Podcasts about northeast florida

Everyone's favorite comic YouTuber, Dave from West Coast Davengers, joins me live from Original Art Expo in Orlando, to record a recap of the event. We talk about our experiences at the convention as a first-timer and a seasoned attendee, the incredible original comic art we saw, the difference between collecting and engaging with art, the inaugural Kirby Awards, tips for new art collectors, and Dave lists the mandatory comic shops you have to visit next time you're on the West Coast.Watch the uncut video version of this episode on YouTubeLINKS: Join our Patreon Community, and get access to bonus episodes, free comics, and other rewards! Try a FREE 7-day trial: HERETake your comic shopping experience to the limit, by shopping online at Gotham City Limit!The Schiller Kessler Group Click here to text us Fan Mail!Check out Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Battle Nexus, the raddest TMNT event of the decade! Buy your tickets for Collective Con 2026, Northeast Florida's largest pop culture convention: HERE Proudly sponsored by IDW ComicsProudly sponsored by Collective ConProudly sponsored by Gotham City LimitDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showREACH OUT!

Clark and I discuss the beach conditions in Northeast Florida. Hear about "sanded in" and "beach replenishment" conditions. This was a fun podcast to record.I also share my experience with the Triple Score on my most recent trip to Hutchinson Island.PSA-Please avoid detecting around beach towels that people are sitting or laying on. I couldn't believe what I saw.Send a textYouTube: @onemoredigdave Email me at omdstories@gmail.com Website: onemoredig.com Detector Warehouse: If you order anything from the website below I will receive a small commission. This is a great company and is well respected in the detecting community. https://detectorwarehouse.com/davidsponenberg

World renowned illustrator and cartoonist, Michael Cho joins the show to talk about his new comic covers for Thundarr The Barbarian and Space Ghost (for Dynamite Entertainment). We also deep dive into his artistic process, Jack Kirby and Silver Age comic influences, "meeting" Captain America in The Avengers in the Verocity Trap, and Mike takes a moment to remember his friend Darwyn Cooke. Watch the uncut video version of this episode on YouTubeLINKS: Join our Patreon Community, and get access to bonus episodes, free comics, and other rewards! Try a FREE 7-day trial: HERETake your comic shopping experience to the limit, by shopping online at Gotham City Limit!The Schiller Kessler Group Click here to text us Fan Mail!Check out Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Battle Nexus, the raddest TMNT event of the decade! Buy your tickets for Collective Con 2026, Northeast Florida's largest pop culture convention: HERE Proudly sponsored by IDW ComicsProudly sponsored by Collective ConProudly sponsored by Gotham City LimitDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showREACH OUT!

In this episode of the Investor Fuel podcast, host Olivia speaks with Sage and Hayden from Flight Builders, a real estate company focused on new construction in Northeast Florida. They discuss their strategies for maintaining a positive outlook in a challenging market, the importance of hard work and accountability, and their focus on building relationships within the industry. The conversation also covers their experiences overcoming challenges in new markets and their goals for scaling their business through development and collaboration with wholesalers.   Professional Real Estate Investors - How we can help you: Investor Fuel Mastermind:  Learn more about the Investor Fuel Mastermind, including 100% deal financing, massive discounts from vendors and sponsors you're already using, our world class community of over 150 members, and SO much more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/apply   Investor Machine Marketing Partnership:  Are you looking for consistent, high quality lead generation? Investor Machine is America's #1 lead generation service professional investors. Investor Machine provides true 'white glove' support to help you build the perfect marketing plan, then we'll execute it for you…talking and working together on an ongoing basis to help you hit YOUR goals! Learn more here: http://www.investormachine.com   Coaching with Mike Hambright:  Interested in 1 on 1 coaching with Mike Hambright? Mike coaches entrepreneurs looking to level up, build coaching or service based businesses (Mike runs multiple 7 and 8 figure a year businesses), building a coaching program and more. Learn more here: https://investorfuel.com/coachingwithmike   Attend a Vacation/Mastermind Retreat with Mike Hambright: Interested in joining a "mini-mastermind" with Mike and his private clients on an upcoming "Retreat", either at locations like Cabo San Lucas, Napa, Park City ski trip, Yellowstone, or even at Mike's East Texas "Big H Ranch"? Learn more here: http://www.investorfuel.com/retreat   Property Insurance: Join the largest and most investor friendly property insurance provider in 2 minutes. Free to join, and insure all your flips and rentals within minutes! There is NO easier insurance provider on the planet (turn insurance on or off in 1 minute without talking to anyone!), and there's no 15-30% agent mark up through this platform!  Register here: https://myinvestorinsurance.com/   New Real Estate Investors - How we can work together: Investor Fuel Club (Coaching and Deal Partner Community): Looking to kickstart your real estate investing career? Join our one of a kind Coaching Community, Investor Fuel Club, where you'll get trained by some of the best real estate investors in America, and partner with them on deals! You don't need $ for deals…we'll partner with you and hold your hand along the way! Learn More here: http://www.investorfuel.com/club   —--------------------

Proposed development-friendly laws could change the face of Northeast Florida.

Edmund Dansart is back from hiatus to join the show for a special tribute episode.  In this one, we celebrate the life and career of comics fast and furious artist Sal Buscema, followed by recapping comic news from the year so far, like the global Supergirl anthology and the Absolute Universe's latest reprint run. Ed also chimes in with his favorite comics at the moment (Universal Monsters: The Invincible Man, James Stokoe's Orphan in the Five Beasts, This Ends Tonight)Check out patreon.com/theshortbox for pt. 2 and more comic news recap!Calling all comic book art fans, get your tickets for the Orlando Art Expo next weekend, February 20 -22nd (HERE)LINKS: Buy Short Box merch like hats & shirts: HEREJoin our Patreon Community, and get access to bonus episodes, free comics, and other rewards! Try a FREE 7-day trial: HERETake your comic shopping experience to the limit, by shopping online at Gotham City Limit!Click here to text us Fan Mail!Check out Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Battle Nexus, the raddest TMNT event of the decade! Buy your tickets for Collective Con 2026, Northeast Florida's largest pop culture convention: HERE Proudly sponsored by Gotham City LimitProudly sponsored by Collective ConProudly sponsored by IDW ComicsDisclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showREACH OUT!

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  

Are you using every resource in front of you or waiting for success to knock on your door? In this episode of the Real Estate Excellence Podcast, Tracy Hayes sits down with Jerry Strums of Richmond Homes to explore the world of new construction from the builder's side. From military buyers to first-time homeowners, Jerry shares what it takes to succeed in Northeast Florida's competitive housing market—and how agents can better partner with site reps for smooth transactions and happier clients. Listeners will discover the unspoken rules of registering buyers, the power of relationship building with site agents, and the often overlooked role of communication in securing the best deals for buyers. Jerry's transparency and passion shine through as he opens up about his journey from hustling multiple side jobs to dominating new home sales. Whether you're a seasoned realtor or just getting your license, this episode offers real value, real strategy, and real talk. If you're an agent navigating new construction or want to be, send this episode to your real estate team, connect with your local site agent today, and don't forget to follow the show for more behind-the-scenes real estate wisdom!   Highlights 00:00 - 11:45 Breaking Into Real Estate Jerry's journey from server to licensed agent Hustling with side gigs before going full-time The friend who sparked his real estate career Early struggles without mentorship or guidance First experiences with Red Zone and Compass 11:45 - 24:30 Builder Life: Structure, Sales, and Strategy Gaining stability through Richmond Homes Leaving multiple side hustles behind How builder sales differ from retail real estate Common myths about "easy" site agent jobs Building routines and sales systems 24:30 - 37:10 Inside the New Construction Process Buyer incentives and affordability breakdown VA loan success stories and payment examples Warranties explained: bumper-to-bumper vs structural Outside lenders vs in-house financing Navigating buyer registration protocols 37:10 - 50:15 Realtor-Site Agent Relationships Why some agents distrust site reps The importance of early introductions and transparency How Jerry makes agents feel like true partners Role clarity and mutual respect in the transaction Resolving conflict without ego 50:15 - 01:06:45 Communication, Control, and Customer Experience Setting expectations when handing off buyers How to properly introduce clients at a model home Building trust through shared goals Using CRM and follow-up to retain business Making the client feel like everyone's on one team 01:06:45 - 01:23:07 Elevating Your Builder Game Tips for new agents visiting subdivisions The power of in-person rapport with site reps Jerry's method for following up and adding value Building long-term agent relationships Final advice on winning in new construction sales   Quotes: "When I came to the builder, I was able to quit that serving job and just focus directly on real estate." – Jerry Strums "You bring them here, let me close them for you, but you're always part of the team." – Jerry Strums "The builder gave me structure. Real estate became more than a hustle, it became a career." – Jerry Strums "Realtors are my network, and I treat them like family." – Jerry Strums   To contact Jerry Strums, learn more about his business, and make him a part of your network, make sure to follow him on his X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn.   Connect with Jerry Strums! X: https://x.com/j3showtime Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/j3showtime Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/1GvrVXsSTF/?mibextid=wwXIfr YouTube: https://youtube.com/@jstrumstherealtor LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerry-strums-b0b711232   Connect with me! Website: toprealtorjacksonville.com   Website: toprealtorstaugustine.com    SUBSCRIBE & LEAVE A 5-STAR REVIEW as we discuss real estate excellence with the best of the best.   #RealEstateExcellence #NewConstructionHomes #JacksonvilleRealEstate #SiteAgentLife #RealEstateTips #BuilderIncentives #NortheastFloridaHomes #HomeBuyingTips #VeteranHomeLoans #RichmondHomes #RealtorTips #RealEstateTraining #HousingMarket2024 #StJohnsCounty #StAugustineHomes #HomeOwnershipJourney #AgentCollaboration #RealtorNetwork #FirstTimeHomebuyer #RealEstateMindset

In this podcast episode Molly and Chrissy catch up with their field drinker, Tanya Nash. Don't miss their discussion as they fill their six packs with the best Northeast Florida breweries as they share some brews at Legacy Ale Works. This episode is filled with great brewery recommendations from Tanya and the Boozy Blondes. Have you been to them all? Check out the Boozy Blonde blog for bonus content and exclusive links to what we reference in this episode.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://boozyblondes.com/blog/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Enjoy social drinking ? Join the party and on our social media to find out the Drink of the Episode, Giveaways and more:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://boozyblondes.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/boozy.blondes⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.facebook.com/boozyblondes/⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://www.youtube.com/@boozyblondespodcast⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Doug Wagner (writer of PLASTIC, PLUSH, VINYL) joins the show to discuss writing dark comedy horror comics like I Was A Fashion School Serial Killer, and the latest addition to his Image Comics Materials-Universe: Narco, the story of a narcoleptic man attempting to solve the grisly murder of his neighbor. Doug also elaborates on his time working at Malibu Comics, his favorite Alfred Hitchcock movies, starting 12-Gauge Comics and writing the black & white anthology series: The Ride, and shares stories about working with Brian Stelfreeze and Cully Hamner Watch the unedited video version of this episode: HERELINKS: Buy Short Box merch like hats & shirts: HEREJoin our Patreon Community, and get access to bonus episodes, free comics, and other rewards! Try a FREE 7-day trial: HERETake your comic shopping experience to the limit, by shopping online at Gotham City Limit!The Schiller Kessler Group  We read Fan Mail, send us some! Check out Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Battle Nexus, the raddest TMNT event of the decade!  Buy your tickets for Collective Con 2026, Northeast Florida's largest pop culture convention: HERE Proudly sponsored by Gotham City Limit!Proudly sponsored by Collective Con!Proudly sponsored by IDW Comics!Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showREACH OUT!

