SPEAKER_04 0:00

A lot of people will come in, they say, Oh, I only need a three bedroom. But then, you know, then they have a kid, or then then the parent has to move in with them or something, and they could have got the four-bedroom for a hundred and fifty bucks more a month. With the way that homes appreciate historically, you almost want to buy the biggest, nicest home you can comfortably afford. Yeah. Right? Like everybody in the world wishes they bought a bigger house when interest rates were super low and not have bought the, you know, the smallest house that was the least expensive house. But yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:40

Welcome to the Studio 321 podcast, powered by Brightway, the Steve Trout agency. We're sitting down with real estate pros, insurance nerds, mortgage masterminds, and local legends who are making moves on the Space Coast. Hosted by the best insurance crew in the 321. At studio 321, it's all about community, real connections, and sharing a few laughs along the way. Strap in, let's launch into today's episode. Today we're excited to welcome our first ever builder representative to the show. Joining us is Matthew Swist with DR Horton. Matthew is on the front lines of new construction here in our market, helping buyers navigate everything from floor plans and design selections to contracts and closing timelines. If you ever wondered how the builder side really works, pricing, incentives, inventory, interest rate buy downs, today's episode is going to give you the behind-the-scenes look at what really is happening in new construction.

SPEAKER_04 1:35

You what up? Hey guys, appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Happy to be here. Glad you got the memo. I did. Yeah, we did.

SPEAKER_00 1:45

Did you see that? I did. Thank you. That's why I put it out there. So what's up, man? Welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_04 1:52

Yeah, thank you. Thank you. It's awesome. This is pretty cool. First uh, first ever podcast. So gonna have to get, like I said, used to the sound of my own voice in my headphones. Wait till you see yourself on camera. Oh, good.

SPEAKER_05 2:07

You get that a lot though.

SPEAKER_04 2:08

I do a lot of events, yeah. But I just I went and got headshots for like the first time in a couple years yesterday, and I'm like, my mom's like, how'd they turn out? And I'm like, well, that's just unfortunate. Good, but that's just unfortunately what I look like now.

SPEAKER_00 2:20

Oh, come on. We've had we've had a couple guests after the thing releases. They're like, man, if you ever want to get motivated to lose weight, go on the podcast because the camera's adding like 25.

SPEAKER_02 2:30

But I can't see myself right now.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

I'm not calling anybody out of equipment out that's like, boy, I really took up a lot of that camera, didn't I?

SPEAKER_05 2:37

Oh my god, it does. It makes you feel blowed. You do not look like that. I'm gonna lie, I love that it's winning, right?

SPEAKER_00 2:44

So, man, tell us a little bit about yourself. Tell us your story, how you got to where you are today.

SPEAKER_04 2:48

And yeah, so I uh I've been working for D.R. Horton for about six years now. So I'm definitely uh I don't feel like I'm new at this anymore, so that's good. I uh did general real estate for two years before that with uh Curry Kirshner Real Estate Group. So I love those guys. Dave Curry uh was the guy over there, he really helped me out. Um my older brother is who brought me into this business prior to real estate. I was a service manager at Gaddows, and uh I was just working 65 hours a week. Um I remember Yeah, it was just it was brutal, and he was doing great in real estate. And he said, Hey, come work with me, I'll pay your bills until you uh get going. And he really gave me that opportunity. So I appreciate it. Yeah, for sure. And what's interesting about that is uh I remember, I'm like, well, I you know, I just didn't know if I could do it, if I could make that leap into doing real estate full time, because I had my license and I worked at it for like six months, but I was only doing it really part-time. And uh I remember saying, All right, well, I'm gonna ask them for a raise, and I asked them for like a dollar raise, and they're like, all we could do is 50 cents. And I'm like, all right, well, I quit. And or I I put my I put my two weeks in, and like that day, my my then girlfriend told me that she was pregnant. So if I didn't do it then, I never would have done it. So I'm so thankful that it just worked out that way.

SPEAKER_05 4:09

Wow, that's incredible.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Yeah, big shout out to Big Bro, too. Yeah, no, he's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 4:12

Yeah, he's over at Poulty now, so he's still doing it. So yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_05 4:16

My dad uh was a general contractor for Poulty. We actually live, oh, my mom lives in it. He built that community and island crossings. Yeah, I mean, beautiful, beautiful house. Yeah, so he we were the first house built there, and it was a shell dump. But yeah, it was pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 4:29

What does shell dump me?

SPEAKER_05 4:30

You don't know what a shell dump is?

SPEAKER_04 4:31

I think it's literally where they dump shells. Okay, all right. I don't think it's uh industry jargon. I was like a shell dump. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:38

Then I'm like, oh wait, we're framing about it.

SPEAKER_04 4:40

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:41

Well, no, it was dumping you.

SPEAKER_05 4:44

Mountains and mountains of shells. I mean, we would fossils of shells.

SPEAKER_00 4:48

We're all learning some new lingo today. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_04 4:50

Yeah, I recently heard that they used to do that somewhere.

SPEAKER_05 4:53

Yeah, that was at Island Crossings. There, you can't even dig because you'll just find shells underneath the water. The soil's awful over there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:00

Shell belt.

SPEAKER_00 5:00

All right, man. So what's the sales rep at DR Horton do?

SPEAKER_04 5:04

So I feel like my entire job is just contacting realtors and doing social events like this. It's really, really what it is. But really, you know, obviously, you know, buyers will walk in, people interested or generally interested in in, you know, some they're doing they're somewhere along the line of looking at homes or trying to purchase a house, right? So we just kind of educate them on the benefits of new construction, uh, the benefits of DR Horton or whatever company you happen to be working for at that time, and um, you know, really just just compare you know the new homes between the used homes. And then at least, and then of course, for realtors, we try, at least with D.R. Horton, to just be a resource for the realtors, just so they have another, you know, another avenue to go with their buyers, right? We're not always going to be the best fit for their buyers. A used house won't always be the best fit for their buyers. And we just try our best not to, you know, we're not trying to compete with general real estate agents. We're just trying to, you know, be a resource for them. Similar to how an insurance agent would be for them or a mortgage lender would be for them, just another kind of tool for them to use.

SPEAKER_01 6:14

Yeah, absolutely. Now, do you if you don't mind me asking, like sure do you do um like not offer? You said you're just educating more or less about new homes just for the communities that are already built or yeah, in upcoming areas and uh new communities, new projects.

SPEAKER_04 6:28

I mean, so we always have something in the works, you know. I'm sure you've seen our communities, so we're uh definitely no stranger to Brevard County. So yeah, just trying to educate people on where we're gonna be, what those communities are gonna offer, and what we can offer their buyers, right?

