SPEAKER_05 0:00

Without data, you're just another opinion. Right. Everybody wants to know, should I lower the price of my house or is the market good or bad? Well, let's look at the data. Let's see where we're at. The data is showing that we're in a buyer's market for condos, but we're in a balanced market for single family. And so it's kind of interesting how you could look at Cocoa Beach, let's call it, and one's in a buyer's market and one's in a balanced market.

SPEAKER_04 0:32

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. Before we get started on today's episode, I want to give a special shout out to my co-host here, Angela DeLac. Okay. We are celebrating her 40th birthday. When? No.

SPEAKER_05 1:13

Not today.

SPEAKER_02 1:14

Well, it it was yesterday, but yeah. Wow.

SPEAKER_04 1:17

We're officially celebrating today in the office. We're doing an office lunch for her. So thank you. Congratulations. Angela, welcome to the top of the hill. Seriously.

SPEAKER_02 1:27

I heard it's a it's not the hill yet. It's a scenic route.

SPEAKER_05 1:33

40's the new 20, let's call it. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 1:38

I would say 30 just because I don't want to go back to my 20s. Yeah, I'm good with that.

SPEAKER_04 1:44

All right. Today on Studio 321 podcast, we've got two great guests joining us who are right in the middle of the Space Coast real estate market. First is Zach Spurlock, team lead of the Spurlock team with Carpenter Kessel at Compass. Zach has been in the real estate business for over 23 years and in 2025 was ranked in the top five realtors in Brevard County and recognized as the top 100 Compass agent in Florida. We're also joined by Mike Sagesi, branch manager with New American Funding. Mike has nearly 17 years in the mortgage industry and has been a President's Council top producer every year since 2016. Today we're talking about where the Space Coast real estate market is headed, affordability challenges for buyers, mortgage strategies in today's market, and the potential Florida bill that could greatly reduce property taxes in Florida. Zach and Mike, welcome, man. Thanks. There is some history here. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 2:39

We've seen some market cycles.

SPEAKER_04 2:41

Absolutely, man. So me and Zach go way back. Oh my gosh. I was trying to think like how long we've known each other. I mean, definitely high school, probably before that. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 2:51

And then professionally, I mean from when we both started our career in the early 2000s. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 2:56

We really started like right around the same time. I started in the mortgage business, he was in real estate. I didn't survive the crash of 2008 with the mortgage industry. Got into insurance. But yeah, man, welcome, Zach. It honestly, like you've been at the top of the list. I'm super stoked to have you. Excited to be here. You're a super you know well-respected guy here on the Space Coast Real Estate. And so honestly, man, it's an honor to have you here. So appreciate you. Thanks for having us. Same to you, Mike.

SPEAKER_00 3:24

Yeah, I didn't know that you about you about the uh being in the mortgage business. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 3:28

Yeah. So my background is actually mortgages before I got into insurance. Um it's really how I started kind of my professional career, really. Um and it really gave me like a great segue into insurance, and it really helped me early in my insurance career because I had so many relationships already established. So like I was a I was a wholesale account rep uh for a company called American Mortgage Network, okay, which got bought out by Wacovia. You know, Wacovia ended up um Wacovia getting swallowed by Wells Fargo. Yeah. Um but uh but yeah, so I mean that knowing all the mortgage people in town, because it's that was kind of my job. There you go. Um really helped me segue into insurance and really helped me hit the ground running. So um, but yeah, and also like for us, like we know the importance of what the mortgage guy's dealing with. You know what I mean? From a debt ratio standpoint, yeah, for how important it is for our numbers, you know, and and really for us to be partners, true partners in the transaction to try to get some deals done, you know. You can make or break it, like earlier.

SPEAKER_05 4:30

You always gotta know a guy or a girl, you know. Like I was waiting for that. You're gonna you're gonna get in a tight spot.

SPEAKER_02 4:37

But I know, yeah, and I never really said this, but thank you for not surviving that. We wouldn't be here if that wasn't for that.

SPEAKER_04 4:44

Honestly, like at the time, I mean, it was one of the hardest things I ever had to overcome. But looking back on it, it really made me who I am today. You know what I mean? That challenge really elevated me. I I remember I had to pick up a second job.

SPEAKER_05 4:58

So uh what was that second job? Um we were doing this drop your stuff off and sell it on eBay.

SPEAKER_03 5:05

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_05 5:06

And so um, you know, still full time.

SPEAKER_00 5:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 5:10

But but yeah, that that was an interesting time.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

Yeah. It's funny because that's when you got out of the mortgage business. That's when I got into the mortgage business, it was the spring of 2009. Wow. I'd be telling people, I'm going, I'm, you know, going into the mortgage business, they look at me like I'm crazy. Like, isn't it isn't it horrible? But I learned at you know, from the from that point, and things have only just gotten better.

SPEAKER_04 5:32

I mean, there was honestly nowhere to go but up from there. So, like you've seen the bottom of the barrel and you you know what it's like, and if you can survive it through that and get started through that and make it, you're gonna do well, man.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

There's very few people in the mortgage business my age that are in it that long because at NO9 no one was getting into it. You were getting out of it for the most part. There's some guys significantly older than me that were in it and just kind of survived through it, but very few people were, you know, my straight out of college, 21 years old, getting into the mortgage industry because at the time it was, we all know, it was really tough.

SPEAKER_05 6:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 6:05

What I think is interesting though is like how the last few years has been a really challenging market for a lot of people, though. Yeah, you know, I see your business thriving. I know our business has been thriving. No, absolutely. I I've heard a saying that that tough markets reward expertise. And I like to still feel like I'm twin in my twenties, and then I look at my balding head and I'm like, I'm not 20 anymore. I've been through some cycles, you know.

SPEAKER_04 6:30

So you do a lot of things, man, to keep yourself young, though, man. I mean, you have to.

SPEAKER_05 6:35

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:35

And I think kids keep you young too. Well, you were talking about you know having a second job. I feel like you kind of always do the you always have other things you're you're doing, right? To keep yourself busy. So like I don't, you know, I guess it's a good segue into it, but I know you do you know a bunch of fishing and and stuff like that, and uh you do like some spear fishing and you collect lobster and all that for local restaurants.

SPEAKER_05 6:56

Yeah. So that's that's a fun hobby that you know basically transitioned into if I'm gonna catch, you know, be out there, I might as well turn it into a write-off. And so you get a commercial permit and all of a sudden it's a business. Yeah. And so that's been fun.

SPEAKER_04 7:13

I love it. That's freaking awesome. That is.

SPEAKER_05 7:21

That's exactly what it is. And and the unique thing about local fishermen here is you can't get out very often. Down in the Keys, they can go out and probably fish 300 days a year because the conditions permit. Yeah. But here, we might go two months and not have a single diveable day to catch lobster because we're not we're not pulling pots like they are down south. And so um, yeah, it's definitely feast or famine for the restaurants that want the local catch. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 7:49

Mike, do you go out with him?

SPEAKER_00 7:51

I have never gone out with Zach yet, but I do enjoy going out in the boat. I'm not anywhere near as uh much of a fisherman as him. Yeah. But I'm more in the middle. I'm just the uh boat person.

