Living and Working Smarter & AI's Impact on Real Estate (LA 1963)

Welcome to the Land Academy Show, episode 1963! Get ready to learn and grow alongside Steven Jack Butala and Jill DeWit as they explore two exciting topics: living and working in an environment that stimulates learning and the transformative impact of AI on the real estate industry, backed by real-life examples. Join them for insightful discussions on these topics and be sure to engage further on the Land Academy Discord for more enriching conversations. Have questions or want to be featured on the show? Text them at 480-530-7383. Tune in, learn, and share your experiences to elevate your real estate journey!

Listen to the podcast here

Living And Working Smarter & AI’s Impact On Real Estate (LA 1963)

Introduction

This is episode 1,962. We are talking about living and working in a place where you’re getting smarter. It’s not something I’ve enjoyed for most of my life, and now AI is beginning to change real estate. We’ll give some real-life examples. It’s starting to happen.

It makes me giggle. When you read the 1,962, I feel it. It’s like a day at the lake with your kids. It takes all the energy you have to get them off the boat, clean up, get in the house, feed people, and put them to bed. When you finally collapse, you realize how much work it was because you were in it.

Here’s what’s going on with Jill. We’re several months into a several-month RV trip all over the Midwest and back to the Rocky Mountains. I’m not sure what’s happening to you, but whatever it is, I like it. The regular conversation we have in the middle of the day is like, “I’m not sure I want to keep buying and selling land.” I have to tell you that it is music to my ears.

That’s not going to stop. You know that. I have a problem there. I will never stop. I’ve had those conversations where people have got our letters. I called, and he was like, “Yeah, I still got some leftovers. I’ve got some deals that come up, and I can’t stop. I’ve been an investor for decades.” I’m like, “I get that. That will be me someday. I’ll never stop. I’ll be 92. I’ll be buying and selling land. I don’t know how not to.”

That’s why I can sit here and say this. I know that’s never going to stop. Buying and selling land is a lot of fun. It’s easy, it’s not time-consuming, and it’s profitable. Managing the Land Academy staff and the offers to owners, and all the stuff that goes on with that is more challenging.

Land company is the easiest. I hope that’s why you’re here. I mean it when I say I’ve got my 2 to 4-hour work week down. You don’t need a big staff or a lot of money to get started. That’s what’s great about this. You could turn it up. If I was home, I’d be like, “I’m in it. We’re going to buy this. We’re going to do that.” On the road, I’m like, “I don’t want to work that hard. I’m going to do fewer deals and make them count.” That’s what’s possible.

I was charged with making this sound easy. The person who charged me with that was correct. Not incorrect. I’m incorrect. Once you get this thing going, it’s easy to run. There’s a serious time commitment and a learning curve. Maybe six months to a year if you’re spending a ton of time on it and putting both of your feet forward. It’s not that you join, and money starts spitting out of a machine a few months later.

It is a shorter learning curve if you have some experience in doing some properties with transactions and if you’ve owned a business. Those two things make it a lot easier.

It reduces the learning curve. Each week on the show, we answer questions from our Land Academy member Discord forum, review land acquisitions from our weekly member webinars, and take a deep dive into two land-related topics by popular request. If you want a sneak peek at our Discord forum, go to LandAcademy.com. It’s free.

There’s another way to reach out to us. If you would like us to answer your question here, or you want some help getting involved, you can text us directly. Text my team at 480-530-7383. They do get read and answered. Your question might pop up on the show.

Entering The Real Estate Market

Let’s take a question posted by one of our members on the Land Academy Discord channel.

Austin wrote, “It was great to speak with you on Friday. I signed up for the course and finished Land Academy 3.0.” He and I talked about this. He’s like, “How long does it take to get through it?” I’m like, “Here you go.”

How long does it take?

It’s 10 to 12 hours. You didn’t know that?

I’m the one who recorded, produced, and did the whole thing.

You could do it on a weekend.

I’m not joking. I didn’t know it was that long. That’s good or bad. I’m not sure.

The question is the analytical approach that Steven/Jack provides to setting up mailers was helpful in preventing me from mailing suboptimal areas. This is all from an email. Your perspectives on approaching the business, title, escrow, legal partners, and clients with a positive and energetic focus are strong elements to set up a robust business operation. That stuff will never stop and change. You need to have these relationships.

Overall, the bottoms-up approach was instrumental in giving me a jumping-off point. I felt it was money well spent. I took copious notes and listened intently. I’m looking forward to getting started. I like the dynamic energy both you and Steve/Jack exude in your blogs and YouTube videos. Thank you again for your guidance.

I’m about to send my first mailer. As a matter of fact, I’m making my list this evening. As I mentioned when we spoke, I don’t have the security of a W-2 anymore. My desire to A, reduce risk, and B, minimize risk is heightened. Given the circumstances, early traction and directional projects will be critical for me. You asked if I had a burning question. Here’s one where I’d like your point of view. My game plan is on the first few mailers, look at very high potential buys for $20,000 and sell for $40,000, and do multiple months of the profit goal of $40,000 a month.

That’s achievable and a wise approach.

I wrote him back in a nice email. This is who we are. You ask, and I’m going to help. I’m going to pick a burning question, and we’re going to do this one here. Am I entering at the right time?

Jill has four questions here. They’re good questions. Jill and I will answer them together. Am I entering the market at the right time? I don’t know. I’m not selling anything here when entering real estate is a bad time. Because of experience, I like to think most real active Land Academy members don’t make bad decisions in any market. You could enter at the top of the market. If you follow the program and you have a real estate-type personality, you’re not going to overspend for properties.

