Does Deal Review Happen Before or After Seller Commits (LA 1325)
Does Deal Review Happen Before or After Seller Commits (LA 1325)
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:
And I’m Jill DeWit broadcasting from sunny Southern California.
Steven Butala:
Today, Jill and I talk about, does deal review happen before or after the seller commits?
You send out a bunch of offers. The seller gets an offer. They sign it. They send it back. You look it up on the internet. And this property pops up in either NeighborScoop, ParcelFact, or whatever you’re using, maybe Google Earth or a combination of all of those. Is that deal review? Or does it have to go deeper? Do you make a decision at that moment? This is what the show is about.
Jill DeWit:
I’m going to even throw one more thing in there. Sometimes they don’t send it back. They call you. That, for me, is what I really want to talk about today.
Steven Butala:
Good. 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:
Right. David wrote, “I’m very close to sending out mailers and just about wrapping everything up. But I’m having problems pricing these mailers right.” Join the club, by the way. “I’ve watched the Land Academy 1.0 videos over and over, but still not quite clicking yet. What can I do?” What do you think David should do?
Steven Butala:
So here’s the thing. Pricing, pricing, pricing. We live or die by mailer pricing, and David you’re not alone. In fact, I struggle with pricing. And I will struggle with pricing until the last mailer I do when I’m 98 years old.
Jill DeWit:
Heaven forbid.
Steven Butala:
There’s a few theories-
Jill DeWit:
Could you imagine?
Steven Butala:
There’s the shotgun-
Jill DeWit:
Hang on a moment team. Wait, he’s got to take his high blood pressure medication. But it’s just coffee and egg whites, and then we’re going to get a mailer out.
Steven Butala:
I tell you what. If all I have to take is high blood pressure medicine when I’m 98, I’m doing just fine.
Jill DeWit:
He’s going to be… Oh my gosh. There’s going to be… You know what’s going to happen, I can just… I’m sorry, I’ve got to go on this because this is funny.
Steven Butala:
No, go ahead.
Jill DeWit:
I can just imagine. Here you are, 98 years old, and you are still hell bent on Excel.
Steven Butala:
Can you imagine what Excel is going to look like?
Jill DeWit:
Because here’s the thing, if it worked for me when I was this age, it’s going to darn work for me now.
And here, I have a funny thing to share with this. We have an attorney right now that… There’s this title company that we’re dealing with. And this title company has been around for a long time. And one of the things about this particular title company is they have an attorney who oversees every single darn thing. It has to go through his desk, no matter what, before anything is done. And he gives it his blessing, right? And we have got into it on things, like it was things that were unnecessary.
Steven Butala:
Are you going to use this title company ever again?
Jill DeWit:
I only did this time because I needed to because it was fast. I really don’t think so. Because they keep screwing things…
Steven Butala:
Good answer.
Jill DeWit:
Oh, it’s funny.
Steven Butala:
Good answer.
Jill DeWit:
No, because they’re screwing stuff up. But I’ll tell you what, we found out, we got to the bottom of it. I knew it. And I was right. So here’s the scoop. One time too, we finally got into it. He wouldn’t release my money until I signed some form. I’m like, “I’m exempt from the form, here’s the reason why.” And he said, “Look, Jill, Ms. Stupid,” that’s probably what he said, “I’ve been doing it this way for years.”
Steven Butala:
That is not an answer.
Jill DeWit:
“And I’m not about to change it. So if you want your money, you’re going to sign this form.” And I said, “Are you flipping kidding me?” But anyway-
Steven Butala:
That’s outrageous.
Jill DeWit:
I know. So I signed the dumb form. It doesn’t really matter. It’s an extra IRS form. You guys probably all know what I’m talking about. It doesn’t matter to me. I’m not trying to hide from anything. It’s just unnecessary paperwork. My accountant works it all out. It’s totally cool. But it just made me mad. It was kind of the point of the whole thing. So finally, finally, today we got to the bottom of it. My transaction coordinator said, “Guess how old he is?” He’s 92. I’m not kidding. He is 92.
Steven Butala:
Oh yeah.
Jill DeWit:
So it ties into… It made me think of you going, “I know it’s stupid, but this is how I’ve always done it.” And I know you wouldn’t do that. That’s what’s so funny too.
I want to give you a compliment real quick here. I may be teasing-
Steven Butala:
Oh, I’ll pause for this.
Jill DeWit:
Okay. I may be teasing and joking about you being Excel, but you are so good, amazingly good, with new technology. Bringing things up, changing things, showing me things, making me do things whether I like it or not. Like, “Jill put that down. Here’s the new device, or here’s the new app, or here’s a new way to do things.” You even help me. So I want to say, I know you won’t be doing this at 98. If you’re still doing a mailer.
