Land Academy Costs Less Than One College Course (LA 1534)
Land Academy Costs Less Than One College Course (LA 1534)
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 how Land Academy costs less than one college course.
Jill DeWit:
Isn’t that amazing?
Steven Butala:
I talked about this in the content of one of our podcasts I think last week, and it exploded on Discord.
Jill DeWit:
Well, it struck a chord with me too.
Steven Butala:
Me too.
Jill DeWit:
So I was like this is worth talking about, the value and just how things change, how the value of this, the value of trade schools, the value of college degrees. They all have a place.
Steven Butala:
I mean there’s probably 40 entries in there about personal… A lot of it is personal experiences about college degrees that people… other types of degrees they wish they got, how the degrees that they got had treated them well and then invariably costs. So Jill and I looked it up this morning because we were horsing around a little bit-
Jill DeWit:
Let’s share it in a minute.
Steven Butala:
Over a cup of coffee. So yeah, we’ll share it in a second. 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. If you’re already a member, join us on Discord.
Jill DeWit:
If you’re a member of Land Academy that is. So yes. Joseph wrote, “On a recent mailing campaign, I ran into an issue with a property owner listing his vacant land for sale with a realtor. He told me he will sell the land to me once his contract expires with the realtor. Evidently, the relationship had soured.” That happens.
Steven Butala:
This is very common.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah. “My question is this, if I wait until the contract with the realtor expires and put it into contract, would this be considered ethical? I’m not real superstitious, but I don’t want any bad juju.” You know what? Yeah. There is a conflict here. I mean isn’t it if they bring someone in during the course of the contract and then there’s always a tail end of the expiration thing. I have to go back and read the exact verbiage, but I’m not loving this because I don’t want to piss anybody off but I think you have a different opinion.
Steven Butala:
I do.
Jill DeWit:
Here we go. And we’re going to hear it.
Steven Butala:
At least number one, this is a contract. That’s it. It’s a contract. There shouldn’t be very much emotion. Joseph, this is a great question. I love answering this stuff and thank you for asking it. This is not personal at all. It’s a contract and the terms of the contract are going to dictate everybody’s behavior and those outcomes. So please read it. There’s always, in my opinion, a trailing period of a listing where if… and I believe that it says now or it may be changed, chances are it’s changed now because lawyers love to change these listing agreements minute by minute, but it used to say, like Jill said, if an agent introduces somebody to a property-
Jill DeWit:
Is identified during that time.
Steven Butala:
And they do buy it six months after the expiration of the contract, then you owe me money.
Jill DeWit:
Exactly. Now whether or not they… Because you know what? And you found it… Well, you know what? This is a tough one too. You didn’t find it obviously because of the listing, so there’s a bit of a gray area. I’m not going to-
Steven Butala:
That’s not gray.The contract’s not gray at all. It’s black and white, whoever buys this property.
Jill DeWit:
But do you know what’s gray? What’s gray is you have to read the contract is, does it say if anybody came forward or if I identify this person, because technically you found this property on your own by a mailer and didn’t know it was listed on the MLS. That’s what I mean by a gray area, but again, the contract is going to tell you. That may not even matter. Just may say if a buyer comes forward during the time that I represent you. And then the thing is too, that the agent could argue that was not true. The agent could argue that, “No, I’m sure my listing is what brought this person forward,” so the bottom line is do the right thing everybody. That’s it.
Steven Butala:
In a sea of unethical behavior by realtors and brokers and everyone with a real estate license, this is a tiny little drop in the bucket. I would take pleasure in selling this property two minutes after this contract expired if it’s not a breach of contract to the person that you identified. I 180 degrees disagree with Jill. When’s the last time you said-
Jill DeWit:
[crosstalk 00:04:23] with the contracts.
Steven Butala:
When’s the last… Yeah. For sure. But that’s not what he’s asking. The title of it is, and I didn’t put this in here. I should have because this is an ethical full [inaudible 00:04:36]. And so no. There’s 50 people. There’s 50 people. Joseph is the seller. I mean the buyer.
