The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Donna Schmidt Joined Keith Smith & Jerry Miller On "Real Talk With Keith Smith!"

Episode Date: August 2, 2024

Donna Schmidt, Regional Vice President of United Home Warranty LLC, joined Keith Smith & Jerry Miller on “Real Talk With Keith Smith” powered by YES Realty Partners and Yonna Smith! “Real Talk��� airs every Wednesday and Friday from 10:15 am – 11 am on The I Love CVille Network! “Real Talk With Keith Smith” is presented by Charlottesville Settlement Company, LLC, El Mariachi Mexican Bar & Grill, Fincham & Associates, Inc., Free Enterprise Forum, Intrastate Service Co, Pearl Certification and YES Realty Partners.

Good Friday morning. My name is Jerry Miller, and thank you kindly for joining us on Real Talk with Keith Smith. It's an absolute pleasure to connect with you on a talk show that has become the platform and the voice of the realtor community in a market we call Charlottesville Albemarle County and Central Virginia. You the viewer and listener encouraged to shape the show, ask questions, push back, give us your perspective on what we're talking about today. We'll highlight home warranties, we'll highlight an ever-changing real estate market. Seems like each week we wake up there's something new in the industry.

I want to give some props to Judah Wittkower, the man behind the camera. We're able to do what we love, come on the show and talk about an industry that we're passionate about. Judah wickhauer is the elmer's glue of the team he's behind the camera working seven cameras five microphones figuring out facebook passwords and getting us online judah wickhauer if you can go to the studio camera and then welcome our guest donna schmidt and our star keith smith i'm going to edit that monologue just a little bit it It's that Elmer's glue. It's the gorilla glue.

You know, once he gets a hold of something, he let it go. So I'm super excited about today. First of all, to have Donna. We've known Donna for a very long time. She's a fellow Marine. Second rodeo. Second rodeo. But I'm excited to introduce Donna because she's introducing a new home warranty here,

and I'm going to let her tell the story on it. But a United Home Warranty has moved into our marketplace, and I've got a bunch of questions already lined up. But let us take a minute and introduce who you are, where you're from. You got out as a gunny, right? I did. Yeah. Your experience in the Marine Corps, which is always a good thing.

And, you know, tell us about how United Home Warranty is going to help my industry or our industry. Well, you know, home warranties in the real estate industry as a whole sometimes don't have that good of a reputation. And I've been doing this for about 20 years. And so I, and over the years I looked at what the challenges have been to the homeowners, to the companies, and to the realtors. So with United Home Warranty, it's a West Coast home warranty, and we brought it over to the East Coast and we revised the entire warranty to fit our market and to fit our area. So what we did is we're wanting to bring back the faith in home warranties is what we're doing, and it's been

working greatly. Have not had one challenge since we brought this over here to the East Coast. And you like challenges. And I like challenges. And it's something that, you know, we're proud to bring over here. We're proud to start, you know, giving that good experience, customer experience back to the realtors and to the homeowners. So let's start at the basics, right? So what is a home warranty, right? For those of us who may not know that, you know, we've got a bunch of real estate geeks in here that understand what that is. For those of them, what is a home warranty? What is the benefit to the homeowner? And then as a listing or buyer's agent, we're about ready to go through this little change here in our market on Monday. Why is it a benefit to the real estate?

It's a lot there, so pick it apart a little bit. Well, first off, what a home warranty is, it's a policy between the homeowner and the company. And what it does, it covers failures and malfunctions that happen to the systems within the foundation of the home, including the HVAC, the condenser outside, when they fail or malfunction due to normal wear and tear. So one thing that a lot of people don't realize, there's a difference between homeowner's insurance and home warranty. So the homeowner's insurance will cover the catastrophic issues that happened, as in fire, hail, windstorms. Or a plumbing leak or something like that. So the home warranty, what that covers is it covers, again, the failure or malfunctions of those systems or appliances.

So they dovetail together. So, well, for example, if your dishwasher fails and it floods your wood floors, the warranty company will cover that dishwasher, the failure of that dishwasher. The homeowner's insurance will cover the secondary damage. Do we work together? They work together.

Oh, wow, great. Correct. So they work together. So that's one thing that we want to make sure that people understand and homeowners realize about that. The benefit of home warranty, especially in this market, any market, for realtors is, as a listing, this is a great listing tool. We offer a listing coverage. I call it limited. It's not the full max as you would do

as a buyer's warranty. But it covers the property during the listing period. And so it helps with some home inspection items. It helps with a history of that home once that buyer gets a warranty. So we know if something happened or didn't happen. So we have buyers that move in now that they have a challenge the first week they move in. But it was okay prior. There's nothing wrong with that. When there's a listing coverage on that property, we can go back and look at that history. Well, if there was a problem, it would have been covered under that listing coverage. Listing coverage for us with United Home Warranty is that it's a $65 option. It does include all

appliances, HVAC, and plumbing and electrical. If the warranty does not, well, I'm taking it back. If the seller does not use that warranty during the listing period, there is no charge due. That $65 is not due. If they do use it during that listing period, that $65 is due at closing. And then at closing, it converts, right? It can convert. You want it to convert. Correct, yeah. It doesn't have to because a lot of times things happen, negotiations, it comes out of the negotiations and things like that.

We offer up to 60 days from closing for that purchaser to decide whether they want the real estate product as a warranty. So this is important for the real estate agents out there and the sellers and the homeowners. We do this on every one of our listings it's it's a ridiculously inexpensive insurance for that but uh you know our market this current market we're starting to see home inspections come back again you know we're getting back into a normal normal market so i'll paint a scenario for you, and you tell me if I'm right or if I'm wrong. So I put Jerry's Home on the market. We go ahead and put a United Home Warranty on it. We go through home inspection, and let's say the dishwasher fails

or the dishwasher isn't working. I can use that home warranty to fix that. Is that correct? You can as long as it's not a pre-existing condition. Let me explain that to you. A pre-existing condition is something... Remember, I'm a Marine. That's right. That's why I'm moving this way.