Here is my answer. Entering the right time, I said, “Let’s think about your game plan. Your game plan is to buy for $20,000 and sell for $40,000 because you think it’s worth $80,000.” My thoughts are, “Why are we not trying to sell for closer to $80,000?” I said, “You buy for $20,000 and list it with somebody between $70,000 and $75,000. That way, your buyer knows they’re getting a great deal.” My thoughts were, “What if things change in that market? You think you’re doing it. You’re going for $70,000, but all the offers are coming in around $50,000.” You decide, “I’m going to take this offer. It’s cash. I love it. I bought for $20,000 and I sold for $50,000.” Was that a fail? No, that’s not a fail.

There’s no real way to explain it. This person is analytical and intelligent. This happens to Jill and me all the time, where young, intelligent people join our group, and they have a lot of questions because they want to put this in a box, crank the handle, and have it spit out $40,000 a month, which I completely understand because I have that personality and that’s what I want. The reality is that you send a ton of mail out correctly. You learn how to do that, spend a lot of time doing it, and get the right mail out at the right price.

Tons of deals come back, and you make decisions based on the five deals that come back that you think are great deals. All the stuff that you were preemptively trying to put in that box goes away. If you’ve got a property that’s worth $100,000 and you’ve got a signed agreement for $25,000, but it needs this, or there’s something going on over here, one of the A’s isn’t right, you focus your attention on that, get it purchased, and get it resold. Whether or not you’re in the market at the right time doesn’t enter your mind anymore, or whether you should have purchased it in Georgia or Maine. That all stops. You have to deal with what comes back in the mail.

The regional questions and some of the specifics that Austin asked, I answered personally in an email to him. The other question that Jack wants to bring up here that you asked, which is good. Can I give my answer first, and you give your answer? He said, “What other factors should I consider to de-risk my business given everything that’s going on now?” What’s funny?

I don’t know because it’s an intelligently written question. You glossed over it.

You answer it how you want to.

What other factors should I consider to de-risk my business, given the macroeconomic situation? It may not be the strongest point of entry in this, which is incredibly intelligent. You said you’re going to answer it. Go ahead.

No, you go.

The best thing you can do is buy property for the right price. It’s as simple as that. If you overspend, which almost never happens here in Land Academy, but if you pay too much for a piece of property, that is not good. If you send a ton of mail out, price it correctly, have somebody answer the phone who is strong from a sales/personal development relationship-building perspective like Jill, buy the properties, and resell them. That’s the entire business model. You can’t leave one of those things out.

Here’s my answer. My answer is less wordy than Jack’s. My answer was you want him to de-risk your business and make sure you’re doing a good job. You need to make sure every property has all of our six As, and you need to feel like you are hurrying up to close. This seller doesn’t change their mind. You’re like, “I can’t believe this guy is selling me this property for this.” How fast can we close? You know you did great.

That’s what I do all the time. That’s how I roll. I’m not like, “Let’s see how this goes.” I’m serious and committed. That’s why we always say, “You win when you buy it.” That’s the rush that you get when you buy it. I know what it’s worth. I know how it’s going to sell. I know how awesome it is. The rush is like, “I can’t believe this property came in. This is gorgeous. I want to live there.” You know you did great.

Living And Working Smarter

The first topic is living and working in a place where you’re getting smarter. Jill and I are in the middle or close to the beginning or middle of a several-month RV expedition all over the country. We’re in Northern Michigan, surrounded by some people that I went to high school with. I’m rethinking and relearning how smart and accomplished they are.

When you started to say rethinking about, I was like, “Are you rethinking your relationships or your high school experience?” Are you rethinking, “What the heck were we doing? How are we alive?”

If you look back on your high school experience and are satisfied with that, that’s not okay. Everybody wants to go back and do that. I don’t care who you are. Go back and do that again. These are my friends from high school who are up in Northern Michigan. I grew up in Detroit. They’re bright. I got to thinking because every conversation I have with them is like, “Have you looked at it this way?” I love that stuff.

It prompted me to have this topic where I think that, especially if you’re young, you have to look around, see who you’re hanging out with, and make sure you’re not even close to the smartest person in that environment, both in your house and workplace. Try to surround yourself with more intelligent people than you are, especially at work. Try to marry up at home if you can because your kids are not going to make you any smarter. They’re going to drag you right down to being two if that’s how old they are.

Surround yourself with people who are much more intelligent than you, especially at work. Share on X

It is interesting when you think about it. We all know about Silicon Valley. I would think that would be a good environment. If I wanted to be around smart people, I would try to be physically there. It’s interesting that there are pockets in the country and places you might not expect where smart people gravitate. I’m trying to wonder what the key things are that smart people look for other than other smart people.

Land Academy is a place where you can immediately hang around people who are not necessarily smarter but have more experience in buying and selling land if that’s what you want to do.

You’re right. I didn’t even think about our place. I’m thinking physically in towns and things, but I know I’m smarter because of Land Academy. Do you know what part of it is? Sometimes, people ask me questions. I’m like, “I got to think about this one.” There are some like Austin’s questions. I’m like, “He’s going to make me think here. I have to think and be smart about this.” Sometimes, you don’t even realize what you’re doing. When you think about it, you’re like, “That’s the strategy I’ve been using. How could I even make that better, faster, and easier? How can I convey that to other people to help them?”

Here’s an abridged version of my professional story and why I’m smarter now because of Jill. When I started this, it got some great traction buying and selling land in the 2000s. I started in the early ‘90s. It was a side gig back then. It kicked in around 2001. We were smashing it all through the 2000s long before I met Jill.

