Jill Friday – Reverse Bucket List (LA 1787)
Jill Friday – Reverse Bucket List (LA 1787)
Transcript:
Steven Jack Butala:
Steve and Jill here.
Jill K DeWit:
Happy Friday.
Steven Jack Butala:
Welcome to the Land Academy Show, entertaining land investment talk. I’m Steven Jack Butala.
Jill K DeWit:
And I’m Jill DeWit, broadcasting from the valley of the sun.
Steven Jack Butala:
Today’s Jill Friday and she’s going to talk about her concept of a reverse bucket list.
Jill K DeWit:
Yep.
Steven Jack Butala:
Before we get into it though. Oh…
Jill K DeWit:
It’s okay. No, go.
Steven Jack Butala:
Tell us what a reverse bucket list is.
Jill K DeWit:
No, we’ll just save it. I’ll dive right in.
Steven Jack Butala:
Before we get into it, let’s take a question posted by one of our members on the LandInvestors.com online community. It’s free. And I got to tell you, back in the day, it was impossible to find real estate on the internet without a mailing address.
Jill K DeWit:
It still is impossible.
Steven Jack Butala:
It’s very difficult now.
Jill K DeWit:
But we solved it.
Steven Jack Butala:
We developed a tool called NeighborScoop.com, where all you do is you put in… It’s custom for how we need to find real estate and the facts that we need to know in less than 15 seconds to decide whether or not we’re going to maybe take a crack at buying it. It’s called NeighborScoop.com, and all you got to do is type in state, county, and the assessor’s parcel number and it pops right up.
Jill K DeWit:
Yep. Love it.
Steven Jack Butala:
I was materially personally involved in developing that site and I’m pretty proud of it.
Jill K DeWit:
I love it. Luke wrote, “Hey, all. I have a few properties that a seller has told me they’re willing to sell. Trouble is I’m having a hard time deciding what I think they will retail for. I find the comps to be sporadic.”
Steven Jack Butala:
Yep.
Jill K DeWit:
“$170,000 for a half acre on this side of the road, $50,000 for 15 acres one mile west. You get the picture. Comps are not painting a clear view. What do you suggest I do in this case? I feel bad calling a realtor when I don’t even have a signed contract. Even if I did have a signed deal, it would not likely be a solid price. It would need to be renegotiated. How can I get a better sense of what it’s worth? And do I try and kill the deal?”
Steven Jack Butala:
No. No, you don’t try to kill it.
Jill K DeWit:
Wait. Hold on one moment. Let me explain the try to kill the deal thing. Trying to kill the deal is trying to get the deal, but at a price that’s so great you will buy it and feel great about it because you can’t lose, so I understand with that.
Steven Jack Butala:
Jill came up with concept. Jill personally came up with this concept quite some time ago. She calls it, trying to kill your own deal.
Jill K DeWit:
Yep.
Steven Jack Butala:
What she means is you’re trying to get it for such a stupidly low price. First of all, you don’t like the piece of property that much.
Jill K DeWit:
Right. Right.
Steven Jack Butala:
And so you sent an offer for 30,000. They said, “I’ll take 35.” You look up the deal. It’s like, you know what? This is probably worth 5,000 bucks.
Jill K DeWit:
Right.
Steven Jack Butala:
I’m going to try to kill my own deal.
Jill K DeWit:
You’re going to come in with a number.
Steven Jack Butala:
I’m going to go back in.
Jill K DeWit:
That’s just so crazy low that… All right, everything about it’s fine. It’s just the price. That’s the one thing that’s doing it. And then maybe this, but you know what? If I can get it for five or eight, then I know it’ll solve all those issues and I cannot lose. That’s trying to kill your own deal. You come back and go, “Look, I don’t mean to insult you. I know I said 30. You said 35.” I looked it up and I’m like, “I hate to tell you this, but because of this, this and this, it’s not even worth that. It’s not even worth my original 30. Hey, the best I can do is eight. If that works for you, great. I will lock it down right now. If not, I understand. And I wish you all the best.”
Steven Jack Butala:
And you fully go into this knowing that if they say go jump in the lake…
Jill K DeWit:
They might say yes.
