Do You Need to Go See the Land Before You Buy it? (CFFL 0028)

Do You Need to Go See the Land Before You Buy it? Jack Butala:                   Welcome to the Cash Flow From Land Show. In this episode Jill and I talk about 'if you need to go see the property before you buy it'. Welcome Jill. Jill DeWit:                            Hi. Jack Butala:                   Hey, I'm so glad we're covering this topic. I'll tell you because I get this topic from Land Academy members and people inquiring to be members every single week. Jill DeWit:                            Yup. Jack Butala:                   I have a ton of opinions about this but I would love to hear your take on it because, you know, you're so close ... You're so much closer to the buy side and the sell side customer these days. What do you think? You got to go see the property? Jill DeWit:                            Oh my goodness absolutely not. Jack Butala:                   Oh my gosh that's not ... Oh my gosh. Jill DeWit:                            I thought that's what you were expecting. You weren't expecting me to say- Jack Butala:                   Here's the thing Jill. I started this company in the 90's and Jill came aboard around seven years ago, like whatever that is ... Like 2009 or 2012 or something. All the hard work was done, she just came in for the fun part. No I'm just joking she works her butt off. You know, I spent a lot of time driving around the country looking at this property and she just says, "Nah, you don't have ... all you have to do is go out over to Steve's office and ask him if we should buy it or not. You don't have to go to see it." Jill DeWit:                            Not true, thank you very much. Jack Butala:                   I'm sorry, I'd love ... I can't wait to hear this now. What are we supposed to do? Jill DeWit:                            No you do not need to see the property at all. There is this fancy tool that, by the way we are all carrying around in our back pockets right now, called a cell phone. Where you could do so much research, look at maps, everything right there. I am constantly ... People don't know this but you can plug ... I don't want to give GPS 101, but if you know what a GPS ... If you're in this business you know what a GPS coordinate is. Or you're military or you travel ... A pilot, anything, you know what GPS is. My point is, now it's so advanced you can even just pop the GPS coordinates in any Google Maps, any IMAP, anything you want you just ... Like you're typing in 123 Main Street. I could put in 34.991, you know, -109.6815. Bingo, and it'll take me right there and map it just like it would anything else. Tell me how, the driving directions. Jack Butala:                   Right. Jill DeWit:                            My point is, with the resource that we have nowadays ... Resources ... You do not have to see your property before you buy it. Jack Butala:                   Right, well can I give my answer now? Jill DeWit:                            Oh yes. That's mine, I'm sorry. Jack Butala:                   I think that in the very very beginning it might make a lot of sense to go take a look at some property. This is what honestly, what most people do ... Most of our new members do, hire somebody from Craigslist. Pay them a small amount of money, maybe $25-$30, maybe $40-$50 to go out there and take some pictures so that you can really get a good north, south, east, west, perception of the thing. This is just in the beginning of your career. Do you have to do it on every single one? I don't think so, but it still, it gives ... You're going to use those pictures to sell the property so you might as well use them to make a decision about buying them. Do you have to go see the property? No I agree with Jill. You don't really have to and in fact that's one of the ... We have ... A lot of our members are former house flippers and they got frustrated because they're only as good as driving to the house on...