Why Our West Virginia Land Acquisitions Failed (LA 1379)
Transcript:
Steve Jack Butala:
Steve and Jill here. Welcome to the Land Academy Show, entertaining land investment talk. I'm Steven Jack Butala.
Jill DeWitt:
And I'm Jill DeWitt, broadcasting from sunny Southern California, but you are not.
Steve Jack Butala:
Sunny Central Scottsdale for me.
Jill DeWitt:
Very cool. Is this the first time we've done this? No.
Steve Jack Butala:
It's the first time.
Jill DeWitt:
It can't be the first time we've done it like this.
Steve Jack Butala:
I think it really is. Maybe, you know what I think we've done in the past? Is we've just done audio only from separate places.
Jill DeWitt:
This is cool.
Steve Jack Butala:
[crosstalk 00:00:33].
Jill DeWitt:
The power of technology.
Steve Jack Butala:
Jill booked us a fantastic place in Scottsdale Resort. This hotel room's like 3,000 square feet. It's got its own pool table and everything.
Jill DeWitt:
Yup. It was so cool. There's a mirror behind you, and I can see my reflection on the mirror behind you. It's really kind of weird.
Steve Jack Butala:
Oh my God.
Jill DeWitt:
Behind the pool table and the bar.
Steve Jack Butala:
You guys sit and talk about yourselves. Aren't you going to talk about land?
Jill DeWitt:
Sorry.
Steve Jack Butala:
Today, Jill and I talk about why our West Virginia land acquisitions failed. Jill and I sent out a pretty substantial mailer to buy land in West Virginia. And tragically, they have what I call a multi APN system, and Jill's going to tell us all about it, which it precluded us, and probably, anybody in our group from buying dirt, right?
Jill DeWitt:
Mm-hmm (affirmative). I'll fill you in.
Steve Jack Butala:
Is that the whole show there?
Jill DeWitt:
Pretty much, but I'll fill you in.
Steve 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.
Jill DeWitt:
Lucas wrote, "Hi, everyone. One of my goals for Land Academy is to someday return to my home state of Vermont. Is there anyone in this community that's experienced in the state of Vermont? If so, I would really appreciate some pointers. I had looked into purchasing property for myself over the last few years, and I was stunned by the high cost of septic to design and build. It's not uncommon for people to spend $35 to $45,000 on a septic system. I'm told that mining and new quarry activity has been halted in Vermont, so all the mound systems need to be transported in from out-of-state, and that drives the cost up." That's making me not want to live there. That's a hassle. Aside from that, land can be...
Steve Jack Butala:
Where do you want to live, Jill?
Jill DeWitt:
We'll get to that in a minute too. Land can be expensive there anyway. Welcome to our club. "I'd love to speak with someone who has success buying and selling in Vermont. I have a feeling they are a non-solicit state." You know what's funny? This is truth time that we do with Jan and I right now. We have so many deals coming back at us right now that I'm getting even pickier than I ever have been. And I have a two to three strike system.
Steve Jack Butala:
[crosstalk 00:03:12].
Jill DeWitt:
And this is the thing that I wrote just yesterday. I went through 10 properties, and anyone that had... I'll tell you my three strike system here. What I wrote most of the time was, and it was flipping funny. Here's what's happening, and it ties into this show. One strike was access. Two strike was, I don't think the guy owns the whole thing. And three strike was, it's West Virginia.
Steve Jack Butala:
What?
Jill DeWitt:
Automatically, that was one of the strikes, and I'll tell you more why in a minute. And I'm like, "Nope, canceled due to location." That was it. So, anyway, it's funny for me because with Lucas's question, it makes me think about... There's a reason why people like us are successful overcoming obstacles. And then,