Handy Man’s Special means Bulldozer Needed (LA 845)
Handy Man’s Special means Bulldozer Needed (LA 845)
Transcript:
Steven Butala: Steve and Jill here.
Jill DeWit: Hello.
Steven Butala: Welcome to the Land Academy show, entertaining land investment talk. I’m Steven Jack Butala.
Jill DeWit: Hi, I’m Jill DeWit broadcasting from sunny Southern California.
Steven Butala: Today, Jill and I talk about handyman special, means bulldozer needed. All this week, we talk about annoying real estate agent driven cliches.
Jill DeWit: This week is all about debunking … What’s the right term for that? Debunking-
Steven Butala: Well, what it says in the script is infuriating.
Jill DeWit: Ah.
Steven Butala: Infuriating real estate cliches because they all mean that something’s wrong with the property.
Jill DeWit: I get it.
Steven Butala: Before we get into it though, let’s take a question posted by one of our members, on the landinvestors.com online community. It’s free and as you’re listening, please drop your questions into the comment section below.
Jill DeWit: Milan asks “Title companies are driving me crazy with their long close.” (laughs) Speaking to the choir.
Steven Butala: Wow. Jill’s got a lot to say about this.
Jill DeWit: Boy, do I. (laughs) “Few properties I’m buying through a couple of title companies are now in one month wait and counting.
Steven Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: “And still, nothing is happening. When you contact them, they’re polite and they say ‘Gosh, we’re still waiting for the title report. Grrrr,'” he wrote in. “My question for you guys is, what is your strategy to make sure the seller doesn’t change his mind in this never-ending wait? I know, I know, they signed the purchase agreement, but I believe they can back-off from the deal anytime they want if they want to.”
Steven Butala: Yeah, that’s true.
Jill DeWit: “I’m thinking about sending a check for 300 dollars or so to keep them committed, what do you guys do?” I don’t do that. I don’t do anything-
Steven Butala: It’s not a bad idea. I’ve done things like that in the past.
Jill DeWit: I would just include it in part of the purchase sale, like say, send them a thousand dollars non-refundable deposit so they know you’re in and committed, and they have money in it and they’re not allowed to walk, because they have money now.
Steven Butala: Right
Jill DeWit: Already in place, so that would be a good way to start it out. If it keeps happening to you and you’re worried about it.
Steven Butala: That’s actually the key, the whole key is, I think, maintaining conversation with the seller. Just saying, “hey can you believe this is taking this long? These idiots to get this deal done”.
Jill DeWit: That’s exactly.
Steven Butala: And if you can laugh together about it then you’re gonna be fine.
Jill DeWit: That’s what we do.
Steven Butala: But making a positive out of a negative here, it’s giving you some extra time to get your ducks in a row to sell the property.
Jill DeWit: That’s true.
Steven Butala: So get the posting ready and all of that stuff.
Jill DeWit: That’s very true.
Steven Butala: Actually I would start marketing it, quite honestly. I would actually start marketing the property to resell it.
Jill DeWit: (laughs) Thank you, posing for a picture in the middle of this.
Steven Butala: Today’s topic, Unless you have more to say about this.
Jill DeWit: I do, the other thing that we do, I do keep on the agent. Sometimes we get into a regular call system, where I’ll check on them, you can’t let them just go dark, I guess.
Jill DeWit: Sometimes I call them, or my team now calls them, every other day sometimes daily to say “where are we with this? Where are we with this?” Because if you let them go five days, and you find out that it’s because they sent an email to the seller and the seller hasn’t responded, and the agent just sits there, nevermind the seller didn’t see the email. That’s what often happens.
Jill DeWit: And the agents won’t bother to pick up the phone and call the seller and go “hi, did you notice I sent you an email yesterday? I just need this form signed, and then we can move forward” and that often happens. And that drags things on.
Jill DeWit: So you’ve kinda gotta babysit them a little bit and stay on top of it. And then I do stay in touch with the sellers, because I’ve had this a lot too, where I’ve had sellers almost panic, thinking it’s almost me, and I’m like “no it’s not me”.
Jill DeWit: And we do laugh about. I said “no I know, this particular agent’s gotta do things a certain way, I’m waiting for her to schedule x, y, z to come and sign a certain way, we all know we could do it this way but that’s the way she needs to have it done. So don’t worry, the money’s on place, it’s gonna fund on Tuesday like we all agreed on. I’ll stay on it.” And they go “okay thank you, okay I appreciate it”. Because we never like you will have to send them anything, they just want to talk to somebody, and make sure.
Steven Butala: Here’s the truth, land deals get pushed aside over real estate agent driven houses, that’s what goes on, because agents and [inaudible 00:04:32] and all that stuff it’s all time-sensitive.
Jill DeWit: That’s true.
Steven Butala: And then I don’t think escrow agents have as much of respect for land, honestly.
Jill DeWit: That’s true.
Steven Butala: For land deals, they just think it’s kinda optional, it’s an optional thing, it’s not imperative, you’re not going to move into the land like you are the house.
Jill DeWit: Right.