Jill DeWit:
The seller is the one that’s even suggesting this. That’s where it starts.
Steven Butala:
Buyer who is Joseph, they’ve agreed on a price. They like the piece of dirt. They don’t like the realtor. Wait till the thing expires and buy it. I don’t have a problem with that at all as long as there’s no contractual issues with it in any way.
Jill DeWit:
I agree. I understand.
Steven Butala:
People don’t walk around and say, “Wow, that real estate agent I just dealt with is really, really ethical. I really appreciate that. They were honest about everything and told me everything upfront and they’re conscientious.”
Jill DeWit:
Well, you arejust happy go lucky today aren’t you?
Steven Butala:
Hey, you know what? I picked these questions for a reason and it has nothing to do with Joseph and everything to do with my mild disdain for real estate agents.
Jill DeWit:
I don’t feel the same, but okay.
Steven Butala:
Today’s topic, Land Academy costs less than one college course. This is the meat of the show. Oh my God, Jack, what is your problem with real estate agents?
Jill DeWit:
Isn’t it funny? You know what? It’s not real estate agents. I’d like to say this. It’s people who just don’t do what they’re supposed to do. How is that? And that’s the truth. No, seriously. Because there are great ones out there that I work with. I just signed with one just the other day to list a property here in LA County for us and he’s like, “I know how you guys feel.” I’m like, “No, no, no, no, no for the not good ones and you know who they are.” And he’s like, “Yeah, I know who they are too.” That’s the point. So we don’t just poopoo them all.
Steven Butala:
We have a lot to say about it. I do.
Jill DeWit:
This one does.
Steven Butala:
I don’t know what the percentages are. I have really recent experience put super bad taste in my mouth about certain stuff.
Jill DeWit:
I know you do. Unless you want to make this Jack rant Monday.
Steven Butala:
No.
Jill DeWit:
Okay. Are we going to talk about the topic?
Steven Butala:
Yeah.
Jill DeWit:
Okay, good. It was funny where this conversation came up, you said it in passing the other day and it really struck a chord with a lot of people, including me. I’m like, “Yeah, you’re right.” And so we started looking up college credits. And what was it back when you went to college? It was like, it crept up to $60.
Steven Butala:
It was between 40 and $60 through four years of undergraduate.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah. As a freshman going in, in-state tuition Michigan state. Then we looked up what it is today and it’s $482 a credit hour for in-state tuition freshmen 2020 I think it was. Yeah, it was 2020 college tuition. I’m like, “Wow.”
Steven Butala:
You can put yourself through college back then.
Jill DeWit:
Right. And you can’t do that. What [inaudible 00:07:17] you can’t do that?
Steven Butala:
This is an extraordinary situation. You can’t do that.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah. Most kids, you can’t work your part-time job, take your class. That was what was good back then that you could work your part-time job, do your homework and still have Friday nights to have fun with your friends.
Steven Butala:
So it led us to this conversation, Jill and I, which is why it made it into the topic today about education and how important education is and where you get it. And my motto has always been more education is always better. Wherever you can get it, get it. The internet’s a wonderful resource, an amazing improvement on all of our lives in my opinion. From an educational standpoint, there’s so much free content, including this out there and I’m happy to provide it. I’m at a point in my life where I’m ready to share all the knowledge.
Jill DeWit:
We kind of are.
Steven Butala:
Yeah. That’s what Land Academy is. But at some point, we do have to charge just to keep the lights on and Land Academy is not a huge profit center. It keeps the lights on and some of the food on the table for us and our employees.
Jill DeWit:
Who are needed for Land Academy.
Steven Butala:
But in a few episodes from now, this week somebody asks real detailed questions about, “Why Land Academy? Is it good to join? And here’s my question. So in a couple of days, we’ll talk about that. But the value for me, I’m a value shopper on everything. I don’t care. I buy used cars for a reason. There’s a lot of value in it, the right used cars. So I think Land Academy, there’s massive value in it. And there’s a lot of different ways to look at that and one of them is looking at it against the cost of other sources of education.
