How to Work Smarter in Your Land Business (LA 1669)
How to Work Smarter in Your Land Business (LA 1669)
Transcript:
Steven Jack Butala:
Steve and Jill here.
Jill K DeWit:
Hello.
Steven Jack Butala:
Welcome to the Land Academy Show, entertaining land, investment talk. I’m Steven Jack Butala.
Jill K DeWit:
And I’m Jill DeWit, broadcasting from the Valley of the Sun.
Steven Jack Butala:
Today, Jill and I talk about how to work smarter in your land business.
Jill K DeWit:
You would think we’d be doing this every day.
Steven Jack Butala:
We have… Yeah, this is a whole string in Discord.
Jill K DeWit:
I’ll tell you one way we don’t work smarter is like right now.
Steven Jack Butala:
What do you mean?
Jill K DeWit:
Like, it’s Tuesday and we’re recording for Tuesday. We kind of never do that. Talk about cutting it close. That’s not very smart.
Steven Jack Butala:
Jill and I were just talking about it. We are still reeling from the holidays and reeling from 2021.
Jill K DeWit:
Mm-hmm. It was a good year.
Steven Jack Butala:
We moved states. We had a great year, great year financially and socially. We moved. I don’t have to file a California tax return this year.
Jill K DeWit:
Right.
Steven Jack Butala:
So it’s all positive. 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. And don’t forget to subscribe on the Land Academy YouTube channel and comment on the shows you like.
Jill K DeWit:
Zola wrote, “Seeking advice. I have an agreed price to buy a piece of land in Virginia. And I already have a buyer, which is a neighbor. I want to transfer the property directly to the neighbor and not take possession to avoid closing fees. I’m thinking of using a transferable contract. Any advice? Or better yet, a purchase agreement template.”
Steven Jack Butala:
What would you do?
Jill K DeWit:
I hate this.
Steven Jack Butala:
So do I.
Jill K DeWit:
I don’t like this.
Steven Jack Butala:
I’m right there with you, Jill.
Jill K DeWit:
This just gives me such a bad feeling.
Steven Jack Butala:
I totally agree.
Jill K DeWit:
It’s like a wholesaler’s… That’s what it’s… Not to pick on you, Zola. It’s just, I’m not comfortable with it. I always feel like if I believe in the deal, I’m not going to take an assignment or a fee, but that’s kind of what you’re doing. I would buy it. So I wouldn’t even, as far as the purchase agreement template, you could just… There’s so many out there you just copy or just add on there or assignees kind of thing, as far as who’s going to take ownership. And if you’re going to go through title, I mean, you can go through title. Everybody’s going to see what it’s purchased for. And everybody’s going to see your chunk of money in the middle of what you’re taking out of it. And then everybody’s going to see what the new guy’s buying. And it might not leave them with a good feeling.
Steven Jack Butala:
One of our jobs here at Land Academy is to undo bad advice that we’ve all received in real estate and in real estate investment. This is bad. This is not a good idea. There’s a… The concept of assigning contracts and wholesaling has become abused and has now a stigma, a negative stigma. So here’s what you do. It’s going to cost you maybe $1,500 to $2,000 to close this deal and buy it. And that’s it. Buy the property and then resell it immediately. Have a hold-open binder with the escrow agent and resell it for whatever the numbers are to the new buyer, the neighbor. If you don’t have the money, this is what [crosstalk 00:03:02].
Jill K DeWit:
… deal funding.
Steven Jack Butala:
This is what Land Academy is for. Just posted. Thank you, Zola, for putting this in Discord. That’s the best thing. I’m glad you did this. Somebody will step up and help you-
Jill K DeWit:
They’ll fund it.
Steven Jack Butala:
… fund the deal. Take a small percentage, in this case, because you already have it sold. Maybe 10 or 10% ish.
Jill K DeWit:
That’s easy. Because you only need their money for like a week.
Steven Jack Butala:
And now it’s a real deal. Now it’s a real… You’re in the chain of title and I, for 50 reasons that we can’t go into right now, because of time constraints only, that’s the right way to do it.
Jill K DeWit:
Right.
Steven Jack Butala:
I urge you and anyone listening to stop this wholesaling business.
Jill K DeWit:
At least this way. I used to think of wholesaling as like the… I would buy it and sell it at like wholesale prices. That’s kind of what I meant by wholesaling, not this whole weird thing, so thank you.
Steven Jack Butala:
Today’s topic. How to be smarter, how to work smarter in your land business. This is why you’re listening.
Jill K DeWit:
I have a couple comments.
Steven Jack Butala:
I know I watched you take notes.
Jill K DeWit:
Oh, you want me to start?
Steven Jack Butala:
Sure.