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Is there any existing community or new that you guys are building that you guys are excited about?

SPEAKER_04 6:46

So if anyone, you know, in Brevard County, specifically that West Melbourne area is familiar with Sawgrass Lakes, it's a huge community, it has like the water slide. We're building a we're well actually well underway of building kind of not a replica of that, but a similar style community in uh Palm Bay called Cypress Bay West. And that's off the new J uh you know, John Heritage Parkway entrance or exit, um, down by that new two-story publics in Palm Bay. And that community is gonna be like 1,300 homes, huge resort style amenities, multiple different product lines. So that's I don't know if that's what we're trending towards of doing like communities, larger communities with multiple different product lines, but we are seeing more of that for sure. So I'm excited about that.

SPEAKER_05 7:28

Now Palm Bay has grown so tremendously with like new homes and it was already dangerous to go over there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:36

Well, I'm not sure if this is true. I heard somebody say this that the just the compound in Palm Bay is bigger than Rockledge and Cocoa put together. Oh so I know for sure that Palm Bay is the biggest like city, if you will, in Brevard County. So that's naturally where you know we're gonna see most of the growth happening. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:54

Is that where most of your neighborhoods are? Do you have them throughout the county?

SPEAKER_04 7:57

We have them throughout the county. I mean, we have beautiful neighborhoods in MIMS and uh we have satellite beach townhomes. We have yeah, so we're really uh kind of diversifying to you know from what we've typically done. We have really higher end homes coming up in Merritt Island. We're actually selling there now, and then uh in uh Cocoa, like right by like Cocoa Village, which is such a cool area. Yeah, yeah. You know, I love Cocoa Village, so you know that's that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 8:24

Is that your guys' uh two-story townhome buildings that are right by uh Timeout? Is that what you're talking about?

SPEAKER_04 8:29

Uh no, we have it's called River Walk, and it's only like I don't know, maybe like 20 homes or so. We like bought this existing community, really, is what we did. But it's like right off the river. No, it is awesome. I went there from the river.

SPEAKER_05 8:42

My husband took me in and beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 8:44

I mean, we have a look at that. Yeah, we have our own dock. Isn't it?

SPEAKER_05 8:46

Yeah, it's pretty cool. Isn't all the roofs have metal roofs too? Yep. Riverwalk. River walk. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:52

Might be moving in a few years.

SPEAKER_05 8:53

So I I um he was like, let me show you how like you get into here and everything like that. Yeah, it's beautiful. And then you can oh, I just loved it. The location was perfect. That's cool. So that was a great one.

SPEAKER_00 9:03

It's awesome. What do you think sets DR Horton apart from like other builders in the area?

SPEAKER_04 9:09

Well, there's a lot of great builders in the area. You know, there's a lot of large builders that you can find all over you know the United States, and every builder, you know, has something special to offer, I think. You know, we really capitalize on you know the incentives that we can offer are second to none, that's for sure. And then um, you know, we have just we've kind of updated our process a bit. We got a uh new division president who's phenomenal. So he's implemented some new like quality assurance standards uh into our homes now that our product today from a couple years ago is night and day different. So you know, so we're you know, we're really proud of our product. I think that we do more inspections than you know any of the other major builders, or at least as many. I mean, our our quality next to the next to the to anybody else, I would I would put our homes too. And uh, I mean, we really have a full um like stack of products, if you will. You know, we have something for the first-time home buyer, we have something for the person that wants their forever house. We have people, we have homes from, you know, uh for people that are downsizing. So you know, we really have a good uh variety of products. Good portfolio. That's it, that's it.

SPEAKER_00 10:17

Yeah, so like you hear a little bit in the marketplace that builders are honestly really like leading in sales right now. You know what I mean? Because they're able to offer such great incentives. Yeah. And um a lot of times can really, especially like for first-time homebuyers, can you know, offer generally a better deal. Can you kind of tell us about that? What sets you guys apart from maybe somebody buying an old house versus buying through a builder?

SPEAKER_04 10:44

I mean, it's the affordability, right? I mean, the affordability right now, and I feel horrible for you know, people that are just getting out of high school or even college. I mean, like, I think the average age for a home buyer now. It's like 36. Yeah, it's crazy. It's like 35 to 40, is what Chat G PT told me before. So, I mean, it's it's it's crazy, but with our incentives, I I'm super proud of this uh this this buyer that just closed on her house. She was 23. Oh, yeah, yeah. She's taking care of her dad, and she's a CNA, and she was able to close with us because of the incentives that we can offer. It's really about the incentives, right? I mean, when you're talking about affordability, I mean, we really uh, you know, should be top of mind for anybody that's that's looking for an affordable option. So and then of course, as you well know, the uh insurance on new construction. I mean, you know, I I heard uh this couple talking yesterday, they're looking at a $325,000 resale house, and the insurance is $4,000 a year. I'm not sure how accurate or how common that is. I'm not sure what kind of house they were looking at, but that seems insane, you know, $4,000 a year. And I mean, we're you know, $1,200, sub a thousand. I mean, you know better than me, but I mean, so that all that all comes into play.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

Yeah, I mean, a $300,000 house in Titusville built in 1955. Yeah, it's four over four grand easily. You know, let's say it's got one of the rolled roofs or something like that.

SPEAKER_00 12:09

Yeah, it was the same house in Titusville, brand new. Uh brand new, eight hundred bucks.

SPEAKER_01 12:14

Right.

SPEAKER_04 12:14

I mean, so you know, the affordability right now just for everybody in this, you know, this economy is just tough. So, you know, it's good that we can that we have some some products and some incentives to kind of uh help people out there. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 12:28

And you guys have like warranties on your homes too.

SPEAKER_04 12:30

We do, yeah. So we have all kinds of different warranties. We have like a two-year electrical and plumbing warranty, ten-year structural warranties, and then of course the appliances all have their manufacturer warranties. So that's that's a plus. Yeah. You know, you don't want to scrape by, get into one of these older homes, you know, you get your tax return back, so now you can, you know, afford the down payment, and then you have a water heater or I mean an AC or I mean plumbing issues of type or something.

SPEAKER_00 12:58

There is so much benefit to a new home. I mean, there really is.

SPEAKER_04 13:02

And it's crazy. I think for the first time in history, dollar per square foot were less expensive.