Steven Jack Butala:
They might say jump in a lake.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah, and that’s fine too.
Steven Jack Butala:
And then you’re like, you don’t care.
Jill K DeWit:
I don’t care. Well, no, but they might come back. I always say, “Make sure, you leave the door open.” Because sometimes you say, “All right.” They say, “What, are you kidding? [inaudible 00:03:32], or that’s fine.” I totally get it. I understand. This is just what works for me. Hey, please hang onto my letter, and in 30 days, and if in the next month or in this month you decide 8,000 does work for you, I’ll have it set aside. If I don’t hear from you in a month, that’s fine. But otherwise I’ll have it set aside. Kind of give them a timeline and watch how many times they come back. I’ve had 10,000 become 1000 because just exact situation because I find… I talk to all my family. Nobody wants it. I realize you’re right. I’ll take the eight. There you go. This question was more about numbers are all over the place. Number one, there’s nothing wrong. If you’ve got a really good feeling-
Steven Jack Butala:
This is norm, not the exception.
Jill K DeWit:
You’ve got to… You may not have a signed deal, but you have a number with this person. You’ve got to have a number that they agree upon. The reason you’re having this conversation in your head is because I can buy this property. This guy said I can buy it for 30. Now I got to see if I can make 30 work. Even though it’s like I said, even though it’s not signed yet, that’s fine. You guys had a really good conversation. You feel solid about it. 30’s the number. Now I’m like, I have no problem calling an agent and going, “Hey, can you look at this?” And I always tell them, too, whatever it is, tell them you’re just about to close. I don’t care where you are in the process.
It’s like, you know what? I’m just about to close on this deal and I’m having trouble figuring out what the sales price should be. Can you look at it? They don’t know. They’re not going to dig. They don’t know whether you’re in escrow. They don’t know that the money’s already been wired. That’s why I like them to think and assume, and then go with that. And that’s how I would handle this, because if I really can’t pinpoint it myself, I’m going to call three of them, too, by the way. And hopefully two of them have similar numbers. Then, I feel good about it.
Steven Jack Butala:
Think about where you live right now and think about how much you think your house is worth, or the building that you live in is worth, or how much houses in the area or real estate is generally worth. And then think about what’s going on a mile away. Chances are, it’s either much more expensive or much less expensive. Think about it, all four directions all around you. That’s how real estate is. Every piece of real estate is unique. And so how I would answer this question is you need to be safely below the lowest comp. This is what everybody said in Discord. This is how most people answered it, starting with Kevin Farrell, who’s done a billion deals.
That’s the conventional sense. Is that a hard and fast rule? No. You have to take a look at the property or ask on the Thursday call. We have a Thursday webinar where it’s two hours of Jill and I answering people’s questions. Would you do this deal? And we look at the deal right on the screen and we talk about it and say, “Yeah, I would.”
Jill K DeWit:
And here’s why.
Steven Jack Butala:
Or I wouldn’t or yeah, I would do it, but not for this money. Yeah.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
There’s a art to all of this, that we buy and sell land. That’s why not everybody does it, but it the opposite of that is living in a master plan community where you walked through a-
Jill K DeWit:
Price per square foot is price per square foot. Period.
Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah. You walked through a show home.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
That was all done. You see the options. There’s four models to choose from.
Jill K DeWit:
Right.
Steven Jack Butala:
There’s 1400 units that’ll be built by the time it’s done. And the values of those homes are very dictated by what’s going on next door.
Jill K DeWit:
Yep.
Steven Jack Butala:
Or the most recent sale, so that-
Jill K DeWit:
Pretty easy. That one has a pool, doesn’t have a pool. Got it.
Steven Jack Butala:
Unless you live in a community like that or unless you’re buying and selling land in a community like that, there’s a huge art to this. And that’s kind of one of the things I love about it. There’s nothing finite in this. It’s not the stock market where the value of the stock today is $52 and that’s it. Today’s topic, reverse bucket list. It’s Jill Friday. This is the meat of the show.
