Gold is in the Follow Up (HA 017)
Gold is in the Follow Up (HA 017)
Transcript:
Steven Butala: Steve and Jill here.
Jill DeWit: Good day.
Steven Butala: Welcome to the House Academy Show, entertaining real estate investment talk. I’m Steven Jack Butala.
Jill DeWit: And I’m Jill DeWit, broadcasting from sunny, southern California.
Steven Butala: Today Jill and I talk bout how the gold is in the follow-up.
Jill DeWit: Oh, yes, it is.
Steven Butala: Such a simple sentence, isn’t it?
Jill DeWit: It is. It sounds like, duh. Well, for some people, it’s probably duh. For some people, let’s just say that. For some it’s like, what does that mean? I didn’t know. What is good follow-up? Well, we can help you.
Steven Butala: Is there such a thing as too much follow-up?
Jill DeWit: No-o-o.
Steven Butala: That’s what I think too. I don’t think you can do too much, like every hour.
Jill DeWit: Well, let’s put it this way. Depending on whether you’re on the buy side or the sell side. Is my deed done yet? Is my deed done yet? Is the deed done yet? That’s too much. You don’t ever want to be in that position. I’m like, did you make the payment yet? Did you make the payment yet? So be chill. Think about it like dating. You don’t want to scare them away.
Steven Butala: There’s definitely too much follow-up in dating.
Jill DeWit: Yeah, right? He’s not texting me. He’s not texting me.
Steven Butala: You know what? This is a great way to talk about this topic.
Jill DeWit: Like dating. This is great. This is perfect. What’s appropriate follow-up after a first date and what’s appropriate follow-up after you get contact from a seller? We can help.
Steven Butala: Yeah, okay. Go ahead, go ahead. I want to hear this.
Jill DeWit: Well, you want to do this show?
Steven Butala: Yeah, okay. I’ll say the question first. Before we get into it, let’s take a question posted buy one of our members on the houseacademy.com online community. It’s free.
Jill DeWit: I like when you get excited about mu dating advice. It’s funny.
Steven Butala: Because I know it’s right.
Jill DeWit: Thank you. I can save a lot of people outside of this show, too. Andrew says, “Do you ever use skiptracing and texting to owners or do you just mail them?” Good question.
Steven Butala: That’s a great question, Andrew. We, at the moment, at this moment of recording this show, we are exclusively direct mail. Direct mail blind offer campaigns with pricing. We own a company called ParcelFact which helps you find real estate regardless of whether or not it has an address. A lot of land out there does not yet have a USPS postal address so it’s tough to find it. We solve that whole problem with ParcelFact, so you look up a property and you’ve got all the information you could ever dream of.
Jill DeWit: Land or houses.
Steven Butala: Yeah, land or houses right how. Wouldn’t it be great if you could just click on something and click on a button and send them a text message? And then click on the person next door, get all the information, send them a text message?
Jill DeWit: Or email.
Steven Butala: Yeah, so, that’s all in the works. The developers have been hired. It’s all been scoped out, so when that gets released, it’ll be released for House Academy members and Land Academy members. We’re probably, conservatively, 60 days away. That’s funny it actually came up in this show because can you imagine? Sending out letters, then sending them a text message saying, hey, I just want to make sure you got my offer? Or, hey, I know that you live right next door to X, Y, Z address. We just bought that property and we don’t want to take it to market yet. Do this by text message. Are you interested in buying it for X? We can save a lot of time and money. So there’s huge implications for all this, and I’m very, very excited about it. This type of tech project is right up my alley.
Jill DeWit: Just that we all know, I love your statistic about the percentage of people that buy a property, houses in the neighborhood are within, is it one mile?
Steven Butala: Within one mile. 50%.
Jill DeWit: It’s always your neighbor, your family member, people want to move closer. That’s traditional, so all you do i, what Steven’s working on for us is, you’ll be able to draw a mile and blast out a text. How great is that? You don’t even have to post it for sale.