SPEAKER_02 8:00

I'm not a fishing person, but that's pretty cool though. Yeah, especially making money on the box.

SPEAKER_04 8:04

I remember when we were younger, Zach was like, man, come out in the boat with us, dude. We're gonna go uh uh wakeboarding. And I'm like, I don't, you know, I'm not really that good at it, blah, blah, blah. He's like, oh, don't worry about it, man. You know, we're we're all learning. I get out there, dude. Zach's doing like the Superman stretched out, like, you know, he's like rips on the board, you know, him and Frankie Banzara. And uh I remember just being like so intimidated that day, like I could barely get up on the board, and they're like, you know, doing backflips and all kinds of stuff. It was insane. But it was a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun that day.

SPEAKER_05 8:35

That is fun. I had an opportunity um through Surfing Santa's this last year to ride with uh Sean Murray. He was like the man from when me and Frank were riding 20 years ago. Oh, that's awesome. And it it was a funny full circle moment that I've partnered with surfing Santa's on a business way, and then it's bringing childhood dreams come true. Yeah. Because we uh we got to do something for surfing Santa's together.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

What's really funny is I never told you this, but when I bought my first wakeboard as a teenager, it came with a VHS video of him demonstrating of Sean Murray demonstrating how to wake board, how to jump the wake from a time. That is awesome.

SPEAKER_03 9:11

That is awesome.

SPEAKER_04 9:14

Well, let's get into the market, man. So um I think one of the things that is on people's minds is affordability. Right. What do you guys think are some things going on right now that you think will help affordability or things that maybe are on the horizon? Okay, what are the challenges for that? And and where do you where do you think some things coming down the pipe could help?

SPEAKER_00 9:38

Mike? Well, interest rate is one obvious one. They've been definitely trending down um over the last two years. I mean, we were close to eight percent and eight percent in some cases. Now we're down to under six. Yeah. It's not obviously as low as it was during COVID, but it's definitely brought the affordability up. A lot of people who have been deciding to wait, I think are now deciding to buy. I think Zach Zach sees a lot of that right now. Yeah. But um there's a ton of things we offer. One of the unique things my company offers to help people kind of get off the fence if they're thinking about buying but aren't sure about rates, is we will refinance the loan for free within five years of them buying. So if they buy now, they take advantage of a good market, a good buyer, you know, a good price in the house. And then later, whenever rates do come down, assuming they come down within five years of closing, we'll refinance the loan for them for free. Oh wow, that's awesome.

SPEAKER_05 10:27

That is good stuff. And and then a stat that's always stuck with me is that for every one percent that the rates go down, it changes affordability by roughly 10%. And so, you know, we're looking at buyers have 20% more buyer buying power than they had two years ago.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 10:43

So that's helpful across the board. I mean, whether you're buying in $300,000, now you can afford a $360,000 house. Yeah, you know, or if you're in a million, you're talking even more.

SPEAKER_04 10:54

So you're you're I love the data you just gave. So 1% is 10% more of affordability.

SPEAKER_05 10:59

That's right. I love that. And so that's that's huge. That's why we're seeing affordability get better there. And I feel like we've seen some positive changes in the insurance side as well. Would you guys agree? Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, you want to touch on that, Ann?

SPEAKER_02 11:13

I mean, no, that's just, I mean, it's absolutely been very impressive what these carriers are, you know, coming out with. I mean, um, new products, um, new like underwriting, uh, you know, things to be to help us get to closing. Um, just us working with the underwriters in general, um, you know, that relationship with them is so important, you know, just to get you guys to the you know finish line. But um, yeah, rates decreasing. I mean, for God's sakes, my um my policy decreased this year by $500. And my husband was like, is this a scam? I'm like, and I was just like, no, it's not. I was like, this is pretty awesome. He's like, oh, this is, you know, and ultimately, yes, we are, you know, um, you know, we have every single carrier in the market and we love to re-shop, but what we we love when we don't have to reshop, you know what I mean? We like stability, you know, we like to, you know, let people to have be with the carrier longer than one or two years. Um, and that that's definitely something that we are seeing light of and it's it's encouraging.

SPEAKER_04 12:13

Yeah, we're seeing our carriers get back to profitability, um, which is really good for the marketplace. It's gonna create some stability for us on our side, which in turn creates stability for you guys, you know, like um you know, if our carriers can be profitable again, then we're gonna see rate decrease in the future, more competition in the marketplace. Just a lot of things that were really causing us to have such high rates and in such a quick fashion, right? Like rates really went up, you know, a hundred percent really like in a two, three year uh period. Um and uh, you know, shout out to the Florida legislator, Governor DeSantis. I mean, they did a tremendous job of riding the ship. Um I you know, I think they were a little late to it. You know, they could have got ahead of it, but you know, the legislator is always reactive rather than proactive. So um, you know, we were ringing the bell years before the crisis, um, but unfortunately it had to become a crisis before something was done about it. But they really have um stepped up and done the right thing for the people of Florida and uh you know passed the bill that they passed really did a great job of getting the industry back to a a good foundation. Um where now we're just in a really healthy place which is gonna again bring rates down, you know, over the next couple years, um, and just really have options again for people. You know, two years ago, if there was a house, you might have only had two or three options, right? And those options weren't real great. Citizens was like the main thing you were getting if you're on Merritt Island or a Barrier Island. Correct. And so um anytime the state-run carrier is the only carrier of choice, it's just not a healthy place to be for the marketplace. Um and uh so citizens is shedding business like crazy. I mean, we're seeing um, you know, citizens is almost as small as it's ever been now. And uh so it's it's really working, you know, the health of the marketplace. Policies are moving out of citizens into the private market. Um and that's really where they need to be. Better coverage options, better pricing, you know, all that stuff. So um yeah, I mean, I'm really excited to be part of this business. I feel like I survived the toughest part, and now I keep saying it on this podcast, but this business is getting really fun again, and it's like we got the gas pedal down now and we're we're cranking.

SPEAKER_05 14:40

I love it. And would you say roofs are the main thing that was causing people to or insurance companies to lose money? You know, like you would get almost like scammers that would go around and be a roofer and they'd be like, Oh, we can get your roof and it's gonna be a thousand bucks. There's no doubt roofs were at the center of the crisis. Are they going to the actual cash value on roofs, or is that something that's just being proposed, or what?

SPEAKER_04 15:07

No, so it we are we do have a lot of programs that will do actual cash value on a roof. Roof scheduling. Or or roof scheduling. So a lot of the carriers actually prefer roof scheduling because at the time of claim, it's very easy to know what the claim payout should be. So a roof schedule is like your roof's five years old, so there's a 70-80% reduction on what we're doing. I love that idea.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

We every state is doing that before. Like, I mean, I think we're a little it makes a lot more sense.

