Stories of Great Land Brokers (LA 1788)
Stories of Great Land Brokers (LA 1788)
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 stories of great land brokers. Jill and I were talking a couple of days ago about the deals that we’re doing, like we always do. And she was telling me these stories about all these-
Jill K DeWit:
What a difference.
Steven Jack Butala:
… these great brokers that she’s finding.
Jill K DeWit:
Well, wait a minute. Because of not great brokers, the great ones stand out. Let’s be clear here.
Steven Jack Butala:
So we bash real estate agents all the time on this show with the… It’s kind of a hobby of mine.
Jill K DeWit:
Yes.
Steven Jack Butala:
But this show is not about that. This show is about good ones, because there are a lot of good ones out there.
Jill K DeWit:
Okay.
Steven Jack Butala:
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 I hope by now you know Jill and I personally instruct a handful of new and existing Land Academy members in a live class, live on Zoom, called Career Path. It’s 10 weeks, and if this is your career, or you want it to be, check it out. Call us, or email us I should say, at support@landacademy.com, and see if it’s for you.
Jill K DeWit:
Aston wrote, “Hi, I have an interested seller for my first mailer, which is an infill lot. The guy inherited it from his mom, who also left her home and another property to him, his sister and his brother, who is in prison. Does anyone have an experience trying to get signatures from someone in prison?” I’ve not had that one. “If the numbers make sense, is this something that I should pursue, or a lost cause? Thoughts?” Well I wouldn’t drop it yet.
Steven Jack Butala:
No, it’s not a lost cause at all.
Jill K DeWit:
I’m sure there’s a way.
Steven Jack Butala:
In fact, I’m sure this is a benefit to you.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
People in prison sign stuff all the time.
Jill K DeWit:
I’m sure there’s a way that you can request the documents. They probably have a notary on staff.
Steven Jack Butala:
Absolutely. Plus, people in prisons have lawyers, so-
Jill K DeWit:
True.
Steven Jack Butala:
I don’t have any personal experience with this. This is quite the topic in Discord. Everybody kind of just said the same thing I just said. People sign documents all the time.
Jill K DeWit:
Most people, I bet if you’re in prison, let’s just say it, and you know you might have some legal things that need to get taken care of while you’re in prison, you probably have an attorney or somebody already lined up, and you already have a power of attorney to that person, and then they can do all the stuff for you. So it’s probably in place. But I have not had to do that yet. Nor do I plan to learn about it from the other side.
Steven Jack Butala:
Today’s topic, stories of great land brokers. This is the meat of the show.
Jill K DeWit:
Okay. So this started because, you walked in my office the other day and I said, “Check out this conversation with Jan and I that’s happening inside of Airtable.”
Steven Jack Butala:
Who’s Jan?
Jill K DeWit:
Jan is my transaction [crosstalk 00:02:53].
Steven Jack Butala:
Oh.
Jill K DeWit:
So this is really how we communicate. We don’t even communicate as much like via Skype or Teams or chatting like that, or texting. Pretty much all of our communication, and not even email, it’s in Airtable. Airtable is… it’s like Excel on steroids. It’s a great place to keep track of all your transactions. How we move our properties through the system. Everything that we do. Properties come in, it goes into our Airtable base, and it gets assigned to a person. And then there’s a task. It might be, get with the seller, get with the buyer, get with the [inaudible 00:03:31] agent. And then all the information’s in there.
But the point is, even our little chat, we have a master communication area. Everything’s fields. Like prices and things like that. But there’s one area that we keep all our little chats and things like, “Hey, so and so suggested we lower the price,” or, “Hey, I think we can close early. Will you be available?” That kind of a thing, it all happens in there. And then you just at the person and it tags them and I get a notification. So we were having a chat in there and I said, “Wow, what a difference a good broker makes.” And she said, “Right.”
So here’s the story, and this is where this is all coming from. We had this property that… it was a [inaudible 00:04:15] property and we’d spent over six months with this agent who I’m like, “What’s going? We all thought it was going to be great.” And this agent’s not exactly dropping the ball, that we could tell, right? They were saying, “Oh man, it’s just not going how I thought it would, and I think we should drop the price.” And they had a couple of offers that we were like, “Okay, fine.”
I even said… the last one, I said, “Fine, I’ll take it.” Let’s just get this off our plates kind of thing. And then it fell through. I was like, “Shoot.” So our six months came up, and the manager said, “What do you want to do?” I said, “You know what? I’m happy to stay with you if you’re happy to stay with me. Let’s keep working this, let’s find somebody else.” They said, “Okay.” So they came up with another person who happened to be like a [inaudible 00:05:01] property person, I think it is. And I’m like, “Look, do it.” So within one week, here we have full price, cash offer. Actually, not cash offer but they already have… Well it’s going to be cash in the end.
