2020 Land Sales Marketing Trends (LA 1303)
2020 Land Sales Marketing Trends (LA 1303)
Transcript:
Steven Jack B.:
Steven and Jill here.
Jill DeWit:
Hi.
Steven Jack B.:
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 Jack B.:
Today Jill and I talk about the 2020 land sales marketing trends and generally just about what’s going on with the land sales in 2020 and houses, by the way.
Jill DeWit:
This topic gets me so excited. When I saw this on the list for today, I was just as excited as you can hear in my voice right now.
Steven Jack B.:
You know who wrote this title?
Jill DeWit:
Not me.
Steven Jack B.:
Our customer service person.
Jill DeWit:
Really?
Steven Jack B.:
Mm-hmm (affirmative)-
Jill DeWit:
Oh.
Steven Jack B.:
She said, “You need to address what’s going on in 2020 because people are wondering what’s brand spanking new.”
Jill DeWit:
Oh.
Steven Jack B.:
So it’s not my favorite topic either.
Jill DeWit:
I understand now. I know we’ll make it good, but it was just kind of like so many topics have a little flair, this is really business related.
Steven Jack B.:
Sorry, Jill. I know that buying and selling land is tough for you to talk about.
Jill DeWit:
That’s true.
Steven Jack B.:
Versus relationships.
Jill DeWit:
Oh, here we go. I’d rather talk about land. You’re right. Never mind.
Steven Jack B.:
Because we can work relationships into any of this.
Jill DeWit:
I know. Exactly. I actually like talking about both, so it’s cool.
Steven Jack B.:
You know, speaking of a 2020 relationships, 2020. I wonder what the divorce rate is?
Jill DeWit:
Wouldn’t that be interesting?
Steven Jack B.:
With everybody hanging out with each other.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Jack B.:
Spending all kinds of time.
Jill DeWit:
Well, I do know with everybody spending a lot of time together, we were talking about this earlier and I’m sure you have seen this in articles, as well, how many people are leaving. They’re leaving the cities. They want more square footage. They want to see the sky. They want to have yards and they’re willing … now they can do it. It’s awesome.
Steven Jack B.:
That leads right into this topic.
Jill DeWit:
Cool.
Steven Jack B.:
While you’re watching or listening to this, if you’re anywhere near a computer, go to realtor.com and look up zip code or city or county and then look at SFRs only or land ownage. Any topic. Mobiles, whatever you choose. And then click the pending button. So now you’re going to get a number that if you go to LA County there’s whatever, 18,000 properties for sale. If you click on pending just to see how many of those 18,000 are pending, you’re going to fall out of your chair. That’s what’s going on in 2020. The number’s going to be … the amount of properties that are for sale on the MLS regardless of type or location versus pending, it’s around 10% which means everybody’s buying everything right now. Which means you should be buying property real cheap like we are and reselling it.
Jill DeWit:
And selling it.
Steven Jack B.:
Getting it out of the MLS and getting it sold.
Jill DeWit:
Yep. Ding ding.
Steven Jack B.:
That’s the whole show.
Jill DeWit:
Thank you.
Steven Jack B.:
Before we get into it, let’s take a question posted by one of our members on the landinvestors.com online community. It’s free.
Jill DeWit:
Hello all. My name is John and I’m looking to be a Steven to someone’s Jill. Aww. That’s cute. And partner on deals. I’m open to any ideas for whatever role that could help with your business. For example, I [inaudible 00:03:28] a mailer that I could handle start to finish to a county you’re working with or interested in. I could then handle incoming from interested and the not so interested sellers and distill everything down into an excel sheet with all the information along with my idea for retail pricing.
I could also handle doing some due diligence as well, but around this point is where I would want to hand the baton over in a perfect world. Like I said, I’m open to ideas in how we can structure deals. I’m not trying to take a huge chunk out of someone’s pie in a deal so please reach out if only to kick the tire that is my stomach. That’s hilarious. Email’s a good way to contact me and thank you.
Okay, John. That was hilarious. That was really, really good. What do you want to say?
Steven Jack B.:
Nothing. Can you do that?
Jill DeWit:
Did he get a response?
Steven Jack B.:
I don’t know.
Jill DeWit:
Oh. How recent is that?
Steven Jack B.:
Very.
Jill DeWit:
Ahh, okay.
Steven Jack B.:
Very, very recent. Maybe today.