Steven Butala:
I tell you at our age, honestly, I want to pat us on the back here. And I’m not just… This isn’t another family meeting. This is like, I really… There was a time in my life where I closed my mind about tech and new apps. There was a time, it was right… There was always Microsoft Office. And then there was this gap of there is no real competition for it.
And then all of a sudden, all these apps started coming out and everybody became a software developer and there’s these new things. And my mind was closed. I only use Microsoft Office. I only use Adobe products. And a few other things. And that was ridiculous. So you should always have an open mind about tech, and tech solutions and the newest stuff that comes out. You should test it and weigh it against the stuff that you’re doing.
My personal favorite is like people develop add ins for Excel that are outside of the Microsoft family because they can get done stuff… Microsoft’s a massive corporation. Then there’s young people that are very, very, very smart and effective at developing this stuff. So you got to give them a chance. Can’t close your mind.
Jill DeWit:
Which is like a macro basically.
Steven Butala:
No, it’s intense, like-
Jill DeWit:
I know it’s like way beyond that-
Steven Butala:
You know what I’m waiting for.
Jill DeWit:
Then they can sell it. That’s so cool.
Steven Butala:
There’s an interface that I, and it’s blocking my head more than anything, between taking Excel into the database level. Because spreadsheets are very limiting with massive amounts of data. I’m secretly working on this project to make this universe of data that we have in this country of the number of properties finite. And you can’t do that in Excel, not even close. It’s a database thing.
Jill DeWit:
I know what you’re working on. And I got to tell you it’s flipping amazing.
Steven Butala:
Yeah.
Jill DeWit:
It’s mind boggling, and amazing.
Steven Butala:
It’ll allow us to get our arms around any given data set. And it’s not going to happen overnight, but I think about it all the time and it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be extremely useful, and profitable and fun.
Jill DeWit:
I’m not sure we answered David’s question.
Steven Butala:
No, we didn’t even approach it. Pricing. There’s two theories on this. Shotgun, the theory and the rifle theory.
So in every… Let’s break it down to zip code. So David is going to do a mailer and it’s in a zip code or it’s in multiple zip codes, but he can see maybe there’s five zip codes in his mailer. Break it down by zip code. Sort for that in Excel and take a look at all the data for completed sales and existing for sale property from multiple sources. Take those averages, average them out.
This only works if you have a huge data set. If you have three properties that have been purchased, or sold, or for sale in a zip code, especially with rural areas, this isn’t going to work. And this is where… And we should do a whole class on this, we should do a class on pricing. That way that I just described is the rifle approach, but it only works with a lot of data. And so it only really works in very urban areas. Because you don’t want to buy property in rural areas where there’s a lot of comps in for sale property anyway. It’s too much competition. But it is effective. And then you reduce it by whatever percentage you think works for you. Like, we default to 20% and then make adjustments.
A more likely way to price a rural area with very low amount of data is to eyeball it. Is to go in and the old school way take the cheapest property that’s been purchased or sold in the last couple of years, cheapest property, reduce it by 20% and hit it. Here’s the trick, and here’s the key that if there’s anything that you really like, whatever you’re doing stop and listen to this for a second, because it saved my butt with Jill multiple times recently. I price everything out. And then she goes in with her team. I say, I’m done. She goes in with her team. It takes probably 20 to 25, random properties out of the mailer, out of the spreadsheet-
Jill DeWit:
Spot check them.
Steven Butala:
… and assumes and pretends that a purchase agreement came back with that price. And she gets excited or not. And she’ll come back and say, “This is overpriced, or under priced or-”
Jill DeWit:
I love it.
Steven Butala:
… “Or I hate it, or it’s adjusted.” So a lot of times I’ll go back to that zip code and I’ll just say, “You know what, 5,000 acres, how are we going to go out on this?” Go out, meaning out into the mail. Just because there’s not enough data. So, but you got to make sure of this.
Here, David, here’s the whole thing. When that thing comes back, when those purchase agreements come back, Jill’s famous for saying, “Hey, it’s better if they’re too low versus too high.” I can raise my price if they call in and say, “Yeah, I don’t like it at 30,000, but 35 is good.”
Jill DeWit:
100%.
Steven Butala:
Usually have a deal.
Jill DeWit:
100% it’s true.
Steven Butala:
If I go out at 60 on that same property, she’s not going to say 35 works. It just doesn’t… You can’t unring that bell, or undo that happiness.
Jill DeWit:
It’s very easy to add money to the offer because of what they bring to the table. Oh, I didn’t realize it had X, Y, and Z. That makes sense. But yeah, when you come in, it’s very hard for me to go, “Shucks, we offered him 60. No wonder he signed it so fast. It’s worth 20.”