Steven Butala: Here’s some staggering numbers. Between 17 and 20% of the people in this country move every year. So 20% of the population in this country moves.
Jill DeWit: Amazing.
Steven Butala: About 50% of this country owns their own home, so when you do the numbers on that, it’s amazing how many people move. It’s no wonder real estate agents make so much money. About 48 to 50% of the properties that sell, the SFR’s that sell, are sold to somebody who has friends and family of another SFR within a one-mile radius. So think about how staggeringly powerful that is, to get this skiptracing email. We’ve been doing it with direct mail, taking advantage of this data for a real long time. I’m so excited now that technology finally has caught up so we can implement these old school concepts about buying and selling real estate with new technology.
Jill DeWit: Let’s get it out there faster.
Steven Butala: Yup. Today’s topic, the Gold is in the Follow-up. This is why you’re listening.
Jill DeWit: Okay. Do you want to hear about the dating philosophy first or the business philosophy first?
Steven Butala: I specifically want to know when it is appropriate to call a girl after you went out to dinner with her and you think it worked. You’re a guy and you think that the whole thing kind of worked and you want to have date number two. How long do you wait?
Jill DeWit: I personally think that a little message that night would be okay, is acceptable, like a little text. Not an hour-long phone call, but just like a, I had a great time, I can’t wait to see you again kind of thing. Then maybe the next day or the day after, when you have something special lined up for the date you say, hey, I’m just about to push the button on tickets to go see X, Y, Z band Saturday night. Are you available? What’s so funny?
Steven Butala: This is how much I must have screwed up our first experience.
Jill DeWit: Thank goodness I could see through all that, babe.
Steven Butala: All right. So you go see this band, and what happens? Together.
Jill DeWit: Right, together. Keep in mind, hopefully, you both are dating several people. So that’s the thing too. You want to know right away, for the girl too, the woman, if we think there was a connection, it’s nice to know that you thought there was a connection too. That we’re not just sitting there laying in bed going, am I reading too much into this, kind of thing, when they say you know what? I had a really nice time and I can’t wait to see you again. Even though hopefully, you ended the conversation like that, you just like a little follow-up. Then you really do follow-up with something good. We don’t need the flowers two days later or stuff like that.
Steven Butala: Here’s why guys don’t follow that protocol, and I understand exactly why you’re saying that, because more than half the time it’s going to result in this deluge of text messages from this girl.
Jill DeWit: Oh, well, I understand, and that’s a whole separate conversation. This is for you. Then I have to have a separate closed-door conversation with all the women and to say, knock it off. This is why you need to up your numbers. Again, a whole other conversation.
Steven Butala: All right. So that’s Jill’s socially accepted man-follow-up texting. Is is okay this day and age, since everything is so equalized for women, to say, hey, I had a great time and I’m buying some concert tickets.
Jill DeWit: No. Not in a new relationship, I wouldn’t, because you’d scare the guy away. It’s still a bit of the man’s role and the woman’s role and if a woman reached out… Unfortunately it’s too often women are thought of as being overly assertive and so I don’t think that we can do that. Do you agree?
Steven Butala: I don’t know. It honestly depends on the person. The vast majority of the stuff like this that I’ve been involved in, obviously, long before you, has just ended in a fiery ball of disaster.
Jill DeWit: You know where I think it goes sideways. It gets into this conversation, what about this and what about that? What about this and what about that? Someone’s got to end the conversation, too. Sometimes it’s the hardest part. Like, I’ve got to go to sleep now. You’re afraid to go dark but one of you has to go dark.
Steven Butala: You’re one of the very few people on the planet that I’ve ever met, very few women, that is incredibly comfortable with her gender and you embrace your gender and you just don’t take it too far. You don’t try to be a guy or you don’t try to be like the biggest fluffy type girly-girl there ever was.
Jill DeWit: Thank you.
