The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - Kailey Reid And Matthias John Joined Alex Urpí & Michael Urpí On "Today y Mañana!"

Episode Date: October 31, 2024

Kailey Reid, Owner of Kailey Reid Illustration, and Matthias John, Owner of Matthias John Realty, joined Alex Urpí & Michael Urpí On “Today y Mañana!” “Today y Mañana” airs every Thursday at 10:15 am on The I Love CVille Network! “Today y Mañana” is presented by Emergent Financial Services, LLC, Craddock Insurance Services Inc, Charlottesville Opera and Matthias John Realty, with Forward Adelante.

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Today y Mañana. I'm Alex. This is Michael. We're super excited to have you joining us on a beautiful morning here in Charlottesville, Virginia. It is the fall, but it is sunny. It is warm. Summer just kind of like creeped its hand right back in. A little bit. A little bit. A little bit this week. Especially when I saw the weather. I think later today it's going to be 80 or something.

Yeah, the high is like 80. It was yesterday and it looks like it was going to be today. Exactly. So you can grab your, you have permission for like one day to do an iced cafe ton leche. I know because last week I did the show with Nick and it was like really cold in the morning and I was like you need it. It was very hot. Cafe ton leche like extra hot. Yeah, extra

hot. That morning. But this morning the whole world's option is available to you. So it's a fantastic day. We have two fantastic desks lined up that are going to be joining us shortly. We're going to be joined by Kaylee Reed from Kaylee Reed Illustration, a fantastic artist. Definitely a perfect desk for Halloween, as we'll talk about. And then later on in the show, Matthias Yohn Realty, who's just always a perfect guest at any time.

Because it's going to be our monthly meetup with Matthias. So we are definitely excited for that. Be sure to send us any questions, comments, like and share the show this morning. Already got some people tuning in. Monica Miller from Montana tuning in this morning. She heard us say... Talking about Montana.

Talking about Montana. And I guess through through the ether the little paranormal telepathy well maybe monica also heard matias was going to be on so that that that that probably is the more realistic uh a version of it but you know on halloween maybe she had a telepathic communication uh to do so uh dr elizabeth erby says uh sending a shout out to the best and most handsome podcast host ever. Thank you, my sister-in-law. She was talking really mostly about me.

Mostly about you. I'm sure. I'm sure. I'm sure that had to be it. It couldn't be me. So, like we said, Nicholas Irby tuning in this morning, so be sure to send us questions, comments. Let us know what you think of the show this morning.

And we will certainly read your comments and questions on air. That's what we're here for. Always, of course, love being here on the I Love Seville Network. Many thanks, of course, to Emergent Financial Services, our presenter, and to our fantastic partners at Matthias Hjelm Realty, Shortville Opera Credit Series Insurance, Forward Adelante.

We appreciate all of them. And that's why today, Manana is here. And I appreciate you, Alex, for always having your computer open and doing that, because fortunately, when I host a show,

I'm not on Facebook, so I don't see who's watching. So at the end, Nick is like, oh, this person was watching. I was like, oh, thank you. But I feel bad, because it's like, oh, there might have been a question.

I was like, I missed it. I was like, oops. That's all right. It's part of the job. You get used to it. You get used to it. I can't say how fast. I know.

You're doing two things at once. You're multitasking. I have to say, I'm not there yet. But Jerry, I noticed on a lot of Super Flatship show at 12.30, he's like triple-tasking. I don't know how he does it, but you can just tell. He's doing the show while giving his talk. The Facebook thing must be there, and then he's got the phone thing. I would lose my mind.

People would be like, why is he just staring down the whole time? And so I'm trying to learn from the master. So we'll see how that goes. But I don't know about you, I'm excited to jump into today's show. Let's do it. So we are very excited to welcome our first guest this morning. She is Kaylee Reed from Kaylee Reed Illustration. Kaylee, thanks so much for joining us this morning.

Yeah, thanks so much for having me. It's a pleasure to have you on, especially on an awesome, beautiful Halloween, for sure. So maybe for those who haven't met you yet, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you first became interested in the art world. Oh, geez. Well, it's very much embedded in my family. Grandparents, parents are all in the arts in some form or other so I've been drawing for as long as I can remember my mom's an artist even my dad has quite some good skills with illustrating my grandparents like I said great-grandparents it's just always been there I think definitely in the blood yeah yeah for sure yeah that's fantastic And do you typically work with drawings?

So like, is it pencil or? Mostly pen illustration, or at least it's my favorite medium. But I also do digital art, Photoshop paintings, that kind of thing. But yeah, pen illustration, 100%. Definitely, yeah. And so I know I would say definitely going going on your website which people can check out we'll get them all the details definitely a

perfect kind of how did you get into I guess that kind of vibe and that feeling and then maybe lead us into how you ended up collaborating with Adams Fest 2Ds like the Adams family because it is connected yeah well I think I've just always had a fascination with the macabre past 2Ds like the Adams family because it is connected. Yeah.

Well, I think I've just always had a fascination with the macabre. I grew up loving Tim Burton movies like The Nightmare Before Christmas, that kind of stuff. So again, somehow I think that's always been there. And I think I can thank my mom for that. She's a painter and she's always done some weird, twisted kind of stuff. So again, I liken that back to family. I've always been a big horror movie fan, read a lot of horror, too.