Steven Butala:
There’s a lot of little cute little tech companies that they’re… Most of these people are former Land Academy members that have these pricing tools that are out there. And it’s just, you can’t. Just trust me on this, there’s not enough data. They’re tech guys. They’re not real estate guys. I’m not saying anything bad about these guys personally. They’re very, very, very inexperienced and very young. And you can’t push a button and price a mailer. You have to get in there and really spend some time. It’s going to take you a whole day, at least, to price a mailer. And that’s okay. Because-
Jill DeWit:
It’s important.
Steven Butala:
… we’ve already done the financial feasibility study for you. It’s a great way to make tons of money. [inaudible 00:11:06].
Jill DeWit:
The financial feasibility study’s done. I don’t know. I don’t know. Let’s see how many… You know what, you know what Steve and Jill, I didn’t realize that you’ve done 16,000 transactions. You’re nearing 16,000 transactions. But call me when you hit 20,000, then I’ll take you seriously.
Steven Butala:
Or when we started this, all we did was explain ourselves about why this works. I haven’t explained myself in years.
Jill DeWit:
Isn’t that nice? That is true.
Steven Butala:
All we do now is to say, “No, no, this is how you do it.”
Jill DeWit:
Exactly. And making sure-
Steven Butala:
Not like, does this work at all?
Jill DeWit:
And making sure they’re a good fit. Like, look, there’s a lot involved. That’s the reality too. I think people go, “Okay, we get it. We see it. We know you’re doing it. Everybody else is doing it. I want to do it.” And it’s not a good fit for everyone. I want to… So that’s some of the stuff that I kind of do.
Steven Butala:
Amen, Jill.
Jill DeWit:
I’m kind of making sure look, it’s not like you’re going to go from zero to owning a sports team and know everything that’s involved in owning a sports team. What the heck?
Steven Butala:
Where did that come from?
Jill DeWit:
I don’t know. I’m buying the Dodgers, and I got a self study course to tell me how to do it.
Steven Butala:
Oh my gosh. You’re hilarious.
Jill DeWit:
Could you imagine? You know why the Dodgers came up? I found out recently that where we used to live, we ran into our old next door neighbor. He said, “Hey, do you know who moved into your house?” No. Well, he’s a player for the Dodgers. And I’m sure he told us his position. I don’t remember any of it. He’s like, “Right.” I’m like, “Oh, that’s…” All I heard was Dodgers. That’s cool. That was it. And part of me is like, “I want to go by him. Maybe I’ll go by and check out, see if we left mail.”
Anyway, I actually, I don’t really care. It’s not my thing. But there is someone in our staff, I forgot my transaction coordinator is a huge baseball fan, huge Dodger fan.
Steven Butala:
That makes sense from a personality standpoint.
Jill DeWit:
I am not kidding. Follows them. It’s almost like she’s the person at the game sitting behind home plate, taking her own stats with her own notebook kind of thing. And she’s like, “Who is it?” And I’m like, “Oh shoot. I don’t know. Darn it.” So I told her-
Steven Butala:
You should go over there and find out, yeah.
Jill DeWit:
… she could go by and check for some mail for us. She could walk up on our behalf and get the mail if she wants to. I think it’s the funniest thing. So anyway.
Steven Butala:
Today’s topic, does deal review happen before or after the seller commits. This is why you’re listening.
Jill DeWit:
By the way, so someone who takes baseball stats, you see that’s a personality? You can tell that personality?
Steven Butala:
Sure. Let me tell you about one of the most famous baseball statisticians and what he did for the rest of his life. His name’s Warren Buffet and he spent… I’ve never met a person-
Jill DeWit:
I have heard of that gentleman.
Steven Butala:
… Never met a person who in their youth, or even beyond that, who is really into baseball and can really sit there and say why this player did this, this player did this, this umpire made this call in 1978, and I’m not sure why, who was not just an incredibly intelligent person and almost always really doing something good with their life. So that makes sense from a personality standpoint, they’re detail oriented, they gets stuff done. Probably, I mean, I’m sure there’s a material percentage there, totally not mentally healthy, but I love baseball. I don’t love it to the point where I keep score, and I don’t mean keep score, I mean just score the game. You’ve seen these people score the game all the way through.
Jill DeWit:
That’s what I was talking about.
Steven Butala:
But I love baseball. I don’t recall the guy’s name either, when our neighbor mentioned that, but…
Jill DeWit:
Thank you. I love the beer. I love the fun. I love the hot dogs. I love the social part of it. That’s what I like.
Steven Butala:
So if we were going to go to a basketball game next week, what would you wear?
Jill DeWit:
What would I wear?