Jill DeWit:
Well, you know what? That’s what the community’s for. And you know what’s a bummer is we’re not able to have a live event right now because that was a huge … we didn’t intend that, but that was a huge benefit that people walked away with from our live event is they were forming relationships and partnerships.
Steven Jack B.:
Life long partnerships get formed at these live events.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah. So in the meantime, John, this is a really good idea and a good way, it’s a perfect way to use our community to reach out and find a partner. If you don’t have someone, sit tight. They will come forward. I’m sure.
Steven Jack B.:
He wants somebody to close the deal. So he’s happy doing the mail, answering the calls, securing a deal it sounds like-
Jill DeWit:
He needs to find a me.
Steven Jack B.:
And then when it’s got a signed PA, hand it over to you.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah. There’s a lot of me-
Steven Jack B.:
That’s way more than I do.
Jill DeWit:
You know what’s interesting? There’s a lot of me’s in our community and I know, too, because there’s a lot of people that came in the Land Academy and they were afraid of the first part, but they felt good about the second part.
Steven Jack B.:
I was going to ask you while you were reading this question, what as a percentage do you think there’s Steven’s or Jill’s in our group?
Jill DeWit:
I think it changed to more Steven’s.
Steven Jack B.:
That’s what I think too.
Jill DeWit:
But in the beginning, I think there were a lot of Jill’s.
Steven Jack B.:
Oh.
Jill DeWit:
I think there were people … because the sales part didn’t scare them. Some people already had properties, too. They just didn’t know how to market them. I just remember doing so many consulting calls a long time ago where they’re like, “I don’t know what I’m doing. This property’s not selling.” I’m like, “Well, tell me about this property.” “Well, I bought it here and I paid this and I have it on Craigslist.” I’m like, “And?” “No, that’s it. I have it on Craigslist.” I’m like, “Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You’re telling me … by the way it sounds like you over paid for it. We’ll get to that in a minute, but even excusing the fact that you overpaid for it, you’re not even trying to sell it. You have it one place and one place only. How are you going to sell this thing? It needs to be on Craigslist and on the MLS and on your website and maybe on another land watch.”
Steven Jack B.:
Maybe do a neighbor letter.
Jill DeWit:
[crosstalk 00:06:33] Oh yeah, by the way-
Steven Jack B.:
You have to really be outgoing.
Jill DeWit:
What about social media? It should be here. It could be in this Facebook group for the people that live nearby there. Look how great this is. So I just remember talking to a lot of people that found us because they were hung up on the sales part of it, but then I think somewhere along the way the culture shifted because I used to be shocked and amazed, now I’m like, “Nope. That explains it exactly.” The people in our group are so flipping smart.
Steven Jack B.:
Yeah.
Jill DeWit:
You guys have chemical engineering degrees and you all think alike and I’m blown away-
Steven Jack B.:
Me too.
Jill DeWit:
At what you guys are doing.
Steven Jack B.:
I’m consistently amazed at the level of intelligence in our core Land Academy group.
Jill DeWit:
And you left six figure engineering careers because you’re like, “I don’t want to do that.” I know I did it. I got that [inaudible 00:07:25]. I got the degree. I got the experience. I don’t want to do that. This is way more fun. I get to be with my family and travel and have fun.
Steven Jack B.:
I have to say this and it doesn’t make me happy, but it’s the truth. Every single person that’s in the advanced group has had some type of former career in sales and are also extremely good at Excel and they think that way. They’re an analytical thinker, a straight line thinker I call it. A to B to C. That’s tough for a lot of people to handle. It’s a very special person that has both of those talents. I’m not tooting my own horn, I have both of those talents and I can’t stand the sales part. I hate it and Jill loves it. It’s not that I can’t do it, I just don’t like doing it.
And a couple shows ago we talked about you don’t want to do stuff you don’t want to do. Eventually you’re just going to be an angry person.
Jill DeWit:
Right.
Steven Jack B.:
Or fail at it. I hated the sales part of this.
Jill DeWit:
Just angry. I don’t want to have to deal with the angry.
Steven Jack B.:
Right.
Jill DeWit:
We can work on the failure part, but the angry part of it that just kind of sticks.
Steven Jack B.:
So because of the way I am, I’ve always kind of walked around this planet-
Jill DeWit:
Because of the way I am. That’s hilarious.
Steven Jack B.:
Believing that people that are in sales are doing it. They don’t like it. They’re just doing it.
