How Men and Women Approach Land Investing (LA 980)
How Men and Women Approach Land Investing (LA 980)
Transcript:
Steven Butala: Steve and Jill here.
Jill DeWit: I was going to say something like “Guten tag.” Then, I was trying to think, “Hola.” I’m like, well, that’s boring. And then I was thinking of another language and, buenos dias. Here we go.
Steven Butala: This is perfect reaction and entrance intro. The differences between men and women.
Jill DeWit: Uh oh.
Steven Butala: Steve and Jill here.
Jill DeWit: Hello.
Steven Butala: Welcome to the Land Academy show. Land, investments, real estate talk. I’m Steven Jack Butala.
Jill DeWit: And Jill DeWitt, broadcasting from sunny southern California.
Steven Butala: Today, Jill and I talk about how men and women approach land investing.
Jill DeWit: I love it differently among other things.
Steven Butala: It turns out, there’s some differences between men and women in general in life, and it’s not that far off from the differences in how we approach investing in land, and they both have equal and incredibly valuable merit and contribution to getting stuff done. That’s kind of what the show is to talk about. It’s not to dog on each other, although that may happen. It’s actually to celebrate our differences and use them to make some dough.
Jill DeWit: Exactly.
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.
Jill DeWit: Nancy asks, “Hello. At the moment, I am paycheck to paycheck, but I can probably get $250 up in the next month for a deal. What I’m asking is would someone be willing to go half on, say, a $500 wholesale deal and split any profit? This way I can get my feet wet and hopefully earn some cash so I can do other deals on halves and split again. Then, eventually do deals on my own. I have to benefit and learn from the sales side of business and eventually earn enough money for a monthly membership, where I can then learn the acquisition side. The only experience that I have real estate as a few years back, I wholesaled a house.” Well, that’s good.
Steven Butala: That’s good. Really good start.
Jill DeWit: “Got it under contract. Then assigned the contract to another, the second one I did. I was not able to find anyone for the contract and had to let it go back.”
Steven Butala: You got your feet wet.
Jill DeWit: Yeah. Yeah. That’s really great.
Steven Butala: What’s your advice to this person?
Jill DeWit: Hey, it’s a creative way to get started and I don’t think it’s nuts. The only thing is I’m not sure how much … I guess I’d have to talk to and just find out what she’s able to contribute, including the $250 towards it. Could you help me with the marketing part of it? Can you help me with this? Each person’s equally doing some of the work to justify splitting the profit, not just one person doing all the work of one person sitting back and observing. I’m just being honest. What are your thoughts?
Steven Butala: I’m going to paint a picture here. It’s a very accurate picture of a material number of people who are listening or watching this right now.
Steven Butala: I don’t have any money. I have a pretty good job. I live in her house or an apartment, and I’m going to work just like the rest of the world every day, wondering what’s going to happen. Not Wondering, but trying to put a plan together because I really just don’t want to do this job that I’m in the rest of my life, but I don’t have any money. I make enough to pay the bills with a little bit extra, which I end up spending on beer every month, even though I tell myself I won’t. Just to keep my sanity.
Jill DeWit: This is awesome. You’re like, let me just give you a hypothetical situation, and it’s down to the beer money. This is awesome. Let’s talk about specific. Yeah, and my car payment came due and I forgot, and shoot, I have to register my cat. I forgot all about that.
Steven Butala: That’s real life right there.
Jill DeWit: Yes, okay.
Steven Butala: In the back of my mind, I’m thinking, like every other person who has started in real estate, me included, and this is incorrect by the way, I’m thinking I got to save up some money for a down payment on some real estate, or in our case, some dough to buy a piece of property to just get this thing kick started. That couldn’t be further from what you should be thinking about. Forget about the money. I’m telling you, you probably heard the all guys like me say this, you’re going yeah, yeah, forget about the money, but that’s because you have a bunch of money. That’s not what I mean. I really mean this.
Jill DeWit: You do sound like you’re 80.
Steven Butala: Forget about the money. If you come to us or anyone else in this group, and you spent the last six months learning how to buy and sell real estate listening to these podcasts, you don’t have to join. It’s just learn how to use the mail, understand data, and really absorb.
