Has Your Real Estate Agent Been Around the Block (LA 1705)
Has Your Real Estate Agent Been Around the Block (LA 1705)
Transcript:
Steven Jack Butala:
Steve and Jill here.
Jill K DeWit:
Hello.
Steven Jack Butala:
Welcome to the Land Academy Show?
Jill K DeWit:
House Academy show.
Steven Jack Butala:
Oh, sorry. House Academy Show.
Jill K DeWit:
That’s okay. That’s why you have me.
Steven Jack Butala:
Entertaining real estate 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, has your real estate agent been around the block? Do they have experience? Do they have experience in land? Have they ever done a deal?
Jill K DeWit:
It’s houses. We’re going to talk about everything.
Steven Jack Butala:
Well, yeah, we’re going to talk about everything. Have they done more than 10 deals in the last month?
Jill K DeWit:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Or a year? Seriously, even 10 deals a year analysis, I’ll take that. We’ll talk more.
Steven Jack Butala:
Not me. Before we get into it, let’s take a question posted by one of our members on thelandinvestors.com online community. It’s free. Don’t forget to subscribe on the Land Academy YouTube channel and comment on the shows you like.
Jill K DeWit:
Dan wrote, “Okay. I sent a mailer to a few counties in Maine a while back. I may not do that again because it’s a literal checkerboard of what shows up in NeighborScoop and what doesn’t, and there are tons of decommissioned roads that make it look like there’s access, but not anymore. Anyways, I picked up a 13-acre wooded property on a county road with mobiles on adjacent parcels. It has a gas pipeline running across it and I figured I could sell it for around $20,000, no problem. Got it for seven. Fantastic, right? I called a local broker and she said with the current market and demand, she would have zero problems selling it for $52,000. We’ll see how it goes, but that would definitely make it worth the headache, with headaches with the area.”
Jill K DeWit:
Isn’t that great? I’m with you, Dan. Well, a couple things. Number one, wow, how I love it when that happens. You’re like, “I don’t even realize what I bought,” and you’re like, “Woohoo, home run,” and two, you’re like, “Now I’m eating my words. I don’t care if I got this one deal out of that whole mailer that paid for it.”
Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah. Sure.
Jill K DeWit:
All the struggle, all the aggravation, that’s just fine.
Steven Jack Butala:
$40,000 that.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah, I’m totally cool with that, and that’s the right attitude. We’ve had that sometimes. We’ve had states or different things that were like, “Oh, I didn’t realize.” And now you know too, you need to add that to your list of your due diligence when you’re picking an area, make sure it’s in NeighborScoop. That’s the little things you don’t know until you’re into it sometimes, like, “Oh, I can’t find anything,” or, “Shoot, good luck getting the county on the phone because they’re only open two days a week from noon to 2:00,” or something crazy like that. Or the county’s not computerized. This is even really hard kind of thing. They don’t even know where the properties are. That still goes on, by the way. So, good job.
Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah. Well, this happens a lot. You know, people send out their first mailer, they get a little antsy, like, “Oh my gosh, is this going to work?” Honestly, I get a little antsy every single time to the day. I’m concerned if the mailer works, and it always does. All it takes is one deal to cover all the costs of the whole thing, so congratulations.
Jill K DeWit:
You know what too, Dan? Some people would say, “Oh, it was a fail.”
Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah.
Jill K DeWit:
This is the right attitude. I want everyone to hear, too. This is not a failed mailer. Some people would say, “I only got one deal and I made $40,000. It failed.” Please listen to yourself.
Steven Jack Butala:
Well, I’d go back. I’d send it out again. Not the same mailer, but different acreages, maybe surrounding counties.
Jill K DeWit:
Different areas in that area, because he said that in all the stuff in Maine, he’s having a hard time finding?
Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah, but you-
Jill K DeWit:
But once you solve that you’re good. Yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah. You’re over it now. Yeah. You know what to expect. You’re way ahead of anybody else.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah. Exactly.
Steven Jack Butala:
Today’s topic, has your real estate agent been around the block? This is the meat of the show. Needless to say, you want an experienced real estate agent, and that’s not enough. You honestly need to get a real estate agent who understands you, and that’s very few and far between. There’s only maybe been a couple real estate agents in my entire career that I’ve actually understood and gotten along with. Most of them have a commercial background. The vast majority of real estate agents that I’ve ever dealt with outside of … Well, Jill deals with most of it.
Steven Jack Butala:
The first thing they do for whatever reason, instead of reading the room and asking us just maybe two or three questions, Jill and I, they start to tell us how it’s going to go. They have no idea that Jill and I have done 16,000 deals. Most of them we’ve closed by ourselves without real estate agents. So, automatically, we’re the smartest people in the room in any room full of real estate agents with almost … I’m not bragging here. I’m just saying, read the room for a second. The only reason we’re using you in a transaction at all is because the universe has set this up, so we have to use you.
