I’m Steven Jack Butala.

I’m Jill DeWit, and this is the Land Academy Show.

Reframing Your Mindset For 2025

This is episode number 2,094. All week, we’re talking about reframing your mindset for 2025. This week, it’s the new year.

Yes, it is. I need to pause.

It just hit me.

What’s going on?

It’s 2025.

Isn’t that wild? I wonder how much of it is because we were gone for six months. Although, I felt like sometimes we were gone for six months in the RV, it felt like just a minute. Sometimes it felt like a decade.

I love you too, sweetheart.

I was talking to someone last night. Truth time, I’m not my best self today. We were out last night, and I met this one for the first time. She’s like, she’s my age, and she’s on her second or third marriage. Not sure.

She’s not sure?

No, I am not sure. She’s sure. Anyway, before her fiancé got there, she’s like, he’s been trying to get me to do this RV thing. It’s funny because I am sure everyone sees RVing like a Christmas vacation with Chevy Chase.

Or worse.

They all think, okay. Our friends were telling us this other story too, about buying an Airstream sight unseen. It was in 1974.

They showed us pictures. Finally did see it.

They’re like, what have we done? Now it’s just a prop in their backyard, basically. Anyway, that was so funny because of that. I was thinking, what do people think when they think of us? I’m here to tell you, it’s not like that at all.

We’ve spent six months in an RV this summer going up and down the Rocky Mountains, and it’s not our first time. This is our third summer doing it where we knew what to expect. I did. I knew what to expect on the outside. You did on the inside. You meet a lot of people, and you tell them we’re in an RV. We’ve been in an RV for a few months. It causes an immediate reaction for everybody. They’re horrified. Most people are horrified.

I’m going to say it’s gender-specific.

Most people are horrified. Some people are, I’ve just always wanted to do that. Please tell me everything. But you don’t get a lot of in-between lukewarm opinions about it. Is it gender-specific?

I see women going, oh, and the men are like, freedom.

Everybody’s had a camping experience. Everybody. When you’re a little kid, you probably slept in a tent. I did, way more than just a handful of times. It’s just how we grew up in Michigan. This is not a tent experience. This is not an outhouse experience or any of that. We have a full-size residential washer and dryer and a refrigerator and all of that. It’s just you’re moving your house to cool places. That’s essentially what we do.

It’s a condo on the way on wheels, like a yacht.

There’s a lot of RVs on the market that have 2,300 miles on them. That seems to be people’s break point. 2,300 miles is about a medium summer trip.

That’s like, she gave me this, now we’re selling it. It didn’t work. My point was it’s like, here we are going on into 2025. I am personally excited. I’m excited for business reasons. I’m excited for personal reasons. I’m excited for this real estate market shakeup coming up, and however you vote, it doesn’t matter. I’m excited for something different. That’s a good thing.

This is a great way to kick off this week. Jill and I are financially done, and we have been for a lot of years. We continue to run Land Academy and, as enthusiastically as possible, both of us show up for Land Academy to teach new, younger people how to buy and sell real estate. This whole week, we’re talking about reframing your mindset for 2025, coming from two people who reframed their mindset a long time ago separately.

This is good.

We are now done. I feel very qualified to talk about what it’s going to take, no matter where you are in your career, to change what’s going on in your head, because it has to change in your head first before it changes in your actions so that you can be independently wealthy.

Brilliant. I’m happy to be here. Happy to sit next to you. These are good shows you have.

Buying And Reselling Land For Profit

It is Monday. We’re going to talk about buying a piece of land and reselling it for more. That’s been our business model since the beginning of all of this. It couldn’t be more simple. On Tuesday, we’ll talk about defining clear goals and removing everything that’s in your way. How do I know what’s in your way? Because it was in my way, and we’re going to hear from Jill too.

A lot of this stuff Jill and I haven’t really talked about in great detail. I got started, and she got started down this path separately. We joined forces probably 10 or 15 years after that. We’ve been together doing it for 10 or 15 years, and it worked. On Wednesday, we’re going to implement these five daily habits until you see automatic and direct financial results, until it just becomes a habit. Then now it’s your life. It’s not something that you’re attempting. On Thursday, we’re going to talk about reviewing your personality and making the appropriate changes that are conducive to being wealthy.

Always my favorite. I love when I have to talk about my personality, just joking.

I love it.

I know.

You can talk about mine.

It doesn’t say, review your character flaws.

If you are just a lazy person and you don’t feel like working that hard, this might not be for you. There’s a better podcast for you.

It’s called, “How’s Your Commute Today?”

It’s called, “It’s Cheaper to Live in Mexico.” On Friday, we’ll finally talk about implementing the path toward your financial reward. Not joking about Mexico at all. Each day on the show, we answer a question from our Land Academy member Discord forum, and we take a deep dive into land-related topics by popular request.