Steven Butala:
Because you always have an outfit in mind-
Jill DeWit:
Oh, really?
Steven Butala:
… for everything that we do.
Jill DeWit:
I don’t know. Jeans, tennis shoes, and maybe a top like this or a t-shirt, I don’t know.
Steven Butala:
Jill and I are actively shopping for a second home in the mountains where it snows. And she said, “I’m getting a snowmobile and two outfits.”
Jill DeWit:
I’m getting a snowmobile and snowsuits.
Steven Butala:
She said that exact sentence.
Jill DeWit:
I did say that. I’m in. I’m getting a Polaris. I thought this through.
Steven Butala:
Did you price it all out yet?
Jill DeWit:
No, but I know what I want. And I want one with heated everything, and reverse. I know that.
Steven Butala:
You know you’re like my dream girl, don’t you?
Jill DeWit:
Thank you.
Steven Butala:
You want a little slot for your rifle?
Jill DeWit:
No, I don’t really care about that.
Steven Butala:
All right.
Jill DeWit:
I’ll carry the can with the bear spray.
Steven Butala:
Anyway, back to the outfit.
Jill DeWit:
Oh, well that was it.
Steven Butala:
Just a one piece snow suit? Really warm, with the hood and everything?
Jill DeWit:
Totally. With a belt. With a belt, and it zips.
Steven Butala:
See, so you do have an outfit in mind. What color is it?
Jill DeWit:
Probably light colored. Cream.
Steven Butala:
Oh my God. There’s this review on iTunes about this podcast. And we have like 900 five-star reviews, and one one-star review and the guy said, “Are you guys going to talk about land?” To that one guy, this is not the show for you.
Jill DeWit:
I’m sure he’s long gone by now.
Okay. Back to the topic. Does deal review happen before or after the seller commits?
Steven Butala:
So let me re-setup for Jill. Because she does most of the deal review now. I get in there if there’s questions or… If it’s a questionable deal, I get involved. But Jill makes 95% of the decisions.
Jill DeWit:
You’re our on-call consultant.
Steven Butala:
Yeah.
Jill DeWit:
Doesn’t that feel good? That’s got to feel great.
Steven Butala:
No.
Jill DeWit:
You’re not in the-
Steven Butala:
I don’t feel any way about it, I just-
Jill DeWit:
You’re not in the muck. This is like, well it better be good if you’re taking it to Steve.
Steven Butala:
Is that what people think?
Jill DeWit:
Oh gosh, yes.
Steven Butala:
It better be good. Or just like, they don’t really want my opinion then, they’re just coming to brag about it.
Jill DeWit:
No, they do want your opinion. But they do not want to come to you with something that’s not really important, or something big that they really need help with that they have thought at all through. This is a compliment-
Steven Butala:
I don’t know if this is good or bad.
Jill DeWit:
No, it’s a total compliment. And they want to impress you. They want to impress you. But my point of this is-
Steven Butala:
Just want to get a deal done.
Jill DeWit:
… Aren’t you happy though? That you are the consultant that’s there for us for free.
Steven Butala:
I’m happy to have this meeting with you right now.
Jill DeWit:
Thank you.
Steven Butala:
Would you rather be that guy?
Jill DeWit:
The consultant for free?
Steven Butala:
Yeah. I mean, would you rather be me, and I’m directing the traffic with the deals?
Jill DeWit:
No, I kind of like the directing the traffic.
Steven Butala:
That’s what I thought.
Jill DeWit:
I do. That’s what I’m saying. I didn’t say I wanted that job. I said, “Aren’t you happy with that job?” I hope you feel special.
Steven Butala:
I do. I don’t know…
Jill DeWit:
Not in the short bus way.
Steven Butala:
I never thought about it until now. And, you know what, here’s what I really go to bed or wake up with, whenever this comes up in my head. Jill’s going to do it anyway. In general, everybody’s capable as hell. Even on the deals that are marginal.
Jill DeWit:
It’s true.
Steven Butala:
You know what? I haven’t reviewed a deal since your team is in place, really this whole year. Where you’ve come and said, “Should we do this deal?” So you’ve already decided you’re going to do the deal, and it’s a great deal. You’re just asking about the price.
Jill DeWit:
Isn’t that beautiful? You set this up so well, it’s hard for us to screw it up.
Steven Butala:
Yeah.
Jill DeWit:
That’s the best thing ever.
Steven Butala:
And between the two of us, I’m a more accepting high price person than you. You’re a just smash it down to the bottom pricer.
Jill DeWit:
It’s like, I go in to try to kill every deal.
Steven Butala:
Yeah you do. And that’s why we do great.
