Are You in Beginning Middle or Efficient Part of Your Land Career (LA 1216)
Are You in Beginning Middle or Efficient Part of Your Land Career (LA 1216)
Transcript:
Steven Butala:
Steve and Jill here.
Jill DeWit:
Good day.
Steven Butala:
Welcome to the Land Academy Show, entertaining land investment talk. I’m Steven Jack Butala.
Jill DeWit:
And I’m Jill DeWit, broadcasting from sunny southern California.
Steven Butala:
Today we talk about are you in the beginning or the middle or the efficient part of your land career? Beginning, middle and the end of every… There’s always the beginning, middle and the end of everything.
Jill DeWit:
True.
Steven Butala:
Where are we?
Jill DeWit:
Oh, we’re on the efficiency end.
Steven Butala:
I mean, as a couple.
Jill DeWit:
Oh, as a couple? Oh, it changes day to day. Just kidding.
Steven Butala:
Maybe the end was yesterday.
Jill DeWit:
Exactly. Well, considering we’re spending a lot more time together now. A lot of things have changed.
Steven Butala:
We’re not in the beginning.
Jill DeWit:
We’re not at the beginning. The honeymoon period is long gone. And in the middle… Yeah, we might be nearing the end. Just kidding.
Steven Butala:
How does it work for women? How does it work for women? Do you really love the very beginning of the relationship?
Jill DeWit:
Of course. Oh my gosh. Most women do. We get all excited. It’s new, it’s fresh. He calls me baby. It’s all great. And then in the middle it’s kind of sweet. Now we’ve progressed, it’s nice. And at the end you’re like if I hear baby one more time…
Steven Butala:
That’s exactly how it is for men. My gosh. She’s talking to me? Please stop talking to me.
Jill DeWit:
Oh my God. I’m going to baby this. Watch.
Steven Butala:
Oh, Jill.
Jill DeWit:
It’s going to be like give me another damn… Whatever, baby. So yeah, that’s really how it goes.
Steven Butala:
Jill and I, we’re in the middle of this virus thing right now, so if you’re listening a year from now…
Jill DeWit:
A year from now…
Steven Butala:
We went over to this friend of ours houses and she said… And Jill and I just shockingly looked at each other. “We use you guys as an example of how our relationship should be.”
Jill DeWit:
Oh, she said that?
Steven Butala:
Yeah.
Jill DeWit:
Oh, I missed that part.
Steven Butala:
Blondie did.
Jill DeWit:
I know who you’re talking about. I think I missed that part.
Steven Butala:
“We talk about you guys all the time. This is how it should be.” I’m like oh, that’s hilarious.
Jill DeWit:
This is not… This should not… Don’t do what we do. That’s great.
Steven Butala:
And it occurred to me, and this is how I explain it to this person who’s house, where we were, it’s like, “Only confrontation that Jill and I ever have together is based on working together.” I can’t remember the last time you and I have ever had any kind of anything that’s negative that’s with us. It’s always-
Jill DeWit:
How we live or picking up or just our day to day-
Steven Butala:
Anything. About the kids. Anything.
Jill DeWit:
That’s true.
Steven Butala:
It’s always the stupid companies have.
Jill DeWit:
That’s true.
Steven Butala:
I don’t know what the point is here.
Jill DeWit:
I don’t either.
Steven Butala:
Beginning, middle and the end. My point is we have control over that.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Butala:
We don’t have as much control or say in-
Jill DeWit:
Whether or not I can walk on my own beach.
Steven Butala:
Before we get into it, even though we already have, let’s take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community. It’s free. I feel sorry for you if you just came to the show because you want to learn about buying and selling land.
Jill DeWit:
Oh, silly. All right. Dan wrote, “Hi, Land Academy. I have a few counties that I’d like to mail, specifically certain pockets in counties that I would like to mail. Would it be advantageous to use Neighbor Scoop to draw a circle around a pocket, download that information and mail to those owners?”
Steven Butala:
No.
Jill DeWit:
“I haven’t used it yet, but I can scrub out everything except vacant lots.” I guess the question mark, is that possible? “I would like to mail about 2,000 mailers a month and $150 for the info doesn’t seem too expensive. Thanks, Dan.”
