Podcasts about Central Florida

As The Simpsons hits its 800th episode, Jim Hill takes a moment to appreciate how this once-scrappy Fox upstart became an animation institution that may never actually end. From the long-lost series finale concept where Homer and Krusty were secretly the same person to the show's upcoming theatrical sequel and Disney's long-term park plans, this week's Fine Tooning looks at how Springfield keeps evolving. Plus, box office updates, Avatar sequel math, Matt Braly's next move after Sony, and a wild Steven Spielberg phone call that changed animation history. NEWS • The Simpsons celebrates its 800th episode with “Irrational Treasure,” the 14th episode of Season 37, as the series eyes renewal through Season 40 and a second theatrical film set for September 3, 2027. • Disney+ viewers can compare Season 1's “Santa's Little Helper” to the new milestone episode to see just how dramatically the show's animation quality has evolved since 1989. • Sony Pictures Animation's Goat opens strong over Presidents Day weekend, reportedly close behind Warner Bros.' Wuthering Heights, with final box office numbers still shifting. • Zootopia 2 crosses $1.83 billion worldwide, becoming the ninth highest-grossing film of all time, though its upcoming March 3 home video release may slow its push toward $2 billion. • Avatar: Fire & Ash reaches $1.46 billion globally, profitable but well below the franchise's prior installments, raising questions about costs and expectations for Avatar 4 and 5. • Matt Braly and Rebecca Sugar's previously in-development Sony feature is shelved, but Braly launches a Kickstarter on March 13 for his indie gothic horror pilot Clara and the Below. • The RiffTrax team raises nearly $1.9 million on Kickstarter for The RiffTrax Experiments, offering a hopeful blueprint for creator-driven animation crowdfunding. FEATURE • The behind-the-scenes story of how Judy Freudberg and Tony Geiss were hired by Steven Spielberg to write The Land Before Time, following his surprise discovery of Sesame Street Presents: Follow That Bird. • Spielberg's now-legendary phone call to Freudberg, initially mistaken for a prank, ultimately led to a creative partnership that bridged Sesame Street and major animated feature filmmaking. HOSTS • Jim Hill - IG: @JimHillMedia | X: @JimHillMedia | Website: JimHillMedia.com • Drew Taylor - IG: @drewtailored | X: @DrewTailored | Website: drewtaylor.work FOLLOW • Facebook: JimHillMediaNews • Instagram: JimHillMedia • TikTok: JimHillMedia SUPPORT Support the show and access bonus episodes and additional content at Patreon.com/JimHillMedia. PRODUCTION CREDITS Edited by Dave Grey Produced by Eric Hersey - Strong Minded Agency SPONSOR This episode is sponsored by Unlocked Magic. Get real discounts on Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando tickets, sometimes up to 12% off. Unlocked Magic is run by the team behind DVC Rental Store and DVC Resale Market, making it easy to plan your 2026 Central Florida trip and save big. Grab your tickets today at UnlockedMagic.com and be sure to tell them Drew and Jim sent you. If you would like to sponsor a show on the Jim Hill Media Podcast Network, reach out today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Register here to attend the live virtual event "Why Central Florida is the Year's Most Compelling Housing Market" on Thursday, February 19th at 8pm Eastern. Keith explores how a shift in mindset can change the way you build wealth, why so many new landlords are entering the market, and what recent economic trends could mean for future rents.  You'll also hear how one Florida investor is navigating a changing housing landscape, and learn about a timely opportunity in one of the country's fastest‑growing real estate markets—all without needing to be a hands-on landlord. Resources: Register for the event at GREwebinars.com Episode Page: GetRichEducation.com/593 For access to properties or free help with a GRE Investment Coach, start here: GREmarketplace.com GRE Free Investment Coaching: GREinvestmentcoach.com Get mortgage loans for investment property: RidgeLendingGroup.com or call 855-74-RIDGE  or e-mail: info@RidgeLendingGroup.com Invest with Freedom Family Investments.  For predictable 10-12% quarterly returns, visit FreedomFamilyInvestments.com/GRE or text  1-937-795-8989 to speak with a freedom coach Will you please leave a review for the show? I'd be grateful. Search "how to leave an Apple Podcasts review"  For advertising inquiries, visit: GetRichEducation.com/ad Best Financial Education: GetRichEducation.com Get our wealth-building newsletter free— GREletter.com  Our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/GetRichEducation Follow us on Instagram: @getricheducation Complete episode transcript:   Keith Weinhold  0:01   Welcome to GRE. I'm your host. Keith Weinhold, the risk of delayed gratification is denied gratification. There's a new wave of landlords. Wages are rising faster than both inflation and home prices. Learn what that's going to mean for rents. Hear the voices of five different Federal Reserve chairs, then GRE announces our biggest event of the year, and you're invited today on get rich education.   Corey Coates  0:32   Since 2014 the powerful get rich education podcast has created more passive income for people than nearly any other show in the world. This show teaches you how to earn strong returns from passive real estate investing in the best markets without losing your time being a flipper or landlord. Show Host Keith Weinhold writes for both Forbes and Rich Dad advisors and delivers a new show every week since 2014 there's been millions of listener downloads of 188 world nations. He has a list show guests include top selling personal finance author Robert Kiyosaki, get rich education can be heard on every podcast platform, plus it has its own dedicated Apple and Android listener phone apps build wealth on the go with the get rich education podcast. Sign up now for the get rich education podcast or visit get rich education.com   Keith Weinhold  1:16   mid south home buyers, with over two decades is the nation's highest rated turnkey provider, their empathetic property managers use your return on investment as their North Star. It's no wonder smart investors line up to get their completely renovated income properties like it's the newest iPhone headquartered in Memphis, with their globally attractive cash flows, mid south has an A plus rating with the Better Business Bureau and 4000 houses renovated, there is zero markup on maintenance. Let that sink in, and they average a 98.9% occupancy rate with an industry leading three and a half year average renter term. Every home they offer you will have brand new components, a bumper to bumper, one year warranty, new 30 year roofs. And wait for it, a high quality renter in an astounding price range, 100 to 150k GET TO KNOW mid south enjoy cash flow from day one at mid southhomebuyers.com that's mid southhomebuyers.com   Corey Coates  2:19   You're listening to the show that has created more financial freedom than nearly any show in the world. This is get rich education.   Keith Weinhold  2:35   Welcome to GRE from the Adriatic Sea to the Atlantic Ocean and across 188 nations worldwide, I'm Keith Weinhold, and this is get rich education. Sometimes we all need a mindset reset, and this can include me. Sometimes. James clear, the author of atomic habits, says there are four types of wealth, financial wealth, which is money, social wealth, which is status, time, wealth which is freedom, and physical wealth, which is health. Be wary of jobs that seduce you with one and two but rob you of three and four. That is to say, be careful with jobs that seduce you with financial and social wealth but rob you of time and physical wealth that is definitely going to happen to you during your life, especially early in your working career. But many people, even most people, they don't do much about this. They just go on and on, selling their soul to their employer for decades. Sometimes paychecks aren't compensation. They're a bribe from an employer to give up your dreams early in your career, delayed gratification actually makes some sense, because you need capital formation, you need down payments, you need dry powder. That is totally fair and the time in your life for delayed gratification. But there's a point that most people miss, the point where delayed gratification quietly mutates into denied gratification. This is huge. Most people miss this inflection point. When is this point in your life? That's when I'll do it later becomes, well, I guess I never did it at all. They look up at what they've got at age 65 and realize that they have a respectable title. They still wear Dockers pants. They have a 401, K that they must start paying tax on, and knees that creak louder than. The front door. Compound Interest hardly outpaces taxes and inflation. That's just going to keep you in one spot, you know, and you're never going to get that time back. There is no do over there. So you need to get to the point where you can be more frugal with your time than your money. Younger people have a harder time adopting this mindset, and that's a little natural, because they have more time and less money. Sooner than later, you must desperately get financially free so that you can simply be your self workaholics, optimize income instead of assets, and you can't let that happen, because labor does not compound and capital does compound, your quality of life will exceed your cost of living when your life is funded by what you own, not by what you do that takes a different mindset. You can either be a conformer or you can build wealth when you invest in real estate that pays five ways. It's like what you're doing is buying future Tuesdays, where you never have to work again and then later, add on future Wednesdays, where you never have to work again because you got the compound leverage instead of the impotent compound interest. I mean, just consider your two and a half million dollar portfolio that is passively doing the same work as someone who sells 40 to 50 hours a week of their life away for 100k in yearly salary. All right, maybe you're thinking, Oh, that all sounds thought provoking, but if you're not engaged on that, it can sound airy and philosophical and even risky. It's sort of like, yeah, you're cueing the acoustic guitar music and slow motion images of someone pensively gazing at a sunset.   Keith Weinhold  7:12   All right, what is the concrete plan? It's not all about mindset. It only starts with mindset. You got to make that actionable. Well, we constantly provide concrete plans for you here on this show, and I've got another concrete plan for you toward the end of the show today. This harkens back to what I discussed with you seven weeks ago, seven episodes ago on the show. That's when I discussed the world's first billionaire, John D Rockefeller and his enduring quote from about 100 years ago, he who works all day has no time to make money. Yeah, that's the quote a little review. What you learned seven episodes ago is that Rockefeller meant, if you spend your life doing tasks, you're never going to rise high enough to own things that pay you for life. The bottom line here is that earning a living is a distinctly different activity than building wealth. That's what we're talking about here.    Keith Weinhold  8:14   Well, there is a new wave of landlords entering the market, and they are reshaping what owning rentals looks like. One survey by rental platform avail of nearly 2000 users. It's really influential. It found that 53% of landlords became landlords in the last five years. So you have a lot of new landlords with the most 17% of landlords entering the market in just the last year, most purchased a property specifically to rent it out, and 1/3 sort of backed into this business by renting out their former residence. Of course, some people want to rent out their former residence today, if they got locked into that sexy owner occupied three and 4% financing from 2022 and earlier, the survey went on to tell us with some really good takeaways here, 72% of landlords manage between one and four units, and this avail survey. I mean, it's just another one that shows that the majority of landlords operate small portfolios, classic mom and pop investors. That one's not too surprising. The top three reasons that landlords gave for entering the rental market, they're pretty interesting. The number one reason for getting into this at 41% of respondents is building long term wealth. Next 33% for generating passive income, and the third most popular one, it's a distant third, it is preparing for retirement at 13% so building long term wealth is the number one reason for getting into this, and that is the right reason. Them when it comes to ownership structure, 64% said that they own the property individually, whether that's through a single member LLC or in their own name, doing it, yeah, individually, rather than with a family member or a business partner. So really, the summary of this terrific, recent avail landlord survey is that if you're just getting started, you're not alone. A lot of people are most own properties solely in their own name, and the number one reason for doing it is to build long term wealth. Now there's another pervasive set of economic trends out there in the broader economy, but it's really a benefit for real estate investors, and that is the fact that wage growth has now outpaced consumer price growth for three years. Yeah, another way to say that is that wage growth has outpaced inflation for fully three years. Yeah, most people just aren't feeling it yet. So you might be taken somewhat aback by that, and why aren't people feeling that wage growth is faster than inflation, the pandemic inflation spike that was so huge, it was like getting hit with a freight train, and then someone tells you, good news, the train has stopped. Yeah, that's nice. You are still lying on the tracks, rubbing your ribs. That's because we're all still absorbing spiked prices for everything from a lumber two by four to a York Peppermint Patty, year over year, wages are up 3.8% and consumer inflation is 3% All right, so wages above inflation, that means things are getting a little more affordable, but both wages and inflation have grown faster than home prices, which have only grown about one and a half percent, and this is all per the BLS in the FHFA, so wage growth Being more than double home price growth. Well, that trend really makes properties more affordable, but historically, they're still not that affordable. Everybody knows that home prices soared until about 2023 that was the turning point, and now wages are in their catch up phase. All right, but what really matters to real estate investors is, when will this wage growth translate to rent growth, historically, big rent growth that lags big home price growth by about two to four years. So you have the big home price growth, big rent growth hits two to four years later, historically. Now, if that holds true, we should finally see substantial rent growth this year or next year. Rent growth has still been pretty soft in the one to four unit space, and even there are rent decreases in the overbuilt apartment space. Future income growth promises to make homes more affordable. Affordability has already improved, with mortgage rates hovering near three year lows. There's one problem, though, that most people overlook, and that is this wage growth has been skewed toward the higher income deciles, renters, especially workforce renters, they don't feel it until later. So this 3.8% wage growth, it's heavier for higher income people, and it's lighter for lower income people. I swear, when there are enriching economic trends, it always hits the higher income people first, and it doesn't trickle down until later. So if you as an investor, are positioned before the rent wave hits, you are surfing, and if you wait to feel it, you're swimming behind the boat. Higher wages should translate to higher rents in the next one to two years. And as far as some other forces, as we all know, the man occupying the oval office in the White House, the President, he wants lower rates. The current Fed Chair isn't so willing to do that. The next one, the one he appointed, Kevin Warsh, who arrives in May. He seems more receptive to lower rates, but it's gonna take a while. It all moves so slow. We have had 16 fed chairs before worsh over 112 years. And look how much of an econ nerd Are you? Are you as bad as me? These voices are in chronological order, and I can name each speaker.   Corey Coates  14:47   You're going to have to live with the fact that forecasts have a range of uncertainty, irrational exuberance.   Corey Coates  14:54   In my opening remarks, I'd like to briefly first review today's policy decision, but   Corey Coates  14:58   first I'll review recent. Economic developments in the Outlook, and we are well positioned to wait to see how the economy evolves.   Keith Weinhold  15:06   If you can name each of those speakers, I would love to give you a free property from gremarketplace.com but I can't quite swing that in order. Those voices are Paul Volcker. He served from 1979 to 87 he was known for crushing double digit inflation by jacking rates to near 20% it was painful medicine, but it worked the next one. Alan Greenspan sir, from 1987 to 2006 that was a long reign, almost 20 years. He oversaw the 90s economic boom, the.com bubble and the early housing bubble. Years so far, Greenspan is the only Fed chair that I have met in person. Then Ben Bernanke, he was the Fed chair from 2006 to 2014 he took the helm right before the 2008 financial crisis. He rolled out QE and emergency lending on an historic scale. In fact, he was nicknamed helicopter Ben because it's like he would print so much money that he just dropped it out of huge sacks, dollar bills in huge sacks, dropping them from an airplane, metaphorically, not literally. Then Janet Yellen, 2014 to 2018 she kind of continued this post crisis normalization, and she was the first woman to chair the Fed and then, of course, Jerome Powell serving from 2018 to 2026 he navigated the covid stimulus, ultra low rates. And then after that, the fastest rate hiking cycle in decades to fight inflation back in 2022 being the Fed chair is the most important job in this economy, and over the decades, there's been more of a movement of the fed into the public eye. You just hear about them more in the media than you used to. But like I touched on last week, it just still doesn't mean as much to real estate investors as a lot of people think, people sometimes look for someone else to come save them, but it's more about you and the choices that you make that's what means more housing supply and demand means more real estate investors have profited during every one of those Fed Chair reigns, which go back almost 50 years from Volcker to today, I think everybody knows that fed chairs don't control property prices, and they don't even control long term interest rates. What's a little paradoxical is that Trump has been vocal about how he wants more affordable home prices, yet at the same time he wants existing homeowners to have their home prices go up, those two things seem to be in tension. They're in conflict with each other. The only way you can possibly get both are through lower mortgage rates. But is he going to see later today you as a GRE follower, you don't have to wait for lower rates income, property still feels less affordable than it did five years ago, because it is that's real but here's the key distinction in what makes real estate investors different from owner occupied homeowners. Affordability isn't about the price of the property, it's about whether the property pays for itself and grows your net worth while inflation does the heavy lifting. Higher prices don't kill investors. Inaction during inflation does you're not buying a say, $350,000 property. You're controlling it with $70,000 while your tenant and inflation do the rest. We do not rely on hope or appreciation. We start with income tax benefits and debt pay down and then leverage appreciation typically happens as well. GRE only succeeds when investors close on properties that perform long term. One bad referral costs us years of trust, so we don't do that. The best question for you really isn't whether property is affordable. The question is whether owning an investment property is better than inflation compounding against you. That's the investor lens today.    Keith Weinhold  19:24   coming up next week on the show here, we're going to discuss apartments. It's been a truly be leaguered sector, where their prices have fallen 2030, and 40% in many markets. We've discussed apartments here on the show a lot before, like with Grant Cardone on episode 264, with Ken McElroy, countless times with me monologuing about apartments. And next week, we're going to talk to a multifamily educator who is known as the apartment King. Later on, a future show, we've got the return of the financial. Firebrand, and lately, the financial comedian Garrett Gunderson, a powerful speaker. That's definitely going to be interesting. As for today, you'll hear a first person account from a Florida resident about why he's moved to Florida and why he invests there. You've heard of this guy before. That's next. I'm Keith Weinhold. You're listening to Episode 593, of get rich education.    Keith Weinhold  20:26   Flock homes helps you retire from real estate and landlording, whether it's one problem property or your whole portfolio, through a 721, exchange, deferring your capital gains tax and depreciation recapture, it's a strategy long used by the ultra wealthy. Now Mom and Pop landlords can 721, the residential real estate request your initial valuation, see if your properties qualify@flockhomes.com slash GRE. That's f, l, O, C, K, homes.com/G. R, E,    Keith Weinhold  21:02   you know, most people think they're playing it safe with their liquid money, but they're actually losing savings accounts and bonds don't keep up when true inflation eats six or 7% of your wealth. Every single year, I invest my liquidity with FFI freedom family investments in their flagship program. Why fixed 10 to 12% returns have been predictable and paid quarterly. There's real world security backed by needs based real estate like affordable housing, Senior Living and health care. Ask about the freedom flagship program. When you speak to a freedom coach there, and that's just one part of their family of products. They've got workshops, webinars and seminars designed to educate you before you invest. Start with as little as 25k and finally, get your money working as hard as you do. Get started at Freedom family investments.com/gre, or send a text. Now it's 1-937-795-8989, yep, text their freedom coach directly again. 1-937-795-8989,   Keith Weinhold  22:13   the same place where I get my own mortgage loans is where you can get yours. Ridge lending group and MLS, 42056, they provided our listeners with more loans than anyone because they specialize in income properties. They help you build a long term plan for growing your real estate empire with leverage. Start your prequel and even chat with President chailey Ridge personally. While it's on your mind, start at Ridge lending group.com that's Ridge lending group.com   Zack Lemaster  22:47   this is rental retirement Zach Lee Masters. Listen to get rich education with Keith bleinhold, and don't quit your Daydream.   Keith Weinhold  23:02   I'd like to welcome in our own in house. GRE investment coach, we haven't had you on the show since November. Welcome in Naresh.   Naresh Vissa  23:11   Kwith, It's a pleasure to be back on the show. Thanks for having me on.   Keith Weinhold  23:16   We're just playing it all casual and comfortable here in house. You were just finishing up, what ice cream or a container of something right before we got started   Naresh Vissa  23:25   here, all done with the ice cream and ready to record the podcast.   Keith Weinhold  23:29   Yeah, all right, keeping cool for our chat. Well, you know you do live in Florida, so you must have your own perspective on the Florida market. You live in the Tampa area, and the reason that that's a germane topic is that's something we've been talking about here lately as really an opportunity, and that is because most of Florida has seen some temporary property price attrition, but yet more population growth is projected. So that's why we feel like that's temporary. But why don't you tell us about what you see on the ground there?   Naresh Vissa  24:07   Keith, I've lived in Florida for 11 and a half years now. That's Tampa, Florida. I like Florida a lot. I moved here December 2014 for similar reasons that many people are moving here today. So I moved to Florida in December 2014 because of no state income tax, because of, at the time, lower cost of living. Florida was one of the states I got hit the hardest during the 2008 financial crisis, or nothing called in a real estate crisis, Florida, Arizona, those few others got hit really, really hard. So Florida at that time was still rebounding from 2008 so I moved for the affordability, the no income tax, of course, the weather better. Weather. And then most places in the Northeast I've lived so weather is a big deal when it comes to real estate and geography as well. These are all different reasons to move to Florida, and these are the reasons why I moved to Florida. I was also single in my 20s, so I was much younger at the time. I was single in my mid 20s, and Florida is very good for that too. For 20 something Gen Z folks today, Florida is definitely a place that they should consider. I moved down here and I fell in love with it. From day one. I got a place living right on the water, a beach. Got beaches everywhere. Florida's tour. And I say all this because these are all enticing features of Florida, for renters, for tenants, for snowbirds. I had never even heard of what a snowbird was until I moved down to Florida, where you have people who literally live here for seven months of the year, and then they live in their home state for five months of the year. So that's generally what it is, seven months in Florida, five months in their home state, which can be the people I know personally are from New York, Connecticut, Illinois, Ohio. The list goes on and on. Basically anywhere that's north of Florida could be considered a snowbird area. So that's another reason why Florida is a very hot market. Now, obviously, during the pandemic, in end of 2020, people started moving to Florida in droves. Part of it was politically, because you didn't have the restrictions that other states had during that crazy time that we lived through. And another part of it was work from home. So similar to me, in 2014 when I became full time work from home, I wanted to move somewhere for all those different reasons that I gave you the total package, and Florida fit that there was maybe one other state that fit the bill, based on everything that I told you, probably one other state. That's it. So Florida fit the bill, and that's why I think Florida is always going to be despite the hurricane prep, Florida is always going to be a destination that people will seriously look at whether you're older, retirement age or younger. Like I said in my mid 20s, single guy Florida is always going to be that destination for all the reasons that I laid out. So with that being said, what does that mean for real estate? What that means for real estate is that there's going to be a constant supply of people coming into Florida, and when there's a constant supply of people coming into Florida, then you can expect real estate prices to at least not decline. We passed, you know, all sorts of bills, including Dodd Frank post 2008 to prevent people from taking out mortgages that they couldn't afford. So now that that's out of the way, when you have a constant supply of people who are able to afford homes, who are able to afford rents, well, that's going to be a constant supply. So that's good for investors, that's good for appreciation. It's good for cash flow. And that's why I'm a huge fan, not just of the state of Florida, but also investing in Florida. And I own real estate in Florida, and you can say that I lucked out, but I bought a property in 2019 and it nearly doubled in value, yeah, when I say doubled in value in a matter of I want to say, like, two years, two and a half years, it nearly doubled in value. So with that being said, Florida, this was a rare cyclical trend when we just saw this huge upswing, rare cyclical trend. But I don't anticipate cycles like this, where you're going to have booms and busts. Moving forward, we haven't seen a bus since 2008 like I said, the the law has been taken care of in that sense, the regulation. I love the state. I've lived in six major cities, but maybe five different states, and Florida is hands down my favorite. That's why I've lived here for what did I say? 11 and a half or 12 and a half years? I don't even remember anymore. It's actually 11 and a half. My roots are here. I now consider myself a Florida person, even more so than the state of Texas, where, which is where I spent 18 years. I have no doubt that I'll surpass 18 or 19 years in Florida, and that this is it, right here. And a major reason is because this is just such a great state. It's free, it's real estate friendly. This is for people who are looking at buying primary residences, not for investment properties. But the governor has put on the ballot this coming election cycle to remove, to abolish the property tax in the state of Florida. So if you own, if you live full time, not a snowbird, not investors, but if you live in Florida permanently, then no more property tax if the vote passes. So that's another huge plus for owning property if you're a permanent resident in Florida,   Keith Weinhold  29:57   yeah, even if the property tax is abolished. Which seems unlikely, you could just tell what the tenor and the temperature of the tax climate and the investing climate is like in Florida, if they're even spearheading such a proposal, and they're a national leader in something like property tax abolition, like they are and Naresh about eight years after you moved there, which would be, what about 2020? 2022, somewhere in there, we had that strong pandemic migration push into Florida. What's happened is that that flow has slowed down. There's still positive net in migration in there in Florida. But the builders, they got ahead of this, and the pandemic migration wave waned, and they had a temporarily overbuilt condition, and they still do now, which is one reason why we've seen prices fall somewhat in most Florida zip codes, and this spells part of the opportunity. So you do have all these new build properties, some of which are vacant, but you have a good chance they're going to get absorbed pretty soon. And there are some obvious advantages to owning new build.   Naresh Vissa  31:11   Well, Keith, there is brand new construction in Florida, like you said. The work started in 2021 and there are homes that have not been sold. I don't want to say, since they were finished building in 2021 they recently finished building in 2025 and these homes could be a variety of reasons. It could be economic related. It could be hurricane related. In Tampa, the Central Florida, we had two horrible hurricanes back to back within a 15 day period, two really bad hurricanes towards the end of 2024 September and October 2024 and people lost their homes. Renters lost their homes. Other people just were freaked out and scared and said, You know what? I don't want to deal with. I've got PTSD from these hurricanes. I'm moving up to Alabama or Georgia or Orlando, you know, somewhere in Central Florida, that's a way. But even that area, you know, the hurricane still made it through to those areas too. People just picked up and said, You know what I'm done with Florida. It's a great state, but I don't want to deal with these hurricanes. And so regardless, whatever the reason, this is a pie, and these are all slices of the pie, I don't know what's been more of a contributing factor than which one has been more than the others. But with that being said, there are tons of properties in Florida, pretty much the entire state of Florida, where, especially new construction properties, are below at the time when they were being built, they're below what they anticipated being listed as. And So Keith, we're having a special webinar this Thursday, talking about these properties because they are discounted properties. They are properties that are selling at tremendous discounts, like I said to when Ground was broken years ago. So join that webinar. Gre, webinars.com gre webinars.com. Again, brand new construction. Many of these properties already have tenants in place. Not all of them, but many of them do already have tenants in place. There are all sorts of incentives that the builder is offering. And there are many builders in that, not just this one that's going to be on the webinar, but in Florida, there are many builders who are offering discounts, rate, buy downs, other incentives, because the home values have fallen somewhat a bit. Why have the home values falling? Because the demand has fallen as well. So again, the next question people might have is, well, if the demand is falling, if home home values are falling, why would I buy the trend is downward. And the answer is, whether it's a stock or any other security, you don't necessarily want to have the FOMO to buy at an all time high, just because everyone else is buying it. And I actually have family members who bought real estate at the peak of 2022 there was FOMO and there was, hey, you know, I need to get a flip, and they're down. They bought peak 2022, and they're down today. Because, look, you can pick any housing market in the country, especially a prime state like Florida. Look at any 30 year period, and you will see that home values are up double digits, even if you look at 2009 when the housing market crashed and we reached something like 10 year bottom in housing, if you look at the 30 year period, well, if someone who bought a house in Florida in, say, 1979 was still way up on their property in 2009 30 years later, we're not buying Bitcoin here where it can go up 30% in one day or go down 30% in one day. We're talking real estate, and real estate has been proven. It's been tested. It's been proven throughout time, not even a 30 year period. I think if you take any 20 year period, you're going to see the same trend of double digit gains, double digit growth. On real estate appreciation. So I'd say, if you're skeptical about Florida, you see these home values, all these discounts, that's the first thing I hear from followers. They say, why are they offering so many discounts? I'm a little concerned about all these discounts and incentives, and I don't know if that's a good thing. Well, I say, Well, I mean, you can buy full price in another state, if you'd like, you know, in California or so you could, you're more than free to buy full price. But we're talking Florida here. We're not talking about West Virginia or Rhode Island, or, you know, Nebraska. We're talking Florida. This is still the land of Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse, this is the land of the best beaches in the country. I mean, they there's just no arguing or debating these facts. Florida all the reasons that I stated earlier, is going to continue to be a hot, hot market. So I highly recommend people, if you want to get in on these discounted deals, G R E, webinars.com G R E, webinars.com register for our upcoming online and live special event this Thursday evening at 8pm Eastern Time, 8pm Eastern Time, gre webinars.com you won't want to miss this free, online and live special event.   Keith Weinhold  36:25   When a pound of oranges is on sale or a pound of zucchini is on sale, consumers are often attracted to that sale. Should probably be the same way with you considering adding to your real estate portfolio, and it's funny, when oranges of zucchinis are on sale, no one tries to find fault with it and think that they're rotten inside or something like that. But somehow with real estate or an investment that tends to get scrutiny from people, but these are real discounts that you're getting over buying, say, two years ago, and we're talking about a motivated seller here. And as you know, Naresh, we had the builder on the show last week, the one that's going to be co hosting the webinar with you on Thursday, and he talked to us about buying down mortgage rates to between 3.75% and 4.25% and we're here at a time where the owner occupied rate is six to six and a quarter the investor rate is seven, so you're getting about a three percentage point buy down. That's really the attraction. And Naresh, before I ask you, if you have any last thoughts, yes, again, it is our live event that you can attend from the comfort of your own home, Thursday the 19th, at 8pm eastern in just a few days, here with Naresh and the builder who you heard on last week's show, co hosting a live webinar for Central Florida so inland new build income property. It's free. You're invited, and the benefit of you attending live is that you can have any of your questions answered in real time. You're going to learn more about the Central Florida market and more about the home building process, and you are going to be able to see available new bill property, real addresses, with some of these pretty grand incentives that we've talked about again. GRE webinars.com, any last thoughts? Naresh   Naresh Vissa  38:17   I get a lot of questions about is right now the time to buy? Should I buy later? What's going to happen with real estate? And I know the number one question, or the number one caution our followers are going to have, is, is right now the time is March or April, the time. And I say, look, with real estate, I already gave you the figure that you take any 20 year time period, any 30 year time period, and that's our time horizon here at GRE again, we're not trying to buy bitcoin here and flip it, you know, two days later, we're looking to buy and hold for, I don't want to say forever, but I know my time horizon in general is the full 30 year term, at least for my properties, and some people you know, want 10 or 15 years. That's fine too, but that's the time horizon. It is not one year, two years. We're not flipping new construction properties here in Central Florida. We are looking to buy and hold over the long haul, get some very good, high quality tenants in there, in these new construction properties, so that you, the GRE follower and the investor, can collect your monthly cash flow as well as over that 20 year period, or that 30 year period take part in appreciation as well. We've also talked extensively, Keith in previous episodes about interest rate cuts that the Federal Reserve is going to be doing, and just know this, there's a reason why the builder is offering these incentives where you can get the rates so low, your mortgage rate can be so low, and it's going to take at least a year, even if the Fed goes to zero. I mean, it's going to take mortgage rates a very long time. And to reach that point of getting such low interest rates that you just laid out, so that even makes it more enticing, like, Hey, I basically have a head start on the Federal Reserve because I follow the Fed pretty closely. We don't need to get into those details, but it's looking heavily like they are going to be start cutting again later this year, this summer. So it's looking like they're going to do that, but again, now you can have a head start, because when the Fed starts doing that, and when the mortgage rates fall, then everybody's going to jump in. And what's going to happen to the home values once everybody jumps in, well, they're going to go up. You want to jump in when everybody is not jumping in, and when you can get an amazing deal on these interest rates thanks to the builder buying down your interest rate. So this is a GRE special you can't get these deals. I challenge our followers to go on the internet and try to find better incentives or deals. And what you're going to see on this webinar, on this online, live special event. So gre webinars.com you can join me as well as our special guest. He heads up the builder. His name is Jim. He's going to be on with me. And please join us at grewebinars.com sign up for this free and live online special event.   Keith Weinhold  41:20   These are some great points. There's a lot of anticipation for Thursday, Naresh. We'll see you then.   Naresh Vissa  41:25   Thanks, Keith.   Keith Weinhold  41:32   Oh yeah, a first person account on Florida life and opportunity from our own Naresh nationally, the build to rent model that has been a real success, building single family rentals with the intent that they are rentals. From day one, over 321,000 homes have been built specifically as rentals this way since 2012, and more than three quarters of those in just the last five years. So the build to rent trend is picking up steam. About 1/3 of Americans rent their home, and although the word rental for some people that still conjures up visions of high rises packed with apartments, but a growing number of today's rentals are these freestanding, single family homes and duplexes like we're talking about today, nestled in suburban communities with top notch schools, and that's why a growing number of mom and pop investors have hopped on the build to rent bandwagon. They take less maintenance. It attracts quality tenants who stay longer, and the rentals have changed, but so had the renters. 20 years ago, it felt like tenants had to rent, like they had no choice. Today, you've got more and more tenants that choose to rent. Many of them make 100k to 125k or more. Today, rentals are cheaper than owning for those people, and they're less of a headache. A lot of them don't want to fix things, and you as the owner, don't want to either. That's why new build is attractive. Then, you know, I just sent that great map to our newsletter subscribers about which states saw the most population gain from 2020 to today, the South had more population growth than every other US region combined, which is jaw dropping and within the South, the state with the most population growth since 2020 is Florida, with An 8.9% population gain in that span, narrowly beating out Texas and South Carolina. By the way, even if it weren't for the attractive builder interest rate near 4% these Sunshine State deals could still make sense. New build single family rentals from the 270s new build duplexes, 395 to 420k low insurance rates, positive cash flow, a builder warranty. And it's really even better than that. These properties are centered on Ocala, Florida, which received national recognition as the fastest growing city for this second year in a row. That's according to a U haul report, and Florida is the epitome of investor friendly. Florida is the first state to enact a law allowing law enforcement to immediately remove squatters. It distinguishes them from legal tenants. You might come to the webinar event, perhaps thinking about 80k or 500k that you want to allocate toward property or maybe nothing and you just want to learn at the event you will evaluate realistic opportunities learn how property management is handled, and understand how today's inventory fits into your disciplined, long term strategy that all takes place on. On Thursday the 19th at 8pm Eastern. It's our biggest event of the year, and it is called Why Central Florida is the year's most compelling housing market. One last time for Thursday, it is gre webinars.com, until then, I'm your host. Keith Weinhold, don't quit your Daydream.   Unknown Speaker  45:20   You nothing on this show should be considered specific, personal or professional advice. Please consult an appropriate tax, legal, real estate, financial or business professional for individualized advice. Opinions of guests are their own. Information is not guaranteed. All investment strategies have the potential for profit or loss. The host is operating on behalf of get rich Education LLC, exclusively.   Keith Weinhold  45:52   The preceding program was brought to you by your home for wealth building get richeducation.com  

