Yoga Pants Syndrome (JJ 630)
Yoga Pants Syndrome
Transcript:
Jack Butala: Jack and Jill here.
Jill DeWit: Hello.
Jack Butala: Welcome to the Jack Jill Show, entertaining real estate investment advice. I am Jack Butala.
Jill DeWit: And, I am Jill DeWit, broadcasting from sunny Southern California.
Jack Butala: Today, Jill and I talk about the yoga pants syndrome.
Jill DeWit: Oh, boy do I have a lot to say about this.
Jack Butala: Slash foreshadowing.
Jill DeWit: Where did you come up with this?
Jack Butala: Part of this is my rant. This show might be a little bit rantful, so-
Jill DeWit: I saw this title, and I’m like, “What is Jack thinking?” I am super curious-
Jack Butala: It will be a rated-G rant, but there will be a little bit of ranting.
Jill DeWit: I can’t wait to hear.
Jack Butala: Everybody knows what this is, right?
Jill DeWit: I don’t think they do. We’re going to have to explain what this is, first.
Jack Butala: Okay, before we do that, let’s take a question posted by one of our members on the jackandjill.com online community, it’s free.
Jill DeWit: Okay, this one is a little lengthy. I will tell you, I have a question, and then I have an answer here. Joshua B. Wrote, “I’ve heard on the podcast that pricing mailers, specifically down to the subdivision is a great way to accurately price a mailer. Has there been a specific podcast or thread on how to actually go about doing this? What is the best way to identify a specific subdivision in a county? I know the information can be found in the Real Quest Data we poll, but I’m not exactly sure what I should be looking for to group like properties together, using a subdivision filter (APN schemes to look out for, like a description, etc.) any insight would be appreciated.”
Well, now we have an answer here. Callie responded, “Hi, Joshua. This is how I price my offers. My process is similar to what Kevin describes … ” When I [inaudible 00:01:49], there’s a bunch of conversations in here.
Jack Butala: There are lots, actually.
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Jack Butala: And, a video.
Jill DeWit: Oh.
Jack Butala: She actually goes so far, Callie does, to put a video in there, and she shows how she prices. It’s actually pretty amazing.
Jill DeWit: Aw, that was really nice. Talk about people helping people.
Jack Butala: Right.
Jill DeWit: That’s really cool. All right, so, “My process is similar to what Kevin describes. When I start with a county, I will pull sales data back about a year, then I get to work in Excel. Steps: Sort the data by subdivision A to Z; Then, secondary sort dollar per acre. I create this column; Then, I subtotal by subdivision and create average dollar amount per acre for the subdivision. I will also take a look at the size of the lot for generally similar size. If you have 40’s and fives-
Jack Butala: 40 acres.
Jill DeWit: “40 acres and five acres in the same subdivision, I will group them together and then get averages of those subsets.”
Jack Butala: Subsets are the key here.
Jill DeWit: “At this point, I have account of sales by subdivision priced per acre, for each sale, and the average price per acre for the subdivision.” Gosh, this is just so good. It’s making my heart feel so good.
Jack Butala: It’s very, very similar to the way that I do it. I add a few steps, but she is dead-on here.
Jill DeWit: Getting it. “Typically, I’ll go through all the subdivisions, find out what I’m looking for, and then pull data for the subdivisions I like and price each one accordingly.” How aggressive. I want to be. “Hope this helps.” Then, she did, like Jack said, a video. I mean, talk about smart people, first of all. I wanted to just say that-
Jack Butala: Both of them.
Jill DeWit: This is one thing that I really like, and I talked to a guy the other day, too, who was thinking about getting in Land Academy. I was asking him some questions and one of my questions was, “How are you with data? How are you on a spreadsheet?” Unfortunately, this guy had a long Chicago finance background, and he’s not afraid of data and this kind of stuff. I said, “Okay, good. Thank you. I just wanted to make sure. This is a level of stuff that we’re doing, and this is how great our group is, how smart they are.”
Jack Butala: If these questions, listener, seem boring or confusing, this is not for you. In fact, real estate investing is not for you. Real estate investment is not about picking out wallpaper.
Jill DeWit: No, it’s not.
Jack Butala: It’s about sitting on a computer in a dark room for 10 hours, analyzing data.
Jill DeWit: It really is.
Jack Butala: Specifically to come up with both of what these people are talking about: Pricing property.
Jill DeWit: Right. If you do it right-
Jack Butala: Because, cutting to the chase is this:
Jill DeWit: There is no mystery.
Jack Butala: If you are in a subdivision where houses are selling like hotcakes for 100 grand, are you going to buy it for 120? I’m over simplifying, but this happens. We see people do this all the time.
Jill DeWit: Right.