My whole approach to this was we do not have customer service or a phone number. I don’t want to talk to you. The property speaks for itself. It’s cheap. We spent a ton of money and time developing a great template to sell land online. It shouldn’t generate any questions. I used to say this in the posting. Every single thing we know about this property is in this posting. We buy and sell land for a living from an air-conditioned office in Scottsdale, Arizona. That’s where the posting stopped. What I mean is we don’t care about you. We don’t care to talk to you. If you’d like to buy the property, enter your credit card number here. You’ll receive an example of the package. We don’t like you.

Don’t expect me to answer email.

I’m walking around saying, “The world is wrong. I’m right. I’m awesome. I get it. I couldn’t have been further wrong.” That worked for a while because we didn’t have any competition. It’s very little. If any, it’s online. I sold thousands of properties that way. I was happy. I thought it was over. The real estate economic downturn happened, and people weren’t interested in buying land anymore. Enter, Jill.

Jill started both the buy side and the sell side. She creates personal relationships with the seller efficiently. In a half-hour conversation on the phone, they’re going to sell a property to Jill. That would’ve never happened to me. On the sell side, same thing. She would answer people’s questions and honestly get us through what would’ve been a financial disaster more than it was. I got smarter and continue to get smarter, certainly about that end of this business, to the point now where there are modules in Land Academy. That’s half of what we talk about in Career Path. You have to develop relationships where this isn’t going to work.

Every single time I describe this business model to people who are in other businesses and it happens all the time with new members, their first reaction is, “There are only 150 million properties in the entire country. We’re going to mechanize this. You don’t have to manually price anything. Let’s make a big, huge, massive financial machine, spit these things out, and be done with it. Let’s kick it in the privates and walk away.” That’s their attitude because that’s what manufacturing is. That’s what a lot of businesses are.

A lot of successful people have that attitude, which is fine, but it doesn’t work for buying and selling real estate. I thought it did. I made it work. I don’t think that’s the case anymore. I see Jill’s way, and I know it’s way better. I make ten times the money that I ever did back then in Jill’s way. If you’re staring at your business partner and they’re dragging you down, that’s not good. That’s my whole point here. You can work and live in a place where you’re getting smarter every day. Do you feel like you’re getting smarter or dumber in this RV now?

If your business partner is dragging you down, don’t settle. You can work and live in a place where you're getting smarter every day. Share on X

At this moment, you don’t want me to answer that.

Hart County Land Deal

Let’s take a look at one of our favorite land acquisitions from our weekly Thursday member webinar.

Hart County, Georgia, four acres, county-maintained road. Everybody is good to go. Size, shape, few restrictions, mobile home-friendly, and near some chicken farms. It smells lovely. Buy for $11,000 and sell for $30,000. It has power there. There’s no zoning. One residence per parcel. It can be an SFR mobile home town, but no RV or storage-like structure.

No zoning is popular in rural markets all over the country. I love no zoning. That’s why there are chickens here.

I can’t find anything wrong with it. That’s all I’m trying to do.

They paid $30,000 in 2009 for it. You’re going to buy it for $11,000 and sell it for $30,000. That’s a good plan. That’s a Jill-type plan.

Are they living next door, and do they own both?

No, I clicked on this to get a value.

Is it popped right there? It makes me think that it’s part of the property.

The assessed value is $72,000.

What if we looked at what’s for sale dirt-wise?

Let’s do that. The dirt is great. We’re all past that. It passes with flying colors on the adjacent test.

They have quite a spread. I Put a sign at the corner. I sign with an arrow, 30624.

Nine acres is $78,000. The square footage is 99,000. That’s all good. Thirty-three sold properties. Let’s look at the lot size bigger than five.

This is my only concern. It’s not that hot of an area.

I wonder if the market is okay versus the deal.

That’s my thoughts, but Herbert is doing fine. He can afford to throw $11,000 out there, wait, and see what happens.

That’s how this is going to go. Buy for $11,000 and wait at $30,000. This is not a slam dunk by any stretch. What’s going on here? I’m not sure. This is not a risk-free transaction here. We don’t have accurate.

Do you know what I would do on that one right there? Everyone, if you’re wondering what that $2,500 transaction was, I’d look it up. You can get the information, the address, or the APN in that listing. Pop it into parcel fact and see if you can see if it was a quick claim deed. That means that $2,500 is a number that they put down.

If you see it looks like the same last name, that paints a picture. You feel better. You’re like, “The address was given to his son. They wrote down $2,500.” It’s okay. I’m not that excited about it because it’s going to take so long. If that’s your market and you’re moving things in the area, roll it into your inventory.

As always, get a local realtor’s opinion.

Did you know we have a high-level customizable coaching eight-week program called Career Path? It’s awesome. I still have some spots open. It is coming at the end of September 2023. Here’s what you do. Go to LandAcademy.com. Under Programs, you’re going to find something called Career Path. Click on that and check it out. The schedule and the dates are there, and more information about it. All of that good stuff is there for you.

It’s learning our business and jumping to business owner. You are a business owner when you come in here, but jumping to the high level, doing deals like we’re doing, I’m not here to mess around. This is going to be my life thing. That’s Career Path. Go check it out. If you have any questions, send a note to my team, Support@LandAcademy.com.

Splitting A Large Property

Ask them to get some guest passes for our Thursday call. You can see what this is all about. We look at people’s deals, and they’ll take care of you. Let’s take another question posted by one of our members on the Land Academy Discord online community. If you want a sneak peek, go to LandAcademy.com. It’s free.

