Things you should know about us
1: My name is Jake Dwyer and I started the 1911 Syndicate. My name is NOT Hellen Keller, which means I am not a miracle worker. Reasonable expectations are required in order for us to work together.
2: We joke and have fun in content. We do our best to translate that to an enjoyable real estate process. But please do not mistake our jovial nature for sloppy business practices. We are obsessive about what we do and take it seriously.
3: Respect boundaries. We make content and are glad that you enjoy it. If you inquire about real estate, please be serious. Don’t use a BS real estate inquiry as a means to chat with us.
4: Especially in this current chaotic real estate market, it is expected for us to be mutually dialed in. Be on time for appointments. Communicate efficiently. We don’t want to show up to pick you up for showings and you’re still in your bath robe cooking eggs (true story). First and foremost, we are here to do business together.
I want to buy raw LAND and/or LAND to shoot on
This is a very common email request that we get. Typically it is not a well thought through plan, and I will crush your dreams. First and foremost, here is our criteria to help with your land requests. The purchase price of the land must be a minimum of 200k. This is purely because anything less than that is not worth the time and effort. Outside of Utah, we make a small percentage of the commission on any deals (including land). Many land deals are in the neighborhood of 40-80k. When the dust settles we will literally make zero money on the deal, and as our protection of our time, we simply can’t take on sub 200k land deals. If you desire to buy land over 200k, we can possibly help, but also understand that we will ask for proof of funds before we invest time into the deal.
So how do you go about buying land less than 200k? My advice is to use the listing agent. Virtually no real estate agent is going to invest time into helping you search for 50k pieces of land. Ultimately, the burden is likely to be on you to keep an eye on local land listings. When you see something promising, go visit the plot. If you want to make an offer on it, call the listing agent and inform them you' would like to make an offer on their land listing. They will likely need to get the seller’s approval to do so…….but the listing agent should be able to write the offer for you and submit it. This is by far the most efficient way for you to acquire cheap land.
Here are a few other things to consider. What part of the country are you looking to do this? You will likely need a significant amount of acreage in order to build a private shooting range. Do you have a realistic projection of how much it costs to acquire that land? Have you thought about how much it will cost (outside of the land cost) to build out the range? The BIGGEST thing is the financing. If you plan to FINANCE a piece of recreational land to shoot on……..well you must stop dreaming. You need to have cash in order to make this happen.
I want to buy a house where I can shoot off my back porch
Welcome to another episode of Gun Guy Fantasy Land, I’m your host Jake Dwyer. Please understand that the Vegas odds of you buying a house where you can shoot off your back porch………these are not favorable odds. There are parts of the country where you can do it, but it is highly uncommon. Why? A residential house has zoning laws, and in almost every case you cannot live in a residential area and shoot guns (without a visit from the SWAT team). Also, acreage. In order to have a home and a shooting range, you’re likely talking about a pretty good size piece of land. Which is expensive. Do you have enough budget to buy a property like that? Again the two biggest factors in this equation are location and financing.
A far better route in my experience is to break the house purchase and land purchase into separate deals. Buy a good house that meets your criteria, and then buy a piece of recreational land in cash. Trying to combine a house purchase with the private shooting range purchase adds too many complexities on top of each other and our odds of success are tiny.
I’m interested in buying a house, what are the first steps?
Financing is the initial and most critical thing we need to look at. Before any real estate agent is going to start shopping for houses with you, they are going to take you through the financing pre approval process. While we, at the 1911 Syndicate, are not lenders, more than likely we will be able to get you in touch with a lender we work with to look at your financing. There will be documents that the lender needs, in addition to looking at your credit. This is standard operating procedure. It protects both your time and our time. Once we are looking good on financing pre approval, then we begin the house hunt.
Who will be my agent?
I (Jake, your primary host on the 1911 Syndicate content) am in Utah. I do manage some local Utah real estate deals with the help of our local team. If you are inquiring from outside of Utah, you will be working day to day with our agent in your particular area. We, at the mothership here in Utah, will be in touch with you to make sure everything is going smoothly, but understand we can’t be all places all the time. You will be well taken care of by our agent in your area.