Steven Butala: That kind of stuff goes on. We have a solution for this actually, I’m not supposed to talk about it, but I’m going to say it anyway.
Jill DeWit: I want to add one thing real quick here before you go on to that last point.
Jill DeWit: I wonder how many title agents are a little bit confused by our transactions. Because I see it happening eve a little bit with SFR’s, when there’s cash only they’re a little bit thrown. And then, when you make it a cash only, it’s a cash only land deal, talk about easy. And I have to kind of tell them, take that hat off, this is a whole different transaction, this couldn’t be easier.
Jill DeWit: Remember we don’t need this, there’s no asbestos, there’s no lead based paint, you know what I mean? Like some of the things there’s no inspection, nobody cares. These are really the easiest transactions.
Steven Butala: They really are.
Jill DeWit: I think it throws some title agents a little bit, and they have to kinda go think about it for a minute, and then go “oh alright”. Because it should be, and it can be really easy to close our deals.
Steven Butala: Yep.
Jill DeWit: Thank you.
Steven Butala: One of the things that we talked about in our live event over, and over, and over again, and it’s splattered all over Land Academy 2.0 is you should not be doing this anyway. If you really want to grow your business, this is after you’ve done ten deals or you’ve done some number of deals and you’re sitting around looking at yourself and saying to yourself “boy, I know how to do this now, I wish I could just scale this whole thing up and make it my full-time deal”.
Steven Butala: The way that happens is you have to get other people to do all these tasks. And managing title agents, if you let it, can be a full time job.
Steven Butala: So, we cut a deal yesterday-
Jill DeWit: This is part of 2.0, which is a surprise that’s coming, so if you want to share a little bit about it.
Steven Butala: Okay. I won’t give the actual proper noun name. We cut a deal with the Transaction Coordination Team to have, if you PayPal they will handle the whole thing. They’ll handle the closing, and all of it for 400 bucks. Which is a smoking deal, whether you go through title or not. And if you go through title they’re gonna have to pay that title company also.
Steven Butala: But I’ll tell you what, every transaction we’re doing right now is getting sent to them, to test it before we actually release it.
Jill DeWit: Cool. So basically it’s like, for those of you that have been with us for a while, remember title mind?
Jill DeWit: So we’re kinda go an unrelated third-party, who knows what we’re doing, they understand our product, and we’re gonna be able to use them.
Steven Butala: In a perfect world you should just be sending out data.
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Steven Butala: Somebody else answers your phone, like PATLive, they sift through all the hate. You talk to the seller, you sign a deal, and you send it somewhere, and you move on to the next deal.
Steven Butala: They have somebody else manage just about every single other aspect of selling that piece of property. That’s how you get 50 deals down a month.
Jill DeWit: Awesome.
Steven Butala: It was a big topic in our last live event.
Jill DeWit: Yes it was.
Steven Butala: Today’s topic, handyman special, really means bulldozer needed. This is the meat of the show, like I said earlier, all week this week.
Jill DeWit: (laughs)
Steven Butala: Is infuriating real estate cliches (laughs). It’s infuriating real estate cliches week.
Jill DeWit: Yep.
Steven Butala: What does handyman special really mean? Why disrespect a piece of real estate like that? Why not say repairs needed?
Steven Butala: Have you ever seen an apartment building listed as a handyman special? I haven’t, because men in commercial real estate, that’s how it gets listed.
Jill DeWit: Yep.
Jill DeWit: I see it as, because we just looked at a place up in, we talked about it last week, Lake Arrowhead, and it said “bring your toolbox”, which to me means bring you checkbook.
Steven Butala: Or bring your bulldozer.
Jill DeWit: Exactly. (laughs)
Steven Butala: (laughs)
Jill DeWit: One of the two is needed, so, not just a toolbox. That’s what’s the funniest thing, it’s a little bit insulting. We all know handyman special, bring your toolbox, light repair needed, that means, that is not what that means. You know?
Steven Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: We all know that. We all know cozy is small, and cramped. We’ve all learned that. We’ve all been around long enough.
Steven Butala: I’m not gonna give away all of the rest of the week.
Jill DeWit: So why do agents still do that then? We’re smarter than this.
Steven Butala: Why do they have to make the real estate industry cute?
Jill DeWit: Why, just say what it is, you know what, it needs this. Big deal.
Steven Butala: Like I said yesterday it’s important. Buying and selling a piece of real estate is important.
Jill DeWit: Or it is ready, like we have some that are move-in ready, and some are not move-in ready. And you say that. That’s it.
Steven Butala: Yeah, turn key, move-in ready.
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Steven Butala: Just renovated.
Jill DeWit: Or it’s ready for an investor.
Steven Butala: Recently updated, updated kitchen.
Jill DeWit: Needs renovations.
Steven Butala: All that stuff is very descriptive, handyman’s special doesn’t mean anything. It truly is infuriating, and if I sit here and let myself think about it, I’m gonna get really mad.
Jill DeWit: I know. That’s what happens.
Steven Butala: Okay yesterday we talked about statistics. So here’s some for sale by owner statistics: 8% of the houses sold in 2016 were sold for sale by owner, this is the most recent stuff we could get on the internet.