Steven Butala: I really mean it. That’s a huge compliment.
Jill DeWit: I appreciate that.
Steven Butala: It’s very, very unique.
Jill DeWit: Thank you.
Steven Butala: It’s hard to find, Jill.
Jill DeWit: Thank you.
Steven Butala: All right. So a guy calls-
Jill DeWit: We’ll get to this topic here in a minute.
Steven Butala: You send a mailer. A house mailer.
Jill DeWit: Okay.
Steven Butala: We’re going to ask the same question. Do you mind if I ask you this? You send a mailer out, a bunch of house mailers out. Offers. Guy calls you back.
Jill DeWit: Seller?
Steven Butala: Seller calls you back and says, I just talked to my wife and we are going to sell the house. We’re going to retire early. What’s the next step?
Jill DeWit: We need to put the plan in place. Let’s agree on what we’re doing. We’re going to agree on the price, we’re going to agree on the terms.
Steven Butala: Well, he’s got an offer price right there.
Jill DeWit: Did he agree on it?
Steven Butala: I’m asking you. What do you say to him?
Jill DeWit: Does that price work for you?
Steven Butala: Okay. Good. Here we go.
Jill DeWit: I mean, that’s really where we’re going.
Steven Butala: All right. We’re getting somewhere.
Jill DeWit: If he says heck, yes, and then my next thing is, awesome, I want to come out and see it. And if it’s not me, it’s my team. Boots on the ground.
Steven Butala: How fast should that happen?
Jill DeWit: Not that day but like the next day. Maybe that day. I don’t know. How about this? It happens as quickly as the seller is open to it. You know what? I’ve got something going on this weekend. Could we do it on Tuesday? The answer is yes.
Steven Butala: Okay, here’s the kicker. Okay, so you go see this thing and everybody says yup. BOG says yeah, the boots on the ground say yes, we say yes. The seller’s wife calls back and says, because this happens often-
Jill DeWit: Wait a minute. I have a couple of points that are going to address some of this stuff. But keep going with your question.
Steven Butala: The seller’s wife calls back and says, you know, we thought about it and we just don’t want to sell. Now is not the right time.
Jill DeWit: Then you screwed up somewhere in the process.
Steven Butala: Wow, Jill, that’s awesome.
Jill DeWit: It’s true.
Steven Butala: You’re so good at this.
Jill DeWit: Thank you. If you show up and you did exactly as it says. You’re going to be there on Tuesday, and you already told them on Tuesday, great, here’s what’s going to happen. I’m going to come out on Tuesday. I’m going to take some preliminary pictures. I’ll just have you show me around. I want to just see what you said this needs work and that needs work.
Jill DeWit: While there, I’ll pick up the purchase agreement while there, make sure you guys have signed it, done, and have some dates already on the calender that we can schedule the inspection. Great, that’s fantastic. So the guy already knows I’m going to come out, I’m going to do those three things. Purchase agreement, take some pictures, meet him, shake his hand, by the way, and schedule the inspection.
Jill DeWit: The process is already started. I’ve already got him mentally committing to this. If you don’t do that, that’s where you drop the ball because they don’t have time to even think about backing out because it’s already like, this is great. We know what’s happening next. So then, on Tuesday I show up on time, maybe with muffins or cookies or something, I don’t know. And I do exactly what I say. Like, hi, thank you. I’m here, I’ve got my cell phone, whatever, I’m taking pictures, oh, perfect, you got that signed. Thank you very much.
Jill DeWit: And then, hey, so what days do you guys think are best, and I’ll call my inspection guy right now while I’m here with you so we can make sure it all works out for everybody and get that all lined up. Don’t forget, by the way, you don’t pay a thing for any of that. This is all on my dime. Awesome. How are they going to have time to rethink this? It’s already happening.
Steven Butala: I’m actually floored right now because I know you guys do a lot of stuff on the other side of the company. It’s truly, you’re right, they can’t say no when you approach it this way.