Jill K DeWit:
Okay. So one of the things I’m thinking about, I see people… These are three things that I see people probably doing wrong, that I want you to think about and do better, to be smarter, going into 2022. And one of them is they’re not focused on their tasks, as silly as it is. It’s too easy to go down that rabbit hole to not block off time and be doing 16 things at once. And what does it do? It makes everything longer. Mistakes are made and it’s just not a good way to operate. So that’s my number one. Block off time. Use your calendar and be really focused and direct on whatever you’re working on at that moment. Another thing that I have see people done well, and I think we could all even do better is using our peers, like Zola just did in Discord, which was awesome by the way, that was perfect.
Jill K DeWit:
We have the landinvestors.com online community. There’s all kinds of places that we chat with each other and our Thursday calls. Use your peers. You’d be nuts not to reach out to someone who you know lives and is a pro in Florida or Virginia, or fill in the blank state to say, “Hey, I’m looking at doing this deal. I’ve run across this issue. Does this make sense? Do you have a guy? How did you get around this item?” Whatever it is. So use your peers. It’s only going to make you smarter and more efficient. And then someday, you’ll pay it back. It’s the best. And then my third point about being… Do you want to comment on any of these?
Steven Jack Butala:
No, I have a short little list at the end here.
Jill K DeWit:
Oh, okay.
Steven Jack Butala:
Here’s a [crosstalk 00:05:46]
Jill K DeWit:
I don’t mean to make this a Jill show.
Steven Jack Butala:
This is classic Jack and Jill.
Jill K DeWit:
Okay. All right. Oh, good. You have a totally different list. All right. Oh, this is-
Steven Jack Butala:
Completely different list.
Jill K DeWit:
It’s going to be awesome.
Steven Jack Butala:
Completely different-
Jill K DeWit:
Direction?
Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah.
Jill K DeWit:
Okay. Good. All right. Well, me, smarter in your land business is, don’t be afraid to spend a little extra time. I’m thinking of us right now. So here’s what I’m thinking. This one, I thought about us. Like what do we do well that I can share other people. You and I are really good at spending a little extra front end due diligence time when we’re doing research and we’re looking at a new niche or a new market, things like that.
Jill K DeWit:
For example, you and I just spent last weekend driving around Northern Arizona, considering a new niche, a totally different niche. Not as different as pizza. Thank you for asking. But as we’re out there looking at these properties, I had to say the word pizza, because I want to make sure we’re not going down that accidental rabbit hole, but we-
Steven Jack Butala:
She means lack of focus.
Jill K DeWit:
No, no, no. Just to… No, we need to really put all the pieces together. You and I are good at like, I’ll just say what it is. We were looking at doing a version of cabin rentals, right? And we would do cabin rentals, not buy the property, not split it up, not put cabins on it. Let somebody else deal with the work.
Steven Jack Butala:
We’re looking at an existing operation just to buy.
Jill K DeWit:
Right. So we really went up there to look at and think about like, okay, this could be fun for us. And you know, this could be a revenue stream and it’s still in our wheelhouse.
Steven Jack Butala:
Lot of tax advantages, all kinds of stuff.
Jill K DeWit:
Right. But I had to stand there and I had to have a heart to heart with Jack here and say, “Look, you and I both know there’s going to be days where people are snowed in, things can happen, and somebody’s got to wash sheets. And I don’t want that to be me.” So I’m like, we got to figure this out. So my thing is, we’re pretty good at that. And I want you to get good at that. I want you to learn from us too. Spend the extra time to really think about and budget, and your time and your energy. Before you go down a pizza rabbit hole niche, and think this is all good for the company for diversifying, because it might not be. That’s my end of my list.
Steven Jack Butala:
It really sunk in what Jill was saying to me when she did this, “Cabin four needs toilet paper.” Is that what I want my 2022 to be? I don’t think so.
Jill K DeWit:
That’s perfect. Could you imagine? Oh, that’s exactly what would happen. Talk about not being a low, it’s hard to come back from that.
Steven Jack Butala:
Here’s my content for this. I always use three things to stay smarter about, and keep myself on track and believe me, this didn’t happen overnight. I’m 25 years into this and I still don’t listen to my own advice at times, but here they are. Number one-
Jill K DeWit:
And that’s where I come in.
Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah. Like a good example is cabin 4’s toilet paper. Budget. Make sure you budget and plan for everything. That’s the first step. I do it in Excel, but you need to have everything written down before you even start to act at all. The more details, the better. And I’ll talk about that in a second. Number two, you need to put the systems in place as you go. And so, I like to use this analogy. If you’re looking for… Once a year, like me, you play tennis, you’re looking for your tennis racket. You go into a closet, you know the tennis racket’s in there, but the closet’s a disaster. You know, I can’t help myself. I have to clean it all out. I have to make the closet perfect. And then go play tennis.
Jill K DeWit:
That’s a whole separate issue.