Sid wrote, “I’m at the beginning stages of talking to a seller who wants to sell only a portion, like two acres, of his eight-acre lot. I would normally pass on this type of situation, but this property is outside of Austin. Two acres would be worth a decent amount of money. It’s also an opportunity for me to learn something new. If I only purchased two acres of the eight, I’m assuming this would be fairly low drama, but would I need a survey before opening escrow? Can this property split be handled during the title close? Is there anything else I’m not considering in a purchase of this type?”

This question is great. It’s something that’s always on everybody’s mind from an economic and money-making standpoint. If it was 1948 or 1952, I would’ve said, “Yes, split away.” Things changed. They’ve changed in response to a bunch of ridiculously irresponsible land-splitting that we’re still dealing with.

We talk about this on the Thursday call, especially people in Land Academy. There are tons of subdivisions all over rural America that have been recklessly subdivided. Not even subdivided, they have been split. Here’s my opinion about what’s a responsible split and what’s an irresponsible split.

To answer this person’s question, no, you’re not going to be able to split property like this and split two out of eight. There’s a ridiculous amount of rules that were necessary. There are a ton of rules about splitting property. Is it impossible? No, it’s possible. You see it all the time driving around. You’ll see a new subdivision right over there that somebody went and got entitled to. If you’re in the Western part of the country, it’s called entitlements. In the Eastern part, it’s called subdividing.

It’s possible, time-consuming, and expensive. The vast majority of the time, not all the time, and I’ll explain it in a second, you have to put the infrastructure in. That’s the real problem. There’s no real problem with subdividing property if you’re going to put roads, streets, and sewers, and make it real conducive to building structures or developing it however the market demands. Can you take two acres out of eight? No. Almost nowhere can you do that.

I’m going to rewrite the legal.

When I started, you could do that. You could rewrite the legal descriptions and submit it. Within reason, they would accept it. They even stopped doing that right around the late ‘90s. In certain states, there are rules. If you follow them, you can call it minor splitting. You can take one property. What you’re doing is taking one AP and creating several. Forget about this example because that’s never going to happen. If it is the right zoning and size, and they’ll give reasons in certain places, they’ll give you reasons.

An acre or an acre and a quarter is popular because the soil in that region, theoretically, can handle a septic field in an acre and a quarter. The person next to it can be put in their own septic situation, and it can handle it, or it’s all driven by utilities. It all comes back to utilities. Minor splits are great. You buy a property for $50,000. You split it into five properties that are zoning, size, and economically conducive. If you sell each individual property for $20,000, you’re making some real money.

If you ever talk to a seller who wants to split this portion of their property off, it’s not a night-and-day thing. I’ll tell you where this all came from. It came from agriculture. If you’re a farmer or a family, you have a bunch of children because you need farm hands that they grow up. They get married and have kids of their own. You split the farm in half, which is responsible. They go about their lives, farming the other half, the back 40, or whatever ends up happening.

All subdividing and parcel splitting come from that concept. Agriculture piecing properties off. The opposite extreme is a 6,000-unit subdivision in the middle of Phoenix. These are real stories. You entitle square miles of property, put all the utilities in it at the same time, and make a fortune in the process.

Reckless splitting is bad. Reckless mailing is good.

AI In Real Estate

I was thinking the same thing when I said that the second topic is how AI is beginning to change real estate, with a couple of real-life examples.

This is interesting to me. We were at dinner the other night. It started with a lunch that we had with a good buddy of yours. The conversation that you two got into. You started from something you’ve been reading and researching. You had the conversation with the buddy. I’m going to let you tell the whole story. You and I went out to dinner. You further expanded on putting it all together. I’m like, “This is brilliant.”

Since ChatGPT became a thing, it became a discussion. It’s been around for a long time. It got coined somehow as AI. I don’t think it is, but it doesn’t matter. You’re making a query in computer speak. You’re asking something. You’re making a query, and it’s going out. Whatever instructional program that you’re sitting in front of goes out into a data set. In this case, it’s the internet, the big, huge, congestive disaster of the internet. You’re making sense of all that and theoretically bringing back a result.

If you’ve ever programmed a computer in the simplest form, that’s how we all learn in the beginning. We make a query. We ask it to do something through commands. Within its command database dataset, it executes something. This is like that on steroids. What we started talking about, and this all got prompted because Adam’s data is beginning to construct a product for real estate agents to help them determine who’s going to list their property for sale before they’re even thinking about doing it.

How does that happen? You take a bunch of data, bunch of things that aren’t even going on, and two people who own a house. It’s not even going on in their head yet. They lost their job. Their kids got older. They had another kid. All these things are reasons that people might sell their house and move somewhere else, whether to get a bigger house. If they’re older, it’s to scale down. If you think about that, it’s not a huge, massive data set. It’s 50 to 80 things that might make somebody sell their house. Their credit card debt is high. They missed a payment. Their insurance is not current.

The taxes went up.

They had twins. It is a huge one.

They can’t afford that.

If you have twins, you’re looking for a different house. That’s a great use of creating a query that goes out into a data set that you have created. Instead of this jumbly massive, insurmountable amount of data on the internet, create your own data set and have it spit out the results that you want and the answers that you’re looking for. That’s a real-life example of how it’s going to change real estate. It’s not necessarily for real estate agents. For us, it’d be great to get there first. Imagine the conversation from a sales standpoint that you would have.

I’m not going to say that I know that.

This is interesting. What would you say?