Will you retire with purpose? Don’t leave it to chance. Design Your New Life after you leave full-time work. Learn more about our next small group coaching program starting in April here – and sign up here. __________________________ What if the word retirement is setting us up for the wrong life? After years in senior leadership roles, Cesar Aguirre discovered something most of us miss about retirement: the word itself matters more than we think. In English, we “retire” – we withdraw. In Portuguese, you become “aposentado” – left aside or left behind. But in Spanish-speaking cultures, retirement is called “jubilación” – which comes from the word for joy. That distinction changed everything for Cesar. Because when he stepped away from his career, it wasn’t the loss of work that shocked him – it was the jarring shock of losing an identity. He realized retirement isn’t just a life transition, it’s an identity transition, offering an opportunity to redefine who you want to become, and retire with purpose. Cesar joins us to share the framework he developed through his own transition – a ten-chapter roadmap for moving from “what I’m leaving” to “what I’m moving toward.” He’ll reveal why planning goes far beyond your finances, how to measure success when you’re no longer producing output, and the key warning signs that show up early when retirement first starts going wrong. This is a conversation about why approaching retirement with more intention might just create the most fulfilling chapters of your life. How will you retire with purpose? Cesar Aguirre joins us from Florida. __________________________ Bio César Aguirre is a seasoned HR executive with over 40 years of experience in global talent development. Now in active retirement, he embodies reinvention with passion as mentor, consultant, and author. In his book, Retirement with Purpose: The 10 Rs of Retirement, he shares his vibrant energy and insights to help readers rediscover purpose and embrace joyful living in their post-career lives. He currently resides in a lively 55+ community in Central Florida with his wife, inspiring others to design their authentic journeys for the second act of their lives. _______________________ For More on Cesar Aguirre Retirement with Purpose: The 10 Rs of Retirement _______________________ Podcast Conversations You May Like How to Prepare Mentally for Life After Work – Joseph Maugeri Re-Visioning Retirement – Susan Reid, PhD How to Retire – Christine Benz _________________________ About The Retirement Wisdom Podcast There are many podcasts on retirement, often hosted by financial advisors with their own financial motives, that cover the money side of the street. This podcast is different. You'll get smarter about the investment decisions you'll make about the most important asset you'll have in retirement: your time. About Retirement Wisdom I help people who are retiring, but aren't quite done yet, discover what's next and build their custom version of their next life. A meaningful retirement doesn't just happen by accident. Schedule a call today to discuss how the Designing Your Life process created by Bill Burnett & Dave Evans can help you make your life in retirement a great one — on your own terms. About Your Podcast Host Joe Casey is an executive coach who helps people design their next life after their primary career and create their version of The Multipurpose Retirement.™ He created his own next chapter after a 26-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking. Joe has earned Master's degrees from the University of Southern California in Gerontology (at age 60), the University of Pennsylvania, and Middlesex University (UK), a BA in Psychology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and his coaching certification from Columbia University. In addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, ranked in the top 1% globally in popularity by Listen Notes, with over 1.6 million downloads. Business Insider recognized Joe as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He's the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy. _________________________ Wise Quotes On The Power of Language “Retirement becomes a celebration, not a retreat. I think the languages shape mindset. And mindsets shape behavior. So when retirement is framed as a joy, planning shifts from survival to flourishing become more natural.” On Measuring Success in Retirement “A good day is no longer about output, it’s no longer about how much you produce. It’s about action that is intended, an action that aligns with a master plan.” On What He’d Do Differently “I wish I had thought about it and prepared for my post-work identity a little sooner and more deliberately. In my job in HR, I helped many others plan careers, but I underestimated how much my own self-worth was tied to that job in that title. I think I did it humbly. I can say that I did a solid job planning financially, but probably not as good in preparing emotionally for the change. For a brief period of time, a few months, I underestimated that the identity shift that was occurring and the loss of a daily structure that I was so accustomed to.” On What He’s Gained in Retirement “Presence, the ability to not just having the time, but having the mindset of real presence, presence with my wife, which I neglected for a few years while I was traveling or working, presence with my kids, now with my grandkids, the rest of my friends, and new friends. I also gained a space and time for mastery, my hobbies. I enjoy cooking, well, time to do more and do a little better, exercising, riding the bike three or four times a week, playing pickleball. Retiring has given me time to go more in depth on my preferences instead of just speed, because in my working years, I was always rushing. Even when I was at home, I needed to accomplish, I needed to do things. I needed not to be idle. And retirement has now given me presence and bandwidth.” On Warning Signs “I think there are three main things that one needs to start paying attention to. Isolation. If you don’t have that network, social network, family network, and you become isolated. A loss of structure. Doing nothing without a structure or living in the past tense. When people stop connecting with others, when they drift through the days without an intentional plan, or when they only talk about what they used to be, that should be a warning, – a huge yellow flag for oneself and for loved ones that are looking after them.”

With gold and silver surging to eye-catching highs, Joel unpacks whether now is really the right time to jump in. Get the unvarnished truth about the risks and realities of investing in gold and silver, including their historical track record, the costs that often go overlooked, and why they're not always the golden ticket to wealth the headlines might suggest. Discover how herd mentality, FOMO, and social media hype can drive prices—and why long-term results often tell a different story. But that's not all—this episode empowers you with a practical checklist of essential questions to ask your financial advisor. Joel breaks down the crucial topics: understanding all the fees you're paying, ensuring your advisor acts as a fiduciary, grasping their investment philosophy and track record, and knowing how they'll communicate with you through the market's ups and downs. These questions are designed to help you build a true partnership and make well-informed decisions about your financial future. Whether you're a seasoned investor, just getting started, or simply curious about the latest trends in money management, this episode promises valuable insights, clear explanations, and actionable advice. Tune in to sharpen your financial acumen and make sense of your dollars—plus, find out how you can connect with Joel and his team for further guidance. Listen now to get the facts, cut through the hype, and take charge of your finances with confidence! 