Jill K DeWit:
I’m sorry. Read the room is funny. You all may have all those fancy letters after your name, but I know how to perform this surgery. You’re like, “What?” I don’t know. I don’t know, I’m just thinking of one example. I don’t know. Never mind. That was [crosstalk 00:05:15]
Steven Jack Butala:
Especially now, because licensed real estate agents are not the most formally educated group in the world, and so-
Jill K DeWit:
Well, they have a formal education. I don’t know if they always follow it.
Steven Jack Butala:
They have 40 hours of how to pass a test education.
Jill K DeWit:
And fill out paperwork.
Steven Jack Butala:
Which none of them know how to do, because it’s all computerized now, and they have title agents. So, not none of them, the vast majority. Jill and I work with real estate agents all day and they’re amazing. Those are the ones that we have actually chosen, because for every one agent that we have, we’ve failed with maybe 25 or so.
Jill K DeWit:
Right.
Steven Jack Butala:
Because they … Let me start over. Real estate agents are not a group with the most formal education there ever was. They get this license. They take the exam three or four times, as many times as it takes to pass it. They have maybe 40 hours of education and they hang their license on somebody’s wall, and they think that they’re … They start pounding their chests. It’s like they have a master’s degree or they’re a lawyer or something. They really think that.
Jill K DeWit:
Tell me when you’re done and I’m going to save the show here and this won’t be a rant.
Steven Jack Butala:
Go ahead, save the show.
Jill K DeWit:
Okay. No, I don’t want to pooh-pooh them, but that’s not the point here for me. It’s not any of that. But you need to know what to look for to pick a good one that you’re going to connect with, because I have several, I mean several. And one right now that I need to call her back that I’m working with today who gets it, and gets me. And we only had, honestly …
Jill K DeWit:
And my transaction coordinator, Jan, found her and Jan did a good job picking her. She’s good. She’s experienced. Here’s one of the sentences she said to me the other day was, “How do you want this to go?” Thanks. Don’t tell me.
Steven Jack Butala:
Excellent.
Jill K DeWit:
I’m going to tell you how I want … and what I’m going to counter with.
Steven Jack Butala:
That’s outstanding.
Jill K DeWit:
I want to do this. She said, “All right, we can do …” She even said, “Okay, section four might cover it, but I can also attach this extra sheet so I know we’re going to get what we want out of this, done, done and done on the counter.” She also said to me, “I think that agent that they’re working with is new, and here’s why. They missed this, this and this.” I’m like, “You’re on my team.” That’s the thing, too. You need to pick up and feel that they’re on your same team. These are all the right things.
Jill K DeWit:
They need to know the area, and that’s stuff that you pick up on when you make that first initial call with them. They don’t necessarily have to live on that … Like, say you’re doing houses. They don’t have to live in that zip code, but they know that zip code. That’s part of their farm, if you will, so they really need to be good at that.
Jill K DeWit:
They need to have been doing … Ask them how many deals they’ve done. It’s funny that a lot of people don’t ask that. They look at their postings, and I haven’t brought it up in a long time, but you need to say, “How long have you been doing this? How many deals have you done? How many deals have you done like this?” You know, whether it’s, “How many deals have you done north of a million dollars? How many deals have you done that are just land only? How many deals have you done in this area?” Whatever your property type is, because this is the House Academy Show, but land people are here too, you need to know what to ask them.
Jill K DeWit:
And I don’t necessarily … It doesn’t have to be that month, but I need it to be … There’s a sweet spot. You’ll know what the right number is. He might say, “10 a month.” I think that’s too … depending on the property, that might be not the right number, but they do need to have experience. And do they have insight? This is my number, my blah, with agents that I know that have been around the block, the ones that come to me and go, “Did you know that that mall is being decommissioned right now, and they’re moving X, Y, Z over here, and the freeway is going to go extend to that?” And I go, “What?” That’s the person I want. They have insight. They helped me. We’re going to have a great life together.
Jill K DeWit:
And then the next question is to me, if I buy property, it’s almost like you tell me, what do I need to buy, and what zip code or what area you think is going to be hot? “Oh, well, Jill, if you do this and this, if you get me a bunch of these in this zip code with this attribute, we’re going to be busy for three years.”
Steven Jack Butala:
Are you done with your list here?
Jill K DeWit:
Yes, I am.
Steven Jack Butala:
You either get along with people or you don’t, it’s as simple as that, and you can tell in 30 seconds, just like dating. You can tell in 30 seconds whether or not … why someone’s there. And honestly, again, at this age, nine times out of 10, it’s just not going to work.
Jill K DeWit:
Right.
Steven Jack Butala:
But it’s that 10th time that everybody’s shooting for, and Jill’s got a collection of real estate agents right now that just bust it. They do amazing stuff for us.
Jill K DeWit:
I think the cream has risen to the top. There’s so many out there. I think a lot of them jumped in, because COVID happening and they saw all the movement and they think they’re going to do it. I think it separated the cream up at the top. I think there’s a lot of people that are just struggling to get a deal and they don’t know what they’re doing, and I feel bad for them, but for those really good ones, I can pick them out.