Mrs. Smith, I know your husband passed on, and you’re behind on your tax payments. Here’s what I’m going to do for you. I’m not going to do that. It looks like your car was repossessed last week. No, I’m not going to do that.

This doesn’t have to all be bad news.

Could you imagine? No, I know that going into it. Do you know how sales work?

I’m not joking. It doesn’t have to be bad news. How about we’re at the peak of the market?

It looks like you’re an empty nester.

When you’re done, let me know. It’s not that funny, Jill.

I wouldn’t use it like that. That’s the truth of it. I would not share that I know that much. That backfires.

How about keeping it in economic terms? It looks like you have $30,000 left on your mortgage. Amazon finished its distribution center three miles away. Your house is at an all-time high of fill-in-the-blank. I’m happy to buy it if you’d like.

I wouldn’t do that.

What would you do?

Nothing. Those would be the people I’m reaching out to. I do that now.

I know you do. Give us an example.

I don’t share anything. I’ll do some recon on people like, “Look at this. This guy owns six properties in the area and wants to sell this one. Maybe he wants to sell the other ones.” I’m not going to share that.

Can you give us an example of what you would say?

I’m having the same normal conversation about buying a property.

What is that? That’s my question.

It’s no change. Do you want to sell? If so, what? Do you have anything else? I know what he’s got. I need to try to figure out how to let him come to me and let me know. It’s always better. Here’s why. It is always better if they think they’re in the driver’s seat when you know you’re in the driver’s seat. That’s what I’m trying to get at. There’s so much that I know about what’s going on at this moment that I’m not sharing. I’m going to let you think you’re winning.

Knowing you're in the driver's seat is always better. Share on X

No, you’re not.

It doesn’t do any good. It can only backfire. You don’t want to scare people. Here’s an example. We get calls. We have bank accounts that, through time, get too much money in them. Next thing you know, someone from B of A is calling us, going, “I’m your new account manager. Did you know what you guys could be accruing with?” I’m like, “I got plans for this. I don’t need you.” I hang up. That makes me mad and rubs me the wrong way. If I reach out to them and say, “I need some help. I want to work on different interest rates. Where can I place some of this stuff? What can we do.” That’s a whole different ball game.

In our business, we sent them a letter. They called me. I’m not going to try to scare them. I’m not going to use this technology to cold-call people. It might make a difference in who we send offers to or how I work with them. I do this now anyway. I try to recon. Here’s an example. A call came in. PATLive answered it. A person wants to sell. It gets to me at the end of the day in the email and my spreadsheet. I go looking before I call the seller back. I’m like, “I like this property.” I’m going to look at it. Where do they live? They live in the Upstate Seattle area. They’re like, “Okay.”

I might even look at their house and go, “They’re loaded.” This is not a money thing for them. It’s a convenience thing for them. Something like that, I know ahead of time when I’m calling this person what angle we’re doing and how I’m going to take it. I’m not going to start saying, “It looks like you live in an $8 million house. This $30,000 property probably means nothing to you. Do you want to give it to me?” Does that make sense?

No. Here’s what I would do. I’m reminded by this topic about why Jill is a salesperson.

We’re different.

What I would do is I would send a letter out this way and say, “It seems to me that your house or your piece of land is worth a lot more than the debt that you have on it. If you’re thinking about selling, here’s our offer.” What I would do is craft a more specific, still in a mail merge situation, but a more specific letter that is more captivating to them about, “I do have a quarter of $250,000 of equity in this house. My parents are moving to Florida,” or whatever in that algorithm that specifically says these things are happening. I would respond to that.

Let’s say Jill and I have a bunch of classic cars. If somebody sent me a well-thought-out letter like, “I don’t know how they would get this information, but I know you paid for this car a few years ago. Chances are you haven’t driven it.” They know where we live and how many garages we have. I’d love to talk to you about buying it from you. It looks to me like it should be worth about X. I’m going to pick up the phone. If somebody knows that much stuff, it’s yes.

Are you paying retail for it?

No.

Why would you say it’s worth about X? I know it’s worth about $80,000, but I’m going to give you $60,000.

I learned this from you. You start the dialogue. You see what’s in there. See if it does have any flaws, and try to get the deal done.

I go with the Land Academy method.

With volume and the amount of data we have access to, that works fantastically well. I’m saying that this could work and will work. This isn’t “could work” or “I’m not trying to improve on our existing stuff.” What I’m saying is this is going to happen.

I don’t disagree.

Catoosa County Land Deal

AI is going to happen, and how we manage it the same way that we manage the way we have access to data now to use it to our advantage is something that we have to think about and take a look at. Let’s take a look at another one of our favorite land acquisitions from our weekly Thursday member webinar.

AI is inevitable, and using it to our advantage is something we need to actively consider. Share on X

Would you do this deal in Catoosa County, Georgia? The accepted price is $65,000. We can sell it for $100,000 to $130,000. It’s ten acres. Yes, on access. Yes, affordable. Yes, on adjacent. Yes, on the attribute. There are 1 or 2 septic systems on the lot. It’s a mountain town. Don’t go far from here. They removed a mobile home. It has its own ag but as a class R4 for multiple homes. At the end of the road, it’s secluded. The realtor wants to list for $129,000, but I’m concerned with the low number of comps.

Why did they remove the mobile home?

He took it with him. That’s where he lives. He moved it over to Mom’s. You put a guy down there.

There’s all kinds of stuff. You can see this.

There’s still something there. Maybe that’s the old mobile they pulled off.

They were dealing with sanitation, water, and electricity.

There’s the street. There’s this driveway. I flip and love it.

I love the deal. I love the piece of property.

Can we verify the numbers?