SPEAKER_00 13:06

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 13:07

I mean, at least in Palm Bay, right? That's primarily where I'm working at. But I mean, dollar per square foot in Palm Bay on average is $210 and we're like $190. So we're less expensive per square foot. And then of course you add in the incentives and the insurance and everything on top. I mean, you know, it's just hard it's hard for resales to kind of compete with that. Right. But again, like I said, I mean, if you want, if you need a uh an acre in Grant, we're not your we're not your builder. If you need a house that has a pool or something like that, or you're looking for something on the beach, I mean, we we may not be the right fit, but for you know, your typical buyer, we might be.

SPEAKER_00 13:44

And traditionally, at least, you know, from what I've seen in the past, is a lot of these new builds, you get in at a pretty good price, and then you almost have instant equity.

SPEAKER_04 13:54

Yeah, I mean, in certain situations, right, the market's gonna dictate that, but that for sure. I mean, in my career, these last six years, that's been the norm.

SPEAKER_00 14:01

Yeah, no, absolutely. And like there's some people that don't want to wait for the builder to build the house. They just w they want to move into a a a fairly new house and you know do it. And they're willing to pay the premium to do it. No doubt.

SPEAKER_04 14:13

And what's what's nice, and at least with us, we're like when people think of a spec home builder, that's they're thinking of us. Yeah. So we build hundreds of homes and we just hope that people come and buy them, right? So we're not in a lot of situations, you're not waiting the six months or the eight months that that you may have to when you think of new construction. You know, we have homes, I have homes that we can close, you know, in a week if it's cash. So wow.

SPEAKER_00 14:36

Yeah, and I would say, you know, D.R. Horton's probably looking at it like, you know, this market, they wouldn't be building all these houses prior to having contracts on it, right? Because you're building them without contracts, right? You're correct, exactly.

SPEAKER_04 14:49

No, I'm really excited just about Brevard County as a whole. I mean, I'm sure that all your guests have uh said that, but just the growth that is coming into this area, yeah, I mean it's awesome, right?

SPEAKER_05 14:58

We're gonna we're gonna sink. Yeah, we might.

SPEAKER_04 15:00

I don't know. I mean, you know, but it's it's just crazy when you I mean, so it's not only just us that's building these huge uh communities and neighborhoods. I mean, other huge builders are building big projects down in Palm Bay too. So they must, you know, they've done their research. Publix does their research, McDonald's does their research, so they're popping up the corporate. Yeah, Publix is everywhere there. I know, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 15:21

It's all about they do uh statistical analysis of you know people moving in, they look at real estate sales and all that. You know, uh somebody who works for Publix lives across the street. He kind of went through with me.

SPEAKER_04 15:32

Our Publix has uh sushi. Have you ever been to a Publix that makes sushi? Publix makes it. I got Publix money, so you know. I didn't know that. Every Publix makes me. Yeah, they have their sushi up there and everything. They'll make it friends for you as well. That's what I'm saying about Blue Moon.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

We should have made them feel like his Publix is specifically.

SPEAKER_04 15:52

I know they won.

SPEAKER_01 15:54

I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_04 15:55

Two-story nice publics. And I was like, wow, they got sushi.

SPEAKER_01 15:58

No, they contract them.

SPEAKER_04 15:59

Oh, you know, that's see, I really thought Pombe was growing up in the world. Or they're just late to the very late, apparently.

SPEAKER_01 16:07

You want to talk about instant equity. I feel like Pombay in a couple years. What you're buying in now, it's gonna be.

SPEAKER_00 16:13

Oh, yeah. They're building like crazy out there. You guys are it's unbelievable. The neighborhood they're going on out there.

SPEAKER_01 16:19

I mean, I think population-wise, they're almost half a million people in Pombay. Yeah. 400,000, 500,000 in Pombay. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_00 16:26

So if you were giving a few insurance agents advice on how to build a relationship with a builder, um, what what would you say? Well, I mean, I think.

SPEAKER_04 16:35

Yeah, I think this is awesome. Yeah. I mean, I couldn't be more satisfied. So yeah, definitely getting my money's worth. No, I think it's just like anything, though. You just go out there and you have to just keep, you know, networking and meeting people multiple times. I mean, they might not remember you the first time unless you do something silly, but yeah. But yeah, it's just putting yourself out there.

SPEAKER_00 16:56

No, absolutely. There's a lot of time like would it be advantageous for us to just start walking into model homes? Yeah, I think so. And and you know, just chatting up with sales reps for sure doing that. Absolutely. Yeah. Um one thing I noticed is you know, I met you out at a marketing event.

SPEAKER_02 17:11

Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:12

And I don't know, I don't know that I've seen a lot of builder reps out doing that. I feel like they're mainly sitting in the model homes waiting for it to come to them. And I was it was pretty cool seeing you out and about. I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_04 17:21

Yeah, I mean, you know, I think that they're missing the mark there. I think you have to. I mean, uh yeah, I don't know. I mean, realtors are are doing it, you know, uh insurance agents are doing it. I don't know why we wouldn't. Uh that's kind of been uh, you know, my my my bread and butter into this market. I would say for every one sale I get from somebody just walking in and and writing a check right then and there, it's four realtor sales, you know, meeting and connecting with people.

SPEAKER_05 17:49

Are you a part of um SCAR?

SPEAKER_04 17:52

No, but I do all their events. So they may not know I'm at their events, but I'm there. I may not, I might not uh yeah, I mean I was a realtor, but like yeah, now I am not allowed to be a part of SCAR working for the builder, but our um like my bosses and stuff, they are. So I do a lot of events, and yeah, and now my wife just got her real estate license. Oh yeah, that's nice. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 18:13

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 18:14

Very cool.

SPEAKER_01 18:14

My first home I bought was a resale home. It was a flip house. Obviously, they cut corners on that. But as far inspection-wise, everything looked great, you know. Um put a pretty bow on it. And now I went at twenty-one, I built a brand new home. And the difference between a resale and a brand new home is it's not even close. And I'm not talking ill of resale homes at all. I just know the advantages of a brand new home and how much more it offers, at least for me and my family.

SPEAKER_04 18:38

Yeah, for sure. I mean, you know, there's there's uh it just uh it feels when you buy a new car, it doesn't compare with buying a used car right now.

SPEAKER_01 18:47

So and uh to hear you say about the quality um assurances that you guys are ramping up and doing better at used cars. Yeah, for sure. That's a big deal too. You hear a lot of complaints with builders, and I'm not speaking about you guys, just that happens, part of the process, right?

SPEAKER_04 19:02

Yeah, after COVID or during COVID, it got crazy for everybody. I mean, it was just uh a really difficult time. I mean, finding people and I mean there's I think we got like um we're waiting on a like a lift station for one of our communities, and it's on like a tanker out in like California. It's like what the hell? So, you know, people couldn't get into their houses because that's what we were waiting on. It's like good luck trying to explain that to somebody that's living in a hotel. It's like, well, you know, we want to close on your house.