What if you could focus on just 7 core areas and know your kids are getting what they truly need? Meredith Curtis discovered the Seven R's during one of the hardest seasons of her life—caring for dying parents while homeschooling five children. This framework helped her "major on the majors and minor on the minors," and it will transform your homeschool too.In this episode, you'll discover:✅Why relationships are the foundation that makes all other learning possible—and what happens when they're broken✅The secret to raising kids who actually love to read (hint: it's not assigning book reports)✅How to teach writing so your kids can communicate clearly, graciously, and persuasively for any audience✅Why math mastery matters more than moving through a curriculum—and what to do when kids fall behind✅The difference between Googling answers and true research skills your kids will need for lifeReady to simplify and focus? The Seven R's will help you cut through curriculum overwhelm and build confident, capable lifelong learners.Resources Mentioned:Get your FREE Basic Pass to Life Skills Leadership Summit 2026 to give you confidence that your kids will be ready for adult life: The Seven R's of Homeschooling by Meredith Curtis - Practical guide to majoring on the majors and minoring on the minorsWho Dun It? Literature & Writing by Meredith Curtis - Teach high schoolers to write their own cozy mysteryHIS Story of the 20th Century by Meredith Curtis Meredith Curtis, pastor's wife, mom to 5 homeschool graduates, and Grand-Merey to 8 angels, loves to read cozy mysteries, travel, hit the beach, and meet new people. She is always learning because the world is just full of mysteries and beauty! Meredith loves to encourage families in their homeschooling adventure because her own was such a blessing. She is a curriculum creator and author of Jesus, Fill My Heart & Home Bible Study and Who Dun It Murder Mystery Literature & Writing. Find Meredith at PowerlineProd.com, along with her online store and blog.You can also follow Meredith on Facebook, Instagram, Youtube, and on the Finish Well Podcast.Show Notes:Kerry: Hey everyone, Kerry Beck here with Life Skills Leadership Summit where we are going to be talking about an extremely important topic that is tools of learning because I think all of you want your kids to be able to learn as an adult and not be dependent on a teacher or on you. And that's what Meredith Curtis is here to talk to us about. So, welcome Meredith. Thanks for being here.Meredith: Oh, thank you for having me. I'm really excited about this year's conference and I love this topic we're talking about. I either call it tools of learning or the seven Rs and they're just so helpful in staying focused and making the majors the majors and the minors the minors.Kerry: That's a great way to put it. We're going to dive into her seven Rs and how it can apply to your homeschool. But before we do that, could you just tell our listeners a little bit about you?Meredith: Yes, I would love to. So, my name is Meredith Curtis and I am a pastor's wife. I'm the mother of five homeschool graduates and I have eight grandchildren that are perfect angels and I feed them too much sugar.I love spending time with my grandchildren. I love to travel. I love to read. I love Jesus. That's probably the most important thing. And I'm a writer and a speaker.Kerry, I love creating curriculum. I love teaching. I love creating curriculum. I love writing Bible studies, studying the Bible. Probably one of my favorite things is I wrote a curriculum called Who Done It? It's my most popular book, and it basically is a high school English class that teaches teens how to write their own cozy mystery.And I actually started writing a cozy mystery series. I have three books in it so far—Tea Time Trouble, Pumpkin Patch Peril, and Old-Fashioned Christmas Murder.Kerry: Okay, y'all. She has two interviews and we've talked about the cozy mysteries in the last one. So, y'all go listen to that. But I was just fascinated. I knew she taught the kids, but now she's written three of her own mystery books. And so, I just think that is so exciting as well. Plus, her husband, does he have four books out now?Meredith: He does. Well, he actually has a fifth book that's not fiction. It's called Forging Godly Men, and it's about mentoring godly men.Kerry: The other ones are novels. So he's got the four novels plus the one on raising our boys to be godly men. Today we're going to talk about writing, but let's back up. I know you either call it the tools of learning or the seven Rs. How did you discover these tools of learning?How the 7 Rs Were Born from CrisisMeredith: Okay. So, I was in my early 40s and I had a four-year-old, five-year-old, six-year-old. My oldest was already graduating from high school, starting college. And so I had this wide range of five children.And my parents got really sick, Kerry. They were so sick and they live four hours away. So I was constantly taking a trip down to South Florida. I live in Central Florida and I would drive that 4 hours and stay with them a few days and then come home.I had to leave one of the older kids in charge of one or two of the younger ones and bring another older one with me with the younger one. And it was just very challenging. And of course, I was heartbroken because my parents were very sick.So during that time, I had to just ask the Lord, "What is the most important thing for my kids to get done?" Because they're going to be doing school apart from me. And the other one, we're going to be in the hospital or we're going to be in doctor's offices or we're going to be taking care of my parents. And I need to be able to at a glance know that they're getting it. So I really need help, Lord.And that is, you know, this is kind of birthed from that. You think about the three Rs, reading, writing, arithmetic. So, this is kind of what I felt like I discovered as a homeschool mom, that these were the tools of learning, the majors, and that if some of the other stuff fell by the wayside, these tools that I kept focusing on were going to allow them to learn anything at all that they needed.It was a really sad season in my life and my mom ended up passing away. My father moved close to us and then two years later he passed away. So it was a very hard season but out of that the Lord taught me not just life lessons but homeschooling lessons. God always brings good things out of very sad things.Kerry: I'm so sorry for your loss. And yet I see it because you got to take care of the majors and let go of things. And there are seasons in homeschooling, seasons in our lives that you may not go to every activity or every art lesson or whatever. You've got to just take care of the majors.Relationships: The Foundation of EverythingKerry: I know that you and I, there's one thing in particular even beyond academics and that's relationships. So why would you say relationships are so foundational to everything else?Meredith: Well, I think that life is basically number one thing relationship. God says he wants to have a relationship with us. In Revelation, he stands at the door and knocks and if anyone hears his voice, he comes in and eats with them. And you only eat with people you like. You know what I mean? Like that's relationship.So I think we have a relational God. He created people to be relational. And learning, I think when learning is birthed out of strong relationships, it is so different because I love Jesus. So I want to learn because I want to glorify him. I want to know what did he create and how does things work.When I became a Christian at 16, learning was a whole new thing for me. It just fascinated me. What is God doing in history? What is he doing here? And so I think when relationships are strong, that's the vertical relationship, but my relationship with my children, if my children know how much I love them, how much I respect them, how much I want their life to be blessed and fulfilled, they're going to be motivated to learn, not just for me, but with me.I think we learn as a family. I didn't know everything when I started homeschooling. I loved learning along the way. And every time we went back through US geography, I learned more.In contrast to that, when relationships are bad and there's yelling, there's always going to be fighting in a home, especially if you have more than one child. But how you resolve it can be resolved in a way that they can be closer afterward.But if there is constant bickering, if your children don't feel like you're for them, if you don't have a high opinion of your children, you're frustrated with them, learning doesn't really take place well. They might be learning, but so often in those situations, I see kids memorizing facts for a test, but they don't enjoy learning.I have just had some of my middle school classes that I teach online. These kids, they're not shy yet, you know, like some of the high schoolers are shy, but they're just—I love learning. And I think they have a family, a home that's happy, that they feel loved by their family and it always bears it out when they talk about their parents, they talk about their siblings, it's positive.So, I think relationships set the atmosphere, but also all the studies I've ever read, the most confident people know that they're loved. And when our children know that they're loved, it gives them a confidence that they can learn anything.Kerry: So good. And really, relationships are what's going to last forever and ever. I mean, even beyond this earth. And so we want to build those good relationships.Plus sometimes, you know, later in life, your kids, their siblings, they may need their siblings to be there for them. And we need to build that relationship and that security so that when they take that risk to go learn something that they're not really sure if they know how to go learn it, then they still feel safe in doing that.The Seven Rs ExplainedKerry: I know you've got these seven Rs. Can you just sort of rattle them off real quickly for us so people sort of have an understanding of what we're talking about?Meredith: Okay. So it would be relationships, reading, rhetoric—it's really communication and thinking—and then writing, research, arithmetic, and right living.Kerry: We're going to dive into some of these. And you mentioned rhetoric and that's a term that's sometimes thrown around. I believe that a couple hundred years ago, everyone really understood that because it was just part of education. And in the 20th century, we have really gotten away from that term. So tell us just a little bit about what that is and why that would be a tool of learning for our kids.Rhetoric: Learning to Think and CommunicateMeredith: Okay. So rhetoric is basically communicating in a way to inform or persuade. Cicero wrote about rhetoric, Aristotle wrote about rhetoric and people still read those. They're not really difficult reading, but some high school kids would enjoy reading those two men. Aristotle was Greek, Cicero was Roman.And it's basically being able to think through things and being able to communicate. So it would cover everything from greeting people and having casual conversations with them, saying, "Oh, Kerry, how are you today?" things like that. And then it would go all the way to watching the news and saying, "Okay, is this logical? Does this make sense? Does this jive with this over here?"And then being able to communicate in conversations, even as far as speaking, eventually reading aloud, all those things to communicate clearly and concisely and graciously.We have some really dynamic speakers in our day, Kerry, that are so ungracious. And sometimes I listen, I'm like, I agree with everything you say, but I wish you would be nicer or you wouldn't use bad language. And so, all of that is involved in rhetoric—the thinking and then what we allow to come through our mouth.Kerry: That is so good. And we need to teach our kids how to communicate instead of just regurgitate a bunch of facts which tends to be sort of our school system. And I could go off and tell y'all stories but we're not going to.Reading: From Struggle to SuccessKerry: I sort of jumped straight to rhetoric and I overlooked reading. Because you sort of have to be able to read. I mean, you can communicate like this, but we need to be able to read to then be able to make decisions and think through and think critically to then communicate. So, can you tell us just a little bit about raising our kids to be able to read and not hate it, maybe actually enjoy it a little bit?Meredith: Yes. Yes. And so, I mean, I could do a whole workshop on this, so I'm going to be really quick, but basically, teach your kids to read. I taught with phonics. I thought it was very simple. But teach them to read and then once they can read, give them everything possible that they can read that's easy and makes them feel successful.In everything when you're homeschooling, you want to lead children from success to success to success, a challenge, then more success, success, success, so that they're mostly feeling confident and then sometimes challenged.And so with reading, they read all these easy readers and then you start introducing classic literature like Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little and then you just keep going with classic literature.The reason I say classic literature is because a lot of the writing even for adults in our culture is at about a third grade level if you went a hundred years ago. So, if we want our children to value freedom, they're going to have to read things by John Locke. They're going to have to read things by Edmund Burke, and they're going to need to be able to read at a stronger level.So, when you keep giving children classic books, the stories are amazing. It's going to build their vocabulary. It's going to help their reading, and they're eventually going to be interested. They hear about a topic, they'll think, "Oh, I'll pick up that book and read it."The way I really made sure that my children enjoyed reading, that was my goal for them to enjoy reading. So I never assigned books until they were in high school.What I did is I had a bookshelf and it had about six shelves and I filled it. They could read anything they wanted from that bookshelf and they just had to tell me the book they read and I would write it down and I would say did you like it or who was your favorite character or what was your favorite thing about it.I never had them—I taught them how to write a book report and they wrote like two or three but that wasn't my goal because I wanted them to love to read and I wanted them to meet friends in make-believe places, in real places and say I want to go back, I want to read that again. So that was my goal.My son was my hardest and he just hated to read and he loved math but he didn't like reading. And so I remember he got saved in like middle school and he came to me. He's like, "Mom, I didn't read any of those books I told you that I read." And so this summer I'm going to read them all because now I want to live for God.But in high school, by the time he graduated from high school, his favorite book was The Count of Monte Cristo, which is like a thousand-page book. So eventually he learned to read. I never gave up on him. But I always tried to find things that he would like, series that he would like. He loved biographies and I got him a lot of biographies. I got him like all these war books about, you know, this bomber, this plane.My goal the whole time was I want my children to love to read and to be able to read anything they want.And I just want to add this. If you have a child with a learning disability, don't just limit them to listening to audio books for the rest of their life. Maybe they need to listen to every other book audio because the reading assignments are too much. But if they're going to do audio, have them read along with the book and follow with the book because that is going to help them to become a stronger reader.There's also a lot of tools for kids with learning disabilities. Don't give up on reading. I've met like 11th graders and they're like, "I don't read. I just listen to audiobooks" and I'm like, "Oh, I'm going to challenge you to read."I had one student like that. And he said, "Okay, I'm going to read this book." And we were reading Plymouth Plantation by William Bradford. He didn't get the modern translation. He got the one from the 1600s.And I said, "Honey, this was the worst book that you will ever read in your life. And if you got through that, you can read anything." And he loved to read after that, but his mom had told him he couldn't. He had a learning disability. And so he had a lot of drive to be able to read like the other kids in our homeschool co-op.I think reading opens the door. You have to read emails, you have to read texts, but reading is just such an open door to adventure. So, I love reading. I'm a very big fan. My parents were both big fans of reading, too.Kerry: Well, and I think your story plays out. I know for me, you've got to get if you have a child that doesn't like to read, continue to search for something of their interest. And you just have to be patient and give them grace. Give yourself grace.My son did not—I mean he could read, he could read a book and he would do it but did he enjoy it? No. And now he's 31 years old and once he got out of college, he loves to read. We exchange titles but like that was 15 years of time just waiting and you're thinking oh next month they're going to love to read.Look, God takes time to work with me so be patient and give yourself years. For my son, it was 12 years.Kerry: And we're like, okay, our kids are grown. Take it from someone that's already been there, not someone that's in the same level as you are.Writing: From Speaking to the PageKerry: So we have reading, we've got rhetoric. Then the next thing, what do you see as any kind of secret to writing effectively?Meredith: Well, I think if you can communicate an idea, then it's easier to write it. So if you can speak, it's easier to write.So what I would often do with my children is—number one, if I was asking them to write a paragraph, we would read paragraphs together. See how this is a topic sentence and how these sentences—or let's read this essay. This is so interesting.First of all, I think for writing, you have to be able to read the kind of writing that you're going to write. Children just don't naturally know how to write an essay. And if you give them the directions, but you don't give them an example, they still don't know what to do.I would always have my children talk to me. Tell me what you want to write about. And then we would just talk and oh that's a great idea. And you know, kind of helping them think through. I had a pattern for teaching writing.I spent a couple of years on sentences because a good sentence makes or breaks a paper. And I still, you know, I teach high school kids and I have some of them who can't write good sentences. So we spent a lot of time writing sentences.First they were so young they would dictate to me and I would write it and then soon they could write their own and then we wrote paragraphs and we wrote all kinds of different paragraphs and we always enclosed our writing in a letter to grandparents because that teaches children early on.Okay, so you're writing this paragraph for grandma, then you're going to write it differently than this paragraph that you're writing for Aunt Julie because she's interested in horses whereas grandma is interested in books and knitting. It teaches them to think in terms of an audience which is really important when you write.So then from paragraphs we would actually move to reports, essays and things like that in middle school. So we did a lot of basic writing and then whenever they wanted to write stories, I'd say, "Oh yeah, write the story." And if they couldn't write well, they could dictate to me and I would type it on the computer.Then in high school, we did all the analyzing literature, writing a research paper. We wrote a novel one year. And fiction is very different than writing non-fiction. So I think my kids wrote every kind of essay, every kind of report. But I tried to make it really fun.And one thing I also did in high school was I'd say, "Okay, here's a paper from two years ago. I'd like you to turn it into a blog post." And they really enjoyed that. But blogging is a completely different kind of writing than writing an essay.We always shared our writing with other people because I wanted them to have in their mind an audience. Whenever I teach homeschool co-op classes, I always have the kids read their papers out loud and that allows them to have an audience.So I say when you're writing this paper, look around the room. This is your audience and you're going to read it out loud to them and you want to write something they'll enjoy. So when I grade their writing papers, I always look for readability. Is it enjoyable to read? Is it written for the audience?And three of my children went into writing. So one became an editor at a magazine and she writes—now she has her own business. She writes. My other daughter taught writing and literature at the local university and now she's a stay-at-home mom. And my youngest daughter has written a screenplay and short stories and stuff like that.Now my daughter Juliana who works for Verizon says she hates writing but she's actually a very good writer. She just doesn't like it.Kerry: That is so good. You know you said something that I know we did a lot in the beginning years. It is easier for kids to speak sentences than to write their first few sentences. So if they speak it as a sentence, I would type up—Hunter would be talking to me about snakes or whatever we read about and we would type it, then the next day he would copy it or edit it.The other thing is giving your kids a reason to write and getting a grade is not a real life reason to write. You've got to have an audience. And if there's an audience, that alone can motivate some kids to actually do a better job because they feel like they're writing to a person. And if you're just writing for a grade, that's sort of dull sometimes.Arithmetic: Consistency and MasteryKerry: We've got writing, then we have arithmetic. And I know there's some moms that have some fear. I was a math minor and by the time my kids got in high school I was like what did I learn in my math minor years? I loved math in high school but by then I didn't really care for math as much. So what kind of tips can you give them because we do need our kids to be able to use math skills?Meredith: I think my number one tip for math would be do math every day and put a time limit on it so it doesn't feel like, oh my goodness, I'm going to be here two hours to finish this lesson. But I think consistency is the most important thing with math.And be confident. Don't be afraid to hire a tutor for math or to put your kids in a co-op class for math because if mom hates math then it's hard for kids to like math. And I have a friend named Leanne and she did so much tutoring in our church for co-op kids because their moms just hated math.I was like you—when my son took calculus I said honey, no idea. I don't know. But so I would say make sure that they're scoring 90% or higher on their tests and they know why they got the problems wrong.And here's why. The early years they learn so many foundational things. And a lot of times when I'm helping kids who have trouble with pre-algebra, with algebra, with algebra 2 or geometry, it goes all the way back to fractions and decimals and multiplying and dividing.One child was really struggling with math. So I just repeated a grade. I just repeated a whole grade in a different curriculum. And she ended up joining this engineering club called Math Counts in middle school and went all the way to state. So she wasn't dumb. She just needed more repetition.I hear people say, "Well, why should they do repetition?" Well, I would say that math is learning to get the problems right over and over and over again until you're solid.I always started with math because I feel like it kind of gets all the neurons charged and working—like sort of the workout for the brain. But again, I would just do it every day. It's better to do a half hour of math every day than do like a slug session for three hours because you're behind.If kids get behind in math, they get behind in math and that means we do some math over the summer. That was kind of how I looked at it. But I was a real stickler with math and as a result the kids did well with math. But it wasn't necessarily anyone's favorite except for Jimmy my son.Kerry: Well you know I think you hit on another good point—mastery. I was a public school teacher and we did have a minimum but nowadays it didn't matter if you know it or not. You just keep moving those kids through the school. What's the point?If those kids do not understand single-digit division, they're not going to understand long division. So, work on it. And, you know, you can find some fun activities to make it all work. There's lots of hands-on. I do believe mastery in math because it is sequential and it keeps building on it like you said with geometry.Meredith: That's a good point. Math is one of the few things that is sequential. Everything else you could learn, you know, American Revolution and then ancient history. It doesn't matter. But math is sequential. And so if they don't learn the basics, they're always going to struggle.Research: Beyond "Hey Google"Kerry: Okay. So after arithmetic, next we have got research. So how is that a tool? How would you encourage moms?Meredith: Okay. Well, I think right now if you say research, people just look things up on Google.Kerry: I know that's true. Or you know what? My grandkids wouldn't look it on Google. I'm not going to do it because I've got a little Google machine. They just go, "Hey, Google." And then they'd ask whatever that question is and let it speak to them and they don't even have to read it. They'll just listen.Meredith: I always think, what if an enemy of the US just shut down our internet for a week? It would be like, oh my goodness.But I think it's important for kids to know how to find things in books, like how to read a textbook to find the table of contents and how to go find the subject you're looking for. How to use directories, how to use an atlas, how to use maps. They could use Google Maps, but how did they find stuff on Google Maps?And then just being able to go to different kinds of research books like a dictionary, a thesaurus, an encyclopedia, and then actually to research—to look things up and to find different books about it and research a topic and especially in research to read about opposing viewpoints.I think that's very important to read about this viewpoint and this viewpoint that are completely polar opposites. I think that's an important part of research because there's been a main point in our school system for years and it's been like almost brainwashing kids but we don't want to do the same thing.We want to make sure that our children know both sides of the issue and then where we stand and why we stand where we stand logically, not just based on emotion.I think that's an important part of research. It kind of ties in with rhetoric. Also everything is research from looking up a recipe and finding the best recipe to researching for a research paper.And so, you know, one of the things about research is trying out different things until you find what's best. Trying out different exercises till you find the one that works the best or you enjoy the most. So, research is really a lifelong thing.Kerry: Even if you are saying, "Hey, Google."Meredith: Yes. They're like, "Oh, Gigi, that's okay. We'll go find—here. Come here." And they take me over to their little machine and ask it a question. Sometimes they understand, the girls, sometimes they don't.Kerry: That is so good. And I like that idea of research is all different things. It's not just writing a research paper. My kids actually every year in high school had to write one research paper. And we just really—the requirements in ninth grade were different than the 12th grade because hopefully they were growing in their research skills as well. And they do have to write so many research papers in college. So that was probably really helpful for them.Now we got AI. So y'all go listen to the AI talks that we have in this summit because we're going to show you—no, you can't just go get AI to write your research paper. So we got a few little speakers on that. Y'all probably need to go listen.Meredith: Oh, I need to listen to it because someone mentioned it and I was like, "My children in my classes would never use AI."Right Living: The Closing BookendKerry: The last one we started with relationships, which I think is super important. We got a lot of academic things. Right living—and that's the last one. But I don't think it's the least. So, tell us a little bit about that and why you put that there.Meredith: Well, I put it last because it's kind of a sandwich of the academics. Relationship and then right living because right living is weaving through everything.And you teach children to be polite, to be obedient, to work hard, not just with their chores, but with their schoolwork. And so it just makes sense.And also there's something about living right even before children give their hearts to Christ. When you live the right way in a way that's moral, you feel better. You don't have like a lot of guilt. You don't have a lot of shame because you've done the right thing. You've worked hard. You've done what you need to do.So, I feel like it's a confidence booster as well to have right living be part of a focus, but it makes teaching easier when you're focused on training children to have manners, to have virtue. It makes it easier to get school done because it's just part of their character to—okay, this is kind of my job. I'm going to do it well.Kerry: That's so good. And I was thinking I didn't mean to steal your thunder by saying what I said, but relationships, right living—that's the most important. And I got the academics in the middle.Meredith: Exactly. Yeah. It's like a sandwich. And so it's a reminder—I think when you start with right living, you can become legalistic, you can become harsh. But if you start with relationships and sandwich it with right living, I think it helps you have a really good balance between the two.The 7 Rs ResourceKerry: That is so good. Hey, I know you've got a really good resource about these seven Rs that could help our homeschoolers. Could you tell people a little bit about that?Meredith: So, this is called The Seven Rs of Homeschooling. And you can tell all my books have a little Florida flair. A lot of them do. But it goes through each of the seven Rs I mentioned—how to teach them, practical resources.It was again birthed out of that season where it was a necessity for me to major on the majors and minor on the minors. And so it's not like oh this is my theory from my Ivy League tower but this is where we had to live. And it really helped me kind of refocus.And it ended up putting writing assignments and speaking, conversational—that's how we ended up putting book clubs in our literature classes and history classes because I found out how important conversation was. We just would have conversations all the way down to my parents' house.So I really recommend The Seven Rs. It's an easy read and it goes through each one and how it's a benefit and how you can in practical ways—it talks about if you have some issues with reading with your kids and how to go step by step.It's written for elementary, middle, and high school. So, you can pick it up when they're still in high school and just sort of give an overview of your children. If you pull your kids out of high school, out of a public school, and you bring them home, one of the things you want to do is you want to kind of evaluate where they're at in these—not with a test, but with just observing what are they able to do, what are they confident in, what do they still need more help. So, this is another good tool for that.Kerry: That is awesome. So, wherever you're listening to this, look below and we will have a link that you can click on and go grab a copy of this excellent resource because I mean this will give you practical tips to be able to implement these seven Rs and evaluate where your kids are.Meredith, thank you so much for being here. I am going to put a little note on there saying I'm sorry for the darkness on parts of the video, but I know we were in the late of the day and the sun's going down and we couldn't get the light to work. But you know what? The content here is excellent. So, thank y'all for just listening as well. And thank you for being here, Meredith. I appreciate it.Meredith: Thank you for having me. I always love being here. Thank you.Kerry: All right. And I'm Kerry Beck with Life Skills Leadership Summit. We'll talk to you next time.Ready to major on the majors in your homeschool? Grab Meredith Curtis's book The 7 Rs of Homeschooling and discover practical, battle-tested strategies for raising lifelong learners. Visit lifeskillsleadershipsummit.com for the for a free Basic Pass to this year's summit and build confidence in teaching life skills and leadership!

Audio surf report and surf forecast on February 16 for Central Florida and the Southeast. Your host will also enlighten you on current events in the surfing industry and talk about events and entertainment happenings in the local and regional area. Surf Guru is also sure to dig up some new music that will get your feet groovin'. Stay tuned for more ...

