Beginners Guide to Doing Land Deals (LA 1610)
Beginners Guide to Doing Land Deals (LA 1610)
Transcript:
Steven Jack Butala:
Steve and Jill here.
Jill DeWit:
Howdy.
Steven Jack Butala:
Welcome to the Land Academy Show, entertaining land investment talk. I’m Stephen Jack Butala.
Jill DeWit:
And I’m Jill DeWit, broadcasting from the Valley of the Sun.
Steven Jack Butala:
Today, Jill and I, we’re going to talk about a beginner’s guide to doing land deals.
Jill DeWit:
I broke it down in a couple of steps from zero to 30, I should say.
Steven Jack Butala:
Jill and I often have different takes on what these shows should be about. And today is no exception.
Jill DeWit:
Exactly. We often have different takes on everything from parenting to where we’re going to dinner tonight.
Steven Jack Butala:
We do not have different takes on the following: getting rich together.
Jill DeWit:
Yes.Getting in An RV.
Steven Jack Butala:
When that should happen.
Jill DeWit:
True.
Steven Jack Butala:
How to run our staff, for the most part.
Jill DeWit:
Right. Leaving town.
Steven Jack Butala:
I think we’re almost on, well, we’re not on the same page about parenting, right? But I don’t think you should be. I think you need two of them going at it.
Jill DeWit:
We’re on the same page about vehicles in the garage and toys. We’re pretty good about that because no one will say no. It’s pretty much a,”Yeah, we should get one of those.”
Steven Jack Butala:
We’re on the same page about how much real estate we should own and not own and where.
Jill DeWit:
That’s true.
Steven Jack Butala:
That’s a pretty big deal.
Jill DeWit:
I can agree with that.
Steven Jack Butala:
Before we get into it, let’s take a question posted by one of our members on thelandinvestors.com online community. It’s free. And don’t forget to subscribe on the Land Academy YouTube channel, and comment on the shows you like.
Jill DeWit:
Victor wrote: What does it mean when a property’s co-owned with an “or” instead of an “and”? And I’m putting in quotes here, “Jane Smith and John Smith,” instead of, “Jane Smith or John Smith.” Both are deceased and the daughter wants to sell.
Jill DeWit:
It means absolutely nothing.
Steven Jack Butala:
This is incorrect. And it’s a great question. Whoever did this vesting deed before you, or before them, didn’t do it right. Here’s how you do it. Jane Smith and John Smith own this property as joint tenants with rights of survivorship. One of them dies, the other one owns it all, at the moment that that person passes, without any paperwork. It’s a beautiful thing, actually. But eventually, John’s going to die too. And that’s what goes on here.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah. Any deed you come up with, you might even find still some tenants in common. Whatever it is “or” doesn’t mean anything “Or” doesn’t count. What counts are the words after it.
Steven Jack Butala:
Yes, well said.
Jill DeWit:
Thank you.
Steven Jack Butala:
What also accounts is that they’re both dead. And so to answer that, depending on the state, that’s really easy to undo, or really hard. Arizona’s very hard. California’s very easy. So, [crosstalk 00:02:52]. And it always changes, or else I would directly answer it.
Steven Jack Butala:
California requires an affidavit of death, and Arizona requires a whole new… In a lot of cases it’s just not worth it, a new estate settlement. Or it means nothing. That’s the takeaway from there.
Jill DeWit:
That’s it.
Steven Jack Butala:
Today’s topic: this is a beginner’s guide to doing land deals. This is why you’re listening.
Jill DeWit:
Do you want to start?
Steven Jack Butala:
Sure. If you want me to.
Jill DeWit:
I’ll start. You want me to start? I thought you would have something to say. Usually you dive right in.
Steven Jack Butala:
At the risk of sounding like your father, your mind, your head’s got to be into this. I told somebody at recently, Jill and I were lucky enough to have dinner with some people that organized a live event near our house. They’re all members.
Jill DeWit:
Thank you, Paul.
Steven Jack Butala:
And I said, “There are many people that… Very successful Land Academy members find us. We can’t go out and find them.
Jill DeWit:
That was it?
Steven Jack Butala:
Well, if you found us, and you’re listening to this; this is step one. I can’t go out and find you and convince you that buying and selling land is great. You’re going to shake your head and say, “This is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.” We have years and years and years of talking to people, whether it’s at social events or everywhere. And just telling people that we buy and sell land, they’ll they’ll never get it. But for some reason, if you find us on the internet and it makes sense to you, and we make sense to you, that’s the start. That’s the start of the beginner’s guide to doing land deals.
Jill DeWit:
Okay, here’s how I break this down. So you’re, listening to us right now. You’re like, “This is great. I see your community. I see all the stuff going on. This could be something for me. Where do I start?” You know what I want you to do? Keep doing what you’re doing, first of all. I broke it into four sections.
Steven Jack Butala:
Oh good, you’re organized.
