Does this Property Make me Look Fat? (JJ 675)
Does this Property Make me Look Fat? (JJ 675)
Transcript:
Jack Butala: Jack and Jill here.
Jill DeWit: Hi.
Jack Butala: Welcome to the Jack Jill show, entertaining real estate investment talk. I’m jack Butala.
Jill DeWit: I am Jill DeWit, broadcasting back now in sunny southern California.
Jack Butala: Today Jill and I talk about, does this property make me look fat?
Jill DeWit: This is going to be good. I have a lot to say about this.
Jack Butala: It’s so nice to be back from Arizona.
Jill DeWit: Yeah, how many emails did you get?
Jack Butala: Oh my goodness. We semi-intentionally missed recording a few shows last week. I wanted to see what happened.
Jill DeWit: With intent. You know, that’s one of the things we tell the kids when they’re going to get in trouble or not. Did they screw up on accident, or was there intent there? Ours was kind of not really accidental. There was an intent. We were busy, man.
Jack Butala: I’m happy to say, I guess we were missed.
Jill DeWit: That was kind of cool. It was a good little test.
Jack Butala: I got all kinds of emails like, “Are you guys going off the air? What the heck happened? What’s wrong with your podcast?”
Jill DeWit: That’s not the way to do it too, but I’m sure people do that. You know it’s funny, because I go look at new podcast shows or I think they’re new podcast shows, and I find some, I go looking, I’m like, “Wow, look at this,” and then I look at the dates and I realize, oh, they’re last one was six months ago.
Jack Butala: It’s over.
Jill DeWit: I’m like, “Well, that didn’t work.”
Jack Butala: The truth is, Jill knows, we were in Scottsdale buying and selling houses for our new program called House Academy, and man, did it work.
Jill DeWit: That was so fun, super fun.
Jack Butala: It’s really a topic for a whole episode, but can you give us the highlights here? Did you think we would buy and sell a house that fast?
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Jack Butala: You did?
Jill DeWit: Yeah. This is one of those things, Jack, you and I are so different, which is great, part of why we’re so good together. When it comes to stuff like this, you’re a little bit of a glass half empty and I’m a glass half full. I’m like, “Oh, no worries. I know we got this. I know it’s priced right. I know who we are. I know how valuable the asset is. We got this.”
Jack Butala: I did a bunch of analysis on how three specific zip codes perform in a little section of central Scottsdale, Arizona, sent everybody who did not have a mortgage, their mortgage is paid off, a cash offer for a certain amount. I priced it and we ended up buying three houses.
Jill DeWit: It’s awesome.
Jack Butala: The first one sold. The other two are not sold because we don’t want to put them on the market. We’ve built the buyer list of flippers, renovators, and we’re just working it through and it’s working out great so far. I’m surprised. I mean, I really am. Maybe it’s our experience level too, I don’t know.
Jill DeWit: Can I share a tip? I had no idea this was going to work.
Jack Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: You and I, I don’t know whose idea it was, “Hey, let’s have an open house,” like right?
Jack Butala: It was my idea.
Jill DeWit: Okay. Here we are getting signs and balloons and cookies and water …
Jack Butala: Which is right out of 1957, by the way.
Jill DeWit: Totally. Well, that also went along with, “Hey, let’s put it in the MLS,” everybody, here’s … I would like to share a couple tips if I may.
Jack Butala: Absolutely.
Jill DeWit: One is, everyone on the planet wants an off-market deal, but no one knows how to find it outside of the MLS, so true. When we send out these emails or we’re calling and letting people know, “Hey, by the way, you want an off-market deal?” For some reason, I don’t know, they didn’t take it seriously or something like that. The minute we put it in the MLS now everybody’s like all excited. I’m like, “Really, really? You’re the same guy who told me 10 minutes ago you don’t want, whatever. Okay, fine.” We learned that one and we found a great company that’ll just, no commissions.
Jack Butala: A flat fee MLS listing.
Jill DeWit: They just put it in there for us and we do the deal.
Jack Butala: The whole thing was like $250. [crosstalk 00:03:40]
Jill DeWit: It was awesome. That was great tip number one, and we put in there right away, like, we’re having an open house. We just decided, “You know what? We’re going to test this. Everybody’s kind of old school. Let’s call a spade a spade.” We went old school on this.