So a pre-existing condition is something that is known to you already prior to the start of a contract. Either known by a simple mechanical test or a great visual so i got a dishwasher let me let me then rephrase the question i've got a dishwasher that's working right at the showing we're under contract and somehow or another between the contract and the

home inspection the dishwasher fails or for my fellow real estate agents, we're past home inspection and the dishwasher fails before closing, we have to deliver the home in good working order. And so, instead of the homeowner having to go out and buy a new dishwasher post-home inspection, I get to

pay $60. Donna gets to call. $65. It's $75 for a service fee. So there's a thing called a service fee or a trade fee. And that's what the homeowner will pay the technician. That's their cost. And then what they will do is they will diagnose it. They will submit their

findings to United Home Warranty. And if it's a normal wear and tear failure, then that's a covered item. Up to the max for that. Correct. This seems like a no-brainer here. It is a no-brainer. Yeah. I've been using this for decades, right? And we love it. We have it on our personal home and have used it regularly. I won't tell you how often because I might get kicked out. It's okay. But somebody's probably watching my account. But we absolutely love it.

We did it with our HVAC system. Our cooktop went on it, you know, and it was interesting because the cooktop could not be replaced, and we should talk about this. Excuse me, I apologize. It could not be repaired because it was so old and there was no parts available. What happens at that point?

So your homeowner will have two options on that. So if it cannot be repaired, then the company will replace that item up to the max allowable payout. So warranty companies will most likely have max allowable payouts. We have to. It's a business. So in our case, with the VIP and the enhanced option, it's a $3,000 wholesale cost per appliance. And we will, our company, we will replace brand for brand.

So if I have a GE cooktop and the GE cooktop goes out for whatever reason and you can't do it, you're going to give me up to X dollars for that? Correct. We're either going to replace it with your GE cooktop or we're going to say here you go do you want to cash out it's called a cash and loo would you rather have the money for that

so back to the example right and you know in today's market i i don't it just seems in the last six months or so every transaction is a little bit goofy right it's got a little bit of something that's that maybe wasn't there in 2021 or 2022 when, you know, as Yona would say, you know, a turkey can fly in a hurricane, right? You know, it requires skill and professionalism to get through it. I just want to make sure everybody listening understands and watching understands this, is if I put this on my, I have to put it on a pre-listing, right? You want to put it on listing. I want to put it on pre-listing, right? We go through the it on a listing. I want to put it on pre-listing, right? We go through the contract.

We go through home inspection. Everything is fine. And somewhere between that and closing, the HVAC system dies on us. Right. I pay $75. And somebody comes over and tries to fix it. And if they can't fix it, then we start having more conversations. Okay.

Well, first off, you won't pay $75 because our first service fee is free. Oh, that's even better. To the homeowner. This is getting better. It gets better. Free is always good. But that's an important tool. Maybe we shouldn't be telling everybody about this.

Maybe this is something we should only be doing at YRP. But it's important, right, so that when you're sitting at the listing table, particularly right now, the listing table and the buyer table. I mean, if it takes longer to get to closing, you want some coverage. That's what you're alluding to here. Absolutely. That is what's happening. It's getting longer to that. But, you know, we're about ready to have to have additional discussions, which we did not have to

have before. And it's always good to slide a win across the table and go, yes, this is what we can do for you. This is how we can cover for you. Yonah and I, any first-time homebuyer, we buy at the closing. Well, we have realized, and it used

to be back in the day, you know, when it was a buyer's market, sellers would always offer home warranties. When was that? Actually, when was that? And actually, you know, one of the homestops says that the number one enticement for selling a home in 2024 was supposed to be home warranties. But again, the market still has not shifted to where that is. With the, I'm going to say the talks that you're going to be having with buyers now with regards to the settlement and the commissioning, we know that a lot of buyers, they're not going to have that money. Sure. You know, they're coming with everything they have. So we're like, okay, we're going to offer monthly

payments for real estate transactions because that way they'll still have that coverage. They won't have to worry, because, you know, once you move to that new house, like I said, you've spent everything you had, you know, and then in a month, an HPAC system right now for three tons is going to run you about $10,000. Yeah, and for $75, we're free if it's my first one. I don't have to sweat that, right? And I get to close, you know, and things happen, you know, at 105 degrees. Absolutely.

Things happen between contract and closing. And even for the agents out there that, okay, well, I'm doing, they're waiving their home inspection. In our contract, that seller has to deliver this home in working order condition. So if there's a plumbing problem, the water heater goes, or something happens from the time of contract to closing, your plan covers it and takes care of it. And that's a huge benefit that you can offer your sellers in particular. The buyers, first-time homebuyers, it's a great thing because, you know,

who's going to have the money to put a $10,000? Right. And I will tell you, so the owner of this company used to own an appliance company and an HVAC company, and they have a call center as well. So pricing-wise for him, and again, it's wholesale costs is what we pay. I mean, not what we pay, but what we pay. Explain that real quick. So when you're working with warranty companies, because the purchasing power that we have,

because we buy so many things, that the cost that we pay is nothing what a homeowner pays. So if you have, we'll say, a GE profile refrigerator, if you go to Lowe's or anywhere to go purchase it, we'll say you'll pay $4,000. We could probably get that for about $1,400. Oh, wow. There's a big markup, but that's when you see where the markup is. Oh, wow. That's where you see. At HVAC right now, wholesale through our company, he can pay, we can replace a Lenox system for less than five. Wow. And that's,

you know, wholesale. So if, let's talk about a little bit, is there shortfalls, right? So, so if I have a unit that say is 10 years old or 12 years old, and I'm in this scenario that we're talking about that between contract and closing, it fails. Talk about how that process works. So on the listing and coverage, again, we have to limit to it to a certain amount, you know, maximum payouts. It's nowhere near what the buyer side gets. So HVAC, if we have to go out there and repair something or replace something as the compressor.