Jason Hull, the founder and CEO of DoorGrow, discusses with Ashton Thomas the concept of marrying private equity with property management operations. Ashton Thomas is a third-generation real estate broker in Central Florida, she got her real estate license right after graduating high school and, in February 2019, opened her own brokerage. She decided to start her own brokerage and grew to about 25 agents, but she realized she preferred property management and did not like dealing with realtors and their recurring issues, and shifted her focus after property management "fell into her lap" when employees from a failing company approached her You'll Learn (00:45) Introduction and Ashton Thomas's Background  (03:46) The Audacity to Start a Brokerage at 23  (07:16) The Marriage of Private Equity and Property Management  (07:42) Benjamin Hardy's "Science of Scaling"  (12:31) Understanding Private Equity and the Roll Up Strategy  (17:58) The Advantage of Property Managers in Roll Ups  (19:10) Advice for Getting into Private Equity  (22:29) Raising Capital and How to Connect with Ashton Thomas Quotables "I've been thinking too small. That's why it's been so hard." "That's like entrepreneurs worst nightmare is to be feeling stuck and feeling like I'm not moving and I'm not getting traction and I'm not accomplishing anything." "The slowest, absolute slowest path to growth is to do it alone." Resources DoorGrow and Scale Mastermind DoorGrow Academy DoorGrow on YouTube DoorGrowClub DoorGrowLive Transcript Jason Hull (00:00) All right, five, four, three, two, one. Hello everybody, I'm Jason Hull, the founder and CEO of DoorGrow, the world's leading and most comprehensive coaching and consulting firm for long-term residential property management entrepreneurs. For over a decade and a half, we've brought innovative strategies and optimization to the property management industry. At DoorGrow, we are on a mission to transform property management business owners and their businesses. We want to transform the industry.   eliminate the BS, build awareness, change perception, expand the market, and help the best property management entrepreneurs win. Now, let's get into the show. All right, so my guest today is Ashton Thomas. Welcome, Ashton. Ashton (00:43) Thank you for having me. Jason Hull (00:45) So Ashton is a client of ours, but she also is a badass. And so Ashen, I would love for people to get to know you a little bit, share a little bit of your background. How did you get into real estate and property management and all of this?   Ashton (01:02) Yeah, absolutely. So I'm actually a third generation real estate broker in central Florida. My granddad started in Orlando like way back in the 60s. ⁓ Both my dad and my granddad, a lot of my uncles, they're all builders. So just kind of grew up in that real estate world. I was on a job site from when I was very little. ⁓ And so I always just had a love for homes, real estate, just   the whole nine years. When I was wrapping up high school about to go to college, my parents suggested, I always had like an entrepreneurial spirit, and my parents suggested that I get my real estate license. And I was like, you know what, it can't hurt to have that. So I went ahead and took the class, got the licensing as soon as I graduated high school. So I was actually a licensed realtor already working before I started my freshman year of   college. ⁓ Real estate has been so fascinating because I've been able to see so many changes over the last 12 years since I got into the industry. I started with new home sales construction, actually working for my parents, ⁓ really learned about what it took to run a sales center. And then I switched to traditional real estate, like what you think of a realtor doing now. ⁓ From there, I ended up opening my own brokerage.   Jason Hull (02:03) Wow.   Ashton (02:28) ⁓ in February of 2019. And then property management really just fell into my lap. There was a company that was going out of business because the owner was embezzling funds. And their employees actually came to me and said, you know, we would like to work with you. We'd like to work for you. And we're bringing these clients. So   I had never written a lease, seen, really even put my eyes or hands on a lease, never. This was two years ago, roughly. ⁓ And like just didn't have any property management experience at all. Figured out that we needed to get some systems in place right out of the gate. And I really took the next year, year and a half.   Jason Hull (02:59) how long ago.   Okay.   Ashton (03:22) to develop those. And Jason, you've been so instrumental in helping us succeed in those systems. You helped us identify the holes in our business and really figure out what we needed to do. ⁓ So at the time that I had brought on the property management side, and when I say property management for us, we do both long-term property management and short-term vacation rental. So I two separate sister companies that operate.   Jason Hull (03:51) Yeah.   Ashton (03:51) So ⁓ at the time I had roughly about 25 realtors that worked for me under the brokerage. I had really developed that, grown that. We were one of the largest Zillow Premier agent teams in central Florida at that time.   Jason Hull (04:13) Wait, can I ask you question about that?   Not very many agents start their own brokerage. What? mean, how, do you mind me asking age here? How old were you you started your brokerage and what gave you the audacity to decide to do this big thing?   Ashton (04:19) Mm-hmm.   I was 23 when I started my brokerage and the funny part was is I actually wanted to buy a brokerage first and I had this is a wild story you'll love this so you know you look back and you say what was I thinking like I had some guts and one of those stories   Jason Hull (04:33) Okay, go ahead.   Okay.   Okay.   Yeah   Ashton (04:55) So I had initially gone to this guy's office, he had four branches, local real estate agent, or a local real estate brokerage. I'd ⁓ developed his brokerage over like 50 years, had over 200 agents working for him. And I walk in and I asked to speak with the broker. He was there, they put me in the conference room. He thought that I wanted to become an agent working for him. Yeah. And I said, no, sir, I want to buy your company.   Jason Hull (05:19) That's the default.   my god.   Ashton (05:25) And   like, this was a total cold call. Like I had never talked with him before, never met him before. I ended up negotiating a price for the company ended up getting securing SBA financing. Everything had lined up so perfectly. And then a couple of weeks before we were actually going to be making it official. He decided that he wanted to, to sell his brokerage to a family member and not go through with me. And so.   Jason Hull (05:53) Wow.   Ashton (05:55) Honestly, in hindsight, that was the best thing that could have happened. I had no business running that large of a brokerage at 23 years old with no experience. ⁓ Over 200. Yeah. And I had secured a price for 2.4 million for the company. So with an earn out and it was just, it was going to be an insane deal if I could have like actually done that. But ⁓ I was   Jason Hull (06:05) How large was it? How many Asians? Okay, yeah, I mean massive, yeah.   Ashton (06:24) You know, everything happens for a reason. coming off of like the adrenaline rush from that not happening, I was like, you know what? I'm just going to start my own. Why not? So that's how I started when I was 23.   Jason Hull (06:26) Yeah.   Yeah.   I mean,   starting your own brokerage at 23 doesn't sound as crazy if you were already trying to buy 200 agent brokerage. Like, I'll just, you know, step it back a little bit.   Ashton (06:49) Mm-hmm.   Yes,   let's like crawl before we run. Oh, so that was originally what I wanted to do was just build up a massive, brokerage with lots of agents. And I thought that in my head was the dream. No, for me, it was not. I had grown to about 25 agents, like roughly like steadily and kept that number for a while. I realized that I   Jason Hull (06:56) Yeah. ⁓   Yeah.   Mm-hmm.   Ashton (07:21) to not like dealing with realtors and their issues over and over and over again, every day in and day out. It became like kind of toxic to me at least. And I went through and slashed a lot of agents jobs here ⁓ because it was either performance issues, attitude issues, whatever it was, they just were not the right fit for us. I ended up keeping a core five. ⁓   Jason Hull (07:32) Yeah.   Ashton (07:47) and they are phenomenal people with good ethics and good business sense who care about their clients and represent me and my company very, very well.   Jason Hull (07:58) What do feel like gave you the clarity to make that transition? Like, did you just wake up one morning or like, I don't like a lot of these people? Or how did you get clarity on what you really want?   Ashton (08:09) ⁓ One of the things was I told my office manager, I was so frustrated one morning, I told her, said, if one more person asks me another stupid question, I am gonna lose my mind. So I was fed up, I just couldn't deal with it anymore.   Jason Hull (08:23) Okay, we're just fed up.   Yeah, yeah. So I know when, when did that fit with you joining DoorGrow? Because I know you had worked on culture and we'd helped you figure out kind of what mattered to you and like, that align with, was that before you came on board? Was that after? When did you let go of all the... Okay. You don't move slow on anything, it sounds like.   Ashton (08:45) I don't want the same time. Yeah.   I try not to. I try not to. Honestly, I feel like that's where things go to die is if you move slow.   Jason Hull (08:57) Got it, yeah, right. Okay, cool, quick action taker. So obviously a very driven personality type. ⁓ And I know the topic that we were planning to talk about today is the marriage of private equity and property management, capital meets operations. So let's get into that. Again, you have big goals, big crazy goals.   Ashton (09:05) Thank you.   Yes.   Jason Hull (09:27) that sound pretty insane to most people. But you know, the people that are bold, that have the audacity to go after these big things, achieve big things. So what are you up to now?   Ashton (09:39) Yeah, so there's actually a great book by Dr. Benjamin Hardy. He has he's written like several and I know you're a big fan of Dr. Hardy's as well. He talks about like those impossible goals and how you really should and actually that one of his latest books, The Science of Scaling, is ⁓ really spurred me to action and not just having like a 10 year time frame, but like a three year time frame. And I can condense these goals.   what I want to do kind of vaguely into really specifics and get it done now. ⁓ So yeah, I would highly recommend anybody listening to also read his books.   Jason Hull (10:20) Yeah, agreed. Phenomenal book. I got to hear him speak down in Mexico and he hadn't released his book yet. And I was with a bunch of entrepreneurs that spent a lot of money to be there. And he all just walked out of the room with their mind blown. We were all just like, ⁓ I've been thinking too small. That's why it's been so hard. And it actually gets easier to grow and scale your business when you start thinking outside of your current mental limitations, which means it has to be something unrealistic or impossible.   Ashton (10:36) Mm-hmm.   Jason Hull (10:49) So that's been a game changer. I've done some episodes talking about this, but same thing for us. Like we've got some big things we're doing this year that are probably a bit ridiculous. And I don't know if we can pull it off, but if we do, DoorGrow will be the dominant player in the industry. And I already feel like we're a leader or leader, but this will be a game changer, some of the stuff that we have planned. And I've talked about it on previous episodes, just a little bit, what we're thinking of doing.   But I think it's going to be some of these things are going to be game changer. and we've got so many irons in the fire right now, like we move fast and it's bit crazy, but that's where the fun is too, right? In business. So I'd rather be lit on fire with too many ideas than be stuck. And I've been that way before where I'm like, what should I do next? know, I work on.   Ashton (11:35) That's like   entrepreneurs worst nightmare is to be feeling stuck and feeling like I'm not moving and I'm not getting traction and I'm not accomplishing anything. That is like absolute hell for us, isn't it?   Jason Hull (11:45) Yeah.   Yeah, I usually joke that entrepreneurs don't care about being happy or sad. They care about whether they're in momentum or whether they're stuck. And when we're stuck, damned, blocked, frustrated, that is hell. That's like, that's hell for us. We're miserable. And yeah, and it kills our motivation, everything. But when we're in momentum, that's the drug we crave. We want to feel like we're making progress and moving forward. And so   I'm that drug dealer. That's what I give out to clients. Like I'm like, let's go. That's hopium. So got to give them some hope. And then they're excited and believe they can do it. But yeah, if you believe you can do something big and you've got a big vision, a big dream, yeah, you start to find new pathways. You start to find new ideas. And so you're working on some crazy stuff. So let's talk about capital meets operations. How do we marry private equity with property management? And could other property managers do this?   Ashton (12:21) You do.   Jason Hull (12:47) excited to hear.   Ashton (12:47) Yeah,   absolutely. So I started in the private equity world really recently. It was like January of this year. And I feel like I've just been drinking out of a fire hose, like learning and being in, I've just made sure to put myself in the right rooms where I'm just like absorbing knowledge and information and wisdom from people and family offices that have been doing this so much longer than I.   Jason Hull (13:13) You've been really focused on learning the private equity space, which a lot of people, that's like some crazy thing they don't really maybe even understand. They're like, oh, don't know how it works. And you decided, hey, want get in on this.   Ashton (13:25) Yeah. ⁓ go   ahead. What was that?   Jason Hull (13:30) You said, I want to get in on this and learn about this and started figuring it out. All right, I'm going to plug our sponsor real quick, who you use, Vendoroo. How's it going with Vendoroo?   Ashton (13:33) Yes. ⁓   And here's amazing. We love them. They they honestly they take care of everything. They're really good about communication. I think they're they're phenomenal. They've been a game changer for us for our day to day ops.   Jason Hull (13:54) Okay, cool. I mean, it's So let me read this and then we'll get back into the show. So many of you tell me that maintenance is probably the least enjoyable part of being a property manager and definitely the most time consuming. But what if you could cut that workload by up to 85 percent? That's exactly what Vendero has achieved. They've leveraged cutting edge AI technology to handle nearly all of your maintenance tasks from initiating work orders and troubleshooting to coordinating with vendors and reporting.   This AI doesn't just automate, it becomes your ideal employee, learning your preferences and executing tasks flawlessly, never needing a day off and never quitting. This frees you up to focus on the critical tasks that really move the needle for your business, whether that's refining operations, expanding your portfolio, or even just taking a well-deserved break. Don't let maintenance drag you down. Step up your property management game with Vendero. Visit vendero.ai slash door grow.   today and make this the last maintenance hire you'll ever need. All right, cool. So let's talk about this private equity stuff. Help me understand what it is. I'm fairly ignorant, so.   Ashton (14:59) Hmm   So basically, I mean, it's a very big term, private equity, and it can span over so many different asset classes. And I think that's one of, I'm sidetracking a little just a minute, but like, I think that's one of my favorite parts about the private equity and PE industry is because you can meet somebody in your same asset class and they're doing something totally different. Like for instance, you know, what you're teaching Jason with the property management and like these operators and entrepreneurs who are   owner operators really, you're teaching us the same framework and we're doing the same exact thing, which there's nothing wrong with that. That's great. That works. It's systemized. In private equity, it's all wild cards. There's a lot of structure to it, but at the same time, everybody can be doing something different. And you're not in competition truly because you all have your own unique spin on it. So it's cool. But what it means is that ⁓ if, so our firm,   we bring in investor capital, ⁓ either through debt or equity. And then our investors trust us. We let them know like what we're investing in. usually have like a it depends on the type of investment. So I try not to get too technical here. It depends on the type of investment, but we let them know, hey, we're investing in XYZ companies, or we're investing in hard assets with like purchasing real estate that meet these certain criteria. So instead of   these investors taking their money and putting it into the stock market, they are putting it with private firms because the stock market is the public equities. then private equity is these private individually owned firms ⁓ that I mean, you have really large ones like BlackRock and Blackstone and ⁓ all of those. And then you have a lot of small ones like myself who are just getting off the ground. We don't have a lot of assets under management yet.   But as we develop that investor base, we're just going to keep that ball rolling and continuing.   Jason Hull (17:04) Yeah, so there's booty   firms, there's gigantic ones, there's lots of different categories of asset classes that they might be involved or invested in. And so somebody can pick a private equity company or something to partner with or get involved with that kind of is involved with the asset classes that they feel comfortable.   Ashton (17:23) Yeah,   absolutely. like, there's some, ⁓ like for us, we're real estate based and specifically Florida based real estate. There's, have friends who own hedge funds and that's all they do is hedge funds and specifically in like just in gold or in like just in commodities. We, there's people who are running funds based on really specific short-term rentals or within a five mile radius of national parks. So it gets down really, really, really specific.   ⁓ Up until like you large firms with very large funds and they have a diversified asset class over You know, they have hedge funds. They they're doing running venture They're doing ⁓ you know Secondaries they're actually in like the private equity sphere there. So it just really depends on on the firm itself and you want to make sure as if there's any investors listening you want to make sure that ⁓ your you fit with   how that firm is treating your money and running your money, and that it aligns with your goals, obviously, not just monetarily, but also with what they're investing in.   Jason Hull (18:32) Right, got it. Okay. And so how can property managers start to get involved in this and create this marriage? What are you doing?   Ashton (18:43) Yeah, so we're kind of doing it a little bit backwards. Most private equity firms, they start with raising capital and then they're going out and buying the asset and then they're outsourcing their vendors. So one of those vendors being property management and that's really where the gains and losses are happening is in the daily management style there. Then they realize and typically restructure   that they could be making more money. They could be increasing their bottom lines and everything else with that management. Everything hinges on the management when you're talking like hard assets in real estate, whether that's multifamily commercial, you know, residence, whatever it is. ⁓ So when they bring it in-house, they are restructuring. And there's also been a huge problem with   Jason Hull (19:36) Yeah.   Ashton (19:41) And I've been hearing this lately, huge problem with investor capital really not being watched out for by these firms because they're outsourcing all their vendors. What we did instead is I had already have the acquisition engine through our brokerage. We've already got all the systems set up in place for our property management firms, both short and long. Now we added the private equity firm. I have a series 65. So we're actually a state registered   Jason Hull (19:51) Right.   Ashton (20:10) like investment advisory firm for true asset management on the back end, which a lot of private equity firms do not have that. And then we added the capital. So we literally just did it backwards. And now we're focused on acquiring not only hard assets with cash flowing tenant occupied portfolios that meet certain metrics. We have to have a certain   Jason Hull (20:12) Okay.   Okay.   .   Ashton (20:37) IRR, we have to have a certain cap rate and a certain cash on cash return to even peak our interest. The other thing that we're buying is property management businesses. So we are working on acquisitions right now. We just completed one last week and we've got two more in the hopper. So we are going in and offering these off-market portfolios, know, minimum 20 up to, you   We have no limit on how many we'll buy, like minimum 20 units and we want creative financing. So we want to structure the deal where the seller and the owner is holding the majority of that note. We're using investor capital for the down payment. We're saving some to hedge for ⁓ reserves and we're going in and buying these companies to add to our revenue and our to our bottom line.   Jason Hull (21:35) I love it.   Ashton (21:36) Roll   up. That's the name and the term that's used in the private equity space is roll up.   Jason Hull (21:42) Roll-up, got it. So I've seen some of these companies in the past. I had a client, he eventually exited and sold his business to Home River Group. He had like 2,000 doors. So then he was kind more of a partner in Home River Group, 30,000 eventually. And he became kind of a consultant that would come in and these roll-ups that were being done in some instances, because they did it the reverse way from what you did, they thought they could just throw money at the problem.   So they went and acquired a whole bunch of property management companies. Sometimes, like some companies would acquire like 10,000 doors. Then they would fire like 7,000 of them because they realized there was so much garbage and it was difficult to manage. And then they thought they could just put in or install a property manager in and then the business would just run. But no real leadership for the boots on the ground. And so they would bring him in as a consultant. He would go in, fire everybody.   Ashton (22:34) Mm.   Jason Hull (22:42) organize a team, build a business and act as an interim CEO till he got the thing healthy and running. And he would make a lot of money because they were losing a lot of money trying to make this work. And people don't realize how hard property management can be. And so I think, yes, property managers have an advantage because they have the hardest piece of this entire puzzle, it sounds like.   Ashton (23:05) Yeah, it definitely is because you're dealing with you're dealing with tenants, you're dealing with the day to day your you are the boots on the ground. So that is why it is so important before we started any of this, I wanted to make sure that we had the proper systems in place that we could scale 500 more doors without blinking an eye. That is where you have to have that mindset and like you have to know what's going on before adding because when you just add   doors and just think that exactly what you said add doors and thinking that that's just going to like solve your problem you're just multiplying your problem whatever problems you have at 20 doors is going to be 10 fold at a thousand doors or more so ⁓ and more just doesn't necessarily equal better and that is one reason like in our contracts we actually do have clawbacks so if we do end up getting rid of owners that just aren't a fit   our purchase price is reduced down from the seller. So it gives the seller an incentive to ensure that they're selling us a good.   Jason Hull (24:11) Got it, yeah, that's important to have all that's in any sort of acquisition deal. So for other property managers that are looking to get into private equity and they're looking at maybe starting to do this, because they're like, you know what, I've got a healthy property management company, we've got the systems in place, is there somebody that I can partner with on this that already knows how to do it or can I go and learn to do this?   What would you say between those two options and where would you send them?   Ashton (24:43) Really? It depends on the person. This isn't for everybody. know, you, what I would recommend, and this is honestly what I tell anybody, no matter what business they're in, if they're thinking about growing, where do you want to be in three years? And let's reverse engineer it from there. So if you want to, like for us, our, our plan is to roll up to about 5,500 doors and then exit. So   Jason Hull (24:45) Yeah.   Got it.   Ashton (25:12) I already knew where I wanted to be. And so like, I wanted to exit at a certain amount. So I was like, how do I get to this amount? And then I just backed it up from there. ⁓ but that's, everybody's going to have a different goal. So I would highly recommend just like starting with that initial goal. that's, if that goal is freedom, if it is like, you want to be able to exit, you want to have, you want to just run a massive company, whatever it is, start there and then figure it out backwards.   Jason Hull (25:21) Okay.   Ashton (25:41) As far as bringing on capital and investor capital, whether they want to partner with somebody or if they want to like bring on debt, that's also a comfort level thing. ⁓ And it also depends on like what you and that other person that's bringing in the capital agree to and what you both feel like is the optimal solution. But before doing that, definitely educate yourself and find someone ⁓ either as a consultant like   Right now I am doing a little bit of consulting work for ⁓ different ⁓ funds as well as like companies like, you know, like what we're doing ⁓ for, you know, to help them with what their goals are. Let's back it up and then let's go from there. And like just adding some advice and getting them in touch with the right people that they need as far as connections. Analysts, numbers are so important when you're talking with investors.   You can't just be like, I think it's going to make this an investor, especially a sophisticated one is not going to go for that. Maybe friends and family will what I call country club money, but ⁓ a sophisticated investor, absolutely not. They're going to want to see a pro forma. ⁓ So there's so many steps involved before you ever, ever, ever bring on a dime of investor capital. So.   Jason Hull (26:51) Yep.   Ashton (27:09) I'm sorry, that's not like a ⁓ space.   Jason Hull (27:10) So, well, it sounds like   the path is maybe this. Like if you're a property manager first, you got to get your side of the room clean. You got to get your business tight. You got to get operations working, maybe reach out to DoorGro, get a little help, but you got to get things really well dialed in because it doesn't make sense to go start playing with other people's money and be on the hook for other people's money and investors.   Ashton (27:20) Yes.   was not.   Jason Hull (27:36) if you don't really feel like you have the ability to scale, you don't really feel like you can handle stuff, because if once money starts flowing and doors start adding, then if your stuff is okay, it's going to be stress tested and probably not okay. So that's probably first. Next, they need to learn about private equity, figure out that game, and then even once you figure out how that all works, then you've got to get good at selling it, which you are already a natural, you know...   Ashton (27:51) Yeah, exactly.   Jason Hull (28:05) Salesperson, you've invested a lot towards figuring that out, but then you're going out and you have to raise the cap.   Ashton (28:11) Raising capital is literally one of the hardest jobs. It is insane because you want to build a relationship and you want someone to trust you, but you're also asking for a check. And so it's trying to balance the relationship aspect as well as the transactional aspect. And it's even harder as a woman because private equity is definitely, ⁓ there's not a lot of women in this field.   Jason Hull (28:32) Yeah.   Ashton (28:41) ⁓ so it's even harder being like of the opposite gender. ⁓ so there's a lot to balance there. so getting, getting comfortable asking, but not being pushy. It's that I've learned so much from.   Jason Hull (28:56) As a woman, you've had   to take maybe a more feminine approach or you go in hot the way most guys would.   Ashton (29:04) It depends on the person.   It depends on my audience. You have to sell the way somebody wants to buy. So I've learned not to, at the beginning, I was definitely very transactional. And I've learned ⁓ through a dear friend of mine that to be more relationship-based and then that will come a little bit later with the transaction. ⁓ But at the same time, because I'm like,   Jason Hull (29:11) Yeah.   Mm-hmm.   Ashton (29:32) I need to know now. Like, I don't want to waste my time. I don't want to waste their time. We just need to lay it out on the table right now. They need to know what I'm here for. ⁓ I've had to like roll that back a little bit. And since I have, the checks have been definitely coming in a little bit smoother. So it was a huge learning experience for me.   Jason Hull (29:51) Yeah.   Ashton, how old are you right now for those listening? All they've heard is 23.   Ashton (29:59) I'm 30 now.   Jason Hull (30:01) 30 now, okay, you're 30 years old, you're doing amazing things. What amount of capital are you raising right now? Like what's your goal?   Ashton (30:05) Yeah.   Yeah, so we do different like rounds or like tranches of raising and it right now we are raising for specific projects. So as the projects come up, then we go out to our current investors first and then to like new potential investors next. ⁓ So in the spring, we're about to start doing another raise for ⁓ one, a business and then two, a couple other. ⁓   real estate portfolios that I'm looking at. ⁓ So that is going to be around the $800,000 mark of capital. And typically we do like minimum commitments of 100 because when you get into smaller amounts, typically the investors that are, I just become a little bit more needy because they're only, they're not as sophisticated and we want to deal with the investors who are.   Jason Hull (31:06) Got it. Yeah, that makes sense. Very cool. Sounds like you're doing really cool things. So Ashton, for those that are listening and they're curious about you, they're curious about maybe getting into this, you mentioned you do some consulting, you mentioned there may be investors or maybe they want to get in on some of the investing stuff that you're doing. How can they get in touch with you?   Ashton (31:29) Yeah, so they can send us an email. That would be the best way to you can send it to info at FX to capital calm. ⁓ And we, you know, are one of our interns checks that email on the daily. ⁓ So then we can set up an investor call and go through really well what your goals are. What is your portfolio look like right now?   How are you diversifying yourself? And maybe we can talk about what we can do to help increase that, maybe rebalance you a little bit within the private space and in the private markets.   Jason Hull (32:06) Cool, well property managers, if you're listening, I think Ashton's definitely doing something that's very cool. A lot of you probably could get in on this or create some sort of alliance or relationships that could allow you to be part of something like this. Even if it's just you're getting doors from other people that are in the private equity space that are rolling up a bunch of investment properties, this would be easy doors for you to get on if you really could do a good job. And it sounds like that's the linchpin, that's the hardest piece of the puzzle.   And if you're a good property manager, you've got that down then. So you've got a competitive advantage. So Ashwin, I appreciate you coming on and sharing this here on the board.   Ashton (32:43) Thank you.   Yeah, that was so much fun. It was so great talking to you.   Jason Hull (32:48) Awesome, so we'll go ahead and wrap up. For those of you that are feeling stuck, stagnant, you want to take your property management business to the next level, reach out to us at doorgrow.com for a free training on how to get unlimited free leads. Text the word leads to 512-648-4608. Also join our free Facebook community. It's just for property management business owners at doorgrowclub.com. And if you want tips, tricks, ideas to learn maybe about some of our offers,   subscribe to our newsletter by going to doorgrow.com slash subscribe. And if you found this even a little bit helpful, don't forget to subscribe, leave us a review. Anything like that would really help us out. We would appreciate it. And until next time, remember, the slowest, absolute slowest path to growth is to do it alone. And you heard Ashton, she's leveraging a lot of people to do what she's doing to grow. So let's grow together. Bye everyone.