Jack Butala: Well, my thinking behind the open house was, instead of scheduling walk throughs all over the place, let’s just say, “Hey, the thing’s going to be open between,” what did we do, “12:00 and 3:00. The owners are going to be there between 12:00 and 3:00 on Friday. Stop by, bring whatever you need to do. Bring what you need to bring to make a decision there,” and it worked.
Jill DeWit: It was awesome. Yeah, so we walked away, I’m so glad that we did that, Jack. That’s one of the things that I’m thinking, in every new market that we go into with this, I think it’s not crazy for you and I at least to hold one that we’re there in the beginning and gather phone numbers and meet people, because that’s what we’re doing. Really what we ended up with is waling away with 20 awesome, solid flippers.
Jack Butala: And a full price all cash offer.
Jill DeWit: Right, and all the phone numbers and contacts that we need that they’re like, “Okay, what else do you have? What else do you have? I missed this one, what else do you have?” I’m like, “All right, you’re on my list. I got you.” That was really cool.
Jack Butala: In fact, when you look at where the offer came from, it didn’t come from that open house, but what we got from that open house was a collection of buyers that have now put their orders in for exactly what they want.
Jill DeWit: We did have offers from the open house, that’s the whole thing, but they weren’t as high as the one [inaudible 00:05:12].
Jack Butala: All told, I think 12 offers on the first house, which is pretty amazing.
Jill DeWit: They weren’t as good as the one, there’s always one that slides in there. You know what it is? It’s just like land, Jack.
Jack Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: It’s just like land.
Jack Butala: It’s real estate deals.
Jill DeWit: It’s the ones that don’t ask any questions, next thing you know an offer pops in. There you go. You never talk to the person at all.
Jack Butala: Exactly.
Jill DeWit: Just like land. Thank you.
Jack Butala: It’s nice to be back in California and back doing the show.
Jill DeWit: It is.
Jack Butala: Before we get into the actual topic of the show, let’s take a question posted by one of our members on the jackjill.com online community, it’s free.
Jill DeWit: We have a topic?
Jack Butala: We do.
Jill DeWit: This is going to be a long show.
Jack Butala: The topic is, you know what it is.
Jill DeWit: I’m kidding, I am totally joking. Okay, Matt asks, “Hi everyone. I’ve got a potential buyer who sent me the following: I need your telephone number so I can direct you to my real estate agent who processes through my loan company that we pay you off.” What? Oh my gosh.
Jack Butala: I know where this is going.
Jill DeWit: “I’m looking for a cash buyer. The selling price is $12,000. I’m selling with a title company so they handle all the funds. Is there anything that I need in advance to ensure that this buyer can follow through? Can I get some form of proof of loan availability? They are paying title costs, so if they have a proof of loan for $12,000 and closing ends around $13,000, would that mess things up?”
Jack Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: “Will is [inaudible 00:06:41] slow down the transaction as we wait for funding? Does anyone have experience with this, or should I just say, ‘Sorry, I’m looking for a cash buyer.'”
Jack Butala: Oh, he answered his own question.
Jill DeWit: He did.
Jack Butala: You should say, “Sorry, I’m looking for a cash buyer.”
Jill DeWit: I’m sorry, I’m not going to talk to your real estate agent.
Jack Butala: Here’s why. You can’t. Lenders will almost always not lend on rural vacant land. It’s not an asset that they want to be involved in. I mean, unless you have a private lender, it’s a very different situation.
Jill DeWit: Like, your uncle.
Jack Butala: Yeah, like your uncle or your Jill. If you have your Jill, because you’re ready to lay some money up, that kind of thing.
Jill DeWit: Thank you, oh, thank you.
Jack Butala: In vacant land there’s no real estate agents, it’s just a buyer and a seller and Microsoft Word.
Jill DeWit: In a perfect world, there’s never even needing a phone number. They go online, they check out, so that’s the whole thing too. You know what man, what we’re setting up, and I know Jack was about to go there. I don’t mean to steal your thunder here.
Jack Butala: No, no. There’s no thunder in this question, actually.