Steven Jack Butala:
Very first thing you should do if you’re looking to list a piece of property with a real estate agent is call the ones who have the most listings in the area, spend a half hour calling their number, and see who answers the phone.
Jill K DeWit:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). Answers the phone.
Steven Jack Butala:
Two or three or four of them are going to answer the phone. Now your list is down to two or three or four instead of 40 or 50.
Jill K DeWit:
Exactly.
Steven Jack Butala:
Then have a conversation with them right on the spot. “I’ve got this property. I think I want to list it,” or I think I’m going to buy it in a lot of cases and I’m going to buy it, I can get it for this. It’s under contract for X.
Jill K DeWit:
I don’t tell them how much.
Steven Jack Butala:
Well-
Jill K DeWit:
I never tell them how much I’m buying it for. I just say, “What could …” Because I want them to tell me. Was it Dan today, or whatever the other day that said, “I thought I could sell it for this and they’re telling me 52.”
Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah.
Jill K DeWit:
I don’t want to give them any numbers. I want them to tell me.
Steven Jack Butala:
You’ll realize if they’re a numbers person. A lot of them are, and especially with houses, that there’s so many that agents that’ll say, “Well, I don’t know. What does the carpet look like?” There’s no numbers. They don’t know the price per square foot of the area, and so that’s just not going to work.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah. Thank you.
Steven Jack Butala:
Am I wrecking your show here?
Jill K DeWit:
No, not at all, but I’m like, I don’t give that information out. I just have to say, I don’t share that. If they want to look it up, they can look it up, and if I haven’t closed it, they can’t look it up.
Steven Jack Butala:
No, that’s what I mean. They’re … start talking about non-numbers stuff.
Jill K DeWit:
Oh, okay.
Steven Jack Butala:
They start asking questions about window treatments.
Jill K DeWit:
Oh, I don’t have any of those people.
Steven Jack Butala:
I know, that’s [crosstalk 00:12:09] Jill, we’re not communicating here.
Jill K DeWit:
Oh. Okay, sorry. Those are the wrong people. I concur.
Steven Jack Butala:
Am I not communicating correctly this day?
Jill K DeWit:
Do they just really do that?
Steven Jack Butala:
Oh my God, yes.
Jill K DeWit:
Oh.
Steven Jack Butala:
Are you kidding?
Jill K DeWit:
I guess I’m very-
Steven Jack Butala:
Have you ever walked through a house with an agent and they start pointing stuff out that you can clearly see?
Jill K DeWit:
Oh, I guess you’re right.
Steven Jack Butala:
“And over here, we have the new countertops.” Oh really? I didn’t know those are new countertops-
Jill K DeWit:
All right, I guess you’re right.
Steven Jack Butala:
… since I can’t smell it and touch it and see it.
Jill K DeWit:
I got it. You know what it is?
Steven Jack Butala:
And the school system, and Jill and I are at this age, they’ll say, “And the school systems are great here. Here’s why.” I’m like, “Do we have any school kids in-“?
Jill K DeWit:
Whoa. I beg your pardon? Maybe they think I’m younger than I am and they should say that. Hold on, mister. No, you know what it is probably? I tune it out. I don’t even pay attention if they’re talking to me because I’m walking around. I know what I need to look at. When I’m looking at a house to buy to resell, I know exactly what I’m looking for. I don’t need their help.
Steven Jack Butala:
That’s what I think.
Jill K DeWit:
I walk off and say, “I’ll meet you back here in 10 minutes.” That’s it.
Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah. Not a single agent opens a garage door from the inside out because they don’t care.
Jill K DeWit:
That’s funny. Yeah. Happy you could join us today. Five days a week-
Steven Jack Butala:
Are you cutting me off?
Jill K DeWit:
Yup. Five days a week, you can find us here on the Land Academy Show.
Steven Jack Butala:
Jill cut me off.
Jill K DeWit:
Yup.
Steven Jack Butala:
Tomorrow is Jack Thursday where I really get to say what I need to say. It’s called Just Do It, Then Fail, Then Succeed, Then Fail Again. You are not alone in your real estate ambition. I wrecked your show.
Jill K DeWit:
It’s okay. You’re good. You’re fine. Hey, thanks for tuning in. Hey, we’d love to connect with you on Clubhouse, so Thursdays, on the first and third Thursday … Tongue-tied here … you can find us at, I think it’s noon Pacific time on the Land Investing Club. Go find that and just check our time. You can check me there, but we’re on Clubhouse.
Jill K DeWit:
We are Steve and Jill.
Steven Jack Butala:
We are Steve and Jill. Information …
Jill K DeWit:
… and inspiration …
Steven Jack Butala:
… to buy undervalued property.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
If you enjoyed the podcast, please review it in Apple Podcasts . Reviews are incredibly important for rankings on Apple Podcasts. My staff and I read each and every one.
If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me directly at steven@BuWit.com.
The BuWit Family of Companies include:
I would like to think it’s entertaining and informative and in the end profitable.
And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts.