Steven Butala:
This is a fantastic question. I’m going to clear the air on the topic. Using Neighbor Scoop is not the ideal way to do a mailer. You can do it, but it’s going to take a long time and it’s not the most efficient way. The topic today is beginning, middle and the and or the efficient portion of your career. If you’ve ever done a mailer you know that downloading data into a CSV or an Excel file is the optimal way to do it. And the more you can scrub out on the front end to get it into a mailer, the better. Neighbor Scoop’s not for that. You can do it. You can draw a polygon around for houses or… For a subdivision type mailer, it’s fantastic. It’s great for that. But if you’re going to look at a whole county, let’s say you want all the five acre properties in a county, that’s not the best way to do it. You can do it, but it’s not-
Jill DeWit:
You’re going to get everything and you have to sit and sort by now the size and do that. So you might have extra stuff you don’t want. Even businesses might pop in there that you don’t want.
Steven Butala:
So Jill and I built Land Academy and House Academy, these companies, this entity around how we use data, and what I think is the best way for us anyway. And so there’s a lot of different products that are involved in being successful buying, selling real estate. For what you want to do here, 2,000 mailers a month, Real Quest is great, Data Tree’s great. We’re licensed providers. As a member you get all that stuff. What Neighbor Scoop is for is clicking through to see who owns what and getting stats in a spacial way.
Steven Butala:
I’ve heard that some of our advanced members use Neighbor Scoop like this. I only want to buy properties that are waterfront in a specific community that I know I can buy and resell property very, very effectively and a community in Florida. So you click through all the waterfront properties, you get their information or maybe you have a VA do it.
Jill DeWit:
You can even draw a little polygon around the lake. That’s okay. That’s how I see it. Or even just a neighbor letter.
Steven Butala:
For instance, Jill and I just mailed 20,000 or 30,000 very specific zoning specific mailers out in Los Angeles County. It was a very effective mailer. You could never do that in Neighbor Scoop. You could do it and it would take months. There’s lots of tools. Neighbor Scoop’s not a mailer tool.
Jill DeWit:
Great question, though.
Steven Butala:
Yeah.
Jill DeWit:
I love it.
Steven Butala:
Today’s topic. Are you in the beginning, the middle or the efficient part of your land career? This is the meat of the show. In the beginning you question whether or not this is actually real.
Jill DeWit:
Same as in a relationship. you talk about business and I’ll talk about being in a relationship.
Steven Butala:
What do you mean you guys send mailers out, you send offers out? What the hell are you talking about? What is that? That’s the beginning.
Jill DeWit:
You guys think you’re soul mates?
Steven Butala:
What’s wrong with you, Jill?
Jill DeWit:
I don’t know. I’m punchy. Okay.
Steven Butala:
In the middle it’s like, all right, you’ve accepted the fact that it works, the mailing thing works. You can buy and sell real estate. In the beginning you have questions like who the hell is going to sign a letter for… Who’s going to sell their property for less than it’s worth? Well, the same people that have a garage sale. They’re the same people that sell a bunch of stuff just to get it out of their garage. They know it’s worth more.
Jill DeWit:
Congratulations. His bathroom habits don’t gross you out.
Steven Butala:
You just wanted to say that sentence. It has nothing to do with what I’m saying.
Jill DeWit:
That’s the middle.
Steven Butala:
You know what, Jill? Get it out. This is a forum. This is the format for you to get out all the stuff you’ve been thinking for 10 years.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah, I know. That’s the middle of the relationship. You realize yeah I can live with that guy. He does use deodorant. Okay.
Steven Butala:
Is it that bad?
Jill DeWit:
No.
Steven Butala:
Are women just disgusted-
Jill DeWit:
Some guys are.
Steven Butala:
… by men?
Jill DeWit:
Oh, come on. Yeah, the men that leave food out for days, that is disgusting. Yes.
Steven Butala:
Is that a gender specific thing or maybe-
Jill DeWit:
That’s a good question.