SPEAKER_04 15:34

The challenge that we're having is just educating our mortgage underwriters and stuff like that. So a lot of mortgage companies want it to be full replacement. Okay. Um, and so we get a lot of pushback there, and we work with our mortgage people all the time to either get the get them the information they need for their underwriter or get them a policy with replacement, you know what I mean? So um, but as more I I I personally don't love actual cash value or or roof schedule. I just don't want the abuse of replacement. Right. You know what I mean? Like if we can get to a healthy place, and we are now, like I think what we'll see over the next couple years, as more competition comes into the market, you're gonna have better coverages back to replacement on roof with most carriers, you know. Um and because when there's not abuse, it makes sense for the carrier to have the replacement on there. You know, when it's a true claim, when it's not one speck of hail hit my roof and I'm getting a whole new roof that's 15, 20 years old, you know what I mean? And so um, if we can just get back to those things, uh because as a as a consumer and as an agent, you know, it's our job. We have a responsibility to make sure that our clients really are protected and have the right coverage and we take that seriously. And I think for me to be able to do that, we have to get back to where we can offer those comprehensive coverages, you know, and and um and I think we will. We will get back to a place where you know those things come back. And um right now, unfortunately, you know, over time, over the last few years, carriers had to really figure out how do we stay profitable, how do we stay in business, and they were stripping coverages back. You know, the coverages got worse and worse and worse. And I think as the market improves and as more competition comes in, part of that competition will be who's gonna offer me the best coverage. Right.

SPEAKER_00 17:20

When you say guaranteed replacement, you're just talking about the roof, or you mean the bank having a problem with the policy because it's not a guaranteed replacement policy?

SPEAKER_04 17:27

Uh it'll be replacement on the policy, but it uh like the overall, like say it was a total loss or a hurricane loss, it'll be replacement. But like if it's hail or if it's an AOP deductible situation, it'll be like ACV on the roof or roof schedule or something like that.

SPEAKER_02 17:44

It's a the specific verbiage that they see on the actual um you know coverage page that they just kind of like we need more information about it.

SPEAKER_00 17:51

Usually the motivation for the cost estimator?

SPEAKER_02 17:54

No. Well, no. It's more of like um we need to know that the roof is actually at replacement costs. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 17:59

Yeah. So when they see the roofs at ACV, it throws up a red flag to them. Oh, we need it at replacement costs. Because um, but there's some statutes out there that technically they can't demand that. And so we it's tough.

SPEAKER_02 18:13

It's a tough deal because and there are lenders that have actually um approved uh the roof scheduling. They haven't kicked that back.

SPEAKER_04 18:20

So yeah, it just depends on the lender and and their their internal guidelines and everything. But um, as far as my understanding is Fanny and Freddie accept it. So really everybody should organization.

SPEAKER_02 18:30

And just as long as you know, we educate the consumer on what that actually looks like, I think that's important for an agent to you know do that as well. Because yes, there has been times where you know we do things out of you know, you know, maybe we had to do it because of a debt to income ratio and um situation. Um and then they, you know, they came back with a claim. And I mean, it's very important for us to educate them just so there's no kickback on that. Okay, of course.

SPEAKER_05 18:55

So as far as affordability goes, what I'm hearing you guys say, I mean, we've got three things going on here. Price, we can't affect the price because you can't tell somebody they need to sell for less, but we can affect insurance, we can affect interest rates, you know, just by policy. And then the third thing is property taxes, and that's a buzzword, right?

SPEAKER_04 19:15

Yeah, absolutely. So I definitely want to let's dive into that because I think that that could be one of the quickest pushes for our market over the next couple of years if that passes.

SPEAKER_05 19:27

It's it's exciting. I get a little giddy when I think about it, but also a little nervous here now.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

You know, just we we talked about affordability, right? So when it comes to taxes, every if a house has a thousand dollars less in taxes per year, the buyer can pay afford to pay fifteen thousand dollars more for that house. Okay. Because again, what we're really talking about here is a monthly payment. Right. It's not just the rate, right? It's not just the insurance, it's not just the taxes. But at the end of the day, if the client understands this is the monthly payment that they can go up to that they feel comfortable with, having cheaper taxes or having no potentially no taxes would make a big difference in how much they can afford monthly.

SPEAKER_05 20:02

Right. And that, you know, I I get some pushback sometimes when somebody comes into Florida, they feel like we have high property taxes. And what washes that out is we don't have the state income tax.

SPEAKER_02 20:13

They think we?

SPEAKER_05 20:14

Yes, yes. Because, you know, I think we're somewhere around one and a quarter percent of the purchase price is about what the property taxes are, sometimes one and a half percent if you're in a place like Satellite Beach. Yeah. But um But yeah, so so property taxes are a little bit high here in Florida, but if that homestead gets reduced by at least half, which is what they're pushing for now, and and my belief is that that's step one, and step two would be to eliminate all. And I think there's a lot of paths forward in that. And and if that happens, if we think we've seen Florida with a boom in 2020, I think we will be looking for our second wave.

SPEAKER_04 20:55

No, absolutely. I I just can't imagine it not creating another wave. My long-term fear is so let's play this out. So I know that's that gives me anxiety. Like I agree, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:08

I mean, I get like Florida is like you know, built on like you know, we're a touristy state, you know, but it's just like oh like it's just getting crowded.

SPEAKER_05 21:17

Are you guys noticing the difference in traffic? Oh yeah, for sure. Yeah. I mean, you don't have anything. Yeah, he hasn't been here that long.

SPEAKER_04 21:25

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 21:25

I mean, Vieira used to be nothing, Mission Bay, and that's it.

SPEAKER_04 21:29

Right. So I I live out in North Marit Island, you know, and and traditionally out there, it's like, you know, you it would be like five cars on the road. Right. And now when I'm driving around North Marit Island, I mean the the traffic coming in and out of the Cape or out of the And they're gonna need to widen the Barge Canal crossover.

SPEAKER_05 21:46

Because I I remember getting a pretty big back up there like a month ago.

SPEAKER_04 21:49

They've had big plans to do that for a long time. Right. There's a ton of red tape, but they're they're they gotta do something soon.

SPEAKER_05 21:58

I mean it's it's

SPEAKER_04 22:00

It was like our own little secret Mared Island for sure. Yeah. And if that and if you get caught with the the the bridge up at the barge canal, I mean your day's ruined. Yeah. Your day is ruined. Um no, but I mean I do think that if if this tax thing passes, we're gonna have a huge boom. My concern long term is is that affordability short term? You know what I mean? Does pricing adjust almost as quick as the property taxes go away? Yeah. I believe they will. That's a good point. And so do we then like does it really solve affordability is my question. Or does it just make current property owners wealthy? You know what I mean? Yeah. Does that make sense?

SPEAKER_05 22:51

No, and I mean and I I don't have a degree in economics. And and I just, you know, my simple mind looks at Hawaii in places that I know when I graduated college, one of my friends out there said to buy the starter house, let's call it, in the neighborhood that they needed to be, it was a million dollars. Yeah. We're talking a million dollars in 2002.

SPEAKER_03 23:13

Yes.

SPEAKER_05 23:14

And so I was just like, that's impossible. Yet they figured out a way to do it. Yeah. You know, and California, the same thing. And so, you know, I just feel like it's it's gonna sort itself out.

SPEAKER_04 23:26

Yeah, I mean, I've always believed in the market will figure it out.

SPEAKER_05 23:30

Yep. Yeah, you know, and that's that's what our whole society is based on supply and demand. And you know, we saw prices come down by 50% in 2009.

