Is FaceBook Dead or Alive for Land Flipping

Jack Butala: Is FaceBook Dead or Alive for Land Flipping. Every Single month we give away a property for free. It’s super simple to qualify. Two simple steps. Leave us your feedback for this podcast on iTunes and number two, get the free ebook at landacademy.com, you don’t even have to read it. Thanks for listening.

Jack Butala:
Welcome to Land Academy. This is the Cash Flow From Land show. Where we show you how to buy unwanted, vacant land and sell it for more on the internet. I’m Jack Butala.

Jill DeWit:
I’m Jill DeWit. We are your hosts.

Jack Butala:
With over 15,000 completed transactions, we are the experts in this nichey land-flipping business.

Jill DeWit:
We hold a drawing to win a free property every month. Enter to win by reviewing the show on i-Tunes and downloading our free e-book at Land Academy.com.

All right, lets get the show started.

Jack Butala:
As Jack Butala from Land Academy, welcome to our Cash Flow From Land show. We show you how to buy property for half and resell it the very next day. Great information and instruction from Jack. That’s me.

Jill DeWit:
Inspiration from Jill. That’s me.

Jack Butala:
Here is some funny stuff that happened to us recently.

Jill DeWit:
Do you know that we totally ditched our dinner reservations Saturday night because we were having so much fun with our people.

Jack Butala:
No, what happened?

Jill DeWit:
I had dinner lined up for us …

Jack Butala:
I love that I don’t know this.

Jill DeWit:
I know. Well, we talked about it. We had a really impromptu get-together with some of our Land Academy people and it was so darn cool Saturday night that I didn’t bother interrupting you by saying “dinner came and went by the way.” But it did. You were so funny. I’m like I guess he forgot about eating. So that’s all good.

Jack Butala:
Here’s the back story on this. One of our competitors, our competitor Mark, the guy that was my very first student back in the late ’90s when we didn’t even have Land Academy. Not even close. He had a live event and several of his people, I guess they are members. Some members and not members of ours …

Jill DeWit:
No, no ours.

Jack Butala:
… contacted us and said “hey, we’ll be done with him and we would like to meet you guys.” So we did.

Jill DeWit:
We had a great time.

Jack Butala:
We had so much fun. I guess we had dinner plans with people. I didn’t even know about it.

Jill DeWit:
No, it’s all good. I quietly took care of it.

Jack Butala:
That is funny stuff. We had a blast.

Jill DeWit:
I had to drag you out of there. I was like okay, it’s getting late now. Some of them were on east coast time. Seriously.

Jack Butala:
We’re getting all kinds of nice notes. Lots of nice notes from all the people that showed up for that. Thank you.

Jill DeWit:
It was awesome.

Jack Butala:
In this episode, Jill and I talk about “Is Facebook dead or alive for land flipping?”

Jill, great show today. Before we start, let’s take a question posted by one of our members on SuccessPlant.com, our free online community.

Jill DeWit:
Jason P. Wrote, “I normally filter out big companies from my mailers because they almost never respond, but I left in BNSF Railroad on one parcel to see what would happen. To my surprise, they responded and wanted to sell. Seems like a ton of red tape they want me to go through to proceed. So I was wondering if anyone else has had any experience buying from a railroad and if there are any pitfalls I need to look out for? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.”

Jack Butala:
Okay, I love this question.

Jill DeWit:
I do too.

Jack Butala:
Here’s why I love it. Not just the question itself, but I remember when Jason signed up like 2 or 3 months ago. He is clearly doing everything right. It implies he is one of those people who disappeared for awhile clearly because he was working on this and then came back to Success Plant. He has advanced to the next level or 2 levels above where he was, or 4 even. Now he is back at Success Plant asking questions. He is using all these tools exactly how they are intended to be used.

Jill DeWit:
I notice, too, he is not afraid to test some things. I love that. Not afraid to take on a transaction like this because he is there now. He has done enough little ones, he has opened up to this stuff. So it is good.

Jack Butala:
In the Cash Flow From Land Program, I talk about the 3 main sources of buying rural land. One of them is large corporations. Truthfully, I remove, even on our mailers here at LandStay, our regular land company, I remove large companies too. But once in awhile … some of the best acquisitions I’ve ever done have been because I made an error in the data scrubbing process of doing a mail merge and left some properties in that I typically wouldn’t send offers to. It turned out it was the greatest mistake ever. You know, we bought property that was way more worth than what we paid. It sounds like that is what is going on here.