On Flagler College Week: We're still learning how climate changes will impact aquatic habitats. Matthew Brown, professor of natural sciences, looks into one such quandary. Preceded by an undergraduate degree in Chemistry (B.Sc.,Old Dominion University), Dr. Matthew Brown completed an M.Sc.(Oceanography) at the University of Hawaii and a Ph.D. (Ocean Sciences–Marine Chemistry) at the University […]

Are you using every resource in front of you or waiting for success to knock on your door? In this episode of the Real Estate Excellence Podcast, Tracy Hayes sits down with Madison Partridge, founder of Local Roots Group, who shares her raw journey from zero experience to building a purpose-driven real estate business in Northeast Florida. Leaving a medical career behind, Madison threw herself into real estate without a budget but armed with grit, open houses, and a relentless drive to connect with people. Now a leader in her market, Madison reveals how getting uncomfortable and showing up consistently on social media and in person has helped her cultivate a loyal sphere that accounts for over 65 percent of her business. From door knocking and hosting open houses to educating VA and first-time buyers, her story is a blueprint for young agents looking to build from the ground up. If Madison's story inspired you share it with a new agent or entrepreneur who needs to hear that success is built on consistency and courage. Subscribe to Real Estate Excellence for more episodes featuring top-performing agents who lead with heart and hustle   Highlights: 00:00 – 11:06 Starting from Scratch with a Mindset for Growth Leaving the medical field for real estate Embracing discomfort and uncertainty early on Using every free tool and tactic in the beginning Door knocking and open houses as launchpad Advice from her mother and how it shaped her drive 11:07 – 22:13 Faith Consistency and Building a Strong Foundation Letting faith and clarity guide business choices The power of repetition and relationship building Lessons learned from mentors and podcasts Getting real about CRM and system resistance Why 65 percent of her business comes from her sphere 22:14 – 33:20 The Open House Advantage and Local Branding Why open houses work best for relationship builders Creating high-touch memorable open house experiences Door knocking with strategic invites and face-to-face trust Turning neighbors into advocates and future clients How her presentation builds long-term reputation 33:21 – 44:26 Events and Community as Client Retention Tools Organizing low-cost high-value client events Leveraging vendor relationships for co-hosting Scaling appreciation events as her team grows Clay County as her niche and local expertise Community growth and long-term investment strategy 44:27 – 55:33 Educating and Empowering VA and First-Time Buyers Why she specializes in VA buyers and military families Combatting misconceptions about VA loans Setting expectations about pricing and home types Using buyer consults to prep for negotiation Getting creative with concessions and buy-downs 55:34 – 01:06:40 Strategic Negotiation and Future-Focused Guidance Managing seller resistance in a shifting market Handling low savings and credit with empathy Long-term thinking with equity building Comparing rent vs owning with visual tactics Her long-term goals in flipping and investing   Quotes: "Get comfortable with the uncomfortable that is what this business is about." – Madison Partridge "Every conversation is an opportunity waiting to happen." – Madison Partridge "If I can get in front of someone I know I can build that trust." – Madison Partridge "You are not buying your forever house you are building equity and leveling up." – Madison Partridge    To contact Madison Partridge, learn more about her business, and make her a part of your network, make sure to follow her on her Website, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn.   Connect with Madison Partridge! Website: https://localrootsgroup.unitedrealestategallery.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/madisonsellsthe904/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Madisonsellsthe904 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@LocalRootsGroupJax LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/madison-partridge-yates-12069b171/   Connect with me! Website: toprealtorjacksonville.com   Website: toprealtorstaugustine.com    SUBSCRIBE & LEAVE A 5-STAR REVIEW as we discuss real estate excellence with the best of the best.   #RealEstateExcellence #RealEstateExcellence #MadisonPartridge #OpenHouseWins #VAHomeLoans #FirstTimeBuyerHelp #YoungRealtorLife #RealEstateMindset #WomenInRealEstate #DoorKnockingStrategy #LocalRootsGroup #ClayCountyHomes #FaithDrivenBusiness #RealEstateFlorida #RealtorTips #SphereOfInfluence #HomeBuyerHelp #JacksonvilleHomes #ClientCareMatters #RealEstateCoaching #MarketLikeAPro

Award-winning comic artist, Cliff Chiang (Wonder Woman, Paper Girls) joins the show to talk about what it's like being in-between projects and gearing up for the next big thing. We also talk extensively about his creative process, influences and mentors, working in DC editorial, Paper Girls live-action show, how Catwoman: Lonely City came together, manga he's reading, and discuss the upcoming Vertigo relaunch.Watch the unedited video version of this episode: HERELINKS: Buy Short Box merch like hats & shirts: HEREJoin our Patreon Community, and get access to bonus episodes, free comics, and other rewards! Try a FREE 7-day trial: HERETake your comic shopping experience to the limit, by shopping online at Gotham City Limit!The Schiller Kessler Group  We read Fan Mail, send us some! Click here to pay-what-you-want for the Dynamite Humble Bundle deal Buy your tickets for Collective Con 2026, Northeast Florida's largest pop culture convention: HERE Support the showREACH OUT!

What if the people who doubted your dreams actually helped fuel your success? In this episode of the Real Estate Excellence Podcast, Tracy Hayes sits down with powerhouse realtor Rachel Hanes, a former educator turned top-producing real estate agent in Northeast Florida. Rachel shares her inspiring journey from a young mom with no laptop to a referral-based business owner dominating the Jacksonville market. She dives into her early struggles, how a Craigslist ad and a leap of faith kickstarted her career, and how surrounding herself with the right mentors helped her build a thriving, integrity-driven business. Rachel emphasizes the power of authenticity, consistency, and community—not just with clients but among fellow agents. She discusses the value of collaboration over competition, how she transitioned into investment and Airbnb properties, and why building relationships is her #1 marketing strategy. This episode is packed with hard-earned wisdom and actionable advice for any agent ready to elevate their game. Inspired by Sarah's success? Start building real relationships today. Share this episode with a fellow agent, leave a review, and connect with Sarah online to see her strategies in action! Loved Rachel's journey? Subscribe to the Real Estate Excellence Podcast and share this episode with an agent who needs that extra push to believe in themselves!   Highlights: 00:00 - 09:49 Roots and Rejection From violin teacher to real estate rookie Starting with no laptop and a Craigslist ad Juggling motherhood and ambition Turning naysayers into fuel Building belief through consistency 09:50 - 17:54 Building Trust Through Referrals Authentic connection over forced follow-ups Repeat clients and word-of-mouth success Why integrity beats sales tactics Staying top of mind without being pushy Letting results speak louder than promotions 17:55 - 26:05 Handling Ego and Emotions in Deals The danger of combative agents Emotional intelligence during negotiation Protecting clients through calm professionalism Collaboration over confrontation How ego can cost your client the deal 26:06 - 33:59 Finding the Right Brokerage and Community The value of a supportive broker Learning through shared agent experience Group texts and collaborative growth Why culture trumps commission splits Being in business for yourself, not by yourself 34:00 - 41:59 Investing and 1031 Exchanges Working with fiduciaries and trusts Breaking down 1031 exchange strategies Understanding tax-deferred reinvestments Handling multi-heir trust properties How education expands your client base 42:00 – 01:20:53 Airbnb and Short Term Rental Strategy What new investors often overlook Management companies vs DIY The truth about ROI and maintenance How to create a standout Airbnb listing Regulations, reviews, and real risk   Quotes: "You don't always get immediate kudos for your decisions—it takes consistency for people to see your vision." – Rachel Hanes "I want people to feel that if they're coming to me with business, it's going to be handled with integrity." – Rachel Hanes "You're not being productive when you let ego take over a negotiation." – Rachel Hanes "Being collaborative in your professional life bleeds over to your personal life." – Rachel Hanes   To contact Rachel Hanes, learn more about her business, and make her a part of your network, make sure to follow her on her Website, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.   Connect with Rachel Hanes! Website: https://hamiltonhousegroup.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rachelhanesrealtor/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/rachelhanesrealtor LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachel-hanes-8337a2131/   Connect with me! Website: toprealtorjacksonville.com   Website: toprealtorstaugustine.com    SUBSCRIBE & LEAVE A 5-STAR REVIEW as we discuss real estate excellence with the best of the best.   #RealEstateExcellence #RachelHanes #ReferralBasedBusiness #JacksonvilleRealEstate #WomenInRealEstate #RealEstateMom #AirbnbInvesting #RealEstatePodcast #1031Exchange #REInvestorTips #Mompreneur #FloridaRealtor #ClientExperienceMatters #TrustBasedBusiness #AgentReferrals #RESuccessStory #RealEstateCommunity #IntegrityInBusiness #HomeBuyingTips #RealtorJourney

Another January means another annual trip to visit the big homie, Walt. We hit the ground running so fast this episode, that we didn't even have time to record a proper intro. We talked about a bit of everything, including Walt's pull-list, Ryan Coogler's original script for Black Panther 2, things we'd change about digital comics, Todd McFarlane and Jim Lee's legacy, Avenger's: Doomsday, and we defended Cyclops' honor. This episode also includes a special cameo via phone towards the end

It's MLK Day – Tonya shares the history and evolution of the holiday, and how it is commemorated nationally, often as a "day of service." Dr. King's legacy in the Civil Rights Movement includes historic events in the Northeast Florida area. Locally, the 45th annual MLK Day Parade starts at 11am at Stadium Lot E, making its way along Bay Street and through the downtown area.

What if the secret to scaling your real estate business isn't leads—but relationships? In this episode of the Real Estate Excellence Podcast, Tracy Hayes welcomes back powerhouse Realtor Sarah Schwartz, who shares how she dominated her market with over $36 million in sales from 57 transactions—all while managing life as a mom, wife, and business owner. Sarah reveals the secrets behind her explosive growth, including how she leverages her husband as her business partner, invests in her neighborhood relationships, and maintains an unrivaled level of client service that converts every transaction into a future referral. They dive deep into the psychology of client retention, why genuine human connection outperforms flashy marketing, and how Sarah's fierce commitment to relationships keeps her top-of-mind in Northeast Florida's competitive market. Her community-first strategy, powered by local events, handwritten notes, and hot chocolate bombs, proves that you don't need hundreds of leads—you need people who trust you. Inspired by Sarah's success? Start building real relationships today. Share this episode with a fellow agent, leave a review, and connect with Sarah online to see her strategies in action!   Highlights: 00:00–06:12 Building a Real Estate Power Couple Husband's role as licensed contractor, realtor, and drone pilot Creating custom marketing materials How partnership enables business growth and personal time Travel and work-life balance Supporting each other through business systems 06:13–14:20 Scaling with Systems & Support Closing 57 transactions solo with a TC Delegation of tasks to stay focused Streamlining listings with checklists and support Using AI and website design for lead generation Importance of consistency in business operations 14:21–22:26 Relationship Building Over Sales Pitches Monthly gifts, newsletters, and personal check-ins Maintaining contact with clients from years ago Posting family life alongside business online How authenticity builds trust Turning past clients into lifelong referral partners 22:27–33:59 Digital Authority and Online Strategy Power of Google reviews and how to request them Why reviews drive AI visibility Building a searchable, content-rich website Role of blogs and keywords in AI search results Educating the market through local content 34:00–42:58 Brokerage Moves and Business Alignment Evaluating broker support and culture Finding a broker who supports your growth Leaving cloud brokerages for more personal support Importance of mentorship and coaching Aligning business model with brokerage strengths 42:59–01:24:03 Farming the Neighborhood Like a Queen Turning 100 homes into over 10 million in business Neighborhood drop-bys with QR codes Hosting events like Friendsgiving and book club Becoming the go-to resource for community updates Building business through connection and consistency   Quotes: "He is what puts the Schwartz in Sarah Schwartz." – Sarah Schwartz "Every client, even from 7 years ago, still hears from me—because they matter." – Sarah Schwartz "I didn't realize how important a broker's support was until I didn't have it." – Sarah Schwartz "Referrals are a girl's best friend." – Sarah Schwartz   To contact Sarah Schwartz, learn more about her business, and make her a part of your network, make sure to follow her on her Website.   Connect with Sarah Schwartz! Website: http://www.sarahschwartzgroup.com   Connect with me! Website: toprealtorjacksonville.com   Website: toprealtorstaugustine.com    SUBSCRIBE & LEAVE A 5-STAR REVIEW as we discuss real estate excellence with the best of the best.   #RealEstateExcellence #RealEstateExcellence #RealEstateTips #RelationshipMarketing #TopRealtor #RealEstatePodcast #GoogleReviews #AIinRealEstate #BrokerageSwitch #NortheastFloridaRealtor #LuxuryHomes #ListingTips #RealtorLife #ClientFirst #MarketingTips #NeighborhoodFarming #ReferralBusiness #JacksonvilleRealEstate #WomenInRealEstate #RealEstateBranding #RealEstateStrategies