Steven Butala:
… or people who regularly do crack?
Jill DeWit:
It’s probably not a gender specific. I’m sure there are women that do that, too.
Steven Butala:
I think so, too.
Jill DeWit:
I’m just saying. So that’s the middle of the relationship. You are a good fit. You figured out the mail part, you figured out the living together part.
Steven Butala:
My senior year in college I lived in a house with about, I don’t know, eight or 10 people, and there was one bathroom. There’s three girls that lived in one room. It was cheap, man. Way cheaper than living in a dorm. We’re all trying to just get done with college at that point. And those girls were a mess. It was a day of hairspray. I don’t know. Do people even use hairspray anymore?
Jill DeWit:
Not so much. But I know what you’re talking about.
Steven Butala:
Just hairspray everywhere. Hairspray on the shower curtain.
Jill DeWit:
I remember. Yup.
Steven Butala:
There’s hairspray on everything.
Jill DeWit:
I remember.
Steven Butala:
When women say men are dirty or just their habits are dirty I look back on that time in college.
Jill DeWit:
So yeah, it’s not gender specific, no. Okay, go to the efficiency part now because then I have my part.
Steven Butala:
Oh, okay. Yeah. So in the beginning of your career you questioned whether or not this works. In the middle of your career… Bless you, sweetheart.
Jill DeWit:
Thank you. Excuse me.
Steven Butala:
In the middle you’ve already sent the mailer out or a couple of mailers and you’ve bought or sold a few properties. Now you’re at that… That’s really what the show is about this episode. You’re at that pivotal point. And I love that pivotal point, by the way, because you know it works. You’ve already talked to or somehow involved yourself in this community. Not just from us, you get it from other members that are probably a little bit further ahead in their career. And they’re like, yeah man. You’re honing your skills. Jill and I do consulting calls all the time. And it’s at that point where everyone’s like, “Wow, we did eight deals and it turns out we can make a couple hundred thousand bucks a month doing this.” I love that portion.
Steven Butala:
And then the efficient part, it’s the end. And I don’t want to use end because it never ends. The efficiency part is, all right, I’ve got a couple or a few people working for me. All this stuff that I don’t like to do I’m subbing it out to other people so they can do it. For me, Jill loves to answer the phone. I don’t. So I subbed it out to her. That’s what happened. I mean in the efficiency part of my career Jill and I got together and made it crazy efficient. I’m good at the front end acquisition part. Jill’s great at the sales back end part.
Steven Butala:
So where are you in your career? No matter what, here’s the point of the show or the episode. If you are in the beginning and you’re questioning this, stop it. What you should really be asking-
Jill DeWit:
Don’t doing it, but stop questioning it. Right?
Steven Butala:
What you really should be asking… Yes. What you should be asking yourself is, is this for me? Because there’s no question that it works. It absolutely works and it’ll work forever. It’s been going on since real estate. Since the beginning of real estate people who’ve been buying it and reselling it. There’s no question about it. The question is, are you a data person? Do you revel in Excel? And really, whatever you’re doing right now… Land Academy and House Academy is not going to save you from yourself. If you’re very successful at what you do already, buying and selling real estate, you’re going to be successful at it. This is just tools. It’s just tools and sources of data and ways to manipulate stuff to your advantage. If you own a convenience store and it’s really going well, you’re going to kill it at Land Academy. If you’re failing at whatever you’re doing right now, this isn’t the answer for you.
Jill DeWit:
That’s a good point. You ready for my part?
Steven Butala:
Yes.
Jill DeWit:
Okay. And here to take that efficiency thing from what you just said, from your business to the relationship example of mine. The efficiency part is congratulations, now you’re committed. How can you successfully cohabitate without killing each other? That’s it.
Steven Butala:
I have a bunch of questions.
Jill DeWit:
Do you now have different bathrooms? Do you now have different staggered times in the kitchen? Do you now cook separate meals? Whatever it is.