Jill DeWit:
And you’re like, “You’re going to make me want to buy this from you when we’re done.”
Steven Butala:
I’m just like a… I mean, my role in all this is kind of like just a talking head, like the president. Like there’s just people, everybody else is doing stuff. So I do things.
Jill DeWit:
Yes, you do a lot. So set me up here if you would please.
Steven Butala:
All right. So a deal comes in, you send out a bunch of mail, somebody, in your words, calls back and says, “You know what? I do want to sell my land. The offer’s purchase price was 35… You sent an offer for $35,000. For 40,000 bucks, you can have it.” What happens next?
Jill DeWit:
Or sometimes they won’t have an offer. That’s just not enough.
Steven Butala:
Okay.
Jill DeWit:
So there’s a lot of things like that. So my team takes those calls and that’s a very good point. I’m a little… We’re going… This is not what I had in my head, I apologize, because-
Steven Butala:
What did you have?
Jill DeWit:
Well, the topic was, when do we do the deal review? I’m going into a little bit of a negotiation thing that I don’t know if I want to go there right now.
Steven Butala:
Well, this price… So, in my-
Jill DeWit:
My team doesn’t negotiate. I don’t want them to negotiate
Steven Butala:
In my head when a deal comes… I always like to talk about price first. Before I even look at the dirt, before I pull it all up and get and get excited or not excited, or spend any time on it at all. My first question… And I used to be the deal review person for decades actually. My first question was, when they called in, does the price on the purchase agreement work for you?
Jill DeWit:
Right. And that’s in our script. So that’s really how it goes. So what I want to share is the seller calls back. The seller calls, they have the offer. Yay. I do want to sell. Sometimes people right then and there drop everything and start looking up stuff and seeing if they want to buy it, without making sure they’re serious and without confirming the price. That for me is the meat today and what I really want to stop everyone from doing. Because it’s very easy to get excited. To go, “I have a live one.” And you really don’t. You don’t know if you’re on the same page with the price. You haven’t even really looked at it to make sure you like your price and you don’t know they’re serious because there’s nothing signed. Even though they tell you.
So what I want everyone to take away from this show today is make it easy, make it simple, make it clear with your sellers who you are, what you’re about. You want to buy the property. If that price works for you, great, please sign that offer for me, send it in and we’ll get back to you. I don’t want you to do any deal review before that-
Steven Butala:
Yay Jill.
Jill DeWit:
Because you will be forever wasting time. I’ll have 20 calls come in. And there may only be one or two in there that are really serious.
Steven Butala:
This is great advice.
Jill DeWit:
And I don’t want you spending your day looking at these 20 deals when they had no intention of selling anyway. Sometimes they get your offer, they’re calling you back and they’re saying, “I’m so happy. I do want to sell.” Great the information. Again, you’re going down the rabbit hole. You’re looking it up online, you’re looking at this and this, like great. And then they say, “Oh, I’m sorry, but not that price.” You’re like [inaudible 00:22:44].
Steven Butala:
That can happen weeks later.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah. And you don’t want to do that.
Steven Butala:
And hours and hours of work later.
Jill DeWit:
Exactly. If you’re good, right? If you’re good, like me, I’d be taking the tough call and I know how to look up things right away. I’d have NeighborScoop open. I’m reviewing the property as we’re talking, I’m making sure I got the owner, finding out the story. I’m just saying, and I forget to talk about price. I forget to make sure they’re serious. I could spend 15 minutes easy finding out the backstory for him to go, “Oh no, that’s my dad. I’m junior. I’m Bob Jones Jr.” Oh great, thanks. Now we just found out a mess.
Steven Butala:
This happens a lot. This happens more than 20% of the time.
Jill DeWit:
That’s why I want to bring this up and make sure you don’t do your deal review until you have the seller committing. So here’s what I want everyone to do. First of all, if it’s a signed purchase agreement that’s mailed to you, faxed [inaudible 00:23:38] fax, but scanned to you, picture sent to you, whatever it is. You’ve got that signed purchase agreement. They’re on the same page, you’re on the same page. Start doing your due diligence, treat it as normal.
This is for the percentage, and that’s a pretty good chunk of people, that their initial thing is when they get your offer is to pick up the phone. And whether they like it or not, they have may not even thought it through that much yet. They’re feeling you out. I don’t want you doing any work until you make sure they are serious. So what I want you, and I’m assuming this is you doing it because most of the time, you’re not me and you don’t have a team. A lot of you are new doing this and you’re doing it, which I want you to do this too. I want you to learn this a hundred percent.
Steven Butala:
Sure, you got to do it wrong sometimes.
Jill DeWit:
Right. Wear all the hats and exactly, like Steven said, do it all wrong and then figure out where you can start replacing herself and filling in pieces.