Jill K DeWit:
Okay. I came home the other day from my workout group and I was talking. I was relaying to Jack about this conversation I had with a friend of mine. Here’s what’s happening. It’s F45. If you know what F45 is, you know what I’m talking about, where they first, before you come in… By the way, every single flipping day is different, and that’s one of the reasons that I love it. And so every single class, the first few minutes is demoing here’s what you guys are going to do today. You’re going to do three reps of this, two of these. Here’s where your breaks are going to be. Because it’s all fast. And so I’m looking at some of these exercises that I’m already…
There’s a few that I’m already going, “This is how I modify this one. This is what I do over there.” I’m like, “Oh no, that’s not going to happen.” You know what? Actually, here’s where it started now that I think about it. It was the stupid pull-up bar. There’s a pull-up bar way up high. And that came in the workout group last week. And I hopped up on this block and I looked at this pull-up bar and the pull-bar’s staring back down on me. And yes, there’s the bands there. I know I can put my feet in the bands, right? And all I can see is me putting my feet in the bands and swinging out, my head hitting the wall.
Steven Jack Butala:
Ah, Jill.
Jill K DeWit:
That’s all I could imagine. The trainer comes over and he is like, “Here, I’ll hold them and help you.” I’m like, “Oh no, no. This is just not going to happen.” I’m relaying this to my girlfriend sitting next to me. I’m like, “It’s like a reverse bucket list. There’s just things I’m not going to do.” She’s like, “That’s great.”
Steven Jack Butala:
You came up with this?
Jill K DeWit:
Totally.
Steven Jack Butala:
Oh, this is great, Jill.
Jill K DeWit:
Are we in the meat of the show right now?
Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah.
Jill K DeWit:
I need to stay. Okay. I said, “Pull up bar, [inaudible 00:09:04]. Never going to happen.” I do not care how good my someday upper body strength gets. I will never do that. Not happening. And then I said, “By the way…” She’s like, “This is good.” And I said, “Skiing, [inaudible 00:09:19]. I was never that good anyway.”
Steven Jack Butala:
I can second that.
Jill K DeWit:
Exactly. I was a solid beginner, not even really intermediate.
Steven Jack Butala:
I got to-
Jill K DeWit:
I was a solid beginner my whole skiing career. I said water and snow skiing, not going to happen again.
Steven Jack Butala:
I’m going to tell Jill’s ski story here.
Jill K DeWit:
Okay.
Steven Jack Butala:
I’m going to just pause for one second.
Jill K DeWit:
Okay.
Steven Jack Butala:
Jill and I went skiing and on the first run, we went to the top of the mountain and…
Jill K DeWit:
Wait, wait. Before that, please talk about how I looked really good on the bunny hill with the kids. That’s where I think it went sideways.
Steven Jack Butala:
I’m going to tell the story my way.
Jill K DeWit:
Okay. Sorry.
Steven Jack Butala:
And you tell the story your way, if you want.
Jill K DeWit:
Okay.
Steven Jack Butala:
And so if you’ve ever skied with somebody who has a dramatic less ability than you do, you spend a lot of time looking up, waiting. And so I was looking up waiting and I saw it.
Jill K DeWit:
I’d make it over here.
Steven Jack Butala:
Jill’s a mess. Jill’s a mess on the side of the mountain.
Jill K DeWit:
I’d make it over here.
Steven Jack Butala:
Skis everywhere, and just our kids call it a yard sale. Looks a yard sale.
Jill K DeWit:
She’s over here crying, and then I’m-
Steven Jack Butala:
And she’s sitting there I go. I go up the hill. Everyone loves to go up the hill to save somebody. And she sits there crying and she looks up at me and says, “I never really wanted to ski. I just wanted to look good in this outfit.”
Jill K DeWit:
My favorite was when the people would come down and report to you, “She’s doing okay. We just saw her.” They’re just the same people are rotating by.
Steven Jack Butala:
Jill skied one run. Jill skied one real runner in her entire life and that was it.
Jill K DeWit:
No, I have I skied other runs. You took me on the really hard run. Here’s the thing.
Steven Jack Butala:
Okay, see-
Jill K DeWit:
In my-
Steven Jack Butala:
A couple shows ago we did a show called accountability.
Jill K DeWit:
All right.
Steven Jack Butala:
She’s blaming me for this-
Jill K DeWit:
No.
Steven Jack Butala:
When, in fact, she just never learned how to ski and doesn’t care about it.
Jill K DeWit:
I never did. You’re right. I grew up in Southern California.
Steven Jack Butala:
You don’t care.
Jill K DeWit:
It wasn’t a thing.
Steven Jack Butala:
And that’s fine.
Jill K DeWit:
My parents didn’t ski.
Steven Jack Butala:
I think it’s [inaudible 00:11:07].
Jill K DeWit:
I half learned. It was hilarious. No. What was funny was I was helping the kids on the bunny hill for a little bit and you thought I could actually do something. You said, “Come with me.” I’m like, “Okay.”
Steven Jack Butala:
You’ve never had any intention of skiing?
Jill K DeWit:
No, no. I did have intention of skiing, but not… No way, not like you. I’ve only gone when it’s somebody… When on the planet was it been my idea to go skiing? Never. Never
Steven Jack Butala:
See, this is all stuff that’s hindsight.
Jill K DeWit:
Now you know. It’s okay. And I’m not blaming you. Okay, so back to the whole thing. Water skiing, snow skiing, never that good. Not happening. Jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. Never going to do that.
Steven Jack Butala:
Me either.
Jill K DeWit:
Everybody has your bucket list of things you want to do. I’m like, “There’s things I’m never going to do.” And I love this. And so what’s funny is just thinking about it. It kind of ties into… That’s my personal reverse bucket list. I also have a professional reverse bucket list. There’s things in this business I’m never going to learn to do, like everything you do with the podcast. I don’t flipping care. I’m not going to learn how to do this. I don’t need to know it that well. I can hire people.
Steven Jack Butala:
I love this honesty today. This is how it should go every day.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah, yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
Not going to do it. Nope. Nope, Nope, Nope.
Jill K DeWit:
No.
Steven Jack Butala:
I’m never going to own a pizza place again.
Jill K DeWit:
Nope. Not going to do that. Do I really need to learn how to… Some of the arts and crafts and things my friends do, I’m like, “What the heck? That’s stupid. I’m not doing that.”
Steven Jack Butala:
You have a whole list there, don’t you?
Jill K DeWit:
I do. I haven’t brought down… There’s things in our land business. Deming ranchettes never really worked before. I’m not going to buy any deming ranchettes now. Not happening. Properties less than $10,000.
Steven Jack Butala:
Oh, I love this.
Jill K DeWit:
Not going to do it.
Steven Jack Butala:
Jill, I love this.
Jill K DeWit:
It’s too much work.
Steven Jack Butala:
This is the best show ever.
Jill K DeWit:
I’m just not going there.
Steven Jack Butala:
Keep going.
Jill K DeWit:
And then you know what? And then here’s the flip side. Properties that require too much work. I’m not going to do it.
Steven Jack Butala:
Same here.
Jill K DeWit:
I don’t care what the numbers are. I’m not going to undo that mess. I’m just not that guy. I’ve never been that guy.
Steven Jack Butala:
I will renovate a house again.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
Never.
Jill K DeWit:
There you go.
Steven Jack Butala:
Whether I own it, whether I want to live there or not. I won’t ever do it again.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah. I won’t move walls. I can handle light renovations. I can do paint and carpet all day long.
Steven Jack Butala:
I can’t.
Jill K DeWit:
That’s no big.
Steven Jack Butala:
I can’t handle it.
Jill K DeWit:
Well, you won’t need to be there and it’s okay, but I understand. But that’s what it is.
Steven Jack Butala:
If I never walk through a shopping mall again, that’s fine with me.
Jill K DeWit:
All right. No, give me something good. Give something good. Give me something that people often put on their bucket list that you’re like, “It’s not on mine.”
Steven Jack Butala:
What I read quite some time ago, what’s on a lot of people’s bucket list is driving or riding in a convertible.
Jill K DeWit:
What?
Steven Jack Butala:
Isn’t that crazy?
Jill K DeWit:
They’ve never been in a convertible?
Steven Jack Butala:
We have six convertibles between the two of us.
Jill K DeWit:
How weird is that?
Steven Jack Butala:
I know.
Jill K DeWit:
You could rent one.
Steven Jack Butala:
No, I just want to ride in a convertible before I die. Seriously, I know Jill. I know it.
Jill K DeWit:
That’s a really weird one.
Steven Jack Butala:
It was in a top five bucket list.
Jill K DeWit:
What was the age range?
Steven Jack Butala:
I don’t know. I don’t remember.
Jill K DeWit:
That’s really interesting. Let me think. Oh, I got one that covers both of us. This is especially really, really spicy food. Any food challenge? The kids do it, like try this, do that. They have those shows where they do hot peppers. They try to do things-
Steven Jack Butala:
Or 50 hot dogs or whatever.
Jill K DeWit:
I’m not doing that.
Steven Jack Butala:
No, I’ll never do that either.
Jill K DeWit:
Never was going to do that. Not going to.
Steven Jack Butala:
No.
Jill K DeWit:
Here’s you go. Reverse bucket list. I refuse to do anything that’s going to make me throw up.
Steven Jack Butala:
Yes. I’m with that, too. I’m all for that.
Jill K DeWit:
There we go. I do love roller coasters anyway. I’m good with roller coasters, but you know what? I know when to call it. We may or may not have gone to amusement parks in the past with friends and really ripped it up the night before and yes, felt queasy the next day. I will only maybe do that ride once and then we’re done. That’s it.
Steven Jack Butala:
And the kids were real little. We had a different set of friends than we do now.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
It revolved around the kids playing sports, and the kids that they played with, their parents.
Jill K DeWit:
We’d all travel and do that.
Steven Jack Butala:
There was a set of friends that we had, had past tense, that loved amusement parks as much as their children did.
Jill K DeWit:
I love-
Steven Jack Butala:
And so I don’t need to ever go to an amusing park ever again, ever.
Jill K DeWit:
See, that’s on your reverse bucket. See, now, for me, I will.
Steven Jack Butala:
This is a true story.
Jill K DeWit:
I do like this.
Steven Jack Butala:
We took all our kids to Disneyland one day. I think it was Christmas Day.
Jill K DeWit:
It was Christmas time.
Steven Jack Butala:
It was the most-
Jill K DeWit:
It was the day after or something. It was stupid.
Steven Jack Butala:
The busiest day in Disneyland ever. Not just that year, ever. In fact, even the staff were walking around saying, “I’ve never seen it like this.” I lasted, maybe, what? An hour.
Jill K DeWit:
Daddy gave Mommy the keys and took an Uber home.
Steven Jack Butala:
I took a freaking Uber from Disneyland to the beach.
Jill K DeWit:
To get the heck out of there.
Steven Jack Butala:
From Anaheim to the beach, it took… It was dark when I got there.
Jill K DeWit:
And we stayed till… We did the full 1:00 AM thing, the kids and I, and then drove through In-N-Out on the way home. It was the funniest thing. Yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
There’s no amusement in an amusement park.
Jill K DeWit:
I’m trying to think what else there… You know what? I don’t know. That motorcycle we have out there, I’m not sure about it. Once upon a time, I’d hop on a two wheel motorcycle. Now I need three or four.
Steven Jack Butala:
Wheels?
Jill K DeWit:
Yes. Now, my bicycle. I’m good on that and my bike’s electric.
Steven Jack Butala:
I’m learning a lot about you today.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah. But that motorcycle you’ve got out there is a little too tall for me. I’m not 100% sure I’d be really good on that, and I’m okay with that. You know what it is? And I’ll end it on this. It’s confidence, I think, and knowing what you’re good at and not being embarrassed or shy, or just say, “I’m just not doing that.” I’m proud of saying, “Hey, knock yourself out. I’m not doing that.”
Steven Jack Butala:
I fell off of a ladder about… How many? About maybe a month ago.