Jill DeWit:
Because they have to.
Steven Jack B.:
Yeah. Because it’s a necessary thing.
Jill DeWit:
Isn’t that funny?
Steven Jack B.:
And then I met Jill.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah. No one wants to talk on the phone. Yeah, they do.
Steven Jack B.:
And then I really, truly realized that they’re career salespeople and the ones that are good at it like Jill are filthy stinking rich.
Jill DeWit:
I love it. I love when my phone rings. I don’t know what it is.
Steven Jack B.:
Way more than accountants.
Jill DeWit:
I’m like, “Bring it.” Whatever it is, I’m going to figure this out. It’s like a challenge. I love it.
Steven Jack B.:
That’s when it really sunk in and that’s when we really started to make a ton of money, when Jill was just bam, on the phone making deals. Turning angry people into sellers at the price she wants. That’s true talent.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah. Thank you very much.
Steven Jack B.:
It’s amazing.
Jill DeWit:
Thank you.
Steven Jack B.:
Today’s topic, 2020 land sales marketing trends. This is what made the show.
Earlier this year, I said all over right when this COVID thing hit, I said, “Wow, it’s coming. This is going to be the biggest real estate disaster this country’s ever seen.” And here we are having one of the most successful years in land and houses that we’ve ever had financially and everybody else in our group is reporting that too. So, what’s happening with 2020 land sales and specifically with the marketing trends? It’s nothing different except it’s just better. There’s more of it.
Just today or yesterday, certain municipalities like the state of Texas is no longer kicking a can down the road for evictions. So what we’re going to see here is a lot of evictions, a lot of foreclosures and it’s going to be a mess next year. Right now, it’s fantastic. Because there’s no financing with land almost always and everybody’s fleeing the cities, we can’t keep any inventory in.
Jill DeWit:
I know.
Steven Jack B.:
And so specifically with marketing trends, it’s the same thing like Jill said earlier. You just got to put it everywhere and you got to celebrate it. And now more than ever you don’t have to buy property that’s marginal. You don’t have to look at it and say, “Ahh, maybe it’s too slopey, but I’m going to buy it anyway.” No, just pass on it.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah. We talk about this in our group. At some point everything’s worth something, it’s just what number? You don’t have to do that. You don’t have to say, “All right. Now it went from 8,000 down to two. Now it’s two.” What I do now, if I’m having that discussion with myself it’s not worth my time at all because the same amount of time I’m going to spend on 2,000 I can spend on 20.
Steven Jack B.:
That’s right.
Jill DeWit:
So I don’t even bother.
Steven Jack B.:
So are there any new marketing trends for 2020 that were different in 2019, Jill?
Jill DeWit:
Marketing trends.
Steven Jack B.:
Mm-hmm (affirmative)-it’s in the title.
Jill DeWit:
I’m thinking … geez. Man. Happy Friday to you too, poopy pants. I’m just kidding. I think TikTok’s not as … I don’t know. I keep hearing TikTok’s not the end all be all. People are not liking it. I’m sure there’s new social media plays, I’m sure. More that we should be doing, all of us, in social media. Is this where you want me to go with this or you’re just going to let me run?
Steven Jack B.:
I want to hear your answer just like everybody else does. I don’t think there’s anything different.
Jill DeWit:
You don’t think so? All right.
Steven Jack B.:
No. I think it’s all just whatever you’re doing, just double it.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah, that’s what I was going to say. If anything, it’s just be spending more money on marketing. That’s something that I wish I had known a long time ago is you can almost never overspend on marketing. It’s scary how much you can spend on marketing, but I’ve never had an instance where I went, “Ahh, darn. I didn’t need to pay for that ad or I didn’t need to pay to post this there. Oh, I shouldn’t have bought that signature listing.” Or whatever you want to call it on-
Steven Jack B.:
How many instances have you done the opposite?
Jill DeWit:
Oh, all the time.
Steven Jack B.:
Where it’s, wow, I should have spent more on marketing.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Jack B.:
I say that to myself every week. We should be spending more on marketing.
Jill DeWit:
It’s just scary because you could get into these really, really big marketing budget numbers but it’s going to pay off. The only thing I have to say is when you’re going for it, be ready for it. That’s it. What you just said, no big trends, nothing major. The data’s getting better. The analytics are getting better. If anything, even marketing analytics are getting better, what we can do, what we can see. The eyes on your properties, the shares on things, the interaction on your posts. That’s getting better and easier to figure out and analyze so spend more money on it when you figure it out.
