Transcript:

Steven Jack Butala:
I am Steven Jack Butala.

Jill K DeWit:
And I’m Jill DeWit and this is the Land Academy Show.

Steven Jack Butala:
This is episode number 1,974 and today we are talking about researching Land Academy prior to joining. And then-

Jill K DeWit:
And-

Steven Jack Butala:
Go ahead.

Jill K DeWit:
… when to add … When’s it appropriate to add money or maybe take away money from your offer price.

Steven Jack Butala:
Those are two fun topics, actually.

Jill K DeWit:
Fun.

Steven Jack Butala:
They are. I think that.

Jill K DeWit:
Yeah.

Steven Jack Butala:
I think researching something before you spend some dough on it-

Jill K DeWit:
Is important.

Steven Jack Butala:
Thank you, it is important. I also think that taking away and adding money, as crazy simple as it sounds, from your offer price or when you’re selling the property, it’s imperative to success. So, both of these things sound super simple but they’re crazy important.

Jill K DeWit:
Mm-hmm. That’s what I said.

Steven Jack Butala:
Each week on the show, we answer questions from our Land Academy member Discord forum, we review land acquisitions from our weekly member webinars and we take a deep dive into two land related topics by request. If you want to sneak peek of our Discord forum, go to landacademy.com, it’s free.

Jill K DeWit:
Cool, all right. And don’t forget, if you need some help or you’re interested, questions, whatever it is, just send a note to my team via support@landacademy.com.

Steven Jack Butala:
Let’s take a question.

Jill K DeWit:
All right. Greg wrote I have a place under contract to buy, about how to close on it. I sent… I have a place under-

Steven Jack Butala:
Here, how about I’m going to read it, okay?

Jill K DeWit:
I’m confused already with this first sentence.

Steven Jack Butala:
I got a place under contract to buy and I’m about to close on it.

Jill K DeWit:
Oh, that’s it. There we go.

Steven Jack Butala:
I sent out the photographer to get some photos and, the right of way, right through the neighbor’s place the photographer gave the neighbor my contact information. He’s got to drive through the guy’s driveway, the neighbor’s not happy about it, the photographer’s probably not happy about it. Don’t talk to me, don’t kill the messenger.

Jill K DeWit:
Call this guy.

Steven Jack Butala:
Call the-

Jill K DeWit:
Call Greg.

Steven Jack Butala:
And so he did. Now he wants to buy it, the neighbor wants to buy it. He’s not real interested in having people drive through his driveway and it’s in his survey.

Jill K DeWit:
Good.

Steven Jack Butala:
So, he’s not debating whether or not there’s right away which usually happens. His price isn’t as much as I’d like to get but it’s still a money maker and it could make a real long-term pain without the right of way. He suggested a double close on it and we’re going for that, I’m excited to see what happens.

Jill K DeWit:
Everybody wins.

Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah, I would not double close on this.

Jill K DeWit:
Well, if it’s already out there and disclosed and everything’s fine with it, then, yeah.

Steven Jack Butala:
Why would you double close? He suggested a double close?

Jill K DeWit:
Yeah, don’t rock the boat right now.

Steven Jack Butala:
Does he know the owner? Is he going to go around you on the deal and go talk to the seller and say, “You know what? How about I just buy it and cut you out?”

Jill K DeWit:
I’m assuming we’re past that, we’re down the road. There’s a contract signed and it’s going to be okay.

Steven Jack Butala:
So, let’s take a couple steps back. Selling property to neighbors is the greatest thing ever.

Jill K DeWit:
True.

Steven Jack Butala:
You buy a piece of property, and the key word here is buy, you buy it, you own it and then you talk to the neighbors and say, “Hey, I’m about to market this,” this is what we call neighbor letters in our group, “I’m about to market this property, I’d rather have you guys buy it. In fact, I’m going to reduce the rate. My for sale price rate is going to be X but I’ll sell it to you for Y.” Jill does this-

Jill K DeWit:
Because I’m not bringing in an agent-

Steven Jack Butala:
Jill does this all time.

Jill K DeWit:
… I haven’t even got that far, I haven’t even marketed it. I haven’t even brought in an agent, there’s no commission so we’re both going to win here.

Steven Jack Butala:
So, I’m all for that. Double closing with a real compliant neighbor, I just don’t know why you would do that.

Jill K DeWit:
I’m good with it. If he suggested it and he’s like, “Hey, let’s just go ahead and we’ll just make it all one big happy transaction,” then I’m fine with that.

Steven Jack Butala:
A double close, for those of you who don’t know, is I secure a contract with the seller for $50,000, and I’m just making up the numbers, but let’s use this as an example. So, I’ve got it in escrow and I’m ready to buy it for 50 grand because I think it’s worth a hundred. The neighbor comes in and says, “I’ll pay 70. I would buy it for $50,000 and then resell it for 70.” If that is what you mean by double close and not wholesale, not front the money, then I’m all for it. But actually wholesaling it and just never putting up the money, I’m not sure I would do that.