Steven Jack Butala:
Cash to us.
Jill K DeWit:
Cash to us. But full price offer, when the other guy, by the way… we were going to discount it. We’re selling it for 51,000. I was going to take 41,000 for it. And this agent said, “No, no, no. Let’s keep your 51,000. I think we can make this work.” And then right away, here he comes. He’s already got a buyer, and he’s sent all the paperwork the other day. And even showing proof of funding with the bank… there was a letter from a bank saying you’ve qualified, here’s our acceptance for the funding for this property, so on. Here’s what we’re going to close. And I’m like, what a difference?
You know what, I was thinking about it, it’s two parts. I found the right agent, and this right agent is with… I looked at the paperwork, and this right agent is double ending it, right? So they’re representing me as a seller and they’re representing the buyer. So what does that tell me? They already had a buyer in place. They have a good buyer’s list. All this person… because it’s been that fast too. They locked in our property. And then next week, within that week, they were emailing it out to their perspective buyers, all the people they’ve already worked with.
Steven Jack Butala:
They have a system.
Jill K DeWit:
Uh-huh. And there they go. How great is that for that person, my broker, because he doesn’t have to split his commission. I’m thrilled.
Steven Jack Butala:
And he doesn’t have to deal with his client, who is Jill, on one side, for very long.
Jill K DeWit:
Right, everybody’s happy.
Steven Jack Butala:
Everyone’s happy.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
There’s two types of real estate agents out there. There are people that… and this is the vast majority of real estate agents who are brokers, who get a listing. Just like get a listing from Jill. And they post it in the MLS and thy wait. That’s 95% of the real estate agents out there. I don’t know why this is. I think it’s from lack of education. I think that’s the way it’s always been. And they rely on the MLS and other real estate agents that have somebody in the area, who is a buyer, and then they’ll rely on that to do the deal while they go and get another listing.
Jill K DeWit:
I agree.
Steven Jack Butala:
That’s what’s taught. And there’s this very popular group called Sweathogs that a lot of real successful agents go through after to get their license. It’s like a two or three week program.
Jill K DeWit:
It’s just get the listing, get the listing, get the listing. That’s all you’re going to do.
Steven Jack Butala:
Get the listing, get the listing, get it in the MLS, get the listing, yeah.
Jill K DeWit:
Lock it in. Get the listing and move on.
Steven Jack Butala:
That does not help us. We are land investors. The other 5%, and I know this because I was part of that 5% in the very early days of my career, actually go build a database of buyers for a certain type of asset, in a certain location, and then once they get the listing, go and sell it. There are assets that you can list and they sell overnight. And there are assets that need to be sold. We sell specialized property. We all do. We buy specialized property. It’s land, it’s vacant land. And it needs to be sold, not just listed.
I’ll tell you a real quick story because we actually do have the time here on this episode. I started out in commercial real estate and my supervisor… this is before computers. My supervisor literally stood over me, slammed a phone book down on my desk, and said, “Good luck, I’m sure you’re not going to make it.” This is in commercial real estate. Full commission. This is many, many, many years ago. The real early ’90s. And I spent a few months failing at that, as just about anyone… Well you might not, because Jill gets people on the phone, they’re going to buy anything.
I failed at it, so I said, there’s got to be a better way. So this is what I did. I specialized in healthcare facilities, long-term care facilities. And I got a database. I went to the public library. It was actually a library… back then they had libraries in hospitals. So I went to the hospital library, checked out the book. It was a phone book-sized book. And manually input the owners of 19,000 long-term care facilities nationwide. An proceeded to contact them. Now right about at the same time, computers were kicking in. I got an email address. Everybody got an email address for the first time, or most people did.
So I started contacting these people to see if they wanted to buy more facilities, and they all did. So it was real easy for me to call a mom and pop owned facility and say, “Hey mom and pop, I know some people that would really love to take a look at your facility as an acquisition candidate. What do you say we list it an I’ll call everybody in the entire state who wants a building, and it always worked.” If the asset itself was awful, and it was priced wrong, we wouldn’t do a deal. But if the asset was okay, it was performing financially, and I got to learn the business over time, one of those people that owned a facility in the same state or nearby, they bought the building. And I made a ton of money, doing this on my own. So this is the type of broker that-
Jill K DeWit:
Good for you.
Steven Jack Butala:
I’m not bragging here. I’m trying to help everyone.
Jill K DeWit:
Well that’s good.
Steven Jack Butala:
I’m not bragging. Does it sound like I am?