My recommendation, to answer the question directly Jason, is continue down the road and see what they have. Railroads don’t typically own tiny little pieces of property and they don’t typically own one. So while there is probably a huge board approval process and it could take months, maybe even longer, what the heck? I think it would be fun to stand up in front of a board. You know what? Jason, if you want my help, let me know. I’ll stand up in front of a railroad board. I don’t want to hold your hand through the transaction and all the small details, but if you get to a point where you are speaking to the divestiture or asset removal group at the railroad, I would be happy to make you look great.

Jill DeWit:
Can I add to that?

Jack Butala:
Yeah. Maybe Jill will come, too.

Jill DeWit:
Oh, here we go. This is what I want to add. Steven, you know … excuse me, Jack.

Jack Butala:
Oh my gosh.

Jill DeWit:
One of the things that I really appreciate you is, and I really sincerely mean this, is how giving you are/however, I don’t think that you fully realize that there are only 24 hours in a day.

Jack Butala:
No. I’ll deal with the railroad.

Jill DeWit:
If we had a video on right now, you guys would have seen me shoot him a look like …

Jack Butala:
Okay, so here’s the thing.

Jill DeWit:
…are you really going to show up. I love that you want to help, but how are you going to fit that in?

Jack Butala:
That’s what I said. Jason, I’m really not going to hold your hand through this transaction. We have hundreds and hundreds of members now, and we really are devoting and hiring new staff all the time to help as much as we can, but the handling portion of this is probably oversold. But, I would still like to stand in front of the board of a railroad and convince them why they should sell all of their property that they are not using at all for 30 cents an acre.

Jill DeWit:
Very good.

Jack Butala:
That is a good use of my time, Jill.

Jill DeWit:
No, that’s okay. It brings back a point, if the railroad is hanging on to it, like are we really going to expand. Let’s be honest here folks. I think it’s kind of set.

Jack Butala:
Hey, all kidding aside. What big companies like this usually do, and by the way, one of the best large deals I’ve ever done was with a Nevada land company. It’s in the Cash Flow From Land Program. I talk about the deal.

They retained the mineral rights, which are more valuable to them than the actual real estate. I’m sure that is what is going on with the railroad, because they are not going to expand. They don’t need the railroad to actually … The railroad is not going to use the land to build more rails on. They are probably mineral rights. Leasing mineral rights and things like that.

Jill DeWit:
Can I share a little … I have a good little railroad tidbit to share. I actually bought property from people that had a railroad going through a corner of it and, because of that, years ago when the railroad decided they were just going to take … they pretty much just took over the land from them. They didn’t really stand a chance.

Jack Butala:
Yes, imminent domain.

Jill DeWit:
They paid them out. So these people were already paid out …

Jack Butala:
They won twice.

Jill DeWit:
… they did win twice. By the time I came along and wanted it, it was like a no brainer. They were like we already got paid. This is kind of gravy. They were super thrilled to sell it at a great price to me.

Jack Butala:
I remember that deal. There was a multiple unit deal. One of them was 40 acres. The railroad is still there and still running through it. There are a lot of people love the fact that there is a railroad running right smack through the middle of their property. Why that is, I’m not sure. It wouldn’t be high on my list. Remember we talk about the 4-As all the time? It is just another attribute to separate that property from all the other property that might be out there.

Jill DeWit:
Since we didn’t say where it is, you want me to give some numbers?

Jack Butala:
Yeah, yeah, I guess. Well, it’s in northern Arizona. Let’s leave it at that, but yes, let’s talk about the numbers.

Jill DeWit:
Because I know one person in New York who particularly likes to hear numbers…

Jack Butala:
… and likes to hear about land deals.

Jill DeWit:
Exactly. This is for you, New York. It was just shy of 40 acres and I got it for $1,500. Probably because they had it for so long, inherited from their mom and they already got paid out.

Jack Butala:
There were 2 purchases.

Jill DeWit:
There were 2 of them, I know.

Jack Butala:
Two for 3 grand or something, or $1,500. Okay, it was 2 for 3, that’s right.

Jill DeWit:
Yep, 2 for 3; $1,500 each. There you go.

Jack Butala:
You know, that was New York’s way of saying, “why don’t you guys stop with the philosophical stuff …

Jill DeWit:
… and give me something really neat.”

Jack Butala:
He’s a gear-head. I’m going to post a poll. I am, on SuccessPlant. Who likes a podcast when we are all touchy, feely, and who likes it when we talk about deals?

Jill DeWit:
I have another great place to ask that question.

Jack Butala:
Yeah, where?

Jill DeWit:
Since it ties into our topic today. Facebook.

Jack Butala:
Yeah, you can put polls on there.

