But the way the computers are now and how we can post property, you have to really kind of wonder what the value is that they really bring. Some of them, they’re great, you know, the successful ones. If you’re really, really busy and you don’t have time to drive around and look at stuff for residential, it’s great. The vast majority, I think, of real estate agents are really, really, really useful. I think there’s a certain percentage who get in the way of a deal. I’m not knocking real estate agents at all. There’s a huge place. I’m just saying for our product type and the way we do it, it doesn’t make a lot of sense to seek out a real estate agent.
Jill DeWit: Another good example is we both have great relationships with several real estate agents that give us these deals because they don’t want to touch them. By the time they post them and do whatever and all that kind of stuff, their commission, it’s just not worth their time when they’re talking maybe a $600 commission versus a $6,000 commission. Now it’s worth their time, kind of thing. They don’t even want them. There’s a beautiful example there.
Jack Butala: You’re beautiful.
Jill DeWit: Thank you. I like how you went from tea to beer. There was nothing in between there. Have a Coke. No. It’s tea or beer.
Jack Butala: I was talking to somebody recently, I’m like, “How’s everything going?” They said, “It’s not going well. I drink a lot of caffeine in the morning and I drink a lot of beer at night.” I’m like, what kind of gauge is that? It sounds like it’s going fine.
Jill DeWit: It sounds like our friend, Simon.
Jack Butala: I started asking myself some questions. I’m like, “Well, I kind of do that sometimes. That’s a good day, not a bad day.” Not every day, but you know.
Jill DeWit: That’s true. That’s really funny. I came up with something the other day as I was … I worked in the morning and then I was off early afternoon on my bike on the strand and I thought, “I need to schedule every day like this.” I was actually doing the hours, going, “If I just give up every single day. And I don’t care, so 7 days a week, and I make myself do, like, 6 to noon, I could do this.” Then I could be on the beach every day on 12:30 on my bike. That might be my new work schedule. I’ll let you know.
Jack Butala: I love it. I’ve always said I would love to start at 4 in the morning and stop … or 5.
Jill DeWit: At 10?
Jack Butala: …and stop at, like, noon.
Jill DeWit: Exactly.
Jack Butala: Especially on the west coast, you can really get away with that because it’s 3 or 4:00 back east if you deal with people out there.
Jill DeWit: That’s very true.
Jack Butala: Do we wrap it up, do you think? Why you don’t need a real estate agent all of the time?
Jill DeWit: I’ve never used …
Jack Butala: Here’s a reason I would think you would need a real estate agent, because you want to maximize price. You would think that a full service real estate agent would come in, especially if you’re selling a house, and clean it all up. Tell you to put the toilet seat down, as you say, and really help you out and maximize price. I don’t think that’s what happens. I think most people just want to get a deal done, but for our asset type, I’m not sure that it’s necessary. Go ahead.
Jill DeWit: You know, I would use a real estate agent …
Jack Butala: Raise your hand, girl in the back of the class.
Jill DeWit: Yeah, that’s right.
Jack Butala: [inaudible 00:13:12] in the back.
Jill DeWit: That’s right. “Hey you, cute bangs, back of the class.” No. I think I would use a real estate agent if I worked for a large company and I was relocating to another city and I couldn’t do the leg work. I’m not interested in the money at all, because the company’s paying for this transfer, by the way. I just need them to find the right property that meets my criteria so the day I fly into town, they have the 3 best ones for me to look at. Then, I would use a real estate agent.
Jack Butala: I used a real estate agent to find an apartment once like that because I had a corporate thing. I was working at a company for a year as a consultant. Boy, what a mess that ended up being. The people who paid the real estate agent, there were only certain complexes that paid. They signed me up to this place that was like an hour drive. I said, “You know what? You need to figure that out with my employer, but I’m going to go rent this place over here, even if I have to pay for it myself, so I can walk to work.”
Jill DeWit: Oh. That’s not cool.
Jack Butala: That’s what I’m saying.
Jill DeWit: They put you somewhere else because of their commission?
Jack Butala: Yes.
Jill DeWit: Oh, yeah. That’s great.
Jack Butala: I’m really, really not … I have a lot of respect for agents.
Jill DeWit: All of the buildings you like, they try to … “No, you don’t want to live there. No, you don’t want to live there.”
Jack Butala: I don’t want to drive. You know what, part of it’s me. I probably should’ve said. If I do not drive for a year then I’d be a happy person. If I walk everywhere.
Jill DeWit: You know, I have 1 more thing. My mom was a real estate agent. Your sister was a real estate agent. We have real estate agents in our world that we love and have worked with and really, really good stuff. Just for what we do, it just doesn’t fit. Shoot. What was I going to add to that? I just lot my … In my thoughts I was trying to politically correct and it made me lose my train of thought.
Jack Butala: I just told the story about having to drive. I should’ve said, “I don’t want to drive anywhere. What’s important to me is I don’t drive anywhere. I don’t care about a 3 bedroom palatial. I don’t want that, either.”
Jill DeWit: Exactly.
Jack Butala: That time of my life’s over.
Jill DeWit: Yeah. I don’t know where I was going with that, so never mind. Okay.
Jack Butala: Hey, do you want to listen to another episode where Jill can remember what she was going to say and I’ll discuss information, that’s me.
Jill DeWit: And inspiration, I’m trying. That’s me. Oh my gosh.
Jack Butala: Don’t worry about it. It’s okay. We use it every day to buy property for half of what it’s worth and sell it immediately. You are not alone.
Jill DeWit: You are not alone in your real estate ambition. We could do it together. Let’s do it together. One more time. Ready? 1-2-3. You are not alone in your real estate ambition.
Jack Butala: You are not alone in your real estate ambition.
That was like harmony.
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Jack Butala: It didn’t come to you yet, did it?
Jill DeWit: No. There was something else I was going to say about it and now I can’t remember.
Jack Butala: My sister was in town recently. I had spent a lot of time with her. We were talking about real estate a lot. She said, “Real estate agents, they’re either great or they’re not.” She’s like the number 5 by dollars and the whole thing. She’s consistently a top 10 producer in the state of Michigan for a lot of years, so she’s really experienced. She said, “Real estate agents are either great and they’re incredibly successful, or they’re not successful at all.” I think that’s really helpful in a lot of things. It’s not a part time gig, you know? She’s established trust. Word of mouth is … Every time she’s here the phone is ringing off the hook.
Jill DeWit: I think it’s a tough job.
Jack Butala: Oh my God, I could never …
Jill DeWit: I mean, you talk about being right on and available. I don’t want to do that. That’s a lot.
Jack Butala: Being a real estate investor, I think, is a thousand times easier than being a real estate agent.
Jill DeWit: Yup. It’s my money. I get to make the decisions. I don’t have to run to somebody else and wait for their answer and have to be … you know, massage each, you know, the buyer and the seller. It’s awesome.
Jack Butala: That’s what the title of this show should’ve been. Real estate investor is easier than real estate agent.
Jill DeWit: Oh, I thought you meant Jill massaging real estate agents. No, I’m just kidding.
Jack Butala: What are you massaging?
Jill DeWit: You have to massage the seller and massage the buyer to get them to meet in the middle.
Jack Butala: Okay, massage.
Jill DeWit: Thank you. I need a massage. That’s what this is about.
Jack Butala: That’s exactly what’s going on. Information and inspiration to buy undervalued massages.
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