Or condenser or something. Or condenser, correct. The condenser, again, if we have to replace that condenser right now, we would have to replace it first off with the minimum standard that the government has put out. It's the 15 SEER. Sure. And if we can do it for less than what the max payout or up to the max payout,

we're going to get you that new condenser. If the cost will be, we'll say, $300 more than what our max payout for we pick up the tip. You're going to pick up that new condenser. If the cost will be, we'll say, 300 more than what our max payout for realistic coverage is, you're going to pick up that 300. So it's important for folks to know, so the process will happen. HVAC system dies. We make the phone call. And I want to talk a little bit about the importance of actually reaching somebody. And they come out and they look at it and they say okay you know it's this to fix it the company's going to come back to me or to the seller and say okay your max allowable is X the replace it is you know this much over over that

this time so in whatever is going to happen you're not going to have to pay the full price for that okay the warranties are to defray the cost of the unexpected repairs and replacements. Do we replace? Absolutely a lot. We do a lot. But again, you know, when you're hit with a new HVAC, retail-wise, again, right now they're running $10,000 to $12,000. And one of the things that I really love about this company, and I've heard it over years, you know, over years of doing this, is that people say, oh, well, the contractor came out and the warranty company is denying something because they're saying it's preexisting, right? I mean, we're talking within the week of closing, that first week. what I love about this company and our president is what he says is, you know, there is a reason why they started this company, because they worked with home warranty companies before. And he said, Donna, he goes, people were denying, denying. As pre-existing, he said,

that's why people buy warranties, because they're unexpected. You know, your HVAC might be working the week before. The next week when you move in, it stops because you're using it because your home goes into a shock factor within the first 90 days of going to a pre-loved home because you're using the systems all differently. So it just sort of freaks out. I like that shock factor. It does.

I mean, the person who lived there could use that A-suite. She's right, though. It is because you know, you could sit there and use your HVAC once every week. I mean, I like my house at 78 cause I hate cold. Oh, you and my wife. Okay. But my daughter just moved in, you know, 72, 70 because she has Delta. Oh yeah. Okay. And so my system is freaking out because you know, it's not used to that. And I actually told her yesterday, I said, the system is sounding differently. And it does because it's not used to it.

And so, you know, and even new systems do that. So for my, this is an important, what I'm about, from my perspective to get out, for my fellow real estate agents that are watching this. When something goes sideways in a transaction, we've already put this on. I'm not going to mention the two other major home warranty companies. I've used both of them and I've never been able to do what I'm about ready to say. It happens.

It falls apart. They go through the automatic system, right? Nobody shows up. Nobody responds to them. We're closing in three days, right? We've got our final walkthrough, and all I'm getting to is a call center, and at best a call center,

but generally sent to an app that's not the case with you now I pick up the phone and I get Donna correct and I say I got a problem Donna correct and then we problem solve it and fix it because you understand the importance of actually communicating with somebody on you know this the silly thing is actually a phone right and communicate and I want to give hats off to because you've we've done this together and you know we've got to the finish line and you know we're trying to close this and everybody's hitting the panic button and you know say hey Donna come in and save me on this and you do and also if you're also direct and

honest and and and tell us where we're at, I think that's going to be the major difference for what you guys do and bring to this market versus the other thing because most of clientele, most of fellow real estate agents, they just say this is ridiculous and they don't continue with it anymore. And you don't hear from them. And, you know, when most of these major warranty companies put out surveys to their realtors and they'll say, oh, we have a 4.3 star, they're not hearing from the people who had that challenge. Those people just walk away. Sure.

And they don't get that business. Again, I've been doing this 20 years. Every homeowner gets my phone number. Every agent gets it. Every homeowner gets it. I like to become involved because, you know, this is my word that I'm bringing out. It's my reputation. And I want to make sure it stays decent.

So, again, I used to work in the Charlottesville area with another company while I was here, and I loved it. And there's been great realtors here. One of the other challenges that warranty companies have had is that once a service call is placed, you either don't hear from the contractor, you can't get a hold of them, whatever. Our contractors are required to contact that homeowner within four to six hours. Wow. So just in the past week, I've had five service calls. I'm going to say four of them had an appointment within ten minutes,

and they were either serviced that day or the next day. So we have a national database of contractors. That's impressive. It is. And that is the major struggle in your industry, right? Correct. And back to the example of we're closing in three or four days and I don't have, you know, we take on because these are our clients, right, take on making this happen, and they won't return my phone calls. I'm a recovering developer and builder.

I understand the world of contracting. Right. I understand the world of nobody calling you back in the world of contracting. But when you have a domino deal, right, when you have a rate lock that's about ready to expire, we need to close on this day, and we can't get a contractor to return it, a phone call makes a huge difference. So I want to thank you for doing that for us in the past, for sure. Oh, I appreciate that. So from a buyer's perspective, why should I sign up to your VIP program and pay?