Jill DeWit:
Thank you.

Jack Butala:
That’s a great … You know what?

Jill DeWit:
Is that my great segue? Oh, it’s coming. Hold on.

Jack Butala:
I’m writing this down.

Jill DeWit:
There is a lot of stuff coming. You are right.

Jack Butala:
It’s an excellent idea.

Jill DeWit:
Thank you.

Jack Butala:
Hey, if you have a question or you want to be on the show, call 800-725-8816 and don’t be boring.

Today’s’ topic, “Is Facebook dead or alive for land flipping?” Here is my overview on that, Jill, because I bet you … You know what? You know way more about this anyway. This is kind of going to be your show now.

I think that Facebook is incredibly alive for land flipping. We had originally used it in the past for sales. To sell property and notify … Just as one of the many, many venues that you sell property all over the internet. But recently, I have been exploring different places and I really think that what I am seeing is that there are a lot of new people that are catching on to this in groups and whatnot. It is a great place for information to learn.

We don’t have a Facebook group for a reason. We have SuccessPlant.com instead, which is a full blown online community site for anybody to join. It is free right now.

Jill DeWit:
It’s free.

Jack Butala:
We have chosen that for a bunch of reasons, but Facebook is a great way to get home from work, spend an hour on there and learn a lot of stuff for free.

Jill DeWit:
Exactly. Well, what I use it for now is it is just a great way to advertise your business. You know, that’s one of the things we tell everybody as you are getting started in this business. Get your whole social media ball rolling and that is one of them. It is a way to drive traffic to your website or whatever.

Jack Butala:
Yeah, exactly. What I noticed is that you are kind of making a name for yourself in there. You know, the more posts that you do and the more questions that you ask from more seasoned people like Jill and I, you are really becoming just a more prevalent flipper whether it’s houses, apartment buildings or land.

I don’t think anything can become bad out of it. I also don’t think you should spend 19 hours a day there.

Jill DeWit:
That’s the pitfall. I was just waiting for you when you said come home and spend an hour. I think some of them got caught up in it and they spend way too much time, because you can get caught up in it. It’s easy to get caught up in it. You look up and your whole family has gone to bed, your dinner is sitting at the table cold and you missed the whole evening. That can happen.

Jack Butala:
It doesn’t happen to you.

Jill DeWit:
No. It doesn’t. Isn’t that funny. I do different Facebook times. Number 1 is because I own my own business and I’m allowed to surf during the day.

Jack Butala:
Is that what’s going on over there?

Jill DeWit:
Hey, I’m allowed to do that.

Jack Butala:
You know what, Jill?

Jill DeWit:
It’s all research.

Jack Butala:
You are allowed to do that.

Jill DeWit:
I am allowed to do that.

Jack Butala:
Since Jill and I … This is a great Jill point. Since Jill and I started working together years and years and years ago … so if you don’t know this, I started the company in the ’90s and Jill came on around 6 years ago? Ballpark?

Jill DeWit:
Yes, 6-7.

Jack Butala:
I looked back and she has always been like the lead sales person. Still is. For all our products, no matter what the company. You have hit your numbers. Whether you are on vacation. You have hit your numbers every single month.

Jill DeWit:
Thank you.

Jack Butala:
Nice work.

Jill DeWit:
Thank you very much.

Jack Butala:
Do you know how much pressure that takes off of somebody like me? I have to tell you. My hat is off to you. Thank you, Jill.

Jill DeWit:
You’re welcome. Just like we talk about our thing. You cue me up and makes it easy. You make it fun.

Jack Butala:
This would be no fun without you too.

Jill DeWit:
Awe, thank you. I agree.

Jack Butala:
We’ve done shows … the touchy-feely type of shows where it’s like who matters in your life that you want to share this with and do this with? I think that’s a lot of it. Why do you want to sit in a basement by yourself, Luke Smith, and do all this stuff?

No, I pick on Luke because he is our star member right now. He pulled out a bunch of savings money and he is doubling and tripling his money. He is doing exactly what we do and I’m proud of him. Even though he is doing it in his basement by himself.

Jill DeWit:
Well my best thing is, you know, 6 months ago, I don’t even think this was on his radar.

Jack Butala:
Yeah, exactly.

Jill DeWit:
He was very curious and very cautious. I love that and I appreciate that. I swear those are some of our best folks in our group is the ones that were really cautious, really did their homework,…

Jack Butala:
Methodical.

Jill DeWit:
…making sure this is right, and they are very brainy. They follow all the steps and they are very successful.