SPEAKER_05 19:30

COVID was bad. My husband has a garager company. He said, Well, your door is sitting in the ocean right now, so it'll be a little delayed. Like it was awful. And but they're people did not understand that. No, no, they're not trying to hear that they think that's you. They have an expectation and they want you to definitely deliver.

SPEAKER_01 19:49

You know, and the materials too are made over there somewhere else, you know, when everybody went through COVID. Everybody's gone through staff issues and stuff like that. Maybe materials, and I'm not saying the quality of the house isn't right, but that's part of the factor, too.

SPEAKER_05 20:02

Yeah, people what like cutting corners?

SPEAKER_01 20:04

Yeah, like well, hey, we just got in all this to finish building your house, but it's not to our standards, so we have to uh send it back or something. I don't know if that happens.

SPEAKER_05 20:11

Yeah, but send a house back.

unknown 20:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:13

Well, like, you know, you can't get a door and then you have to sub it with another door. Oh, yeah, yeah. People are really partial to that door. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 20:20

So what are you what are you actually seeing that people are actually looking for in a new construction home, though?

SPEAKER_04 20:25

I mean, honestly, affordability is the is the biggest key factor for sure. Especially yeah, that's that's really the key factor. Yeah. Um, but people, you know, resort style amenities are important, or at least a community pool, or you know, people want pickleball courts now and gyms, so you know, as far as the communities are concerned. And uh when the communities aren't concerned and you're building like on a scattered lot, you know, they want a nice area, they want uh, you know, at least a quarter acre lot, something along those lines. And then, you know, the split floor plans, big islands, you know, stone surfaces. I mean, that's just kind of you know where what people are expecting now, you know.

SPEAKER_00 21:02

Yeah, they're expecting the upgrades almost. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_04 21:05

I mean, well, there's just so much uh competition in the market that they really kind of should expect it because you know, you're I mean, there's somebody's gonna get you're gonna get it somewhere. You just have to look look for it and then kind of you know just sift through the best deal.

SPEAKER_00 21:20

Are are people able to negotiate with a builder like a spec home builder?

SPEAKER_04 21:24

Yeah, in certain s situations for sure. And then um, you know, we're less likely to do that because of all the incentives that we're offering. It costs us a crazy amount to get the interest rates that we can offer. Um so it's very expensive for us to do that, but it reflects on the monthly payment. So, you know, and people understand that, and then you know, the closing costs that we give. So we're already giving a ton that it's hard for us to negotiate much more than that. But I'm sure, you know, you know, it depends on the situation.

SPEAKER_01 21:54

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That makes sense. Yeah, because new home builds you guys can offer you know to pay for closing costs. If you have a lot of things that you can do. Yeah, for sure. Especially if you do certain things.

SPEAKER_04 22:02

Yeah, and we have like our own mortgage lender and stuff that you have to use for those things. But you know, so there's some benefits.

SPEAKER_05 22:08

And you are you allowed to um like I know you you was to mention like insurance um and how we connect with new um, but is that's not a conflict of interest at all?

SPEAKER_04 22:18

So of course with us, we have our own insurance company that we at least we're give give buyers a quote for. And we would, you know, just obviously I'll say this on the podcast, we would like them to use us, but they don't they're not obligated to use us. So they can use anybody they have the best relationship with. Yeah, yeah. You know, most people, I don't know what our capture rate is, I'll be honest with you, but I don't know if most people use us or most people use whoever their car is through or whatever the case is and they bundle it or whatever. Bundle. Yeah, bundle. I don't know how that works.

SPEAKER_00 22:46

Can you can you walk us through the process like from start to finish? So I'm a buyer, I walk in. What's the first thing, you know, in the pro what's the first step in the process of building?

SPEAKER_04 22:57

Yeah, so we I obviously identify what you're looking for, what kind of house suits your needs, what kind of lot you want to be on, or what kind of home site, and you know, if you want to be in a community or not in a community, but let's just say you find your perfect house, right? We go to contract, there's a series of inspections that need to be completed. You're welcome to be there for those inspections. We do like the pre-drywall inspection and all that. You can hire your own third-party home inspector. We're really transparent with all of that. And then, I mean, really, our build times are anywhere from 90 to like 120 days, but typically most people are buying homes that are at least halfway completed or or most or maybe even completed because you get the better the better incentives though this way. I mean, we could still give you a lot of incentives from building from dirt, but it's hard to lock in your interest rate when 120 days out. We'd much rather do it 60 days out.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

So my house took nine months to build 120 days a day.

SPEAKER_04 23:50

But I mean it's an easy process. Like I actually started at DR Horton when I was in general real estate working for Curry Kirschner, I like kind of zeroed in on this one community that was close to my house. It was called Brentwood Lakes. It's on Malabar Road in Palm Bay, and I almost exclusively sold all my clients' homes there just because I just identified that that was the best deal in that area. The home prices were comparable with used houses, and then the incentives that they were able to offer at the time, it was just an absolute like no-brainer for you know for me and my clients. Finally, I sold so many houses in that neighborhood. The guy Derek, who was working there that was a sales rep at the time, he's like, Hey, I need a model partner and we're hiring, so why don't you just come work for us? And that was you know life-changing. And Derek was my partner for about five years. Great guy, awesome guy. And uh yeah, that's so that's how how I started. But I mean, the um the the process for an a agent bringing their clients to new construction, it should be a good experience. It should be a relatively easy experience, specifically for like newer agents that don't know exactly the complexities of how a you know a resale house can I mean it could really get in the weeds, you know. There's all kinds of issues that can pop up that new construction should be substantially easier for you know for the realtor.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

So yeah. And and from a realtor perspective, like commission-wise, I mean you guys are paying generally the same commission that they would get out in the market, right? More.

SPEAKER_04 25:17

We pay three percent on on the full price. I mean, there's some build I mean, most builders pay commission. Sometimes they pay it on what they call the base price, like before the lot premium or upgrades or whatever, we pay it on the full price. And I mean, three percent is pretty excellent. I mean, in the normal, you know, resale market. I mean, maybe it's two and a half is kind of I think the new norm, but I could be wrong.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

Wow, well, well. That's news to me. I don't keep up with that.

SPEAKER_05 25:42

Would it be a conflict of interest if I get my real estate license?