Jill DeWit:
I’m going to save this here. The first thing is research, like you’re doing right now. Like you’re listening to this. You may have listened to several of these. I want you to listen. I want you to read, and not just us. I want you to take in every possible thing you find of any person related to doing land transactions. Don’t get bogged down with commercial. Don’t get bogged down with different property types. Don’t get bogged down with houses yet, or mobiles yet, or into lots yet, anything like that. Just get the research done, and spend months on this. I mean, don’t spend days and hours. I want you to spend weeks and months on this. I want you to have 90 days or so in, going, “You know what? I think this is my people. I think I’ve found it. I’ve been listening to these guys for a while now. I’m so sick of binge, whatever, I think I’m ready to make that step.” Okay, so that’s number one.
Steven Jack Butala:
Research.
Jill DeWit:
Research. Number two, education. Now it’s like, “All right, I’m ready to go.” And I don’t want you to just say, “Well, I’m going to go buy a list from somebody,” or, “I’m just going to wing it here.” I’d rather you not do that. I’d rather do it right because by investing in education, you’re still not investing a lot of money in properties and it’s something you could easily undo.
Jill DeWit:
You can go, “Oh shoot, now I really got into it. Now I got the education. Now I realize how many steps are involved. And I got all the moving parts figured out that.” That’s overwhelming, you know? Or you could go, “Oh, now I got it.” Hopefully you did enough. That’s usually how it goes. You do enough research. Once you get the education, it usually fills in the missing pieces and puts it all in order for you. So now you’re like, “Oh, I can do this.” So that’s step two.
Jill DeWit:
Step three, dive in. Do it. I want you to spend more time on research. So if you spend 90 days to six months on research, I’m just thinking out loud here, I want you to get the education, spend 30 days on education. I want you to cram that in because I don’t want you to spend another year on education, because you’ve wasted a year and a half now. I want you to really be committed when you do your education. I want you to get 30 days and try to get a mailer out. And that goes into step three, which is, dive in. I want you to do it and own it, and be ready, and buy some property and don’t look back. Know you’re going to make some mistakes. Who cares?
Jill DeWit:
And then that goes into my final step, which is step four, lean on your peers. Use your peers. This is one place that not just Land Academy, but there’s a lot of nice people in the land space. I don’t know if they were before we came along, but I know within Land Academy you have a plethora of knowledge behind you and experience. I mean, we got people, six years with Land Academy who you can talk to, and they’ve made all those mistakes. And you’ve got 20 something years of experience right here, and over 10 years of experience right here with me. Even more with Steven, and a good chunk with me.
Steven Jack Butala:
30 years of sales experience with you.
Jill DeWit:
Oh thank you. I do have that. I’ve got the most of that coming into this. So we’re right here. We’re all going to help you. So that’s my beginner’s guide: research, one; education, two; three, dive in; and then four, use your peers.
Steven Jack Butala:
I mean, there’s nothing else I say that’s going to top that, or really add to it, except this. You have to be dedicated to make this work. This is not a $5 app you start. It’s not day trading where-
Jill DeWit:
Turn it on, turn it off.
Steven Jack Butala:
You just turn it on, figure out a little. Maybe if you really get into day trading, you spend two or three hours in a spreadsheet, making out a plan, and then you start executing. That’s not this. The people that are successful at this, and there are some of them that are wildly successful, we met with some of them a couple nights ago, are dedicated. This is their full-time job. They’re dedicated. They’ve done, just what Jill said, they followed those steps.
Jill DeWit:
Yep. You don’t have to live, eat and breathe it. If you really love it, you accidentally will.
Steven Jack Butala:
That’s right.
Jill DeWit:
And that’s kind of a… Like we can’t get in a car. You may or may not have heard this before, but we can’t get in a car without one of us turning on an app and shouting out property values.
Steven Jack Butala:
That’s true. I don’t care if we go to the grocery store.
Jill DeWit:
Yeah. Even in our own neighborhood, “Hey, that’s for sale now. What’d they list that one for?” That’s exactly how it goes.
Steven Jack Butala:
That’s right.
Jill DeWit:
It’s good. Happy you could join us today. Five days a week, you can find us right here on the Land Academy Show.
Steven Jack Butala:
Tomorrow, the episode on the House Academy show, [crosstalk 00:09:55] the housing market’s back. And so now is House Academy. You are not alone in your real estate ambition.
Jill DeWit:
I should have made that announcement. We’re changing it up everyone. Here’s the schedule, because I know there’s several of you that’d like to know our schedule. Mondays and Tuesdays, good old fashioned Land Academy; wednesdays, House Academy, but it always ties back into everything that we’re doing. It’s all still-
Steven Jack Butala:
Mailers…
Jill DeWit:
-Relative. Yeah. But maybe a little nuance on houses. And even if you’re in the land world, you kind of want to pay attention to houses because the land stuff usually follows right behind. Thursdays are still going to be Jack Thursdays and the more technical content. And then Fridays are still going to be, get some love with Jill, Jill Fridays. Thanks for tuning in.
Jill DeWit:
By the way, if you’re a Land Academy member, be sure you join us on Discord. We are Steve and Jill.
Steven Jack Butala:
Information…
Jill DeWit:
And inspiration…
Steven Jack Butala:
To buy undervalued property.
Jill DeWit:
Sorry, I just got on a roll. I just kind of left you behind.
Steven Jack Butala:
It’s all good.
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