What's the benefit? We talked a little bit about the seller side, but what's the benefit for the buyer? I'm buying a home that's, I don't know, 20, 30, 40 years old. What's the benefit? Well, again, the benefit is you don't know anything about that home. It might look great when you purchase it, and the seller kept it up immaculate,

but you don't see what goes on behind the walls. You don't know what's going on in those systems. So you don't know what to expect, and that's why they're called unexpected repairs, replacements. The benefit of it, it gives you peace of mind because you don't know what's going on in that property, that home. And it can be, it's a phone call. You have people moving in from different parts of the world. They don't know anybody. They don't know the contractors. And this is a very easy way to find somebody to come out and service. You know, I've become friends with many of the homeowners, you know, because I'm a

coffee freak. So, you know, we have coffee a lot. And to me, it's something that helps them. And moving into a new property, again, things are expensive. They're not cheap anymore. Things aren't being built the way they used to be built. So the days back in the day. That's what my wife has been saying about me. I know. We're all getting older.

But back in the day, an appliance would last 10 years. Or more than that. Yeah, they're lasting two or three years right now. And that's it. And thank you for hitting it. That's the important part of it, right? So from a buyer's perspective, and again, particularly the first-time home buyer, you know, interest rates, they might be coming down. Everybody's talking about that.

But everybody's paying a little bit more for their mortgage than they were in the unicorn years. And anything for a simple insurance policy, because that's what this is, and if your HVAC goes, or your plumbing goes, or your water heater, or your appliance goes, and those are usually the big ticket ones that kind of go on it, you've got the safety of doing it. And more importantly, you're not going to be pushed around from call centers that might be in different parts of the world.

Right. That I'm extremely happy. That's an important thing. It's very important. I'm extremely happy that our call center is stateside. We're not going anywhere outside the country. There's anything wrong with that. There's not. But it's difficult.

But it's very difficult because there are challenges of the language barrier sometimes. And usually when the call centers are overseas, they follow a script. Yeah, sure. And when you're calling for a home warranty and you have an issue you're already not in a good mood. So you don't want to get that run around. And that's what I'm here for. If you're working with any home warranty your best thing is to make sure you have a good relationship with your representative because that's the person who's going to help you to get through.

So it's no different than my homeowner's insurance or my car insurance. I personally and my lenders, we have trusted advisors matter, right, and having conversations with people matter, because generally you can work through the issues pretty quickly on that. Jerry, you got any questions? I do. With home inspections coming back, has that drawn more interest in the home warranty business? It has. It has. I've seen our business

change in the past two months. I really have. I've seen, without the home inspection, I thought for sure back then, home warranties would become more popular because people weren't having home inspections. They were waiving them. But it was just the opposite. You know, home warranties were probably the one thing that people would just put aside, which boggled me because, again, they didn't know anything. And, you know, when they're moving in and something could happen the day after they move in. And they would have had that insurance to help them through.

I think you've picked up a customer here. Juan Sarmiento is watching the program. He's a homeowner in Central Virginia. He says the customer service with AHW is horrible. Contractors do shoddy work and are rated two stars. I am definitely going to check out what Donna is saying. I'm very unhappy currently

with AHW. Call me directly and I will chat with you and give you all your options. One of the things that I was able to do for this area, for Central Virginia, Northern Virginia, is again, we revised the warranty to be very competitive in the area, pricing-wise. I mean, for years and years, when I first started with the warranties, everything was 500, up to 500, up to 500. And that stayed that way for 20 years. I'm still seeing that. So I do have a $500 product. I have a five, a six, a seven. I'm finding that a lot of

realtors, you know, they're giving their clients a home warranty because they really believe in them. So, you know, for me is, if the realtor is paying for their warranty, I give them a $100 discount because that's something we're saying thank you to the realtor for doing that. We have a $50 military discount. And, again, our warranty is a 13-month warranty. So it's 13 months. The other thing we have for homebuyers, new ones, you know, you want to change the two things you want to do when you purchase a home. Change your locks, change your toilet seats. I've always said that. Change your locks and toilets?

Toilet seats. I've heard the first one. The second one, that's a new one on me. I've been in this industry for a while, but it kind of makes sense. What we do is the new homeowner is eligible to receive a reimbursement because you want to change your locks. A reimbursement of up to $100 if they send me a receipt within the first 60 days of closing. If they went and purchased locks, had them changed or whatever, we'll reimburse them up to $100 of that receipt. So the question I have to ask, does the home warranty have to be in place prior to closing? Or can I put it in after closing and still get that?

They can do it up to 60 days. Great. Yeah, because once you go after 60 days, you become a, it's called a direct-to-consumer product, so anybody can have a home warranty. The real estate warranty is always made with a little bit more coverage because, again, the new buyer knows nothing. That's a very important number to throw out there to the comment earlier.

We have left those particular companies and are getting ready to sign up with your company for our personal home and our rental property. Because the other company, if you don't do that prior to closing and you do it the day after and you go, oh, I forgot or the closing company didn't do it at closing, which is not an uncommon thing on it, we're not clawing back and going, well, hold it. It didn't happen. It didn't do this. We have 60 days to go and do that. Right. So I can do that post-closing. Correct.

Oh, wow. That's great information. So Juan's asking for your phone number, as are others. So I think you're closing deals literally live on air. What is your phone number, Donna? It's 703. Okay. I'm putting this in the feed here. 703. People are going to call you. Okay. That's fine. 703-414-96-89. 703-414-9689. Correct. Donna Schmidt, I'm hitting enter, and I'm sending it right now.

Juan, thank you very much for asking. Thank you. I personally have to ask this question. With commercial holdings, is there any interest in getting the commercial space at all? That's an interesting question. We are the exclusive with a huge international company, but we do apartment buildings and things like that. Correct. That's the one thing we do.