World renowned comic writer, Jim Zub (Avengers, Conan, Skullkickers), joins the show for a conversation that really covers it all. Jim talks about writing the flagship Conan comic series for Titan Comics, working with rising comic artist Roberto de la Torre, Robert E. Howard's legacy, Dungeons & Dragons, and the power of storytelling, working at Udon with Capcom, and he also shares a heartfelt story about attending GenCon with his brother.Watch the video version of this episode, HERELINKS: Buy Short Box merch like hats & shirts: HEREJoin our Patreon Community, and get access to bonus episodes, free comics, and other rewards! Try a FREE 7-day trial: HERETake your comic shopping experience to the limit, by shopping online at Gotham City Limit!The Schiller Kessler Group  We read Fan Mail, send us some! Buy your tickets for Collective Con 2026, Northeast Florida's largest pop culture convention: HERE Support the showREACH OUT!

JB White opens the January 14 episode from Northeast Florida with reflections on community, culture, and the return to what he calls American normalcy. While touching briefly on Jaguars playoff disappointment and sports media narratives, the episode quickly expands into a broader cultural discussion sparked by public reactions to a Jacksonville reporter's post-game comments and what they reveal about shifting social norms. JB connects these moments to deeper themes of identity, patriotism, and cultural hijacking, weaving in historical reflections on the civil rights movement through music by Sweet Honey in the Rock and the legacy of Harry T. Moore. The show explores how language, culture, and faith have been manipulated over decades, arguing that modern political movements have inverted their original purpose. Throughout the episode, JB emphasizes community cohesion, American identity over factionalism, and the importance of discernment in an era of manufactured division, closing with reflections on faith, history, and responsibility as the nation moves forward.

Are you building a business that feels like you—or one you think people expect to see? In this episode of the Real Estate Excellence Podcast, Tracy Hayes welcomes powerhouse agent Dori Nugent, whose bold pivot from a 20-year fitness career to real estate during the pandemic has quickly made her a standout in Northeast Florida. Dori shares how her deep roots in client service, leadership, and authentic human connection have been the key drivers of her rapid success, closing over 90 transactions in just a few years. From mastering social media with purpose to navigating the unique challenges of coastal real estate, Dori dives into the lessons she brought from the gym floor to the negotiation table. Her story proves that when you lead with heart, structure, and the desire to serve, you're already ahead of the game. If you're looking for more than just another real estate agent and want someone who truly gets your lifestyle dreams, connect with Dori Nugent or follow the podcast for more insider insights like this. Don't forget to rate, review, and share this episode with someone thinking about making a fearless career change or move to Florida!   Highlights: 00:00 - 10:55 From Gym Rat to Fitness Leader Dori's entry into fitness as a young mom Climbing from instructor to operations director Managing over 70 instructors Employee engagement lessons Her first taste of public speaking 10:56 - 20:40 Pivoting into Real Estate During a Pandemic Leaving a 20-year fitness career COVID's impact on the fitness world Competing for and winning the podcast host role Discovering a passion for connection and communication Why authenticity helped her stand out 20:41 - 31:25 Falling in Love with St. Augustine Visiting multiple beach towns Why Hilton Head and Myrtle Beach didn't work The lifestyle pull of Vilano and Anastasia Island Key factors in choosing a new home location The buyer's mindset when relocating 31:26 - 40:50 Beach Buyers, Rentals, and Smart Agent Choices Why hyper-local agent knowledge is essential Flood zones, short-term rental rules, HOAs Helping buyers visualize lifestyle, not just homes The real value of social media for agents Selling trust before sales volume 40:51 - 53:00 Navigating New Construction and Military Moves Unique strategies for working with military buyers The resale trap of early-phase new builds Realistic pricing for listings near builders How she sets expectations with sellers Understanding your real buyer 53:01 - 1:07:15 Service, Connection, and Standing Out Customer service mindset from fitness to real estate Personal touches that matter (coffee, snacks, notes) Reading people and rewarding them accordingly Social media vs real impact Using AI and staying future-focused 1:07:16 - 1:19:21 Books, Tools, and Staying Grounded Dori's top books for real estate mindset Unreasonable Hospitality, Endless Referrals, more Balancing authenticity with technology Staying top of mind without overspending Final thoughts and advice to new agents   Quotes: "You sell when you make people feel a certain way." – Dori Nugent "Authenticity builds trust. And trust is everything in real estate." – Dori Nugent "Every client wants to be rewarded differently; you have to pay attention." – Dori Nugent "I'm trying to connect with that woman in Ohio sitting on her couch at 8 PM, dreaming of living by the beach." – Dori Nugent   To contact Dori Nugent, learn more about her business, and make her a part of your network, make sure to follow her on her Website, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok.   Connect with Dori Nugent! Website: https://dori-nugent.cbpphomes.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dorinuge/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dori.carenugent YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DoriNugent LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dori-nugent-90b38747/   Connect with me! Website: toprealtorjacksonville.com   Website: toprealtorstaugustine.com    SUBSCRIBE & LEAVE A 5-STAR REVIEW as we discuss real estate excellence with the best of the best.   #RealEstateExcellence #DoriNugent #AuthenticBranding #FitnessToRealEstate #BeachLifeFlorida #StAugustineRealEstate #MilitaryRealtor #CoastalLiving #LifestyleSelling #RealtorTips #RealEstateJourney #WomenInRealEstate #NewConstructionTips #RealtorLife #HomeBuyingTips #RealEstateMarketing #CustomerExperience #RealEstateStrategy #AIInRealEstate #HyperLocalExpert

Ben and I continue our annual tradition of recapping the best comics of the year with a special 2025 farewell episode, recorded live from Gotham City limit comic shop. We answer some fan mail questions, and talk about the comics, creators, and trends that made this a great year for comic fans, and the things we're excited about for 2026. Some of Ben's comic picks:Sisterhood: A Hyde Street StoryCheetah & Cheshire Rob The Justice LeagueAbsolute BatmanOrdained Arcadia Exquisite CorpsesSkinbreakerOur Soot Stained HeartRed VectorAmerican CaperWatch the video version of this episode, HERELINKS: Buy Short Box merch like hats & shirts: HEREJoin our Patreon Community, and get access to bonus episodes, free comics, and other rewards! Try a FREE 7-day trial: HERETake your comic shopping experience to the limit, by shopping online at Gotham City Limit!The Schiller Kessler Group  We read Fan Mail, send us some! Buy your tickets for Collective Con 2026, Northeast Florida's largest pop culture convention: HERE Support the showREACH OUT!

Join us for an inspiring conversation with Brigadier General (Ret.) Michael Fleming, a distinguished military leader and veteran advocate, as we explore his journey from the battlefield to influential roles in business and education. In this episode, Cam and Otis delve into General Fleming's extensive experience in leadership, his dedication to veteran advocacy, and his efforts to bridge the gap between military and civilian sectors."Leadership is about service," General Fleming shares, reflecting on his career spanning over 30 years in the military and his subsequent roles in community relations and veteran support. From founding the Jacksonville Military Veterans Coalition to his work with the Cohen Veterans Network, General Fleming offers invaluable insights into creating opportunities for veterans and addressing critical issues like veteran suicide.Whether you're a military professional transitioning to civilian life, a business leader seeking to understand veteran perspectives, or someone passionate about community service, this episode provides a wealth of knowledge and inspiration.More About General Fleming:Brig. Gen. (Ret.) Michael “Mike” Fleming is a respected Northeast Florida military and veteran leader with senior experience across the military, business, and higher education sectors. He currently serves as Senior Manager, Community Relations for Cohen Veterans Network. Previously, he held leadership roles with the Stephen A. Cohen Military Family Clinic at Centerstone, Jacksonville University, and Deutsche Bank, where he was a Managing Director and Site Lead in Jacksonville.A career military officer with more than 30 years of service in the U.S. Marine Corps and Army National Guard, he retired as a Brigadier General. He holds degrees from Jacksonville State University, the University of North Florida, and the U.S. Naval War College, and completed fellowships at Harvard University, Johns Hopkins University, and the U.S. Congress.Gen. Fleming is the founder and chair of multiple veteran-focused coalitions, including the Jacksonville Military Veterans Coalition, and chairs The Fire Watch, a regional initiative to prevent veteran suicide. His honors include the Legion of Merit, the Florida Veterans Hall of Fame, and numerous military and civilian leadership awards.#10xyourteam #VeteranLeadership #ServantLeadership #MilitaryToCivilian #VeteranAdvocacy #LeadershipWithPurpose #MissionDriven #CommunityLeadership #VeteranSupport #PurposeDrivenLeadership #ImpactThroughServiceChapter Times and Titles:Introduction to General Mike Fleming [00:00 - 10:00]Overview of General Fleming's career and achievementsTransition from military to civilian leadership rolesFounding the Jacksonville Military Veterans CoalitionLeadership Lessons from the Military [10:01 - 20:00]Key leadership principles from military serviceThe importance of adaptability and resilienceInsights from international competitions and fellowshipsVeteran Advocacy and Community Relations [20:01 - 30:00]General Fleming's role in the Cohen Veterans NetworkInitiatives to support veteran employment and mental healthThe impact of public/private partnershipsBridging Military and Civilian Worlds [30:01 - 40:00]Challenges and opportunities in veteran transitionsBuilding relationships with government and business leadersStrategies for effective community engagementCreating Opportunities for Veterans [40:01 - 50:00]Success stories from the Jacksonville Military Veterans CoalitionAddressing veteran suicide through The Fire Watch initiativeFinal thoughts on leadership and serviceClosing Remarks and Resources [50:01 - End]How to connect with General Fleming and his initiativesEncouragement for listeners to get involved in veteran supportFinal reflections on leade