Jack Butala: They throw their hands up and they say, “I did everything I told you to do.” No, you didn’t anything we said.
Jill DeWit: Don’t buy it like that. Exactly.
Jack Butala: Or, if you try to send a mailer out where properties are selling like hotcakes for 100 grand, for $22,000.00 you’re going to fail.
Jill DeWit: Yep, that’s a little too low. There’s more to it than that. You can’t just throw darts. Like you said, Jack, “Let’s just mass do this.”
Jack Butala: Yep.
Jill DeWit: Thank you.
Jack Butala: Turn off the HGTV, and take a math class, or an Excel class.
Jill DeWit: Yep.
Jack Butala: I’m not joking around at all.
Jill DeWit: Did you want to add more to Callie’s-
Jack Butala: Here’s the thing, it’s hard in this venue, in this format … this audio format we’re on, to explain pricing beyond how I just did it. It’s hard to really read her description, in my opinion. I think it’s just easier to see it on a video, and she talks all the way through it, writing an Excel spreadsheet. So, I’m not plugging the forum. I’m just saying if you want to know how she prices it, and I completely sign off on the way she does it. Again, I’d add a few more steps at the end, because price per acre for land is scaled up and not based on size.
If you have a 40 acre property and a five acre property, and you’re at $100.00 an acre, or $1,000.00 an acre, the higher you go up, actually, the cheaper it’s going to be, price per acre.
Jill DeWit: Exactly.
Jack Butala: It’s very important to understand. Again, it’s hard to sit here and talk about this and actually-
Jill DeWit: But, the concept. We’re talking about the concept-
Jack Butala: Mm-hmm (affirmative), the concept is totally correct.
Jill DeWit: Everybody can grasp, and it’s just really about what Callie said. Think about it. You need to spend some time, price it for this, price it for that. Jack, you’ve shared with us on the show how you sit and spend time, because block by block might be different. Closer to the park, closer to the hospital, closer to the whatever … those things might be different. Closer to the freeway-
Jack Butala: I price how … insofar as housing mailers, it takes a long time.
Jill DeWit: Right.
Jack Butala: With land, as long as it’s rural acreage, I’d take the shotgun approach. With houses, I take the rifle approach. It’s simple.
Jill DeWit: I love it.
Jack Butala: Measure twice, cut once situation.
Jill DeWit: I love it.
Jack Butala: Today’s topic: Yoga Pants Syndrome. What is it? Why do you need to know about it?
Jill DeWit: My snort.
Jack Butala: What the heck does it have to do-
Jill DeWit: I just snorted, sorry.
Jack Butala: What does it have to do with real estate investing?
Jill DeWit: What does it have to do?
Jack Butala: Let’s talk about what it is.
Jill DeWit: Okay.
Jack Butala: Remember when you were a kid in school and a cool kid had new shoes, new boots? What did we all do? All of us? We went home and said, “You know what? I’d like a pair of those boots. I want to be cool like that guy.”
Jill DeWit: Asher Vans.
Jack Butala: Asher Boots, because it was in Michigan.
Jill DeWit: Oh, yeah.
Jack Butala: Almost like Dickies, almost. You know?
Jill DeWit: Ah, okay.
Jack Butala: Work boots.
Jill DeWit: We didn’t know. That wasn’t us.
Jack Butala: After a while, you get a little bit older in life and you say, “You know what? That just doesn’t matter. I have more important things to do.” Or, maybe you don’t. Maybe you never grow up. Maybe, your girlfriend wears yoga pants 24/7.
Jill DeWit: Oh my gosh. What is that.
Jack Butala: You say, “She’s cool. I’m going to wear yoga pants 24/7.” [inaudible 00:07:40] you’re a commercial real estate investor, maybe you’re the vice president of acquisition for a real estate investment trust. I can guarantee you this-
Jill DeWit: I sure hope you’re not wearing yoga pants.
Jack Butala: This does not happen, because that person has that job for a reason, and he knows the other VP of acquisition in the other reads, trust me. They don’t all run around in a pack together wearing the same clothes and looking at the same deals.
Jill DeWit: Could you imagine?
Jack Butala: They go and do different stuff.
Jill DeWit: They have matching suits, matching watches, matching shoes.
Jack Butala: And, matching buildings.
Jill DeWit: That’d be hilarious.
Jack Butala: You don’t do that.
Jill DeWit: That’d be so funny.
Jack Butala: You spend a lot of time being creative and unique.
Jill DeWit: Matching glasses-
Jack Butala: And, developing new ways to buy real estate.
Jill DeWit: That’d be great.
Jack Butala: That’s what we do here. Don’t get caught up in the Yoga Pants Syndrome if you’re buying real estate.
Jill DeWit: Oh my goodness.
Jack Butala: That’s what this is about for me.