SPEAKER_04 25:48

That's awesome. I mean, even to buy your own house, you should have it. I mean, you know, I had to take my test like six times, so it's not easy, but it's not hard either. I mean, you could take an unlimited time. So it took me like two weeks to get it. So you took it with you took six tests within two weeks? Yeah, I was just going back to back. I'm like, let's get through it. Let's get through it. Yeah, let me just knock it out. And maybe it wasn't two weeks, maybe it was three weeks.

SPEAKER_05 26:10

Yeah, I thought after the third time they're like, okay, you need a break. Yeah, that's what they should do.

SPEAKER_04 26:15

Now they just charge you 60 bucks every time you want to take it.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

So they're like, all right, well, it'll pass this time.

SPEAKER_04 26:20

You fall to the ground when you actually saw Path, and you're like, oh I felt horrible because the first time I took it, I like walked it out, and my brother and my wife were there with balloons, and I'm like, oh my god, get back in the freaking car. Put those balloons away.

SPEAKER_01 26:36

There is nothing more deflating than you. You probably passed yours first time, my 220. It took me three. Yeah. And the first time I took it, I honestly wasn't expecting to pass it because it was a difficult test. I just wanted to see engage where I was. And then I uh it wasn't good. The second one I missed by two questions. Yeah. And then the third one, yeah, man, is that a relief?

SPEAKER_04 26:55

Yeah, oh yeah, no, it's awesome when I passed it, but awesome.

SPEAKER_05 26:58

Yeah, when they were out there with those balloons, I'm not good with I'm not good with testing, but I'm surprised I passed the first time.

SPEAKER_01 27:04

Like, my old my old neighbor, he got his real estate license just because he came across some money. He wanted to buy some homes. He saved himself like 80 grand. Yes. Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_05 27:12

People do that. If you're flipping homes, yeah, I would do that all day.

SPEAKER_04 27:15

Yeah, and I mean, like with us, you could be your own realtor, and then you just get 3% and all the other incentives too. It's a good deal for realtors, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_00 27:24

Oh, absolutely. What's your most popular floor plan right now?

SPEAKER_04 27:28

Man, we have this cat, we have it's called the Cali. We build it in every almost every neighborhood. And if you drive by Palm Bay, I'm not kidding when I say at least one in ten homes are a cali. Yeah, we build them like they have like four different elevations. It's what we call like the front of the house. But uh, yeah, it's just your normal four-bedroom, two-bath, uh split floor plan, big island, open living room, open dining room, walk-in pantry, huge walk-in uh, you know, primary bedroom closet.

SPEAKER_05 27:56

So I mean it's it's perfect for open plans are uh the open concept, I mean, is definitely more popular.

SPEAKER_01 28:04

Yeah, that's like a Brevard County staple. Oh, you have a Cali?

SPEAKER_04 28:07

No, it's gonna say I wouldn't be surprised.

SPEAKER_01 28:10

It's a 4-2, big island, open floor plans for that's just like your thing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:16

Yeah. Yeah. So and then it's you know, it's affordable. They're like $350,000, and then we have all the incentives.

SPEAKER_05 28:22

So it's a square foot on footage on the 1822. Okay, okay, gotcha, gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 28:26

Yeah. So one-story house way more popular than a two?

SPEAKER_04 28:29

Oh, yeah, for sure. I mean, you know, I uh I have a two-story house. I'm from New Jersey. A lot of them are two stories. Yeah, there is one bedroom that's hot like a life. But yeah, yeah. And um, but the stairs are what's keeping me in relative shape. I have a four-year-old and a five-year-old, so I'm always running up and down the stairs. So it's good for me.

SPEAKER_05 28:48

But geez, you have a so you said four and almost five?

SPEAKER_04 28:53

No, four and five.

SPEAKER_05 28:55

Oh, four and five. Wow.

SPEAKER_04 28:56

Yeah, we went back to back. Neither planned. My like I said, uh, my wife, she walked in. I just put in my literally just put in my two weeks, and she walked in and she's like, uh I'm pregnant. And I'm like, what? Anyway, that's so actually that's not it. So she walked in, she was gonna tell me that she was pregnant. I was like flustered because I just put in my two weeks. I came home and uh she had this like card on the table, and I just so while I was working at at Gannows, there was a kitten that was stuck in a shock of a car. So we pried it out, and I'm like, okay, what am I gonna do with this kitten? So I So it was alive. It was alive. So I took the kitten home, right? That was like a week before. Anyway, I get home that night and my wife is there and she like gives me a card, and I'm like frustrated from work and like flustered, and it's like, oh, you're gonna be a dad or whatever. And I'm like, what for the cat? And I'm like, why are you giving me this shit? Like a hard day at work, and she's like, no, no, no, I'm pregnant. And I'm like, oh yeah, and then the next time was equally as shocking. So you keep the cat. We we actually ended up giving the cat to like one of our neighbors. No, it's all good.

SPEAKER_00 30:08

So I don't think you're ever fully ready for your wife to say I'm pregnant.

SPEAKER_04 30:11

No, no, no. And yeah, I mean, we were together.

SPEAKER_00 30:13

It wasn't expected.

SPEAKER_04 30:14

No, and we were together for a long time, like eight years or so. So I mean it's not like you guys do know how babies are, you know, right?

SPEAKER_00 30:21

Figured it out after the third time. What is this baby?

SPEAKER_04 30:26

Yeah, so that was that was interesting. Well yeah, that's a very good story for sure.

SPEAKER_00 30:33

What uh what do you I obviously you guys have a lot of different upgrades that you can do to different models and stuff. What would you say is like the best upgrade, in your opinion, that they can do? And then what would you say is like something that you would shy them away from upgrading?

SPEAKER_04 30:49

So Is he allowed to answer that? I don't know. I'm gonna try my best. So the uh the the best upgrade, in my opinion, for me, is just tile throughout the house, right? Get the carpet out of the bedrooms. We have a lot of different we have some nice tile options, so that's that's what I would do. But I mean, you know, as far as what's the worst upgrade, it really depends on the person, right? Like for me, if I'm such a corporate. I know no no no. But if I so if I had so if I if I if I had to say I don't like it comes standard with the kitchen appliances, you could add like other, you could upgrade the appliances, you could upgrade the washer and dryer. I probably wouldn't go that route because you know, I kind of in particular, I like certain appliances. I know my wife has preferences on the washer and dryer, so I don't think that it's worth adding the appliances. I think that that's something you can probably go and do otherwise. But anything like adding like electrical or different lights and stuff like that, you really want to do if you're gonna do those, do them. Oh, okay. You don't want an electrician coming in and you know punching a hole through your stucco and do it while it's in their construction.