This week, we're going to focus on updates to two stories that have captured the public's attention in recent weeks: the Jeffrey Epstein files and the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. In both cases, sifting fact from fiction can be difficult as online sleuths share theories all over social media. We'll also cover two crimes that you might have missed. Featuring audio from KRLD 1080 in Dallas-Fort Worth, WWJ Newsradio in Detroit, Chad Hartman out of WCCO News Talk in the Twin Cities, WBEN in Buffalo, the Bob Rose Show out of 97.3 the Sky in Central Florida and the Marc Cox Morning Show out of 97.1 The Talk in St. Louis, Mo.

This week, we're going to focus on updates to two stories that have captured the public's attention in recent weeks: the Jeffrey Epstein files and the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. In both cases, sifting fact from fiction can be difficult as online sleuths share theories all over social media. We'll also cover two crimes that you might have missed. Featuring audio from KRLD 1080 in Dallas-Fort Worth, WWJ Newsradio in Detroit, Chad Hartman out of WCCO News Talk in the Twin Cities, WBEN in Buffalo, the Bob Rose Show out of 97.3 the Sky in Central Florida and the Marc Cox Morning Show out of 97.1 The Talk in St. Louis, Mo.

This week, we're going to focus on updates to two stories that have captured the public's attention in recent weeks: the Jeffrey Epstein files and the disappearance of Nancy Guthrie. In both cases, sifting fact from fiction can be difficult as online sleuths share theories all over social media. We'll also cover two crimes that you might have missed. Featuring audio from KRLD 1080 in Dallas-Fort Worth, WWJ Newsradio in Detroit, Chad Hartman out of WCCO News Talk in the Twin Cities, WBEN in Buffalo, the Bob Rose Show out of 97.3 the Sky in Central Florida and the Marc Cox Morning Show out of 97.1 The Talk in St. Louis, Mo.

Marketing isn't just about lead generation. That's a common theme throughout the podcast. In this episode, I review how a nerve racking procedure was made easier with the use of strategic marketing. As well as how it drives massive revenue for a Vasectomy clinic in Central Florida. Don't worry, I directly tie these lessons into exactly how you can apply this to your business. Enjoying the podcast? Wait until you see what's in camp. Start a free trial at: https://campers.msp-camp.com/

Audio surf report and surf forecast on February 13 for Central Florida and the Southeast. Your host will also enlighten you on current events in the surfing industry and talk about events and entertainment happenings in the local and regional area. Surf Guru is also sure to dig up some new music that will get your feet groovin'. Stay tuned for more ...

A couple of weeks ago, much of Florida saw its coldest weather in many years, with teens in North Florida and 20s in Central Florida even before wind chills. Now many homeowners have fruit trees, hedges and tropicals with freeze damage. We speak with Sally Scalera, an extension agent with the University of Florida's Institute for Food and Agricultural Sciences, on how to help your garden bounce back.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Lions are back!

Women Business Voices of Central Florida: Kendra Cooke on Women's Empowerment & Financial Literacy in TampaJoin host Ariel in this episode of Women Business Voices of Central Florida as she sits down with Kendra Cooke, TEDx speaker, author, and founder of K Cooke Consulting in Tampa. After 30 years building a successful real estate business, Kendra now dedicates her work to empowering women entrepreneurs throughout Central Florida, Orlando, and beyond through retreats, coaching, and speaking events.Discover how Kendra creates safe spaces for women to address limiting beliefs, talk openly about money, and design lives on their own terms. She shares her journey from near bankruptcy to selling her brokerage at 50, the pivotal moment her husband gave her permission to follow her passion, and how therapy and journaling became her foundation for helping others.Learn about Kendra's book "Embrace, Empower, Evolve," The Daily Well planner she co-created with business partner Julie Davis, and her sold-out women's empowerment retreats at Evermore Resort near Disney in Orlando. She discusses the importance of filling your well, celebrating victories, investing in the right rooms, and why emotions are data worth acknowledging.Kendra also shares her mastermind coaching approach, upcoming speaking events across the country, and her involvement in Amberly Lago's Unstoppable community. Her work serves women in Tampa, Orlando, Lake Mary, and throughout Central Florida who are ready to become CEOs of their own lives.Perfect for Central Florida women entrepreneurs seeking authentic business wisdom, financial literacy education, and supportive community connections.Connect with Kendra Cooke: kendracooke.com | Tampa, Florida | TEDx Speaker | Author | LinkedIn & Instagram: @kendracookeAriel Faith, Visual Alignment Expert, I help women leaders align their brand messaging through commercial photography, bringing joyful growth to their business.Commercial Photographer | Speaker | Podcast HostService West Volusia and Central Florida.https://arieljoyfaith.com/LinkedIn -  https://www.linkedin.com/in/ariel-personalbranding

What do you do when fear won't shut up? This week on The Breakdown Podcast, we sat down with Pastor James to break down his message "How To Get Your Confidence Back," rooted in Psalm 27:1–14. We talk about how to regain confidence when anxiety feels louder than truth, and how David faced real enemies, real pressure, and real uncertainty—yet chose faith before his feelings ever caught up. We unpack what biblical confidence really looks like, why confidence isn't denial but direction, and how trusting God helps you move forward even when fear is loud. If fear or anxiety has been shaking your confidence, this conversation will help you stand firm again. Everyone helping someone take steps to follow Christ. This is the vision of Journey Church, led by Pastor James Hilton, with multiple locations throughout Central Florida. https://journeyconnect.org ____ Stay Connected Website: https://journeyconnect.org Facebook: http://facebook.com/journeyconnect Instagram: https://instagram.com/journeyconnect/ To support Journey Church's mission and help us transform lives both locally and globally, visit: https://journeyconnect.org/giving #journeychurch #jameshilton

Audio surf report and surf forecast on February 11 for Central Florida and the Southeast. Your host will also enlighten you on current events in the surfing industry and talk about events and entertainment happenings in the local and regional area. Surf Guru is also sure to dig up some new music that will get your feet groovin'. Stay tuned for more ...

The Space Show Present Dr. Greg Autry, Tuesday, Feb. 3, 2026Quick Summary: The group explored various aspects of the Artemis program, including its challenges, timeline concerns, and comparison with China's space efforts, while discussing the importance of maintaining U.S. leadership in space exploration. The conversation concluded with discussions about space policy, commercial space activities, and educational challenges facing the U.S., with emphasis on the need to generate public enthusiasm for space exploration initiatives.Detailed SummaryDavid introduced Dr. Greg Autry, a space policy expert and economics professor at UCF, to discuss his work and recent developments in space exploration. They touched on the Artemis II mission, commercial space launches in Florida, and concerns about the U.S. moon landing timeline. Greg expresses skepticism about the political commitment to space exploration under potential new leadership, noting that candidates like Vance and Harris may not prioritize space initiatives. The conversation concludes with a brief overview of Greg's background and upcoming programs at UCF.Dr. Autry discussed his role at the University of Central Florida, where he helped launch the world's first space MBA program in collaboration with Professor Zahir Ali. He highlighted the program's space-relevant curriculum, notable faculty, and upcoming guest speakers, including Pam Melroy and Jim Bridenstine. Autry also introduced the Space Ideation Challenge, a competition offering $125,000 in prize money for innovative space policy ideas. Greg also mentioned the delay of the Artemis launch due to cold weather affecting the hydrogen seals. He expressed pride in contributing to the decision to return to the moon in 2016 and shared his thoughts on the public's perception of the Artemis program.Our Wisdom Team group discussed the challenges and potential of the Artemis program, particularly focusing on the Starship mission and the complexities involved. They expressed concerns about the timeline for meeting 2028 deadlines, given the complexity of the technology and the need for political appointments. Despite these challenges, Greg expressed optimism about Administrator Jared Isaacman's leadership and the potential for a sustainable and permanent presence on the moon. Greg also compared the U.S. approach to the moon with China's simpler program, viewing the U.S. effort as a more ambitious but worthwhile endeavor.Our team discussed the Artemis program and space exploration strategy, with Phil sharing insights from a space historian's video that criticized NASA's approach as being too focused on quick wins rather than long-term scientific objectives. Greg noted that Americans typically prefer a “poker” approach to waiting for lucky breaks rather than the Chinese “Go” style of careful long-term planning, but emphasized that the Orion capsule and Space Launch System have been under development since 2003 and 2010 respectively, with continuity through multiple administrations. The discussion concluded with Marshall raising questions about launch facility readiness, which Autry addressed by explaining that the United States has three human-rated launch pads, with facilities at Cape Canaveral and the Space Force side being prepared for Starship launches.Our team discussed the need for infrastructure and base building on the moon, with Ajay emphasizing the importance of starting construction to save face for the Trump administration and prevent future program cancellations. Autry noted that while Artemis II will be significant, they need to generate public enthusiasm. Ajay proposed using Falcon Heavy to transport 14 tons of payload to the moon's surface. David questioned the likelihood of private companies alone achieving these goals, to which Greg responded that while private companies could theoretically fund it, they might be reluctant to make donations to a government program.The group discussed space policy and commercial space activities, with Dr. Greg Autry emphasizing that NASA's Artemis program should continue while exploring additional initiatives like Ajay's proposed lunar lander concept, which Autry suggested could be an addition rather than replacement for existing programs. The discussion covered concerns about China's space program and the importance of maintaining U.S. leadership in space, with Autry noting that completing the Artemis moon program is crucial to avoid having China claim superiority over the U.S. The conversation also touched on educational challenges facing the U.S. and the need to better prepare students for science and engineering careers, while David highlighted growing public interest in space science among younger generations.Special thanks to our sponsors:American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Helix Space in Luxembourg, Celestis Memorial Spaceflights, Astrox Corporation, Dr. Haym Benaroya of Rutgers University, The Space Settlement Progress Blog by John Jossy, The Atlantis Project, and Artless EntertainmentOur Toll Free Line for Live Broadcasts: 1-866-687-7223 (Not in service at this time)For real time program participation, email Dr. Space at: drspace@thespaceshow.com for instructions and access.The Space Show is a non-profit 501C3 through its parent, One Giant Leap Foundation, Inc. To donate via Pay Pal, use:To donate with Zelle, use the email address: david@onegiantleapfoundation.org.If you prefer donating with a check, please make the check payable to One Giant Leap Foundation and mail to:One Giant Leap Foundation, 11035 Lavender Hill Drive Ste. 160-306 Las Vegas, NV 89135Upcoming Programs:Broadcast 4502 Zoom Steve Wolfe, Elizabeth Change | Tuesday 10 Feb 2026 700PM PTGuests: Steven WolfeZoom: Steve Wolfe , Elizabeth Change on the Beyond Earth Upcoming Symposium and more BE newsBroadcast 4503: Hotel Mars with Rick Fisher | Wednesday 11 Feb 2026 930AM PTGuests: Rick Fisher, John Batchelor, Dr. David LivingstonRick Brings us news regarding United States and China are also locked in a contest regarding Solar System domination between China and the USBroadcast 4504 Zoom: Frank Pietronigro | Friday 13 Feb 2026 930AM PTGuests: Frank PietronigroZoom: Frank discusses the Zero Gravity Arts Commission and moreBroadcast 4506 Zoom Open Lines | Sunday 15 Feb 2026 1200PM PTGuests: Dr. David LivingstonOpen Lines discussion. All topics welcome Get full access to The Space Show-One Giant Leap Foundation at doctorspace.substack.com/subscribe

With less than six months until the FIFA World Cup kicks off across North America, organizers at Florida Citrus Sports are gearing up for friendlies between some of the biggest names in the game. OBJ Editor-in-Chief Richard Bilbao invites Florida Cup Series CEO and former soccer star Ricardo Villar to give us a preview.