Jill K DeWit:
I’m okay with it. Yeah, I’m okay with it.

Steven Jack Butala:
So, you’re really not a wholesaler advocate.

Jill K DeWit:
Well, he’s all the way down the path and he said I’m ready to close kind of thing and the photographer’s going out there. So, everybody’s up front on it and they know what’s going on. Come on. When you buy a car from Barrett-Jackson, you know Barrett-Jackson’s getting a commission and they’re getting a piece of the action, all you care about is the car. So, this buyer, the next door neighbor, all he cares about is let’s just get this done and I own it, I’m happy with 70, it’s fine and you get your … This guy’s going to probably net 17, 18 grand off his trouble and the deal in escrow fees and all that good stuff and everybody walks away happy because it’s really worth a hundred and it’s done.

Steven Jack Butala:
I am shocked-

Jill K DeWit:
I’m okay with that.

Steven Jack Butala:
… that you’re okay with this.

Jill K DeWit:
I am okay with this.

Steven Jack Butala:
I would buy it. It’s going to cost you $800 more in escrow fees to make sure you own it. Anyway, there’s a lot of-

Jill K DeWit:
We’re going to agree to disagree today.

Steven Jack Butala:
You know what? The real issue is the photographer came back and created the deal for you.

Jill K DeWit:
Yeah. So, this normally doesn’t go this smoothly and, I don’t know, I just have a good vibe here. Is that what I try to do like this? No, I don’t try to do deals like these, no.

Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah. There’s a lot of ways-

Jill K DeWit:
This just happened.

Steven Jack Butala:
A lot of ways to slice these deals and this is a good example of this could have been a negative situation. A lot of times, no one’s going to use my driveway but you’re making it work for you, making it a profitable situation for you so good.

Jill K DeWit:
Yeah.

Steven Jack Butala:
Today’s first topic is called Researching Land Academy prior to joining. I don’t know about your personality but I research everything, that’s just what I do. And I’m learning as I get older that that’s not what the real world is like. I’m not sure-

Jill K DeWit:
You don’t think so?

Steven Jack Butala:
No. I think there’s a lot of impulsive decision making and I think there’s decision … Impulsive decision making and I also think there’s decision making based on how much available cash you have and those are two pretty dangerous things, in my opinion. I think that you should do … Especially for something as important as finding a new career or adding another stream of income to your household, Land Academy can be both of those things pretty effectively. So, no, I would research who you’re learning from, where you are in your career, if you’re brand new, if you identify with the people like Jill and I who are instructing the thing, if you’re having a good customer service experience, how many podcasts, who you’re learning from.

Jill K DeWit:
How many deals they’ve done.

Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah.

Jill K DeWit:
Okay, I hear where you’re going. I agree with you on that and I assume everybody does that, I just think that. So, you think there’s a healthy amount of people that are just gravitating to something shiny?

Steven Jack Butala:
Yes.

Jill K DeWit:
Oh, I get it. Yeah, because that’s probably how a lot of people come to Land Academy. Oh, yeah. I didn’t research this, it was the first guy that popped up, I saw he’s done deals, he had a real good website and then I found out he did 50 deals and then I found out you guys have done 15,000 deals. Let’s see, let’s see.

Steven Jack Butala:
Those are real numbers, by the way.

Jill K DeWit:
I know. Now we’re pushing 17,000. Do I want to learn from the guy that’s done 50 deals? He’s got a great website though, I got to tell you, and he told me everything I wanted to hear. Or, the people that have been in this for decades, way before they had this Land Academy thing, they were buying and selling land, that was their business and they’ve gone through some upturns and downturns might be a better bet. So, okay, you’re trying to talk to the people that just make sure you’re doing that work, I guess.

Steven Jack Butala:
This came up because I was searching Discord for questions for the podcast and topics just like this and there’s a woman who just joined, she’s new and she posted a post and said, “In episode number 1,762, you mentioned a guy named Evan who was”-

Jill K DeWit:
Yes, I saw that.

Steven Jack Butala:
And then she went on to say, “And then in episode number 1,412, Jack said this and Jill said this and I’m just trying to get clarification.” That’s somebody who’s researching the heck out of what we do and how we do it, she’s probably bought into the fact that it works. These are people we can really, really, really help that are taking it seriously and they’re showing up in a master degree/PhD way.

Jill K DeWit:
Yeah, I agree.