Can mastering a niche early in your real estate career be the secret to selling million-dollar homes in your 20s? In this episode of the Real Estate Excellence Podcast, Tracy Hayes welcomes second-generation real estate agent Emma Horvatincic, a driven and self-made rising star specializing in equestrian properties in Northeast Florida. Emma shares her journey from growing up immersed in a business-minded household to building a flourishing career in real estate—all before turning 25. Her unique blend of professionalism, niche marketing, and dedication to elite service shines throughout the conversation. Emma reveals how her equestrian background, personalized marketing, and strategic use of old-school outreach (yes, real mail!) helped her break into the luxury real estate market. She gives valuable insights on building a solid foundation with the right brokerage, leveraging AI and blogging for future-proof content marketing, and why anticipating client needs in the luxury space is non-negotiable. Her proactive mindset, attention to detail, and genuine care for her clients set her apart as a future industry leader. Love what Emma shared? Don't wait—subscribe to Real Estate Excellence and follow Emma's journey! If you're a new agent wondering how to carve your niche, or a buyer looking for horse property expertise, this is the episode for you. Share it, review it, and start building your empire today.   Highlights: 00:00 - 02:35 Why You Shouldn't Wait to Buy ·        Emma's top advice for 2026 buyers ·        Timing the market vs. taking the leap ·        Why perfection isn't the goal ·        Interest rates and market myths ·        Action beats hesitation 02:36 - 13:30 From College to Closing Deals ·        Getting licensed during college ·        Family legacy in real estate ·        Studying business & entrepreneurship at UNF ·        Formal education vs. natural business instinct ·        Transitioning into full-time real estate 13:31 - 22:20 Nailing the Niche ·        Breaking into luxury through horse properties ·        What most agents get wrong in farm listings ·        Building trust with sellers through expertise ·        Targeting farms using handwritten outreach ·        Turning expired listings into closed deals 22:21 - 31:38 Marketing That Actually Works in 2025 ·        Why social media alone isn't enough ·        AI, blogs & the rise of Googleable agents ·        The value of a solid personal website ·        How reviews fuel AI visibility ·        Personalization vs. paid content 31:39 - 45:02 Serving Luxury Clients the Right Way ·        White-glove service from start to finish ·        Anticipating client needs proactively ·        Out-of-state buyers and concierge-level care ·        Why responsiveness is your superpower ·        Communicating value beyond just the home 45:03 - 01:17:23 Trends, Renovations & Real ROI ·        Pricing mistakes sellers make ·        High-end homes: what's still moving ·        Buyers' mindset in luxury vs. average price point ·        Are pre-listing renovations worth it? ·        Timing, market strategy, and honest advising   Quotes: "There's never going to be one perfect time to get in the market. When the time is right for you, make the jump." – Emma Horvatincic "You're always interviewing for your next opportunity. Nothing is guaranteed." – Emma Horvatincic "Substance will never go out of style, especially in a digital world." – Emma Horvatincic "If you're not looking for your next opportunity today, you'll feel it a few months from now." – Emma Horvatincic   To contact Emma Horvatincic, learn more about her business, and make her a part of your network, make sure to follow her on her Website, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and TikTok.   Connect with Emma Horvatincic! Website: https://ehorvatincic.floridanetworkrealty.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/emma.horvatincic.realtor/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/emma.horvat.37051/   Connect with me! Website: toprealtorjacksonville.com   Website: toprealtorstaugustine.com    SUBSCRIBE & LEAVE A 5-STAR REVIEW as we discuss real estate excellence with the best of the best.   #RealEstateExcellence #LuxuryRealEstate #EquestrianRealEstate #EmmaHorvatincic #WomenInRealEstate #BerkshireHathaway #RealEstatePodcast #NicheMarketing #AIInRealEstate #RealEstateTips #ContentMarketing #LuxuryHomes #EquestrianLifestyle #PropertyInvesting #NewAgentAdvice #SocialMediaForRealtors #RealEstateStrategy #FloridaRealEstate #HorseProperties #LuxuryListingAgent

Aaron Hazouri (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Toaster Guy, NECA) returns to the show after almost 12 yrs since his first appearance on the podcast! He's back to talk about his new career as a concept artist and illustrator for NECA toys, doing production art for their TMNT line of figures and collectibles, meeting Kevin Eastman, working on Sesame Street, and talks about his upcoming in-person signing at Black Cat comics this Saturday, December 20th. Watch the video version of this episode, HERELINKS: Buy Short Box merch like hats & shirts: HEREJoin our Patreon Community, and get access to bonus episodes, free comics, and other rewards! Try a FREE 7-day trial: HERETake your comic shopping experience to the limit, by shopping online at Gotham City Limit!The Schiller Kessler Group  We read Fan Mail, send us some! Buy your tickets for Collective Con 2026, Northeast Florida's largest pop culture convention: HERE Proudly sponsored by Gotham City Limit!Proudly sponsored by Collective Con!Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showREACH OUT!

In this episode, Dr. P sits down with Amber Shepherd — a leader whose journey from rural Florida to international consulting to regional economic development shows what's possible when you listen to the “whispers” and commit to excellence. Amber shares how she transformed workforce programs, worked with the Korean government on global expansion projects, and now leads major economic initiatives in Northeast Florida — including a $400M aerospace R&D hub and a $125M renewable energy facility. Together, they explore faith-driven leadership, navigating doubt, converting naysayers, and why relationship-building is the true engine of economic growth. A powerful conversation about purpose, persistence, and creating significance through service.

Waste Not, Want Not, is a hunger alleviation organization in our region committed solely to food rescue. We do not buy food. We do not receive government subsidies. We exist to prevent food waste and to fight hunger across 14 counties in Northeast Florida. Visit WASTENOTFLORIDA.ORG to learn more about the company, how they can help you, or how you can get involved.

This episode was recorded at Gotham City Limit comic shop, last month, where superstar comic-cover-artist, Aaron Bartling was celebrating the release of his Final Boss shop exclusive variant. Aaron was kind enough to chat with me about his life and career, working in the Death metal scene with bands like Impending Doom, his creative process and favorite tools of the trade, advice for new artists, and discussed the cover that put him on the map: TMNT: Last Ronin Watch the video version of this episode on YouTube, here Enter in this month's giveaway contest, to win a copy of Aaron Bartling's exclusive variant of Final Boss #1: HERELINKS: Buy official Short Box Merch: HEREJoin our Patreon Community, and get access to bonus episodes, free comics, and other rewards! Try a FREE 7-day trial: HERETake your comic shopping experience to the limit, by shopping online at Gotham City Limit!The Schiller Kessler Group  We read Fan Mail, send us some! Buy your tickets for Collective Con 2026, Northeast Florida's largest pop culture convention: HERE Proudly sponsored by Gotham City Limit!Proudly sponsored by Collective Con!Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showREACH OUT!

We interview Michelle Cook, the current Sheriff for Clay County here in Northeast Florida.  She shares her story of growing up here in Jacksonville, attending UNF, and discovering her passion for law enforcement during a ride along day.  Michelle discusses her passion for protecting and serving, how she used her smaller stature to her advantage as an officer, rising the ranks of the Jacksonville Sheriffs Office to become a 3-star Director and 3rd in command in the 3,300 person organization,  the road to become an elected official beating out 5 other candidates, her day to day responsibilities, and her parenting philosophies as a mother of 6 kids.  Enjoy!Website: https://www.grit.org/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCNYFCl9ZQw6opYuNsm48euwInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/gritdotorg/?igshid=NzNkNDdiOGI%3DTiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@grit.orgFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/Gritdotorg/Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/grit-org

JB White delivers a wide-open, high-energy Football Friday as he returns to Northeast Florida refreshed, reflective, and ready to run. Between SEC rivalry banter, Lane Kiffin drama, and love for Gator Nation, JB dives into the deeper currents shaping America. He breaks down Trump's relentless “flood the zone” strategy, the left's attempts to bait him into missteps, and why Democrats' rhetoric is edging dangerously close to incitement. JB explores global positioning by intelligence networks, China's infiltration tactics, the City of London's influence, and why the Epstein–JP Morgan scandal may expose decades of corruption. He reflects on Clarence Thomas's legacy, testosterone-therapy breakthroughs, Thanksgiving plans, spiritual grounding, and the discernment needed as the country enters what he calls “desperation days.” A blend of football, faith, geopolitics, humor, and hard truth, classic RattlerGator.

The percentage of American women in leadership positions insports varies by sector, but it is generally low. For instance, women holdapproximately 20-34% of senior administrative roles in professional teams,while their representation in the highest levels of governance forinternational sports federations is around 21-27%. Additionally, women accountfor less than 20% of team doctors in professional and collegiate sports,according to the Women Sports Foundation and the Journal of Sport forDevelopment. Megha Parekh is the Executive Vice President and Chief LegalOfficer of the Jacksonville Jaguars. She has been with the team since 2013 andplays a key role in their executive leadership. Parekh is responsible for avariety of legal and business matters, including transactions, acquisitions,investments, compliance, dispute resolution, risk management, employee growthand development, government relations, intellectual property, security,technology, and stadium and real estate development projects. She is instrumentalin shaping the Jaguars' long-term vision and strategy, including the ambitious"Stadium of the Future" initiative and broader development efforts inJacksonville. Her work sits at the intersection of entertainment, law, andcivic innovation, helping position the Jaguars as a driver of economicdevelopment and community engagement in Northeast Florida. During her time with the Jaguars, Parekh has contributed tovarious significant projects, including the acquisition of Fulham FootballClub, the launch of All Elite Wrestling and its television broadcast deal, theconstruction and opening of Daily's Place amphitheater, and various namingrights and concessions agreements, as well as the Jaguars' international gamesand other Khan family sports and entertainment-related projects. Before joining the Jaguars, Parekh was an attorney atProskauer in New York, where she was part of the Sports Law Group and advisedclients across professional leagues and franchises. She holds both herundergraduate and law degrees from Harvard, graduating magna cum laude. In addition to her professional accomplishments, Parekh isdeeply committed to community service and volunteering. She supportsindividuals in moments of mental health crisis as a volunteer with Crisis TextLine and helps create safe and stable housing for families in need with Habitatfor Humanity. Guided by her personal experiences, she also advocates forsurvivors of trauma. Parekh serves on several boards, including theJacksonville University Public Policy Institute, and promotes access,inclusion, and leadership development in both sports and the legal profession.  She has been recognized as one of SportsBusiness Journal's“Forty Under 40” and has been featured among the most powerful women in sportsin the NFL's series “Earnin' It.” Parekh believes in the transformative powerof sports and music to create stronger, more connected communities and toenhance individuals' lives. Instagram: @meghalegalgirl10 LinkedIn: @MeghaParekhrekh