Jill K DeWit:
Weeks. Yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
And really got hurt, actually.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
And so now I’m like, “You know what? I’m just not going to do this stuff.” I’m going to hire somebody.
Jill K DeWit:
Yep.
Steven Jack Butala:
I’m not going to move this stuff around. I’m just not. I’m not going to do anything. My point, this is my last one, where there’s a reasonable chance that I’m going to get hurt pretty good.
Jill K DeWit:
Yep. Getting on a ladder.
Steven Jack Butala:
Yep. That’s a good one.
Jill K DeWit:
I’ll get on a short ladder, but not a big one like that, and try to lift something like that.
Steven Jack Butala:
One of the spoils of doing what we do for a living and what you do, listener, what you do for a living is when you start to make a bunch of money, it affords you the opportunity to not do stuff you don’t want to do, including having a job or working for somebody you don’t like. That’s the real win. And so when you start making money and more money and more money, you can never get out of raising your children. If you could’ve outsourced that, I would’ve done it a long time.
Jill K DeWit:
There’s some great nannies out there. There’s a thing called boarding school.
Steven Jack Butala:
There are a few things you can’t get out of no matter how much money you make. Raising these freaking kids is one of them.
Jill K DeWit:
Right.
Steven Jack Butala:
But as you make more money, you don’t have to do stuff, like clean your own house.
Jill K DeWit:
True. That’s a good one.
Steven Jack Butala:
I’m not sure that anyone’s ever-
Jill K DeWit:
I don’t do that.
Steven Jack Butala:
You don’t need to cook your own food.
Jill K DeWit:
In our business, I don’t answer the phone.
Steven Jack Butala:
Yep.
Jill K DeWit:
It’s kind of nice.
Steven Jack Butala:
All of that.
Jill K DeWit:
I don’t collect the mail. I barely answer the front door.
Steven Jack Butala:
What do you do? What do you actually… I don’t answer the front door, at all.
Jill K DeWit:
I only do it when it’s DoorDash and I know what it is. It’s kind of like…
Steven Jack Butala:
I never answer.
Jill K DeWit:
Or, oh, mommy’s popcorn maker got here. I answer that. I’m excited about that. That’s about it. Yeah. All right. I think we covered it.
Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah, me too.
Jill K DeWit:
I think you got the gist of it.
Steven Jack Butala:
It’s so far off topic.
Jill K DeWit:
I know. That was the topic. Today was just fun. Happy you could join us today. Five days a week you can find us here on the Land Academy Show.
Steven Jack Butala:
Join us next week for another interesting episode. You are not alone in your real estate ambition.
Jill K DeWit:
No. It’s just good to think about, and you could say this whole concept of reverse bucket list is really about things you’re not going to do. And I like with the way you tied it into your career. When you move up the ladder, make more money, fill in however you look at it, there’s stuff you just don’t have to do. Now you got people below you, even if it’s just you and your own little land business, right? And you hate doing due diligence, man, start subbing that out.
Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah.
Jill K DeWit:
Look how great that is.
Steven Jack Butala:
Yeah.
Jill K DeWit:
You don’t have to do it anymore.
Steven Jack Butala:
Sub it out.
Jill K DeWit:
It’s nuts.
Steven Jack Butala:
The older you get, the more free you should be.
Jill K DeWit:
Yeah.
Steven Jack Butala:
Not the other way around. Your children leave the house. You should be free. You should have less and less and less and less responsibility. If you’re having more responsibility, you got to stop for a second and wonder why, unless you want it.
Jill K DeWit:
That’s true.
Steven Jack Butala:
Unless you want a lot of responsibility. I don’t personally know anyone that’s like that, but maybe… I mean, I’m sure they’re out there.
Jill K DeWit:
I bet there’s some people that think that’s cool, and we’re just not those people. We are going to go right into the ending.
Steven Jack Butala:
Oh, okay.
Jill K DeWit:
Ready? 3, 2, 1. We are Jack and Jill.
Steven Jack Butala:
We are Jack and Jill. Information…
Jill K DeWit:
And inspiration…
Steven Jack Butala:
To buy undervalued property.
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