Steven Jack Butala:
So, the flip side of that coin is, and this is not a rant by any stretch, you join something like Land Academy, not necessarily Land Academy, and you show up. I’ve seen this all through education, you see this in college. They show up and they say, “Okay, I’m ready to be awesome. It’s on you and tell me what to do.” And so, they’re just not putting the research and the time and the thought and the energy and so taking this super seriously and consequently making a ton of money.
Just to take that a step further, Jill and I are in the middle of instructing Career Path which is our advanced class and, boy, everybody in Career Path is really well researched, they want to be there and, every single session in Career Path, we’re reviewing their actual deals. It’s a joy to be in a group like that and, geez, it’s super joy to instruct it. So, before you check out, before you decide to do this, whether it’s Land Academy or anywhere else, just check it all out. Listen to some podcasts, read as much as you can, get the eBook, all of it.

Jill K DeWit:
Talk to people, that’s my favorite. Get involved in the community. And you can do that, just read what’s going on in Discord. You can read conversations, heck, you can join our Thursday call if you want to, just send a note to my team and they’ll get you in there. See if this is the right place for you, talk about the deals, that kind of thing. You know what the big picture is here? You should be researching whatever you do. Why do you think you’re going to open a convenience store? I’m going to start or I’m going to start …
One of our employees wants to start a detailing company, an auto detailing company, he should do some work. How are you going to accept payments? What’s legally involved in this? People are going to trust me with their car, do I have the right insurance? What if I’m detailing their car and my ladder tips over on it and scratches their car, how’s that going to go? There’s lots of things you need to do and research before you do anything so this is no different.

Steven Jack Butala:
It’s funny you bring that up because I was talking to our detailing guy and he said, “If you don’t have ionized water,” which I don’t even know about-

Jill K DeWit:
There you go.

Steven Jack Butala:
… “Then you’re making your life” … Because you don’t have to dry the car if you use some type of water ionizer because it just trickles off the car. And so, he’s like, “Yeah, I can do twice as many jobs because I’m saving half the amount of time.” Research-

Jill K DeWit:
And laundry and towels.

Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah. Research really, really, really is important to everything. Do I want to drive a Jeep or a Toyota 4Runner? Let’s take a look, let’s see what people say. Do they like their Jeeps? Do they like their 4Runners? I can’t say enough about it.

Jill K DeWit:
Well, the biggest thing is, if you really want to do anything well, you would be nuts not to research and find someone. Come on, back in the day, it was just a mentor. Back in the day, you were in school like when we were in college, say I wanted to be fill in the blank, I wanted that job. Well, I’ll tell you too, back in American Airlines years ago, this is going way back, I was in my 20s and they had a program, it was called the Walk a Mile program. And if there was a job that you thought you wanted and it was attainable, like a level or two up from whatever you were-

Steven Jack Butala:
This is great. I’ve never heard of this. This is fantastic.

Jill K DeWit:
Yeah, it’s called the Walk a Mile program. And you could sign up and they would even let you … You could do one a year and it was at American so they could … Say the job was in Dallas. So, mine, it was revenue accounting or something, I thought it was so cool. The people that took care of the buckets on the seats and sold how many buckets in certain price ranges to fill up the plane and maximize profit. How many 14-day advance purchase tickets, seven-day advance purchase tickets, all that good stuff. So, you got to do what’s called a Walk a Mile.
So, I got to sign up and they accept you, it’s not just willy-nilly and they’re like, “Okay, you’re good. Yeah, we’ll bring you,” and it does two things. You get to go spend the whole day shadowing somebody in that role to see if you like it. Do you connect with them? Does it make sense? And then, by the way, it’s a way for them to get to know you and then, if there’s an opening coming, I would be watching and being ready for it, then they’d already have an established relationship with me. Oh, we know Jill, she showed up, she cares, she did a Walk a Mile six months ago, she asked all the right questions-

Steven Jack Butala:
You’re in that database, yup.

Jill K DeWit:
… we want to interview Jill.

Steven Jack Butala:
You know what? You educated yourself.

Jill K DeWit:
I did. Isn’t that brilliant?

Steven Jack Butala:
And you took it upon yourself to be interested in that-

Jill K DeWit:
Show up, get to know people, look good.

Steven Jack Butala:
Nothing bad comes from that.

Jill K DeWit:
Totally. So, that’s a mentoring thing and, again, they called it the Walk a Mile program. You’d be nuts if you don’t do this in life. And so-

Steven Jack Butala:
What was it called?

Jill K DeWit:
Walk a Mile. What’s so funny?

Steven Jack Butala:
I’m just teasing you.

Jill K DeWit:
Oh.

Steven Jack Butala:
You said it 62 times.

Jill K DeWit:
Oh, I know. Well, it just came back to me and it’s funny that I remembered that. So, anyway, you should be walking a mile in a Land Academy member’s shoes and maybe I’ll call it that. You know what? I’m making a note here. Maybe we’re going to come up with a Walk a Mile program-

Steven Jack Butala:
I love that.