Jill K DeWit:
No, I’m very proud. I’m just having a little moment. I’m proud of you.
Steven Jack Butala:
Are you?
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah, yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
Oh, I thought you were being all satirical, like good for you.
Jill K DeWit:
No, no.
Steven Jack Butala:
Good for you. Yeah.
Jill K DeWit:
No.
Steven Jack Butala:
This is the kind of broker you want to hire.
Jill K DeWit:
You have to work it, you worked it.
Steven Jack Butala:
So the person that you want to hire to sell your piece of land, is exactly what you all described and somewhat what I described, where they have a list of people that they’ve done deals with recently. There are people who collect real estate. Let’s say it’s central Indiana. I don’t know where. That have a lot of other land, and it’s so easy to find out who owns everything and give them a call and say, “Hey, I got this other people… I notice you own 50 pieces of property in this county. This is another property that I just got.”
Jill K DeWit:
That looks exactly like your type.
Steven Jack Butala:
And it’s cheap. It’s cheaper than it probably should be. And that’s how you sell property.
Jill K DeWit:
Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Steven Jack Butala:
You don’t sell it by posting it on the internet.
Jill K DeWit:
And walking away.
Steven Jack Butala:
And waiting, and waiting. And then after six months wondering why it’s not selling.
Jill K DeWit:
Oh wait-
Steven Jack Butala:
And then calling your client-
Jill K DeWit:
Oh, we should drop the price.
Steven Jack Butala:
… and saying we should drop the price. There’s something wrong with you.
Jill K DeWit:
Yes.
Steven Jack Butala:
That’s what they all think.
Jill K DeWit:
It’s not me, it’s you.
Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah. Jill and I have sold primary residences over the years.
Jill K DeWit:
Could you imagine?
Steven Jack Butala:
And it cracks me up when a real estate agent walks through the house, and says, “Oh you know, you need to change this. This bathroom’s got to go. If you want to sell your house, you’ve got to…” No, you need to do something, not me.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah, exactly. It’s not me, it’s you.
Steven Jack Butala:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). How about you change your hairstyle and talk a little nicer.
Jill K DeWit:
Oh boy. We should cut this off now. 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 Land Investors on Discord Have a Newbie Section, and How it Actually Can Give You Confidence. Wow, that’s the greatest title ever. The Land Investors Discord Newbie Channel Gives You Confidence. [crosstalk 00:12:06]-
Jill K DeWit:
I thought you were making fun of me or you or I don’t know anyone that-
Steven Jack Butala:
I’m making fun of myself.
Jill K DeWit:
Okay, got it.
Steven Jack Butala:
Whoever writes this titles needs-
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah, I don’t know.
Steven Jack Butala:
… needs some questions.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
You are not alone in your real estate ambition. No, tomorrow we’re going to talk about… there’s a newbie section in our Discord channel for all Land Academy members. And I call it the safe space, because what we realized after-
Jill K DeWit:
The safe space.
Steven Jack Butala:
It’s been there for quite some time.
Jill K DeWit:
Safe space.
Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah, and we’ve all been part of a group where it’s like, wow, this is intimidating. These people know everything. I’m not going to ask any questions. I’m just going to sit there.
Jill K DeWit:
Oh. So that’s where you ask them the new… I understand like… what does this mean?
Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah. Like what’s a deed? What’s a deed? What’s the difference between land and an ocean. Stuff like that.
Jill K DeWit:
That’s so funny. What does a purchase agreement look like?
Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah. What is a purchase agreement?
Jill K DeWit:
There we go, exactly. Hey, thank you for tuning in. By the way, just so you know… Wait, when is this airing? Is this airing next week? I’m just going to drop a little nugget here, so people know. If you are not a land academy member, and you would like to be a land academy member, hold on, because something’s coming up for the holiday weekend. I’m just going to say it at that. And how are you going to get notified? Make sure you’re on our email list.
Steven Jack Butala:
How do you get-
Jill K DeWit:
And how do you get on our email list? Thank you. You get our ebook. So go to landacademy.com and on the top find the ebook, just click on the ebook, and then you’re going to want to read that anyway, to see if this is even interesting to you.
Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah, it’s up to you.
Jill K DeWit:
Well, there we go.
Steven Jack Butala:
I wrote it, so you may not want to read it.
Jill K DeWit:
You decide. But anyway, that will get you on our email list. And then you will get notified of the great thing that’s coming at the end of the month for the holiday.
Steven Jack Butala:
We are Jack and Jill.
Jill K DeWit:
We are Jack and Jill.
Steven Jack Butala:
Information.
Jill K DeWit:
And inspiration.
Steven Jack Butala:
To buy undervalued property.
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