Steven Butala:
On behalf of all men I’m going to ask a few questions, because women in the beginning of the relationship are so enthusiastic and they just so much want… They really like… It comes out of their pores how much of a commitment they want. But then the minute that you make the commitment, not the minute, maybe the week after, you make a real commitment, it doesn’t have to be marriage, whatever, it just seems like, all right, I got the guy and that’s it. I won. Everybody who’s listening to this-
Jill DeWit:
What? What percentage of that-
Steven Butala:
Everybody who’s listening, every man is oh shit, that exactly happened to me.
Jill DeWit:
I would like to know what percentage of that is true in your experience?
Steven Butala:
Zero. Oh, you mean with women?
Jill DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Butala:
100% of the women.
Jill DeWit:
Me included?
Steven Butala:
No. Actually, no, not with you.
Jill DeWit:
Then let’s knock that number down a little bit. Don’t say 100%.
Steven Butala:
All right. Yeah. 90%.
Jill DeWit:
Okay. So there were 10… I don’t even want to go there.
Steven Butala:
Yeah, probably 10.
Jill DeWit:
Okay. All right. So what was the question?
Steven Butala:
You know what? The real question is this, why is commitment so important, biologically important to women? I don’t get it.
Jill DeWit:
I think it’s to men also.
Steven Butala:
I don’t see that.
Jill DeWit:
I do. Because you know what? Come on. Don’t you men like to be in a secure relationship where you know you’re going to wake up every day next to that person? That’s something you checked off your list-
Steven Butala:
Nope.
Jill DeWit:
… and you don’t have to think about? Do you really want to get a new girl every month?
Steven Butala:
I’m not going to answer that.
Jill DeWit:
Oh, wait a minute. We got to talk. Excuse me. All right.
Steven Butala:
Do I want a new girl every month? Absolutely not. That’s not the case, but I don’t want to-
Jill DeWit:
How often?
Steven Butala:
It has nothing to do with wanting a new girl. I just don’t want to get in a rut. Does that work with women?
Jill DeWit:
Oh, I understand. Yeah, same thing. We don’t want to be in a rut, too. I don’t want to be in a rut. I don’t know where to go from here. I think it’s going to go down.
Steven Butala:
I think we should end the show.
Jill DeWit:
Okay. Happy you could join us today.
Steven Butala:
Not really, though.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah. Every Monday, Wednesday, Friday we’re right here on the Land Academy Show. Every Tuesday and Thursday you can find us on the House Academy Show.
Steven Butala:
Tomorrow the episode on the House Academy show is called: Is now the time to diversify into land or houses? You are not alone in your real estate ambition.
Jill DeWit:
It’s been a weird week. We’re obviously-
Steven Butala:
I think it’s okay.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Butala:
I think it’s good.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Butala:
We’re laughing, not crying.
Jill DeWit:
That’s true. That’s good.
Steven Butala:
All kidding aside, Jill, it’s a pleasure to be in a relationship with you.
Jill DeWit:
Same here.
Steven Butala:
98% of the time.
Jill DeWit:
I wouldn’t go that high personally, but I’m right there-
Steven Butala:
What are you, 75?
Jill DeWit:
Yeah, 75 is good.
Steven Butala:
So 75% is [crosstalk 00:16:21].
Jill DeWit:
That’s above average.
Steven Butala:
So if you break that down in a day-
Jill DeWit:
That’s above average.
Steven Butala:
if you give it a break it down into a week, you have three good days and two…
Jill DeWit:
Five good days.
Steven Butala:
Five good days and-
Jill DeWit:
Five good days and two… One’s okay and then the other one sucks.
Steven Butala:
Jill and I, until recently, have always lived in a house where there’s a guest house, where it’s two separate houses. I swear that is the key to a longterm relationship.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah. This house doesn’t have that, but we do have different levels.
Steven Butala:
A lot of different floors.
Jill DeWit:
We can adapt.
Steven Butala:
Yeah.
Jill DeWit:
It’s good. The Land Academy Show remains commercial free for you, our loyal listeners. So wherever you’re watching, wherever you are listening, please subscribe and rate us there. We are Steve and Jill.
Steven Butala:
We are Steve and Jill. Information…
Jill DeWit:
And inspiration…
Steven Butala:
To buy undervalued property.
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