Steven Butala: The average home sold was 190,000 dollars for sale by owner, compared to the listed home, for a real estate agent is 250,000. So they love that stuff, real estate agents love that statistic.
Jill DeWit: Okay wait, wait, wait, can I read that again please.
Steven Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: I’m sorry.
Jill DeWit: So for those of you who are listening, we are showing it on YouTube, showing where we got the statistics here, because it’s really interesting.
Jill DeWit: Alright so you just said, the typical FSBO sold for 190 compared to 250 for an agent assisted, yeah well okay.
Steven Butala: Hold on, because this is why this statistic is a bunch of malarkey.
Steven Butala: You’re taking an 8% data sample against a 92% data sample.
Jill DeWit: Oh…Good point, I got it.
Steven Butala: Yeah, it’s a joke.
Jill DeWit: We’re messing up that number.
Steven Butala: Yes, we are.
Jill DeWit: Because that’s what we do, so you can’t compare it, it’s not apples for apples.
Steven Butala: It makes you actually feel pretty good, plus probably the vast majority of those 8% homes are wholesale.
Jill DeWit: Right.
Steven Butala: So they should be cheaper.
Jill DeWit: Exactly.
Steven Butala: So that’s ridiculous, it’s a ridiculous statistic, but agents love it.
Jill DeWit: Okay.
Steven Butala: Agents believe, they truly believe this in their head. They believe that they are useful in the transaction, and they’re maximizing the value of the house for you. When in reality it’s absolutely ridiculous.
Jill DeWit: I know.
Steven Butala: They’re putting in the in the MLS, we just read a statistics yesterday that said, 51% of the people already found the house that they want on the internet, they’re just using the agent to fill out paperwork.
Jill DeWit: Exactly, and they could do that on their own, and save all that money.
Steven Butala: Right, there’s so little paperwork. All the paperwork that agents have you sign it is all made up. It’s all fictitious it’s unnecessary. We don’t do all that paperwork when we buy a house at all.
Jill DeWit: Nope it’s only the real stuff that goes through escrow, the deed.
Steven Butala: We sign one piece of paper, a purchase agreement that we generate ourself.
Jill DeWit: And then the deed when we sell it.
Steven Butala: That’s on the closing package, you’re gonna sign that anyway.
Jill DeWit: Exactly, that’s what I mean.
Steven Butala: If I sound angry about it, it’s because I am. (laughs)
Jill DeWit: I couldn’t tell. (laughs)
Steven Butala: Here’s the methods that a for sale by owner used to market their house:
Jill DeWit: This is gold.
Steven Butala: A yard sign, 35%.
Jill DeWit: I believe that.
Steven Butala: Friends, and relatives and neighbors, 24%. Classified ads, like we were laughing about yesterday, 11%. Open house 15%. For sale by owner websites 8%, look how low that is. Social networking sites 13%.
Jill DeWit: Love it.
Steven Butala: MLS 26%, this is shockingly low.
Jill DeWit: Yeah, this is great.
Steven Butala: No one knows how to do this.
Jill DeWit: Look at that they’re putting it on the MLS their selves, right after a yard sign.
Steven Butala: You know what we should do Jill?
Jill DeWit: How smart are they? This is good.
Steven Butala: We should do a video series for people, just for fun, and put it on YouTube, called “How to Sell Your Own House”, or “How to Sell Your Own Piece of Land”.
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Steven Butala: Because I think, there’s this big mystery behind it, and it’s five minutes.
Jill DeWit: Well, we do have a thing like that online it’s called land academy.
Steven Butala: (laughs)
Jill DeWit: (laughs) Thank you very much. It does talk about selling. What as that chapter seven? Chapter eight? I can’t remember, can I help you with that?
Steven Butala: Oh you’re funny man.
Jill DeWit: Thank you.
Steven Butala: You just have something going on with you, this whole week.
Jill DeWit: Well these topics get me going too. So that’s part of it, I just get riled up too, so alright.
Steven Butala: Well you’ve done it again, you’ve spent another 15 minutes or so listening to the Land Academy Show. Join us next time, where we discuss north-south exposure, and what it really means, is there’s just no other attributes for the house at all. Or it couldn’t come up with anything creative to say about the property that they listed.
Jill DeWit: I would love to know where you were looking at this is so funny. And we answer your questions posted on online community at landinvestors.com. It’s free.
Steven Butala: You are not alone in your real estate ambition.
Jill DeWit: That’s funny. That’s good. These are good.
Steven Butala: I like these statistics actually. They’re actually pretty helpful you know?
Jill DeWit: So where did you get them by the way? Did you sit there and just scroll MLS, and just find the most prevalent ones, or just the stupidest ones, or just ones that jumped out.
Steven Butala: I just did it like everything I googled it, and you know I should say I painstakingly took hours to prep for these shows, but that’s not what happened.
Jill DeWit: Five minutes.
Steven Butala: (laughs)
Jill DeWit: (laughs) Please be sure to hit the subscribe button to stay up to date on our podcast. Like us and comment on what you would like to see or listen to in future shows. And if you’re listing to us on iTunes please be sure and rate us there.
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