Jill DeWit: That’s not what I thought this was.
Jack Butala: What’d you think it was? This is where it’s fun.
Jill DeWit: I thought it really was about yoga pants, and I didn’t know why you wanted to talk about yoga pants, so it made me think of the time that … a couple of years ago, we were in Scottsdale, and we went down to Kid Number Three … he was little, it was like Thanksgiving at school. Parents come and have Thanksgiving, so we showed up. I remember we were walking around and I’m like, “What is going on?”
It was like the beginning of the yoga pants craze. Everybody was really into it. They didn’t even have the cool panels, they were all just plain black. It was probably before, too, that that one company had those ones that they had to take off the shelves because they were a little too revealing-
Jack Butala: Yes.
Jill DeWit: Yeah, so it was during that whole thing, too. I’m walking around going, “We should not be seeing all this.” It’s like I want to cover my kids’ eyes. So, we started counting. It was so funny because we walked … do you remember this?
Jack Butala: Yeah, I do.
Jill DeWit: We would walk by, and I’m like, okay, “One, two, three,” and every time someone would walk by … as I say the number, then you started to say a number, and then the kids started to say a number, and then we just kept going, “28, 29 …”
Jack Butala: What Jill means is we were counting the number of people that actually had yoga pants on.
Jill DeWit: As they would pass us.
Jack Butala: And so forth. One of us would say-
Jill DeWit: We would say the number out loud, but the person didn’t know.
Jack Butala: “One,” the other person would say, “Two, Three, Five, Six.” It was that.
Jill DeWit: We just kept the number going.
Jack Butala: A chorus of number counting.
Jill DeWit: Oh my gosh, and it was funny. I’m in the airport, and I find myself doing, “106,” I can’t stop doing it.
Jack Butala: Why do women copy each other like this?
Jill DeWit: I don’t know.
Jack Butala: I’m hoping you have some magical answer.
Jill DeWit: Here’s what I was thinking about. Is it lazy, or are they trying to impress somebody? Do they really want us to think that they worked out, because I look at some of them … you know what, we were at breakfast the other morning, and I’m looking across the table at these two women wearing yoga pants and workout jackets. Full makeup, full hair. I’m like, you cannot tell me that you went to the gym like that, and you still look like that. Because, if you did, you didn’t do anything.
Jack Butala: Yeah, they probably sat around and talked.
Jill DeWit: Exactly. No, they just got up, put those clothes on as part of their wardrobe and look good. I’m like, “I just don’t get it.” I honestly don’t understand, and the only time I wear exercise clothes is if I’m going to exercise, and then when I come home, I take them off.
Jack Butala: A lot of years ago, the thing to do was to carry around a Starbucks cup.
Jill DeWit: Oh, really?
Jack Butala: I had this exact conversation with a group of people over drinks. This was a lot of years ago. I asked, re-asked, asked, and re-asked and asked 50 times, “Why is everyone carrying a Starbucks cup around?” Mostly, because the people I was asking had Starbucks cups.
Jill DeWit: What was their response?
Jack Butala: When they got tired of me asking, and they did get just … they were miffed, because I wouldn’t-
Jill DeWit: Relentless?
Jack Butala: This is what they said, “It’s a status symbol.”
Jill DeWit: I don’t think yoga pants are a status symbol.
Jack Butala: I don’t think a Starbucks cup is, either. But, I think there’s something to that. I think it’s like, “Hey, look at me. I can do it, too.”
Jill DeWit: That’s weird.
Jack Butala: Do not let this convert to your real estate acquisition situation. If you see somebody doing well-
Jill DeWit: Don’t close the deal in yoga pants.
Jack Butala: Yeah, never. Well, you should never wear yoga pants. Never. Not even to yoga anymore. If you do, be creative about it. Don’t just wear black ones.
Jill DeWit: Right.
Jack Butala: Pick some cool ones that don’t have see through calves.
Jill DeWit: I have to admit, my-
Jack Butala: If I sound angry, it’s because I am.
Jill DeWit: My former trainer in Arizona had some really cool ones.
Jack Butala: That’s what I’m saying.
Jill DeWit: They were like print ones, and they were awesome. That’s her life. They looked great on her.
Jack Butala: Because she’s a yoga instructor.
Jill DeWit: Exactly.
Jack Butala: She’s supposed to wear yoga pants.
Jill DeWit: She should wear yoga pants.
Jack Butala: Right.
Jill DeWit: You know what? I’ll tell you, she would not wear them 24/7.
Jack Butala: I know.
Jill DeWit: She did it all the right way.
Jack Butala: Jillian?
Jill DeWit: Yes.
Jack Butala: Thank you for wearing … the correct way to wear yoga pants is by Jillian … what’s her last name? Oh, we can’t use her last name.
