David Hill

Turn a No to a Yes

Hello everyone! Today I want to talk about preparing yourself for rejection.

We had a student in our Land Deals Revealed program ask a great question the other day. He was preparing himself to hear ‘No’ a lot as he started to pursue some off-market properties and asked “Have you ever closed on a seller that initially said: ’No, I don't want to sell’!?”.

The beauty of what we teach in our program is how to identify properties and how to put deals together. We are also taking people who are not currently in sales and turning them into sellers.

So how do you take someone that is completely closed minded to the idea of selling and switching them to a place where they would consider selling?

A big part of doing this is getting to know them. What is important to them? What are their hot buttons?

For example:
Let’s say I’m looking at a piece of property that is worth $2 million.
The owner says “No, absolutely not. I would never sell.”
I respond with, “If I were to write you a check for $20 million right now, you wouldn't sell?”
The owner now responds with, “Well, Yeah! Of course I would sell for $20 million!”

I was able to take someone that was completely closed minded to even considering the idea of selling to all of the sudden they are open to the discussion.

You have shifted their mindset and now are able to start talking through what is important to them and what it would take for them to actually sell their property.

A couple of points to leave you with:
Accept that No is a part of what we do.
There are opportunities out there where you can take a No mindset and change it to a Yes mindset.

If you are interested in learning more about what we do watch the presentation here: https://shrtlnk.co/KuwiM

At the end of the video you can follow the link to book a call with one of our coaches. We can talk more about your goals and see if our program is a good fit for you!

Posted by Cody Bjugan – VESTRIGHT on Thursday, June 25, 2020

Understanding Deal Structure

Today I want to talk about Part 6 of our miniseries on becoming a Land Acquisition Specialist.

From the Land Developers stand point, this is probably one of those areas that is most lacking with people who are trying to put land deals together.

In my career over the past 18 years or so, there have been numerous occasions where someone has brought us a project. Cody and I take a look and it might be a deal that we like. But more often than not, whether it’s from a real estate agent or someone that has put together a deal with the property owner, the terms of the deal aren’t structured correctly.

This is extremely important.

In Real Estate, we talk about how price and terms are so important.
In Land Development, I would say that terms are often more important than price. The terms of a deal are essential to making a project work for a developer.

Land deal terms are different from other real estate structures that most people are familiar with. For example, with buying and selling homes you will have certain terms that most people know – terms like Earnest Money, Inspection Periods and Closing Dates.

When it comes to land, where you’re getting into a multi-million-dollar price tag, the terms become extremely important.

When someone that isn't a Land Acquisitions Specialist brings me a deal, more often than not, there are terms that are missing. Terms like, the Feasibility Study, a development Closing Timeline, Earnest Money Structure, Extensions, Title and Document Review, Seller and Buyer Obligations. All of these things are so important, but very often they aren't there.

This person then has to go back to the seller and explain to them that they are going to have to reconfigure how the deal is going to work. They have a challenge now because through their lack of information they have set an expectation with the seller that isn't in line with what is actually needed. They will have to readjust and reeducate the seller.

Knowing how to structure a deal and these terms are so important.
A big part of our course, Land Deals Revealed, is dedicated to looking at each of these terms. Deconstructing each one from the viewpoint of a developer. Knowing how they work, why they are important and how they need to be structured.

Putting together a land deal for a developer is like cooking for him. Not only do you need to know what he wants to eat but you also need to know how he wants it cooked!

When we put together land deals, we need to know how to structure those things.

If you would like to find out more about our training course where we will walk you through all of the steps that you need to become a Land Acquisitions Specialist, the best place to start is to watch our presentation video here: https://shrtlnk.co/KuwiM

Our presentation will give you a feel for what our strategy is, what our blueprint is, how we put these deals together, how we generate 5, 6 & 7 figure returns on our land deals.

And beyond our strategy, you’ll also learn how we avoid the big risks that developers take – like buying land, taking out huge loans and funding giant construction projects.

