Transcript:

Steven Jack Butala:
Jack 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 K DeWit broadcasting from the Valley of the Sun.

Steven Jack Butala:
Today Jill and I talk about do you make land decisions based on data or based on feelings? I think that we’re both going to be surprised at each other’s answer.

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. Last year a ton of Land Academy members came to Jill and I needing extra help to get their blind offer campaigns in the mail. So I took a look at how we were personally sending out mail with our key employees and ultimately made those exact same people available to Land Academy members to get their mail out. We call it now concierge data and concierge data plus. A year later, hundreds of members every single month are outsourcing their entire mail effort and mail process out with this product. It’s been a huge success and Jill and I have really gotten a lot of positive feedback, it’s helping people get mail out and it’s working out well. Check out offers2owners.com. They’ll hook you up.

Jill K DeWit:
MJ wrote, “Hi, Land Academy brain trust.” That’s cute. “Can I hear some opinion please? I’m second guessing my next mailer location selection strategy. Previously, I have chosen areas with strong active to sold ratios, but then found myself struggling with buyers, i.e. Too small of a buyer’s pool. If I go to where there is lots of sold activity, the active to sold ratios tend to worsen and I run into saturated markets with tons of listings. How do you approach this balance? Is there a guiding philosophy in this dynamic market I should consider? Thanks.”

Steven Jack Butala:
This is a brilliant question. I know you’re new MJ and you’re going to do really well here. There’s a balance and that’s why very often people will say, “In the red, green, yellow tests, why do I have to apply what’s red and what’s green and what’s yellow? Why doesn’t it do it for me automatically?” To which I say, for example, a really positive days on market, which is a low, low days on market in one zip code might be just as good as a much different number of days on market that’s low across the country.
So you have to take all these environments and look at them from an adjacent standpoint and choose the best ones. You’re absolutely right in a market like this right now, days on market might be really, really low, but new list is sold, because inventory is accumulating, inventory levels are going up. They’re not getting sold the way that they have in the past. That number might be different, but the basic concept here has never changed. Look at 4 or 5 or 8 or 10 or 12 as many zip codes, adjacent zip codes that you can and choose the best ones against each other and you will find the right place to send mail. Or in real life, what I do is just send it all.

Jill K DeWit:
Thank you.

Steven Jack Butala:
That’s a brilliant question.

Jill K DeWit:
Yep.

Steven Jack Butala:
It’s really, really obvious sometimes with super new people who’s going to do incredibly well really quickly, and that’s a real good indication that you understand this and you’re making it in your own really quickly.

Jill K DeWit:
Well, you thinking it through. Some people just blindly… If you’re not sure and you blindly follow our steps, you’re going to be fine. That’s good. But if you are thinking it through, still following our steps and then finding ways to make it better, that’s the best.

Steven Jack Butala:
Well said. Today’s topic, do you make land decisions based on data or feelings? This is the meat of the show. What do you do, Jill?

Jill K DeWit:
Data, you think I’m kidding?

Steven Jack Butala:
No, I don’t.

Jill K DeWit:
You know what’s so funny about this? I really think that sometimes I use data when it comes to the end and when we pull up properties on the screen, I am not trying to throw you under the bus.

Steven Jack Butala:
No, it’s fine.

Jill K DeWit:
But I have to say that when we pull up properties, when things come in, if we ever should be looking at [inaudible 00:04:32], it’s usually not the case, but should we ever be looking at a property together? Sometimes actually it happens on our Thursday member call. Then we do look at properties on the screen at the same time and you get a feeling when you see it. And it’s funny, is that when I’m in my own environment reviewing deals, I am all data, man. I’m kind of ruthless. I don’t care how pretty it is. I need to see the numbers and I don’t care how great it is. And if things aren’t selling in that area and it’s overpriced and days on market are high, but it’s gorgeous, I don’t care. I just don’t care.
You got to get it cheaper then, that’s it. So it’s funny, I think about some of the properties that we have in our inventory right now, that you personally got involved doing minor splits or things like that. We have different projects going on all the time. Some we are together on, most we’re separate on. We’re doing just separate deals. And I look at some of yours and I’m like looking at the numbers and I feel like you’re coming at me with a feeling kind of thing. I know what’s going to happen here. I’m like, “Well, I’m glad you see it because I don’t.” But at the end of the day, like I said, I’m more about the data. What about you?