Jill DeWit: You know, $12,000 is not too much money for the right buyer to find your property on your website, add it to his checkout cart, and put it on a credit card. Then you wake up in the morning and it’s done and paid.
Jack Butala: It happens to Jill and I all the time, just like that.
Jill DeWit: Thank you.
Jack Butala: Some people, depending on … This actually leads into our topic. Some people think $1,200 is a lot of money, some people $12,000, $120, $12 million, $120 million and on and on. Some people probably could put $100 million on their credit card if they needed to.
Jill DeWit: Right.
Jack Butala: If you’re reaching the right people with the right piece of real estate, they might see that. It’s unlikely, but $120 is no brainer for most people.
Jill DeWit: Right. This does tie into our topic.
Jack Butala: Today’s topic: does this property make me look fat? This is the meat of the show. The heck does that mean, Jill?
Jill DeWit: Well, this came from a show, gosh, now many moons ago. Just kidding. What we were talking about, there’s always something out there for somebody. We were talking about, what are you? Are you a house person? Are you a land person? Are you an infill lot person? We were just talking to an employee today, she’s like, “I got this guy, but they’re apartment people.” Great, I mean, what is your property type? There’s something for everybody.
Do I look good in stripes? Does this make me look fat? That’s where that came from. Does this house make me look fat? Get a bigger doorway, just kidding, a joke. This ties into a little bit of Matt’s question, and man, you know, I know a lot of our members too, many members that, when they were starting out they were just like, dumbfounded by this. Like, “You’ve got to be kidding me, someone will pay $12,000 and not even go look at it and not even have to talk to you?” I’m like, “Yep. You’re right.” Then six months in or not even that, they’re like, “Well, you’re right, nevermind.” I say, “Thank you.” It’s true.
Jack Butala: I’m not sure what you mean. Sometimes, Jill, all the thought is in Jill’s head for about 12 minutes, and then right at the end the last thing that she’s thinking comes out verbally.
Jill DeWit: All right, so I’m sure our listeners got it, so let me circle back around for you, Jack.
Jack Butala: Yep, just for me, please.
Jill DeWit: Exactly. My point was, the number of members that come to us and they think that this concept is nuts, they can’t even fathom someone would spend more than $10,000, even more than $1,000 on something sight unseen, I mean just, other than what they’ve seen online, and buy it. They don’t get it.
Jack Butala: Right.
Jill DeWit: Then later on, like I am a pro at this. I try not to do it, but it always happens. You know, there’s always going to be something where you’re eating your words. Then later on they’re eating their words a little bit going, “Oh, nevermind. Got it.” Now does that make sense?
Jack Butala: Yes, completely.
Jill DeWit: Okay, good.
Jack Butala: Really, this is another way of saying you really want to choose a specialization. If you look good in black and you don’t look fat in black, and you like rural infill lots with utilities at the lot line, you know, this is what you want.
Jill DeWit: What about your dating type? What about blonde or brunette?
Jack Butala: Same thing.
Jill DeWit: Blonde or brunette, do you want heavily treed or no trees? Don’t even go there on that one, Jack.
Jack Butala: Where is your mind? What’s up with you? Oh my gosh.
Jill DeWit: We should think of some other crazy comparisons that you can go, “Huh.”
Jack Butala: Are you a pickup truck kind of person or a sports car kind of person?
Jill DeWit: Yeah, that’s a good one.
Jack Butala: Or a sedan.
Jill DeWit: Do you want paved or a dirt road?
Jack Butala: Right. Do you want to be found out there or not?
Jill DeWit: Right. Access or no access? Versus legal access.
Jack Butala: Flats or pumps, which one makes you look fat? You know, some people need to hear this from a man, so it’s going to be me.
Jill DeWit: Uh oh, is this directed at me?
Jack Butala: No, not at you at all, but it’s possible to look fat in pumps.
Jill DeWit: Yes, if you have cankles.
Jack Butala: I’m not going to say anything else. I’m just saying, if you wear really thin shoes and you’re a certain type of person, it’s not going to improve anything.
Jill DeWit: If your feet go over the side …
Jack Butala: Oh my gosh, Jill.
Jill DeWit: Just kidding. Why is that bad?
Jack Butala: I don’t know. You just don’t have to paint a picture that much. Leave something to the imagination.