Jack Butala:
You know, most of our members too, and Luke is no exception, they come to us frustrated with other types of real estate investments, other types of REI. Luke has a ton of rentals. I’m not saying he is frustrated, but he has a bunch of rentals in like metro Detroit, which is maybe one of the toughest management markets there is. He has a management company. He was trying to find a simpler way to do a deal, which is exactly what our next show is about. Don’t make this complicated. It’s pretty easy.

We’ve got house flippers, management people and landlords coming to us saying “man this whole idea of buying a piece of land and never really looking at it, having somebody take some pictures, and doubling your money really appeals to me.

Hey, that’s why we started Land Academy. I had that same feeling in 1999 and it never stopped.

Jill DeWit:
Exactly.

Jack Butala:
This is the if/then segment of the show. If you do X, then Y will happen. If you buy property for half it’s worth, then you will double your money.

Jill DeWit:
Wait a minute. I’m confused. Can you say that again, because I didn’t quite get that?

Jack Butala:
You know how I complicate stuff all the time and you’re like “oh my God, when is he going to stop talking?” This is not one of those times. If you buy property for half of it’s value, then you will double your money.

Jill DeWit:
Wow.

Jack Butala:
So what’s the key here? Why is this so hard then, Jill?

Jill DeWit:
It must almost work for everything. I have to think about this.

Jack Butala:
What if you send 2,000 offers in the mail to house owners that don’t have mortgages, for half, and one of them signs it and sends it back and then you re-sell it to your buddy like we do?

Jill DeWit:
Oh my goodness.

Jack Butala:
Then you double your money.

Jill DeWit:
Exactly.

Jack Butala:
Is it more complicated than that? I don’t think so.

Jill DeWit:
I don’t think so.

Jack Butala:
It takes some organization, the right people around you, even if it is you in your basement, and a set of kahunas. Even if you are a girl.

Jill DeWit:
You used the right term.

Jack Butala:
Kahunas. Is kahunas correct?

Jill DeWit:
I don’t remember.

Jack Butala:
[inaudible 00:15:18]

Jill DeWit:
I used the wrong term then.

Jack Butala:
Is this still rated G now?

Jill DeWit:
I don’t know.

Jack Butala:
If you have a question or you want to be on the show, call 800-725-8816 and have an upbeat personality please. Jill, do you have some inspiration today?

Jill DeWit:
I do. My question to you is, are you doing the same things every day and expecting different results?

Jack Butala:
Are you asking me?

Jill DeWit:
Yes.

Jack Butala:
No, everybody has heard this at some point in their business career. That is the definition of insanity. Doing the same things over and over and expecting different results.

Jill DeWit:
I know, but it’s worth bringing up again…

Jack Butala:
No, it’s absolutely worth it.

Jill DeWit:
…because sometimes people are rolling through their day. I see them occasionally when I’m on the freeway in LA in the mornings, which is not that often. But you know I can see them. You can see the look on their faces and you can just tell that this is their daily commute and their daily thing. Seriously.

Jack Butala:
Sounds like a late night commercial. Are you doing the same things over and over everyday and expecting different results? You need Jet Dry.

Jill DeWit:
I knew that was coming. Well, okay make fun of me if you will but I think it’s worth …

Jack Butala:
I’m not making fun of you.

Jill DeWit:
You know, it sung to me today. I’m like, you know what, that’s a good little reminder. My point is, you got to do something different, to get different results. Period.

Jack Butala:
Yeah, you have to … It’s a mindset. You know, men are famous for it. Trying to just set it and forget it.

Jill DeWit:
Yes, you men are famous for that. Seriously.

Jack Butala:
You have to keep an open mind, you know. Do whatever it takes, but there are constant adjustments that have to go on. If you are really smart about it and you are methodical about it, which is what I try to do, you work the portion out and whatever you are trying to start up or go through, you work it out. You hire somebody to put them in place, to kind of manage it a little bit and report back. You, the owner, move on to the bigger picture stuff.

To answer your question, Jill, yeah you are right. If you keep doing the same stuff and the results aren’t any different … I mean, just by the very definition, you shouldn’t be doing the same stuff all the time. There are tasks that need to be repeated over and over again, like mailers and things like that, but you have to adjust.

Jill DeWit:
Well, you know what? I’m … [crosstalk 00:17:40]

Jack Butala:
I’m really glad you brought this up. This is, hands down, my favorite part of the show.

