Deals We are Doing Today by Jill (HA 1115)
Deals We are Doing Today by Jill (HA 1115)
Transcript:
Steven Butala: Steve and Jill here.
Jill DeWit: Hi.
Steven Butala: Welcome to the House Academy Show, entertaining real estate investment talk. I’m Steven Jack Butala.
Jill DeWit: And I’m Jill Dewitt, broadcasting from sunny Southern California.
Steven Butala: Today Jill and I talk about the deals we are doing today, by Jill.
Jill DeWit: That’s kind of-
Steven Butala: You guessed it. This is a Jill topic.
Jill DeWit: Kind of is, I’m excited to share.
Steven Butala: Jill is doing a ton of deals and I’m actually going to sit back and enjoy this also, because I’ve done millions, and I’ve sent millions and millions and millions of letters out, a lot of them before Jill and I joined forces here. I’ve never seen a more successful mailer than the one she’s working on right now.
Jill DeWit: Thank you.
Steven Butala: Before we get into it, let’s take a question posted by one of our members on the Houseacademy.com online community. It’s free.
Jill DeWit: Michael asks, “Newbie question, interested in a few counties for my first mailer, but realtor.com has no info on them. Where do you go from here”?
Steven Butala: So, this is a great question. Realtor.com believe it or not, is a great source of information and data for houses… to buy and sell houses. The source data for realtor.com is the actual MLS and I think there’s 300 or 400 separate little MLS groups or MLSs, that are fed data by the local real estate people, that all come up to the National Association of Realtors. They all funnel up to that. If you’ve ever been a real estate agent, you know that you pay dues to your local little area, that local MLS, and you pay dues to the national directly. Both of them are direct. In fact, unrelated to this, but I’ll tell you that’s their business model. Their business model is the same as Costco. They pay association dues, they get some stuff theoretically, and everything else that happens outside of that, they don’t care. They just want the association to. So, realtor.com is a source of information from all those MLSs and to my knowledge, there’s not a single gap. There’s not a single MLS that doesn’t feed data up to realtor.com, in fact I’m sure of it.
Steven Butala: Redfin, which is a fantastic, another fantastic source of data, it has wide and huge gaps. Because they contract with certain MLSs, and in general the more urban the MLS, they probably have a contract, Redfin does. The more rural, they probably don’t, because it’s just not on their radar yet, because there’s less deals that go on there. So, it’s harder to find data on Redfin than Realtor. So, why would you need both anyway? Redfin provides downloadable data, which is really, really, really important. So, back to this person’s question, and if you go back into our podcast library and type in Redfin or any of that, it should… I talk at length in historical podcasts about that. And if you’re a member, on our Thursday calls, we have whole sections of discussions on Redfin and Realtor.
Steven Butala: So, the question is, I can’t any data to go from on realtor.com, so I can actually send some data out, send mail out, in that county. It’s because there’s just nothing for sale there in the MLS. That’s the answer. There’s lots of answers on land investors or in this community, in that forum specifically that answered this question. But the real answer is, there’s just not enough data. It’s so rural that it’s unavailable. So, I hope that answers the question. It’s a very, very, very good question. I think the person mentioned they’re brand new, and I can tell with that kind of question, you’re going to do great.
Jill DeWit: You’re following the steps. That’s what I think is important. When you get into this business, if someone experienced and knowledgeable hands you a roadmap like we have done, you would be in your best interest to follow the roadmap and not veer from it and take a shortcut, because there’s a reason why. And that’s what he’s doing, and I’m saying, “Yay, thank you for following the roadmap”.
Steven Butala: Exactly.
Jill DeWit: That’s the best thing. And I know this too from so many people right now, gosh, five years in almost, with Land Academy, and so many people have said, “Boy, thank goodness I listened to you and not did what I thought was right, because you guys were right, this is the best way”. And so that’s what’s going on.
Steven Butala: Today’s topic, deals we are doing today, by Jill. This is why you’re listening.
Jill DeWit: So, we’ve talked about this I know on recent shows about this mailer, and I want to say, one thing about this recent mailer, it’s two parts. One, is where we are now, the access to the data that we have, the inside tracked information to zoning, the buyers that we’ve got going on. So, we really… this particular mailer is special right now. And it was huge. 17,000 units is nothing to sneeze at. And the other part is, how strategic we got with it. But then also, it’s really, I hate to brag, but I got to say, I’m getting a lot of good response. I think because I’m energetic and I’m excited. I love this part of the business and I’m answering the phone that way, and I think I’m creating some deals. I’m really sure about that.
Steven Butala: Oh yeah, I’m sure.