Jill K DeWit:
… and I’m not kidding where you might be, okay, here’s your Walk a Mile thing, you need to watch these five podcasts.

Steven Jack Butala:
Oh, my God, I love this.

Jill K DeWit:
You need to be in a Thursday member call.

Steven Jack Butala:
You need to talk to three members on the phone.

Jill K DeWit:
Yeah, and you’re going to reach out to … I have these people ready by, let me know when you’re available, talk to them.

Steven Jack Butala:
[inaudible 00:14:45]

Jill K DeWit:
Wouldn’t that be great?

Steven Jack Butala:
This is the greatest idea I’ve ever heard.

Jill K DeWit:
I know. Okay.

Steven Jack Butala:
Because then it’s double-sided.

Jill K DeWit:
Yeah.

Steven Jack Butala:
Now the people that you’re speaking with are accepting you. They’re like, “Oh, yeah, this is going to work for me.”

Jill K DeWit:
This guy’s a good guy.

Steven Jack Butala:
And you’re talking to the people that are … You’re asking yourself while you’re talking to these members, can I fit in their shoes, can I walk in their shoes? I love this.

Jill K DeWit:
Does it make sense to me? Yeah, it’s twofold.

Steven Jack Butala:
And then-

Jill K DeWit:
You know what you’re getting into, it’s free.

Steven Jack Butala:
Then our people know that they voluntarily went through this thing and it’s not a flippant decision, it’s not impulsive and they want to get wealthy buying and selling land. I love that.

Jill K DeWit:
Yeah. Okay, that’s a new thing now.

Steven Jack Butala:
It is. That’s the greatest-

Jill K DeWit:
You just heard it here first, Land Academy Walk a Mile Program.

Steven Jack Butala:
That’s the smartest thing I’ve ever heard.

Jill K DeWit:
That’s going to be good.

Steven Jack Butala:
Once a week, maybe even more often than that, I pull out my phone like every single one of us because I have some question about something. I don’t care if it’s what time does a restaurant open or what’s going on in the Middle East and I catch myself and I stop for a second and I think, just for a moment, I can’t believe how fortunate we are that we can get any of these questions answered. Any question I have, I can get answered in this thing in my pocket on Google and so that’s research. I am not sure, probably younger people can appreciate what it was like before you couldn’t get your questions answered. They had to go through some Walk a Mile program or go to the library or, geez, God forbid, ask your parents who are, for sure, not as smart as you are.

Jill K DeWit:
Yeah. What’s it like to be an accountant, Dad?

Steven Jack Butala:
And I’m not being satirical.

Jill K DeWit:
I don’t know.

Steven Jack Butala:
They are not as smart because you’re younger and more energetic and look at things more objectively. And so, research, it’s imperative and it makes you a better person no matter what. Did you ever talk to somebody and they’re like, “Yeah, I went down that rabbit hole and I lost eight hours because I was,” that’s research. And I don’t think going down a rabbit hole is a bad thing, I think it says a lot about you as a person if you want to find out … You want to be well-informed before you make any decision.

Jill K DeWit:
I love this. I’m excited, I’m making notes.

Steven Jack Butala:
I really am, too. Let’s take a look at one of our favorite land acquisitions from our weekly Thursday member webinar.

Jill K DeWit:
If you want to be the first one-

Steven Jack Butala:
Go for it, Jill, it’s good.

Jill K DeWit:
I don’t even know what it is going to be yet. But if you’re listening right now or watching this and you want to be the first person going, “I’m going to do your Walk a Mile program,” send a note. Send a note to support@landacademy.com and in the title put, “Hey, Jill, I want to be in the Walk a Mile program”-

Steven Jack Butala:
Right in the subject, yeah.

Jill K DeWit:
… and I’ll come up with it. Yeah, put in the subject so it’ll get to me and then I’ll come up with something. I’ll get you immersed in this stuff for a week. I’ll come up with something that will really help you and answer all your questions, not only to know if this is right for you, just land investing in general and then also if we’re right for you, if you connect with us and our group. So, that’s going to be a lot of fun.

Steven Jack Butala:
We could add we could be multifaceted. You have to go to one or two Thursday calls as a guest.

Jill K DeWit:
Or say maybe you’re in Discord for a week, I can do that.

Steven Jack Butala:
Be a guest, it should cost 25 bucks.

Jill K DeWit:
Maybe you’re on the Thursday call.

Steven Jack Butala:
You charge them 25 bucks. Not because it’s profit for us at all, it’s just not-

Jill K DeWit:
But just to make sure you’re serious.

Steven Jack Butala:
It’s not free.

Jill K DeWit:
Well, you know what I’ll do?