Horror video games, it's just all there. But your style definitely falls into the top. It's interesting because i i recall from your website obviously some of your most popular pieces the the lamplighter um and so forth and the um was it the interior beauty inner beauty inner beauty inner beauty which is like the for i think some people are due to showing them on on screen it's the one where you see the back of a woman looking into a mirror and the face reflected in the mirror is a star it's like a skeleton and so it's it's interesting because it's like it's not a step like gory ostensible like in your face where it's more like uncanny and slightly like, this is a familiar thing, a woman looking into a mirror,

a person lighting a street lamp, but there's just something off or strange about it. And do you feel like you've kind of perfected that over time as going in that direction? I would say that nothing I've done has been perfected. But yeah, I think I've really has been perfected but um yeah I think I've uh I've really like found my niche um that sort of this crossroads between gothic horror and um elegance in a way um but yeah you're right they're just doing these mundane things but there's something very off about it and I think

that is what draws people so yeah but and where do you seek inspiration for your art you kind of like from books kind of just movies lots of places yeah books movies um actually I'd say my number one is music um yeah I'm I listen to music constantly and um sometimes I'll just sit there put on some headphones and just if I want to draw something that I don't have any inspiration I'll just start listening and see if anything comes to mind. And what are you listening to? I'm a metal head, so...

But all kinds of stuff. I like metal, I like rock, but I also really like jazz and Celtic music and classical music and all that stuff. So you see, you kind of like, you're sitting in your room like in the dark with the music just waiting for the... Not quite.

I mean, I can't say I've never done that, but maybe sometimes I'm just driving and I'm just listening to music and I'll just have an image kind of come into my head and I'm like,

ooh, that. Oh, interesting. Yeah, trying to do music, just some, just spark something. Like, what if? Oh, how interesting. Yeah, it's kind of interesting it's funny how the artist because I remember our brother Nick

he was writing a book once and there was a certain song from the Man of Steel soundtrack that he was like he told me that he was listening while he was writing this certain part and he kept listening to him writing it and then suddenly he was like he would just put the song on repeat because he felt like as he was listening to it

he would write it better it was just that song he kept repeating the song just to help him keep writing. I totally get that. I also write, actually. I get that. I do the same thing with my writing as well as my art. You write short stories or poems? I'm actually working on a pretty big fantasy novel. It's been many, many years in the works.

And then I've written some horror stuff as well. Just nothing is published. It's just mostly me doing it for fun. But anyone can. Sometimes that's the best part of it, is just to do it because you enjoy it. And then just, yeah, the fascinating, the interesting is it's always,

I've always noticed that with the arcs, there is kind of that synesthesia effect where one, even if you're working in one medium like like you know pencil pen drawing you're listening to a different medium or certain words from writing they all kind of interconnect and can bring out ideas with each other absolutely yeah so how did you first tell us a little bit about the collaboration with Adams Fest. I'm very curious how that first came about. Oh yeah, it was wild. So I had the honor of being invited to showcase three of my illustrations

in Rye, New York at the Rye Arts Gallery, Rye Arts Center. And it was Artists of the Night, so it was a gothic themed, a bunch of artists came together and then they also featured the original works of Charles Adams creator of the Adams family and the brilliant illustrator Edward Gorey so

when I got there I was with my brother my parents and my boyfriend and I'm looking around at all these fantastic artists and I'm just like what the heck am I doing here but and I'm looking around at all these fantastic artists I'm just like it was it was just I mean people would come up to me and they'd be like so do you do you have your own studio in New York City you know I'm like no I'm thinking I drew these on my couch my parents, but maybe one day.

Anyway, so the Adams Fest people, they were so, so, so nice. Part of the T. and Charles Adams Foundation, they were there, and they came up to me, and they were like, hey, we really like your work. Would you be interested in collaborating with us in the future? I didn't know what that meant, but was just like yeah yeah yeah I'll say yes and then get the details later yeah they were they were so so sweet and um we got in touch we stayed in touch and um by the following or by that October um I was I found myself in Westfield Jersey, which is where Charles Adams grew up. And it was Adams Fest goes on for a couple weekends in October or several weekends in October.

And I was selling art prints for the weekend. And my work was right alongside, sorry, once again, Charles Adams and Edward Gorey. So that was twice. And I was just absolutely floored by that. And then currently I have three illustrations in Westfield, once again alongside Charles Adams. It's been mind-blowing

knowing these incredible people and yeah, it's really insane. That must be really neat. So did he originally begin, I think most people like, I'm familiar obviously that there was an old TV show and then movies made so was he originally drawing these characters or

he drew, he was an artist in other ways, not just the Addams Family. He was a cartoonist for I'm pretty sure the New York Times and funnily enough from what I understand the Addams Family didn't start off as a family. They just started as these different characters.

How interesting. And over time, they came together as the Addams Family. Wow. Yeah. I did not know that. Yeah. That's pretty neat to think that he was originally kind of, it was comics and illustrations rather than like,

maybe that's the price of growing up, being born in 1992, all you know is, oh yeah, there were movies, I think there was an old TV show, but it actually goes a little deeper than that. But didn't there used to be a cartoon show, or am I wrong too? Or am I imagining that? Possibly. There may have been, I should know the answer to that. How could you not know? I don't know, I'm so sorry.

What would you say have been some of the, so what are the pieces of yours that are currently there now? Like the three that are on the exhibit? Yeah, so Inner Beauty is actually over there,

the original. The original, okay. And I also have something called Predator, which is over there. I don't think I sent that one over, but it's on my

social media and my website. think I sent that one over, but it's on my social media and my website. The other one is... Oh, God. What is the other one? I've had a few art things this month. This is my month for my art. I don't know.