Steven Jack B.:
How important do you think having a show is? Like, we have this show. We’re starting another show. We have a couple people in our group who have shows.
Jill DeWit:
Mm-hmm (affirmative)-depends on what you want the show for. I don’t think that people listening to us right now are listening because they want to go buy a piece of property that I have posted right now for sale in Wyoming. I don’t think that’s why they’re here. So it depends on the purpose.
Steven Jack B.:
Mm-hmm (affirmative)-all the data that I read, if you look at the growth of YouTube and the growth of podcasts in general, it’s staggering.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Jack B.:
It’s a hockey stick. I think I would consider if you have any kind of personality at all, not you. We all know you do. You, the listener, ought to consider doing a show, some type of show.
Jill DeWit:
Make it unique. Something you’re really good at though.
Steven Jack B.:
Yeah.
Jill DeWit:
That’s true. I like it. You know what’s interesting about us?
Steven Jack B.:
I can’t wait to hear this.
Jill DeWit:
We could and should be monetizing this show. We could and should have done it a long time ago. Do we? No. It’s kind of interesting.
Steven Jack B.:
We are now.
Jill DeWit:
Oh. I did not-
Steven Jack B.:
As of like a week ago and it’s not because I want the money. Here’s why. Actually, this is off topic, but from a marketing standpoint if you do have any type of YouTube presence, you should know this because I just learned it. When you monetize your show, YouTube takes a certain percentage of that, a pretty healthy percentage. It’s 20 percent as far as what I-
Jill DeWit:
Commission?
Steven Jack B.:
Yeah. So if an advertiser’s paying you 100 bucks, they take 20 bucks. But it puts you in YouTube’s, a whole different area and they actually put you at the top of the list. So if you’re not monetizing your show … I was always against it because I was like nobody wants commercials.
Jill DeWit:
Right. Don’t want to be that guy.
Steven Jack B.:
We do it now because we’re getting-
Jill DeWit:
Now it helps the reach.
Steven Jack B.:
And our stats overnight they changed very dramatically, positively. [inaudible 00:16:29] historically had a huge YouTube presence, but we have a massive audio presence.
Jill DeWit:
Right.
Steven Jack B.:
Like on-
Jill DeWit:
Itunes.
Steven Jack B.:
Itunes and Spotify.
Jill DeWit:
Stitcher?
Steven Jack B.:
Yeah, Stitcher too. All of them.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah, okay. Very interesting. What else do you want to share?
Steven Jack B.:
I just think marketing. When I started this just in general as a personality type, I was kind of the person that was in the camp of if the property’s super cheap, it’s going to sell itself. And for years, long before Jill, we did okay on that. We didn’t have any real competition. We don’t now really either. I was wrong. I think marketing is everything. Marketing is everything.
I just had a conversation with a person, she’s young, started a company like a cookie company. The cookies weren’t that good and she’s since sold the company. She said, “The cookies weren’t that good. It was all just marketing.” And millions and millions of dollars of marketing.
Jill DeWit:
I believe it. Cool.
Steven Jack B.:
She lives in a much bigger house than we do. Good for her.
Jill DeWit:
I believe it. And that’s fine. I’m not in any competition. I’m very happy. And I’m happy you could join us today. Every Monday through Friday, five days a week, you can find us right here on the Land Academy Show.
Steven Jack B.:
Next Monday join us for another interesting episode because you are not alone in your real estate ambition.
Jill DeWit:
That was good. I’m trying to think who that is. A cookie lady. Who’s the cookie lady? I know you’ll tell me here in a minute, but I’m trying to refresh my memory. All good.
Steven Jack B.:
It’s a friend of a friend of a guy that I know.
Jill DeWit:
Cool. The Land Academy Show, like we just said, I hope we’re still commercial free. I keep saying that. Is it commercial free?
Steven Jack B.:
Well, maybe we should change that.
Jill DeWit:
I guess I should too. The Land Academy Show remains commercial light for you because I just found this out, our loyal listener. Wherever you’re watching or wherever you’re listening, still please do subscribe and rate us there. We are Steve and Jill.
Steven Jack B.:
We are Steve and Jill. Information-
Jill DeWit:
And inspiration-
Steven Jack B.:
To buy under valued property.
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