It’s ten acres.

I’m giving you two things, but can you put a guy down there? I wonder if the Google car went down there.

It’s a great piece of dirt.

I want that. Scott says it’s too late. I’m going to build a retirement home. You already know what you want to do with it.

Is it a home to retire in or a nursing home? This is ten acres.

They were planning on building a retirement home. That’s why they removed the mobile. I thought you were going to build yourself a retirement home.

It’s seven acres for $48,000, eight acres for $100,000, and five acres for $300,000.

I wish it were $45,000 instead of $65,000. That would make me feel a bit better.

The 1,200-square-foot house in town is for sale for $800,000. They’re not a lot for sale. This is all property types. Seventeen are sold. This would be cheaper.

What number would you like instead of $65,000?

This twenty acres is sold for $150,000. It needs to be around $30,000. Buy for $30,000 and sell for $60,000. That’s my initial opinion.

I said, “$45,000.” I was trying to be cool about it. I would like $30,000.

Inspirational Closing

Jill’s name is all over it. I would not give up on this either. I would build an argument about why it needs to be cheaper. Jill, you have something inspirational to share.

I wanted to speak for a few minutes. It ties in with now and everything I do, which is relationships. It sounds like a broken record, but you need to think about it. There’s such an important part of the human element in what we do with all of our land deals. Let me give you an example. I’m in a situation where, at the 11th hour, I found out from a broker physically driving out there that there’s an access issue. There are some things that the seller needs to do. It’s not a lot, but the seller needs to do to complete the access portion of this transaction.

The human element plays such an important role in our land deals. Share on X

We’re in escrow. It’s about to close. That’s why the broker is giving us some opinions. Everything is great. The hiccup is it is not a seller that I’m working with. It’s somebody else I’m helping with this deal. They don’t have the relationship created with the seller to get their buy-in. Is the seller working on it? I think so, but they’re not. They don’t have that we’re-on-the-same-team-to-get-this-deal-done attitude.

You need to establish that at the beginning of all these transactions. When you have that first conversation with a seller, whether they’re happy or not, you want to end that call with everybody on the same page and feeling good about this. I’m glad I talked to you. Jack, I’m glad I had this conversation. I’m the seller here. Thank you for calming me down, listening to me, and understanding why I think the property is worth more than you offered. I know you offered $19,000. I think $25,000 is fair after we talked about all this. I know you’re working on that to try to get the deal done. That’s how you want to end these.

All along the way, I’m Jack. I’m buying the property. I’m going to go back. I told the seller I was going to see if I could make $25,000 work. It’s not that much of a difference. I know how I’m looking at things. To go from $19,000 to $25,000 is fine because I’m selling it for $80,000. I got wiggle room there. Everything I do along the way is I’m like, “Mr. Jones, how are you? I’m working on this. I’m still waiting for two calls from the county. I know I’ll call you now with an answer, but I’ve got one more thing I have to figure out. I wanted to call you still as I promised. It’s going to take over the weekend. Can we talk on Monday? What’s the best time?”

I’m building a rapport, and it doesn’t take long. It doesn’t take 80 phone calls or 80 minutes. You have a good attitude. You listen to them. You’re going. You’re building this relationship. Fast forward to a perfect world. These are the deals that I do and I want you to do. You’re in escrow. Some little hiccup comes up, and you’re like, “It’d be easy for me to call Mr. Jones, who always takes my calls now because we’re buddies. He’s happy to get his $25,000. I’m happy to give him the $25,000.” If there’s any little hiccup, he takes my calls, and we work it out together. The human element of all that we do in these real estate deals that you need to know is crucial. Jack, What do you have for us? Do you have something you want to share?

It’s hot in Phoenix now. It’s 120 degrees, record-breaking. It’s getting way more news coverage than it has in the past for whatever reason. There’s not a lot of general news in the country. I got into a conversation. Some of my family lives in Northern Michigan. Their friends were asking why the hell would you ever live there. This is a small town we’re in. This is a small, little vacation town, and I get it. I will get to Northern Michigan in July 2023. It is magical.

It’s a Chamber of Commerce month, but six months out of the year is frozen. It’s not weather-based, but what prompted me to think and look at the decisions I’ve made over my life is I’ve gone where the money is. I don’t think about the weather that much. Whatever the weather is, it is what it is. I’ve never watched the weather to plan on what I’m going to wear that day. My way is not the right way. I’m saying what I did.

After I was done going to college in Michigan, I went to Phoenix. It’s one of the largest economic growth environments that there are. Buckeye itself, which is a subdivision of Phoenix, is the data center capital of the world. It’s hot out there, but the amount of economic growth and that’s why there are many people moving in there. Of all socioeconomic levels, there’s huge job opportunity and growth.

I don’t care if it’s working at a grocery store or being the CEO. The Taiwanese chip manufacturer is putting the largest chip manufacturing plant in the world. Why? It’s because the weather’s hot, but it’s stable. There are no earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, or natural disasters. Contrary to what everybody believes, it has an amazing source of groundwater that some of the other surrounding states don’t have. They feed off the Colorado River.

I’m sitting here having this conversation about why the hell I would ever live there. I’m looking around, thinking, “Why would I live there?” This is why. I choose money over comfort. When you get older, it’s the other way around because you got the money thing all figured out, hopefully. As a young person with a lot of ambition, you don’t want to get stuck in a place where you can’t get that out of your system. You have to go where the money is.

