Are You Smart Enough for Land Academy (LA 1678)
Are You Smart Enough for Land Academy (LA 1678)
Transcript:
Steven Jack Butala:
Steve and Jill here.
Jill K DeWit:
Hi.
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 are you smart enough for Land Academy? Who came up with this topic?
Jill K DeWit:
I know. Did somebody put that in Discord?
Steven Jack Butala:
No. And all kidding aside, this comes up every once in a while it comes up about, excuse me, geez. It comes up at the live event. It’s come up and it just comes up in general. It’s not so much, I decided to be really straight about it in the title.
Jill K DeWit:
Which we always are straight. So we’ll talk about that. I have some notes here and there’s always exceptions, but we want to talk about it with you, because we want for the right, well, how about this? You’re all the right people. We want you to know, we either want to calm down your fears and or we want to be really honest with you and let you know what you’re getting into.
Steven Jack Butala:
I titled this intentionally, but it could be titled, are you interested enough in doing this?
Jill K DeWit:
That’s a good way of saying it.
Steven Jack Butala:
That’s really what I think is happening.
Jill K DeWit:
That’s brilliant.
Steven Jack Butala:
But people don’t, they don’t say it that way about themselves. Before we get into it let’s take a question posted by one of our members on the Land Investors.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:
Andy wrote, “If I have a signed purchase agreement and the owner gets a better offer letter in the mail from another land buyer, do I have any recourse? Just so weird that the week we were going to close, another offer letter would hit. They’re wanting to take the higher offer, which is four times my offer price. Has this happened to anyone?” That’s really not cool by the way.
Steven Jack Butala:
It’s not cool at all.
Jill K DeWit:
By the seller, that is.
Steven Jack Butala:
This sparked a lot of interest in Discord.
Jill K DeWit:
I bet. What were the general responses?
Steven Jack Butala:
Let’s answer the question first. The answer, it’s the same how we’re going to answer all of it. Your question is, do you have any recourse? Probably not. You might, but it’s not worth it. It’s generally not worth it to go down that path. My big comment is, do they really have an offer? Do they?
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah. Or are they changing their price last minute on you?
Steven Jack Butala:
Are they having second thoughts about the price?
Jill K DeWit:
Or selling?
Steven Jack Butala:
There’s a lot of stuff going on.
Jill K DeWit:
Maybe they changed their mind and they could say that, that’s true. That’s a very, very good point.
Steven Jack Butala:
I’ve heard you on the phone many times in this situation and you know what she says, “You should take the offer.”
Jill K DeWit:
That’s what I do. I’m like, “So let’s just go through, let’s walk through the process. Shall we? You just got this offer in. You and I are going to close on Tuesday and you’re going to get $18,000. And you’re saying you got an offer for 40. Well, is there really? Let’s just see. They haven’t done any their due diligence. They haven’t vetted this. You haven’t even talked to them yet. Do we know that it’s legit? Do we know they have the money? Do they know they’re standing by? And after they do their due diligence, are they still going to want to pay that money? I’m sitting here right now. We are all done. You’re about to get a check, a wire into your bank on Tuesday. Do you want to stop that and take the chance and or do you want a sure thing? We’re done.” And usually they go, “Oh yeah, hadn’t thought about that.”
Steven Jack Butala:
It’s a classic bird in the hand situation. Does this happen to us? Couple times a year.
Jill K DeWit:
Sometimes, but it’s not very often.
Steven Jack Butala:
Earlier in my career, I would all freak out about, I call this end of the line negotiate, renegotiation. And it used to really make me mad. We’re trying to buy a piece of property or sell one and all the prices change right at the end. That’s what’s happening here. They’re changing the price right at the end and they’re saying they have another offer. And I really think that because it’s four times, if it was $5,000 more, I get that. But four times? Did somebody really-
Jill K DeWit:
It almost makes you think that someone’s in their ear, like an agent said, “Why are you selling it for that? I could do this.” And so they’re just trying to get out of it and that might be, and that’s okay.
Steven Jack Butala:
There’s people that just like to do things at the end like this.
Jill K DeWit:
Well that’s not nice.
Steven Jack Butala:
It’s their personality type.
Jill K DeWit:
That’s true.
Steven Jack Butala:
I love Jill’s approach. Then sell it to them. When it all falls apart, we’ll just keep escrow open, when it all falls apart, come on back.
Jill K DeWit:
That’s what I do.
Steven Jack Butala:
But the price might be cheaper. I know that we’re, maybe I’ll pay you four times less.