Steven Jack Butala:
Because I think we get a lot of people that they’re just, “Oh, yeah, I want to do it,” and they’re not serious.

Jill K DeWit:
True. Well, we used to do a thing back when I’d close membership which we might be getting ready for that too soon. But I would have a wait list and then you had to pay to get on the wait list, it was a hundred bucks. But then, when I opened up Land Academy again, you got that off your membership. So, I’ll do something like that. Maybe you pay a deposit, whatever, and then it’s a credit.

Steven Jack Butala:
Oh, perfect. That’s great.

Jill K DeWit:
That’s fair. So, I like that.

Steven Jack Butala:
Let’s take another question posted by one of our members on the Land Academy Discord online community. Again, if you want a sneak peek of our Discord channel, please go to land academy.com, it’s free. This is a lengthy before you start into it.

Jill K DeWit:
Okay.

Steven Jack Butala:
By Sid, one of our favorite members right now.

Jill K DeWit:
Who is lengthy?

Steven Jack Butala:
Talking about the realtor mindset and now how he’s an investor mindset. So, it’s lengthy.

Jill K DeWit:
Okay, got it, all right. Sid wrote, so I want to give some input to my changes from the realtor mindset versus the now land investor mindset. I’ve been in the realtor mindset as a realtor in Texas for the last 15 years, mostly doing land. In the realtor mindset, you’re constantly looking for the next seller listing or buyer looking to purchase. All types of social media, direct mail, cold calls, referrals and open houses are used to find your next client. To be successful, you must be active and aggressively using outbound marketing. I have a saying that goes we eat our young every day. Oh, my gosh. Because if I close a deal with you, the averages are you won’t need me again for seven or eight years.

Steven Jack Butala:
Which is really tough. So, let me paraphrase here. We eat our young every day. What he means is this is ineffective. I’ve got a customer and there’s a possibility that I’m going to have this customer as a repeat customer in eight years.

Jill K DeWit:
Right, it’s not usually over and over and over again.

Steven Jack Butala:
Provided my daughter doesn’t go to her real estate license. Go ahead.

Jill K DeWit:
So, now, fast forward to today, COVID and higher interest rates will stretch out that timeline.

Steven Jack Butala:
It’s worse.

Jill K DeWit:
It’s a grind and at least a 40-hour week if you don’t have complete control of your time, it’s been a struggle. But I am now 90% in the investor mindset. So, I still do real estate as an agent, as a broker but now he’s an investor 90% of the time. As a land investor, it’s a much slower pace. You get the education on how to do the business, use the Land Academy model to pick a county, price it correctly and figure out how to use direct mail as your outbound marketing. And then I know there’s other things that can be used if desired then just wait for the seller to call you. After the haters are finished chewing your ass off, that’s hilarious, the first wave of calls, the remaining ones want to or need to sell the property.

Steven Jack Butala:
That’s right.

Jill K DeWit:
And then it’s our job only to negotiate a win-win for both parties. And best of all, you can control your time by outsourcing the parts you don’t like and the business can be done from anywhere in the world.

Steven Jack Butala:
That’s right.

Jill K DeWit:
As you know, we did it from an RV so slow down, develop the land investor mindset and build your business. I wish all of you a great success in your journey.

Steven Jack Butala:
That’s just-

Jill K DeWit:
That’s sweet. That’s nice.

Steven Jack Butala:
This is a total prelude-

Jill K DeWit:
It’s good.

Steven Jack Butala:
… into the next topic.

Jill K DeWit:
Yeah.

Steven Jack Butala:
Let’s go right into it. I love that entry.

Jill K DeWit:
That’s really good.

Steven Jack Butala:
Today’s second topic is called when to add or take away money from your offer price.

Jill K DeWit:
Which is really getting to know your people. You know what I mean? So, let me start with this. The whole topic came up today, as we were talking, I’m like, “You know” … You know how I am, Jack.

Steven Jack Butala:
I do, Jill.

Jill K DeWit:
When you have a-

Steven Jack Butala:
I know how you are.

Jill K DeWit:
… broker. Especially with brokers, here’s the deal. You have a broker, they’re marketing a property for you, it’s not moving. They automatically assume it’s not the [inaudible 00:22:35] thing, it’s not the views, it’s not that it’s not reaching the right people, it’s not the pictures or the lead photo or, heaven forbid, what they wrote or anything about it, it’s got to be the offer price. So, their automatic assumption is we got to lower the offer price. I’m like, “Hold on a moment. Are you even talking to these people? What’s going on here? Are we reaching the people? Are the photos right?” Well, then on the flip side …
So, that’s one thing that brought up this topic and the other thing is, as investors, I put a lot into, not only what we’re going to sell it at, but what we’re going to buy it at. When I say I, I mean him and I, Jack and I as a team. A lot goes into these offer prices. So, sometimes people are like, “Oh, I just need to add money. I want this property so bad, I need to add money to it or accept an offer that’s higher than I really think it should be but they signed it, I need to do this deal.” Hold on a moment. Sometimes there are appropriate situations to add money and take away but not always. And the whole underlying topic is are you talking to these people, are you really finding out everything you can about it and having those tough conversations.

Steven Jack Butala:
Look, here’s the deal. And I love this topic, it was Jill’s idea. I’m going to tell you a story and this is the truth, this is the painful truth as Jill just said. I sent my first mailer out, it was around 2002-ish, something like that.

Jill K DeWit:
Let me preface it. Not when we started this business but when you fast forwarded to sending out offers.

Steven Jack Butala:
When I converted our business or added to my existing revenue stream back then which was going to tax sales, buying properties and reselling them. That was drying up so I looked around frantically to try to find another way to buy cheap property and I came up with getting a data set from the county-

Jill K DeWit:
Brilliant.

Steven Jack Butala:
… and putting a mailer together just like we do now. We didn’t have RealQuest or DataTree or any of this stuff, any of these tools and I sent the letters out. We didn’t have Google Earth, we didn’t have Google, actually.

Jill K DeWit:
Brilliant. It’s amazing.

Steven Jack Butala:
And so, I sent it out with no real way to see what came back to see if it was a good property to buy or not. So, I went to the Coconino County Arizona Assessor’s Office and asked them, I already called and knew that they had the assessor database for sale because, from a statute standpoint, they have to make it public information, they did, I got the CD, excitedly drove home a couple hours, I put it in the computer and spent the next two weeks deconstructing it and putting it back together so I could get it in a format where I could send everybody an offer that I thought was appropriate.
So, I did and I sent probably two or 3,000 letters out. I don’t remember the exact letters, there was no way to price it, there was no way to know where it was physically, I had no idea. All I could see was the acreage, the size and the fact that it was vacant, that it was called NEC back time which is not yet classified or something. And I sent a $500 even offer out and I got probably 150 signed offers back. And of course, I’m jumping around and dancing around and immediately somebody to call them back and I went … Immediately got somebody who I knew personally to call them back and set up escrow when it ended up being a real deal. We didn’t look at the property, we didn’t do anything that we do right now and I made a bunch of money.
So, I bought a lot of property and resold it on eBay. So, stuff I was buying for $500, spent two or $300 on escrow because I’ve negotiated a great deal with First American because I was sending them hundreds of offers a week, hundreds of deals and it went on beautifully. Those days are gone. We have a substantial number of people that probably should have gone through the Walk in My Shoes program, what’s it called?

Jill K DeWit:
Walk a Mile.

Steven Jack Butala:
Walk a Mile Program because they are Jacks, they’re not Jills. They’re not personalizing-

Jill K DeWit:
That’s good.

Steven Jack Butala:
… the sellers and I didn’t have to and the person that was calling them back didn’t have to because they never received anything like that ever. They have been told by real estate agents, because the properties are so cheap, they’ve been told by real estate agents, “We can’t sell this property. You think I’m going to sell this property for $1,000 and make 6% on that? No, that’s it.” And so, they were in a back tax default situation and our business is so different now. If you did that now, no one would … All that property’s gone and, you know what, it wasn’t very valuable anyway. All it was was capitalizing on my part, capitalizing on the fact that you could buy an acre and a half in Coconino County, which is beautiful in Arizona, by the way, I would love to have 90% of that property back. Buying it for 500 and selling it for 1,500, we made a great living doing that.
So, those days are over. The days now of buying a property go like this. You send out an offer, you price it correctly, you’re really smart and slow about it like Sid said and you have somebody answering a phone like Jill who’s a lifelong corporate career salesperson and takes it in her soul to personalize and develop a relationship with the seller.

Jill K DeWit:
Mm-hmm, that’s good.

Steven Jack Butala:
Pricing is part of it.

Jill K DeWit:
Big part.

Steven Jack Butala:
Is it going to make or break the deal? No. You know what makes or breaks the deal? The minute Jill picks up the phone and that moment she connects with that seller. It might take 10 minutes for her to turn around an angry seller and create a deal, create a real estate deal, it might take an eighth of a second because they’re ready to sell anyway but, whatever it is, whatever it takes, she does it. So, my point, long, long-winded point here is sending the mail out, pricing it correctly or incorrectly and doing the mechanics of what I do on the Jack side is so much less important now than it used to be. That’s really, really good news for you if you’re a Jill or if you can be a Jill. Because I can be a Jill, I’ve had her job. I can do it, it’s just not my favorite. I don’t want to get up in the morning, it doesn’t get me going.

Jill K DeWit:
You know what’s funny about this? I love this topic. This topic has brought up all these different things. You took it to a personal … How funny is this? I’m Jack right now and he’s Jill right now because my thing is I’m talking about the money and the property and it’s a line item.

Steven Jack Butala:
So, just let me reference this.

Jill K DeWit:
Okay.

Steven Jack Butala:
She’s right. In this case, you are not going to get a cheaper offer on the buy side unless you personalize yourself with the seller.

Jill K DeWit:
And be … Yeah.

Steven Jack Butala:
On the sell side, the real estate agent’s always going to plug you and say, “Well, it didn’t sell because it’s too expensive.” You either personalize yourself, Jill’s going to either personalize herself with that real estate agent or get another one.

Jill K DeWit:
Right. Well, my whole point is, well, it’s all intertwined. I guess that’s the whole thing. You very correctly, a long time ago, had me sit down and say, “See all these properties? Don’t look at them. Don’t look at them like, ‘Oh, how pretty that is and the trees and where it is and all that stuff,’ there’s a line on them on a spreadsheet and you need to be mechanical and smart about making these business decisions,” and I never forgot that. So, I look at these properties and I’m really picky about dollar. But what’s funny, I am picky, I might add money, I might take away money, that was the whole thing today, and you know why? Because making sure that the bottom line works. I make sure I am buying it for the right price, I feel great about it and then, when I sell it, I sell it for a great price too and they feel great about it.
So, that’s what goes on in my head. But when I’m talking to the sweet people on the phone, they don’t know that Jill. They don’t know the Jill in here that’s like, “This is a smart business decision.” They know the Jill that’s having a relationship with them and talking to them and saying in a very nice way, “This is all I’m going to offer for this property. I know I sent it for this but, after I looked at it, I found this, this and this and so, unfortunately, my price is now,” fill in the blank kind of thing. And I have a relationship with them so I can do that and we can move forward together. It’s tough. It is tough but that’s why you’re here.

Steven Jack Butala:
I can’t express how important this is. You can’t be the greatest pricing expert on the planet and then expect that to exempt you from personalizing your seller or your real estate agent or taking the personalization out of this business. We are in a people business, that’s it.

Jill K DeWit:
True.

Steven Jack Butala:
I support the people element of this business and what ends up happening is, because we talk about data so much, which is super important, what ends up happening is the message that I think I inadvertently send largely because the people in Land Academy are very technical. For whatever reason, Jill and I, we attract-

Jill K DeWit:
Smart.

Steven Jack Butala:
… accountants and engineers and STEM driven people who’ve chosen careers that way because we are so data-driven and technical about this. But the fact is I am supporting that moment when Jill’s on the phone. That’s all I’m doing. I’m creating that moment because we sent out a rational letter, a rational offer that’s reasonably priced, reasonably … It’s not so low priced that they’re going to laugh at it and throw it away and it’s not overpriced or retail priced where Jill gets barraged with signed agreements and it’s rationally priced so we’re supporting her in that moment on the phone.
And the same thing happens when we go to sell it. I price it on the sell side but I’m still supporting Jill and her staff and, indirectly, the real estate agent that they choose to hire to represent us through data, that’s it. I’m hiding behind my computer here where it’s safe and, hopefully, cold and dark.

Jill K DeWit:
Does your computer hug you back?

Steven Jack Butala:
No. I don’t want it to though.

Jill K DeWit:
That’s hilarious. That’s funny.

Steven Jack Butala:
You can’t have-

Jill K DeWit:
Where’s Jack? In a dark room cracking a beer with his laptop.

Steven Jack Butala:
Boy, that’s true. You can’t have one without the other.

Jill K DeWit:
Right.

Steven Jack Butala:
But you used to be able to.

Jill K DeWit:
That’s true.

Steven Jack Butala:
It’s just a different situation we’re in. All this data that we have now is available, it was not available back then, you had to really, really work for it. You had to drive there and get a CD.

Jill K DeWit:
That’s true.

Steven Jack Butala:
And write a check for $50, I remember that. A check check which is unheard of now.

Jill K DeWit:
Exactly.

Steven Jack Butala:
Let’s take a look at another one of our favorite land acquisitions from our weekly Thursday member webinar. I have the ad lib here. I didn’t fill this in.

Jill K DeWit:
That’s okay. I’m thinking. Okay.

Steven Jack Butala:
Jill, you have something interesting, inspirational, sorry, to share? I’m sure it’s interesting.

Jill K DeWit:
I’m thinking about this Walk a Mile Program now and, you know what, if you are serious about this, you’ll be serious about doing that.

Steven Jack Butala:
That’s what I think. It weeds people out naturally.

Jill K DeWit:
Uh-huh, yeah. Then I know you’re not just in it for something shiny because let me go back and, if I haven’t hit this home in a while, I’m going to hit it home. We at Land Academy do not want people who are here for something shiny, for a fast buck, for a side hustle, for-

Steven Jack Butala:
Cool because it’s not going to work.

Jill K DeWit:
Or it’s something cool I want to talk about or whatever, I don’t know. No offense, this is not the place. But if you’re really here because you sold a company, retired from this, I’m just done with fill in the blank, I worked my way up the corporate ladder and I can’t take it anymore kind of thing, you are welcome in our world and you’re the right person that you want to do some recon and you really want to dig in a little bit before you make a very … I am going to say this is not a huge financial commitment because it’s not like you’re going back to school to get a PhD, this is not $100,000 price tag thing but it’s still going to take a lot of your time and a lot of your energy and you want to make an informed decision. So, if that’s you, then you’re in the right place. You like that?

Steven Jack Butala:
I love it.

Jill K DeWit:
How about you? What have you got informational to share with us today?

Steven Jack Butala:
Here’s how you get rich. It’s going to take at least two years. You’re going to kick everything to the curb that, probably, everyone told you matters. All the time-consuming things like a social relationship and raising children and all of that, can you do all that? Sure. You can do it after 6:00 at night or before 4:00 in the morning. If you are in a lucky position where you don’t have that stuff, then you have a lot of time. And so, you need to kick it to the curb and spend a ton of time researching and testing and retesting and finding out who you are and then implementing some type of plan. Is it buying and selling land for you? I don’t know, probably not but it’s something.

Jill K DeWit:
True.

Steven Jack Butala:
It might be starting a detail business and there’s a great and easy way to … The wheels get turning when I think about that right now. If I want to start a car detailing business, all right, I’m going to get a pad of paper out, I’m going to say, “What do I need?” I need this equipment, I need this attitude and I probably need a couple of guys that are really good at doing this, maybe they have their own equipment, but what I’m going to really need is getting the word out. I need to capture the people in one or two or three zip codes where I am that have already expressed an interest online in getting their car detailed or maybe I’ll do a bunch of research and find out if they own a large black SUV, they’re much more prone to order detailing service than if they own a 10-year-old Hyundai and on and on.
And I’ll tell you what, after two weeks of probably one or two pads of paper or however you go through these processes, you’re going to have a plan and you’re going to be ready to implement it.

Jill K DeWit:
That’s good.

Steven Jack Butala:
So, if that’s not how you do stuff, then I wish you luck because this is not … Not only is Land Academy not for you, probably owning a business is not for you. And I’ll close on a positive note. If it is, and Land Academy is packed full of people where it is, just go on one Thursday call that we hold as a guest. People that are packed, entrepreneurs that have, just what Jill said-

Jill K DeWit:
Smart people.

Steven Jack Butala:
… businesses that they’ve closed or sold or, not closed, but sold or real estate deals that they’ve done and they’re here to enhance who they are. They’re not here to expect to be created and find out who they are, they already know. We’re not going to help you find out who you are, call your mom for that. We are going to show you how to send some mail out, make a couple million bucks a month if you want.

Jill K DeWit:
That’s awful. Wait, before we wrap this up, what would your dad say about you? I’m like-

Steven Jack Butala:
I know what my dad-

Jill K DeWit:
… I’m trying to think what my mom would say about me.

Steven Jack Butala:
Jill’s mom is still alive and, my dad, he’s still alive and we laugh constantly about how similar they are.

Jill K DeWit:
Yeah.

Steven Jack Butala:
They don’t know each other. I think they don’t even know if they’ve ever met each other.

Jill K DeWit:
They’ve never met, no.

Steven Jack Butala:
How similar they are and that’s why Jill and I have very similar screwed up personality traits.

Jill K DeWit:
We can relate.

Steven Jack Butala:
My dad would say something like, “Well, if I had the answer to that,” he wouldn’t answer, he doesn’t know. My dad doesn’t understand and it’s fine. You should-

Jill K DeWit:
My mom would just still pat me on the head. That’s great, honey. Send me on my way.

Steven Jack Butala:
My dad would do the man version of that.

Jill K DeWit:
There we go.

Steven Jack Butala:
I don’t understand. Didn’t understand you then and don’t understand you now.

Jill K DeWit:
Nope, exactly. That’s very true. So, don’t forget, you can reach us for help and for questions simply by sending a note to my team support@landacademy.com.

Steven Jack Butala:
Join us next Wednesday for another interesting episode. Buy land cheap and sell it for more, usually a lot more.

Jill K DeWit:
We’re Jack and Jill.

Steven Jack Butala:
We’re Jack and Jill. Information-

Jill K DeWit:
And inspiration.

Steven Jack Butala:
To buy undervalued property. Out.