Jill DeWit: So, I just wanted to share that for a moment. We probably should do a separate show on that. I know we have a show actually with Land Academy coming up about turning hate calls into love calls, because I’m doing it right now. So, I know that I’m talking to people that would otherwise go, “Hey, go jump in a lake”, and hang up by just saying, “Everybody calm down. You don’t like the offer, I get it. Do you even want to sell, and if so, what is the right price”?
Steven Butala: That show airs this Friday.
Jill DeWit: The-
Steven Butala: Turning hate calls into love calls.
Jill DeWit: Oh, okay. So, that’s a lot of the magic here. It’s two parts, and that’s a big part of it. Because, and I’ll give you another example, because we have so many people in our community that goof up our mails, right? Goof up. Have things… oops, I offered too much, everybody called me back. And oops, I offered way too low, boy did I get it. But you still get some juice out of it. And I think a lot of it is because the person on the other end is making it happen. You could sit there all day long if you… and theoretically, if anybody calls you and they’re not happy, you just hang up. You might have all those calls. But unless you get your point across that, I do want to buy it, I’m open to talk about what’s realistic here and get through to them that message, you’re going to get a lot more deals. So, I think that’s partially, I know, that’s why. I shouldn’t say think, I know that’s why we have a lot of deals coming in right now. So, I want to talk, go ahead.
Steven Butala: Well, here’s… I want to take a couple steps back and explain why this mailer is so successful in my opinion. I mean, unless you have a train of thought here.
Jill DeWit: No, go ahead.
Steven Butala: We partnered up with a guy named Mike Marshall and we’re going to interview him. We did interview him, and it’s going to air on Friday. Oh no, it’s going to air on Thursday. Jill’s love hate thing is on Friday. And so, he came to us and said, “Hey, you know what? There’s a real opportunity here to join forces, because my expertise is a little bit different than yours. I know that there’s a lot of property in Los Angeles County that’s been pre-zoned for apartment buildings. And the structures are existing, single family residences. And here’s all the perimeters. Here’s a picture perfect spreadsheet of the parameters, and the zoning names, and all of that. You guys go to work. Steve, you do the mailer like you do it, and Jill, you answer the phone and utilize the resources that you have from a staff standpoint, and let’s see what happens”. And so we did.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Steven Butala: He sent the data, I really scrubbed the heck out of it, spent a couple of days on this. Got the offers out in the mail based on, I’m skipping along the top here, and then it got in the mail. I made sure it got in the mail, I tested it, and then kind of washed my hands of it, and walked away. And fast forward two weeks, what happened?
Jill DeWit: So, and I wanted to share one in particular if I can.
Steven Butala: Well Jill got barraged.
Jill DeWit: Yeah.
Steven Butala: She got barraged with phone calls. She, of the 17,000 that we sent out, we have about between 36 and 50 viable deals at this moment. And they’ll probably be more, the mailer’s not over. But, but go ahead.
Jill DeWit: Let’s talk. What’s happening right now, which is great and why I want to point out this one deal in particular. Sometimes you don’t even know what’s coming back. That’s the thing about our business. We send out these offers. I don’t need to do… I don’t do really any due diligence ahead of time. Because imagine if we did that. Imagine if we went, and this is where I think some people get hung up. They go, “Wait a minute, how do you make these offers on 17,000 units? Don’t you look at them”? No, I don’t. Because can you imagine if I went through every one and then kicked out the ones that I thought, “I don’t want it anyway”. Don’t waste your time on that. So, when they come back and we know it’s in our price range, and we know we’re on the same page here, and they do want to sell, now’s when we go in to do our homework.
Jill DeWit: And every now and then, this happens with land and houses, you sit back and go, “Holy cow, we just found a home run”. And what’s so funny is, it happens more with land. I think it’s easier to hit, because we’re usually trying to double our money. Houses you’re not usually going to do that. Or any multi-family unit kind of thing, you’re not going to usually double your money. But, there’s opportunity there to make bigger margins. So, that’s what’s going on. So, we haven’t covered one right now, that I’m just going to share a little bit about the details, because it’s… we had a call yesterday and I watched your mouth hit the desk.
Steven Butala: Yes.
Jill DeWit: Mine to, I went… I didn’t even realize what was possible on this piece of property. So-
Steven Butala: It’s the unicorn of a land, or a real estate deal.
Jill DeWit: It is. So, we sent out an offer for 1 million. I’m going to give you the exact offer because it’s kind of funny. So, it’s $1,051,583 and 40 cents, the counter offer is 1.5 million. So we came back, did our homework and we settled on 1.3. Wait till you hear what’s really possible here. It’s a, can I say that?
Steven Butala: I wouldn’t.
Jill DeWit: Okay. It’s currently an SFR.
Steven Butala: It’s in Los Angeles County.
Jill DeWit: It’s in Los Angeles County.