SPEAKER_03 23:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 23:41

And, you know, whenever a true correction needs to happen because society says it needs to happen, it will. Yeah, you know. Very true.

SPEAKER_03 23:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 23:50

Yeah, we'll see. Yeah. I'm glad I don't have to be the one that's like up there like flipping all the switches, you know.

SPEAKER_04 23:56

But I I I mean, I love the way the governor's thinking on it, though, you know, the the state is uh in a really healthy place, and why not figure out a way, you know, to uh to push that down to everybody, right? Right. Um and I do think in a short period of time it will help affordability.

SPEAKER_05 24:14

Um and for those of us that have you know commercial properties or or rental properties, I mean you're still gonna be on the hook. It's not like he's giving everybody a free ride. Yeah, I wonder how that would play out too. I don't know the ins and outs. Um but I've heard they're not gonna change the rates on those because then that's just yeah, they're not gonna increase the burden on those because that'll make rents go up because the landlord's gonna Right.

SPEAKER_00 24:40

And it's not as much of a rate change as it as it is just increasing the effect of the homestead exemption, right?

SPEAKER_05 24:45

Right. Well well that they're gonna have to get the money from somewhere, and you know, I've been hearing different, you know, options for that. We don't need to get into it now because we won't be the ones that fix that problem. Yeah, yeah, I think there's a lot of ways that you could just get a little bit here and a little bit there. No, absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 25:03

And get spending under control. Right. I mean uh that's I don't want to get too political, yeah, but you know, sp government spending is sometimes ridiculous. Right. You know?

SPEAKER_02 25:14

And uh people want to hear this good stuff, Steve. This is what's going on in the real world.

SPEAKER_04 25:20

Right, right.

SPEAKER_02 25:21

God, it's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_04 25:23

We did talk about interest rates a little bit, but like what would it do to the market if the interest rate got to like four or five percent again? And do you is it possible, you know?

SPEAKER_00 25:34

I think five percent is more realistic. We were kind of already already there just on the you know, high end of the five percent range, depending on the the type of loan, how much they're putting down, what their credit scores are, their their credentials. Um, I think five percent is is really kind of a healthy environment for for people buying a house. If you remember back in 09, after I guess this is now after 08, after the dust was kind of all settling, that's kind of where rates were. They were in the mid low to mid-5 range, and that's typically a sign. A lot of people believe it's it's a sign of a healthy, you know, healthy market. So I do I think they're gonna go back to two percent. I don't think so. It's possible, but I don't think so. But five percent is is definitely a good place to be. There's a lot of people um either refinancing right now who got rates in the high sevens, maybe even eight, um, refinancing down over a percentage point, which is huge. If they go into the mid to low fives, you'll be even more of that. Not that, you know, that's just gonna help people who bought when rates were higher, really get a handle and and better afford their current mortgage payment. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 26:37

Say you are somebody that has like, let's just say, a $500,000 loan at 7%. When is the right time to refinance that?

SPEAKER_00 26:45

It so you can't just refinance your loan because the rate's a little bit better. It has to be a substantial, they call it a net tangible benefit to the borrower. So you can be the greatest mortgage salesperson in the world, sell people on the idea of refinancing from 7% to you know 6.6. But when it gets to an underwriter, it's never going to pass because there's not enough benefit there for the person to you know to actually save money. There are some costs associated with refinancing, regardless. There's transfer taxes, there's the fact that the loan is typically starting over with a new term that costs the money if they're already, let's say, two, three, four years into the loan they have. So I typically say at least a full percentage point, but the answer is different for everybody. It it could be some people may look at the savings on a on a full percentage better than they have now and decide it's not worth it for them. Because remember, when you first start mortgage, it's mostly interest. As you pay into the mortgage, it becomes more principal and as time goes on, more and more. So everyone's threshold for it is differently, but typically a full percentage point better. Usually there's there's a good benefit there for that at the very end.

SPEAKER_04 27:43

Yeah, I would imagine like the cost benefit, say on a $200,000 loan is way different than the cost benefit on a million dollar loan or something like that. You know, a full percent on a million dollar loan can add up real quick, right? It's very true. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 27:56

So yeah, that the thing I like is the lender will pair with you and say, here's how long you have to be in the house in order to make this make sense. When I was looking to refi, I'm at 4% now because that was and that wasn't even a good rate. You know, back when I bought my house and um 4% was okay, and then it dropped down into the twos, and I looked at refinancing, but the lender said, You're gonna be need to be in this house for three years to make it make sense. Like, I've never been in a house three years, I'm not gonna do it. And now here I've been in the house seven. You know, so I should have done it, but that's that's kind of what you're gonna have to figure out if it makes sense for you or not. How long you're gonna be in there.

SPEAKER_04 28:36

Absolutely. So and Mike, I know you also you you guys have kind of a special program that I haven't really heard other lenders doing. Can you talk about that a little bit?

SPEAKER_00 28:43

Yeah, that's our our NAFT cash program. So that's definitely we do everything, right? But this is something we do that's definitely unique. Um, this the way this program works is if a buyer has terms or or, for example, like a sale contingency, they find the house they love, they want this house, but the seller of that house does not want to agree to go to contract with a contingency on the property they have to sell. It's the property could be out of state, it could be in Florida, it could be a condo, whatever it might be. The seller just doesn't want to agree to sell to these people because they have another house to sell and they don't want to, they want out now. So the way our NAF cash program works is we will come in and buy the new house, not the old house, we buy the new house for the buyer with our cash. We hold that house, allow these buyers who who were buying it for to live there while the realtor sells their vacant, hopefully vacant house on the other end. Once that realtor sells their current home they live in, we resell the new house back to them for 2.2% more than we paid. So the cost of the program in Florida, no matter where it is in Florida, what county, it's 2.2%. So let's say they negotiate a price of $500,000 for the new house they want. We buy it for $500 cash, and we're gonna ultimately resell to them for $511. The hope with all of this is the fact that we're cash, we're removing the sale contingency and we're removing the mortgage contingency. The hope is they can get a more aggressive price on the house because we all know houses that sell for cash usually go at a better price. So for the right situation, the program could hopefully just pay for itself. Yeah, absolutely. But it it makes it possible. A lot of times, you know, the situation is the people didn't even list their current house yet. They just go walking into an open house on the weekend, they see a house, they fall in love, they decide this is the house for us. And then they're like, crap, what am I gonna do with it? Now they didn't even they didn't even list yet. Yeah, right? So so a lot of times they're scrambling to list their house quickly, get into contracts. Sometimes they're assigning the contract to us to close on a cash if their current home didn't sell in time. So they're trying to put their best foot forward, list it quickly, make it all happen. Because I'll be the first to raise my hand and tell you if you can avoid the program, they're better off. If the seller of the house they love says, we'll agree to your contingency, that's the best case for the client, right?

SPEAKER_02 30:49

I'm curious how does insurance play a role in that if that naff like kicks in.

SPEAKER_00 30:54

So what happens is they take a renter's policy on the house while they live there as a tenant of the property.

SPEAKER_02 31:00

And how do you guys protect it?