Jill DeWit: Let me tell you why I’m so confident about this and what this means to me. The gold is in the follow-up for a couple of reasons. Number one, time does kill deals, so if I let a lapse in there where they don’t know what I’m doing, I don’t know if they’re half in. Is she really going to follow through? She says she wants to buy it but we haven’t heard from her in three days. I don’t know. Now we’re going to pick up the phone and start calling and shopping on our deal because this person thinks this offer went dark. As far as they’re concerned, I went dark.
Jill DeWit: So I’ve got to be on it and have a plan and follow through and don’t let too much time pass, number one. And if I ever miss one of their phone calls, you better believe I’m calling back right away. If they call me for any reason, and that goes into my step two, my goal is in the follow-up is because I’m trying to foster open communication with them too because I need to know if there are any issues.
Jill DeWit: So If I’m available and I’m doing everything I say, when you said the wife, the minute the wife goes, you know, I’m not sure this is the right time for us. How about that? If I’ve started this open communication, I’ve been right there, and diligent and starting to build this communication with her, she’s going to say, Jill, hold on a moment. This is all kind of going too fast. Can we please wait one week? My kids are coming, it’s the holidays. Whatever it is. I just don’t want to think about it right now. Can we please move it a couple of days and we’ll be there? Absolutely. You need that communication. I’m going to know right away if she’s starting to have second thoughts and I can start to readjust.
Jill DeWit: The third thing about the gold in the follow-up is it’s important to build this relationship because you’re building trust also. Not only to know what’s going on, but they need to know that I’m sincere and I’m going to do what I’m going to say I’m going to do.
Steven Butala: We’ve done over a thousand shows on the Land Academy Show, and this is show number eighteen and I don’t recall ever doing a show with you where you have more conviction. This is, obviously, a thing. A topic for you.
Jill DeWit: Thank you.
Steven Butala: Now it’s clear to me why we buy so many houses. Well, I knew this, but you really have this figured out.
Jill DeWit: I do. You’ve got to learn.
Steven Butala: You don’t do it an annoying way. I’ve done a million real estate deals with you and it’s not annoying. You’re befriending these people and you really, truly, get the money that they agreed to sign the thing for and all that.
Jill DeWit: Yeah. Thank you
Steven Butala: Fantastic, Jill. I have nothing else to add. Nothing.
Jill DeWit: This was a little longer than I wanted, but thank you.
Steven Butala: I know your time is valuable. Thanks for spending some of it with us today. Join us next time for the episode called “Take this Personality Test.”
Jill DeWit: And we answer your questions posted on our online community at houseinvestors.com. It is free.
Steven Butala: You are not alone in your real estate ambition. It’s houseacademy.com in this company.
Jill DeWit: Is that not what I said?
Steven Butala: You said “houseinvestors.” I do this all the time.
Jill DeWit: Did I say that?
Steven Butala: Yeah, it’s okay. It’s totally okay.
Jill DeWit: I’m confusing everything.
Steven Butala: I know.
Jill DeWit: Excuse me. Houseacademy.com. And that’s free too. Well, not exactly, but our online community is free. How’s that? That was good.
Steven Butala: Did you ever approach this, this incredibly premeditated way to get what you want in dating men? Because there’s a book deal for you. I will publish a book for you if you can come up with some of these stories.
Jill DeWit: I am not sure I want to answer this in this format.
Steven Butala: So the answer’s yes.
Jill DeWit: Great question, though. I really appreciate that. We’ll save that for another show.
Steven Butala: Maybe tomorrow we’ll talk about it.
Jill DeWit: Maybe. Wherever you’re watching, wherever you’re listening, please subscribe and rate us there. We’re Steve and Jill.
Steven Butala: We’re Steve and Jill. Information.
Jill DeWit: And inspiration.
Steven Butala: To buy undervalued property.
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