Steven Butala: We have a person who is on our staff right now who sleeps, eats and breathes every time they’re off work, buying land. Of all the people we’ve ever had work for us, I’ve never seen any more potential than this one guy. If that’s you, forget about the money. Learn how to do this. Eventually get a subscription. If you want to save up for anything, save up, and I’m not selling anything. Become a member or figure out how to get access to some data somewhere or whatever, until you can actually afford to do it the right way, which is join our group.
Steven Butala: Then, get some mail out and bring in some great deals. At that point, you still don’t have any money, right?
Jill DeWit: Right.
Steven Butala: You’re still going to this stupid job and you’re buying a quarter barrel every month.
Jill DeWit: You’re buying a what?
Steven Butala: A quarter barrel of beer because it’s cheaper than … Nevermind. See, that’s the difference between men and women. I know what a quarter barrel is, and she knows what kind of champagne she’s going to drink tonight.
Jill DeWit: I did not know what a quarter barrel is. That’s true.
Steven Butala: That’s what we’re going to talk about in the real part of the show.
Steven Butala: Now, you send a bunch of mail out, you still kind of don’t know what you’re doing and you don’t have any money. Totally okay. Some deals are going to come back. Some people are going to sign some. You’re going to look at these deals and you’re gonna say, all right, this looks, to me, because I’m so educated, self educated over the last six months, like a great deal, I’m going to go on the Thursday call with us or Wednesday webinar and ask about it. Ask if somebody wants to do the deal, and people are going to come out of the woodwork to partner this thing with you.
Steven Butala: Shoot a lot higher than an extra $250. Don’t let money stop you. Forget about the money you need to find a great deal, a signed purchase agreement. That first deal, let’s say it’s $14,000, 8,000, $6,000, some number like that and you know it’s worth 40.
Jill DeWit: Right.
Steven Butala: Jill and I will do that deal with you all day long through our deal funding channels and so will 400 other people in our group.
Jill DeWit: Exactly.
Steven Butala: That’s what you should focus on. Is that?
Jill DeWit: Beautiful.
Steven Butala: Okay, good.
Jill DeWit: Thank you.
Steven Butala: Today’s topic, how men and women approach land investing differently. This is the meat of the show.
Steven Butala: It’s no secret that men and women are different, and I will go as far to say this, it is never going to change. You can spend a lot of time like my parents did, arguing about that, and sitting there and staring at each other saying, “I just don’t understand why you don’t understand me,” or you can manage it like Jill and I do personally and professionally and say, “Yeah, Jill is driven by emotions and generally about talking and feeling your way through a transaction, making sure everybody’s happy at the end of it, including herself.”
Steven Butala: That’s not to say she’s not technical, because she’s a licensed pilot and she can rip through a spreadsheet like nobody I’ve ever seen. I’m just saying she approaches doing a real estate transaction 180 degrees differently than I ever will. That’s what makes us great partners.
Steven Butala: I think a lot of people really look at anyone else that’s different than themselves, male or female, or from another country and say, “Man, that person’s really different from me. There’s no way I can work with that person or get along or I’m not going to keep an open mind about it,” when what they should be saying is, “Yeah, Joe completely approaches this stuff differently. How can we work together to make this better?”
Steven Butala: That’s the gist of it. Men and women look at everything differently. Since the 1960s in this country, there’s been this massive movement to, some people call it equality, some people call it all kinds of stuff, when in fact we should celebrate it, and really not just celebrate it, but utilize it to our own benefit.
Steven Butala: I mean, did you write some stuff about how we do deals differently? That’s the big picture difference here. I’ve always wondered why this is such a big problem.
Jill DeWit: Well, you know what interesting about this, I was thinking about it and I don’t think I’m the typical woman, honestly.
Steven Butala: I don’t either.
Jill DeWit: For me, it was kind of hard to come up with some things. I do know that we are typically, as far as the decision making process, we are typically more conservative, which is often a good thing.
Steven Butala: But together I think we are. Oh, you mean women?