Posted by Cody Bjugan – VESTRIGHT on Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Never Split the Difference

Go read the book Never Split the Difference, if you haven’t already! I recently listened to the audio version and I took pages of notes.

I have always seen myself as a pretty good negotiator but I learned numerous great points and nuggets from this book that will help me better identify and communicate with different personalities.

In this video I talk about 3 main concepts:

· Win-Win Strategy
· Negotiating through Education
· Hot Buttons for Your Seller

What can you negotiate with your seller in order to get the land purchased but is still a Win-Win for all parties?

If you want to learn more about how to be a Land Acquisition Specialist, watch our presentation here: https://shrtlnk.co/KuwiM

*Never Split the Difference: Negotiating As If Your Life Depended On It by Chris Voss

Posted by Cody Bjugan – VESTRIGHT on Thursday, June 18, 2020

Understand the Development Process

We have talked about several topics in our series in How to Become a Land Acquisition Specialist. Some of the past topics have been:

• Identifying Developmental Potential
• Know How to Assess
• Know the Players
• Know the Lingo

Today I want to talk about Understanding the Development Process.

This is a crucial step. We are teaching you how to put these deals together, take it to a developer and get paid.

In order to be a Specialist, you need to have a firm understanding of what happens when a developer takes a piece of raw land, takes it all the way through the approval process, and gets it approved and shovel ready.

During that process there are a lot of steps that a developer takes that you will need to know and understand.

There’s the Feasibility Study, and all that goes on within it. The Phase 1 Environmental Study, the Preapplication Conference, the Performa, Cost Estimates, Hazmat Inspections. Geotech Studies…

And then once the developer gets through all of those steps, what’s the next part of his process?

He has to prepare the Land Use Application. What goes into that? How big is it? What is it?

Then submit to the jurisdiction. They have to deem it complete. You need to understand what that process looks like.

Then he works his way through the Planning Commission Hearing and/or the City Council Hearing.

He gets through the Preliminary Plat Approval. You need to know what that is and how it plays into the process. And he works his way through the Appeal Period. Prepares and submits the Construction Drawings.

These steps are not difficult and they aren’t necessarily things that you’ll have to do, but these are steps that you will need to know in order to effectively put Land Deals together and make these 5, 6 & 7 figure returns that we talk about.

A big part of our course, Land Deals Revealed, is teaching you the A to Z of the Land Development process.
This last week we had a student graduate and give us some great feedback. She and her husband, were concerned that they didn’t know anything about real estate. They were questioning how they were going to learn everything that they needed to know about Land Development in an 8-week course.

They graduated last week and said that they got way more out of the course than they had expected.

I can truly say that they are now Land Acquisition Specialists. They know the development process. They know all the terms and timelines. They have a firm understanding of the process and are now able to go out and put these deals together correctly, with the right terms, and get them into the hands of a developer.

That is a powerful thing!

It’s something that we’ve leveraged for the past 18 years and it has consistently produced these big returns.

If you’d like more info, check out our presentation video here: https://shrtlnk.co/KuwiM

This presentation will give you a blueprint of what it is that we do and what our strategy is which is a perfect place to start!

Posted by Cody Bjugan – VESTRIGHT on Tuesday, June 16, 2020

Know the Lingo

There was a TV show that I watched several years ago. It was called Patriot. The main character, John, was a secret agent and he had a mission. In order to succeed at his mission, he had to get a job and pretend that he was a very high-level Industrial Engineer.

At some point the CEO of the company started to suspect that maybe John wasn’t who he said he was. In a meeting the CEO started asking John questions using very specific terms that only those in the industry would know. I started to sweat thinking about how John was going to fake his way through this?!

Land development is the same. There are very specific terms that only those in the industry would know. Abbreviations, acronyms, definitions. Things like plats, approved plats, preliminary plats, layouts, proposed layouts, CIPs, TSPs, PLAs, SDCs, SDC credits, Entitlements, Conditions of Approval…. the list goes on and on.

All of these terms are important to know because as a Land Acquisition Specialist, our buyers are developers.