I'm so sorry. I'm struggling. The third one. What would you say it is I know because obviously Inner Beauty I think your website is probably your most popular piece what would what would you say I mean because obviously they've been

featured here what do you think these people have told you and what do you suspect draws people to that piece and some of your other most popular ones you can mention yeah I've been trying to figure that out. The Lamplighter was a really big hit. Then I did Inner Beauty and that was also a really big hit. I think it's kind of what we discussed earlier about that whole

familiarity mixed with uncanny. I think the maybe combination of gothic and elegance. I can only think it's that, but I see people, if I'm at the Charlottesville City Market and I have inner beauty on display and people will just go right up to that one and just stare right at it and comment on it and people say all kinds of different things. I mean, that's the beautiful thing about art is it can mean so many

different things to so many different people so I may have one intention in mind but it may mean something else to someone different but I love that about it and when you're drawing how do you know first of all how long does a process take for you like how many times do you go

through like nah this isn't right and you have to scrap it and then go through it again and how do you know when it's kind of like okay of all like how long does a process take for you like how many times you go through like no this isn't right you have to like scrap it then go through it again and how do you know when it's kind of like okay this is finished oh yeah um it can take um it depends on the piece but um I'd say one of my generic eight and a half by 11 pen illustrations I usually say 20 to 30 hours but I don't know how accurate that is I don't really keep time unless I'm being commissioned to do something but yeah I can't even tell you how many times I've worked on something and been like and I throw it out and then even occasionally I'll look back at it even up to a year later and go I think I can salvage this and then I'll finish it and then it ends up being one of my major pieces and I'm like oh that worked out, that was nice

so never throw anything out you never know you never know I've always admired art in that sense because it is I love to write as well and with writing you always have the advantage particularly if you're doing it

on a computer that the it doesn't matter if the final version even remotely resembles I mean you can just backspace change this paragraph change these words and before you know it you could have like replaced every word and now your final version but with a

piece of art you can't quite do that you can't keep erasing it until it becomes something else you need to start writing on typewriter this way you're kind of do that you can't you can't keep erasing it until it becomes something else you need to start writing on typewriter this way you're kind of in that art form that would definitely transform the experience to be sure just so there is kind of a sense of finale that you're creating something on that page that has an existence like a tangible existence of its own yeah yeah of course digital art you can do that a million times and fix it and yeah yeah it's so much uh easier to edit i'm not saying

digital art it's easy but um yeah with fine art it's it's a little more permanent yeah yeah what drew you to to pen because i know you mentioned your mom painted what drew you to pen as the medium i think um i honestly it's gonna sound weird at first um my borderline obsession when i was younger with tim burton i always admired the way he would do these scenes that were very muted in color but then he would add a splash of like a bright color usually red so that's how i started I just started doing a lot of black and white. This is when I was like 12, 13 years old. And then I would start to add in red to draw the eye. And I've kind of come away from that. And I've actually recently been thinking

about going back towards doing that occasionally, just bringing in that one color. Yeah, yeah. Oh, how interesting. So yes, he kind of inspired that tone and then pen was the best way to kind of express that what would you call your favorite Tim Burton movie?

or at least a top three because I know he's done a lot yeah I'd say Sweeney Todd is way up there and talk about muted colors with red oh yeah I think I've got to put Nightmare Before Christmas up there just because that was my first Tim Burton movie.

I was obsessed with it when I was tiny. And then I'll just say Sleepy Hollow. It's hard. There are so many. Yeah, he has it in it. And I can see the Nightmare Before Christmas, definitely I can see the inspiration that you may have drawn from that over time.

I mean, it's very different by the time it gets to your art but kind of that there's a sparseness a similarity something's a little off but it's not horrifyingly grotesque it's just you know everything's just a little uncanny

exactly yeah it's like you see other people they seem to act mostly normal, but then the world around them, it's like it almost looks like normal, but it's just suddenly different, and you're like, even in Edward Scissorhands, it's like this feels like it's real,

but why does it also look like it's not real? Yeah, it's very liminal, a little space sort of feeling from that movie. Absolutely, exactly, exactly. Out of curiosity for, you mentioned the lamplighter. What was kind of the inspiration for that? Because I know that's kind of the first one that I think a lot of people see.

Yeah, that one was kind of funny, actually. So I lived in England for a time. I was going to school over there, university, to study computer animation. But I was also working, and it was kind of an office job sort of situation at this language school. And I had a really slow day, and I had some Post-it notes, and I had a pencil. And I just started to doodle on the Post-it note, and then I think I saw, I liked where

it was going, so I brought my pens in the next day, and again, I had a really slow day, didn't have much work to do. And I just, I finished it, and I brought my pens in the next day, and again, I had a really slow day. I didn't have much work to do, and I finished it, and I was like, huh, okay. And then I took a picture of it, and I put it on my Instagram, and it was rapidly gaining likes, which is something I had not experienced before. And I was like, what? Okay, all right. So then I continued on from there,

the Victorian Odd Job Post-it Note series, where I researched various jobs, like actual positions in the Victorian era that people would take up and made these weird little creatures. And he grew from that. And then I was being asked actually for the Rye Art Gallery show to make a larger version of the lamplighter. So I made an 8x8 version. And then I had another commission some years later, not even a year later I think,

to create a 36x36 inch version of him. Much bigger than a post-it note. So I had to get a projector and put it on my wall. So I've done three versions of the lamplighter, starting off as a 3x3 inch to a 36x36 inch. He's definitely down in bed. Yeah, but as for where he came from, I don't know, maybe subconsciously I was inspired by Slender Man, but now that I think about it, there is a bit of a Jack Skellington vibe to him too.

Yeah, a little bit. That's true. Now that you say it, I could certainly see that. And I think that's what it is. It's the, again, it's such a basic, what he's doing is so simple. Yeah. I never saw him as evil.

And most people, when they look at him, they're like, I don't get, he's kind of creepy, but I don't get that he's evil. I'm like, no, he's just doing his job. Exactly. Exactly. What he's doing is just the simplest thing.