Register here to attend the live virtual event "Why Central Florida is the Year's Most Compelling Housing Market" on Thursday, February 19th at 8pm Eastern. Keith looks at how a changing Federal Reserve leadership might shape the interest rate environment, then zooms in on what's really happening with homebuilders versus remodelers across the country.  You'll hear about a lesser-known strategy some investors are using to step back from day-to-day landlording while keeping their income, and then we head to Central Florida to explore why one fast-growing market is quietly becoming a hotspot for new-build rental properties.  Along the way, a longtime Florida builder joins the show to explain how they're creating affordable, investment-friendly homes and what kinds of rents and tenant demand they're seeing on the ground—plus a way you can learn more live if this opportunity fits your own portfolio plans. Resources: Register for the event at GREwebinars.com Episode Page: GetRichEducation.com/592 For access to properties or free help with a GRE Investment Coach, start here: GREmarketplace.com GRE Free Investment Coaching: GREinvestmentcoach.com Get mortgage loans for investment property: RidgeLendingGroup.com or call 855-74-RIDGE  or e-mail: info@RidgeLendingGroup.com Invest with Freedom Family Investments.  For predictable 10-12% quarterly returns, visit FreedomFamilyInvestments.com/GRE or text  1-937-795-8989 to speak with a freedom coach Will you please leave a review for the show? I'd be grateful. Search "how to leave an Apple Podcasts review"  For advertising inquiries, visit: GetRichEducation.com/ad Best Financial Education: GetRichEducation.com Get our wealth-building newsletter free— GREletter.com  Our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/GetRichEducation Follow us on Instagram: @getricheducation Complete episode transcript:   Keith Weinhold  0:01   welcome to GRE. I'm your host. Keith Weinhold, the naming of a new Federal Reserve Chair. Then are homebuilders in trouble today? There are a dwindling number of them, and their profits are down. I'll talk to a homebuilder. Listen to what amenities tenants want today, and it's interesting. We'll learn how low of a mortgage rate builders will give you. Now there's an opportunity here today on get rich education.   Corey Coates  0:30   Since 2014 the powerful get rich education podcast has created more passive income for people than nearly any other show in the world. This show teaches you how to earn strong returns from passive real estate investing in the best markets without losing your time being a flipper or landlord. Show Host Keith Weinhold writes for both Forbes and Rich Dad advisors, and delivers a new show every week since 2014 there's been millions of listener downloads of 188 world nations. He has a list show guests include top selling personal finance author Robert Kiyosaki. Get rich education can be heard on every podcast platform, plus it has its own dedicated Apple and Android listener phone apps build wealth on the go with the get rich education podcast. Sign up now for the get rich education podcast or visit get rich education.com   Keith Weinhold  1:14   mid south home buyers with over two decades as the nation's highest rated turnkey provider, their empathetic property managers use your return on investment as their North Star. It's no wonder smart investors line up to get their completely renovated income properties like it's the newest iPhone headquartered in Memphis, with their globally attractive cash flows, mid south has an A plus rating with the Better Business Bureau and 4000 houses renovated, there is zero markup on maintenance. Let that sink in, and they average a 98.9% occupancy rate with an industry leading three and a half year average renter term. Every home they offer you will have brand new components, a bumper to bumper, one year warranty, new 30 year roofs. And wait for it, a high quality renter in an astounding price range, 100 to 150k GET TO KNOW mid south enjoy cash flow from day one at mid southhomebuyers.com that's mid southhomebuyers.com   Speaker 1  2:17   You're listening to the show that has created more financial freedom than nearly any show in the world. This is get rich education.   Keith Weinhold  2:33   Welcome to GRE from countersport Pennsylvania to Davenport Iowa and across 488 nations worldwide. I'm Keith Weinhold, and you're listening to get rich education now more than ever, where you learn about personal finance and real estate investing matters. There's more AI generated content out there. This show is all flesh and blood me. There's also more clickbait content out there that says something like the housing market is about to have a price crash. No, it's not. They're just there to get short term attention. So your information source really matters today. New incoming Fed chair, Kevin Warsh, was recently named. He will replace the outgoing Jerome Powell on May 15. I want to tell you more about that in a moment. But first, just imagine if this scenario were to occur, say that we get a Fed chair that has to deal with really high inflation. And so what this Fed chair does is that he successfully brings inflation down, and he does that without triggering a recession that's called a soft landing. Well, you know what? That's exactly what Jerome Powell did the past three years. Yeah, that's what he's accomplished, and he doesn't get credit for it. He only gets a lot of criticism. Now this doesn't mean that I love Powell. I don't even know that the Fed should exist at all, but Powell got a lot of criticism for calling 2022, wave of inflation transitory, and being too late to respond to it. So he gets some credit here as his term of more than eight years winds down. Let's listen in to some of Jay Powell's recent comments about succession,    Speaker 2  4:23   you've obviously experienced a lot during your time as Fed chair, served under multiple presidents. I'm wondering what advice you have for whoever your successor might be.   Speaker 3  4:34   Honestly, I'd say a couple of things. One is, you know, stay out of elected politics. Don't get pulled into elected politics don't do it. And that's another thing. Another is that you know, our window into democratic accountability is Congress, and it's not a passive burden for us to go. To Congress and talk to people. It's an affirmative, regular obligation. If you want democratic legitimacy, you earn it by your interactions with the our elected overseers. And so it's something you need to work hard at, and I have worked hard at it so and the last thing is, you know, it's easy to it's easy to criticize government institutions so many ways. I will tell whoever it is you're about to meet the most qualified group of people you not only have ever worked with, you will ever work with and when you meet fed staff. And not everybody's perfect, but, but there isn't a better cadre of professionals more dedicated to the public well being than work at the Fed.    Keith Weinhold  5:43   Yeah. So to Powell's point, the next Fed chair, worsh, does champion fed independence, much like Powell has. That is a good thing that keeps America from turning into a banana republic that maintains a strong dollar. Warsh was actually a Fed Governor back during the 2008 global financial crisis, so he's got that experience when he comes in as Fed Chair in three months, he's widely expected to lower interest rates more than Powell did, much like the president wants. Kevin Warsh looks a lot like Michael Scott from the office. He has got to be less bumbling than him, though, overall, the effect on real estate and mortgage rates by shifting from PAL to worsh, I mean, that should be pretty mild. Maybe you'll see rates go a little lower than if pal had stayed and speaking of rates, wait till you see how low the mortgage rate is that our homebuilder guest is offering today. What's really happening with homebuilders now? How much trouble are they in? Homebuilders have largely been maligned. Overall. There are fewer homebuilders today in America than there were 20 years ago, and there are more remodelers than there were 20 years ago, fewer home builders, more remodelers, and that's for a few different reasons. Over the past couple decades, we just have substantially higher labor and material costs, stricter building and energy codes, higher interest rates, and that disproportionately hurts long duration construction projects. We've got zoning constraints and land constraints that make ground up development slow and uncertain and risky. So while the number of Home Builders in America is down, the number of remodelers are up, because America's housing stock is getting older. Its median age is over 40 years, and that creates constant demand for upgrades. Capital prefers faster, lower risk cycles. That's what remodels offer, and homeowners with locked in low mortgage rates choose to stay in place. And what does that make them do? That makes them renovate and remodel, not move. So this is why, compared to 20 years ago, you have fewer home builders and more remodelers. Today, that's per the NAHB and the Census Bureau and all these forces, they've resulted in a lower profit margin for homebuilders. Yes, homebuilder margin compression for a lot of the bigger builders, including DR Horton, just as you might guess in this cycle, their profits were greatest in 2022 and they have fallen since then. Higher mortgage rates came in, and builders had to lose profits by offering more incentives to entice buyers. You're going to learn more about that today and how it really spells quite an opportunity for you and I. When the final change in national home prices was tallied for the end of last year, they had risen in 16,500 zip codes. All right, that's 63% of America's zip codes, and prices were lower from a year earlier in the other 37% home price gains were concentrated in the Northeast and Midwest, and the story there continues to be too many buyers and not enough homes. In fact, over 85% of zip codes saw price growth in Illinois, Connecticut, Wisconsin and Indiana, slow, steady, stubborn, kind of like winter refusing to leave. Losses were predominant in the Sun Belt. Prices caught their breath there. There was price attrition in Florida, with 96% of zip codes, so nearly all of Florida, then California, 78% of zip codes had a price loss. Texas, 75% of them and Arizona, 73% the biggest pocket of opportunity appears to be in Florida. Florida property is on sale. And because real estate is local. A lot of times we talk here nationally, but to get to that local level, sometimes you have to dig in to a local market to really find out what's going on. We're going to do that today. Now, central Miami, Orlando and Tampa, they're not generally the spot for obtaining cash flow from long term rentals. I've identified an opportunity. We'll get into that with this Florida homebuilder shortly. It's kind of funny. You'll run into people that say they want opportunity, but what they really want is certainty. How it plays out, though, is that once the certainty arrives, the opportunity is gone, and that's how to think about Florida and maybe Texas and some of these other markets today that have had price attrition.    Keith Weinhold  10:48   Now, three weeks ago, here on the show, I discussed the 721 exchange for the first time. So I won't get into all those details again when it comes time for you to sell your investment property, the 721 can be the best way for you to cash out. Perhaps you've been investing in real estate for a while and you have turned get rich education into got rich education. How the 721 exchange works is they basically say you have a case where you're a rental property owner and you realize that you don't want the hassles of landlording anymore. Oftentimes, this can mean you're older and real estate investing already took you where you wanted it to take you in life's journey, but you still like the financial benefit that ownership gives you. What you can do is exchange your properties into a partnership and receive shares in that partnership. Now that's different than a 1031, exchange. That's where you trade up some of your property that you directly own for what's usually more and larger property that you directly own. Well, instead, here's the big deal with exchanging your properties into a 721, partnership. The rules stipulate that this is not a taxable event, and therefore you don't have to pay any capital gains tax or depreciation recapture. Now that you're an owner in the partnership, you still get some of the benefits of owning the property, like appreciation and cash flow and such, yet no management or landlording at all like you would have with a 1031 and with a 721 you get all these benefits across a greater number of properties and markets diversification because you're a fractional owner in the other properties that are in the partnership, not only your own, and when you eventually pass away, your shares are stepped up in basis and can be distributed equally to heirs and C It's surely easier for you to divide shares among, say, your three children, than it is to divide your 18 rental houses among three children Who are going to have different goals and varying degrees of financial savvy. So the 721, exchange is a great estate planning tool too. You will have this partnership that makes an offer to buy your property. You're exchanging them for partnership shares. There's a firm that does this called flock homes, and they have a certain Buy Box to be clear with the 721, exchange, you can basically trade your rentals for shares in a diversified, professionally managed Real Estate Fund. This means that you keep your hard earned equity defer capital gains and other taxes, and you still get access to steady income and long term appreciation without the hassle of landlord duties, and you can visit flockhomes.com/gre, and get a free valuation. Get an offer for your property, see if it fits their buy box and see how much they'll pay you. There's often no need to pay to fix up or stage the property for sale or pay agent commissions for a certain investor type. This really can be a rather life changing experience for you to liquidate some or all of your property have zero tax obligation and still enjoy income and appreciation. So again, what you can do is stop by flock homes.com/gre, that's F, l, O, C, K, homes.com/g, R, E, let's discuss the home building climate today.   Keith Weinhold  14:38   I'd like to bring in a premium Florida homebuilder guest to the show, Jim, because there has been more homebuilding in Florida such that some areas of the state have excess supply. And when you add that onto the fact that the hot pandemic migration to Florida has slowed such that home prices have made a rare dip in the state, that is why it. A timely topic. Jim, you're on GRE Welcome to the show. Keith, great to be here. Thanks for having me. Yeah, and we did the IRL thing in Colorado there a few weeks ago. That was great hanging out in person. You provide entry level new build homes, mostly in Central Florida. And these are properties that are conducive to real estate pays five ways. These are properties that investors chiefly buy as rentals. So just bigger picture, tell us about that overall experience over, say, the last five years, as the pandemic wound down,    Jim Sheils  15:35   yeah, as the pandemic wound down, obviously Florida had a lot of attention. Some of it, rightly so, some of it, I think a little more inflated and commercial attention getting thrown at it. And you know, the type of deals that you and I have always stayed away from were very popular in Florida. You know, we're talking really nice houses. Keith, beautiful, nice HOAs people got in in 2021 let's say, with those very low interest rates on a six or $700,000 home, but now they're realizing that it's not going up $100,000 a year as they thought. And when they try to sell it, well, people trying to buy in $700,000 home, they're not getting that low interest rate. And if these people try to hold it and rent it, well, it doesn't cash flow, so it breaks one of those rules. It's not putting money in people's pockets, taking it out. And so we're seeing there was a large distribution of those types of houses around Florida. And then there were some builders like us that really focused on what was the most needed, and that was workforce housing. Now workforce housing, though, Keith, as you know, a lot of the builders don't want to build it. Why? Let's be straight. It's because the margins are lower right. But as you know, with me and my partner Chris, it was always let's make less margin and do more volume. That was always our model, and that was the area of the market where we felt we could build it right, we could get it financed right, and we could manage it right to hit the five things. And so we're seeing today, post pandemic, there are still key markets where the population growth is still the highest, coming into Florida, the prices are still the lowest, and there is a shortage of this type of workforce housing.   Keith Weinhold  17:11   Yes, you've identified a geography within Florida that have some of these characteristics like you're talking about. Tell us more about that region.   Jim Sheils  17:20   Yeah, we call it the Ocala region, so Central Florida, just west of Orlando. Right now, for example, u haul does their U haul top markets rankings every year? So where are the most U haul trucks going to now, you don't want to be on their side where they're coming from, Keith, because that's obviously the opposite. But for the second year in a row, the greater Ocala area has been the number 1u haul destination place in the country. So there's still a ton of population growth going there. Central Florida, I'm not going to say it sat out the growth during the pandemic that a lot of areas of Florida did, but it was starting at such a low basis with such a small amount of attention that today, even when people say, oh gosh, like I just said, house is 600 700 800,000 we're building new construction single family homes for under 300,000 the 270s a lot of the time. And we're building duplexes sometimes for under 400,000 and a lot of our you know, investors coming from the west coast. Say, are these fully built? Are they? But again, Central Florida has had a great affordability. Remain intact. It has a large population going in. There is a ton of job resource just blowing up in the area. And as you know, these are the things we look for. So we bought a lot of lots there. I'm gonna give credit to my partner, Chris. He saw calla more than I did, and we bought a lot of lots there in 2020 so before all the rises. So we got into the land basis, right? So that means we can build them at a great price. Our land basis is low, and that obviously passes along to our clients. And again, Central Florida is a perfect match for our goal. Because, you know, our goal is workforce housing, that cash flows on day one. But also nothing wrong with fixer uppers. I own a lot. I used to do a lot, but the new construction seems to have a little bit more of a less involvement, which it seems like a lot of our clients want.   Keith Weinhold  19:15   That was really prescient, as it turned out, for your business partner, Chris there to gobble up a lot of that land in 2020 before prices went soaring. And this is one reason why you can do things like offer a duplex for less than 400k That's a new build, which has some people saying like, does that thing include a roof even? But it surely does. These are very good quality livable properties. And the reason I have you here, Jim is because you are rare. There are fewer builders today than there were in decades past, and also those that build to your point earlier. They only want to build higher end properties, not the more affordable ones that you offer. We'll get more details on your price points and what properties. Products you offer later. But yeah, we have more remodelers today and fewer builders. And though it's a few years old, I found it interesting that census statistics show us that between 2007 and 2022 there are 73% more remodelers and 21% fewer builders today.    Jim Sheils  20:22   Interesting. You know, Keith, I didn't know that, and that makes me scratch my head on like when you and I were in Colorado, we were talking about future needs, even with growth that occurred during the pandemic going all the way back to oh eight when a real shortage started to start, we are still at an estimated three to 5 million homes short in the US. It really perplexes me that the amount of builders like us will be going down and not actually entering the market.   Keith Weinhold  20:47   Now, among those that are building, though, much of that is concentrated in the South, as I think we know, there's a recent resi club compilation show that 59% of current single family home building is in the south, and 41% is everywhere else. And how do you define the South? That's basically Maryland down to Florida, all the way out to Texas and Oklahoma. So you are pretty rare in some ways. However, where you're building regionally, that's not a rarity there, but yeah, having more remodelers today and fewer home builders, that's probably the result of a lot of things. You know, for one thing, just land and construction costs becoming that much more expensive over the past five years.   Jim Sheils  21:05    Yeah, we've been lucky, too, as you know, Keith, you've been with us for a decade now. But yeah, and we transitioned a piece of our company where Sumitomo forestry, large Japanese group stepped in and acquired a piece of our property. That was a very exciting thing for all of us together, because we had done well, and, you know, started small and built up to a decent sized builder for Northeast Florida and then the rest of Florida. But now, with Sumitomo coming in again, they build 17,000 homes worldwide every year, between all of their builders. Now being a part of them, we get to use their national material accounts, so they get pricing just as good, if not better, than national home builders, and they let us do our thing, stick to our build to rent, working with investor clients. We're not retail buyer guys, really. We like working with our investors, but just getting those great discounts on materials, again, we're always looking to pass on savings to our clients. Of course, we got to make margins as well, but if we're getting in with deals like that, getting into the land right, and knowing the pinpointed areas to get into, we can get the best deal for everyone. And that's been a major part having such a big, successful partner like Sumitomo keep us healthy, viable and able to do things we could have not even dreamed of five years ago.   Keith Weinhold  22:47   Yes, that gives you more capital and more options. Another unusual aberration in the market that really centers on a lot of what you do is that this fact that and this was mentioned on the show last year for the first time in my life, existing homes cost more than new build homes. Existing homes at about 420k nationally, and new build homes about 392k part of the divergence there is probably builder price cuts. So tell us more about that.    Jim Sheils  23:14   I think the issue Heath is builders built for largest spreads, and people bought very emotionally. I think you're to give you a compliment a very unemotional real estate buyer. You're not looking at, oh, this is a very nice, you know, extra his and hers porcelain sink. And we're looking at fundamental numbers a good, solid property. And I think what's caused a lot of that is people did the opposite. Builders were looking for the largest margin they could get, which was on those types of properties. And then buyers were looking very emotionally, and they were told, Hey, this is going to go up 50 to $100,000 a year. So just sit there and hold on, sure you'll lose $1,500 a month, but don't worry about it. You'll make up for that every year. And obviously we're not seeing that's true. They could have really used your class about the five ways to get paid in real estate. And I think that that's what's doing it. And this is what builders do. I mean, everyone's in a business, and a lot of builders just focus on the largest margin. Now that's eating them up now, because those types of properties are not in demand. To build them on spec would be very dangerous, but you can see that that worked for a short term. We're very glad we went to the low margin workforce housing model, because I see that falling out of favor almost never even in Oh 809, Keith, when I was in the remodel game, a lot of the properties that were new construction coming out that time they were affordable, still did very well.   Keith Weinhold  24:42   We're talking with a premium Florida homebuilder today, because they offer affordable properties that make sense for investors. But what about the demand? Where is that going to come from? Where is that going to be? And that's what's happening with the renter segment. We'll talk more about that when we. Come back. You're listening to get rich Education. I'm your host. Keith Weinhold,   Keith Weinhold  25:03   flock homes helps you retire from real estate and landlording, whether it's one problem, property or your whole portfolio through a 721, exchange, deferring your capital gains tax and depreciation recapture, it's a strategy long used by the ultra wealthy. Now Mom and Pop landlords can 721, the residential real estate request your initial valuation, see if your properties qualify@flockhomes.com slash GRE, that's F, l, O, C, K, homes.com/gre.    Keith Weinhold  25:39   You know, most people think they're playing it safe with their liquid money, but they're actually losing savings accounts and bonds don't keep up when true inflation eats six or 7% of your wealth. Every single year, I invest my liquidity with FFI freedom family investments in their flagship program. Why fixed 10 to 12% returns have been predictable and paid quarterly. There's real world security backed by needs based real estate like affordable housing, Senior Living and health care. Ask about the freedom flagship program when you speak to a freedom coach there, and that's just one part of their family of products, they've got workshops, webinars and seminars designed to educate you before you invest. Start with as little as 25k and finally, get your money working as hard as you do. Get started at Freedom, family investments.com/gre, or send a text now it's 1-937-795-8989, yep, text their freedom coach directly. Again, 1-937-795-8989,   Keith Weinhold  26:51   the same place where I get my own mortgage loans is where you can get yours. Ridge lending group and MLS, 42056, they provided our listeners with more loans than anyone because they specialize in income properties. They help you build a long term plan for growing your real estate empire with leverage. Start your prequel and even chat with President chailey Ridge personally, while it's on your mind, start at Ridge lending group.com that's Ridge lending group.com   Ken McElroy  27:26   this is Rich Dad advisor, Ken McElroy. Listen to get rich education with Keith whitehold, and don't twitch your Daydream.   Keith Weinhold  27:40   Welcome back to get rich Education. I'm your host. Keith Weinhold, we're talking with Jim a premium Florida homebuilder here at such an interesting time in the cycle, since supply is up in some parts of Florida, Jim and his team has strategically chosen a place that is still fueling a lot of net in migration in Central Florida, and that's where the rental demand needs to come from as well. Now nationally, we've seen the homeownership rate fall over about the past year, from near 66% to near 65% that does not sound like much, but a 1% shift means there are 1.3 million new renters in just the past year. So with that in mind, and the fact that this low affordability for home buying means that people need to rent or stay renters longer, provides some of the Sustainable demand. So tell us more about the rental demand in Central Florida.   Jim Sheils  28:39   Yeah, you know, when we first went out there about a decade ago, Keith, I think it was 82 or 83% of all properties out there were owner occupied, which means it was a very lopsided amount of existing rental property available. And this is before the curve of population growth really took off. But when Chris and I went out there and we were assessing that small percentage of rental property that was out there. Gosh, it was old and kind of beat up. There was not a lot like the new construction that was available. So when we brought in new construction, we saw just the competition. Was hard to compete with us. You know, when it was an older, not so nice taking care of we came in and we saw a jump from, you know, doing older houses ourselves, you know, a person would stay about 13 months. But for the new construction in Central Florida, we've seen a jump to about three years. So that's really positive. People get into a new construction property they don't want to leave, whether that's half of a duplex or a single family. The duplexes are interesting because we're able to build those on infill lots and existing single family home neighborhoods, so a person who doesn't want to live in an apartment can live there, have their own yard, and they couldn't afford the whole single family, but to have half of a single family basically what a duplex is. It makes a big difference, and the people are in great demand of rental in Central Florida there because of exactly why. I said, Keith, the job. Course, continues to grow in Central Florida, extremely strong. The business incentives to come into the area by the local municipality is very, very good. So here's something interesting, Keith, the average salary in Ocala is about 72,000 and the average home price is about 298,000 that is a very healthy affordability one. Yeah, very, very good. And so that job source continues to pay very well. And we've talked about just the logistics centers and the Equestrian Center. That's the largest in the world. Now the villages are just 25 miles south. So Ocala becomes a bedroom community, and that is the second largest retirement community and growing in the US. So there's a lot of job source that allows people to live there at a good affordability. And so that combination of affordability with this extending job source has been really, really good for the Ocala region.   Keith Weinhold  30:59   It's been said that the only place you get money is from other people, and we're talking about your renters in this case. So oftentimes these renters, they had their sense of privacy there, like, for example, do the duplexes even have fenced backyards for each individual side,   Jim Sheils  31:17   depending on where they are? We will. Other times it hasn't been a requirement. We've done lots of surveys to see is it worth the price point to put in full fencing in certain areas. It can be in a lot of areas. Keith, they're just so excited with the price point not having to move into an apartment building that it hasn't even been warranted or necessary.   Keith Weinhold  31:38   Yeah. So we're talking about livability characteristics here, because oftentimes new build rental property results in a higher tenant stay that longer duration, because they're the first person that have ever lived there, and it's also difficult for them to go out and improve their living situation unless they become a home buyer, and that's difficult to do today. Tell us more about the incentives and the property types and so on, because there really are some pretty exciting ones.    Jim Sheils  32:09   One of the best things about Central Florida, Keith, combined with new construction, is insurance costs. Now you and I have laughed about the blanketed statement where you said, oh my goodness, you cannot get insurance in Florida. You can't get property insurance in Florida, or it's doubled, tripled, gone up 7x that is a true statement on certain properties. If you're buying older properties from the 1950s that are within a half mile of the beach on low lying ground, but new construction properties far away from the beach, that is a totally different things. So again, being in Central Florida, where we are, a lot of people think, oh, to insure a single family home there, that's going to be several $100 a month, when actually, you know, and you've seen a lot of our performer quotes, our insurance companies are getting a single family home done for about $65 a month on average, full coverage. And that's the advantage of new construction. Insurance companies are all about risk. They analyze risk. When you're on a new construction property built on higher ground away from the beach, they like that, and they do that a duplex. You're looking at about $100 a month. So incentive wise, we've really searched to team up with great insurance companies that get the best rates full coverage. And again, we surprise people when they say, Oh man, I thought there would be a whole nother zero at that monthly cost. And these are actual quotes, as you know, with working with a lot of GRE people. So that's one great thing, another great thing, Keith, that happened when we joined forces with Sumitomo. And again, Sumitomo 320, years old, one of the biggest powerhouses out of Asia, Warren Buffett, is very heavily invested in another one of the conglomerates, not the housing one we do, but he's very involved in one of their other companies. And when they came aboard, you know, we have no bank debt for a builder, which is rare. And since we have such a healthy balance sheet, we're actually able to work deals with mortgage companies where we'll do what's called builder forward commitments, Keith, and that means we will pre buy mortgages for our clients, for the homes we're building, and we will pass that savings along. So right now, you know, if an investment property in a duplex might be an average of 7% for anyone who walks in off the street to a bank. Right now, our most popular rate program for our investors, for single family or duplexes, is 3.75 Gosh. So as you know, for your five ways, if we want to get cash flow, there's a big difference. Yeah, we're getting affordable housing. But if the rate is over 7% compared to 375 that could eat up the cash flow with us being able to have this power to buy large tranches of money and pass it along and lock our people in again, an average right now at 3.75 is our most popular program, and that's long term money, then we're able to get that cash flow right off the bat. And you and I know how important that is   Keith Weinhold  34:50    for this super attractive 3.75% long term mortgage rate on single family homes and duplexes. How? Much does the buyer have to come out of pocket at the closing table to buy that down themselves? And how much do you the builder participate in that buy down?   Jim Sheils  35:07   You know, it depends Keith at different times, because there is a little bit of a fluctuation. Sometimes it can be as low as zero points or just one origination point to bring it in. It does vary. And also, if people say, hey, I really don't want to bring in any points. Well, that's fine. You know, if you don't want to walk in zero to 2% points for that, you can also just raise your rate up to four and a quarter and probably walk in nothing. So there's different things that we can do, but the goal of it is to have us have the brunt of it. And what I can tell you is, if the average person walked into a bank, and a bank wouldn't do this anyway. It's only for, again, builders with a certain size, but if you went into a bank right now and said, I'd like to buy my rate down to 3.75 the average Keith that this would cost a person off the street going into a bank would be 12 to 15% banks wouldn't even do it for an individual. But that's about the estimates when you look at it. So again, volume has privileged. The fact we're able to buy it down. It does cost us a good amount of money, but we're all able to save since we're kind of working together to buy these larger tranches. And again, the need of any investment for buying down the rate from the clients is very minimal.   Keith Weinhold  36:18   Tell us more about the property types, new build single family homes, new build duplexes.   Jim Sheils  36:23   You know, single family and duplexes are our main focus in 2026 for Central Florida, we've done the research. They're very high in demand. They rent quickly, and they rent long term to produce cash flow. Our average single family home under 300,000 we're aiming to after expense, make about $300 cash flow. Our duplexes should be about twice that amount, about just under $600 a month, or just over in cash flow. And then again, the prices are ranging from about 395, to 420, for a duplex. Again, these are in workforce areas where we're doing great, scattered lots. Scattered lot means there's already existing homes around. We like to go to an area where there's good a fundamental balance of homeowners and renters. So there's retail buyers that have bought their first home, and we will place our rentals in between them, whether it's a single family or a duplex.   Keith Weinhold  37:13   We sure don't need to do a complete audio pro forma here, but those cash flow amounts something near $300 for a single family home, and about double that for a duplex. Is that using, you know, a bought down rate to about 4% and some of these other inputs you're talking about, like low insurance costs and a certain property tax rate, can you tell us about that?    Jim Sheils  37:35   Yeah, property tax rate is property tax rate. We can get pretty dang close on property taxes, you know, based on millage and get that down. But when we do our performers, we absolutely go off of, you know, our average rate to be the 375, to four and a quarter. And then when GRE clients look at our performer, and they look at the insurance cost, that's an actual quote from one of our insurance companies that has insured hundreds and hundreds of these properties. Not a guess, yeah, so they know what they're doing. So yeah, those would be the assumptions made in there, and that's what we're basically getting on a week in, week out basis.    Keith Weinhold  38:09   That is really attractive as we're talking about new build. I imagine there is some sort of builder warranty as well.    Jim Sheils  38:16   There's a state mandated 210 warranty. 210 warranty is something we could talk probably a whole episode on Keith. But for what's good for people to know, basically what that means, you get two years coverage on the small stuff and 10 years coverage on the big structural stuff. And so that's why I like new construction. You know what? I used to personally just buy my own fixer up Return key properties from other people. I could get a one year warranty, and that's the best that really can be done. Now with new construction, we've gone from, you know, with our fixer upper homes, able to do a one year warranty, which is good at something. But now with new construction, we can do a 210 warranty, big difference, and also really helps the safety score of issues if they came up.    Keith Weinhold  38:59   We were talking about new build property, and we tend to project relatively low maintenance and repair costs for an obvious reason, maybe your long term vacancy rate could very well be lower as well, due to my earlier point about a tenant wanting to stay there for a long time, because it's hard for them to improve their living situation unless they went out and bought their own place. And you have the low insurance rates, and you have the low mortgage rates, all contributing to positive cash flow on a new build property. And we think about that tenant and what gets the tenant excited? We start to think about some of those amenities. So tell us about what amenities are offered, including inside, in the kitchen and so on.   Jim Sheils  39:38   Jim, yeah, great question, Keith. We've really gotten a great recipe for success for that. You know, we've been doing this a little over a decade now, and so you're always tweaking your build model. What do people like? What do they not like? What's good for durability? Let's look at maintenance and repairs. Let's look at turn costs. So our goal is always the dual focus. That's what looks good. And what lasts really well, yeah, because you want durability. When you have tenants, you want it to look good, so you sell it down the road, 510, years to a first time homebuyer, it looks great. You can sell it. But durability wise, you don't want a lot of extra expenses or maintenance and repairs. So we go durability. So what we found a couple of things. I always joke about this. I do not like the word carpet, Keith, that is a terrible swear word in real estate investing, I can tell you right now, if I could go back and this is not, you know, owning hundreds of rentals, if I could not have done carpet and just reversed it to like vinyl plank flooring, like we do now, or even tile, which was more, I probably would have been able to buy three or four of our duplexes cash with the amount of money, and that is not an exaggeration. So we do not do carpet. First of all, it seems like trends are changing. It's not in favor right now. So we do vinyl plank flooring, which looks really nice, almost like wood floors, super durable, though, for a young family that's going to be tenant occupied in your property and running around on it. That's great. Kitchen wise, again, we don't sell retail really. We like to work with investors, but down the road, our investor might want to sell to a retail buyer. So we know, you know, from our old fix and flip days of the FHA buyers, the kitchen's got a pop. So we always do, you know, we don't do the white appliances, which you know would save you quite a bit of money, and save us quite a bit of money. We do stainless steel appliances. We do all new cabinetry, you know, kind of the latest, nicer cabinetry, a little bit of an upgrade. And then, you know, butcher block countertops, those are going to wear in about a year or two. Keith, it feels really good to spend that smaller amount, you know. But we, we like to do the more durable, nice looking countertops, you know, that are, you know, just so much more esthetically pleasing and actually durable as well. Same thing in the bathrooms. A lot of new builders will do shower kit, which not a problem if you're saving money on a rehab, you know, but we would rather do tile, bring in the extra subcontractors to give tile, and then in the master we do the dual sinks, which this might sound like little stuff, Keith, but these are the micro movements that help get a tenant in quicker, stay longer and more rent. So we're always trying to do these extra things in the granite countertops, both in the kitchens and in the bathrooms. Those cost more upfront, but we see for long term of tenant we see, for the amount of rent we get, and for resale ability, because a lot of people don't think about that. You know what? In seven years you want to sell one of these properties? Well, it's a seven year old roof, it's seven year old plumbing, you're still in a great spot for an FHA buyer. And that esthetically pleasing flooring, bathrooms, kitchens. That allows an easier sale for them, because we want to look all the way around, not just a rental. I like to hold long term, but if you want to sell in five to 10 years, that's a very valid strategy.    Keith Weinhold  42:48   I like carpet in my own home, but not rentals. But what you're sharing with us, Jim, this is absolute gold that's been brought to you through experience. This over improvement versus under improvement line in rentals, and it really has a lot of balance between durability and price. These are the sort of things that really matter, but you are selling predominantly to individual investors, a lot of mom and pop investors. Why don't you make more sales to the retail, owner occupied market, or to institutional investors, even though that might be cracked down upon now. But why don't you sell to those parties?   Jim Sheils  43:26   Yeah, you know Keith, I did a lot of fix and flip to FHA buyers, and I'm an investor. I really like working with investors. So when this all really went back to is 2009 I had a lot of investors. I was in Northeast Florida. The deal flow was incredible. And I just had a lot of investors, you know, through my different networks and Masterminds, like, where you and I have met, and said, Hey, you're getting great deals in Northeast Florida. Could you help put some together for me? And so I had done quite a few fix and flips to retail buyers, and it just kind of hot on me, you know, way back then, like, Wow. I like working with investors. I like building portfolios. I also like the fact that when I'm normally building a portfolio for an investor, well, they hang out with other investors, and they're not looking to buy one property over the next five years. They're looking to buy five to eight properties over the next five years. great point. And so we just saw it as you gotta like who you work with, right? And nothing against first time homebuyers. But when I was rehabbing houses and selling them, golly, that was a lot of work. And then could be persnickety. Yeah, very persnickety. And so when Chris and I teamed up about 10 years ago, we had both gone through the same kind of aha, like going, Yeah, it seems great, but you could sell for more to a retail buyer. But again, like I go back to even the type of property we build, we'd rather do a volume with investors. Be a builder, buy investors for investors, and work that way. And I think it suits me. I think I would have probably hung up my shoes a long time ago if I was. Working with the amount of properties we've done with retail buyers compared to investors, honestly, and so I think it was just kind of, it was a preference, really, that made sense   Keith Weinhold  45:09   to your point. Investors buy multiple properties, and that way there are fewer parties to deal with. And investors tend to be less emotional than those more persnickety, owner occupied buyers. Well, Jim, you make it easy for investors. Besides all these incentives, you also offer an in house management solution for these investors, often that tend to be out of state. Well, Jim, before I ask you, if you have any closing thoughts, would you the listener like to ask Jim any question directly? Well, you can, because I have a great event to tell you about next Thursday, the 19th, at 8pm eastern Jim here and GRE investment coach, Naresh will co host a live webinar for Central Florida new build income property. In fact, Jim, I think you know Naresh longer than I have, as it turns out, but this event is free, and you the listener are invited. We've had between 250 and 550 registrants for our past webinars. Not all of them attend live. So the benefit of you attending live is that you can have any of your questions answered by either Naresh or Jim in real time, and besides learning about the Central Florida market and more about home building, you are going to see available new build income property, real addresses with some of these rather grand incentives that we've talked about here, you might end up with a long term rate of about 4% again, it is Thursday, the 19th at 8pm Eastern. Sign up is open now at grewebinars.com that's grewebinars.com Any final thoughts here, Jim, for this great event coming up next week?   Jim Sheils  46:52   I think we're going to dig a little deeper. Obviously, this is a conversation that was great, but moves pretty quickly when we talk next week, we're going to be able to dig into more of the fundamentals, some of the stats, and just get underneath the hood of why Central Florida is making so much sense, and just some of the rising stars that we're seeing there that we're very excited to be a part of.   Keith Weinhold  47:13   You've helped our listeners for close to 10 years now. It's been an informative chat as always. Thanks so much for coming back onto the show.    Jim Sheils  47:21   Thanks for having me, Keith.   Keith Weinhold  47:27   Yeah, like our guest touched on Ocala, Florida now has national recognition as the fastest growing city in America, and that's for the second year in a row. According to a new U haul report, Florida is, of course, a rather landlord friendly state. In fact, Florida is the first state to enact a law that allows law enforcement to immediately remove squatters, distinguishing them from legal tenants. Now here's what's interesting and why I've identified this opportunity if Florida prices dipped because people were leaving now, that could be a red flag, because population loss is like gravity. Once it starts falling, it is hard to escape. But that's not what's happening. Instead, what we're seeing is a temporary overbuild hangover. Builders got ambitious. We're in a brief period where supply outran demand and prices softened. That's not decay. That's a sale rack. Any vacant homes are not stranded. They're being absorbed by Florida's still growing population, which has now increased every single decade since its first census count, back in the year 1830 back in 1830 there were about 35,000 residents in the whole state. Isn't that amazing today? North of 24 million, that is 700x population growth in almost 200 years, and it's still growing. That kind of trend doesn't reverse because a few builders over ordered inventory here at GRE this made us target and find in opportunity. This isn't an accident. Central Florida is this year's most compelling. Housing market in that region, Central Florida, is growing faster than the rest of the state at large, and it really sits in the sweet spot of this temporary imbalance. One long established builder overbuilt and now they're motivated. They know what investors want. So, for example, they don't build swimming pools with their homes. They also offer property tours, and over 90% of their tour attendees buy property. They're willing to offer terrific incentives at our upcoming GRE live webinar, like we touched on new build single family rentals, 270k and up duplexes, three. 95 to 420, long term mortgage rates as low as 3.75% you get low insurance rates since they're inland and new build positive cash flow and a builder warranty at the event. You're going to learn all about the growth drivers in Central Florida, why so many renters are moving there and see available properties. This benefits anyone looking for a clear, practical view of current real estate conditions. Joining live does matter, since you can have those questions answered in real time, not after the opportunity has moved on, you are invited for next Thursday, the 19th, at 8p m Eastern. This one is worth circling, not because it's flashy, because it's timed right. Sign up is open now @grewebinars.com that's gre webinars.com. Until next week. I'm your host. Keith Weinhold, don't quit your Daydream.   Speaker 5  51:00   Nothing on this show should be considered specific, personal or professional advice. Please consult an appropriate tax, legal, real estate, financial or business professional for individualized advice. Opinions of guests are their own. Information is not guaranteed. All investment strategies have the potential for profit or loss. The host is operating on behalf of get rich Education LLC, exclusively.   Keith Weinhold  51:29   The preceding program was brought to you by your home for wealth, building, get richeducation.com  