So the guy calls back, “Hi, I got your offer.” You’re like, “Yay I’ve got a live one.” You need to start. You need to find out right then and there strictly price. What works? Is that price for you? Hell no. Okay, great. Then you got to find out, “Well, here’s the deal then, what price does work for you?” I usually give them, I kind of have a sentence or two speech that I come back with-
Steven Butala:
What’s the speech?
Jill DeWit:
… which is a version of, “All right, let me just say this then. I don’t want to waste your time. I don’t want to waste my time. This is how I roll. Whatever price we agree upon is a price will be net to you. There’s no agents involved. On this one, let’s just say there’s escrow. I’m going to go through escrow. Assuming where are you on your taxes? Are they paid?” “Yeah they’re paid.” “Okay. Is there anything I need to know about the property?” “Yeah.” “Okay. All right. So here’s the deal, Mr. Johnson. Everybody has a number. What is your rock bottom?” “Hey, I’d take cash tomorrow if I could get this price number.” And give him a minute to think, and see what they say. And if that is in the ballpark for you, I still don’t want you to do any due diligence. I still want you to say, “You know what, Mr. Jones, that’s in the ball…. You know what? I’m going to look at that. Here’s what I need you to do. Please cross off my number, write your number. I want you to sign it and send it to me.”
Steven Butala:
Or take a picture of it.
Jill DeWit:
Or take a picture of it. Whatever you want him to do. Usually they can scan it. I need the purchase agreement signed, and then I’ll go look at it. Now you’re like, “Oh, okay. Now I have something to work with.” Now you can still come back and change it, by the way. Or you can still come back and say no. Or you can come back and say yes. But my main point is because even if he says, “I know you sent an offer for 38,000. 50,000, you got a deal.” And you’re in your head going, I can make that work. Because I think I was looking, this is about 110. So even if I buy it for 50,000, I’m doing great. I’m feeling good about it. It’s because it’s worth 150. I was going to sell it for 110,000. All of these numbers work.
He could wake up tomorrow and change his mind. And you’re going down that path. You’re like, we could have an agreement for 50. And we’re going to get the purchase agreement, we’re going to get the purchase agreement, we’re going to get the purchase agreement. I kind of start open escrow, still waiting for the purchase agreement. And you find out he talked to his next door neighbor, who they just worked out a side arrangement, he gave him $20,000 down. He’s making payments, whatever it is. Stuff happens. I just don’t want you to waste that time. So get something.
And then again, and we’ll cover this more, I know we have another shows and I’m happy to talk about it more if you want to, how to go back on say, “I looked at this again. I know you said 50. And I initially thought 50 and you wrote this thing. I can’t do 50 after all. Here’s why.” And you can make that happen.
Steven Butala:
Something mentally committed… There’s a mental commitment that goes along with a signature.
Jill DeWit:
Agreed. That’s the point.
Steven Butala:
And so that’s what Jill’s getting at. And I’ll tell you what, this didn’t happen. We didn’t just come up with this and we implement it. This is over years and years of experience of doing it the wrong way.
Jill DeWit:
Right. Right.
Steven Butala:
Let’s translate this to online dating.
Jill DeWit:
Well, this is going to be easy.
Steven Butala:
Corporate attorney-
Jill DeWit:
Easy.
Steven Butala:
… in her… She’s 38, makes 128 a year, works probably 60 hours a week. She’s brunette. Works out on the weekends. You can picture this.
Jill DeWit:
Totally.
Steven Butala:
She’s on match.com and a guy, however that works I don’t know how any of this internet dating works, but somebody reaches out to her and says, “I think we’re a good match. And I’d like to…” After maybe a back and forth on the internet, I don’t know how it works. Says, “I’d like to take you to dinner. Maybe we can see if there’s anything here.” Does the deal review happen before or after the girl’s commitment.
Jill DeWit:
Oh.
Steven Butala:
What does she do? Does she look the guy up on Facebook?
Jill DeWit:
Oh, she’s already done all that.
Steven Butala:
So the deal review, his review, happens long before the commitment. She’s on the internet, checking the guy out and putting the time in. So it’s the opposite of what you should do in a real estate deal.
Jill DeWit:
True. She’s checking him out because I’m not going to waste my time if he’s like… If I go one place and I go to LinkedIn, or Facebook, or somewhere else, and his profile picture is drastically different. And I know that it’s really him. I’m done. I know I’m not going to have communication.
Steven Butala:
So it’s really about the picture? Or what about, how does he look on paper?
Jill DeWit:
That too. What if I go to his LinkedIn profile and it’s… I see the college is the same, where he grew up in the same, that part’s the same, but he was laid off?