I'm just going to light a lamp. If you saw him from far away, maybe you just think it was the outline or the shadow of someone, a normal person doing it. But because of how it is, it's like, oh, wait, something's not normal. That's amazing.

That's pretty neat. So anywhere else you're featured currently? Yeah. Unfortunately, not for very long. I actually have a bunch of originals hanging at the tavern at Thistle Rock Mead Company, which is fantastic mead. But they had a Samhain festival last weekend that I went to, and I got to talk to people about my art for a little bit, sell some prints.

But unfortunately it's only up through the month of October, so it's coming down really soon. Yeah. And occasionally, I'm at Simeon Market on Fridays, and I sell prints there. Not every Friday. It's kind of random. And Charlottesville City Market as well.

Okay, so yeah. Also random days. That's probably one of your your featured places to be sure I mean it's pretty impressive I think people would get especially this time of year you can see why people would get a real kick out of it

and just to enjoy because it's well done art but again with that what I think is the best form of horror which is doesn't have to be I've never been at too scary too much gore, too much in my face I tend to prefer

a lot of my favorite stories would be the ones by like there's some Latin American writers Edgar Allan Poe where nothing's like outrageous but it just has a certain sense of American writers, Edgar Allan Poe, where nothing's outrageous, but it just has a certain

sense of, this is too close to real to be comforting. Yeah, I was that weird kid that was watching The Ring when I shouldn't have. I was probably like eight years old and I was like, I love this. So yeah, I was that person. I'm still that person.

I'm sorry, I'm still that person I definitely from that side I can definitely understand it I think something tells me Poe would be a fan you had lived in his time you probably would have been illustrating his stories in the newspaper what a dream

dream job illustrating for horror movies or illustrating horror stories or creepy fantasy kind of stuff oh that'd be great well terry this has been a pleasure where can people like find you learn more etc get some prints yeah um so i'm on instagram kaylee reed illustration i'm same with facebook kaylee reed illustration um and i like i said, I'm occasionally on at the Charlottesville City Market on Saturdays. It's not set. You know, I sometimes I'm there sometimes I'm not. People just don't get lucky. Yeah, sorry. I wish I could be more consistent.

And then I have my website and through the website, there's actually my shop. You can buy prints online. It's limited right now. It's only five different types of prints, but you can find Inner Beauty and The Lamplighter there. And of course, people can always reach out to me. And I do commissions. I'm also a graphic designer. And yeah.

Oh, perfect. Super, super easy. So it's Kaylee Reed Illustration. Spelled K-A-I-L-E-Y-R-E-I-D Illustration. I assume people know how to spell that part. Kaylee Reed Illustration

on Instagram. And I think the website is KayleeReedDesign.com or is it? So I've actually got two websites. Oh, there's two? I've got a graphic design

website and I've got an illustration website. I think it's KayleeReed.WixSite.com slash illustration. But the links are in myreid.wixsite.com slash illustration. The links are in my social media. The links are all together. Keith is Instagram. You'll find it.

Facebook. You'll find it. It'll lead you where you need to go. Maybe down the rabbit hole. You never know. Kayley, thanks so much for coming on. It's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. This was so much fun. Thank you. Happy Halloween. Happy Halloween. Enjoy the evening. Thank you so much for coming on. It's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much for having me. This was so much fun. Thank you. Happy Halloween. Happy Halloween. And enjoy the evening.

Thank you so much. So as we switch from one guest to another, definitely got a couple people tuning in this morning, which we appreciate. Ale Jose, thanks for tuning in. Mark Hunt, thanks for joining us this morning. We got liked in the show. Aaron

Cross, Kirsten Sanchez, Zachary Reed, thanks for liking the show this morning. We got liked in the show. Aaron Cross, Kirsten Sanchez, Zachary Reed. Thanks for liking the show this morning. We appreciate you guys tuning in. Yeah, no. I mean, what can I say? Taylor's bringing them in. Dana Palmer, Melissa Norris-Reed, thanks so much for liking the show

and all the promotions and stuff this morning. They will now all disconnect because I am on the show. No, never, never. That's the beauty of the show. We bring one group to another group. It was like the appetizer now the main meal.

From one great guest to another, as we like to say. Matthias, thanks for being with us on this Halloween morning. Glad to be back. You didn't dress up for Halloween? No, today just you you know, I look like... He got that done last time at the Octoberfest. Just the regular work uniform, right?

A button-down. Yeah, we look so boring. We should have dressed up today. Maybe we're spooky enough already. Maybe we'll make it worse, right? Maybe. We always do. My wife was joking with me

that for Halloween, for the kids to meet, she'll put on her white coat and she'll dress up as a doctor. You are a doctor. Yeah, but what I would give to Elizabeth is get that red paint and then splash them

so it looks like she's got blood on her. Oh, so a bad doctor. Yeah, you never know. Some creepy doctor. Creepy doctor. I, you never know. Some creepy doctor. I'm not sure your wife would report that. I wouldn't do that with her normal, her official coat. Do a fake one, do a creepy doctor.

Matthias could show some haunted houses. All the houses I show are haunted. Are you planning anything as a family for Halloween? No, Halloween's never really been too big for our family. We used to do trick-or-treating, but by the time we were 12 or 13, we were kind of done with it. Our dad greatly encouraged being done with it because he didn't like going out at night and having to sit there

while we trick-or-treated. I think you're too old for that. Our big tradition was watching a movie. What we would do growing up, there were certain holidays where, for some reason, we would always gravitate to just certain classic movies that we would watch every year on that holiday. So for us, it was always Arsenite and Old Lace, which is an old Cary Grant comedy. Yeah, a Frank Crapper movie. From the 40s comedy from the 40s

and basically the plot of it is it's a comedy of all things but it's one of those macabre comedies where he discovers that his two lovely old aunts are in fact poisoning people they are poisoners

and so it's just how he deals with oh my goodness my two lovely aunts on my wedding day i had discovered that there was a dead body yes in their house and then his estranged brother shows up and his estranged brother basically looks like frankenstein so that's been your yearly tradition that's been a yearly tradition how about how about you guys? Well, growing up it wasn't a big deal even though a lot of those holidays

in Europe are being Americanized. So Halloween is omnipresent I would say, but just in our family it wasn't a big deal. But now living in the US being married to an American woman, of course and now we have a little daughter Is she going to be dressed up today? We are going to an American woman. Of course. And now we have a little daughter.