Jill DeWit:
I have on many occasions where people say this exact sentence. Wow, in one or two deals, it just paid for the whole thing. You can’t do that. I can’t think of any other thing like even if I go to UTI or MMI, I’m an automotive mechanic. My first job, I got to work a full year and then some to start to pay back what I did. And degrees, you got to work… How many of you are still paying college degrees because it’s expensive and your job doesn’t pay for that back right that fast. I’m a huge fan of trade schools.
Steven Butala:
Me too. I mean, well, on Discord, it ultimately led to two things, which degrees pay and which degrees don’t, obviously and then the costs. And so our group as you know if you listen to the show is packed full of engineers and accountants and people like that. And everybody agreed, even the people with different types of degrees agreed that a medical tech degree or a mechanics degree or plumbing degree or medical doctor degree or anything in healthcare or technical sciences, that always pays. I mean, you need that education. You want a doctor to go through seven years of school.
Jill DeWit:
Can you imagine, like you don’t want an electrician to come out and go, “Well, we’ll just figure out what each wire is one at a time on your dime at your house.” No, I want you to know what you’re doing before you come and rip open my walls. Ever do my plumbing go, “Oh, that’s the hot.”
Steven Butala:
Versus… I don’t know let’s say like getting a real estate license where you go to school for 40 hours and listen to people tell you how to pass the exam. They don’t teach you anything. It’s all just sliding under the rock.
Jill DeWit:
I will agree with that because we both went through it. I’m going to tell you all the way to the end, passing the tests, getting the fingerprint card, everything, but mailing it in. So I want you to know that I’m not just guessing here. I really did. And they didn’t talk about working with people and they didn’t talk about selling, all the things that I thought that you would do. It was just about, you need to know this on the test, just about different easements and things like that because they come up on the test and how questions are worded because they come up on the test this way. I’m like, “Yeah, what about really doing my job and helping people sign the property and how to properly listen to them and ways to search properties for all of their exact needs?” I don’t know, little things like that could have been nice.
Steven Butala:
A lot of years ago, I took an online course about how to have a Land Academy type company. And here’s what you do and here’s the template and here’s how you do it. And it wasn’t very long. And I honestly, truthfully didn’t last to the end of the class because it was such BS. You provide some content like we do. You provide some free content, then you provide some content where you’re charged and then there’s a second tier, a third tier, and a fourth tier and ultimately, there’s the grand prize of the platinum, walk through the door and the lights turn on and congratulations, you’ve spent a hundred thousand dollars and it’s not, at the core basic stuff, all the same. And that’s just not who we are. You don’t know about it because it was so silly.
Jill DeWit:
I know of those.
Steven Butala:
In fact, most of them are like that. Most of the other people who have land courses run their companies like that, so that’s just not what we do. It’s a single level of payment and then a subscription-based scenario where everyone learns.
Jill DeWit:
You have keep access to everything you need.
Steven Butala:
Including capital.
Jill DeWit:
That’s it.
Steven Butala:
And partners and stuff.
Jill DeWit:
We’re going to keep you going and we’re going to be right here.
Steven Butala:
I don’t want to sound like a sales pitch, but it was a huge topic, one of the biggest topics I’ve seen in Discord and there was a lot of humor in it like, “I really regret getting my drama degree.”
Jill DeWit:
That’s hilarious. I am happy to not be those people with you and I’m happy you could join us today. Monday through Friday, you can find us right here on the Land Academy Show.
Steven Butala:
Tomorrow, the episode on the Land Academy Show is called, how do you use the multiple listing service or the MLS effectively in your land business? You are not alone in your real estate ambition. And then somebody said, “Jack and Jill could have used some drama lessons.”
Jill DeWit:
Oh, that’s funny. I could see that. Hey, if you need any sort of ownership or property details, including owner phone numbers and FEMA flood map overlays, check out neighborscoop.com or parcelfact.com. Created by investors, that’s us, for investors like you.
Steven Butala:
We’re Steve and Jill.
Jill DeWit:
We’re Steve and Jill.
Steven Butala:
Information-
Jill DeWit:
And inspiration-
Steven Butala:
To buy undervalued property.
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