Brenton wrote, “My first mailer has been marked, sent to printing. It should be hitting soon. I’m very excited about it. When I reach an agreement price with a seller, I know I need to have a signed purchase agreement before I can move forward and search for a funding partner. However, I’m a bit unclear on the process involving the title company. Once I have the PA, should I immediately call the title company and open escrow, or should I wait until I secure a funder? Also, what type of timeline do you give the seller to complete due diligence before finalizing the price, one day, a few days, or a week? I know I’ll learn more about this as I engage with sellers, but I’d like to have a general idea of what to expect so I can set reasonable expectations for them. As Jill mentioned, I’m already in the process of identifying local title companies and lenders to be ready to move quickly once a deal is in place.”

This is a good, basic, easy question, Brenton. Awesome. You have an agreement with a seller. First of all, let me put the questions in order. I’ve completed my due diligence. We need to finalize a price. How much time do I give the seller? I’m going to say 1 to 2 days, don’t go past that. 1, 2, 3 days, I’m good with that. If you go into a week, they’re going to change their mind. Now they’re not interested. Now they’re going to talk to their family. Now it’s going to come up at church, and there’s always going to be like, “You’re going to sell what for what? Shoot, I’ll give you that.”

Time kills deals. You want to strike while the iron’s hot, not only on this, but everything.

My personal goal, my favorite, is, I understand you need to sleep on it. I get it. How about this? I’ll call you tomorrow morning, give you and your wife time to sleep on it, and I’ll call you tomorrow morning. We’ll wrap up any last questions, and I can get title open tomorrow.

They change their mind. You change your mind. You never want to be pushy, and you never want to talk somebody into doing something they don’t truly want to do. The vast majority of the deals that we’ve done have garnered a response like this, “How’s your timing?” “Perfect. I just got your letter. What’s the next step? We need to move to Massachusetts, and I need to sell the property.”

There we go. The second question is, we gave them that day, we call them back, and this is where they say, “Brenton, we’re ready to go. We got you. We talked about it. It’s going to work out great. Thank you. What’s the next step?” You’re saying, “Give me a couple hours. I’m calling Susie, whatever, ABC Title,” because you, Brenton, already had that lined up. You already talked to Susie, you know how long it’s going to take and all that. Like, “I’ve already talked to Susie. She can close this in about fifteen business days. I make sure I’ve got all the information.”

That’s how fast you open title. After you call Susie and you get title open, all that good stuff, you’re like, “Now I’m looking around going, I need someone to lend me $25,000 because I don’t have it.” That’s where your big question is. I need to secure a funder for that. Really easy to say, “It’s closing in fifteen days. You can submit it to us directly. You can put it in our Discord base under Partnership Wanted. There’s lots of people out there, and then it’ll come.”

If you need to change any paperwork on the back end, like you need a new purchase agreement or something like that, once you secure whatever, maybe it’s me, escrow says, “That’s great. I just need this redone to show Jill’s name is buying it, not your name, Brenton.” No problem. That’s really easy to do. It takes minutes.

I don’t want you to overcomplicate this. Jill’s done this literally a thousand times. She gets into a description that’s pretty lengthy. Here’s what happens, the seller says they want to sell it. You ask them to sign the agreement and send it back more. The reason you do that is because you want to know they’re serious about selling it, and they mentally have signed something, so they’re now a real seller.

Due Diligence Process In Real Estate Transactions

What I do when that moment happens is look up the property and see if I actually want to buy it and confirm that the price is okay. It’s got access, and I run through all the due diligence. I want to super clarify something you say here, What timeline do you give the seller to complete due diligence? Sellers don’t do due diligence, you do. You’re the buyer. You want to make sure you want to buy the property. I really can’t emphasize that enough. It’s very often that we say we just don’t want to buy it or we want to change the price.

Sellers don't do due diligence; you do. You're the buyer. Share on X

Once you’ve decided you want to buy it, and you have a signed purchase agreement, you call the title company and say, “I’d like to open escrow. I’m buying a piece of property.” They’re going to say, “What’s your email address?” I’m going to send you a list of the stuff that I need, and you’ll send it to them, and that’s it. Make sure that you tell the escrow agent that you are bringing on a partner, and you don’t know exactly what name the property should go into when you buy it. That’s all.

Of all the things that we do, this is maybe the least complicated, most mechanical, least emotional, almost-always-works portion of what we do. The good news is this, you’re part of Land Academy. As soon as it happens, please reach out to anybody in the group, even people on our staff, and say, “This is my first time doing this, and I just need some reassurance.” There’s no shame in that. First time doing anything can be scary.

Isn’t it lovely you get two different answers because you got two different people?

Yeah. You should listen to the person who’s done it more, and that’s Jill. Our topic, buy a piece of property and resell it for more. That could be mic drop. That’s the whole show. I’ve said this many times. Jill and I, over the course of our time together, are asked this question, just like you, “What do you guys do for a living?” It happened last night. “I buy property and resell it for more.” 

All you're supposed to do for the rest of your life to achieve incredible success, as well as you would like to be, is buy a piece of property and resell it for more. Share on X

If you are having, or if you are unpleased with your financial situation in life, I would encourage you to buy a piece of property and resell it for more. Just like we were talking about earlier, that sentence brings out a lot of immediate reactions from people. What are some of the reactions that you’ve got from people when you say that?