Is she going to be dressed up today? We are going to dress her up, yes. Oh, what is she going to dress as? She's going as a little milkmaid. A very little milkmaid. Oh, that's going to be so adorable. Oh, my goodness. She was already adorable

dressed in her little dundle for Oktoberfest. So, actually, we're just going to use the same dindle and add a couple of inches. Pimp it up. It's easy enough. She's so cute. She is a sweetheart. She is a cute baby.

The perfect little milkmaid, I think. I think that's probably the best part of Halloween that Matisse is going to get to enjoy too as the years go on. when the baby turns like three or four now it's like oh what do you want to dress up as he gets a little bit of costume and then they get so excited about being dressed up it's it's probably going to be wonderful yeah a lot of work my neighbors I have some neighbors down the street from me and they have I think this is their baby's second Halloween but first where they could actually dress her up and so she was like a little there

was like a little mini mouse and they were taking pictures in the front which is always such a beautiful part that's the yeah for me that's probably what will be a really enjoyable part of halloween yeah you know well then some some parents also like to kind of like do like the trifecta so like a baby will be like from for example, a Disney movie, one will be like Wendy, so the other one has to dress like Peter Pan, or the other one has to dress like Hulk, because it kind of was a family kind of standard group.

Like Mickey Mouse, one will be like Pluto, maybe the kid will be Pluto, and then the parents will be Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Exactly, exactly. It's kind of fun where they kind of bring that together. It's the beauty of this time of year. But I think on the downtown mall, they're doing some Halloween activities.

Oh, for kids? I think so. That'll be nice. The friends of downtown Seville. They always do a great job, really. Helping to celebrate the season and the fall and just this time of year.

Are there actually any spooky houses in Charlottesville? Because I remember when we used to live in Carmel, they used to have something called a spooky house, so that people would go and you'd pay, and then as you walked through the house, there'd be jump scares. Yeah, like the haunted houses. Yeah, haunted house kind of thing.

I don't know about Charlottesville, but there are many in surrounding counties. In Orange, you have one, I think more than one. and up in the valley it's it's actually quite huge. There are three, four haunted houses that I can think of that have been working on preparing that all year just for the, what is it, four or five weeks that they open. They have been to several. It's a lot of fun. Yeah, you just have to be ready.

Yeah. Not really our type of thing, really. We did it once. It was like, yeah, that was fun, but we don't need to do it again. We're good. You can combine it with going to a corn maze. Yes.

I've seen several of those. Corn maze. I think a lot of farms are doing that farms that in the summer would orchards right well this time of year i mean the apple picking the corn mazes just so many pumpkin picking or so many like those beautiful things you go out on a beautiful fall day you're enjoying the the weather the change of season and so forth there's a lot of things you can do at this time of year which are enjoyable it's just uh you sense it it's funny you sense the changing of the season and i think people kind of gets into your your bones a little bit you want different things you start thinking about okay the end of the year is coming the new

year is coming that kind of my uh my father-in-law always would say, winter is coming. Well, especially in Montana, winter is coming. Winter is coming means it's like five months of snow. But isn't that what Halloween is all about? That pagan tradition of saying goodbye to the summer and welcoming the winter? Which frankly, it's not winter yet. Yeah, no, it's in charge, especially if it doesn't feel like it.

But definitely the change of season, I think, also gives people a little bit that sense of unease sometimes, which I think can manifest in different ways, particularly when there actually is a lot of uncertainty on the horizon, but I don't know if you've been sensing it with some of your clients. We definitely

have with a lot of people. Like, can we talk after the... We actually have a lot of clients saying, like, can I make appointments with you at the end of November? Like, let's talk after the election. Let's talk later on in the year. Because I'm just, I'm uneasy. Don't get me started.

We all feel it. How often do I hear that sentence? We are going to wait until after the election to make a big decision. Or, I mean, just open up the newspaper and read about the global unrest. It's not really, you know, giving people confidence

and making big life decisions right now. I can understand it. Sure, it's a time of transition. A lot of shifts happening, a lot of uncertainty. You mentioned you feel that and you hear it in your family business. What is it, the stock market? It's a lot because I think people always never know, right? I think people never know which way the stock market is going to go,

especially because you always don't know what the stock market is going to do at the end of the year or in the following year. But now you compound it with everybody. A lot of people are just certain that if my person loses, the stock market might crash. Even though I think we can look back

and see a lot of times when the stock market did the opposite of what people thought it was going to do. It seems to always be irrelevant. Let's be honest, if you look at the historical trends, it actually never really does that. But there is this, people can't escape the gnawing uncertainty. What if everything

collapses? What if the stock market crashes, the housing market crashes? What if these bad things happen because of something that doesn't go my way? So what you're saying is people want to withdraw because they're afraid of the impact on their portfolio? Well, they just don't want to move.

They're like, okay, I don't want to put more money in now. I don't want to make, can we make this really safe and then revisit this later? I mean, there have been times, a few times, where we've had a few clients that go, should I go all in cash and this and that? Yeah. And my father's like, no, that's, you know.