Jill DeWit: No, I mean women aren’t typically … I mean, excuse me.
Steven Butala: She says we, not Jill and I as a lifelong dedicated committed partners.
Jill DeWit: No, I’m talking about talking about the topic.
Steven Butala: A different “we,” the gender “we.”
Jill DeWit: I’m talking about the topic of the show “we.” We women, you men. You quarter keg, whatever that is, quarter barrel. I know what a keg is. You don’t do a quarter keg. That’s quarter barrel.
Steven Butala: Oh, Jill.
Jill DeWit: Sorry, I am all confused. I know what trawler is, right? Is that what that is called?
Steven Butala: Oh, a growler. A trawler is a large fishing boat.
Jill DeWit: Boat. Anyway, clearly, I’m not a great beer … I appreciate a good beer, but I’m not a beer connoisseur, obviously. So, there we go.
Jill DeWit: Okay. Anyway, traditionally, we make decisions differently. I was trying to think about, okay, how we approach land investing differently? I think, yeah, number one, our overall business set up might be different. The way we would organize our things for men. Again, when it comes to making the decisions, we are typically a little more conservative on the buy side. Hopefully, not on the sell side, but just kind of extra checking things, which is not a bad thing.
Jill DeWit: I’ve seen this in other relationships where he’s all in to this and she says, “Wait a minute, what about this?” And he goes, “Oh, I missed that.” Where it’s a good thing. It’s usually a good Yin and Yang. It’s a really good thing.
Jill DeWit: About the communication, I mean, the way people communicate, I mean, I know men that talk a whole lot, too.
Steven Butala: Let me ask you a couple questions.
Jill DeWit: It’s a tough one.
Steven Butala: Let’s take it back to the third grade level here. Let’s just ask you a bunch of questions.
Steven Butala: Forty acre property comes in in San Bernardino County, and it comes in from the mail, from a former offer campaign. What’s the first thing you do?
Jill DeWit: Look it up.
Steven Butala: Where? Give us a lot of detail.
Jill DeWit: ParcelFact. I just wrote a blog on this.
Steven Butala: You look it up on ParcelFact. What do you check for?
Jill DeWit: Well, here, let me tell you real quick. I wrote a blog on it. I did a blog real quick and it’s how to do a quick due diligence in five minutes, and it’s two minutes in ParcelFact, two minutes in Google Earth, and one minute in just somewhere out there just to double check your pricing, [crosstalk 00:11:43] comes back.
Steven Butala: Well, can you answer it because I want to see if it’s the same thing I do.
Jill DeWit: Okay.
Steven Butala: Because I want to know if it’s different based on gender or just maybe how we approach this. I don’t know.
Jill DeWit: Okay. The deal comes in. I pull up on ParcelFact, I’m checking, confirming I’m talking to the right person, first of all. If I’m not, I’m not even going to bother anymore there. Make sure I have the right person. I’m looking over the … It’s in my face now.
Steven Butala: Go ahead.
Jill DeWit: Thank you. I’m looking at it on the map real quick. I’m looking at access. I’m looking at the grading. I’m doing some quick eyeball stuff there, just-
Steven Butala: Have you talked to the seller yet?
Jill DeWit: Well, you know what? Honestly, I’m looking at a signed offer. I’m either looking at a signed offer, [inaudible 00:12:23], or I’m talking to him on the phone, theoretically. This is while I’m on the phone with them.
Steven Butala: You don’t go through any of this until you actually in your head know it’s for real?
Jill DeWit: Oh yes. Correct.
Steven Butala: You’ve already established price.
Jill DeWit: Yeah, I’ve got the signed offer. I’m now deciding if I want to do with the deal.
Steven Butala: Good. Me, too. I won’t spend any time on it unless I know it’s real.
Jill DeWit: No. That’s the same with deal funding. When people submit things, they … I had one submitted the other day where there was no signed purchase agreement and they said, “I have them at this price. I’m trying to get them to this price.” I’m like, why are we even talking? Please don’t submit it until you have a deal and you’re happy about it, thrilled about it, and you’re comfortable with and confident with it. You’re not just like, “Hey, what do you think?” That’s for this deal thing.