Steven Butala: Very urban setting.
Jill DeWit: Yeah and it’s a… oh, it’s a commercial, it’s zoned C2, so, it’s commercial 2. So, here’s what’s going on. It’s 0.36 acres. It’s one house. It’s a one single family house.
Steven Butala: Have you ever seen UP?
Jill DeWit: With a huge lot in the back, and just got 30 cars lined up back there.
Steven Butala: That’s the parking lot for the building next door.
Jill DeWit: So, it’s the whole thing.
Steven Butala: So, if you’ve ever seen the movie UP.
Jill DeWit: It’s actually the whole lot.
Steven Butala: Oh, really?
Jill DeWit: That’s what we just confirmed, it’s that whole lot back there.
Steven Butala: So, they’re leasing a lot back there.
Jill DeWit: Yes.
Steven Butala: If you’ve ever seen the movie UP, where there’s that little house in the middle of all this, just megatropolis of skyscrapers, it’s the… there’s that one person who never… who just refused to sell-
Jill DeWit: Yep.
Steven Butala: … at any price.
Jill DeWit: Yep.
Steven Butala: And there’s this shabby little house amongst all this growth. That’s this. That’s this deal.
Jill DeWit: Exactly. No, we confirmed that park… I’m, “Wait a minute, am I looking at the whole thing here? This whole long rectangle”? She said, “Yep, that’s the whole property”. That’s what makes up… by itself, 0.36 acres.
Steven Butala: Sure.
Jill DeWit: The best part about it is, so what’s possible. This thing with this zoning, if you ever look it up for LA County, we do obviously. If you’re in the business, you do this. It can go to multiple units with an… there’s an unlimited height restriction. That knocked my socks off. So, that’s what’s going on. What else do you want to share?
Steven Butala: I mean it’s just… and how do… so that everybody who’s listening to this is saying, “Well, wait a minute, how did you find this needle in a haystack”?
Jill DeWit: Right.
Steven Butala: And the answer is, I’m going back to the take action portion of this mailer. Our business partner who is extremely familiar with LA County, has been in our group for a really long time, he provided us the data, the parameter data for the mailer, and it was very detailed. So, these mailers and how you mail this mail, and the methodology behind it, and then translating that to data, and then translating that to viable offers, is incredibly important. What’s equally as important is when that person calls. That seller calls because you reached him and you reached, in air quotes. We talk about that in the first program a lot, the word reach. We correctly reached the right person with a reasonable offer and then from there, that person reached out to us.
Steven Butala: Where they reached out back and said, “You hit me at the right time. I think I do want to sell”. It’s what deal… what Jill chose to do is do at that point and how she finessed that conversation, initial conversation with the seller that made the data all worthwhile. So, that’s what the name of this… that’s what this show is really about. These deals that Jill’s doing right now. I mean it’s everything… all these episodes that we talk about, adding zeros, reviewing the asset, doing a good mailer. This thing just came together. And we had the right people involved at the very right time. And it’s not over, I mean there’s a very good chance this won’t be the best deal. We’re going to buy the property for 9.3, it’s probably worth $10 million.
Jill DeWit: I agree. I want to add one thing too before we end here. It’s really hard. We are so lucky right now to find a partner. So part of this is, as you get into this business, if you find people that compliment you and want to do stuff together with you, there’s so much value to kind of expanding your business or your business model a little bit with the right partner. I’m also here to tell you, it’s very hard. It’s hard to find the right person.
Steven Butala: Yeah, that’s for sure.
Jill DeWit: It’s hard to find people that have your best interests also at heart. Let’s just say it like that. And we have a really good arrangement with this person. I really trust this person. They have proved themselves and I know we have proven ourselves to them. So if you can find that, grab it. Because that’s another unicorn out there.
Steven Butala: Yeah. You know what, this deal is just the result of all the other unicorns.
Jill DeWit: Mm-hmm (affirmative).
Steven Butala: Well said.
Jill DeWit: We know your time is valuable, thanks for spending it with us today. Join us here every Tuesday and Thursday for The House Academy Show. You need us five days a week? Well Monday, Wednesday and Friday you can find us on the Land Academy Show.
Steven Butala: Tomorrow the episode on The Land Academy Show is, how to market and sell snow covered land. You are not alone in your real estate ambition. Hey, we transitioned through that pretty well.
Jill DeWit: We did. I think that was good?
Steven Butala: This deal’s fantastic. I know there’s other deals in there that come in every day. Truly amazing Jill. Great work.
Jill DeWit: Thank you. Wherever you’re watching, wherever you’re listening, please subscribe and rate us there. We are Steve and Jill.
Steven Butala: Information.
Jill DeWit: And inspiration
Steven Butala: To buy undervalued property.
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