We’ve always done that. I moved for jobs. I didn’t even think about it. It started when I was a kid. I have to live up here because this is closer to my job. I have to move to the state because this is where my job is. I never thought about it, and I always did it. I still do it. Do you know what’s funny? You get older. It is an opportunity. We’re the best employees. Here’s been our last couple of years.

When I was young, it was all about where I would work. I would go where I could get the best income and have the best life, and I could afford to live there. That was number one. I’m leaving LA and coming to Arizona. It’s a no-brainer as far as being able to afford to live there. You get older, and we move for two reasons. One is the quality of employees and education because that was important to us at the time with our little ones. Our little ones are on their own. This is why we’re not home. Nobody’s there. Now, we’re making different decisions. We’re in the “where do we want to live” chapter. That’s how the flow is.

What you said that is critical is not everybody does what we do. They may be in this town, live there, and suck it up. This is the best job I could get. I’m sucking it up. It’s getting expensive here. I have to take out two jobs. I’m sucking it up. What if education starts to slip? This is my town. These kids are going to go to the same school I went to. Why not? What if there’s a better school? Think about these other things. I see people doing that. They’re like, “My kids went to my alma mater. What’s wrong with that?” I’m like, “It slipped a little bit. Haven’t you noticed?” They’re like, “Yeah, but this is where we live.” I’m like, “It doesn’t have to be like that.”

There’s a lot of stuff, Jill, between you and me that we’re similar without talking about it. We’ve never even had this conversation ever. There’s a lot of stuff that’s similar about you and me that we don’t talk about, which I appreciate. It’s a compliment.

We’ve made multiple moves for kids and education.

Not our education, but most of the moves, if not all of them, are money-driven.

This is better. We have to take this opportunity. Don’t be afraid of it. Don’t forget, you can reach us for questions or help by texting 480-530-7383.

Join us next episode. You are not alone in your real estate ambition. We are Jack and Jill. Information and inspiration to buy undervalued property.

Important Link

The Land Academy Show | Case Study 5

Case Study 5: Six Digits In A Single County

  Steven Jack Butala and Jill K DeWit discuss Case Study 5, which features a young, outgoing Californian who generates six digits flipping land in a single county. They offer him valuable advice on how to successfully buy small houses and land even while going

Read More »

No need to hire staff - we did it for you.

Land Academy PRO is the brainchild of founders Steven Jack Butala and Jill DeWit. Designed at the request of Land Academy members who are ready for a higher level, we’re excited to continue to provide the tools and support needed by professional investors.

Each level comes with a preset amount of included data, Concierge Mail service, and postage. For example, the Green level includes 6,000 units of completed-for-you mail completely out the door at no extra cost to you.

All levels include a PatLive introduction and preset script (we will set up your phone answering for you), use of Land Academy’s personal Transaction Team to manage your deal flow, an AirTable (CRM) base setup managed by our (and your!) Transaction Coordinator, personal consulting, regular office hours, and includes your Land Academy subscription cost.

If you’re making this a business, Land Academy PRO takes the work off of your plate so you can focus on the things that matter – like running your business.

Green

$10,060

per Month

Silver

$14,590

per Month

Gold

$19,120

per Month

Platinum

$23,650

per Month

Black

$28,180

per Month

Concierge Data+ (with data) Included mailers each month (data + concierge + mailer + postage). Our team will do your data for it and get it out the door.
6,000 mailers 9,000 mailers 12,000 mailers 15,000 mailers 18,000 mailers
PatLive introduction at no cost We will help you establish your first script and get PatLive set up on your behalf to answer your phones.
$500 value $500 value $500 value $500 value $500 value
Transaction Coordinator Use of our personal Transaction Coordinator team to manage your deals. Trained and ready to go!
$7,500 value $7,500 value $7,500 value $7,500 value $7,500 value
AirTable Ready-for-you CRM managed by your personal Land Academy Pro Transaction Coordinator
$100 value $100 value $100 value $100 value $100 value
Personal Consulting 1 on 1 personal consulting with our Transaction Coordinator each week.
- - $1,000 value $1,000 value $1,000 value
Regular Office Hours Regular office hours with Jack and Jill + our staff. Private for LA Pro Members Only. (Think Career Path Office Hours)
$2,500 value $2,500 value $2,500 value $2,500 value $2,500 value
ParcelFact ParcelFact is included in your LA Pro membership with unlimited pulls.
$150 value $150 value $150 value $150 value $150 value
FREE Career Path Access
$23,000 value $23,000 value $23,000 value $23,000 value $23,000 value
Land Academy No more separate charges - Land Academy is included with LA Pro Membership. This includes all education, tools, support, and future releases.
$300 value $300 value $300 value $300 value $300 value
Subtotal: $8,550 value $8,550 value $9,550 value $12,050 value $12,050 value
Mail Value: $7,500 value $11,250 value $15,000 value $18,750 value $22,500 value
Total Value: $39,050 $42,800 $47,550 $53,800 $57,550
Apply Now Apply Now Apply Now Apply Now Apply Now

Green

$10,060

per Month

Concierge Data+ (with data) Included mailers each month (data + concierge + mailer + postage). Our team will do your data for it and get it out the door.
6,000 mailers
PatLive introduction at no cost We will help you establish your first script and get PatLive set up on your behalf to answer your phones.
$500 value
Transaction Coordinator Use of our personal Transaction Coordinator team to manage your deals. Trained and ready to go!
$7,500 value
AirTable Ready-for-you CRM managed by your personal Land Academy Pro Transaction Coordinator
$100 value
Personal Consulting 1 on 1 personal consulting with our Transaction Coordinator each week.
-
Regular Office Hours Regular office hours with Jack and Jill + our staff. Private for LA Pro Members Only. (Think Career Path Office Hours)
$2,500 value
ParcelFact ParcelFact is included in your LA Pro membership with unlimited pulls.
$150 value
FREE Career Path Access
$23,000 value
Land Academy No more separate charges - Land Academy is included with LA Pro Membership. This includes all education, tools, support, and future releases.
$300 value
Subtotal: $8,550 value
Mail Value: $7,500 value
Total Value: $39,050
Apply Now