Jill DeWit: I’m sorry. Well, this is a podcast. I’m trying to help everyone envision, they can’t see.
Jack Butala: All kidding aside, the meat of the show really is, choose a property type that really makes sense to you and make it work. You’re right, today we were absolutely talking with somebody who has several logical buyers for apartments, and they’re not into apartments so they’re not …
Jill DeWit: They’re having trouble with that.
Jack Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: They were having a little bit of trouble wrapping their head around it. Like, “Where do I even start,” because it’s not their thing.
Jack Butala: Right.
Jill DeWit: You know what? You’re right. If you recognize this is going to be an uphill battle, then you have two choices. One is, go to what you do know, which is really what we talked about. Well, “Let’s start with what you’re good at. What area you know, what you’re really good at.” That’s a logical path. The other side is, it’s not like you can’t be an apartment expert if you want to be one, just recognize it’s going to maybe take you a little bit longer and just do it.
Jack Butala: Sure, or live off what you can on what you know, and make that transition or add it in or roll it in. You know, roll some Levi’s into your Wranglers collection.
Jill DeWit: There should be no Wranglers.
Jack Butala: I know, you have a Wranglers thing.
Jill DeWit: I know.
Jack Butala: Like, a Lee jean thing.
Jill DeWit: You know what? Here, I’m going to say this. Here I am eating my words. Because I’m a California person, we don’t do Wranglers. If I lived in Austin, I might feel differently.
Jack Butala: You know, they have no seam on the inside, so if you …
Jill DeWit: How do you know that?
Jack Butala: Lee jeans and Wranglers for sure are for cowboys because there’s no seam on the inside, so that you can ride a horse.
Jill DeWit: I did not know that. Really?
Jack Butala: Yep.
Jill DeWit: That’s hilarious. I did not … That’s very interesting.
Jack Butala: That everybody’s real busy looking to see how their bottom looks like in jeans and they bypass these little …
Jill DeWit: That’s, to me, what’s more important. It really is better to look good than to see how they’re going to do on a horse.
Jack Butala: Well, you’ve done it again. You spent another 15 minutes listening to the Jack Jill show. Join us tomorrow where we discuss the definition of real estate investment advice.
Jill DeWit: Uh oh, and we answer your questions. Should you have one, post it on jackjill.com, our online community. Please go there, it’s free.
Jack Butala: You are not alone in your real estate ambition.
Jill DeWit: If we’re defining real estate investment advice, aren’t we defining ourselves?
Jack Butala: No, you know, there’s some very specific questions that I’m getting. Tomorrow I’ll really define them and really, really answer them. Like, “How the heck do I get started?” I get that all the time. We haven’t talked about those core 15 or so questions that we get. I’ll probably just keep it to three or four or five, we’ll see what happens. There’s some basic, basic things that, even people that have done a few deals already that are kind of missing. Here’s why I came up with it, because this is deal number, what, 16,000-plus for us, this first House Academy program property. I learned a ton, I know you did too. We’ve talked about it a lot. That’s part of it.
Jill DeWit: It’s true. Some of it’s, too, every time you go into a new market there’s a little difference. Different people and different financial situations, different spending, there’s just so much out there.
Jack Butala: Exactly.
Jill DeWit: Okay, I got it. I’m so glad to hear that that’s what it’s about, because I really thought I was going to have to, like, dig deep and share some soulful moments.
Jack Butala: You mean like, “Does this make me look fat?”
Jill DeWit: No, like, “Jill, why are you here today?”
Jack Butala: What the hell does that mean?
Jill DeWit: It’s like, you know what it is? It’s like, I don’t want to explain myself. It’s like when you get in trouble and we have to sit down and talk about it. I really don’t want to talk about. I thought we were going to have to talk about our feelings, and I don’t want to talk about my feelings.
Jack Butala: Sweetheart, I do not want to talk about my feelings. Trust me.
Jill DeWit: Oh, thank you. Now I will show up tomorrow. Thanks, Jack. Hey, share the fun by subscribing on iTunes or wherever you’re listing. While you’re at it, please rate us there. We are Jack and Jill.
Jack Butala: We are Jack and Jill, information …
Jill DeWit: And inspiration.
Jack Butala: To buy undervalued property.
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