What would you risk—your career, your comfort, or your security—to build the life you really want? In this episode of the Real Estate Excellence Podcast, Tracy Hayes welcomes Karen Saez. Karen shares her incredible journey from corporate recruiting at Deutsche Bank to owning a bar and eventually finding her true passion in real estate. As a bilingual advisor and former military spouse, Karen brings heart, hustle, and unique experience to the Jacksonville market. She dives deep into what it takes to break into the industry, create a client-first business, and overcome the personal and professional challenges that come with bold life transitions. Karen opens up about building relationships through social media, the pain of losing her first real estate deal, and how grit, consistency, and empathy have shaped her career. She also breaks down the realities of starting in real estate, the importance of structure, and how being a single mom motivated her to take the leap into entrepreneurship. If you're thinking about making a career shift or want to level up in real estate, don't just dream it—do it. Follow Karen on Instagram for a behind-the-scenes look at real estate life, and subscribe to the Real Estate Excellence Podcast for more inspiring stories like this!   Highlights: 00:00–05:12 Karen's Big Month & Buyer Challenges Standout October sales performance Clients shifting from condos to homes Home search in eTown Quick 30-day close with decisive buyer Two closings pushed due to contingencies 05:13–10:05 Contingent Offers & Lending Solutions Challenges with out-of-state sellers Bridge loan limitations Explaining the "Purchase Edge" program Builder delays and shifting timelines Supporting a friend through new construction delays 10:06–15:24 Corporate Recruiting to Real Estate Agent From staffing agencies to Deutsche Bank Transferable skills: interviewing and listening Vetting brokerages like candidates Understanding client motivations Transitioning service mindset into real estate 15:25–20:56 Bar Ownership & Business Shift Opening a bar after a Tulum trip Managing dual careers: banking by day, bar by night Learning bartending to train staff Selling the bar for more meaningful work Pivoting toward real estate 20:57–30:13 Getting Started in Real Estate First brokerage experience at Coldwell Banker Why training helped but branding didn't align Meeting Mike and joining 904 Home Guide Bilingual outreach strategy Early listing failure: townhouse vs. condo mix-up 30:14–46:15 Mindset, Marketing & Consistency Love for guiding buyers and sellers Building lasting post-close relationships Consistent routines: hot sheets, follow-ups Leveraging Instagram for business growth Sharing personal stories to build connection   Quotes: "You have to give yourself no option but to succeed." – Karen Saez "It wasn't just a transaction or a paycheck for me—it's more of a 'you're my family now.'" – Karen Saez "Just post the damn thing." – Karen Saez "If it's your plan A, then go all in. If not, it's going to chew you up." – Karen Saez   To contact Karen Saez, learn more about her business, and make her a part of your network, make sure to follow her on her Website, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, and LinkedIn.   Connect with Karen Saez! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/karen_saez_/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/karen.paz.77/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@karensaezrealestate LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karen-saez-8552aaa0/   Connect with me! Website: toprealtorjacksonville.com   Website: toprealtorstaugustine.com    SUBSCRIBE & LEAVE A 5-STAR REVIEW as we discuss real estate excellence with the best of the best.   #RealEstateExcellence #JacksonvilleRealtor #WomenInBusiness #BilingualRealtor #EntrepreneurJourney #KarenSaez #904HomeGuide #RealEstatePodcast #RelocationExpert #MilitaryFriendlyRealtor #SocialSelling #RealtorLife #FloridaHomes #RealEstateSuccess #CareerPivot #GritAndGrace #FirstTimeHomeBuyer #RealEstateStories #ClosingDeals #InstagramMarketing

In this reflective and fiery episode of the RattlerGator Report, JB White broadcasts from home base in Northeast Florida after a chaotic morning of tech mishaps, football frustrations, and hard-earned perspective. JB dives into the deeper meaning of Veterans Day, urging listeners to see themselves as force multipliers in a historic moment where Donald Trump is acting, not just as president, but as a wartime leader on a global scale. He explores Trump's lawsuit against the BBC, the implications for foreign influence, and why Trump understands the geopolitical battlefield better than any modern president. JB also tackles the psychology of guilt used by communists to manipulate Americans across racial and cultural lines, the brilliance of Trump's “flood the zone” strategy, and the emerging America First bench with figures like JD Vance, Marco Rubio, and Pete Hegseth. With humor, candor, and conviction, he connects global politics, spiritual clarity, and constitutional duty, reminding listeners they were born for this moment.

In this episode of The Punch List Podcast, hosts Matt Birdwell and Ian MacDonald sit down with Scott Brannock of Tidewater Homes - a boutique custom home builder making its mark in Northeast Florida.Scott shares his journey growing a personalized, high-quality homebuilding company and how strong relationships - with clients, trades, and peers - have been central to that success. As the incoming president of the Northeast Florida Builders Association (NEFBA), he also offers insight into the vital role the association plays in supporting builders - from advocacy for our industry and engagement of custom home builders to the apprenticeship program that's shaping the next generation of skilled tradespeople.Whether you're a builder, tradesperson, or simply passionate about homebuilding and leadership, this conversation offers a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to build not just homes, but a stronger industry and community.

From MAHA to resilience to affordable healthcare, former House Speaker and Northeast Florida lawmaker Paul Renner offers his vision for governor.

What if the secret to your real estate breakthrough isn't a better market... but a better mindset? In this episode of the Real Estate Excellence Podcast, Tracy Hayes welcomes Kaitlin Chernyshov. Kaitin shares how she went from uncertainty and switching seven brokerages to becoming one of Northeast Florida's top-producing agents. Despite working in what headlines call the worst real estate market in recent years, she has already closed over 40 homes and is tracking more than 20 million in sales for 2025. Kaitlin unpacks the mindset shift that sparked her explosive growth, her transition from buyer-heavy business to dominating listings, and the creative open house tactics that actually work. She also talks about starting her team at United Real Estate, hiring the right support, and building a business fueled almost entirely by referrals. Whether you're new to real estate or stuck in a rut, Kaitlin's story will show you what's possible when purpose meets strategy. Looking to reignite your real estate momentum? Follow Kaitlin Chernyshov on Instagram and TikTok. Then hit subscribe to the podcast for more proven growth strategies from real agents winning in today's market.   Highlights: 00:00 – 08:25 Finding Direction in Real Estate Kaitlin introduces her seven-year journey Switching brokerages seven times Why she finally found her home at United Launching Market Makers team How she tripled her business in one year 08:26 – 17:03 Creating Open House Magic How she transitioned from 90 percent buyers to 70 percent listings Using open houses as conversion tools The Santa and Grinch event that led to a closing Turning a no-show open house into a double deal From open house guest to future team member 17:04 – 25:45 Scaling with Structure and Support Starting her own team within United Leading agents while maintaining production Hiring a transaction coordinator and social media help Shifting from solo hustling to systemized growth Building referrals from past clients 25:46 – 34:12 What Buyers and Sellers Need to Hear in 2025 Why waiting for rates might be a mistake Her own buying experience during high interest Advice for buyers on timing and equity Local market resilience in Jacksonville St. Johns County as a top family relocation spot 34:13 – 48:18 Mastering the Listing Side of Real Estate Overcoming seller hesitation with proof and data Turning expired listings around in under 30 days Smart staging on a budget How she communicates tough feedback to sellers Understanding what buyers want today 48:19 – 1:08:43 Mindset, Teams and Market Predictions When Kaitlin stopped stressing over her next deal Pre-listing inspections and preventing deal fallout What she looks for in a brokerage The social side of real estate success Why 2025 may shift from buyer to seller's market   Quotes: "I treat every closing like it's my own and that's what makes the difference" – Kaitlin Chernyshov "When I stopped obsessing about where the next deal was coming from it all started to flow" – Kaitlin Chernyshov "People say open houses don't work I've sold over ten from them" – Kaitlin Chernyshov "You can be successful anywhere but the right environment accelerates everything" – Kaitlin Chernyshov   To contact Kaitlin Chernyshov, learn more about her business, and make her a part of your network, make sure to follow her on her Website, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.   Connect with Kaitlin Chernyshov! Website: https://kaitlinchernyshov.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kaitlinchernyshovrealestate Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/15jC681zA3/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/me?trk=p_mwlite_me_notifications-secondary_nav   Connect with me! Website: toprealtorjacksonville.com   Website: toprealtorstaugustine.com    SUBSCRIBE & LEAVE A 5-STAR REVIEW as we discuss real estate excellence with the best of the best.   #RealEstateExcellence #KaitlinChernyshov #RealEstatePodcast #ListingAgentTips #RealtorSuccess #MarketMakers #JacksonvilleRealEstate #StJohnsCountyHomes #WomenInRealEstate #RealEstateLeadership #RealtorLife #RealEstateStrategy #HomeSellingTips #ReferralBusiness #TopProducer #OpenHouseSuccess #RealEstateMarketing #NortheastFloridaHomes #RealEstateTeam #MindsetShift

Are you just buying a house, or are you investing in a lifestyle that matches your future? In this episode of the Real Estate Excellence Podcast, Tracy Hayes welcomes former middle school math teacher turned real estate agent, Jamie McLaughlin. Jamie shares her inspiring journey from the classroom to becoming a trusted realtor in St. Johns County, Florida. With deep roots in the community and a teacher's heart, Jamie brings patience, structure, and honesty to every transaction—serving not just clients, but building long-lasting relationships. Tracy dives into the challenges and strategies of selling in today's market—from handling CDD fees, insurance hurdles, and new construction pitfalls to emphasizing education-based buyer consultations and proper pricing for sellers. Jamie also reveals how her background as a mentor and volleyball coach influences her people-first approach. Whether it's pre-inspections, dealing with builders, or navigating complex buyer expectations, Jamie's approach is a masterclass in thoughtful, integrity-driven real estate. If you're a buyer or seller in Northeast Florida, take a cue from Jamie's playbook—partner with an agent who educates, advocates, and isn't afraid to speak the hard truths. Subscribe to the Real Estate Excellence podcast and share this episode with someone ready to make smarter real estate decisions!   Highlights: 00:00 - 13:50 Jamie's Journey From Teacher to Realtor How Hurricane Andrew led Jamie to St. Johns County Teaching math and pivoting to real estate Marketing background and first job selling Suns tickets Bringing mentorship and coaching into real estate Building relationships that last beyond the transaction 13:51 - 24:00 Understanding the Real Buyer's Needs Asking the hard questions early in buyer consults CDD, HOA, and insurance costs affecting decisions Buying with long-term goals in mind New construction vs resale: planning ahead Helping military families make smarter buys 24:01 - 30:32 Expectation Management & Teaching the Process Using teaching experience to walk buyers through steps Contingencies, loan types, and offer strategy Repair issues and listing prep surprises When deals almost fall apart Importance of communication at every stage 30:33 - 36:00 New Construction Inspectors, Superintendents & Slab Surprises Hidden issues in new builds—plumbing nightmares Advocating for pre-slab, pre-drywall, pre-close inspections Value of a Realtor during construction Blue tape walkthroughs and designated “bad guy” role Real stories of builder mistakes caught just in time 36:01 - 44:16 The Seller Side Marketing, Staging & Strategy 60/40 split: Jamie's seller focus Pricing strategies based on timeline and comps Professional photos, video, and staging impact A real-world staging success story Helping sellers invest to gain more return 44:17 – 01:20:06 Navigating a Changing Market Trending real estate questions and hot takes Dealing with slow markets and higher inventory Buyer concessions, mortgage payment focus Why every buyer should interview their agent Emotional intelligence in negotiation and transaction   Quotes: “If you don't like my style or beliefs, there's someone else out there—but I bring value in my time and what I offer.” – Jamie McLaughlin   “I want to be your friend forever—not just your Realtor.” – Jamie McLaughlin “You sometimes have to spend money to make money. That's how I built my real estate career.” – Jamie McLaughlin “I can't stress enough how important inspections are—even for new construction.” – Jamie McLaughlin   To contact Jamie McLaughlin, learn more about her business, and make her a part of your network, make sure to follow her on her Website, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, YouTube, and LinkedIn.   Connect with Jamie McLaughlin! Website: https://www.jamiemclaughlin.org/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamiemclaughlinrealtor/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jamiemclaughlinrealtor YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jamiemclaughlinrealtor LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jamie-mclaughlin-4a7a731a2/   Connect with me! Website: toprealtorjacksonville.com   Website: toprealtorstaugustine.com    SUBSCRIBE & LEAVE A 5-STAR REVIEW as we discuss real estate excellence with the best of the best.   #RealEstateExcellence #StJohnsCounty #NortheastFloridaRealEstate #JamieMcLaughlin #HomeBuyingTips #RealEstatePodcast #NewConstructionHomes #RealtorLife #RealEstateStrategy #CDDFees #HOA #MortgageTips #BuyersAgent #SellersAgent #FloridaRealtor #RealEstateEducation #HomeSelling #StagingHomes #RealEstateInspection #RealEstateMentorship