SPEAKER_00 31:02

We we have our own insurance policy on the house. Okay, gotcha. Okay. Correct. All right. Um, but yeah, it's it's a game changer for some agents. We do a training on the program. We want to make sure the real estate agent knows how it works so they can explain it to the client better. We make sure the clients understand all the ins and outs of the program because any situation where the bank is buying a house for you, there's a lot of legal, there's a lot of compliance, there's a lot of little intricacies on how this program works. I'm obviously making it sound very simple, but it's a tool for an agent to have in their tool belt to close more transactions where otherwise the people aren't you know getting the house they want.

SPEAKER_05 31:36

Average time on the market now for the majority of the areas that we're selling is three to four months. Find one of those houses that's been on the market five months. That's a seller that's motivated. And so then you come in with a NAF cash, offer them 10% low. You've got an 8% delta. Yeah. You know, they they make their money and you've saved 8%. So there's there's some really cool opportunities right there. That's right.

SPEAKER_00 32:02

And we supply them with our proof of funds. We give you our corporate account with more than enough money to cover the sale price to show to submit with their offer that we have the funds to buy the home cash. So the the lead time on the program is probably a good five to six business days just to get the realtor trained up, the clients you know, have everything explained to them. They get they do get underwritten ahead of time, which doesn't take us long, but we make sure they can qualify for the loan because what how crazy would it be if you bought a house from cash and they didn't even qualify for the loan that they need to buy it from us ultimately you guys buy the house and then they go buy their Mercedes. Yeah, big no no. That would that would be not be good. Uh but but it's definitely just a unique offering we have for clients in that type of situation. And again, a lot of people maybe they own a condo and they want to they their family's growing, they want to buy a house. Condos in general, I think Zach will tell you, take a little bit longer in this market to sell. So that is a good fix for someone in that situation. And we've used it many times. I I think that there's a big need for it, especially now in Brevard, where houses are taking, you said on average, three, four months to sell. There's a lot of people who are need to buy a new home, want to buy a new home, but aren't able to because their current home didn't sell yet. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:11

Now you mentioned condos, real quick. Sorry. How long are condos on the market for?

SPEAKER_05 33:15

They're yeah, they're even more. So you're you're looking at at least another month to two months. And then the one of the things I like about the company that I'm with, they're very data driven. And and the uh statement that I've picked up from Dwayne is without data, you're just another opinion. And so everybody wants to know like, should I lower the price of my house or is the market good or bad? Well, let's look at the data. Let's see where we're at. And so the data is showing that we're in a buyer's market for condos, but we're in a balanced market for single family. Gotcha. And so it's kind of interesting how you could look at Cocoa Beach, let's call it, and one's in a buyer's market and one's in a balanced market. Yeah. And so that's what we're seeing. That's what he's referring to. That they take longer to sell.

SPEAKER_04 34:03

Jeez. Um, so Zach, as as the realtor in a transaction, like where you're going into uh, you know, you're helping a family, you know, move from house to house. How how do you approach that where they have to sell their house to buy the new one? Is that just normal operating procedure most of the time where you're putting those contingencies in? Or do you how do you approach that and what do you recommend to a seller that is looking to you know treating?

SPEAKER_05 34:31

Yeah, it's it's um it's going to be case by case. You know, if they're looking for something very specific, then I'm probably gonna tell them to find something before they sell. Yeah. Because right now we do have inventory. So what I like about this market, even though it's you know what people are calling a more difficult market, it's a more normal market. You know, we're back to when I got into this business, it would take six months to sell a house. And you would do a 12-month listing agreement. And then we got into crazy time where houses were selling in a day and no one had anywhere to go. So now we have the opportunity that there's inventory. So I would say if you're ready to sell your house, we're gonna put your house on the market and then we're gonna go shopping. And there's gonna be things. So I love that. And but if you're looking for something super specific where you want water on three sides and stuff like that, then I know if I sell your house, I'm not gonna have anything to sell you. You know, so if you're not open to keeping your cash in your pocket and renting for a little bit, then we need to buy first, we need to look at NAF cash, something like that.

SPEAKER_02 35:38

Are people really um like recep are they receptive towards the you know, the NAF?

SPEAKER_05 35:44

Um it's an education process. So I've been trained in it, and you know, now I'm I'm training things. And like Mike said, it's it's more of like just educating the public and giving them options. If it's right for them, then most people don't know that tool even exists.

SPEAKER_00 36:00

Yeah. It's all about just making sure they're aware of what their options are. Even with other programs, whether it's conventional FHA, VA, non-traditional lending, it's really the the consumer needs to know what their options are. They make now an educated decision about how they want to do things, and it's just better for everybody.

SPEAKER_04 36:15

So, man, both of you guys have really thrived over the last few years in this market, and it hasn't been an easy marketplace, you know, to really make it in. But you guys continue to get better and better and doing more and more business, right? You know, Zach being a top five um agent in Brevard County, which is absolutely incredible. You know, Mike, you know, every year on the president's council, like those things aren't easy in a very difficult market. Like, what do you think has why what is what are you doing different? You know, like what how are you getting there?

SPEAKER_05 36:51

Yeah, I I appreciate that. They say tough markets reward expertise. And you know, you and I have been in this business for quite a while, Mike, as well, and um and we've seen the cycles. And so a couple of years ago, people would just hire whoever was closest to them that also had a real estate license, and now I believe they're looking for strategy and guidance through uncertain times.

SPEAKER_04 37:14

Yeah, no, absolutely. I mean that the expertise has got to be uh kind of the the differentiator, right?

SPEAKER_05 37:23

It it really is, because this is a big deal. Yeah. And 2022 market or 2021 made everybody look good because they're like, I just listed my house, I got 10 offers, and you know, and we're not seeing that anymore. Now we're seeing 50% of the deals falling through, and what do I do? I've got this place that I need to go to, and these, you know, so it's definitely raised the bar on the difficulty, which is why we're seeing you know, a number of people fall out of the business and then a number of other people have their best years ever.

SPEAKER_04 37:57

No, absolutely. And and too, like I think not only you know being an expert, but like, you know, I guess part of being the expert is you you are data driven.

SPEAKER_05 38:10

Right.

SPEAKER_04 38:10

You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_05 38:11

And so like that's exactly it. And in the group that I'm with, they have just taught me so much. I joined them when I was almost in the business for 20 years. I thought I knew everything I needed to know. And when I got there, I felt like a sponge. You know, just different methods of doing things and then and then truly just, you know, bringing the data to me so that if if it's time for a price drop, we're seeing how low should we go or should we just stay firm? Yeah, you know, and so there's been strategy to every single thing we do.

SPEAKER_02 38:44

After 20 years, you're still learning so much in this industry.

SPEAKER_05 38:48

Yeah, it gave me a total second wind. Yeah, that's because I was almost starting to go, well, should I get into commercial? Should I get into development? Like because I was feeling a little burnt out. But I'm I'm really fired up now.

SPEAKER_04 39:01

Yeah, I mean, and like over the last few years, your social media presence has really grown. Like you're doing an incredible job on social media. I think I pulled you up the other day, you had like 30,000 followers on your Facebook. I'm like, dude, I got like a thousand. What's this guy doing? You know? Um but like all the really cool things that you're doing to really set yourselves apart.