Jill DeWit: We’re on the same page there. It’s got to be done, locked in with an offer price, seller ready to go, purchase agreement in hand. Now, I’m going, how good is this property? Was it priced right? Do I even want it now? What if it doesn’t have access? What if it’s on a hill? What if it’s got so much back taxes on it, it’s more than what the property is worth? All these things are possible. Or what if, too, the person that I just sent whose name it’s in, died six years ago and no one did anything about it. We need to confirm all those things first and I can do all of that in ParcelFact real quick.
Jill DeWit: Then, I go to the next phase. Now, I’m getting more eyes on it. Checking the grading. Does it look like a flood plain? Is there going to be an issues there? Are there people building around it? Does it look like that area has utilities? Some other things there. This is just a quick five minutes.
Jill DeWit: Then, last, I’m double checking the price, too, if it passes all those tests. If I spot something, it doesn’t mean I’m going to stop. It means I’m making a note like, all right I need to pull that and I need to pull that, kind of thing, or somebody does.
Jill DeWit: Then, the last thing is I’m double checking my pricing. I might do a quick little glance around it to see what’s out there, available at the same size. What are they asking? Does it look like things are moving in this area still? Because some of these offers are how many years old, too, that we get returned?
Jill DeWit: Then, it’s either, after five minutes, it’s a yep, take it to the next phase, spend a little more time on it, or it’s we’re not doing it because one of those things it didn’t pass.
Steven Butala: I have a much more condensed approach. The property comes in and I assume that it’s a real deal. I immediately go into ParcelFact, find the boundaries, which takes seconds. I put it into Google Earth and realtor.com at the exact same time. I’m checking for exactly one thing. Can I sell this property for two to three times what I know I can purchase it for? That manifests itself in the following way. Is there like kind property that’s listed for a lot more on realtor.com right now, and in the very immediate area if not next to it, number one?
Steven Butala: Number two, while Google Earth is loading, I’m dumping in GPS coordinates, and I literally go into Google Earth and create a video, which I may or may not record. This is all in the first 30 seconds of the deal coming in. This video, how I perceive this video, usually doing a circular thing around it, standing as if I’m standing and looking up. Maybe there’s mountains around it or whatever’s around it, other properties, trees and stuff. Does this video look unbelievably fantastic? Because that will sell the property.
Steven Butala: I’m not even thinking about buying it. I’m actually thinking about the exit strategy in the first 30 seconds. How am I going to get out of this thing before I get in it? I think that may drive men specifically in their decision making. Men are famous for not wanting to commit to anything. They’re no different here. No different. I do not want to own this property for more than 15 seconds if I have to. I just want to create some equity.
Steven Butala: I don’t want to go through a big process. I don’t want to talk about it. I don’t want to have any emotion about it. Oh, run the other way. I just want to convert it to more cash.
Steven Butala: While I don’t think you’re the regular female at all, ever, I do think that there are people that enjoy the process more than they enjoy the end. We’ve all experienced both genders, both genders, but I specifically have been exposed to a lot of women in my life that, not socially or anything, just work people and all that.
Jill DeWit: That’s okay. You don’t have to explain anything.
Steven Butala: We have people that we work with right now, not in our staff, but colleagues that love the process of buying real estate. They’re still relatively new at this, and they love to go through the whole talking through it and looking at all the contracts. We buy and sell a lot of houses with them as partners. They love to go there and walk through the house and all of it.
Jill DeWit: Do you know what my cure for that is?
Steven Butala: Bankruptcy?
Jill DeWit: No.
Steven Butala: That’s where you’re going to be headed. If you love real estate and you just love everything about it, this isn’t for you. If you love data, this is for you.
Jill DeWit: Tell me when you’re ready. Are you ready now?
Steven Butala: Yeah.
Jill DeWit: That’s not my care. My cure for that is if you’re sending out enough mail, you quickly don’t have enough time to do that. That’s the bottom line. I don’t have time to, and I’m seeing so many deals now. It’s not my first, second, third, fourth, tenth, twentieth, hundredth. I’ve seen enough deals now that I can. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve learned from you. I learn from the best you know how to eyeball this and make quick decisions and move on to the next one.