What do you do to it?

How do you find a piece of property where you can sell it for more? Why would somebody sell their property for less than it’s worth?

They assume I do something to it, or they assume I hold it for like a decade. Nope, and nope.

If they’re a rancher, like in the case of last night, they immediately judge you. We don’t do this with ranch land. Why? Not because we can’t make money. It’s just because it’s not the best piece of property to do this with. That’s not the best subtype of property. Property that’s going to be built on or is worth less than the environment, it’s worth more than the environment that it’s being presented in, that’s the type of property we’re going to buy, and it’s almost never ranch land. 

In the simplest form, if you are in the beginning of your career or you’re making some career changes or life changes, and it’s the new year in a few days, write this down on the mirror and look at it every single morning. This is all you’re responsible for doing for the rest of your life, if that’s what you choose, and it’ll keep food on your table, and probably a lot more than that.

I do have to add one thing that I noticed a lot of people doing. Be specific. Don’t just buy it because I watch people like, “I’m going to buy it.” “Oh, okay. Jack, I’m going to do that. I’m going to do what you said. I’m going to buy anything I can get my hands on and sell it for more,” which is good/slash. However, it can get nutty.

I put out a call for help for BOG to help us out in some areas of the country for houses. I got some people who came back with a plethora of experience, and it was a little scattered. I’m like, “I did this house, I did this apartment, I did this land, I did this, I did this.” I’m like, you’re never going to get good at one thing if you’re doing this over here, and this over here, and this over here. I was going to say one thing for me is, when you’re new and you’re starting out, if you’re watching this, “Buy a piece of property, resell it for more.” Sticky note. Make it specific. Make it easier.

You buy a piece of land and resell it for more. Buy a piece of real vacant land and sell it for more. Buy a piece of land for this much money and sell it for this much money. If you add even some things like that, it’s going to make your life easier and make your job easier, and you’re going to be focused on just that. I would personally say, like, on my sticky note, it would be, “Buy a piece of rural vacant land that’s more than an acre for around $30,000 and sell it for $80,000.” You think I’m kidding?

No, this would be the worst idea I’ve ever heard.

Why? Because if I know what I’m doing, I know exactly what I’m doing.

You’re putting yourself in a box.

I want to be specific.

When you’re young or when you’re changing careers, maybe you’re a real estate agent and you’re tired of it. Maybe you’re an accountant and you can’t take even one more day at work, put a freaking sticky note on your mirror and say, but all you got to do is buy a laundry list of instructions about which County it’s going to be in, what the buy and sell amounts are for. This isn’t what I want you to do instead. You can listen to mom, or you can listen to dad.

Here we go. Do you guys hear the show yesterday? They didn’t agree about one thing other than their stupid RV. If I hear one more story about how great that is and they’re still together or whatever, but everything else, they didn’t agree about any of it.

Go on Zillow. Go to the County where you are sitting, or where you live, or an adjacent County, something that you’re familiar with where you’re looking at the map.

That’s going to come.

That’s exactly right. That’s why the piece of the note should say, “Buy a piece of property and sell it for more.” I feel like crap. My boss is a dummy. Then why don’t you buy a piece of property and sell it for more? That’s the point to this. Not, “Let’s buy a piece of property for $30,000 and resell it for $80,000.” It can only be real vacant land.

I was making my life easier.

It can only be in Wayne County, Michigan.

I wasn’t going to say that, but I was going a step further, but okay.

Go on to Zillow. In any County that’s got more than 10 or 15 active properties or sales, it could be land, could be houses, could be anything. Somewhere in there is the best deal that’s for sale. You need to start to automatically train yourself to look for the best deal in a market. Am I saying that you should pull the trigger and buy it? Absolutely not. I would not recommend that. What I want you to do is that’s just now your life. I probably spend, for better or for worse, two hours a day, seven days a week, usually in my spare time, looking at markets like that, whether it’s Zillow, or Realtor.com, or usually now it’s Redfin. 

Redfin’s got more detail, and it’s presented in a way that’s a little bit better. These are on-the-market MLS properties. Eventually, what will happen if you do this, this is all in the name of that sticky note, what will happen is you’re going to say, “I don’t know. I need more information. I need more information about this market. I can’t make a completely and totally informed decision about what the SFR breakpoint is, a single-family residential house breakpoint. There’s just not very much land for sale for here.” Why? You can go start digging into other sources all over the internet, and congratulations, now you’re a real estate investor. 

If you can’t stand the idea of this, then you don’t really need to listen to the podcast for the rest of the week. All you’re supposed to do for the rest of your life to get incredibly wealthy, to get as wealthy as you would like to be, is buy a piece of property and resell it for more. Join us again. It’s Tuesday. We talk about defining clear goals and removing everything that’s in your way. You are not alone in your real estate ambition. We are Jack and Jill, information and inspiration to buy undervalued property.