But I think, historically speaking, every time the stock market took a dip, people, I mean, if they withdrew because of that dip in the stock market, wouldn't they then go and invest in something more tangible, something that is considered safe, like real estate? Sometimes they do that. Sometimes if they have enough. I know there are a lot of people who survived the 2008 market crash and made some money. I've read a lot of people who have made money. And as soon as they were done making money on the crash, because they had bet against the market, they went and put everything in real estate.

They're like, I'm done with the financial markets. I am going into tangible real estate. I'm going to develop rent for the rest of my life. And because there is that, I think, a sense of this is a real thing. The home is like you see it, you touch it. The land, you stand on it. There are always those that have the ability to look at the big picture. Like you just brought up the

financial crisis back in 07, 08. Sure, the economy was slowed down. It impacted a lot of people. It was a crisis for a lot of economies. But there were also those that took advantage

of it, right? Whether it's buying real estate at a low price or stock prices, and that benefited from it because they expected the pendulum to go up again just in a couple of years, and that's exactly what happened, right? And it just shows this perpetual cycle of up and down, ebbs and flows, right? And I think the time we are in right now, this year, with everything that's happening,

whether it's global unrest or the election that is just, you know, on the horizon, well, frankly, just next week, and all the other things that make this year either challenging or a year of opportunity. I think next year we will look back

and look at those that took advantage, that make the right decisions. I will have clients that look back on this year thinking, maybe we should have pulled the trigger because the market is slightly different, right? So I always fail to see the one side of things or I fail to buy into that ultimate decision

that this is a bad time to do A, B and C, right? Doesn't it depend on the circumstances and the election? I mean in four years we will have another election. Does it really impact your decision right now? Especially when you don't know, because I think what happens is people, right, there's uncertainty in the sense of, you know, there may sometimes be elections where you know beforehand, okay, yeah, this person is going to win. This is the type where, okay, there is that veil of uncertainty where you people, that when they've done tests, people have often, the fear of loss overrides the possibility of gain. People will forego the possibility,

you give them a 50-50 choice, and it's like, you can either, this 50-50 is that you will either, there's a 50% chance that you will gain 100%, or 200%, right? And there's a 50 chance that you will gain 100 or 100 or 200 right and there's a 50 chance you'll lose it all and so in theory right well oh that's that's a go right because i could get 200 gain versus 100 loss and it's 50 50 the math would tell you take this deal because your potential gain is greater than your potential loss. But almost everyone says no. I say no to the deal because I would rather lose out on getting to 100%

in order to avoid the prospect of losing. The fear of loss. And it goes to, like, there will be people who will come back and say, man, I knew that the market would not move in my direction, but I was still afraid of making a bad decision at the time. Of course. We're all afraid of that. In my job in real estate, there's this illusion of the right time

to buy or to sell a property. And that right time, when will be the right time? I really think it's an illusion. Because if you're waiting right now for interest rates to go down, then when the time is right for you, let's say next year, the home values have increased and you end up spending more.

So you have to weigh it against each other. Exactly, yeah. There's so many movements that occur that you can't predict. So you say, okay, well, this is going to move in my direction, but what if that doesn't? And so they have to, it's hard to keep that big picture, like you were talking about, about where the economy may be,

what are all the things that could happen? Because sometimes there are people that are fixated by the news, they'll be like, oh, interest rates, interest rates, interest rates, interest rates. They've been so high for so long. I'm going to wait. They're going to go down. But a lot of other things could happen in the meantime that change that calculus. Yeah, I think the last few years have shown that, as you said, anything can happen, right?

Just events on the global stage that we haven't seen coming. Or on a smaller scale, right? Even locally? It doesn't always have to be a global event like the pandemic. Just, sure, locally. And then our area is obviously unique in many regards compared to other areas in the U.S. Sure.

But, yeah, I think you feel it right now, you know, that the change is in the air. It's a time of transition. I was walking here through the mall this morning, and I can always tell when the season changes, not just by temperature and, you temperature and leaves falling off the trees, but the city always changes. The flowers in those huge pots on the mall. And they have a new arrangement now.

So it feels different. For the fall. Even the very light feels different. The lighting, how the sunrise looks, how the sunset looks. It is more orangey, which is strange. Maybe it's mental with all the pumpkins and everything, but it's... I don't know. It looks like the today Manana logo.

You have the pumpkin lenses on. Yeah, no, it does. It really does. It hasn't changed. And I think even beyond the election, even if you were to take that out, there's just a certain sense. Do you find that in the fall, people are trying to figure out, kind of weigh, do I do this next year, or do I look for something now, even though it is October or November?

Yeah, especially because between the fall market and the early spring market, it's really a slow time. I'm not sure about you guys in your business, but in real estate we do see a dip in real estate transactions. Christmas time is typically not when you make those kind of purchases and big decisions, unless you have to move here or move away. Sure, those are personal circumstances. Of course, yeah, it's going to slow down everything,

which is nice, because it's a different season, right? It's the holidays. It's family time. Yeah, I think once, especially as November, you start entering November, everyone just kind of wants to slow down

in everything they're doing work-wise. And who's looking for real estate, investing, everyone's just kind of like, I'm ready for the holidays. November and December's holidays. And then I know for us, it's like basically two weeks into January is when we get a bunch of traffic.

Exactly. Everyone's calling. It's like, okay, I got to work the money. New Year's resolution. I have to. It's like they always say for gyms, it's like they're packed the first three weeks of January. By February, it's back to normal.

Have you noticed a shift in mindset beyond the typical fall this year? Are people really looking that far ahead as far as interest rates, or are they seeing anything locally that's making them say hey do i need to look at things differently looked at the at the real estate market differently it's a good question but also difficult i think people are starting to realize that we are no longer in this pandemic market right um one example um the seller of a house now is facing that new reality. He can't charge the same prices because we see less buyer competition for one house. It just has slowed down a little bit.