SPEAKER_00 31:52

I had a friend of mine that bought new construction and he really regrets not doing some of the upgrades. You know, he's like, you know, he's like, at the time it just seemed like such a stretch for us. You know, we were just trying to get in the home and make it affordable. He's like, but looking back, it was like the biggest mistake we made was not doing the upgraded tile. You know, he's got mostly carpet and he hates it. Oh, no doubt. You know what I mean? And now he's looking at the cost to do that. He was like, I would have been way better off.

SPEAKER_04 32:17

So we're not as so like uh semi-custom as like uh price family homes or Vieira Builders or something like that, but I definitely would upgrade, you know, do the kitchens, do the flooring. I mean, you know, to rip out existing tile and then put in new tile, especially if you have kids or animals or something like that, it's a pain in the ass. Yeah, especially when you have furniture in there already.

SPEAKER_01 32:35

Yeah, and I think to piggyback on that, if location is a thing and the communities, let's say it's your somebody coming in and wanting to build the ground up. When we went and looked at ours, they had one on the water across the street. I think it was like 35,000 more for the lot. And I'm like, oh no, we can't afford that. It ended up being like $200. And I go, not a chance. Nope, we can't afford it. No, no, whatever. We moved in, we met the neighbors across the street that did build there, and as soon as you walk through the door, you see the view of the lake. And I go, Damn. Damn, yeah, instant regret.

SPEAKER_04 33:09

And a lot of people will come in and they say, Oh, I only need a three-bedroom. But then, you know, then they have a kid, or then the parent has to move in with them or something, and they could have got the four-bedroom for 150 bucks more a month. I mean, so you may want to know that type of thing. You know, you know, and like again, with the way that homes appreciate historically, you almost want to buy the biggest, nicest home you can comfortably afford. Yeah, right. Like everybody in the world wishes they bought a bigger house when interest rates were super low and not have bought the you know, the smallest house that was the least expensive house.

SPEAKER_01 33:47

But yeah. Good sales pitch right there, people.

SPEAKER_04 33:50

Well, hey, we sell small homes too. So we we have a new value series that uh really small, like how small. They're like 1,300 square foot. No, no, no, they're not tiny homes. They're not sheds, but that's if the the economy keeps going the way it is, maybe we will get in the shed market. But uh but no, they're you know, sub three hundred thousand dollars. So you know that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_01 34:14

You guys have a pretty wide range of offerings, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 34:16

I know I feel like if someone comes in and be like, this is my budget, and they're like, okay, this is like how we do with insurance, like this is what I can offer you. Yeah. Now that's easy.

SPEAKER_01 34:24

That's cool.

SPEAKER_04 34:24

Especially if they know what their monthly payment budget is. So many people come in and they say my budget's $310,000, but you know, that means $2,300 a month, or like what does that mean to them? You know? Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 34:37

So it's it's not always monthly, actually, people look at more. I feel like they should. They should, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:44

Monthly's everything. Absolutely. I mean, that's like he was saying the number one thing is affordability, monthly payment. That's that's literally at the end of the day what people care about.

SPEAKER_01 34:54

You guys are mainly in the bravard or only in Brevard.

SPEAKER_04 34:56

Indian River. Indian River. So yeah, I could sell anywhere from Brevard, I could sell from Mims to Port St. Lucie. So, you know, in that area. But I mean, DR Horton, period, is nationwide.

SPEAKER_01 35:06

Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 35:07

We're the biggest builder in the country.

SPEAKER_01 35:09

That was probably a stupid question.

SPEAKER_04 35:10

I just not everybody knows, but now they do. Now they do.

SPEAKER_05 35:15

So I mean, uh we were talking about relationships and how important they are too. Like, so do you do your own events? Yeah. Do you call and you collaborate with like, you know, anybody that'll have me.

SPEAKER_04 35:24

Oh, I'm nice. Anyone that wants me to wants me to be a part of it. I'm happy to be a part of it. Yeah, we would definitely need to connect. Yeah, for sure. And then I, you know, I host events at uh my uh my office and stuff like that, too.

SPEAKER_05 35:37

Okay, where's your office located?

SPEAKER_04 35:38

In Cypress by West in uh Pombay. You said that, okay. Yeah, so the model it's a model house.

SPEAKER_05 35:42

God, Pompeii. I don't know. Ralph last time I've been over there, it's 40 minutes from the house.

SPEAKER_04 35:47

It's far, it's far down there too. I mean, it's it's a hike. But uh because I'm in southeast Palm Bay, so it's quite far. Wow. Yeah. But I can we can meet anywhere. I mean, uh we could collaborate and do an event in one of our big models at Riverwalk in Cocoa or something like that. I have access to all the models. So we would love to do that.

SPEAKER_00 36:04

So keep in touch with us for sure. We're always looking for different ways to market ourselves and different realtors and everything.

SPEAKER_04 36:13

What kind of events do you guys typically do? Yeah, right. It's exhausting. We're done. You saw my face. It's so hard being so popular, right?

SPEAKER_00 36:24

I mean, it can be it can be, you know, because uh at the end of the day, too, we we gotta be in the office. You know, we're grinding, we're burning at both ends here, right? In a lot of business. And so, but you can never really take your foot off the pedal on the marketing either, you know, because it it it'll show itself pretty quick.

SPEAKER_04 36:39

Oh, yeah, for sure. Like I was off yesterday and I like seriously did not want to go get those headshots done. But all the events that I do, they ask me for headshots, and uh, the last event that I I uh you know, so whatever, this one guy didn't have headshots, so he made some like AI picture of me that didn't even remotely resemble me. And I'm like, all right, you know, this is ridiculous. Yeah, I had like it looked like I just got a ton of uh work on my face, a nose job, which you know didn't not need, but it was it was her fault though. They really slimmed up my my neck, so I'm like that's like D when he does Sora.

SPEAKER_05 37:17

I'm like, that does not look like you in your Superman outfit.

SPEAKER_00 37:22

Yeah, yeah. So I've been I've gotten into the AI stuff too, with like Sora and creating the videos and all that. So it's pretty fun. Oh, it is fun. I mean, some of the stuff AI is doing is just mind blowing.

SPEAKER_04 37:31

Oh, no doubt. I mean, yeah. I mean, I use Chat GPT for every question I have. Yeah, and uh, and I know that's just scratching the surface. Uh you know, I know that that's already getting like semi-outdated. I uh I talked to some realtors and they're like, oh, these are my 10 favorite AI apps, like 10? 10 favorite AI apps. I have I only know of Chat GPT. I have no idea.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

I was just about to say, I know I'm getting old.