What do buyers and sellers really need an agent for, beyond opening doors and filling forms   In this episode of the Real Estate Excellence Podcast, Tracy Hayes sits down Maria Raymer. Maria's journey from a young agent who questioned her value to a market leader known for straight talk and service. She explains how treating people with honesty and investing real time in them creates momentum that money follows. She shares how early office mentorship and daily reps built skill and confidence, plus how to communicate value even when you are new and your clients are older than you are.   Maria then lays out practical, battle tested playbooks. Prep sellers so inspections do not derail deals. Favor quality over quantity in lead gen. Build durable referral flywheels through useful quarterly touch points not holiday spam. And when growth hits, hire a transaction coordinator first so you can stay in your zone on listing appointments while files move flawlessly to close.   If this episode helped you sharpen your playbook, follow the show, drop a five star review, and share it with one agent who needs to hear it today. Then screenshot your favorite takeaway and tag the show on your platform of choice.   Highlights: 00:00–00:12 From college path to first closings The question that changed everything what do clients need me for Family nudges toward real estate and early doubts First brokerage start and love for unlimited upside Balancing life and a career without ceilings Rookie momentum and early wins in a different price era 00:12–00:24 Winning trust young and learning in the office The mediator role bringing buyers and sellers to the middle Emotion vs price how owners see their homes Nine to five in the office to absorb scripts and standards Riding the company's track record while you build your own Honesty plus care as the secret trust accelerant 00:24–00:36 Brokerage math and the power of staying put •        Seventy percent repeat and referral as the business base •        Thirty percent fueled by brand network reach •        Longevity compounds reputation and opportunity •        Mentorship over splits when you feel stuck •        Every move costs momentum choose wisely 00:36–00:47 Follow up that clients actually like Stop holiday blast emails send a real card or a useful update Quarterly newsletters with hyper local stats win attention Community first support local to build real relationships Network through schools charities and church with intent CRM as non-negotiable foundation from day one 00:47–00:59 Negotiation calm and pre listing inspections Foreshadow inspection findings so sellers do not take offense Pre listing inspections as deal insurance reduce item count Guide reactions when curveballs land replace do not rage Buyers sometimes use inspection to exit recognize the signal Professional agent relationships protect your clients outcomes 00:59–01:11 Teams roles and scaling the right way The 2020 inflection point add help or cap growth Hire the transaction coordinator first pay per file and free your time Admin spine media contracts office and closing support Keep client communication in email with everyone in the loop Stay the listing table is your superpower and joy   Quotes: “The investment of time and helping people and giving your honest opinion that is what they are looking for. Treat people right and the money and success will follow.” – Maria Raymer “Sales come together better when you have someone in the middle bringing both sides to the middle.” – Maria Raymer “You date the rate you marry the house.” – Maria Raymer “Listings are the name of the game. I love sitting at the table with owners and winning that deal.” – Maria Raymer   To contact Corey Hasting, learn more about her business, and make her a part of your network, make sure to follow her on her Website, X, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, and LinkedIn.   Connect with Maria Raymer! Website: https://stjohnsareahomefinder.com/ X: https://x.com/mariaraymer Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mariaraymerteam Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MariaRaymerRealtor YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@mariaraymer LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mariaraymer/   Connect with me! Website: toprealtorjacksonville.com   Website: toprealtorstaugustine.com    SUBSCRIBE & LEAVE A 5-STAR REVIEW as we discuss real estate excellence with the best of the best.   #RealEstateExcellence #MariaRaymer #REMAX #NortheastFlorida #JacksonvilleRealEstate #SellerTips #BuyerTips #PreListingInspection #Negotiation #TransactionCoordinator #RealEstateTeam #CRM #FollowUp #ReferralBusiness #TopProducer #ListingAgent #HomeSelling #HomeBuying #CommunityFirst #Podcast

As manatee deaths rise in Northeast Florida, a local nonprofit convenes scientists, conservationists and maritime professionals with one mutual goal: saving the gentle giants while keeping the shipping economy afloat.

What bold move would you make if you knew your entire team's future was on the line? In this episode of the Real Estate Excellence Podcast, Tracy Hayes sits down with Corey Hasting for his third appearance — this time unveiling the biggest pivot of his career. At just 27, Corey launched a boutique Engel & Völkers franchise in Jacksonville Beach and scaled it into five thriving offices with 138 agents. But instead of resting on awards and billion-dollar sales, he shocked the market by transitioning his entire brokerage to Christie's International Real Estate First Coast. Corey opens up about the 18-month journey, the risks, the sleepless nights, and the why behind the move. He shares how he retained almost every agent through the shift, why brand power and growth potential drove his decision, and how Christie's global reach and tech innovation will elevate luxury real estate in Northeast Florida. If you've ever wondered how great leaders navigate risk, transition, and growth — this conversation will inspire you to think bigger. Don't forget to subscribe, share this episode with a colleague, and leave us a 5-star review to keep these powerful stories coming!   Highlights: 00:00 – 06:30 Corey's Bold Leap Launching Engel & Völkers at 27 Scaling to 5 offices and 138 agents Winning America's Cup “Shop of the Year” Early frustrations with tech & innovation Beginning the search for what's next 06:31 – 14:45 The Christie's Connection Why brand identity matters more than ever Retaining 137 of 138 agents through transition Exclusive territory expansion rights Breaking past Engel & Völkers growth limits Building the foundation for expansion 14:46 – 21:59 Elevating Luxury in Northeast Florida Dominating high-end listings Christie's auction house credibility Positioning in global feeder markets Networking with billion-dollar brokerages Recruiting luxury-focused agents 22:00 – 30:15 Innovation & Technology Shift Partnering with Luxury Presence websites Launching First Coast Luxury mobile app Revitalizing marketing with flexibility & variety SEO, pay-per-click, and seller visibility Why print marketing still matters 30:16 – 38:40 Growth, Expansion & Recruiting New HQ in Atlantic Beach Targeting St. Augustine & St. Simon's Island Recruiting with value vs. splits Why retention is the ultimate measure White-glove brokerage service model 38:41 – 57:48 Leadership, Culture & The Future Bringing Christie's CEO & leadership to Florida Building a one-vision, one-culture region Systems that create more time for agents Supporting top producers to break ceilings Taking First Coast “to the moon”   Quotes: “There's no such thing as a perfect brokerage — it's about finding what you're missing and who solves that problem.” – Corey Hasting “If you're not growing, you're dying — in business and in life.” – Corey Hasting “Our job is to make agents two places at once by creating more time for them to do what they do best.” – Corey Hasting “We're not making this move to stay the same. We're doing it to grow, to dominate luxury, and to take it to the moon.” – Corey Hasting   To contact Corey Hasting, learn more about his business, and make him a part of your network, make sure to follow him on his Website, Instagram, Facebook, Youtube, and LinkedIn.   Connect with Corey Hasting! Website: https://cirefc.com/agents/corey-hasting Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/corey_hasting Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/corey.hasting.3 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CoreyHasting LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chasting/   Connect with me! Website: toprealtorjacksonville.com   Website: toprealtorstaugustine.com    SUBSCRIBE & LEAVE A 5-STAR REVIEW as we discuss real estate excellence with the best of the best.   #RealEstateExcellence #CoreyHasting #ChristiesInternational #LuxuryRealEstate #BrokerageGrowth #JacksonvilleBeach #StAugustineRealEstate #NortheastFlorida #BrokerageLeadership #RealEstatePodcast #RealEstateInnovation #RealEstateTechnology #AgentRecruiting #LuxuryHomes #BrokerageTransition #ChristiesFirstCoast #RealEstateExpansion #GlobalRealEstate #AgentSuccess #BillionDollarBrokerage

In this DCF Trends-Nomads at the Summit Podcast episode, the editors of Data Center Frontier and the hosts of Nomad Futurist sit down with Doug Recker, a telecommunications veteran and edge data center pioneer with more than 30 years of industry leadership. Today, Recker leads Duos Edge AI, driving initiatives to bring multi-access edge data centers (EDCs) to underserved communities, including schools and health facilities across the U.S. From founding Edge Presence (acquired by Ubiquity in 2023) and Colo5 Data Centers (later acquired by Cologix in 2014), to deploying more than 40 TM2500 units worldwide, Recker has consistently been at the forefront of building scalable, resilient infrastructure. His career is marked by multiple honors, including Northeast Florida's Ultimate CEO Award and recognition among Inc. 500's fastest-growing companies. In this conversation, Recker shares insights on the evolution of edge computing, lessons learned from decades in telecom and data centers, and how his time in the U.S. Marine Corps shaped his leadership philosophy. Tune in for a wide-ranging discussion on innovation, resilience, and the future of edge AI.

Few people beyond South Carolina's Lowcountry knew of Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston—Mother Emanuel—before the tragic events on the night of June 17, 2015. Although the shooter had targeted Mother Emanuel to agitate racial strife, he could not have anticipated the aftermath or the out­pouring of forgiveness from victims' families. Kevin Sack is a veteran journalist and Jacksonville native who has written about national affairs for more than four decades and has been part of three Pulitzer Prize–winning teams. His debut book, Mother Emanuel, is a sweeping history of the first AME church in the South and a profound story of courage and grace amid the fight for racial justice.  A native of Jacksonville, Florida, and a graduate of Duke University, Kevin Sack spent thirty years on the staff of The New York Times, where he specialized in writing long-form narrative and investigative reports, often related to race. He also has written for the Los Angeles Times and The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and his work has appeared in The New York Times Magazine. He was a 2019 Emerson Collective Fellow at New America.  Interviewer Isaiah Oliver is the third president of The Community Foundation for Northeast Florida, Florida's oldest and one of its largest community foundations, established in 1964. He leads a seasoned 30-person team that manages more than $700 million in assets and distributed over $85 million in grants in 2024. Isaiah's commitment to community leadership is evident through his service on the Jacksonville Civic Council and as Co-Chair of the Jacksonville Transformation Coalition. Nationally, he serves as Chair of the Board of Directors for CFLeads and holds board or advisory roles with the Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy, ABFE (Association of Black Foundation Executives), Independent Sector, and the Council on Foundations Public Policy Advisory Committee. A Fellow of the inaugural class of the Civil Society Fellowship—a partnership of the AntiDefamation League and The Aspen Institute—Isaiah is also a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network.   --- Never miss an event! Sign up for email newsletters at https://bit.ly/JaxLibraryUpdates  Jacksonville Public LibraryWebsite: https://jaxpubliclibrary.org/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/jaxlibrary Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JaxLibrary/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaxlibrary/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/jaxpubliclibraryfl Contact Us: jplpromotions@coj.net 