But for my division, it's a real estate, residential. So regular office space and stuff like that? No. You're not going to find one that does that because what we do is office spaces and things like that end up going, like I said, with commercial-sized systems. Anything over five times commercial. It would be really hard to generally price that out. Right. That's a little bit harder. You're working with contractors that don't specialize in those. Absolutely. But we just did a rezoning rewrite here

in the city of Charlottesville. And if I was to build an apartment building with six units, you would come in and take care of that? Absolutely. We also have, I will tell you, new construction is huge. So we all know, especially in Virginia, we have that. The builder is liable for that one year for systems and usually up to three to five year for structural. That's five for structural. For five, okay.

So, and the manufacturer warranty covers the systems. So we have it's called new construction. It starts on the one year anniversary date of closing, and it continues for 39 months, and it's our VIP plan. And the entire cost is $650 for three years. So let me make sure I got this right. Staff's kind of figuring this out.

So I'm buying a new construction townhome, right? The builder's going to cover it for a year. At closing, or within 60 days of closing, right, I go ahead and buy this. It automatically comes into place 12 months later. And it lasts how many? 39 months. Over three years? And I'll have to pay for it again in three years?

Correct. Wow. And it's $650 total. Wow. I have a lot of builders that I work with, and what they do is when they promote their homes, they promote it with a four-year warranty. So that would be their one year, and then our three-year included.

I like that. I'm learning stuff here. This question for you here, how has the business expanded or grown across Virginia as the market has become more hot? Are you seeing more phone calls? Who's your referral base? And what do you guys need to do to keep expanding?

Well, I've just hired 11 more reps. Fantastic. Right now. With a lot of warranty companies, I'm going to say, depleting their account executives. You know, they're taking them away because the business has changed, and they're going more to telemarketing or account executives. They're taking them away because the business has changed and they're going more to telemarketing or virtual reps.

My goal right now is to have 50 by the next year. 50 more additional reps. And it's old school. I got a rep. Absolutely. I got a problem. Absolutely. That rep calls me. Correct. And let's work through it. And we are in all states. Coincidentally, our corporate is

Los Angeles, California. We don't serve as California. That's the one state we will not work in. There's got to be a reason. There are laws. The thing is in California, 99% That's freaky just to think about that. 99% of the transactions

in California have home warranties, as in Texas and Florida. Florida has a lot. So we have a big warranty. So I'm headquartered in Cali but won't do business in Cali. Boy, that speaks volumes. Their guidelines and their requirements are just unreasonable. And that, for me, is the biggest thing for homeowners and realtors to understand. They have to have what's called fair and reasonable expectations.

Your warranty is going to do wonders for you. Well, that's the role of the real estate agent in the transaction, right? Where is the guide, right, to help guide the buyer and the seller through the process? And we have to set up expectations. Frankly, it's part of what got us into trouble, right, of not setting expectations on it. So, you know, if we sit down and have a conversation with a buyer and a seller and say, you know, yeah, if your HVAC system dies,

they're going to come in and replace it at no cost to you, that's not a realistic expectation, right? It can be sometimes. It can be sometimes. Sometimes yes, sometimes maybe no yes. But you can, you know, you have to have this expectation. So the best tool forward, if there's a real estate agent watching you, call that number, get a hold of you. You'll, I'm sure, be more than happy to go to offices and talk to folks or talk to one-on-one and kind of help educate them on their expectations. At the end of the day, this is only a win-win for the buyers and for the sellers.

So why, you know, I would expect your business is going to explode, particularly the way the market is trending. I think your business is going to explode. Yeah, it's changing. I mean, I'm seeing it right here on the feed. To close with this, offer the who, what, when, where, why one more time of what you're doing, how folks can get in contact with you, and why you guys are the best option in use. First of all, we're the best option because I'm here. You should never ex-a-Marine.

That's right. Am I confident in myself? I am. I've been doing this for 20 years. I love what I do. For me, this is a passion. If it wasn't my passion in helping people, I would not be doing this. I would have lasted this long. And I think people need

to get the faith back in home warranties. That's what I'm here for, to bring back out. That's why we're bringing this good contract out, this product out. Again, it's going to help a seller. It's going to help them with their home. And one of the things that people were telling me, you know, well, why would you put a warranty on because the houses aren't staying on the market that long? But you still have that period of ratification to closing, you know. Anything can happen.

Anything can happen in 30, 45 days. And, you know, as a real estate professional and practitioner, you know, I say this all the time. It's difficult now, but for the most part, the easiest part in a transaction is getting it on the contract. The hard part is going from contract to closing. And anything you can do to help make that process smoother, you know, if you're at the two days before the closing table and water heater blew up or isn't working, you've got to do some fancy

footwork to make that happen. It's a lot easier to say, Donna, help me, and Donna gets it taken care of. That is the key thing, and that's the key difference from my perspective on some of these other companies in this, is the fact that we have direct ability for direct communication.

I believe, and I've said this on the show numerous times, and we're going to talk about the market here in a minute, but this shift that we're about ready to go through in our industry is going to require professional to professional conversation. Correct. And I cannot tell you, I have not been, I'm getting jittery, I have not been this excited about real estate since I got into Core in 86, since 1987.

Because I know we're pros and I know we can have conversations and make magic happen for people. So thank you for making this trip down. Yeah, Donna, you're great. I know you hit the road. Seriously, you're fantastic. Well, I appreciate the opportunity, and again, anybody can reach out.

I mean, I love talking about it. I love helping the homeowners out, and I think this is a good way to go. Well, we appreciate your time. Judah Wachow, if you want to go to the studio camera and opera Donna some instruction here offset Keith Smith and I are gonna highlight one of the newest most fantastic restaurants that has now open on West Main Street in Mexicali Johnny Ornelas and River Hawkins have partnered see you Donna you have a nice Donna and partner together they've driven a fantastic eatery in the old world of beer location.