SPEAKER_05 39:21

It just all ties in, you know, and so it's like sales breeds sales, and I know business breeds business, and you guys' and you know, and the lending side as well. And so, you know, we our biggest thing that we say is your home either doesn't sell because price or exposure. And when we get the reach that we're able to provide people, we can take one of the elements off the table, and then we look at the data and we can say it's your price, you know, because if you're listed with somebody, maybe they did an epic video.

SPEAKER_04 39:52

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 39:53

But it doesn't matter if no one sees it. Right. Yeah. And so um that's that's sort of the thing. And and we haven't discussed this yet, but where we're seeing buyers come from, that's been a really fun thing to study. And that's part of the data. You know, we can say, hey, Mike's sitting next to me, he came from New York, and we know that buyers are coming from New York and California. But what the data's been showing is the Trojan horse is coming from South Florida right now. And so if you're targeting, spending all of your money target marketing California and New York, but you're ignoring South Florida, that might be your buyer, and they don't know your property exists unless they, you know, and what we're seeing right now is passive buyers. The active buyer is the guy who finds you on Zillow. So if all your agent does is list you on Zillow, they're only going after those active buyers. We want to find the passive buyers that are sitting on money that don't know they want it until they see your awesome video. So that's that's the game changer in real estate now versus 20 years ago when we would just try to be on the cover of Homes and Land magazine. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 41:00

The one thing too I love about your videos that you do is you always in the beginning of your video, one of the things I've noticed is you find the one really cool, unique thing about the house, whether it's close to the ocean, you're carrying your surfboard to the water, or it's a golf cart community where you're on your golf cart pulling into the house. Like I've noticed that you find that one you really unique thing about that property. Try to market the lifestyle. Yeah, that's just a lot of things. And uh yeah.

SPEAKER_05 41:27

Otherwise, you're just another four-bed, two-bath house.

SPEAKER_04 41:30

Yeah, like I I saw the one recently. Uh I'm you know, Mark Codgin's like a brother to me. And uh, you know, he's my brother's best friend. We grew up together basically, and uh you're advertising a house in his neighborhood, yeah. And I was showing my wife, I was like, man, this could be us.

SPEAKER_05 41:46

And I went by I I was on my way to that show. She's doing a good job. And I stopped by Mark's house and said, Can I borrow a long board for a little bit? I love that. That was how that went.

SPEAKER_04 41:56

That's awesome. Um well, what about for you, Mike? What do you what do you think the difference maker is, man?

SPEAKER_00 42:02

I mean, I I really try to take the approach where I'm giving as much value add to the client as I possibly can. There's a lot of mortgage lenders out there. There's a lot of good mortgage lenders here in Brevard County. The thing whether I did it in New York or Florida, that I always stick to, that I that I think really differentiates me, is I really take the time with the client to sit down with them face to face. I try to get them physically in front of me, not just looking at an estimate over the phone to explain things to them. The way I would need someone to explain them to me if I was in their shoes. Because as a lender, we do this every single day, backwards and forwards, in our sleep with our eyes closed. Yeah, you name it. And a lot of I think a big mistake is a lot of lenders typically take that for granted. They don't realize the average person doesn't buy a house, you know, every month. Yeah. Right? They they haven't done it, even if they bought a home before, it's been years. And no one really takes the time to really dissect the estimate and helps them really understand how they're making their decision on what kind of loan to go with, what lender to pick, what closing costs are, what could closing costs be, worst case scenario. Because the you know, human nature, you get an estimate from a lender over the phone, on the computer, whatever it is, you look at it, you just go to the lowest estimate. It's not always the case. You know, and a lot of times, if they don't understand that things like the impounds for the taxes or or the something as simple as the per diem interest can change based on what day of the month you close, what time during the tax cycle the closing lands on, that changes their bottom line, could be by thousands of dollars. So I try to be just fully transparent. I I take these estimates, I color code them for people so that after I'm done you know, overloading them with information, they can look back at it and say, okay, that's what Mike was saying. This is, you know, this makes sense to me now. I understand it because that's the how I would need someone to do it for me if I was in their shoes. And that's just one of the things I do. Besides I have 17 years experience in the business. I've done this, uh I've helped that uh probably over a thousand families, you know, in my career purchase a home. That's my focus. I'm not somebody who's doing lots of refinancing. My focus is purchase money loans, which is helping buyers buy a home, whether it's their first time, their second time, so on and so forth. So I find that that's one of the big differentiators for me. It's not the company. I mean, although I I this is the best company I've ever worked for, it's really the individual and taking the time and holding the client's hand through what can be sometimes an uh anxiety-provoking, stressful process, and trying to just shed some light on it.

SPEAKER_05 44:24

It is and one of the things that differentiates a good lender from uh the package.

SPEAKER_04 44:30

I think you're segueing into my next topic, which was gonna be how important is y'all's relationship to each other? Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 44:37

And um, and so it's it's an interesting situation. I like Mike, I like you guys, but I can never just refer one person. And so, because then all of a sudden it's liability on myself. Yeah, yeah. And so um, so Mike is definitely in my hey, this guy will take care of you. Um, but also he's not gonna get the day before closing and give you a new document that you have to run to the bank and scramble in the you know, ninth hour, you know, and then you guys, you guys are always on it. Like you guys have our stuff ready to go with a bow on it before closing. And so that's you know, that's just clutch. But it's absolutely not the industry standard, as you know.

SPEAKER_02 45:17

I definitely don't want to be the person to hold closing up. That is a big no-no. No, absolutely I don't want to be that person.

SPEAKER_04 45:25

So no, I mean who you work with matters. It does. It does. And so I thought it was really cool when I invited Zach on the podcast, and immediately he was like, dude, I really want to get my buddy Mike on with me, too. You know, so I mean that speaks volume about your guys' relationship and and and how important these relationships are. Like we're in a relationship business.

SPEAKER_00 45:42

And it's at the end of the day, especially if you're recommending the lender, you're right, you're the realtor, you're kind of the captain of the ship, you're recommending an insurance company to your clients, you're recommending a mortgage lender, you're recommending a home inspector. At the end of the day, we are a reflection back on things. Yes, exactly. And if we weren't making you look good, you wouldn't want to recommend us to anybody else. So that's the the whole idea is, you know, to answer your question, my relationship with Zach is super important. I said this earlier before we got here. I mean, we Zach helped me find my home. So I live in my dream home. I live in I live in what I call paradise. I wake up every morning, I look, I look out my window, I'm like, thanks to Zach Spurlock, basically. Without him, this would have never been possible. And I and it wasn't just because he was our real, you know, our agent found us a house. He remembered very closely to what we were looking for. He I mean, he must have been exhausted showing us a million houses. Yeah. Um, and when the house came up that had really everything we wanted, he made sure we were the first people to see it, made the first offer, and we were in a even a situation where the night, a few minutes after they they accepted my offer, there was an offer better than mine that it was already too late. So had he not acted acted when he did, I definitely would probably still be looking for a house.