The map doesn’t show that you have an agent in my area, can you still help?
The overwhelming majority of the time, yes. Typically we will have you begin the financing process to make sure you can get a mortgage, and then we will hunt down an agent for you. We do this all the time. We do our homework to find a good agent for you in that particular area. It doesn’t cost you anything, we make the investment of time to expand our network and find you someone good.
How early should I reach out to you about buying/selling a house?
Ideally, we would like you to reach out about 6 months in advance if you need to buy/sell. Especially on the buying side, success favors us being prepared. Financing is the primary reason we like for you to reach out early. If you have things on your credit for example that need to be worked on, it gives us a nice window to get you in a solid position. Typically 2-3 months out from when you need to move, that’s when we want to start actually looking at properties.
How much down payment do I need?
It depends. We are not lenders but we will get you in touch with lenders. I’ll say this, it’s pretty uncommon that we see people put down the classic 20%. While there are advantages to putting 20% down, in our experience most people do not, and are not required to. We’ll get you in touch with a lender to go through some options.
I’ve already got a real estate agent, can you help me?
More than likely not.
I want to buy land and build a house on it
This gets pretty complicated pretty quick. With a few exceptions, this is typically not a great option. In our beloved 2a community, there is an interest in buying land and building a house. Frequently this involves notions of raising chickens and sustainable food sources and shooting guns in your back yard. Here’s why, for most people, buying land and building a house won’t work. Financing. If you buy land and begin building a house on it, you will likely get a construction loan. In order to get the construction loan to buy the land, you will need an architect to draw up plans for the house. Then you will need to get with a contractor to price out the building cost. Sometimes land surveyors also need to get involved. Depending on access to utilities, you may need to have power/gas/water/sewer run to the property. You may need to have roads built. Once you go through all of this due diligence, you will officially “close” on the land and begin construction. Most people will be priced out of this option. On construction loans, typically you will be paying the interest portion of your loan while the house is being built. So while you live in your current home or apartment with your existing mortgage/rent, you will also be on the hook for the interest payment for you new home. And frequently that interest rate is higher than normal 30 year fixed interest rates. The alternative would be to do a “lot loan” where you would acquire just the land and postpone the building of the house for an extended period of time. Again this is a scenario where most people will be priced out as they would have their existing cost of living, and now factor in another mortgage on the raw land. Yes, it gets complicated. It is far from impossible, but please understand the basic framework.
I don’t live in Utah, can you help?
Typically, yes. We have agents in different parts of the country, and if we don’t have an agent in your area, we will do our due diligence to find you someone good.
Are all of the 1911 Syndicate agents veterans?
No. Some are, some are not. Our criteria for our agents in other states is that they be good at their job, and secondarily have some connection to the mil/LE/shooting world.
Do you work with clients who aren’t from the shooting community?
Yes. We cater to the mil/LE/first responder/shooting community, but we will help you grandma or Tinder hookup as well.
Can I come shoot with you or hang out while you film?
No, don’t make it weird bruh.
I’m a veteran who hasn’t used my VA loan, what should I know?
In reality, the process will not change much. On the finance side, a lender will need a couple of things like your DD214, but on the home shopping front not much will be different. The VA will be a little more strict on what houses they will approve for a VA loan as compared to a conventional loan. If you’re looking for a fixer upper a VA loan probably isn’t going to be a great vehicle.
How is the real estate process different with the 1911 Syndicate?
In reality there’s not much we can do to change the real estate process. As we like to say…….we make real estate suck less. AKA, you still have to go through the loan process, we still have to drive around looking at houses, we still have to do paperwork………the variables are this. 1, being able to do those things well. Agents are notoriously flaky humans, so our goal is to first and foremost provide you with a good service, much of which comes down to communication and reliability. 2, we have the benefit of sharing some common interests with our clients. If we’re going to spend a period of months together going through the home process, I’d much prefer to spend that time with people I enjoy and share some hobbies with. We do have little client perks here and there, but our primary goal is to do a good job and connect with like minded humans.
Do you deal with rentals?
No, frankly it’s just not worth the time and in all reality, you as the consumer have access to the same information we do when it comes to rentals.