Steven Butala: Well said.
Jill DeWit: Thank you.
Steven Butala: And I’ll wrap up on this because I did have making mental notes on the show. There are certain people on this planet that have to finish stuff. Jill And I happen to have that personality. When we start something we have to finish. In a lot of cases, and it’s probably to our detriment, we can’t start the next project unless the one before it’s finished or at least substantially finished in functioning, in good hands, let’s call it. Again, I got exposed to a lot of women in the workplace that have a problem finishing stuff.
Jill DeWit: Is this kind of, I need to get this out there? Is it weighing on you?
Steven Butala: When is it not? These shows are all read between the lines, it’s just Steven ranting about whatever he’s upset about. It’s all bundled up in a pretty package next to me and real estate.
Jill DeWit: The real topic is-
Steven Butala: Being angry.
Jill DeWit: … What annoys Steven about how women and men approach land investing. That’s really what the topic is. Let’s just call a spade a spade. Why is this not ending how I thought it would?
Steven Butala: I don’t think people choose listen to a podcast because they violently disagree with the people that are talking on it.
Jill DeWit: Violently. You vocabulary’s like none other, Steven. I got to tell you. I really do love that about you. I violently love you about that. I’m going to write that down, too. That’s our new word for the day. Whatever you do, go at it violently.
Steven Butala: We’re going to get sued over this stuff. Please don’t do anything violent.
Jill DeWit: No. Meaning with aggression and get it done. I want you to violently tackle that spreadsheet today. That’s what I mean. Not violently drive home.
Steven Butala: Oh, Jill.
Jill DeWit: That’s so good. Seriously. That’s a new one.
Steven Butala: Well, you’ve done it again. You spend another 20 minutes or so listening to the Land Academy show, if you can call it that. Join us next time for the episode called, “Member Steve [Minish 00:20:30] shares mobile home lot success stories.”
Jill DeWit: It’s good. We answer your questions, post it on our online community at landinvestors.com. It’s free.
Steven Butala: You are not alone in your real estate ambition.
Jill DeWit: The only thing I wrote down and I was trying to think, what can I talk about how men and women are different? But one thing that, I love that this is mostly a guy’s world, and I love being a woman in the guy’s world. Shaking things up.
Steven Butala: You’ve said that over the years, and I think that’s great.
Jill DeWit: Well, you know what I don’t think they expect me to know what I know, and I don’t think they expect me to come up with the ideas and get things done like I do. I actually just kind of love the shock.
Steven Butala: You’re very good at and very comfortable adapting to the environment that you’re in at the time.
Jill DeWit: Thank you.
Steven Butala: I don’t think it’s for unhealthy reasons. I think some people do that just to be accepted because there’s this underlying problem. I think you do it just because you want to get in there and have some fun and contribute and reap the benefits from whatever the environment is. I think there’s a lot of problems in the world, way bigger than this show, where people have a tough time acclimating to the environment that they’re in and they fight it. They fight to be accepted for who they are instead of when in Rome, acclimating themselves into …
Steven Butala: The behavior that I have on this show, in front of this camera is absolutely different than how we are in a live event and completely different than how I would be presenting in a board room to raise capital for a new company. That’s not just one Steve. It’s whatever environment, and you’re very, very good at that.
Jill DeWit: Thank you.
Steven Butala: I think I’ve seen a lot of women really fight that because they just want to be accepted for who they are.
Jill DeWit: That’s true.
Steven Butala: I can go into it. I can talk about this for hours and hours and hours.
Jill DeWit: No, we shouldn’t. That’s okay. Thank you. We’re good.
Jill DeWit: Wherever you’re watching, wherever you are listening, please subscribe and rate us there.
Steven Butala: We are Steve and Jill.
Jill DeWit: We are Steve and Jill.
Steven Butala: Information-
Jill DeWit: And inspiration-
Steven Butala: To buy undervalued property.
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