SPEAKER_05 46:53

Pretty fun story on how we met them too. Oh, yeah. They were literally on a cruise ship in Port Canaveral was a port a call. I think we're the second largest cruise terminal now in the world. And so it's interesting. While he was on his port a call, his excursion was showing seeing houses with me. And we uh and then he loops back back through maybe six months later, is when the right house came up.

SPEAKER_02 47:18

Do you have like an advertisement on the cruise terminal? No, I think. That might be a good idea.

SPEAKER_05 47:23

It should be an they should offer that at the port.

SPEAKER_02 47:27

That's a great idea.

SPEAKER_00 47:30

We rented a minivan. We picked up Zach, started looking at houses. He was recommending, hey, go check out these restaurants to eat if you go anywhere. Like, do you have anything it was great?

SPEAKER_05 47:39

Awesome.

SPEAKER_02 47:39

I love that.

SPEAKER_05 47:40

Oh, yeah, he's he's my first cruise terminal buyer.

SPEAKER_02 47:44

That is a great story.

SPEAKER_05 47:45

That is such a great story. And we are dude, our cruise port is insane right now. It's nuts. It's almost getting too big for me. Like, I'm like, okay, don't start eating into the parking that you know our public boat ramp is because we don't need any more cruise terminals, you know. No, yeah, it's keep bivard bivard.

SPEAKER_04 48:01

I mean, every time you drive by now, no matter what day of the week it is, there's cruises in port loading people in the room.

SPEAKER_02 48:07

We don't want to become westbound, pecked, eastbounds, pecked. I don't even go to the island. I'm like one of those people, like you never like, oh, I don't want to go over the bridge. Right. I'm like, I don't want to go over there.

SPEAKER_04 48:18

But I I I love the progress. I mean, I love that our economy here is cranking, our space center is on fire. You know what I mean? It's awesome. The jobs coming here. I mean, we have so much opportunity in Brevard County right now. Um, it's just a really cool place to be. Do you think that's what's driving those people from South Florida? You know, because traditionally South Florida has been kind of the Mecca, you know, where people, you know, um, I don't know, it just has like this, you know, vibe and culture down there that it attracts people there, you know?

SPEAKER_05 48:48

They do. They do have the nightlife, they have food that we don't quite have on offer here. Um, but you know, when it comes to schooling, the the girl Samantha Goldfarb that's on my team now, um, she came from Boca. And and their public school systems had gotten to a point where you pretty much had to go private if you wanted a good school. Yes. And she has kids that are younger, you know, below 10. And you know, Bavard County came up on the radar for good schools, and now she lives in Satellite Beach, and they couldn't be happier. And their their friends from South Florida are questioning them on okay, how cheap was your house and all that kind of thing. How cheap is insurance?

SPEAKER_02 49:28

Because you're exactly right. I know, oh gosh, more down there. I know when people say when people say are like, oh, my house is in uh I live down south, I was like, oh, this is gonna be a winner.

SPEAKER_05 49:37

Yes, yes. So comes right back down to affordability. Affordability is perspective. Yeah, you know, and so where did you come from? He came from New York. Probably thought that this house on the water was. I felt like he was stealing it.

SPEAKER_00 49:51

Definitely was more for it's definitely more for your money than you were getting there, that's for sure. Right. Um, and and just like you're talking about Samantha, it was the same thing. We were looking for a you know, waterfront community in Florida where the schools were really good. We never heard about this part of Florida ever, never traveled here, nothing, but came down on a cruise and and basically fell fell in love. So it's uh it's like a hidden gem. It really is.

SPEAKER_04 50:11

We always have been a kind of a secret spot. Like we're surrounded by water. I mean, we just got really like it's a beautiful place to be.

SPEAKER_05 50:19

The wild card to me that is the biggest change though, is this whole Elon Musk Bezos thing. I mean, to have the two richest guys in the world in a space race in your backyard is wild. I mean you know, when we grew up, it was and did you grow up here as well? Okay, so you would get two shuttles a year, you know, and it was like get the whole school out to watch it and just pray that everybody, you know, makes it. He's shooting these things up every day. There's like three.

SPEAKER_04 50:50

They're right in my backyard. I mean, there's weeks where they're launching five or six rockets out of there. I mean, it's unbelievable.

SPEAKER_05 50:55

Wow. And I, you know, I believe as far as the affordability goes, we're still cheap. So just 45 minutes south in Vero, you'll see houses that range from five million up to twenty million dollars to be on the water. Here, five or six million is the most expensive, you know, best place you can get in general. I mean, yes, there's some outliers, but I think we're gonna be seeing those ten million dollar properties here, you know, like sooner than later. And and I wouldn't be surprised if some of the money that drives it is money that Elon has created. So I don't know if you've heard, but the majority of people that got get hired by SpaceX, they get lured by stock, not by income. I've heard that. And so that stock is going public this year. And so the amount of millionaires that are being created from 30-something year olds out there that have been with Elon since they graduated. I mean, if if they like it here enough, they're going to be buying Adelaide, they're gonna be buying Riverfront. And you know, we're just gonna see that.

SPEAKER_04 52:03

I was actually talking to a financial advisor about that yesterday, and about he's got uh, you know, a bunch of clients that are in that bucket and uh are getting ready to become millionaires overnight. Yes. And uh we were talking about umbrella policies and some ways to protect them, you know, moving on to the biggest. It's exciting. And so it is cool. It's uh it's really neat that that that's happening here on the Space Coast. You know, that's like literally that's in our backyard, like you said. And man, it's it's just wild. Like anywhere else in the country can't say that. Right. You know, about the space race and all that.

SPEAKER_05 52:36

I mean, we're literally living it right now. I just heard Elon's um net worth went up by five hundred billion dollars, more than the second, you know, most rich person in the world. I can't even wrap my mind around that. Yeah. But but it's all right here. He's he's pumping a lot of money. Spread it around the space coast. That's great. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 52:56

Well, guys, man, I really, really, really appreciate you. I'm actually humbled that you guys came in and spent some time with us, man. You guys are absolute rock stars. Um so we like to wrap up with kind of just like a lightning round. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 53:11

Um text. And we didn't we didn't get a chance. Were those on the bottom of my email and I didn't get that far down? No. Okay, good.

SPEAKER_02 53:20

These are like surprises, like chew off.

SPEAKER_05 53:22

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 53:23

Um before we go into the light room, is there anything else you guys want to touch on or let the people know about? Anything coming up for you guys?

SPEAKER_00 53:31

I'm good.

SPEAKER_04 53:34

No, I can't think of anything. All right. Well, actually, before I I can't let this podcast go without talking about your dad just a little bit. Okay. Yeah. Um, you know, we've all had mentors in our life and people in our life and business, and I know your dad is one of yours. Absolutely. Um your dad's an extraordinary guy, and I wanted to make sure I said that on here. Um, I've always really respected your dad and and uh always thought really highly of him. Um how has he shaped where you are and what you're doing?