What happens when a Broadway-bound performer turns her stage presence into real estate success? In this episode of the Real Estate Excellence Podcast, Tracy Hayes sits Michele Tremblay. Michelle shares her inspiring journey from center stage to top-producing real estate agent in Northeast Florida. With a rich background in performance, voiceover, and hospitality, Michele brings a rare blend of empathy, creativity, and grit to her clients—earning accolades such as a 2024 Five Star Rising Star award and ranking #55 out of nearly 12,000 agents by the Jacksonville Business Journal. Tracy Hayes dives deep into Michele's career pivot, her luxury branding, and her unwavering consistency. Michele opens up about the realities of starting from scratch as a single mom, leveraging her skills from the entertainment world to thrive in a competitive market. Her story isn't just about selling homes—it's about building a business that reflects her heart, values, and drive. Love this story of transformation and grit? Share this episode with someone dreaming of making a bold career move. Don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and follow us for more behind-the-scenes stories of real estate success!   Highlights: 00:00 – 14:00 From Stage to Strategy Michele's early dream of Broadway Cruise ship performances & voiceover work Transition from acting to motherhood Why real estate became the next act Interviewing agents before getting licensed 14:01 – 28:00 Getting Real About Real Estate Early challenges and financial realities First 8 months without a deal Importance of mentorship and support Choosing Keller Williams Building confidence through community 28:01 – 42:00 Grit, Growth, and Getting Noticed Juggling motherhood and a new career Showing up consistently and staying available Why she loves the job How past skills shaped her approach Learning to perform under pressure 42:01 – 56:00 Creating Signature Experiences Open houses with style and substance Champagne, cookies, and coloring books Turning every showing into a show Helping buyers visualize potential Marketing with a creative flair 56:01 – 1:12:00 Building Trust and Staying Top-of-Mind Providing real value before the sale How long-term follow-up pays off Collaborating with top-producing agents Personal touches that win clients Empowering new agents with advice 1:12:01 – 1:27:56 Scaling with Heart and Hustle Serving luxury markets authentically Staging, renovations, and listing prep Balancing business with family life Staying consistent with outreach Turning one deal into many     Quotes: "In real estate, I have this very real impact on the families that I help... it's humbling and it's a gift." – Michele Tremblay "You have to be ready to go on a dime—you are your business." – Michele Tremblay "The house feels different when you walk in with a glass of bubbly in your hand." – Michele Tremblay "You're not just buying a home; you're stepping into the next chapter of your life. That's sacred." – Michele Tremblay   To contact Michele Tremblay, learn more about her business, and make her a part of your network, make sure to follow her on her Website, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn.   Connect with Michele Tremblay! Website: https://www.micheletremblayrealestate.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michelelukovich/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/michele.l.tremblay.7/ YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@micheletremblayrealestate3200 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michele-tremblay11/   Connect with me! Website: toprealtorjacksonville.com   Website: toprealtorstaugustine.com    SUBSCRIBE & LEAVE A 5-STAR REVIEW as we discuss real estate excellence with the best of the best.   #RealEstateExcellence #LuxuryRealEstate #RealtorLife #WomenInRealEstate #CareerChange #FromStageToSales #NortheastFlorida #JacksonvilleRealEstate #StAugustineHomes #HomeBuyingJourney #LuxuryListings #OpenHouseStrategy #RealEstateTips #RealEstatePodcast #KWRealtor #SingleMomSuccess #AgentLife #VoiceOverToRealEstate #BoldCareerMoves #EliteAgents

What if the hardest transaction you face becomes the one that teaches you the most? In this episode of the Real Estate Excellence Podcast, Tracy Hayes sits down with top-producing agent Delaney Henderson to uncover the mindset, grit, and strategies that catapulted her from a burned-out paralegal in DC to one of Northeast Florida's most respected and relatable real estate mentors. Delaney doesn't sugarcoat the truth—she opens up about industry misconceptions, failed transactions, emotional burnouts, and the quiet resilience required to succeed in a chaotic market. Delaney shares the deeply personal reasons she journals every transaction, how mentoring new agents forces her to stay sharp, and why authenticity, handwritten notes, and a picture of her dog on a business card transformed her lead generation game. This conversation is raw, real, and rich with advice every agent—rookie or seasoned—should hear. Loved Delaney's insights? Share this episode with a fellow agent or mentor! Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave a review on your favorite podcast platform. Looking to connect with Delaney or join Momentum Realty? Reach out via social or tune in to future episodes for more mentorship magic!   Highlights: 00:00 – 04:20 Early Roots & Real Estate DNA Growing up in a real estate family Misconceptions about the daily grind The contrast between childhood exposure and adult reality Why real estate looked easier from the outside How the industry constantly pivots 04:21 – 10:02 Learning Through Transactions Why every agent should keep a diary Documenting daily wins and losses Lessons learned from tough deals How journaling builds better systems Emotional growth from reflecting on your process 10:03 – 17:40 The Power of Mentorship Becoming a mentor at Momentum Realty What most new agents don't know they don't know Tailoring mentorship to each agent's strengths Mentorship as a way of giving back Transparency and honesty as teaching tools 17:41 – 25:20 Hard Conversations & Market Realities How to set healthy boundaries Why it's okay to fire clients Working through unrealistic seller expectations Why the market data matters Building trust by managing client psychology 25:21 – 36:10 Building Relationships That Pay Off Treating other agents like partners The value of follow-up and communication Why agents should never skip the call The ripple effects of burning bridges How reputation wins in a competitive market 36:11 – 1:14:22 Grit, Growth, and Gratitude When everything goes wrong—three closings and two lost offers Calling mentors during emotional breakdowns Why failure often precedes better outcomes Staying consistent with past clients The love of the work, despite the setbacks   Quotes: “Some people come to me thinking they'll never buy a home—and a month later, we're at the closing table.” – Delaney Henderson “Even if I have no business, that's better than working with difficult people who make my life stressful.” – Delaney Henderson “Top agents make it look easy—but they rarely show how devastating some transactions can be.” – Delaney Henderson “You don't burn bridges in real estate. You'll always run into them again.” – Delaney Henderson   To contact Delaney Henderson, learn more about her business, and make her a part of your network, make sure to follow him on his Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn.   Connect with Delaney Henderson! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/soldbydelaney Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/soldbydelaney LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/delaneyhenderson/   Connect with me! Website: toprealtorjacksonville.com   Website: toprealtorstaugustine.com    SUBSCRIBE & LEAVE A 5-STAR REVIEW as we discuss real estate excellence with the best of the best.   #RealEstateExcellence #DelaneyHenderson #MentorshipMatters #RealEstateAgentLife #TopAgentTips #RealEstatePodcast #WomenInRealEstate #FloridaRealtor #RealEstateGrit #RealEstateMentor #MomentumRealty #NewAgentSupport #RealEstateGrowth #ClientFirst #PropertySuccess #ListingTips #BuyersJourney #RealEstateTruth #AgentMindset #AuthenticSelling

What if your biggest limitation became the launchpad for your real estate empire? In this episode of the Real Estate Excellence Podcast, Tracy Hayes sits down with Julianne Grant-Johnson, a top-producing real estate agent in Northeast Florida, for her second appearance on the show. This time, they dive deep into the business side of her success, exploring how she built the Grant Johnson Group while on pregnancy bedrest, leveraged her military ties to dominate the VA market, and now leads a thriving, multi-location real estate team. Julianne gets real about the challenges of growing a team, setting boundaries, and leading with transparency and grit. Julianne drops actionable insights on handling VA loans, educating new agents, and navigating the current real estate market. Whether you're a seasoned agent or just starting out, this episode is packed with honest, no-fluff advice on scaling with intention, managing clients with clarity, and building a brand that clients trust—even from across the country. Loved Julianne's insights? Follow her journey and reach out if you're a new agent looking to learn or a veteran buyer ready to maximize your VA benefits. Don't forget to subscribe, leave a 5-star review, and share this episode with a fellow realtor!   Highlights: 00:00 - 10:00 Real Relationships Drive Real Results •        Why being relatable wins clients •        Understanding the VA buyer mindset •        Leveraging shared life experiences •        Social media as a credibility tool •        Tapping into the Naval Academy network 10:01 - 20:00 Launching the Grant Johnson Group •        Starting a team while on bedrest •        Broker's role in team formation •        Trusting the organic process •        Creating a team with shared values •        Making a leap with confidence 20:01 - 30:00 Structuring and Leading a New Team •        Hiring green agents intentionally •        Trial periods to measure fit •        Complementing strengths and weaknesses •        Setting performance and branding standards •        Defining internal roles and expectations 30:01 - 40:00 Breaking the Solo Ceiling and Expanding •        Recognizing when you hit your capacity •        Delegating without losing client experience •        Balancing motherhood and leadership •        Expanding strategically into Pensacola •        Using referrals to build outside markets 40:01 - 53:00 Market Shifts and Setting Expectations •        Having tough pricing conversations •        Educating sellers on timelines •        The power of honest consultations •        How buyers behave in a high-rate market •        Importance of response systems within the team 53:01 – 01:07:14 VA Loan Myths and Tactical Strategy •        Common misconceptions about VA loans •        Appraisal and repair realities •        Winning seller trust with VA offers •        VA renovation loans as a solution •        Advocating fiercely for veteran clients   Quotes: "You can't delegate your brand—so your team has to reflect your standards." – Julianne Grant-Johnson   "If you're gonna lean on our stats, you better follow our process." – Julianne Grant-Johnson   "You're not going to see homes unless you're ready to buy them." – Julianne Grant-Johnson   "VA buyers are my favorite—they've earned that benefit and I'll fight for it every time." – Julianne Grant-Johnson   To contact Julianne Grant-Johnson, learn more about her business, and make her a part of your network, make sure to follow him on his website, Instagram, and Facebook.   Connect with Julianne Grant-Johnson! Website: https://www.jaxwithjules.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaxwithjules/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jaxwithjules   Connect with me! Website: toprealtorjacksonville.com   Website: toprealtorstaugustine.com    SUBSCRIBE & LEAVE A 5-STAR REVIEW as we discuss real estate excellence with the best of the best.   #RealEstateExcellence #RealEstatePodcast #VAloans #MilitaryRealtor #WomenInRealEstate #RealEstateTips #TeamBuilding #RealEstateMarketing #RealtorSuccess #NortheastFlorida #RealEstateExcellence #AgentLeadership #RealEstateGrowth #PensacolaRealtor #VAHomeLoans #HomeBuyingTips #RealtorLife #HouseHacking #RealEstateMentor #BuyerConsultation #MilitarySpouseBusiness