Jill DeWit:
Well, you know what? Here’s my take on it. I’m not even thinking that far in advance. I’m thinking, I’m in my day to day commute, going to my same job that I can’t stand, or even I like and it’s okay, but there is just something more for me. I need to get out there and do something. Well you need to start doing it then. You know, if you are going everyday and you have these goals to do something, then start taking those steps. Whether it’s showing up to the gym because you want to have that beach body, or you need to start going to REI events or some kind of meetings… [crosstalk 00:18:14]

Jack Butala:
Because you want to have that beach bank account.

Jill DeWit:
… because you want the beach bank account. I like that.

Jack Butala:
My God, that’s a title of a book.

Jill DeWit:
Oh, Beach Bank Account. That’s awesome.

Jack Butala:
Get the bank account that allows you to go to the beach everyday.

Jill DeWit:
Beach bank account.

Jack Butala:
That’s a book title, Jill.

Jill DeWit:
That is fantastic. I love it. Anyway, my point is if you want your beach bank account, you might need to do something different. Even one night a week and then add something on the weekends. I don’t know, you just have to work at it.

Jack Butala:
Just keep an open mind and expect change.

Jill DeWit:
Make change.

Jack Butala:
Join us in another episode where Jack and Jill discuss how to use information, that’s me, …

Jill DeWit:
…and inspiration, that’s me,…

Jack Butala:
… to get just about anything you want.

Jill DeWit:
We use it everyday to buy property for half of what it’s worth and sell it immediately.

Jack Butala:
Get there first.

Beach bank account.

Jill DeWit:
I think that’s awesome. That is really cool. I was trying to think of a BBB, beach bank balance.

Jack Butala:
Ooh, beach bank balance.

Jill DeWit:
Now I got that. Hey, that could be …

Jack Butala:
Welcome to our brain storming session.

Jill DeWit:
BBB, beach bank balance. Could that be a name of a boat?

Jack Butala:
It could be.

Jill DeWit:
I don’t know.

Beach bank balance. It could be the name of a boat. It’s kind of a long name. I don’t know how we would fit that name on the back there.

Jack Butala:
Beach balance. That’s not readily … We’ll figure this out.

Jill DeWit:
Beach balance. There’s something there.

Jack Butala:
That’s the name of an e-book…

Jill DeWit:
I like it.

Jack Butala:
…or something.

Jill DeWit:
Beach bank balance. That’s really good.

Jack Butala:
That’s brilliant.

Jill DeWit:
You came up with that.

Jack Butala:
I know.

Jill DeWit:
That was good.

Jack Butala:
You and your beach body thing. Everybody knows what a beach body is. I think then somebody probably spent $72 million dollars on marketing on that already.

Jill DeWit:
I think there is some DVD’s …

Jack Butala:
So we’re going to spend nothing, which is what I love. We’ll spend nothing promoting a book called that and everybody will know what it means because of the $72 million dollars that someone else spent.

Jill DeWit:
Beach body…

Jack Butala:
That’s the kind of way we roll here.

Jill DeWit:
…bank account. That’s the way we roll. On someone else’s shirttails. Is that what that is? Get there first. Oh except for us with advertising. We don’t do that.

Jack Butala:
Yeah, if you have a lot of advertising dollars, you get there first and we’ll get there second. Right behind you.

Jill DeWit:
Right behind you. I love it.

Jack Butala:
Every time I go through a budget, I look at advertising, which is zero right now.

Jill DeWit:
I know.

Jack Butala:
I know it is planned ahead and it just kills me. I don’t know why and I know I’m wrong. You know? We should be spending half of our money on advertising promos.

Jill DeWit:
Well, I mean, we can truly, by accident, say this is all grown organically.

Jack Butala:
Organically

Jill DeWit:
Word of mouth. I mean, nothing has been …

Jack Butala:
You can say by accident. The whole thing was a huge accident.

Jill DeWit:
It is an accident. I love it.

Jack Butala:
Let’s go buy something for half today and re-sell it.

Jack and Jill. Information and inspiration.

Jill DeWit:
We hold a drawing to win a free property every month. Enter to win by reviewing the show on I-tunes and downloading our free e-book at Land Academy.com.

Jack Butala:
If you want to get involved or you need more information about our profitable, nichey, real estate operation, call 480-467-0359. You just might get Jill at the other end of the line.

Jill DeWit:
Land Academy.com. You are not alone in your real estate ambition.

If you enjoyed the podcast, please review it in iTunes . Reviews are incredibly important for rankings on iTunes. My staff and I read each and every one.

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to email me directly at steve@LandAcademy.com.

www.successplant.com

www.landstay.com

I would like to think it’s entertaining and informative and in the end profitable.

And finally, don’t forget to subscribe to the show on iTunes.