SPEAKER_05 54:06

That's that's awesome. Yeah, I appreciate the question. My dad was actually just calling me a five minutes ago. I saw it light up. So he has been instrumental. I wouldn't be where I'm at today if it wasn't for him. And I actually didn't want to do real estate. I wanted to be my own man and do anything that what my dad did because I didn't want the handout. And in my third year of college, I started looking at what the other options are, and then I saw my dad doing real estate and construction. I'm like, so just started asking questions. Dad, what is it that you do? And then started shadowing under him, and then you know, he offered me $25,000 a year to come work for him, you know, with a four-year degree. And I was getting married the the the week after I graduated. And um, so I took him up on it, and and basically uh the rest is history, but we had our own boutique brokerage at one point, and that kind of ran its course, and then we went to you know more of the focus on sales instead of you know running our own. And um, he's just been awesome. He he's got a great reputation throughout the community as being a man of integrity and and just you know treating people right and being a hard worker, and then the the thing that he brought to the table that I've been able to pick up on is construction background. So is this load bearing? What can be done with this remodel? How much should I expect to spend on a kitchen and a bathroom? And so that has been a differential.

SPEAKER_04 55:37

Yep.

SPEAKER_02 55:38

Definitely a good thing to know.

SPEAKER_04 55:40

I just couldn't let this wrap up without getting him a shout to Mr. Sperlock. Yep. Neil's the man. Yeah, Neil.

SPEAKER_05 55:45

He's still surfing with me and diving with me and all that stuff. Yeah, he's uh that's incredible. 74, I'm guessing. Good for him. That's awesome. So young. Plus or minus.

SPEAKER_04 55:57

He's gonna kill you. Let's get into the lightning round. Some of these aren't so lightning, but they're great topics for us to finish on. So best restaurant on the space coast. Where do you guys love?

SPEAKER_00 56:06

Best restaurant cuisine. Satellite beach, Indian Harbor Beach border, right on A1A. It's very unassuming. It's in this strip mall of just stores, but you go in there and it you wouldn't expect it, but really good.

SPEAKER_04 56:16

Really good restaurant. If you're saying they got good steaks, that's my job. Yeah, steak's my thing. It's good. Yeah. Um, definitely. Well, I I I don't even know about it. I have to I've I'll put it on my radar now. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 56:28

The picture looks kind of familiar, but I don't know where that's at.

SPEAKER_05 56:31

Uh what about for you, Zach? Yeah, um, I mean, where I'm at a lot is marker 24 because that's they're the ones that buy my uh my fresh seafood. Yeah, and so that that's kind of a fun story, though. I've I've seen them from the start, yeah, and I sold them that property that was an old dilapidated marina down Newfound Harbor. And I mean, what Peter Black and his family have done to that is made it like a gathering place for the community. Yeah, so it's been just totally transformational to that strip of land down there, and it's been fun to see it.

SPEAKER_02 57:06

I've never seen, I mean, I the first time we went was when the atmosphere there, the vibe, bonding, whatever. It was awesome.

SPEAKER_04 57:12

Yeah, we did a team event there. I mean, it's it's a really unique place. Honestly, like on the Space Coast, I can't think of a more unique place than that. And it's unassuming, like you're going, you're driving through a neighborhood, and all of a sudden you come to this just absolutely beautiful restaurant. Yeah, a lot of oasis in the middle of a street.

SPEAKER_05 57:28

And Peter has the commercial snapper grouper permits, and and so he uses that as an excuse to go fishing and and supply the restaurant with fresh catch as well. So yeah, that's really cool, man. Yep.

SPEAKER_04 57:40

Any other place you want to give a shout out to?

SPEAKER_05 57:42

Um, I like Coco. Um Daniel Pinovich, he's got he's got just super I mean, I think he's going for a Michelin star. And so that's there before it does.

SPEAKER_04 57:54

So I I personally think Coco K O K O, right? That's right. I think it's the best new restaurant on Space Coast. Yeah, period. I love that place. Like when we went there, me and my wife were so blown away by it. Like I've actually we mentioned this on another lightning around on another podcast. Like that place blew my mind. The flavors, it's so unique, it's a different spin. Like it it really is incredible.

SPEAKER_02 58:23

Oh, you went for your birthday.

SPEAKER_04 58:24

You're you're I took my entire family there. I mean, I had to take off a small mortgage, but it was worth every penny. I mean, it I I'm glad you said Coco. That place is absolutely incredible. And if you haven't eaten there, you gotta go try it.

SPEAKER_05 58:39

If you're in South County, have you ever been to Umami? Umami has phenomenal sushi as well. And and that's uh Umami, is that the one in the plaza there in Bayou Galley, right? Yep, that's the new one, and then they had one in in out in West Melbourne as well.

SPEAKER_04 58:55

All right, yeah, we uh we we've been to that place, and that place is awesome as well.

SPEAKER_05 58:58

So many great places. We're getting a lot of good places on Space Coast now.

SPEAKER_04 59:02

No, we yeah, it is it's getting better. You were saying we don't have as good food as South Florida, but I feel like we're getting there.

SPEAKER_05 59:07

We totally are.

SPEAKER_04 59:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 59:08

Yep. Ocean or river? Are we talking fishing? Are we talking about it? Just ocean or river. What do you prefer and why? Gosh. I'm I'm gonna have to go ocean because I can fish, surf, dive, all of it.

SPEAKER_00 59:23

Yeah. I'm gonna say river. All right. Just I live right on the river. I would love going out there on the boat with the kids, taking them on the tube or to one of those little islands to hang out.

SPEAKER_04 59:32

Oh, absolutely. If rates dropped, well, we kind of talked about this earlier, so it's not fair. Yeah, maybe. But uh, we're gonna ask it anyway. If rates drop to four percent tomorrow, what happens to the housing market? Prices skyrocket.

SPEAKER_00 59:45

Yeah, prices are gonna go up. The the demand is gonna increase to the point where the the inventory will not catch up, and as a result, the prices are gonna go higher.

SPEAKER_05 59:54

Yeah, there will be zero inventory. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 59:55

Yeah. This is kind of too easy for you guys, but favorite thing to do on the water?

SPEAKER_05 1:00:01

That's hard for me. It's hard to pick one thing. It is seriously hard, but I'm gonna say spearfish. Okay. Yeah. All right. Just because my shoulders don't work as well for surfing anymore.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:13

This is why I called it the not so lightning lightning round because I knew we were gonna end up deep diving on some stuff. Explaining. So if you were spear I I remember you coming across a shark while you were spearfishing, and you had some incredible footage of that.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:25

Yeah, this is the time of year, Steve, that um it was in April. And so I just saw Blair Wiggins post something over the weekend that he had he came across a 15-foot Great White. Wow. You know, and he was maybe within five miles of Port Canaveral.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:39

Wow.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:39

And so this is the time of year that they're cruising, you know, kind of migrating by.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:44

Did you have to check your shorts after that? Yeah. It was pretty unexpected. All right. Final question. One word to describe the Space Coast real estate market right now. I'm gonna say stable. Opportunity. God, that was what I was gonna say. Good one.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:04

Great guys, that was fun.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:06

Yep, awesome. Thank you. Thank you for coming in. Thank you for uh helping us celebrate Angela's 40th together.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:13

Thanks, guys.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:14

Welcome to the club.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:16

Thanks.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:16

Um but no, appreciate you guys. Super humble to have you here. And uh yeah, man, keep crushing it. Anything I can do for you guys, let me know. Thank you. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:24

Thank you.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:25

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.