SPEAKER_04 37:58

When you say 10, I'm like, yeah, I'm getting way left behind in this. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:02

You can go down a rabbit hole spending a bunch of money on all these different apps, and then you're only using them a couple times. And then um but yeah, anyway, uh I wanted to ask you, speaking of like AI and just tech in general, you may or may not know this, but like is DR Horton, do you guys ever hear of like neighborhoods where they're building them with like almost like 3D printers or something? You hear some stuff like that in the industry.

SPEAKER_04 38:29

So I don't like Yeah. So I've seen the videos of those, and they have like I think one of the bigger companies, it's called Box Something. And uh yeah, I mean they I don't even know how that's done, but I've I know exactly what you're talking about. You know, I hope we don't know. I don't know if that would be a good thing or a bad thing. I don't know if that would drastically help with the affordability process or if that would uh if it or if that would get me out of a job. I have no idea how the AIs or how the technology is gonna go.

SPEAKER_00 38:57

I would think the really big builders are really looking into how to obviously get more efficient. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01 39:03

Yeah. Yeah, where it like puts the concrete block up like in a day. Trevor Burrus, Jr.

SPEAKER_04 39:06

Well, they like I saw it, it it it's like it's like 3D prints like with concrete.

SPEAKER_00 39:11

Well, there's yeah, I've seen the 3D print stuff, and then I've seen where there's literally an arm grabbing concrete and placing the blocks and building the house. Yes. Yeah, I mean that's wild stuff.

SPEAKER_04 39:23

I don't like that. Yeah. Personally, I don't like that. Uh you know, and I'm sure that you could really reduce all human mistakes down to almost zero, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 39:33

There's gotta be a human element to that.

SPEAKER_04 39:34

There has to be, you would think, right?

SPEAKER_00 39:36

Yeah. Well, you're still gonna have a lot of different subs, but maybe some of the more expensive part of it or the slower part of the process they could speed up.

SPEAKER_04 39:44

Well, if they're doing the block, I feel like the new construction managers are gonna be more like engineers, right? If they're just monitoring the machinery.

SPEAKER_01 39:54

Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. Interesting.

SPEAKER_04 39:56

Yeah, no, it's not for me. We'll all be obsolete.

SPEAKER_01 39:59

Yeah, yeah. No, I don't want to hear that.

SPEAKER_05 40:01

Yeah, we'll be back here in 30 days and we'll be like, oh, did you see that house that just got built by a robot?

SPEAKER_04 40:07

So they were building one. They didn't they have one of those on like O'Galley? On like O'Galley Road? There was like a oh okay, yeah. They set something up there as like a demo.

SPEAKER_02 40:16

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_04 40:17

But I don't know if it was ever like operational or or whatever the situation was, but I remember there was something local about that. Wow. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 40:26

If you find out where that's at, you gotta shoot it to a bit of a case. I want to run by there. That's kind of creepy.

SPEAKER_04 40:31

Yeah, but I've been seeing like on social media, you know, them building houses like that. And yeah, I think it might get weird.

SPEAKER_05 40:38

It's so hard to get social media has like blown my mind. I don't believe half the stuff that I've done.

SPEAKER_00 40:42

Oh, that could be a problem, too. It could have been AI. It could have been going, oh look, cool, they're building a house for 3D printers. And it was AI. Yeah, it's just a lot of things.

SPEAKER_01 40:49

There's some AI that's easy to you know see. There's some now where I like that was AI. Yeah, I saw a guy, he was a video of it was uh the camera facing him and it showed over here what the other person was seeing. He's a male, showing a female. He's like, This is how scary AI is. And I could not tell that was not a real person. It was really scary.

SPEAKER_04 41:10

I mean, I'm definitely gonna get scammed for sure.

SPEAKER_05 41:14

Yeah, I feel yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:16

They're almost still getting me on the letters that they send me. So when they have stuff like that, it's it's not gonna be good for people.

SPEAKER_01 41:22

What are buyers asking for most right now when you build?

SPEAKER_04 41:25

Yeah, I hate to keep coming back to this, but I mean, like, I feel like that the affordability issue is just so tight for people right now. Yeah, that's mostly what they're looking for.

SPEAKER_01 41:35

And then, you know they want more than they can afford.

SPEAKER_04 41:38

Well, that's always the case, right? I want more than I can afford.

SPEAKER_05 41:40

So, you know, every everybody's like and then you regret it later, thinking that you were able to afford it at that time when you really did it. I know, that's what I was stuck for.

SPEAKER_04 41:48

I just bought my wife a new Tahoe and uh the payment on it's ridiculous. So that was payment for a card. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_05 41:53

I just did the same thing rather than feel you. You are not gonna have a $300 payment anymore in this world. Oh this life.

SPEAKER_04 41:58

But yeah, no, buyers are just looking for, you know, they just want uh, you know, quality for their for their money, really is what they want.

SPEAKER_02 42:06

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_05 42:06

So now that you're on it, but you do build pools with your homes? We don't, no.

SPEAKER_04 42:10

No, no, that's what I was saying. Like if you subconscious, if somebody wanted a pool or something, then we're not gonna be the right fit. Now, most all of our homes, or almost all of our homes, you can put a pool on, but you're gonna have to do it after that. Yeah, yeah. Okay, gotcha. Gotcha.

SPEAKER_00 42:22

So you don't contract it during or whatever.

SPEAKER_04 42:23

Now that's for a variety of different reasons, but that's just not our our style. But uh, if you did do that, like I think Vieira builders, I'm not sure if they're even still doing it, but you would have to either put that money up front for the pool because they're not gonna the appraisal's not gonna come in valued with the pool. Right. So you have to make up that appraisal shortfall. So it adds another layer of complexity for the lender. And then of course, uh, you know, if that dealt, if that deal falls through, you have like a half-dug pool, it's like, you know, it could it gets weird for the builder, it's just it's not worth the headache, probably at this point. We have done that in the past, though. I know that.

SPEAKER_00 42:57

What else what else would be like after the fact? Like a fence? Fence, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_04 43:01

Yeah, I wish that we uh you know were able to offer that. That's uh definitely a common, a common uh request.

SPEAKER_05 43:07

Do people like say you offer solar panels?

SPEAKER_04 43:09

No, oh my goodness, no, no, no, not yet, but you know, we do get a a fair amount of people from uh like the West Coast, so I'm sure that they'll be wanting them. But yeah, how many people ask for that all the time?

SPEAKER_00 43:19

How many people do you get they're interested, but they're so worried about like living in an HOA?