Let's call it it has stabilized a little bit. And to be fair, in our area, that stabilization is less than in others, but on a national level, definitely. So I think even though I keep saying or talking about this perpetual cycle of up and down, I think we are sensing, and the data is showing, that things are slowing down in the housing market a little bit. What is unique about our area is that there's just a steady influx of people moving here,

but also companies making big investments. Just this morning, we read in the newspaper, a huge hotel is going to be built right down the street next to the Omni. Right next to the Omni. It just shows there's the demand and there's the confidence in the downtown mall or in the city of Charlottesville or

just the greater Charlottesville area. We will continue to see that steady influx and as a result, we will continue to see that steady influx and as a result we will continue to see home prices rise in Charlottesville. Probably at

a higher level than the nationwide. Because it's a relatively hot market compared to others. Certain things will stabilize and others are just going to continue to others. And so certain things will stabilize and others are just going to continue to spiral. I always try to explain to people sometimes they'll say that well you know there's there's less buyers per house than there were in the pandemic market. And I always say typically

yes but yes. Let's say you know if you had six people bidding on one house in the pandemic, and now you have two people interested in the same house. Two people is less than six. Two people doesn't make the price of the house go down. The price of the house isn't going to go down if there's two people that are both interested in the house. So you can have less buyers and still have somewhat of an upward pressure that kind of it stabilizes in the sense of it's not as insane yeah but there isn't really downward pressure in the sense of now suddenly there's five houses but only one buyer well that's let's put it this way if you have six buyers competing for one house chances are it's going to sell over the asking

price right and now in this new world that you're describing you only have two buyers competing for for one house, chances are it's going to sell over the asking price. And now in this new world that you're describing, you only have two buyers competing for the same house. It will still sell over the asking price or at better terms to the seller. So less competition, but the result is still an upward pressure. Absolutely. Yeah. So that shows what you were just saying, definitely. Yeah.

We touched on this a little bit last time, and I definitely had wanted to ask it of you. Have you noticed, as we have, obviously, the influx of new people, but then you've also got, I mean, definitely you can see it, up 29, new construction. Have you seen at all any difference between what people can expect looking at new construction homes versus existing homes in terms of the prices moving, what people are seeing, the options out there to them?

Well, I think the answer to that is twofold as well. Our area compared to what's happening nationwide or in the Commonwealth of Virginia, what we have seen during the pandemic in this hot market is just that inventory is tight everywhere, especially here. And the good news was that builders started to build more to address this tight inventory, that of course but what also happened is we had supply chain issues on a on a big scale we had shortage of of staff or labor building those new homes and we had really really high material costs. Wood prices were just...

So even though new constructions, or the number of new constructions was higher, the prices were still higher than that, right? So there's always this, you pay for a premium. And that premium continues to go up for new construction. I would say that in Virginia, typically speaking, we can say between 1% and 2%, the home prices will continue to increase from 2024 to 2025. But here in Charlottesville, it will be much higher.

It will be higher. Right? And that also applies to new construction, really, just because we are seeing up to $450 a square foot for new construction here for a custom home. And not everyone's building a custom home, sure, but it just shows you how expensive it is to build a new home here in the area.

And yeah, there is a disparity between existing home prices and new construction home prices, definitely. And again, we have to look at cost of labor, cost of material. We don't have the same supply chain issues as we had just two or three years ago. Do you remember the topic of windows? We couldn't get new windows for new construction,

and that delayed. I had friends using fake wood instead of real wood because real wood was so outrageously expensive that the high end, not inside the home but the high end, almost like metal railings for if you want to put up a porch and stuff were cheaper than wood. And so while we don't have the same supply chain issues anymore, the other factors like the cost of labor and material is still something we face or that builders face.

Now, existing properties compared to new construction, sure, new construction, you always pay for that premium. So at the end of the day, you're paying for something brand new. So you have run into a lower likelihood of having to replace something. It is brand new. But we also need to, in this context, we need to talk about the area and what we saw as a trend during the pandemic. All of a sudden, people wanted to live in more suburban or rural areas.

We saw that nationwide, and especially in our area, whether it's east of Charlottesville or west of Charlottesville, especially with the expansion of broadband internet. Nelson County and other counties were developed with fiber internet, and so all of a sudden people can work from a mountain cabin in Nelson County because their work allowed them to work remotely.

And so we saw this huge shift. That has an impact on new construction too. So more builders are now focusing on, of course, we saw it in the Crozet area for years, but now also in Greene County, in Nelson County, and then, of course, we saw it in the Crozet area for years, but now also in Greene County, in Nelson County, and then east of town, everything between here and Richmond. So more builders are exploring, not necessarily only suburban areas, but rural areas.

Interesting, just The transformation. It is a transformation. Just yesterday I saw in a newspaper they compared Stewart's Draft in Augusta County to Crozet, calling it the new Crozet. And think about it. And then they spoke to a builder that specializes on the Waynesboro, Stewart's Drat, Fishersville area, which is only 30 minutes from Charlottesville.

They asked the builder how many of the buyers of new construction that he was building in this development are from Charlottesville, and he said over 50%. So those are the commuters driving up and down 64 every day. And by the way, I drive 64 every day and I can see the traffic. Just

compared to last year, it is very different. I try to avoid 3 p.m. on the interstate right now because it's congested. It just shows you. You've had that problem with Corvus, haven't you? Oh, I've because it's congested. It just shows you. You've had that problem with Crozet, haven't you? Oh, I've noticed.