Steven Jack Butala:
So a lot of years ago when I was in college, I remember, I have no idea what class it was or whatever, but I had this instructor, this college professor say, it was all when we were at about the time or the age end of sophomore year where we had to declare a major and we got on this topic and this professor gave us a big long speech about how getting a technical degree [inaudible 00:06:19] a bachelor’s degree is way more intelligent than getting a liberal degree or just an art degree. Because, you can do that anytime you want.
And his rationale was, and this is my argument for data versus feelings, go get a technical degree. You’re already two years into, it’s four years, it’s going to be four years later anyway. And if you find out that you don’t want to be an accountant, which almost every accountant eventually does, then you can go off and go do some fine art thing or whatever else that you originally do. You’re not going to lose tons of years in your life or any of that. A lot of people don’t do that. And I think at my age, I really look back on it and I think they just don’t have any math skills and they’re just afraid of it. They make all kinds of stuff up like, “Well, but I’m only interested in painting.”

Jill K DeWit:
My heart’s not in it.

Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah. So I’ve applied that to a lot of things [inaudible 00:07:15]

Jill K DeWit:
[inaudible 00:07:15] afford that.

Steven Jack Butala:
[inaudible 00:07:18] a lot of these things to my life since then. Just like that. So I take the technical or data approach first and then at the end of it, I don’t discount any types of feelings or art. It’s not all science and no art. There’s some art to every, all of it. So in Land Academy it’s obvious. I set up this whole system of trolling for places to send mail, testing those places for red, green, yellow, testing them, find out which ones are the best, do all this data stuff, make decisions based on data because if there’s no opportunity to staring at Zillow anyway to have any feelings anyway.
Unless, you start looking at pictures of land. And let’s face it, looks a lot the same, especially in one region. So apply all this data, apply all the technical stuff upfront, see what comes back. You’ve got 10 purchase agreements staring at you in the face for some reason. Let’s say Jill’s generated 10 amazing deals that make sense financially. Which ones are we going to buy? That’s the time when I start to apply feelings. And it sounds like you don’t.

Jill K DeWit:
No. You know when I do now? I just thought about it. Do you want to finish your thought?

Steven Jack Butala:
No, that’s it. I want to hear this.

Jill K DeWit:
The only time that feelings come into play for me, is when I know what’s going on with the seller. That I can go, “Oh.” [inaudible 00:08:41]

Steven Jack Butala:
So it’s people feelings.

Jill K DeWit:
Yeah.

Steven Jack Butala:
It’s not land feelings.

Jill K DeWit:
No. It’s like this [inaudible 00:08:48].

Steven Jack Butala:
I’ve never had people feelings.

Jill K DeWit:
I know, that’s what different.

Steven Jack Butala:
Please explain this.

Jill K DeWit:
I can tell talking to a seller, whether there’s wiggle room in the price or not wiggle room in the price. Do they really want to sell? Do they not really want to sell?

Steven Jack Butala:
Oh Jill, you got to share this with the world.

Jill K DeWit:
I am sharing it.

Steven Jack Butala:
For people like me, you need to do a class or something.

Jill K DeWit:
I know.

Steven Jack Butala:
Can I even learn that?

Jill K DeWit:
Yeah, I can help you with that. Sure.

Steven Jack Butala:
At this age, I don’t want to learn. But I really think that you could help a lot of people.

Jill K DeWit:
I could do that. Send a note to support@landacademy.com, if you want more information. I can do a course. You think I’m kidding, I would. No, if enough of you reach out and say, “Oh my gosh, please teach me.” Sure. There are all kinds of things that you can pick up in the conversation, how they talk to you, the tone of the voice, the things that they say. Are they responsive when you call them, are they overly eager? There’s so many things like that, that I can teach you, that you can be aware of and know like, okay, here’s the deal. This property’s fantastic, but not at this price. Then you can apply your feelings part of, I know I can work with the seller and probably get them on the same page with me, because of these three things that Jill taught me to look for. Sure, I could do that. So that’s, when feelings come into play.