We'll also talk some trends in the market today Keith. Yeah, so first and foremost, and Jude if you don't mind rotating those pictures out, I'm pumped. I'm going there this evening. Very nice. I may be bringing a friend there by the name of Ned Galloway. Don't tell anybody. Ned Galloway, very nice. We're going to go at 5 o'clock and lean at the bar and say, River, surprise me. Okay.

So River Hawkins is doing some great stuff. One of the best mixologists in the area. And he's coming up with stuff. And Johnny is just a chef extraordinaire and is pumping stuff out there if you if you have not it's just it's kind of like the soft opening yeah you gotta go the the beautiful thing about that is the artwork and just to sit there and river is the artist yes he is and the street art in that is just freaking awesome. You just sit there and sip a cocktail or a Coke, whatever your preference is, and just eyeball the beautiful artwork that's in there.

But most importantly, there's a, I believe it's 1,800 square foot outdoor patio. Very nice. And if you want to bring the kiddos. You can sit outside. And there's like if you want to bring the kiddos you can sit outside. And there's like a little play area for the kids. It's just really awesome. This is, I've been chomping at the bit to talk about this. I think you have River and Johnny coming on the show.

They're coming on the 23rd. If you want to at least watch Keith anyway after one or two sips of whatever he's going to bring, the show is going to get wild. Oh, River's going to bring some cocktails. No, they're bringing stuff. They're bringing cocktails. They're bringing food. That's exciting.

We're going to have a lot of fun. Who knows what's going to happen or come out of anybody's particular mouth. So if you want to watch Smith in particular make a fool out of himself, 23rd is the date to show up. August 23rd, Friday, River and Johnny on set. This has been a labor of love for these gentlemen and very impressed that they got this open. It's a labor of love.

We're going to let them tell their story on the 23rd. There was a few building challenges with the building that they're in that we were able to negotiate and get worked out, which was great news. But it's going to be well worth the wait. You went to the soft opening. Tell us about the cuisine. Man, here's the thing it's a fusion so I really don't know how I would do it in justice

what did you order? I ordered tacos everyone loves tacos everyone loves tacos Yona had a chicken taco I had a beef taco it was off the charts what I really enjoyed was the martini

that they made. And I won't shade Tavola, but I may have found my new place to hang out for a martini on a Friday night. But the food is outstanding. But the service, the mixologists that Rivers got behind the bar, it's just fun to watch. It's just fun to watch a bartender that is really good at what they do do what they do. Johnny, God love him, he's walking around.

He made sure he talked to everybody at the restaurant. He's a fantastic operator. Johnny Ornelas, one of the co-owners of Guadalajara, one of the co-owners of El Mariachi and Zion's Crossroads. River Hawkins opened the Milkman's Bar, owns the Bebedero. Very much a

pillar in the 10-course hospitality group of the late, great Wilson Ritchie. We have two of the best restaurant guys, restaurant people, in the region partnered together in what is a restaurant that is just absolutely gorgeous with art, delicious with food, and what is a restaurant that is just absolutely gorgeous

with art, delicious with food, and scintillating with its cocktail menu. And this is going to come across probably a little different. You need to go to the bathroom. Oh, there we go. You got to check out the bathrooms. They're freaking off the charts, cool as all can be. So, you know, it's just to wander around there and look at the artwork and the mementos and the pieces of family history. And if you ask, when you go there and you ask Johnny, because this is a beautiful family.

If you ask Johnny to talk about some of the columns in there, there's mementos to his family, to his generations gone past. So it's a really awesome family-run restaurant. Food is, you know, often. This is where you should be tonight, viewers and listeners. I'm going to be there. If you show up and say you heard me say this, I'll buy you a drink. Mejicali on West

Main in the Old World of Beer location. You head over there, you see Keith Smith, he'll buy you a cocktail. We'll buy you a cocktail. Just one. Just one. Mrs. Smith only gave me so much on the debit card that I can go into. But it's just, when you walk in there, there's so much to see, and the senses are just firing on all 12 cylinders.

It's really. What was your favorite piece of artwork in there? Man, I don't know if I could pick one. Okay. It is really... Judah Wittkower's been. We'll maybe ask Judah Wittkower that question. He's an art aficionado.

If you want to set up a three-shot, Judah, I believe, also had some tacos. Keith Smith, finish your train of thought as Judah gets that lined up. Yeah, you know, I think because I know the artwork on the columns were probably my best, but it's because it pays homage to individuals

in Johnny's family and to me that was pretty awesome but it's all over the street art just to go into the bathrooms and Jude is rotating a few pictures as we're talking about this

and that's just a taste of what it is. It's just a cool place, man. Judah Wickow, a little perspective from you, my friend. Got to have the microphone. Yeah, I'm sure he's going to have the microphone in front of him. But it's really great. I'm looking forward to tonight and having a cocktail or two, a taco or two, and if you stop by and say

you heard me on the show, I'll buy you a cocktail. There's Judah. Judah. I love the food there. I had the chicken tacos as well, and they were, as Keith so aptly put, off the charts.

Incredible food. And sadly, I didn't try the... You didn't say margarita. You said... Martini. I had a martini. That was... I didn't get to try the martini,

so that means I'll have to go back. Yeah, they... You know, I'm a little bit particular about it, and they hit it right out of the ballpark. Super dry. Your favorite piece of artwork, Judah? Oh, man, I mean. It's hard to pick one, isn't it?

The whole place is like one giant piece of artwork. I don't know that I could choose one particular element. Okay. Well said. I mean, the bar, I mean, anybody who's been in the world of beer, because this is in the old world of beer spot. Know the spot well. And walks in, it's not the same place.