Steven Butala:
So it’s about the picture.
Jill DeWit:
No, it’s not that. You know what it is?
Steven Butala:
Men get-
Jill DeWit:
It’s about being honest.
Steven Butala:
Men get ripped, men get really criticized for being visually stimulated. And when, in reality, women do too, they just don’t talk about it.
Jill DeWit:
Oh totally. Oh, we talk about it. Just not with you. We totally talk about it. That’s a classic thing. Hey right behind us here on the street… And by the way, if you don’t think my girlfriends and I don’t walk along and have codes for everything that we see, you are wrong brother.
Steven Butala:
Give us a code.
Jill DeWit:
Applesauce.
Steven Butala:
What’s that?
Jill DeWit:
There’s a target code. I grew up with applesauce. One of my other friends came out with target. Another one came up with, I’m not going to tell you what any of these mean, some of them are so grossly inappropriate it’s not even funny. Someone would be like, they would go out to a sit down dinner with that person. That’s another code. And then that’s enough.
Steven Butala:
Wow. Geez. Okay.
Jill DeWit:
Don’t you dare use this against me by the way.
Steven Butala:
So you do review. No, I don’t do. Because me and my buddies never do stuff like this.
Jill DeWit:
Okay. Thank you.
Steven Butala:
Never. We actually just wait silently for our women to come home, and we have the dinner done and everything.
Jill DeWit:
As you should. Just kidding. No. But to finish your example, for me it’s just about being truthful and honest. That’s it.
Steven Butala:
That’s exactly what you did not say on the strand here. It’s not about truthful and honest. It’s about a handsome guy.
Jill DeWit:
Oh, that’s eye candy. That’s just fun. That’s not serious. None of us… No one knows… You shouldn’t be… Anyway.
Steven Butala:
So you’re going to do a whole deal review on the match.com long before you ever decide to sit down.
Jill DeWit:
Oh yes. Because I want to make sure on paper we’re a good fit, kind of thing. And it’s not really to do with… I just want to make sure the stuff checks out. Maybe it’s a woman thing. We have to be careful and cautious. It’s still the same way. I’m not going to let you come to my house. We’re going to meet somewhere for dinner.
Steven Butala:
Of course, that goes without saying.
Jill DeWit:
You said we were going to meet for coffee-
Steven Butala:
I just wanted to know when the deal review went.
Jill DeWit:
… I’d rather meet for coffee or a drink. That’s really it. Dinner comes much later.
Steven Butala:
See, I don’t know.
Jill DeWit:
That’s okay.
Steven Butala:
Deal review happens before you meet.
Jill DeWit:
Well good thing you’re committed.
Steven Butala:
It’s the opposite with the real estate. The deal review happens after the commitment happens.
Jill DeWit:
Wait, after the commitment? Once the girl buys in, you’re like, “Yeah, I’ll keep her.” Or not.
Steven Butala:
No I’m saying… I’m comparing it to real estate.
Jill DeWit:
No, no, no. Go back, please.
Steven Butala:
The deal review-
Jill DeWit:
Go back. Okay yeah.
Steven Butala:
… happens before there’s any type of like committed date.
Jill DeWit:
What do you guys look for?
Steven Butala:
Anybody’s who’s breathing who says, “You’re not disgusting.”
Jill DeWit:
That’s what you take out to dinner?
Steven Butala:
Yeah.
Jill DeWit:
Nice.
Steven Butala:
It’s not like, I’ve always heard French people say, “Every day is one less meal that I can have. There’s only a so many meals that I can have and I want to make it count.” Or I hear women say, “There’s only so many calories I have a day. So I need to make them count. And sometimes I’m going to eat just one piece of chocolate cake. And that’s what I’m going to eat all day. Or sometimes I’m going to eat like a normal person.” Because there’s finite number of calories. Men are not like that at all. Men are like, “I’ll go out with 50 women and see which one sucks the least.” And that’s the truth.
Jill DeWit:
That does not make me feel really good right now. I don’t know what to say to that.
Steven Butala:
Jill, I already went without… The 50 women already happened. You’re the one I chose.
Jill DeWit:
Sounds like I suck the least.
Steven Butala:
Part of that’s not untrue.
Jill DeWit:
Wow. Truth time.
Steven Butala:
Sucks the least is not a way to a good way to say it. Fun, and interesting, and open-minded and wants to get rich together. That’s really what I mean. I don’t mean sucks the least. I just mean fun.
Jill DeWit:
Good save.
Steven Butala:
I mean, fun is what I mean.
Jill DeWit:
Good save. I think I’m going to save you now, right? Happy you could join us today. Five days a week you can find us right here on the Land Academy show.
Steven Butala:
Tomorrow the episode on the Land Academy show is called how professional land investors weigh price versus attributes. You are not alone in your real estate ambition.
Jill DeWit:
That could have gone south.
Steven Butala:
Nah. Not on the show. Can’t argue on the show.
Jill DeWit:
Well, it will here in a minute. In a minute we’re about to be after the show. That’s what I’m saying. It could go south.
Steven Butala:
The truth is most men, or all men it’s not… Most men are like, is she into it or not? In the beginning, really, it depends on how old they are.
Jill DeWit:
So it’s really enthusiasm?
Steven Butala:
Yeah. It’s enthusiasm. Well said.
Jill DeWit:
So, okay. I’m going to ask you five female attributes, and I would like you to give me on a scale of one to 10 how important they are.
Steven Butala:
This is the greatest game I’ve ever played.
Jill DeWit:
Okay. Enthusiasm.
Steven Butala:
Oh, you mean one is not important, five is important?
Jill DeWit:
Wait. On a scale of one to 10. I’m giving you five things. One to 10. You tell me, 10 being it’s very important-
Steven Butala:
Or imperative, yeah.
Jill DeWit:
… imperative. One is I could care less.
Steven Butala:
Am I speaking for all men or me?
Jill DeWit:
I want all men.
Steven Butala:
All men enthusiasm’s an eight. For me, it’s a 10.
Jill DeWit:
Okay.
Steven Butala:
It’s imperative.
Jill DeWit:
All right. Appearance.
Steven Butala:
It depends on the age of the man. I can speak for myself, appearance is like a four. For men it’s probably six or seven.
Jill DeWit:
Hmm. The… Their… What am I trying to say? Their self confidence?
Steven Butala:
Oh, for me that’s imperative. For most men, I think it’s probably a three. In fact, I think most men, probably too self confident of a woman is probably not good for them.
Jill DeWit:
Interesting.
Steven Butala:
But for me it’s 10. There’s no way this would work if you didn’t have like full-blown confidence and push back when it’s needed. I respect that.
Jill DeWit:
How about education and background.
Steven Butala:
Zero.
Jill DeWit:
Hmm.
Steven Butala:
I think for most men that’s zero.
Jill DeWit:
And how about-
Steven Butala:
You know I’m going to ask these questions for you at the end.
Jill DeWit:
Oh, okay. Well how about financial stability?
Steven Butala:
Zero.
Jill DeWit:
Really? You don’t care if a woman has like-
Steven Butala:
Mm-mm (negative).
Jill DeWit:
Hmm. This is all very-
Steven Butala:
Come on. You know me.
Jill DeWit:
It’s very interesting.
Steven Butala:
We can make our own money.
Jill DeWit:
Well, I know that.
Steven Butala:
If a woman’s got enthusiasm, and the right attitude, and the loyalty, and a team player and all the stuff that you have Jill. I mean, since the day I met you, I’ve been getting more wealthy. And so what you brought to the table in the beginning, it doesn’t matter.
Jill DeWit:
Thank you. As have I.
Steven Butala:
Yeah. It’s 50/50. I’m glad you’re doing this, because I think there’s a lot of mystical things that go on with both genders about other people that are just fiction. And it’s because of TV and stuff.
Jill DeWit:
That’s true. That’s very true. It’s sad. Did you want to do it with me or were you done?
Steven Butala:
Yeah, sure. I mean, I’ll tell you. You know what I want? People of [inaudible 00:37:25]. You know this, you’ve been there recently. Because all of our friends seem to be single. Except for a few sets of friends.
Jill DeWit:
Let’s figure this out right now, too. Like, how did that happen?
Steven Butala:
You know what I want, in the bitter end, out of a relationship? I want to build an empire together. I want to build something together. And you’re the only woman I’ve ever met that’s really, I think you just in your soul wanted that before I met you. And it was unrealized.
Jill DeWit:
It’s true.
Steven Butala:
And I think we help each other… This is a Jack and Jill show. We help each other. It was totally not conscious. Like it wasn’t something I checked off of a box, checked off of a list when I met you. But for some reason we just, we do very well together and we get better as we go on with time. And, I’ve never experienced that before.
Jill DeWit:
Thank you. I appreciate that.
Steven Butala:
We could end on that because it’s happy.
Jill DeWit:
Thank you for tuning in. We hope you find our content valuable and we appreciate your support. If you have not already, please check out our YouTube channel and hit the subscribe button.
Steven Butala:
And your comments and suggestions help us to create the type of content we hope you’re here for. Hitting the like button on specific episodes helps to support our channels algorithm, engage your interest for how we write these future shows. 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.
—————————————-
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me directly at steven@BuWit.com.
The BuWit Family of Companies include:
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