Steven Jack Butala:
The world’s packed full of be a better negotiator. All kinds of crap like that all over the business, self-help under that category. And I’ve taken some of those classes, not recently obviously, but a lot of years ago and it’s all a bunch of crap.

Jill K DeWit:
Yeah. There’s one, I had it in my Amazon cart and I deleted it, because I’m like, “This looks like a stupid book.” It was something about negotiating. They had a catchy funny title that someone mentioned. So I threw it in my cart and I’m like, “I’m not going to buy that.”

Steven Jack Butala:
So let’s just face it, and I’m being devil’s advocate here. Because, I know that you’re being… I know this is a real thing because I’ve seen it. I’m more directly more wealthy because of your negotiation skills.

Jill K DeWit:
Thanks.

Steven Jack Butala:
But is it just because you’ve been doing it for 25 years? Is that the real reason?

Jill K DeWit:
No. I mean, that helped? No way, not at all. That helps to fine tune and perfect the skill. But I think I grew up knowing it and people told me that, “You do really get your way here.” So you it a couple ways. I don’t want to be that person. I’m not going to try to railroad people at all. I’m just not. Because, I think that comes back and I’m not willing… I don’t want to be that person. But you can use the skill to like, “Huh. I think that this guy really wants to sell. I think he needs this to make him happy. And I can make that happen. I can figure out what the person needs to get out of that transaction and when I need to get out of that transaction. So we both walk away happy.” That’s the end goal. You don’t want anybody to go, “They beat me up.”

Steven Jack Butala:
So we can all agreed on this. I mean, you have to start with data. You can’t just pick up the phone book and start calling people [inaudible 00:12:11] they want to sell their land. Which even in a way, there’s a little bit of data in the phone book even.

Jill K DeWit:
True. And you picked the area.

Steven Jack Butala:
You really need to have a data centric, let’s call it that, a data centric approach to this, in my opinion. But you can’t discount emotions, feelings, and the artistic part of this, I think at the tail end of the deal.

Jill K DeWit:
Oh yes.

Steven Jack Butala:
I think that’s what you mean by it now, a little bit more. I understand. Make my phone ring. If, I make a phone ring eight times, we’re probably going to buy property.

Jill K DeWit:
If they’re good properties. That’s exactly right. Assuming they’re all great properties and I want them all, I’ll get a bunch of them. I’ll get 80% of them if you want them.

Steven Jack Butala:
This has been interesting. Thank you. I learned some stuff about you too.

Jill K DeWit:
Get to know your business partner.

Steven Jack Butala:
Exactly.

Jill K DeWit:
Yeah. Happy you could join us today. Five days a week. You can find us here on the Land Academy Show.

Steven Jack Butala:
Tomorrow’s Jack Thursday, and I’m going to talk about the psychology behind being a real estate agent versus being an investor. You are not alone and your real estate ambition.

Jill K DeWit:
You know what’s funny about this topic too, is you don’t have to be a pro in a certain property or an area or a type to make this happen. You just have to learn to listen and get on the same page with people and get your point across.

Steven Jack Butala:
I think it comes easy to you and you think that it’s simple, but something like this is somewhat insurmountable for somebody like me.

Jill K DeWit:
Well then you hire me.

Steven Jack Butala:
That’s what I did.

Jill K DeWit:
There you go. Oh my gosh. Hey, thanks for tuning in, by the way we would love to connect with you on Clubhouse. Check it out. It’s an app. It’s really cool. We are live every first and third Thursday at 12 o’clock Pacific time in the Land Investing Club.

Steven Jack Butala:
We are Jack and Jill. Information…

Jill K DeWit:
… And inspiration.

Steven Jack Butala:
… To buy undervalued property.