It is unbelievable how they've done it. Talk about an amazing location right in the heartbeat of town, guys. Heartbeat of town, easy to get to. You know, when it's not 102 degrees out, they have this sliding wall that opens up. You can walk there. You can park there. You can drive there.

I mean, it's got everything. You can take your bike there. I've done that. Take the trolley there. Take the trolley. Take a scooter, a Vio there. Hop on Keith Smith's shoulders. He'll carry you there.

Kevin Nancy says, what time, Keith? He's going to be there. 5 o'clock. 5 o'clock. He'll carry you there. Kevin Nancy says, what time, Keith? He's going to be there. Five o'clock. Five o'clock. He'll buy you a cocktail. I didn't say what I did say today, did I? Five o'clock. Yeah, five o'clock.

He said he's going to order a double Macallan 12. Well, I better bring my American Express card then. Me and my big mouth. Yeah, please, come on by. Say hi. I'd love to see you. I'll buy you a drink. That's hilarious. American Express card then. Me and my big mouth. Yeah, please, come on by, say hi, I'd love to see you. I'll buy you a drink. Not a problem.

Juan Sarmiento, what time, Keith? Went to buy me a spicy margarita. 5 o'clock. Juan Sarmiento, 5pm. 5pm. He said he went. Authentic cuisine, excellent food and drink, great spicy offerings. He'll be there to get cocktails on Keith. I'm just so in love with their family, and I'm just blessed to be part,

an extended version of it, but I just love their family. They're hardworking people. Everything they put into what they do is with their hearts. Holly Foster says, can't wait to try it over Labor Day weekend. I was in town yesterday, did not know they were open. Now I know. My hey, Collie's open, and I'll be there Labor Day.

Holly Foster, the queen of Finraico. Yeah, they're doing a little bit of a soft opening, which is just testament to their ability and knowledge on how to run a restaurant. They're kind of making sure all their kinks are worked out and so forth, which I experienced zero. Sat down, was serviced right away, got my drink right away, got my food right away, had great conversations. I loved it. The bar manager came over and said, hey, Mr. Smith, now I feel old. Hey, Mr. Smith. How old are you?

I'm apparently old enough to be called Mr. Smith. Okay. And how the martini was. So I appreciated that. So, you know, get there, go take a look at it. You won't regret it. As I said in my Facebook post earlier this morning, support a beautiful family, support a beautiful folks to bring

some really awesome stuff to our city. I think this is my new watering hole. Johnny's wife, a fantastic teacher in Emerald County Public Schools. Two beautiful daughters. Johnny's got a son who I believe is working at the restaurant. He is. I think I saw him behind the bar, I believe. He was working in front of the house, in front of the bar. Just an awesome 21-year-old young man. Again, back to the family thing.

This is a family endeavor. When you're talking to somebody, you're more than likely talking to somebody that has some connection to the family. We want to support those. Sounds like Judah Wickher is asking me to get out of work early so you can buy him a cocktail as well. I can't afford him.

What? All over the feed. Viewers and listeners, we have about seven minutes left. We'll talk some market dynamics as we close the program. Why did you let me do that? You do it all on your own, my friend. When it's Real Talk with Keith Smith, my job is to follow Keith Smith's lead. Oh, me and my big mouth.

I just follow your lead, my friend. No, I would be a pleasure to buy whoever shows up a drink. Yeah, so Judah, if you have an opportunity, I just want to talk a little bit about July's numbers. We're two days into August, and I've already crunched the numbers for July, so that would be slide number one. Judah, if you don't mind, I'm sorry, I did not give this to you.

Oh, no, no, go ahead. I have it in my email. Got it. So, you know, we are down to 300 transactions, closed transactions in July. Price is up to 493. Just to put that in perspective, from 2016 for the same month until 2024, that is a 79% increase. We're roughly at 80% increase from 2016 to 2024 for the month of July.

But the interesting thing is we're below 2016 right now, 23%. Volume. Volume. In other words, we're 23% down in sales volume this July versus July of 2016. But the prices have increased by what percentage? 80%. Unbelievable. Did you hear that, Judah Wickauer?

But, you know. That's bananas. In eight years, in the month of July. Just the month of July, right. Values have upticked 80% in the car footprint. Yeah, it's up to 80%. I'm telling you right now, viewers and listeners, if you're watching this program and you're in the market to buy a house, once these rates start dropping and the interest rate talk is all over

the legacy and traditional media cycle, when Powell cuts these rates and when mortgage rates start dropping, I think mortgage rates are dropping independently. Values are going to spike even more, ladies and gentlemen. The mortgage market is

probably already pricing in that one reduction. It's going to slight downtick downtick slight downtick yeah but it'll downtick more it's going in the right direction it's down down took down took a little bit more but you know just to put it in my trusty three by five cards here um just sound effect on the three by five yeah there's a sound effect on the 3x5, yeah. There's a sound effect. I like the sound effect. Absolutely. God, I missed you. Stop it. I sincerely missed you.

It was great to have Donna. Donna's great. She's a pro's pro. She's a pro's pro. And anybody who's in this business, I'm telling you, you want to make sure you start talking to her about our product. But I love it when it's just you and I. So the end of last, remember the six-month run-up we did last week on what the median sales price was at the end of the first six months of this year was $465. We're up to $493 in just a month.

So we jumped the median sales price so far from 465 to 493. That's a 6% increase just in the month of July. And I didn't do a stat for this, but actually I think you're going to see July as a little bit of a dip. Yonah and I have a bet. What's your bet? I thought my original bet was I think the third quarter was going to be flat or decrease. Okay.