In this episode, Rob Field and Chet Cowart explore the parallels between training for a marathon and investing for the future, emphasizing how each investor's personal goals and circumstances shape their approach. They begin by discussing recent market trends and how growth over the past few years has affected different age groups. The hosts highlight the importance of investment goal-setting, comparing strategies for those nearing retirement to those still building their wealth. Younger investors typically seek maximum growth and are more tolerant of market volatility, viewing downturns as opportunities to buy. In contrast, those closer to retirement prioritize safety and income, often shifting toward bonds and cash to preserve capital and generate steady income. Field and Cowart also tackle topics such as portfolio construction, risk tolerance, and the differing roles of income and Social Security. They note that Social Security is funded by younger workers and question its future viability as workforce demographics shift and more people delay retirement. The conversation includes recent trends, such as a decrease in workers under 25 and factors influencing workforce participation since the pandemic. The episode offers valuable insights into lessons investors often wish they had learned earlier, including the power of savings and compounding, the importance of starting early, managing debt, automating investments, and developing disciplined financial habits. The hosts stress the significance of honest self-assessment, patience, and flexibility—much like training for a marathon. Concluding, Rob and Chet reiterate that successful investing is about time, setting clear goals, and understanding one's risk tolerance. They encourage listeners to approach their financial journey with a long-term perspective, realistic expectations, and sustainable habits. 

Audio surf report and surf forecast on February 09 for Central Florida and the Southeast. Your host will also enlighten you on current events in the surfing industry and talk about events and entertainment happenings in the local and regional area. Surf Guru is also sure to dig up some new music that will get your feet groovin'. Stay tuned for more ...

What is going on everyone and welcome back to TT. This week, we are back to normal episodes and Jorge has two amazing guests.Michael McCarthy is an incredibly talented driver from Central Florida now based here in the Phx Metro area. He has participated in and won in Carrera Cup (he's got the watches to prove it) and grew up in karting with a slew of big names. He is also building an awesome G80 M3 as a track car that is chef's kiss.Additionally, Jorge also welcomes a talented and exceptionally gifted automotive hyper realism artist who has broken down barriers here in the US for herself and lifted others around her and continues to forge new creative paths as her journey continues, the one and only Rae Roberts.This is an exceptional conversation where 3 friends just hang, but there's a lot of truth bombs on how to continue to carve whichever path you are on. Please enjoy Rae and Michael on Tormenting Tarmac.Enthusiasts never die!

What do you do when fear won't shut up? In "How To Get Your Confidence Back," Pastor James shows us how to get our confidence back when anxiety feels louder than truth. David faced real enemies, real pressure, and real uncertainty. Yet he made a choice before his feelings ever caught up. Confidence was not denial. It was direction.  Everyone helping someone take steps to follow Christ. This is the vision of Journey Church, led by Pastor James Hilton, with multiple locations throughout Central Florida.  https://journeyconnect.org Website: https://journeyconnect.org Facebook: http://facebook.com/journeyconnect Instagram: https://instagram.com/journeyconnect/ To support Journey Church's mission and help us transform lives both locally and globally, visit: https://journeyconnect.org/giving If you're in the Daytona Beach area and want to learn more about our upcoming launch, go to https://journeyconnect.org/daytona 

Today on Coast To Coast Hoops Greg recaps Saturday's college basketball results, talks to Ben Stevens ov VSIN about the Big Ten landscape, betting angels he uses this time of year, the large amount of quality tier two teams in the sport, & Sunday's games, & Greg picks & analyzes every Sunday game!Link To Greg's Spreadsheet of handicapped lines: https://vsin.com/college-basketball/greg-petersons-daily-college-basketball-lines/Greg's TikTok With Pickmas Pick Videos: https://www.tiktok.com/@gregpetersonsports?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pcPodcast Highlights 2:10-Recap of Saturday's Results30:17-Interview with Ben Stevens47:00-Start of picks Tulsa vs South Florida49:44-Picks & analysis for USC vs Penn St52:21-Picks & analysis for Texas Tech vs West Virginia54:51-Picks & analysis for Michigan vs Ohio State57:16-Picks & analysis for UNC Greensboro vs Furman59:38-Picks & analysis for Wichita St vs Charlotte1:02:31-Picks & analysis for Maryland vs Minnesota1:04:48-Picks & analysis for Charlotte vs Memphis1:07:31-Picks & analysis for Central Florida vs Cincinnati1:09:46-Picks & analysis for Rice vs UAB1:12:32-Picks & analysis for Northwestern vs Iowa Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Send us a textThyroid Talk with Dr. Angela Mazza, DOShow Notes Episode 46; Recorded: 1-23-2026Part 2: Stronger Bones, Stronger Hormones: The Thyroid and Bone ConnectionHost: Dr. Angela Mazza, DOCo-host: Dawn Sheffield I'm Dr. Angela Mazza, D.O., a thyroid, endocrine, and metabolism specialist with a private practice in Central Florida.  My goal for this podcast is to define and demystify the thyroid gland, and thyroid-related medical conditions.  By providing information in an easy-to-understand format, we hope to help patients better understand the ways in which their bodies work, and to help them thrive.  My goal is to help us live more fulfilling lives by taking control of our health, to feel our best.   Here's some of what we covered in episodes 45 and 46 on bone health, not necessarily in this order:·        The thyroid-bone connection.·        Osteopenia vs. Osteoporosis.·        What healthy bones do NOT look like. ·        Our bones are not passive structures.·        Screening, Stabilizing, and Synergizing.·        The best time to start caring for our bones is right now.·        An Integrative Endocrine Approach to Bone Health is best.·        Dangers of NOT preventing, diagnosing, and treating early on.·        With early detection and an integrative plan, our bones can become stronger at any age.  ·        And best of all we learned that we CAN impact our thyroid health! My book, Thyroid Talk: An Integrative Guide to Optimal Thyroid Health, is available on Amazon.  For information on the related Webinar and online master course, see thrivethyroid.com.  Or forward your name and email to thyroidtalk.mazza@gmail.com or to our website: metaboliccenterforwellness.com  The webinar coordinates with the online master class.  The master class has modules that cover topics like diagnosis of thyroid issues, personalized treatment, gut healing, and much more--plus some bonuses. Visit the Wellness Store at metaboliccenterforwellness.com regarding supplements mentioned in various episodes of this podcast.  Please stay in touch!  Send your comments, show ideas, and questions to thyroidtalk.mazza@gmail.com  We may disclose your general location on air (the city or town, for example), but we will not read your name nor your address on the show.  We reserve the right to edit your input as necessary.  See the website at metaboliccenterforwellness.com; our YouTube channel (Dr. Angela Mazza), Facebook, and Instagram.   The topic of our next episode, number 47, is Peptide Therapies.Citations, references, additional information:Mazza, A. Thyroid Talk: An Integrative Guide to Optimal Thyroid Health.  Available now on Amazon.Ask your healthcare provider about specific questions regarding your wellness.  This podcast is meant for educational purposes only.  Copyright 2026 Dr. Angela Mazza DO.  Thyroid Talk with Dr. Angela Mazza, DO.  All rights reserved. Check out our YouTube channel - Dr. Angela Mazza, our website at Metabolic Center for Wellness, our FaceBook and our Instagram page.

John Evans is widely known in Central Florida for many things, such as being a pastor, his work in the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and being the PA Announcer for the UCF Knights. Now, he and his wife Kathryn have stepped out in faith to form "Voices and Choices," a non-profit that is dedicated to strengthening family relationships and personal growth. Both John and Kathryn spend this hour with Mike. Learn more about John and Kathryn's work at www.voicesandchoices.net.

Audio surf report and surf forecast on February 06 for Central Florida and the Southeast. Your host will also enlighten you on current events in the surfing industry and talk about events and entertainment happenings in the local and regional area. Surf Guru is also sure to dig up some new music that will get your feet groovin'. Stay tuned for more ...

Lauren and Eric break down one of the busiest Disney news weeks in recent memory. From record-breaking cold temperatures in Central Florida to the emotional final day of DINOSAUR and DinoLand U.S.A., there was no shortage of headlines. Add in a surprise character debut, a major Disney earnings call, and the official announcement of a new CEO, and this episode is packed wall to wall with news, context, and strong opinions. HIGHLIGHTS Record-breaking cold temperatures in Orlando, freezing pipes, closing water parks, and even icing over the Universal globe DINOSAUR and DinoLand U.S.A. officially close, with five-hour waits, cast member tributes, and the land vanishing from the app overnight Humphrey the Bear makes his first-ever in-park appearance, delighting deep-cut Disney fans Disney's latest earnings call delivers strong Parks and Experiences results, just ahead of leadership changes A new Disney CEO is officially named, with Bob Iger transitioning into a senior advisor role and a creative shakeup at the top For this episode's full show notes, click here. HOSTS Eric Hersey – X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@erichersey⁠⁠⁠⁠ | Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@erichersey⁠⁠⁠⁠ Lauren Hersey – X: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@laurenhersey2⁠⁠⁠⁠ | Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@lauren_hersey_⁠⁠⁠⁠ FOLLOW – DIS & HERS Website: ⁠⁠⁠⁠DisAndHers.com⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@disandhers⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠@disandhers⁠⁠⁠⁠ Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Dis and Hers⁠⁠⁠⁠ YouTube: ⁠⁠⁠⁠Dis & Hers⁠⁠⁠⁠ FOLLOW – JIM HILL MEDIA Facebook: ⁠⁠⁠⁠JimHillMediaNews⁠⁠⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠JimHillMedia⁠⁠⁠⁠ TikTok: ⁠⁠⁠⁠JimHillMedia⁠⁠⁠⁠ SUPPORT Support the show and access bonus episodes and additional content at ⁠⁠⁠⁠Patreon.com/JimHillMedia⁠⁠⁠⁠. PRODUCTION CREDITS Edited & Produced by Eric Hersey – ⁠⁠⁠⁠Strong Minded Agency⁠⁠⁠⁠ If you would like to sponsor a show on the Jim Hill Media Podcast Network, ⁠⁠⁠⁠reach out today.⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's Frozen at Walt Disney World This week at Walt Disney World felt more like winter than Florida. Cold temperatures settled across the resort, creating an unusual backdrop for park visits. While the chill surprised many guests, it also gave the parks a very different vibe, especially with lighter crowds and brisk evenings. A New Era of Disney Leadership Begins One of the biggest Disney stories in years officially became reality. Josh D'Amaro has been named the new CEO of The Walt Disney Company, while Dana Walden steps into the role of Chief Operating Officer. [caption id="attachment_79292" align="aligncenter" width="1180"] Sam and Greg reflected on how quickly this moment arrived, especially after previously speculating about future leadership. The conversation focused on what this leadership team could mean for the parks, creative direction, and long-term strategy across the company. Dinoland U.S.A. Is Officially Gone A major chapter at Disney's Animal Kingdom has closed. Dinoland U.S.A. has been removed from all park maps, and the final rides on DINOSAUR are now over. For many fans, this marks the end of an era tied to the park's opening-day identity. Greg shared his reactions as the attraction officially closed, while the conversation quickly turned toward what comes next. The focus now shifts to Tropical Americas, the next major transformation coming to Disney's Animal Kingdom. With Dinoland gone, the future of the area is officially underway. Character Meet-and-Greets Move Around the Parks As construction reshapes parts of Walt Disney World, some familiar experiences have relocated. Greg tracked down new locations for character meet-and-greets, including Chip and Dale, giving guests updated options for character photos and interactions. These changes highlight how the parks continue to adapt while larger projects move forward. Park News from Both Coasts and Beyond The show also covered a wide range of additional park news. At Disneyland, Savannah Banana Days are back, bringing high-energy fun and fan excitement to the West Coast. [caption id="attachment_71019" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Savannah Bananas Come to Disneyland on May 28[/caption] Back in Florida, Zootopia Annual Passholder magnets are now available at Disney's Animal Kingdom. Meanwhile, Disney confirmed that Toy Story 5 activations are coming to the parks, adding even more Pixar presence for fans to enjoy. Greg also took the conversation outside the Disney bubble, sharing highlights from Universal's Mardi Gras celebrations, offering a quick look at what's happening across Central Florida theme parks. Popcorn Bucket Watch Continues No week would be complete without a fresh batch of popcorn buckets. New designs continue to appear at both Disneyland and Walt Disney World, showing no signs of slowing down. Among the highlights is the new Disney California Adventure Pixar Pal-A-Round popcorn bucket, joining an already crowded lineup of collectibles. As always, Greg broke down what's new and what fans are lining up to buy. The Muppet Show Returns — and It's a Big Deal One of the most exciting moments of the week is the return of The Muppet Show. Sam and Greg both agreed that this comeback deserves time and attention, and it's a topic they plan to revisit in depth. Along with the show's return, the ongoing Missing Muppets series continues. This week added another character to the list of Muppets who didn't make the 70th Anniversary magnet set, keeping the conversation alive and growing. All That and More with Sam & Greg Live From freezing temperatures and leadership changes to park closures, popcorn buckets, and the return of the Muppets, it was another packed episode. Join Sam and Greg every week for This Week at Walt Disney World LIVE, where Disney news, park changes, and fan conversation come together.