Jill K DeWit:
I would never say that. That’s the Steven way. I would never say that at all. No, but I have said, “You got what? Are you kidding? That’s insane.” And that’s my first response is, “Well, then you got to take it. Call them. If that’s real, you have to do it. I would be telling my dad the same thing.” And they go, “Oh, it’s probably not real.” I go, “Well, why don’t you call and call me back.” And then they go, “Okay, here’s what I found.” Mm-hmm (affirmative). It’s funny.
Steven Jack Butala:
Today’s topic, are you smart enough for Land Academy? This is the meat of the show.
Jill K DeWit:
Are you smart enough for this show?
Steven Jack Butala:
You’re smart enough for this show.
Jill K DeWit:
Are you smart of us to hang out with us? You’re smarter. Are you too smart to hang out with? That should be the new thing.
Steven Jack Butala:
That’s what it is.
Jill K DeWit:
Are you too smart to hang out with us?
Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah. You’re too smart for this.
Jill K DeWit:
That’s the really good.
Steven Jack Butala:
What if this is their first podcast?
Jill K DeWit:
Are you too smart for Land Academy? That’s the real topic.
Steven Jack Butala:
That would’ve been better.
Jill K DeWit:
That’s a better topic.
Steven Jack Butala:
I almost want to change it.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah, that’s good.
Steven Jack Butala:
Look, every one of us in our lives, me included, you walk into something and you’re like, there’s no way I can do this. It happened a lot when I was younger, especially in academics, in college and all kinds of stuff. And you get in there and it’s insurmountable. There’s too many moving parts. But if you’re interested in it, let’s break it down as simple as possible, if you’re interested in getting an A in a class, you’re going to do what it takes and it might be a massive disaster. I’ve always found math to be like this, especially advanced math. That’s like, it’s confusing. It’s confusing. I don’t understand it. This is a mess. I’m never going to be able to do this. And then a switch flips because you’re working on it and working on it, working on it and you finally get it. And so of course you’re smart enough for this. It’s just, if you have a high enough level of interest to follow through on it.
Jill K DeWit:
I’m going to tell you a story. I’m going to give you, if you have not seen the Go-Go’s documentary on, was it Netflix or Prime?
Steven Jack Butala:
It was Amazon Prime.
Jill K DeWit:
Amazon Prime. That’s okay. So one of those two, probably Prime. If you’ve not seen the Go-Go’s documentary that was from 2020 or 2021, you need to because it’s a shining example of girls getting together, not knowing how to do anything, saying, “Oh sure. I’ll learn. We should start an all girl band. And I don’t even have a drum set and I have to go find a drum set and then learn how to play.” And some of these girls, like I played bass, they wanted to play lead guitar. I lied and said I could, I had figure it out in a weekend. And they were just into it and committed and more than them, there’s five of them. Three of them like were, lead guitar, bassist and the drummer, the original members were like, “I have no idea what I’m doing. I just said I could do it. And I lied and I figured it out.”
Jill K DeWit:
And part of it was because they started when it was, they started as a punk band back in the punk days in LA in the late 70s. And it was just bad music sounded good because it was punk. So they’re just kind of banging on it. So it was funny. But the truth is, how I tie it to this, they were committed. They wouldn’t stop. And I watched that documentary, it made me proud, I’m like, “Go girls.” What they did and what they accomplished and they stuck to it and they didn’t waiver. So they are still, and now they’re in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, the only all girl band that can say that they played all their own music and wrote all their own songs and got number one on the charts. No one has done that.
Steven Jack Butala:
On a debut record.
Jill K DeWit:
No one can say they did that. No one, no, it doesn’t even matter what album. No all female band has, no band has been all female, all play their own stuff and written their own songs and made number one.
Steven Jack Butala:
And with a debut record, which is amazing.
Jill K DeWit:
So yeah. You want to make that?
Steven Jack Butala:
That is huge. For a first record.
Jill K DeWit:
No, I’m just saying even on their 10th record never had that.
Steven Jack Butala:
No, I’m not arguing with you. I’m just saying it’s twice as impressive, with no experience to just cut a record and it goes to number one.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah. So darn cool. So, but we’re committed. So my other notes are, we make this look easy sometimes and we’re here to tell ya-
Steven Jack Butala:
And we make it look fun sometimes.
Jill K DeWit:
Sometimes we cry. Just kidding.
Steven Jack Butala:
Sometimes it’s not fun and not easy.