The month of July is saying it is, right as far as volume goes. I mean, it's down tremendously. That's a bear market by rule of thumb. That being said, I think she's going to win once we look at the full quarter because there are 500 units as we sit this morning that are impending that haven't closed yet. So those are – So those will close what, August, September? Well, depending on when they were in the system, right?

So they're going to be closing in August, beginning of September. So I think you're going to see at the end of August a bit of an uptick. Not much, but a bit of an uptick. We'll see. We'll see. We'll see. We've bet. Yona and I negotiate everything, and I mean everything. No doubt you do.

And we're negotiating how long we're going to take our vacation next May and June on this bet. If I win my bet, I get to stay a little longer. If I lose my bet, we don't stay as long as we want. This is May and June in San Martin? Of next year, yeah. But we're 6% up. 6% up in sales price. But we're down from 2016 in volume, number of units sold.

And this is for the year? No, this is July over July. Okay, got it. We're down 23%. So we're selling 23%. We've closed 23% less homes this July than we did in July of 2016. Why am I using 2016? It seems to be where the 14, 15, 2014, 2015 volume. At the moment, I'm using 16 as the litmus.

14 and 15 were a little lower than 16. A little lower. Yeah, in volume. In volume. But the reason I'm using 16 is by 16 came around, we were pretty much out of the time of great unpleasantness. When you start looking at 12, 13, and 14, we were still working through these, you know, gazillion foreclosures in the market. So, but anyway, so that's just a quick snapshot on the market. And I'm trying to find another slide here for you guys that I don't think I printed a copy out of it.

But, Judah, I sent you a slide number three. He's got that. Which is showing, I don't have a copy of it in my hand, but what that is showing is the active listings. And it's a great visual. We won't tear into it. But if you take a look at the active listings, I think I went back to 2017. You got that on screen? Oh, J.0 Pro. If you look at that, guys, from 2015, you see that roller coaster drop down. But we've been staying kind of flat for the last few years on active inventory so I think you're going to see that kind of flutter up and down

but we're not going to see this inventory jump like we did back in 17, 18 and 19. So inventory is probably not going to jump, interest rates are going to drop a little bit, values are going to go up, values are going to jump. Interest rates are going to drop a little bit. Values are going to go up. Values are going to go up. Every transaction is getting a little goofy right now. There's always a little something that you've got to bring out your pros pros to make it happen.

We're going to have to have this additional conversation with everybody, which I'm super excited about, about buyers, agents, and listing agents on it. I mean, that's now, right? No, that's Tuesday. It's now. I mean, it's happening. Oh, it's Tuesday in the MLS, local MLS, right? Monday, actually. Is it Monday? It's the 5th. The 5th, it goes away. Monday. I believe it's Monday.

Yeah, Monday. It goes away, and you're not going to see anything in the MLS. Nothing can be in the MLS. Can't even think about putting it in the MLS on it. But you're going to have to pick up the phone and call an agent and say, okay, I've got a buyer. Let's talk about compensation. Keith Smith is a pro's pro. Yes, Royalty Partners.

Yeah. Don't want to jinx it. We're doing great. We are unbelievably ahead of where we were at this time last year. Yes, Royalty Partners, guys. Keith and Jonas Smith, boutique brokerage. Trusted advisors in this game we call real estate. It's due to the awesome people that we, the partners as we call them. Yeah, fantastic people there. Five o'clock, Mexicali Restaurant. Keith is going to enjoy a cocktail. Unless somebody wants to buy a

house, I might not be there. Is that the out right there? I just created that out. I just created it out. If I'm not there, start without me. It's the old world of beer location. Little hint, go drive behind.

Oh, yeah. There's plenty of parking. Plenty of parking in there. There's like 50 spots with Mexicali on it. Mexicali, you want to go in there. I used to go to World Beer all the time, and I have parking right there. Parking's no problem. There's plenty of parking, or you can park down someplace else and walk up, but it's pretty awesome.

Watch for the flag. I've never found parking to be a problem in this town, ever. I spend 60 hours a week downtown, minimum. I've never had a problem with parking. I've been working, what, 16 years down here? Never had a problem. Yeah. As the New Yorker, I don't understand this whole parking conversation.

You want to have a problem with parking? I remember. Go a long week in Manhattan. I remember as a kid growing up in Brooklyn, my grandfather had a car, which was a big thing. And I remember my job was if they would drive around the block like a bunch of times to find a spot, if something was done, I got kicked out of the car to stand in the spot

and make sure nobody took it. This was Brooklyn in the 60s and the 70s. That's when you're risking your life for the parking space. Yeah, that was when you had to... I tried to do that last time when we were in Manhattan. I said, sweetheart, you stand right here. She said, no. Yeah, I think so now.

You drive around the block. How about this? You stand there, and I'll get behind you. Well, then she says, well, you have to parallel park the car, though. Oh, are you a good parallel parker? The best. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The best.

I don't get that whole automatic parallel. It's so easy now. And I'll tell you what. With the reverse and backup cameras, it's even easier. You should shut them off what, with the reverse and backup cameras, it's even easier. You should shut them off and do it old school. I mean, it's even easier. And you've got the beeps. I mean, come on. Judah Winkauer behind the camera. Keith Smith, the star

of the program. It's Real Talk with Keith Smith. Thank you, everybody. Online at realtalkwithkeithsmith.com. 5 o'clock. Mexicali Restaurant. The spot to be. The world of beer location. My name is Jerry Miller. Thank you kindly for joining us. The I Love Seville show up one hour and 12 minutes. So long, everybody. Take care.

Nice to meet you. Thanks, guys. Easy breezy. Thank you.