Steven Jack Butala:
It’s a system.
Jill K DeWit:
We’re working on that.
Steven Jack Butala:
No, you got to put a system in place to make sure that stuff… And I’ll talk about that in a second. And then finally you need to execute it. And Jill really alluded to this with the calendar. And this is a very hard thing for me to grasp. Honestly, I only really heavily started to do it since I’ve known Jill, because she’s always had a calendar with her. So number one, budget and plan in the simplest form. Sit yourself down, or whoever else you’re involved with professionally or socially and say, I want to do 12 deals this year, or I want to do 280 deals this year, whatever the numbers are. Or I just want to do one deal. I want to do one deal by March and I want to make 40 grand on it. Then deconstruct the whole thing, back into it.
Steven Jack Butala:
Find out how many mailers you need to send out. Start looking for a money partner, if you need one. Or a Jill, if you need one. Somebody that… Or a Jack, depending on what your personality type is, whether it’s mine or Jill’s. And start putting that stuff in place and right from the beginning, like my closet example, right from the beginning, make sure that on this first deal, you’re going through the motions and you’re finding this person that’s going to fund it. Or you’re finding a partner that’s does the data or answers the phone. Establish a relationship and put a system in place, so when you do the next mailer, you’re utilizing them too. And so you don’t have to do that stuff anymore. So by the fifth or eighth or 10th transaction, you’ve got all the stuff in place and you’re only responsible for making decisions.
Steven Jack Butala:
This is what we talk about in Career Path, at length, about establishing systems so that you make your life easier. Why would you want to make your life easier? For two reasons. Who doesn’t want an easier life, number one. And number two, you can do more deals if all these systems are in place.
Jill K DeWit:
True.
Steven Jack Butala:
Number three, execution. If it’s not all on it for me, if it’s not all on a calendar, I know what I’m doing Tuesday. I know what I’m doing Wednesday, Thursday and so on of this week, next week, really throughout the whole year so that I get established, and then go right back to it, your goals.
Jill K DeWit:
This is not overwhelming by the way.
Steven Jack Butala:
Right. Those three things are intertwined. This is the only way I got through college, at all, is putting a schedule together. Yeah, because you can get overwhelmed.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah. Otherwise you go, “Oh no”-
Steven Jack Butala:
“There’s 19 things I have to do.”
Jill K DeWit:
Now, it’s March, whatever. I still don’t know what I’m doing. And I’d said by the end of March, I need to make 40 grand on a deal. You haven’t really thought about it, planned it out. You got to pick an area. You got to do your research. You got to send the mail out. You got to buy something. [crosstalk 00:12:11]
Steven Jack Butala:
There’s a lot of moving parts to this, and you will get overwhelmed unless you first put them in a list.
Jill K DeWit:
Right.
Steven Jack Butala:
Jill and I have done talks on this extensively. First, put it all in a list, then into a calendar and it needs to tie into a budget.
Jill K DeWit:
That’s perfect. Thank you.
Steven Jack Butala:
It’s a lot easier to do this with somebody else, by the way.
Jill K DeWit:
That’s true. Happy you could join us today. Five days a week, you can find us here on the Land Academy Show.
Steven Jack Butala:
Tomorrow, the episode on the House Academy Show is called Five Things That Are a Waste of Time, while you’re flipping houses. You are not alone in your real estate ambition.
Jill K DeWit:
I’m excited about that one.
Steven Jack Butala:
I’m glad we didn’t buy a cabin rental-
Jill K DeWit:
Oh my God.
Steven Jack Butala:
… operation, Jill.
Jill K DeWit:
I know. I’m sorry. [crosstalk 00:12:56]
Steven Jack Butala:
And I’m glad the holidays are over, because I think stupid stuff happens. Stupid decisions are made during the holidays. No real work gets done.
Jill K DeWit:
When you have too much free time. Like this is what I think we should do.
Steven Jack Butala:
Sure. Yeah. Let’s buy a company.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Cause that’s a good idea. Do you know what? Crap. That’s when we bought the dumb pizza thing.
Steven Jack Butala:
Of course it is.
Jill K DeWit:
Oh-
Steven Jack Butala:
Too much time.
Jill K DeWit:
… shoot. You know what? I’m going to make a list of this. 2019, we bought a pizza. 2021, we almost bought the cabin rental. That’s great. Who knows what… What was 2020? I don’t even remember. I got to look back. I’m sure there was something. [crosstalk 00:13:33]
Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah, it was something bad.
Jill K DeWit:
I’m sure of it. That’s so funny. Thank you for tuning in. By the way, if you are a Land Academy member, don’t forget that you are joining us on Discord.
Steve and Jill:
We are Steve and Jill.
Steven Jack Butala:
Information.
Jill K DeWit:
And inspiration.
Steven Jack Butala:
To buy undervalued property.
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