Jill K DeWit:
Right. And we want you to know that. I want you to over research. People find their way to me and to my staff sometimes very early in the process. And they’re like, “Oh, I got this. I watched a whole weeks of your podcast. And I sat in on one member call. Oh I got this.” I’m like, “Well, hold on a moment. Let’s make sure. I don’t want you to get in and find out it’s not what you think it is.” And I want you to know the truth, this is why we’re doing this episode. I want you to really spend the time, humor me, over research, play around with it, talk to some people, get in the community. And really you don’t have to go so far as buy a property, but if you do that, if you want to test the concept, buy a cheap property somewhere and turn around and practice and mark it up and sell it and take pictures and just get through the deal before you join, I don’t think that’s nuts. I think that’s good.
Steven Jack Butala:
There’s a few components to this, there’s the data component, the data slash Excel analysis, picking a accounting component, the upfront stuff that I’m good at and I really enjoy. And the backend component, which is equally or it’s turning out more important, which is answering the phone, putting the deal together and on the buy side and the sell side, which is what Jill does. I’ve done both, all of those. I can tell you, I have no real interest in a latter part of my career to do Jill’s job at all, which is why we got together and did this. So the chances are there’s one or two little components that you can’t stand. And maybe you suck at. That doesn’t mean you’re not smart enough for all of this.
Jill K DeWit:
True. Or throw in the towel.
Steven Jack Butala:
It doesn’t mean that you can’t learn it and deal with it for a year until you get a partner or outsource it to somebody that you trust to make it work. That doesn’t mean any of that. That tells me if you go down that path, you are interested in enough to make this work. You see the value in it and you can see how it can pay out forever. And so don’t let one or two little things stop you from trying this and you don’t have to buy into all this to try it. You can do a little bit of this. Horse around on the internet, you’ll find a ton of free stuff, including this show, this podcast that’ll get you started. So you can see whether or not you think you’re ready for it.
Jill K DeWit:
I think, this is what exactly what I wrote down. You are here because we will tell you the truth and we will show up to help you. Your responsibility is to ask.
Steven Jack Butala:
Oh, that’s brilliant, Jill. That should have been the title, your responsibility is to ask.
Jill K DeWit:
Thank you.
Steven Jack Butala:
What do you say after that? How do you follow that?
Jill K DeWit:
I know. 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 Land Academy Show is called how to buy your first parcel land. You are not alone in your real estate ambition.
Jill K DeWit:
It’s kind of funny. I’m like, can we please just check out this Go-Go’s documentary? And I’m sure you’re like, oh, it’s an all girl band. Are you really going to make me sit through this?
Steven Jack Butala:
No. No way. I love the Go-Go’s.
Jill K DeWit:
It was so good. Yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
I love the Go-Go’s. We’re from the same time and the same musical background. No, it was great. I got a lot out of it. We stayed up too late watching it, but we had to finish it.
Jill K DeWit:
We did. Well, here was the difference, where I lived in Southern California, we had our MTV. You didn’t have your MT, why did you not have MTV?
Steven Jack Butala:
We had MTV. It just wasn’t part of our culture like it was for you. I was into a different scene than you were. That’s the nicest way I could put it.
Jill K DeWit:
Maybe that’s it. While I was watching MTV and listening to K Rock and getting all alternative, at the same time you were still doing, you were still into?
Steven Jack Butala:
That’s an interesting choice of word.
Jill K DeWit:
What?
Steven Jack Butala:
I was still. You were stuck. You were still. You weren’t as. This is-
Jill K DeWit:
I apologize.
Steven Jack Butala:
Hold on. No, you don’t have to apologize. This is the attitude of the Southern Californian. Oh yeah. They’re still doing that over there.
Jill K DeWit:
Actually that’s true.
Steven Jack Butala:
It’s five years old.
Jill K DeWit:
That’s true.
Steven Jack Butala:
They’re five years behind. It’s okay.
Jill K DeWit:
That’s true. By the time my cousins came out and they had their roller skates in their hands, I’m like, “Oh, we stop roller skating a long time ago.”
Steven Jack Butala:
I will never apologize for still. And to this day, I can give 50 examples of how my stuff was a little bit more forward than all the Southern California.
Jill K DeWit:
Okay. Now it’s a contest.
Steven Jack Butala:
Thank you for tuning in. Hope you find our content valuable and we appreciate your support. If you haven’t already, please check out our YouTube channel and hit the subscribe button. We are Steve and Jill.
Jill K DeWit:
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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