Silver

$14,590

per Month

Concierge Data+ (with data) Included mailers each month (data + concierge + mailer + postage). Our team will do your data for it and get it out the door.
9,000 mailers
PatLive introduction at no cost We will help you establish your first script and get PatLive set up on your behalf to answer your phones.
$500 value
Transaction Coordinator Use of our personal Transaction Coordinator team to manage your deals. Trained and ready to go!
$7,500 value
AirTable Ready-for-you CRM managed by your personal Land Academy Pro Transaction Coordinator
$100 value
Personal Consulting 1 on 1 personal consulting with our Transaction Coordinator each week.
-
Regular Office Hours Regular office hours with Jack and Jill + our staff. Private for LA Pro Members Only. (Think Career Path Office Hours)
$2,500 value
ParcelFact ParcelFact is included in your LA Pro membership with unlimited pulls.
$150 value
FREE Career Path Access
$23,000 value
Land Academy No more separate charges - Land Academy is included with LA Pro Membership. This includes all education, tools, support, and future releases.
$300 value
Subtotal: $8,550 value
Mail Value: $11,250 value
Total Value: $42,800
Apply Now

Gold

$19,120

per Month

Concierge Data+ (with data) Included mailers each month (data + concierge + mailer + postage). Our team will do your data for it and get it out the door.
12,000 mailers
PatLive introduction at no cost We will help you establish your first script and get PatLive set up on your behalf to answer your phones.
$500 value
Transaction Coordinator Use of our personal Transaction Coordinator team to manage your deals. Trained and ready to go!
$7,500 value
AirTable Ready-for-you CRM managed by your personal Land Academy Pro Transaction Coordinator
$100 value
Personal Consulting 1 on 1 personal consulting with our Transaction Coordinator each week.
$1,000 value
Regular Office Hours Regular office hours with Jack and Jill + our staff. Private for LA Pro Members Only. (Think Career Path Office Hours)
$2,500 value
ParcelFact ParcelFact is included in your LA Pro membership with unlimited pulls.
$150 value
FREE Career Path Access
$23,000 value
Land Academy No more separate charges - Land Academy is included with LA Pro Membership. This includes all education, tools, support, and future releases.
$300 value
Subtotal: $9,550 value
Mail Value: $15,000 value
Total Value: $47,550
Apply Now

Platinum

$23,650

per Month

Concierge Data+ (with data) Included mailers each month (data + concierge + mailer + postage). Our team will do your data for it and get it out the door.
15,000 mailers
PatLive introduction at no cost We will help you establish your first script and get PatLive set up on your behalf to answer your phones.
$500 value
Transaction Coordinator Use of our personal Transaction Coordinator team to manage your deals. Trained and ready to go!
$7,500 value
AirTable Ready-for-you CRM managed by your personal Land Academy Pro Transaction Coordinator
$100 value
Personal Consulting 1 on 1 personal consulting with our Transaction Coordinator each week.
$1,000 value
Regular Office Hours Regular office hours with Jack and Jill + our staff. Private for LA Pro Members Only. (Think Career Path Office Hours)
$2,500 value
ParcelFact ParcelFact is included in your LA Pro membership with unlimited pulls.
$150 value
FREE Career Path Access
$23,000 value
Land Academy No more separate charges - Land Academy is included with LA Pro Membership. This includes all education, tools, support, and future releases.
$300 value
Subtotal: $12,050 value
Mail Value: $18,750 value
Total Value: $53,800
Apply Now

Black

$28,180

per Month

Concierge Data+ (with data) Included mailers each month (data + concierge + mailer + postage). Our team will do your data for it and get it out the door.
18,000 mailers
PatLive introduction at no cost We will help you establish your first script and get PatLive set up on your behalf to answer your phones.
$500 value
Transaction Coordinator Use of our personal Transaction Coordinator team to manage your deals. Trained and ready to go!
$7,500 value
AirTable Ready-for-you CRM managed by your personal Land Academy Pro Transaction Coordinator
$100 value
Personal Consulting 1 on 1 personal consulting with our Transaction Coordinator each week.
$1,000 value
Regular Office Hours Regular office hours with Jack and Jill + our staff. Private for LA Pro Members Only. (Think Career Path Office Hours)
$2,500 value
ParcelFact ParcelFact is included in your LA Pro membership with unlimited pulls.
$150 value
FREE Career Path Access
$23,000 value
Land Academy No more separate charges - Land Academy is included with LA Pro Membership. This includes all education, tools, support, and future releases.
$300 value
Subtotal: $12,050 value
Mail Value: $22,500 value
Total Value: $57,550
Apply Now

Disclaimer: *We have a monthly “use it or lose it” policy with mail and data – Land Academy PRO is designed to keep you on-track and consistent.

To cancel, all packages require a 30 day notice to move you back down to regular Land Academy membership.

Office Hours Schedule

FREE eBook

You Are Not Alone in Your Real Estate Ambition.

eBook redesign 2023 1 webp

Copyright © 2024 All Rights Reserved.

 

*eBook will automatically be delivered to your inbox. If you do not see it, please check your Spam/Junk Folder.