Jill DeWit: Don’t need the last name, thank you.
Jack Butala: Jillian in Scottsdale, who is about to get married. Congratulations.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Here is my other thought. I’ve even seen them in the wrong, wrong places, by the way. Should you really wear yoga pants in first class?
Jack Butala: No.
Jill DeWit: What the heck?
Jack Butala: What were you doing in first class, Jill?
Jill DeWit: That’s where I sit. Where do you sit?
Jack Butala: I sit in Seat 1A.
Jill DeWit: That’s my seat when you’re not with me.
Jack Butala: When we fly commercial, actually, it’s Seat 1A.
Jill DeWit: Thank you. I like that seat. Anyway, so don’t be a sheep? Is that what you’re saying?
Jack Butala: Get creative. This is what happens. I hear people say, that are not in our group, they’re never in our group when they say this, “I sent a mailer out because you guys were talking about Mohave County, Arizona, so I sent a bunch of mail out there,” and, “I didn’t learn from you, I learned from someone else-”
Jill DeWit: So, I hand wrote them-
Jack Butala: And, we did this … and I did, “I used yellow letters and did all this stuff that’s all wrong.”
Jill DeWit: I did 200 a week.
Jack Butala: Right, 20 a day.
Jill DeWit: Yep.
Jack Butala: My kids are still licking the envelopes.
Jill DeWit: Yep, there we go. Exactly.
Jack Butala: Tell me, why did you get that grade in math?
Jill DeWit: Why do you have a Band-Aid on your tongue? Paper cut.
Jack Butala: Because, dad, he made me lick 400,000 stamps last night.
Jill DeWit: Paper cut.
Jack Butala: What’s wrong with you?
Jill DeWit: I’m sorry.
Jack Butala: Do it again.
Jill DeWit: I have paper cut. Don’t do that to your family. Do not do that to your family.
Jack Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: Or, your friends.
Jack Butala: Your children deserve to go to school and be able to pay attention.
Jill DeWit: This is a new punishment. This is it, you’re licking the envelopes tonight.
Jack Butala: I see people do this, with lack of creativity and no imagination, they just follow other members around.
Jill DeWit: Yes. Brilliant.
Jack Butala: You know, we have a member who knocks it out of the park, Luke Smith. I guarantee Luke Smith is not wearing yoga pants, figuratively.
Jill DeWit: Or, literally.
Jack Butala: Maybe literally, I don’t know.
Jill DeWit: I hope not.
Jack Butala: Maybe that’s what he’s in to? You know what, he’s the only guy who would be wearing the yoga pants that I know of, and maybe it’s okay.
Jill DeWit: Well, all his videos that he does, and he has a lot of them when to sell his properties, they are all from the waist up. We really don’t know. We’re going to have to ask him next time on our call.
Jack Butala: Exactly. Oh my gosh, yes, you’re right.
Jill DeWit: We’re going to remember that now.
Jack Butala: Someone’s going to bring that up.
Jill DeWit: Someone [inaudible 00:15:01], we’re going to all ask him, “Luke, what are you wearing? What kind of pants are you wearing? Please don’t say yoga pants.” Can you imagine, Jack, if I put you in yoga pants?
Jack Butala: No. I can’t actually imagine that.
Jill DeWit: That would be funny.
Jack Butala: That gets me thinking about a bunch of other stuff that we can’t talk about on the air.
Jill DeWit: Okay, got it.
Jack Butala: Well, you’ve done it again. You’ve wasted another 15 minutes listening to the Jack Jill Show. Join us tomorrow when we discuss how to scale your business like it’s a franchise.
Jill DeWit: Nice. And, we answer your questions. Should you have one, post it on the jackjill.com online community. Go there, put it in, we might answer it right here for you.
Jack Butala: It might be a video, too.
Jill DeWit: Exactly.
Jack Butala: You are not alone in your real estate ambition.
Jill DeWit: I’m trying to imagine you in yoga pants.
Jack Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: That would be funny.
Jack Butala: You know what it is, too? It’s the same thing, like these guys that ride these bikes real fast … those pedal bicycles?
Jill DeWit: Oh, yeah.
Jack Butala: I exercise that way, but I don’t dress up like a clown.
Jill DeWit: No.
Jack Butala: I wonder what that’s all about, too.
Jill DeWit: I know. They get a little too into it.
Jack Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: It’s kind of weird. I agree.
Jack Butala: It’s not just women. I’m glad we thought of that. It’s not just women at all. It’s just people, their lemmings.
Jill DeWit: Exactly. Don’t be a sheep, but do share the fun by subscribing on iTunes, or wherever you’re listening. While you’re at it, please rate us there.
Both: We are Jack and Jill.
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Jill DeWit: And, inspiration.
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