What if your work isn't just something you do, but something God uses to shape you? This week on The Breakdown Podcast, we're joined by Pastor James and Pastor John Sellers to break down the message "Resetting the Way You Work." We talk about the biblical view of work, how God designed work to be meaningful and connected to Him, and why work loses its purpose when it becomes only about pressure, performance, or a paycheck. Together, we unpack how to see your work as worship, a gift from God, and a way to live out your faith and join God's mission in the world. If you're searching for purpose in your job or wondering how faith fits into your work, this conversation will help reset how you think about what you do every day. Everyone helping someone take steps to follow Christ. This is the vision of Journey Church, led by Pastor James Hilton, with multiple locations throughout Central Florida. https://journeyconnect.org ____ Stay Connected Website: https://journeyconnect.org Facebook: http://facebook.com/journeyconnect Instagram: https://instagram.com/journeyconnect/ To support Journey Church's mission and help us transform lives both locally and globally, visit: https://journeyconnect.org/giving #journeychurch #jameshilton

Today on Coast To Coast Hoops Greg recaps Tuesday's college basketball results, talks to Rob Donaldson of Underdog Fantasy about the betting angle he looks for this time of year, under the radar teams that are yielding value, & Wednesday's games, & Greg picks & analyzes every Wednesday game!Link To Greg's Spreadsheet of handicapped lines: https://vsin.com/college-basketball/greg-petersons-daily-college-basketball-lines/Greg's TikTok With Pickmas Pick Videos: https://www.tiktok.com/@gregpetersonsports?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc Podcast Highlights 1:18-Recap of Tuesday's Results17:00-Interview with Rob Donaldson35:07-Start of picks Wofford vs VMI37:38-Picks & analysis for South Alabama vs Appalachian St40:17-Picks & analysis for Seton Hall vs Villanova42:39-Picks & analysis for Michigan St vs Minnesota45:14-Picks & analysis for Central Florida vs Houston47:47-Picks & analysis for George Washington vs St. Joseph's50:06-Picks & analysis for St. Thomas vs South Dakota St52:59-Picks & analysis for Notre Dame vs Louisville55:23-Picks & analysis for Wright St vs Robert Morris57:57-Picks & analysis for Duquesne vs George Mason1:00:27-Picks & analysis for Arkansas St vs Coastal Carolina1:03:02-Picks & analysis for Furman vs East Tennessee1:05:46-Picks & analysis for Youngstown St vs Fort Wayne1:08:29-Picks & analysis for Butler vs Providence1:10:47-Picks & analysis for Western Carolina vs UNC Greensboro1:13:38-Picks & analysis for Troy vs Georgia St1:16:25-Picks & analysis for UW Green Bay vs Northern Kentucky1:18:54-Picks & analysis for Texas St vs Georgia Southern1:21:40-Picks & analysis for Southern Miss vs Marshall1:23:53-Picks & analysis for Oakland vs Cleveland St1:26:24-Picks & analysis for Liberty vs Delaware1:29:14-Picks & analysis for Tulsa vs Florida Atlantic1:31:40-Picks & analysis for Texas A&M vs Alabama1:34:34-Picks & analysis for Louisiana vs James Madison1:37:20-Picks & analysis for UL Monroe vs Old Dominion1:40:10-Picks & analysis for UT San Antonio vs South Florida1:42:46-Picks & analysis for Florida International vs Middle Tennessee1:45:44-Picks & analysis for Creighton vs Georgetown1:48:33-Picks & analysis for UTEP vs Sam Houston1:51:03-Picks & analysis for Charlotte vs Wichita St1:53:29-Picks & analysis for New Mexico St vs Louisiana Tech1:56:41-Picks & analysis for Colorado vs Baylor1:59:45-Picks & analysis for South Dakota vs Kansas City2:02:29-Picks & analysis for Georgia Tech vs California2:05:20-Picks & analysis for Detroit vs UW Milwaukee2:08:05-Picks & analysis for North Texas vs Rice2:10:16-Picks & analysis for BYU vs Oklahoma2:12:56-Picks & analysis for Northwestern vs Illinois2:15:32-Picks & analysis for Arizona St vs Utah2:18:15-Picks & analysis for Oklahoma vs Kentucky2:20:39-Picks & analysis for Pepperdine vs Seattle2:23:09-Picks & analysis for Gonzaga vs Portland2:25:37-Picks & analysis for Loyola Marymount vs San Francisco2:28:20-Picks & analysis for Clemson vs Stanford2:30:59-Picks & analysis for San Diego vs St. Mary's2:33:14-Picks & analysis for Santa Clara vs Pacific2:35:42-Picks & analysis for Washington St vs Oregon St2:38:10-Picks & analysis for Iowa vs Washington2:40:42-Picks & analysis for Utah St vs New Mexico2:43:27-Start of extra game USC Upstate vs UNC Asheville2:45:48-Picks & analysis for Winthrop vs Radford2:48:05-Picks & analysis for Lehigh vs Loyola MD2:50:48-Picks & analysis for Navy vs Lafayette2:52:45-Picks & analysis for Charleston Southern vs High Point2:55:06-Picks & analysis for Bucknell vs American2:57:27-Picks & analysis for Longwood vs Gardner Webb2:59:38-Picks & analysis for Army vs Colgate3:01:59-Picks & analysis for Arkansas Pine Bluff vs Grambling3:03:50-Picks & analysis for North Alabama vs Central Arkansas3:06:03-Picks & analysis for Lipscomb vs Austin Peay3:08:19-Picks & analysis for Maryland Eastern Shore vs South Carolina St3:10:48-Picks & analysis for East Texas A&M vs Northwestern St  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Mark Moses Show is joined by Stacy Cartechine with Who We Play For to preview their Youth Heart Screening Day event coming up this Saturday in Viera and around Central Florida.  The Mark Moses Show broadcasts from The Law Offices of Anidjar & Levine Studios. #YouthHeartScreeningDay #WhoWePlayFor

Audio surf report and surf forecast on February 04 for Central Florida and the Southeast. Your host will also enlighten you on current events in the surfing industry and talk about events and entertainment happenings in the local and regional area. Surf Guru is also sure to dig up some new music that will get your feet groovin'. Stay tuned for more ...

This week on Fine Tooning, Jim Hill and Drew Taylor kick things off on Groundhog Day weekend by leaning into an appropriately animal-heavy episode. From Sony Pictures Animation's upcoming sports comedy Goat to Pixar's sci-fi action comedy Hoppers, the guys break down why animated animals are having a moment and how recent box office and streaming successes are shaping what comes next. Along the way, there's box office chatter, awards-season surprises, toy fair buzz, and a heartfelt remembrance of one of animation's great voice talents. NEWS • Goat from Sony Pictures Animation lines up its February 13 release with NBA All-Star Weekend, and Drew shares what he learned talking directly with the filmmakers. • Pixar's Hoppers draws internal debate over its bold comedy, with Pete Docter and Andrew Stanton stepping in to defend Daniel Chong's vision. • Zootopia 2 continues its strong box office run, reinforcing why studios are doubling down on animal-driven stories. • Streaming and awards updates include KPop Demon Hunters, Grammy nominations, and what dominated viewing charts in 2025. • Big animation-adjacent headlines from the Nuremberg Toy Fair and the return of classic Looney Tunes shorts to Turner Classic Movies. FEATURE • A deeper dive into Goat, including the challenges of animating Roarball, the film's underdog themes, and its sequel potential. • Pixar's Hoppers explained - its sci-fi premise, visual style, and how Mabel's intense personality was shaped into a Pixar-friendly lead. • Remembering Catherine O'Hara and her lasting legacy in animated film and television voice performances. HOSTS • Jim Hill - IG: @JimHillMedia | X: @JimHillMedia | Website: JimHillMedia.com • Drew Taylor - IG: @DrewTailored | X: @DrewTailored | Website: drewtaylor.work FOLLOW • Facebook: JimHillMediaNews • Instagram: JimHillMedia • TikTok: JimHillMedia SUPPORT Support the show and access bonus episodes and additional content at Patreon.com/JimHillMedia. PRODUCTION CREDITS Edited by Dave Grey Produced by Eric Hersey - Strong Minded Agency SPONSOR This episode is sponsored by Unlocked Magic. Save on Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando tickets - sometimes up to 12 percent off - by visiting UnlockedMagic.com. Unlocked Magic is run by the same team behind the DVC Rental Store and DVC Resale Market, making it easy to plan your 2026 Central Florida trip and lock in serious savings. If you would like to sponsor a show on the Jim Hill Media Podcast Network, reach out today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Kay Rawlins didn't just follow a calling, she helped transform a city. In this episode, Allison sits down with Kay Rawlins, co-founder of Orlando City and Orlando Pride and Senior Vice President & Club Ambassador, to unpack what it really takes to build something from the ground up, earn community buy-in, and lead with confidence in rooms that underestimate you.Kay shares her unconventional path from dropping out at 17, to owning preschools, to launching a professional soccer club that became a Central Florida institution. They talk about building “the plane while flying it,” guerrilla marketing and community advocates, why women must be over-prepared (for now), and how finding your tribe can carry you through the hardest seasons. Plus: Kay's mentorship philosophy, the power of boundaries, and the simple shift that changes how we check in on people.Connect with Kay Rawlins on LinkedIn 

This week on Fine Tooning, Jim Hill and Drew Taylor kick things off on Groundhog Day weekend by leaning into an appropriately animal-heavy episode. From Sony Pictures Animation's upcoming sports comedy Goat to Pixar's sci-fi action comedy Hoppers, the guys break down why animated animals are having a moment and how recent box office and streaming successes are shaping what comes next. Along the way, there's box office chatter, awards-season surprises, toy fair buzz, and a heartfelt remembrance of one of animation's great voice talents. NEWS • Goat from Sony Pictures Animation lines up its February 13 release with NBA All-Star Weekend, and Drew shares what he learned talking directly with the filmmakers. • Pixar's Hoppers draws internal debate over its bold comedy, with Pete Docter and Andrew Stanton stepping in to defend Daniel Chong's vision. • Zootopia 2 continues its strong box office run, reinforcing why studios are doubling down on animal-driven stories. • Streaming and awards updates include KPop Demon Hunters, Grammy nominations, and what dominated viewing charts in 2025. • Big animation-adjacent headlines from the Nuremberg Toy Fair and the return of classic Looney Tunes shorts to Turner Classic Movies. FEATURE • A deeper dive into Goat, including the challenges of animating Roarball, the film's underdog themes, and its sequel potential. • Pixar's Hoppers explained - its sci-fi premise, visual style, and how Mabel's intense personality was shaped into a Pixar-friendly lead. • Remembering Catherine O'Hara and her lasting legacy in animated film and television voice performances. HOSTS • Jim Hill - IG: @JimHillMedia | X: @JimHillMedia | Website: JimHillMedia.com • Drew Taylor - IG: @DrewTailored | X: @DrewTailored | Website: drewtaylor.work FOLLOW • Facebook: JimHillMediaNews • Instagram: JimHillMedia • TikTok: JimHillMedia SUPPORT Support the show and access bonus episodes and additional content at Patreon.com/JimHillMedia. PRODUCTION CREDITS Edited by Dave Grey Produced by Eric Hersey - Strong Minded Agency SPONSOR This episode is sponsored by Unlocked Magic. Save on Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando tickets - sometimes up to 12 percent off - by visiting UnlockedMagic.com. Unlocked Magic is run by the same team behind the DVC Rental Store and DVC Resale Market, making it easy to plan your 2026 Central Florida trip and lock in serious savings. If you would like to sponsor a show on the Jim Hill Media Podcast Network, reach out today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Send a textThis week on the Riffs n Rhythms Podcast, we're joined by Brothers Within, a Central Florida reggae-rock band driven by brotherhood, positivity, and purpose.The band shares their journey from local jam sessions to millions of organic streams, the story behind “Somebody Somewhere,” and how their music has helped fans through real-life struggles. We also talk about their Artists for Clean Beaches initiative, blending music, community, and environmental action.Real stories, real laughs, and music with a message—this is one you don't want to miss.Subscribe, rate, and review Riffs n Rhythms on Apple Podcasts.

In this episode, Dr. Georgia Lorenz, President of Seminole State College of Florida, joins the conversation to explore how education and workforce partnerships are driving economic growth across Central Florida. Dr. Lorenz shares insights on the evolving role of state colleges as engines of opportunity, the importance of aligning training with employer needs, and how innovative approaches—such as apprenticeships, community hubs, and industry-focused programs—are preparing students for high-growth careers. The discussion also looks ahead to emerging industries, funding challenges, and what it will take to build a future-ready workforce in a rapidly changing economy. 

Join hosts Joel Garris and Zach Keister on this action-packed episode of Dollars & Sense as they break down the fast-paced start to 2026. Discover why the stock market's leadership is changing, what the “Mag 7” becoming the “Fab 4” means for your investments, and how early signs of broad market participation could reshape your portfolio. The duo tackles interest rates, the latest moves from the Federal Reserve, and what falling mortgage rates mean for buyers. But it's not just about markets—Joel and Zach dive into the five financial lies people keep telling themselves, from “I have a budget” to “I don't know why I'm always broke.” They share practical steps to build a real emergency fund, track your spending, and take control of your financial future. If you've ever wondered why your money seems to disappear, this segment is a must-listen! The show wraps up with a look at the $4.6 trillion real-estate wealth transfer—from Baby Boomers to Gen X and Millennials—that's already changing housing and family planning.Whether you're considering buying property for your kids, downsizing, or inheriting a home, you'll get expert insights on how to structure these moves and avoid common pitfalls. Tune in to hear how market trends, personal finance habits, and generational shifts are converging in 2026—and what it means for you. 

Audio surf report and surf forecast on February 02 for Central Florida and the Southeast. Your host will also enlighten you on current events in the surfing industry and talk about events and entertainment happenings in the local and regional area. Surf Guru is also sure to dig up some new music that will get your feet groovin'. Stay tuned for more ...

What if your work isn't just something you do, but something God uses to shape you? In "Resetting the Way You Work," Pastor John Sellers shows how how we can reset the way we think about work. From the beginning, God designed work to be meaningful, purposeful, and connected to Him. When work becomes only about pressure, performance, or paycheck, something breaks. Begin to see your work again as worship, a gift from God, and a way to join His mission in the world. Everyone helping someone take steps to follow Christ. This is the vision of Journey Church, led by Pastor James Hilton, with multiple locations throughout Central Florida.  https://journeyconnect.org Website: https://journeyconnect.org Facebook: http://facebook.com/journeyconnect Instagram: https://instagram.com/journeyconnect/ To support Journey Church's mission and help us transform lives both locally and globally, visit: https://journeyconnect.org/giving If you're in the Daytona Beach area and want to learn more about our upcoming launch, go to https://journeyconnect.org/daytona 

Lea Nelson and Jake Brend react to Iowa State's win over UCF, courtesy of Karl Auto Group. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, we'll get an update on the case of a nurse facing allegations of sexual abuse in the Detroit area. We'll also hear breakdown of a shooting at a popular bar near a university and about a man in prison for killing his family with an axe who may soon be released. But first, we're going to the heart of heart of Central Florida, where a murder-suicide shocked a small town this week. Special thanks to the Bob Rose Show out of WSKY in Gainesville, WWJ Newsradio in Detroit, the Dana & Parks podcast out of KMBZ in Kansas City and WCCO News Talk in the Twin Cities.

Send us a textIn the new season of the Stories to Create podcast, Cornell Bunting sits down with Chief Tracy “TMAC” McMillion for an inspiring and insightful conversation about leadership, service, and purpose.Chief McMillion's journey in the fire service began after graduating from the Mid-Florida Tech Fire Academy in Central Florida in 1994. He went on to serve briefly as a volunteer with Eatonville Fire Rescue in Eatonville, Florida, before being hired in 1996 by the City of Fort Myers Fire Department. There, he proudly served as a Firefighter/Paramedic until 2003, when he joined the neighboring Iona McGregor Fire District.Tracy's dedication and leadership propelled him through the ranks, earning promotions to Training Captain in 2014, Battalion Chief of Training in 2015, and Division Chief of Training in 2016—roles in which he faithfully served and made a lasting impact. In March 2019, he returned to the City of Fort Myers Fire Department as Deputy Fire Chief. Later that year, he was appointed Interim Fire Chief in November and officially became Fire Chief in December.Chief McMillion holds an Associate of Science degree in Fire Service Technology, an Associate of Science degree in Emergency Medical Technology, a Bachelor's degree in Management, and a Master's degree in Administration. His leadership philosophy is simple yet powerful: lead by example, treat everyone with respect, and make every encounter meaningful.A devoted husband, proud father, and committed community servant, Chief McMillion also reflects on his early years growing up in Long Island, New York, before moving to Florida with his family at the age of seven. Tune in as he shares his journey, lessons learned, and the values that continue to guide his life and leadership.  Support the showThank you for tuning in with EHAS CLUB - Stories to Create Podcast

In this episode, we'll get an update on the case of a nurse facing allegations of sexual abuse in the Detroit area. We'll also hear breakdown of a shooting at a popular bar near a university and about a man in prison for killing his family with an axe who may soon be released. But first, we're going to the heart of heart of Central Florida, where a murder-suicide shocked a small town this week. Special thanks to the Bob Rose Show out of WSKY in Gainesville, WWJ Newsradio in Detroit, the Dana & Parks podcast out of KMBZ in Kansas City and WCCO News Talk in the Twin Cities.

It has been about 3 years since Josh Laxton assumed the role as Senior Pastor at Northland Church, one of Orlando's most well-known congregations. Josh has accomplished much for being such a young man, including achieving a PhD in Missiology, pastoring several churches, and being a professor at Wheaton College. He has a passion for Northland to be a church on mission for Christ. https://www.northlandchurch.net/ Also, a talk with Senior Counsel Stephanie Taub from First Liberty.

In this episode, we'll get an update on the case of a nurse facing allegations of sexual abuse in the Detroit area. We'll also hear breakdown of a shooting at a popular bar near a university and about a man in prison for killing his family with an axe who may soon be released. But first, we're going to the heart of heart of Central Florida, where a murder-suicide shocked a small town this week. Special thanks to the Bob Rose Show out of WSKY in Gainesville, WWJ Newsradio in Detroit, the Dana & Parks podcast out of KMBZ in Kansas City and WCCO News Talk in the Twin Cities.

There aren't many of them left in Central Florida--but those farmers who remain are gonna try to save their crops over this upcoming frigid weekend. It's episode #886 of The ANEZ SEZ podcast...

Jim Hill and Drew Taylor break down a very strange January weekend for animation and the box office. Between a massive snowstorm shutting down hundreds of theaters, surprise Oscar nominations, and some heartfelt remembrances of animation legends, this episode covers a lot of ground. There is industry news, Disney history, and a few thoughtful detours along the way. NEWS • How a nationwide snowstorm shut down more than 400 theaters and dragged the North American box office down to just $58 million for the weekend • Why Mercy managed to knock Avatar: Fire & Ash out of the top spot with a historically soft number one opening • Zootopia 2 crosses $400 million domestically and gets a confirmed digital and physical release timeline • Oscar nominations for Best Animated Feature and Best Animated Short, including why KPop Demon Hunters looks like the current front-runner • A first look teaser for The Super Mario Brothers Galaxy Movie introduces Yoshi ahead of its April release FEATURE • A deep dive into the legacy of Roger Allers and how The Lion King was reshaped in the final weeks before release • Behind-the-scenes stories from Disney Animation's most turbulent eras, including last-minute fixes that would never fly today • Remembering restoration legend Ron Stark of S/R Laboratories and his quiet but essential impact on animation history For this episode's full show notes, click here. HOSTS • Jim Hill - IG: @JimHillMedia | X: @JimHillMedia | Website: JimHillMedia.com • Drew Taylor - IG: @drewtailored | X: @DrewTailored | Website: drewtaylor.work FOLLOW • Facebook: JimHillMediaNews • Instagram: JimHillMedia • TikTok: JimHillMedia SUPPORT Support the show and access bonus episodes and additional content at Patreon.com/JimHillMedia. PRODUCTION CREDITS Edited by Dave Grey Produced by Eric Hersey - Strong Minded Agency SPONSOR Unlocked Magic helps you save on Walt Disney World and Universal Orlando tickets, sometimes up to 12 percent off. Plan your 2026 Central Florida trip with confidence at UnlockedMagic.com and be sure to tell them Drew and Jim sent you. If you would like to sponsor a show on the Jim Hill Media Podcast Network, reach out today. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices