Episode number 2,048. It is the fifth installment of five episodes where we talk about buying and reselling a property, a piece of land, from start to finish. We’re going to talk about selling it, the final piece. 

Why Selling Is Exciting

Which is great. Most people, I think, are most excited here like, “It’s done, it’s closed. I just got a check or a wire for X amount of money. Isn’t this awesome?” I do agree with that. I still get more jacked on the buy side.

I have to say, as a former recovering accountant, that I love it when money comes in, not out.

That’s it. Isn’t that funny? That’s probably why it’s so different for us. I like having all this property because I know it’s possible. You like having all the cash. 

Cash makes its own money. Never mind. On another day, we’ll talk about that. 

That’d be a whole different show. That’s Jack by himself show, not Jack and Jill.

Yes. What type of balance sheet do you pray to? That’s the name of that show by Jack. Just Jack.

There we go. I just don’t have to show up that day. Thank you. You didn’t just let me know when that is. 

On Monday, we talked about setting your acquisition criteria and then finding places to send mail. On Tuesday, we talked about pricing and sending the actual land mailer. Wednesday, we talked about Jill’s magic, how she creates land deals, and how she basically answers the phone and gets stuff done. It creates the magical part, the moment, the magical moment when the deal starts. Thursday, we bought the property, and in this episode, we’re going to sell it. Each day on the show, we answer a question from our Land Academy member Discord forum and take a deep dive into land-related topics by popular request. Jill, we have a question.

Chris wrote, “I’m closing on my first piece of property, which is in Florida. I’m paying both sides of the closing costs as part of the deal. The total is just shy of $1,460. I’m wondering if that’s normal or if I need to find a different title company going forward.” It depends on how big it is. Let’s just say right now, if you’re buying for $20,000, $30,000 and it’s ten acres or something. I don’t even know what it is really money-wise. $20,000 to $30,000 sounds about right. 

I agree.

I’m good.

Closing costs and we do this too, by the way. We pay for all closing costs. We previously talked about buying the property and making the seller feel comfortable. One of the things we do is pay for all the associated costs, and $1,500 is right about the middle. We’ve closed larger properties in Southern California, where it’s $2,000 or $3,000 to close. We’ve closed properties in the center of the country where it wasn’t $1,000.

I’ve had attorneys that are cheaper. You could shop around, but that’s not nuts. I will say this. I don’t offer to do that on the sell side. I let the sell side just play itself out. I don’t complicate it and often I’m selling with and we’re going to talk about a little bit today. Some of the brokers or an agent and I don’t say, “By the way, I’m paying all this.” It’s just complicated. When they do their traditional forms, we all just pay for our traditional stuff on the south side.

It’s all very organized and what’s called a closing statement, formerly known as a HUD-1. It’s very to the cent organized. If you’ve never seen a HUD-1 or you’re interested in how the money and the whole scenario play out, please just Google it and look at some examples of houses that have closed. It’s the same document for any type of real estate deal, whether it’s a skyscraper or a vacant piece of land with no financing. This episode’s topic is The Moment of Truth. It’s the curtain close on your real estate deal selling the property. Here’s the setup, Jill. We bought the property. It’s out of escrow. It’s in your name or your LLC’s name. What do you do? 

Working With Real Estate Agents

I have already done part of this, by the way. Prior to closing, this is what I do. I’m in close, I’m in escrow, and we’re going to close a week from Friday, let’s just say. Now, I’m starting to reach out to local agents. The first thing I’ve done, too, is I’ve googled, or I’ve actually gone on like Zillow or Realtor or something. That’s really what I’ve done. I find agents in the area who have active and preferably sold comps that look just like what I’m doing. I know they have a buyer’s list. I’m looking at their photos. 

Want to sell your property fast? Pick agents who have solid buyer's list and proven results. Their expertise can make all the difference. Share on X

I like their description. I see how long they’ve been in business. I’ve got their reviews, fill in the blank. I like them. I pick out, let’s just say, three that meet my criteria. Then I call them. This was before I bought the property. I want this to be ready to go the day I close on the property. That’s why I’m doing it now. I’m doing it ten days, two weeks out from closing. I call them and see who answers the phone. Who do I have a connection with? Who gets back to me? Who really shows up and looks at the property? Who is taking a serious interest? 

Who can I connect with? Who has a price that I agree with? All those things. If you start with three, you’re going to end up with one. Hopefully, you’re going to end with one. You’re like, “Bill and I agree on this. Bill and I are on the same page. Boy, I thought I was going to list it for 65.” Bill said, “Let’s start at $80,000 because he thinks it’s going to go somewhere in the 70s.” I like Bill. Watch Bill be right because I’ve had that happen, too. I was wrong, and Bill was right. I got more money for it, and it paid for Bill. 

Land sales can take time, but with the right agent, you can sell fast! Find someone who knows your market and watch your profits grow. Share on X

That’s what I do. Selling the property. Bill knows I’m going to close on this day, and Bill might start to get some photographs and a drone. Bill might get some stuff lined up. That’s the perfect scenario because I want it to go fast. I want the day that we own it, Bill, to be able to have the listing ready and push the button. I can say, “Bill, we’re closing today.” He can go, “Bing, it’ll be live at 5:00. Yes, awesome. This is great.” The planet out there can look at it and start calling Bill to buy the property.

I’ve often said, and I have 100 examples to back this statement up. I’m one person away from being wildly financially successful at anything I set out to do. This is that one person. Bill here, who Jill’s talking about, could be, this could be his first deal. He is amazingly ambitious and knows absolutely nothing about what he’s doing. The property stays on the market for six months and never gets sold. 

You could go to a place like Mossy Oak or Whitetail properties which are our national real estate franchises. Some of them are corporate-owned, and some of them are franchised out and specialize in land. The people who work there as agents are really into the land like we are. They make the deal go amazingly smooth. Jill might contact them and they may say, “This is perfect for John Smith. Let’s do the listing and I can sell it really quickly.”

One of the things you brought up, though, I like how you started this. Assuming I’ve done my work, everything worked out great, and I picked someone who is a seasoned pro. I don’t know if I would have chosen Bill because it’s his first deal. I could see that and I know that. I wouldn’t have picked Bill. That’s the thing. When I did my homework on Bill before I even called him, I knew he had three that he already sold in the last 90 days that were the same size as mine. 

Managing Multiple Deals

That’s why I called Bill. What you started to say, which is great, is how this one person can make you wildly successful. Here’s why. I have a bill in every state and every market. I can have 25 bills all going at the same time. Think about that one because the minute I’m in escrow, this is the end of the line for what I have to do. Then it’s just managing and fun. I made the deal. I opened escrow. I’m managing the deal to close, talking to Bill a little bit, and then I’m basically passing the torch to Bill. 

I got a bill here, a bill there, and a bill there. Then it’s my job to do two things. Once a week, I connect with all my bills. It’s really easy and actually, my staff does that and I get a report every week on every single agent. “What’s going on?” “We had six showings and some reviews. I think this person’s going to put in an offer tomorrow,” whatever it is. They have a little bit of a recap on everything. 

Weekly check-ins are key to managing a successful land sale. Stay connected with your agent and keep the momentum going. Share on X

It might even be, “They’re suggesting we knock the price down a little bit just to get a little juice on it.” I’m like, “Whatever it is.” I see all that. I’m managing that on one side. If it were me by myself, I have Jack, so I don’t have to do this, but I’m assuming you’re by yourself. You’re keeping an eye on your bills, and you’re working on the next mailer and the next mailer. 

By the way, that one person away from me being wildly financially successful is Jill. 

That’s fine. 

I would encourage you to find somebody like a data person if you are Jill, or find a Jill if you’re a data person like me. 

That was a missing piece for us. That’s very true. Can I finish? 

Sure. 

How Often To Check In With Agents

Once a week, one of my bills comes forward and goes, ding, ding, “Let’s do it. Here we go. This offer just came in. It’s all cash. I think it looks great. I think the guy has the funds. I think he can close and he’s ready to go. I’m going to say do it, Bill.” Here’s the escrow. Susie here is ready to go and Bill’s like, “On it.” I’m still with my staff and now we’re in escrow. Remember, on the sell side, it’s a once-a-week rule of thumb to check in with your selling person, your selling broker agent. When you’re in escrow, twice a week is a number. I want everybody to be in touch twice a week until the deal is done, closed, paid, and recorded. 

That’s great advice. 

Thank you. Then you rinse and do it again. Then you go, “Here’s a beautiful thing, too. Now I’ve got Bill. Bill, I’m going to get three more.” Bill goes, “Hold on a moment.” If Bill doesn’t do this, you ask Bill. “Bill, I’m going to do three more of these. Unless you have anything else you think I should do, would that go even faster?” “Yeah, double the parcel size because I had so many people that asked about this property, but they wished it was 10 acres instead of 5. If you can get me some 10s, I’ll sell those all day long.” Then away you go. 

You have new acquisition criteria for yourself, and you start the process all over. 

You have a team. You got Bill, you got Susie at ABC escrow, and boy, now you could spend a year and just spend a year, have a great time with those people, or have three more in a perfect world than three other states. 

You’ve read five episodes of this. This is the fifth episode, and you’re saying to yourself, “Jack, there’s a lot involved here.” Sure, I’m going to make $1 million a year doing it or whatever number I decide, but there’s a huge learning curve and a lot of stuff to do. That’s why Jill and I created a group called Land Academy Pro, where you get to use our staff to do everything. There are obviously several things that you still need to do yourself forever, like choosing a place to send mail. You’re responsible for finding your own real estate at the agent that Jill just described at the end of the deal. To qualify for Land Academy Pro, you need to participate in one of our career path sessions. The one that’s coming up now is October 28. That’s a career path ten. 

Two in 2025. This is 2 of 3 in 2024. 

I’m not selling anything here. Part of being an active Land Academy Pro member is that you get free access to any of the career paths. All of the current Land Academy Pro members, if they want to, will be in attendance for career paths. These are people that are doing deals every week. You can expose yourself to them and get real. A real world, real exposure to people who have joined Land Academy and are doing well. Sometimes not so well. Sometimes, they’ve got deals that what do we do now. We did this, we made a mistake and that’s what this is about. 

We help them solve it and figure it out. This is good. Thank you. 

If you have questions about any of that, please email Support@LandAcademy.com and they’ll tell you all about it. 

Perfect. What you just brought up at the bottom line is I was just thinking, just say this, whoever you are, whatever you need, we can do it. Personal help with this, help with that. Finding a partner, dream it up. If any of this makes sense to you, whatever level that you’re at, we’ll get you there. 

If you have more than one personality disorder, joining a career path is not for you. You would not be the first person who joined a career path. 

Where did that come from? 

Just because the people who want to join a career path and get something out of it and launch their career, you don’t need to deal with John over in the corner, who has OCD and needs everything repeated 42 times. 

Why is this on your mind right now? Did you see something? Is there like, “What am I missing?”

I want people who want to learn to join a career path and the people who are cuckoo not to because I’m the host. 

Let’s just say this. If you’re thinking about a career path, there’s an interview process and that’s part of the reason why. We’ll just leave it at that. That was left to feel, but I appreciate that’s important to you. 

I just had memories. Join us next time for five more interesting episodes. You are not alone in your real estate ambition. We are Jack and Jill. Information. Inspiration. To buy undervalued property.

 

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