And in order to efficiently and effectively communicate with these developers, we have to speak their language. We need to know what these things mean and know how the process works.

That is exactly where the VestRight’s course, Land Deals Revealed, comes in. We took our 18 years of experience, packaged it up into a course, poured our heart and soul into it, and we’re making it available to entrepreneurial folks like you.

Cody and I spend a lot of time talking about the deals that we’ve put together and the returns that we’ve made.

But without knowing how it all works you will go through the same issues and growing pains that we went through back in 2002.

The strategies we’ll walk you through in Land Deals Revealed will allow you to avoid all the expensive, difficult and painful learning moments that we had to go through.

With our program, you will become a true Land Acquisitions Specialist.
So take a moment and check out our presentation video here: https://shrtlnk.co/KuwiM

We will walk you through our blueprints and strategies and we’ll show you how we put these deals together and how we minimize our risk.

Right, I’ll end with this: To become a Land Acquisition Specialist, you need to know the lingo. You need to understand how the industry works. We can get you there!

Posted by Cody Bjugan – VESTRIGHT on Tuesday, June 9, 2020

Take the First Step

Last week I was down in Arizona with my family looking for a second home. My wife and I were born and raised in Oregon.

And we’re ready to take that next step.

I know change can be intimidating.

There are a lot of excuses that can come up.

Unfortunately, those excuses can stop you from progressing forward or making positive changes in your life.

Even though I am beyond satisfied and excited about taking the first step towards a major change for our family. The reality is that so many people won’t even take that first step. They dream about it but they always have an excuse as to why they will never do it.

What if Arizona doesn’t work out for us? What if we hate it? At least we will know.

To me, that is a positive. To me, that is growth. We tried. We took the first step.

What I really want to talk to you about today is taking the first step in your career.

VestRight teaches how to be a Land Acquisition Specialist. How to play in the land development world without taking on all of the development risks.

What does success look like for you?

What picture comes to your mind when you think of your successful future? If you don’t take the first step, you will never be able to paint yourself in that picture!

Let’s say you have taken our course and your first step is doing your first deal. That can be intimidating. It can be scary. If you don’t take the first step, then all you have learned in our course was for nothing. Make that leap of faith and at the end of the day, you will be one step closer to that painting.

The steps get easier and easier as you get more comfortable.

You have heard me say before: on the other side of your excuses, the other side of your fear, the other side of the negative mindset, on the other side of that first step you will look back and ask yourself, why was I so intimidated by that decision?

Are you ready to take the first step? Do you want to learn more about what we do? That first step is in watching our presentation video here: VestRight.com/action

Posted by Cody Bjugan – VESTRIGHT on Thursday, June 4, 2020

Know The Players

I have been doing some videos talking about what it takes to become a Land Acquisition Specialist. So far, we have reviewed two of the steps. Step one, Knowing how to identify if a piece of property has development potential. Step two, Gaining the ability to know what you can and cannot do with it. In step three I want to talk about the Importance of knowing the players in this industry.

There are quite a few of them….

• City & County Planners
• Title com
• Escrow office
• Civil engine
• Appraisers
• Wetland Biologist
• Geotec Engineers
• Traffic Engineers
• Real estate agents
• The list goes on and on

It’s not complicated but it is information that you need to know in order to be able to put land deals together and make some of these big returns that we have been talking about. Land Deals Reveled is just that! Our program was conceived to take people who don’t know anything about land or development and turn them into Land Acquisition Specialists. A big part of that process is all the players involved. You need to have a clear understanding of what each of them does, the roles that they play and how their roles can be leveraged for your success.

If this is something that you are wanting to learn about, we have the perfect program for you! It’s called Land Deals Revealed and you can find out more about it over at VestRight.com/action

Remember…this knowledge is not super complicated but you need to know it in order to be an expert in Land Acquisition. We have been doing this for about 18 years now and we are excited to share this program with you!

Posted by Cody Bjugan – VESTRIGHT on Tuesday, June 2, 2020