Being on Route 240, you, every morning, between basically if you leave your... In theory, okay, Crozet to town, especially Ivy Road area, in theory 20-25 minutes.

If you were to do it on a Sunday morning with nobody on the road, 20, 25 minutes. If you leave the house after 8.30, you cannot, because at some point you need to get from Route 240 to Route 250. You cannot go through Crozet. There's only two ways to do it. You cannot get there from Crozet Avenue without traffic because the school backs up Crozet Avenue

when everyone's trying to make a right to go to the schools and if you try to go where 240 and 250 meet on that three way there's a stop sign on route 240 and that thing just backs up for like a mile

and so it's amazing, if you leave, if I leave the house, if you leave the house basically at 820, you will be, and every road area, I'll be at our office by 845. 25 minutes. If you leave the house at 830, you will be at the office at 9.15. It won't take you 45 minutes to get there. And it's a difference of 10 minutes. But it's a 20-minute difference in terms of the traffic because of the commute. And you can tell it's everyone leaving at 8.30 to get somewhere at 9.

And it's just not currently set up to do that. You know, doesn't it show you it it feels very different to actually be affected by it and feel how the traffic has increased and the prices of homes have increased compared to just reading it factually on a on a sheet of paper right so we we can see it every day the influx of people moving here. And while that is great on so many fronts, there are also downsides sometimes that need to be addressed, like traffic, for example. And rethinking things. I mean, if you have people, like you said, there's the ebbs and flows, but there are short-term ebbs and flows, and then there's longer-term trends.

It's almost like you have little waves, and then you've got big waves and the big waves change things and you have to sometimes say maybe you know it's so helpful to have someone like you to help someone navigate and say okay i was thinking this is what i thought it would be like but that condition in crozet is no longer what I thought it was. And maybe a different place around town that doesn't have that traffic yet. And I would be willing to trade some of the commute time for maybe it's not the original place that I wanted, but to kind of think through those long-term trends and say, all right, there are going to be some things

that every spring the market looks like this, and there's going to be some things that spring of 2025 is not going to look like spring of 2022 or spring of 2019 it will be different in a and you have to look at new ways yeah i moved here over 10 years ago a little bit over 10 years ago and in those 10 years i've seen so much change in the area. It's, yeah, I feel like a local now because I talk like them. I complain about the change and all the people moving here,

even though I'm one of them. Who knows, who knows. So yeah, interesting time. It really is, it really is. Kevin Higgins saying UVA lawn is going to have to patch it in with the kids 5 to 7 p.m. today, Halloween-wise. Oh, good. So Kevin's watching the show this morning

and he's like, so send those UVAs doing their thing tonight as well. Getting the kids on the lawn. Family activities for Halloween. That's good. I like it. So that is good. Matthias, I always learn so much chatting with you.

One of the things I most appreciate chatting with you is you have a very even-keeled view of things. You never are swayed, which is what people want in an advisor, right? You're never swayed too much by what's happening, you're always

take the information and here are different ways that this should go, you're open minded as to possibilities where I think a lot of times you can get into the trap of being like oh this is definitely going to happen and you're always there to kind of remind us, well yes

but this could also happen because it's Charlottesville and it's not necessarily the same as Nashville. Well, I try to mute the German in me. Germans are very pessimistic, and they want to talk everything bad. But you know what I love about Matisse? He always says everything very calm. And when we're talking about uncertainty, it's like, you know, he's very calm. It's like, I feel more certain now.

Like, good things are going to happen than being uncertain. Because he's, like, so calm. It's like, no, it's okay. things are going to happen than being uncertain because he's like so calm it's like no it's okay it's going to be okay you know like you could be in a boat and there's like giant waves and Matisse could come and it's okay

we'll be fine I'm like I believe it now I believe it even though I'm like riding these waves maybe that's the message today maybe we can close the show today

by saying everything's going to be okay it's going to work out don't you believe it? I believe it now I believe it maybe also to in that. I believe it. Maybe also to those that are so afraid of the election that will come next week. It's going to be okay.

It'll all work out. Now, thanks again for having me. Always good to be here with you. Always a pleasure. Always a joy to chat with you. Next week we'll have a great show, too. We're going to have a Mali lit lighter from So going to have a Molly Litlighter from Sew Molly. But like Sew Molly is spelled S-E-W.

She does some sewing. And then Robert and Mella Jones from Leek and Thistle. We've got some great guests next week. So that'll be a lot of fun. Leek and Thistle almost sounds like a little Halloween thing, right? Yeah.

Halloween and then, yeah, who knows? We'll find out. Like a cauldron thing. Definitely very fall theme, you know, I'm feeling. So we're definitely riding with the fall theme. So kudos to Nizla Serbi for scheduling this. And, of course, for scheduling Matias because we always love him. Bring him on.

Which is always a joy. And I'll be back in four weeks. Yes, exactly. We'll go from Halloween to Thanksgiving. We could dress up as pilgrims. Thank you. For Thanksgiving. Exactly.

Perfect. Love it. Love it. So it's been a joy. Been great being on with you. Happy to be here, Alex. Always fun. Of course, always appreciate our fantastic partners,

Charlottesville Opera, Mattias Yon Realty, Credit Series Insurance, Forward Adelante. I appreciate our presenter, Emergent Financial Services. I appreciate Judah behind the camera making us all a good work in the magic. I appreciate the Out of Seville Network and the set here. Thank you all for joining us. I think there's one more name I've got to read out, but I think we did get joined late in the show by Max Moore.

So Max, thanks for tuning in this morning. Always appreciate everyone who tuned in, sent us your questions, comments. We wish you all a really happy Halloween. Make it enjoyable and spooky and fun. We'll be seeing you next week, hopefully. But until that

time, as we like to close it out of the show, hasta mañana. ...