SPEAKER_04 43:24

Oh, so many people. Yeah, they think that the HOAs are gonna like somebody's out there with a ruler and measuring their grass. So I heard though, and I They do that. They do that, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I so I I sold a house to uh a guy who was on Trump's cabinet. He was a military advisor and he lived in Viera. I'm not sure in Vieira East or where wherever he lived, but he had like a million dollar home in Viera East and he was like a colonel. And he bought with me because they wouldn't allow him to park his head, a uh Dodge like TRX, like a hundred thousand dollar pickup truck that they wouldn't let him park on his driveway. We couldn't park our boat. So yeah. I mean it's it gets it gets crazy out there. So yeah, I mean you know and it is nice that we do have the spot lot division that we can you know if they don't want an HOA they don't have to live in an HOA. We build a bunch of different floor plants outside of an HOA too. So that's good to know. Yeah, so that's easier.

SPEAKER_05 44:14

So the HOA okay, educate me dumb question, maybe so is it cre is the HOA like uh already created before the construction happens?

SPEAKER_04 44:22

Yeah, we go with like a big property management company and then they run the HOA. You know, DR Horton kind of oversees that.

SPEAKER_05 44:28

They uh they ultimately like you know make the rules and then do they is that what is part of the paperwork where you're like here are the rules, here are the you know, all the stuff, disclosures of all the yeah, so we have to disclose all that.

SPEAKER_04 44:38

They sign off on like you know that they read all of that and that they're good with the terms of the HOA. Although I do think the HOAs uh got a little bit more lenient. I heard, and obviously I should know this because I do this for a living, but I heard that DeSantis passed a law recently that like if your garbage cans are out, they can't really tell you anything about that, and that you may you can have fruit trees now, they can't tell you that you can't have fruit trees. And I think you can even have sheds now, but uh don't quote me on that. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 45:08

That's cool. That's good to know.

SPEAKER_04 45:09

So they they've gotten more more lenient, and that's across all of Florida.

SPEAKER_00 45:13

So you guys manage the HOA through like a property manager and then it gets turned over to the homeowners once the construction is completed.

SPEAKER_04 45:20

Yeah, and actually typically, from my experience, that's when the the problems that's when most of these problems occur is when you have a uh, you know, the residents on the board. Yeah, you know, you know the power goes to their head, you know. Now now you can't build your your swing set in your backyard or whatever the case is.

SPEAKER_05 45:38

So yeah, that really does stink. Yeah, they just wrote me a letter.

SPEAKER_00 45:40

That's like my double-edged sword, right? You don't want the the neighborhood to go to crap, but some of the stuff you hear about, you're like, why do we care? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:47

Like after this, I gotta oh, it's brutal. It's brutal. Residents.

SPEAKER_04 45:55

The uh cold just killed my palm tree. So that's my on my list of things to do because the HOA keeps sending me letters about my I have a dead palm tree in my front yard.

SPEAKER_05 46:03

We all do.

SPEAKER_04 46:04

I know, I know.

SPEAKER_01 46:05

So from here to South Florida, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 46:08

It is my whole entire neighborhood um neighborhood's brown. Yeah. Oh, it looks it looks great. It's awesome. Awful. It's not awesome. No, it's sad.

SPEAKER_00 46:18

I have a buddy, I won't say who it is, but he uh he's now on the board of his HOA because they were giving him crap about everything, and now he like runs the HOA. So I bet he is that's a move. That's a move right there.

SPEAKER_01 46:30

I was put on the board for a bit, but then it was like, hey, we'll only meet once every other week, and then it became once every three days. And I'm like, guys, I haven't got time for this. And it was about nothing.

SPEAKER_00 46:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 46:39

Yeah. Both of my neighbors are on my HOA and they're like, uh, oh yeah, we're gonna be so cool and so lenient now. They're the ones sending me letters. About the palm tree. Yeah. Never have voted for you.

SPEAKER_00 46:52

We'll make sure to send them this episode. Yeah, yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_04 46:56

I know. I don't know if it's that, but we'll soon.

SPEAKER_01 46:59

Back track, backtrack.

SPEAKER_05 47:00

Yeah, but there's nothing they'd say, like there's nothing you can really do. Just let like Mother Nature takes a course. Like March, I mean, this month, next month, it will come back to life.

SPEAKER_01 47:08

Is it dead dead, or do you think it's gonna come back?

SPEAKER_05 47:09

I mean, it's pretty dead. It's pretty dead.

SPEAKER_01 47:11

Yeah, I've got foxtail palms that look bad, but you have to give it at least a month until the growth season starts. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:18

Yeah. Yeah. This one, it looks pretty rough, but we'll see. I mean, I'm probably not gonna do it. A lot of it's a good idea.

SPEAKER_00 47:23

So it was probably dead before the cold.

SPEAKER_04 47:25

I mean, you know, you better get it out until it was on its way out, baby.

SPEAKER_05 47:31

Yeah. Insurance won't cover dead trees, so you might as well just get it out. Yeah, for sure. Good call. Good plug. Yeah. How to put one in there. That's fun.

SPEAKER_01 47:39

All right, cool. Yeah, this has been great, man. Well, thanks for stuffing.

SPEAKER_00 47:42

I appreciate you coming in, dude.

SPEAKER_04 47:43

Yeah, no, thank you guys so much. Yeah, this was great. This was awesome. And then nothing.

SPEAKER_00 47:47

Anything we can do for you, let us know. We'd love to team up on some stuff. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 47:50

I'll definitely be in touch. We'll I mean, because Jason and I do you know a lot of the marketing stuff, so we'll you know, definitely kind of collaborate on that.

SPEAKER_01 47:57

I'm sure you guys have your own insurance, whatever, but yeah, we'd love to possibly come in.

SPEAKER_00 48:02

Yeah, I mean, the value add for us is you know, we have the entire marketplace on the home side. Yeah. And we're just so connected with home insurance. It's what we do day in and day out, it's what we lead with, it's what we market to.

SPEAKER_04 48:16

Um, yeah, I've heard nothing but good things about you know about you, about this, about your brokerage. I've heard you know that you guys are awesome. So yeah, I'd love to connect and at least, you know, maybe do larger realtor gatherings and kind of bring our uh our networks together. That would still be great.

SPEAKER_00 48:32

That's fantastic. Well, I appreciate you, Matt. Yeah, thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thanks for meeting you. That was fun. Yeah, appreciate that. Thank you guys. All right, let's get out and see it. That's a wrap for this episode of the Studio 321 Podcast, powered by Brightway, the Steve Trout Agency. We can't thank you enough for being part of our journey. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to subscribe, leave us a review, and share it with a friend. Until next time, 321, we're out.