What if your smartest, most efficient business partner was already on your laptop — and free? In this episode of the Real Estate Excellence Podcast, Tracy Hayes dives deep with with 24-year-old trailblazer Bella Taazieh — a rising force in Northeast Florida real estate who's harnessing AI to build a modern, personal, and wildly productive business. Bella unpacks how she's blending ChatGPT, Gamma, Notebook LM, and more to save hours, close deals faster, and create lead-gen systems that work for her — even while she's at the beach. From building her own GPT assistant to turning transcripts into podcasts and sending weekly AI-generated “Deals of the Week,” Bella's strategies are not just innovative — they're replicable. She breaks down how even the busiest solo agent can reclaim time and scale their impact by letting AI carry the heavy lift. Whether you're tech-curious or AI-obsessed, this is the blueprint episode you've been waiting for. If you're a realtor stuck in the hustle and grind, it's time to future-proof your business! Subscribe now, share this episode with your team, and follow Bella for game-changing content. Want Bella's GPT tools? DM her now on Instagram @bellataazieh and unlock your AI-powered future!   Highlights: 00:00 – 07:58 Bella's AI Philosophy & Client-Centered Automation Why AI isn't impersonal—it's powerful Helping more clients without losing personal touch Fear vs. opportunity: why agents must adapt Hiring AI without payroll Examples of AI replacing team roles 10:11–21:16 ChatGPT as Your Smartest Assistant Bella's “Who Am I” project: feeding ChatGPT her story Letting AI learn your tone, habits, and goals Using ChatGPT for negotiations and emotional intelligence AI-generated bios for branding Using AI like a personal coach or mentor 21:17–33:15 Building Lead Funnels: 250 Leads with Zero Ads Creating the “Deals of the Week” email funnel Turning weekly listings into relationship-building touchpoints Mass emails that feel personal Workshop results: leads within 11 minutes Why simple formatting and real-time data beat Canva graphics 33:16–45:00 Custom GPTs & Gamma AI for Seller Presentations What a custom GPT is and why you need one Bella's Control+Me GPT and its four powerful commands How she created presentations in 5 minutes with Gamma AI Real-world example of winning a listing on short notice Beat experienced agents using speed + AI insights 45:01–57:45 Notebook LM & The AI Podcast Hack What is Notebook LM and how to use it Turning training sessions into listenable podcasts AI-generated conversation between two fake hosts Training your team with AI audio content Brainstorming business models from knowledge conversion 57:46–01:09:35 Automating as a Solo Agent: Scaling with Systems Using Trello + Zapier + ChatGPT for email workflows Email funnels that feel personal but are fully automated Creating daily motivation prompts from AI Monday GPT: the brutal but honest motivator Why AI saves time, energy, and sanity 1:09:36–01:18:51Branding, Follow-Up & Where Agents Waste Time Branding is not your logo—it's your legacy Using AI to stay top-of-mind with leads weekly Automating touchpoints without sounding generic Following up with 200+ leads in 5 minutes Top two AI strategies every agent should implement now   Quotes:  “Every single one of my clients feels loved—because I use AI to give them more of me, not less.” – Bella Taazieh  “I created a GPT called Control+Me. It's my assistant, strategist, and motivator all in one.” – Bella Taazieh  “I built a Deals of the Week system that gave me 250 leads, 5 consultations, and didn't cost me a dime.” – Bella Taazieh  “AI isn't here to replace agents—it's here to empower the ones who are willing to lead.” – Bella Taazieh   To contact Bella Taazieh, learn more about her business, and make her a part of your network, make sure to follow her on her Instagram.   Connect with Bella Taazieh! Instagram: https://instagram.com/bellataaziehrealtor   Connect with me! Website: toprealtorjacksonville.com   Website: toprealtorstaugustine.com    SUBSCRIBE & LEAVE A 5-STAR REVIEW as we discuss real estate excellence with the best of the best.   #RealEstateAI #BellaTaazieh #ChatGPTForRealtors #ControlPlusMe #AIRealtor #DealsOfTheWeek #LeadGenerationTips #RealEstateInnovation #AIWorkflows #SoloAgentSuccess #RealtorMarketing #DigitalRealEstate #AIProductivity #NotebookLM #GammaAI #CustomGPT #RealEstateBranding #ModernRealtor #AutomatedSystems #TimeSavingTools

Can mastering storytelling and creative production turn you into a top-performing real estate agent? In this episode of the Real Estate Excellence Podcast, Tracy Hayes sits down with Sharon Alters—one of Northeast Florida's most respected and dynamic real estate agents. With a unique background in advertising and film production, Sharon shares how her creative roots shaped her customer-first philosophy in the competitive real estate landscape. Through storytelling, staging, and strategic mindset work, she has transformed hundreds of lives and homes, becoming a community pillar in Fleming Island and beyond. From filming commercials at Old Faithful to managing luxury listings with precision, Sharon reveals her journey and powerful mindset shifts that shaped her business success. She offers listeners wisdom on handling the shifting market, leveraging AI for listings, and the crucial role of culture and coaching in building a lasting real estate career. Whether you're a new agent or a seasoned pro, this episode is packed with valuable insights on what true excellence looks like in real estate. Love hearing stories from industry leaders like Sharon? Subscribe to the Real Estate Excellence Podcast now and leave a review! Share this episode with a fellow real estate agent who needs inspiration to keep pushing forward!   Highlights: 00:00 – 07:58 Mastering the Market Basics Location, condition, and price High rates vs. historical norms Why homes still hold value Buyer fears explained Market cycles then and now 07:59 – 18:28 From Film Sets to Sales Breaking into advertising Clio award-winning work Creative skills in real estate Excellence from production days Blending art and business 18:29 – 31:08 Starting in Real Estate Why Sharon got licensed Turning skills into sales Building confidence fast Early wins with relocation Never fail mindset 31:09 – 38:22 Tech Tools and Tactics AI for listings and ads Collaborating with sellers Writing for target buyers Smart home upgrade advice Power of staging 38:23 – 45:19 Choosing the Right Brokerage Culture over commissions Why cloud offices fall short Asking the right questions Mentorship matters Learning by collaboration 45:20 – 1:15:28 Mindset and Client Success Ninja Selling system Routines and follow-up Understanding personality types Going the extra mile Service with heart and hustle   Quotes:  “Failure is not an option. I was not going to fail. No matter what.” – Sharon Alters  “Every real estate transaction is a mini-production.” – Sharon Alters  “I treat my business like a ministry—if I make a mistake, I pay for it.” – Sharon Alters “Photography may not sell a home, but it gets them in the door.” – Sharon Alters   To contact Sharon Alters, learn more about her business, and make her a part of your network, make sure to follow her on her Instagram and Facebook.   Connect with Sharon Alters! Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/teamalters/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sharon.alters/   Connect with me! Website: toprealtorjacksonville.com   Website: toprealtorstaugustine.com    SUBSCRIBE & LEAVE A 5-STAR REVIEW as we discuss real estate excellence with the best of the best.   #RealEstateExcellence #SharonAlters #NortheastFloridaHomes #LuxuryRealEstate #RealEstateMindset #WomenInRealEstate #NinjaSelling #AIinRealEstate #ListingStrategies #RealEstateCoach #ColdwellBanker #SothebysRealty #WatsonRealty #HomeBuyersTips #RealtorLife #RealEstatePodcast #FromFilmToRealty #CustomerFirst #RealEstatePhotography #CreativeSelling

If your client was riding in your car all day, would they see you as a dedicated professional, or just someone running errands? In this episode of the Real Estate Excellence Podcast, Tracy Hayes welcomes Sharon Mills. Sharon is one of Northeast Florida's leading realtors. Sharon dives deep into her journey, highlighting how her early corporate experiences at General Motors shaped her into a meticulous professional dedicated to client service and relentless attention to detail. She shares invaluable lessons learned from transitioning through multiple industries—including owning an interior design firm—to becoming a top-producing luxury real estate agent. Throughout the conversation, Sharon emphasizes the importance of treating real estate like a true profession, investing deeply in self-education, and knowing your market inside and out. From setting clear boundaries with clients to maintaining consistent work ethics even during downturns, Sharon delivers actionable advice on building resilience and establishing yourself as a go-to realtor for life. Want to set yourself apart in the competitive world of real estate? Tune in, learn Sharon's proven strategies, and commit to investing in yourself. Subscribe to the Real Estate Excellence Podcast now and elevate your real estate career!   Highlights: 00:00 - 14:20 Sharon Mills Early Career and Life Experiences Sharon's journey from Buffalo to Jacksonville Working at Liberty Mutual as a teenager Corporate growth at General Motors Importance of mentors and early responsibilities Transition from corporate America to entrepreneurship 14:21 - 28:50 Building a Real Estate Career Amid Challenges Entering real estate during the 2006 downturn Consistency and discipline during tough markets Learning short sales and foreclosures Rising to the top 1% of agents Reinventing yourself to stay relevant 28:51 - 43:15 Treating Real Estate as a Serious Profession Structuring your business day effectively Setting clear professional boundaries with clients Defining work hours and customer expectations Importance of business mindset and planning Creating worklife balance through scheduling 43:16 - 58:00 Importance of Continuous Learning and Preparation Educating yourself beyond basic real estate skills Understanding the nuances of luxury homes Attending seminars and training events nationwide Developing confidence through knowledge Building relationships through informed conversations 58:01 - 01:11:40 Establishing a Loyal Client Base Providing genuine value and consistent followup Understanding client needs and preferences Becoming the go-to real estate professional for life Maintaining integrity and honesty in transactions Using knowledge as the foundation of relationships 01:11:41 - 01:26:43 Advice for New and Growing Agents Developing market expertise early Managing downtime effectively Leveraging your network and community involvement Avoiding comparison and focusing on personal growth Committing to continuous selfimprovement and adaptability   Quotes: "You have to have a passion for what you do and keep reinventing yourself." – Sharon Mills "Customer service isn't just customer service—it's people service." – Sharon Mills "The biggest mistake agents make is assuming success will just fall into their laps." – Sharon Mills "If you don't know your value, others will define it for you." – Sharon Mills   To contact Sharon Mills, learn more about her business, and make her a part of your network, make sure to follow her on her Website and Instagram.   Connect with Sharon Mills! Website: http://sharonmills.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sharonmills10/   Connect with me! Website: toprealtorjacksonville.com   Website: toprealtorstaugustine.com    SUBSCRIBE & LEAVE A 5-STAR REVIEW as we discuss real estate excellence with the best of the best.   #RealEstateExcellence #SharonMills #LuxuryRealEstate #RealEstateCareer #TopAgent #CustomerService #RealEstateAdvice #FloridaRealEstate #MillionDollarAgent #AgentTips #RealEstateSuccess #RealtorLife #RealEstatePodcast #JacksonvilleRealtor #RealEstateEducation #BusinessMindset #RealEstateAgent #HomeSellingTips #ContinuousLearning #PodcastEpisode

Keith discusses strategies for building wealth in real estate, emphasizing efficient property operations and leveraging. He suggests setting tenant occupancy limits, sub-metering utilities, and increasing rentable space. He explains the leverage ratio, which measures the relationship between debt and equity, and advises maintaining a high ratio for better returns.  Hear his take on the Florida's real estate market, including falling property values, oversupply, and rising insurance premiums. Despite these issues, Keith remains optimistic about Florida's long-term potential due to its population growth and low taxes. Free Resources: Connect with a free GRE Investment Coach at GREinvestmentcoach.com Show Notes: GetRichEducation.com/551 For access to properties or free help with a GRE Investment Coach, start here: GREmarketplace.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.  You get paid first: Text FAMILY to 66866 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— text ‘GRE' to 66866 Our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/GetRichEducation Follow us on Instagram: @getricheducation Complete episode transcript:   Automatically Transcribed With Otter.ai    Keith Weinhold  0:00   Welcome to GRE I'm your host. Keith Weinhold, today, the two things you've got to focus on if you're ever going to build wealth as a real estate investor, why Trump wants to fire Fed Chair Jerome Powell, then, is Florida real estate doomed with falling property values, a housing oversupply, spiking insurance premiums and slowing population growth. It's episode 551, of get rich education.    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 the flipper or landlord. Show Host Keith Weinhold writes for both Forbes and Rich Dad advisors, who 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 and key 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   Speaker 1  1:16   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  1:32   Welcome to GRE from Manhattan, Kansas to the finance capital of Manhattan in New York City, and across 188 nations worldwide, you are back inside get rich Education. I'm your host, and my name is Keith Weinhold. I think you know that by now, because we deliver weekly shows more steadily and predictably than a new tariff policy. I've got more on tariffs in a funny clip on Trump wanting to fire Jerome Powell in stories on that level soon. But first, you know one thing that I've made you mindful of lately is that a successful real estate investor needs to pay attention to two big things if you want to build wealth First, keep your property operations efficient. This is your cash flow function. And second look at your net worth statement, and be mindful that you are leveraging as many dollars as you responsibly can. Let me break down both of these for you so that you can see what I really mean here the first one, keeping your property operations efficient. That means that right up front, with a new tenant in the application, find out how many tenants are going to live there, and firmly let them know that they cannot exceed this or that they're in violation of the lease. Can you get 20% more rent, or even 50% more rent by furnishing your unit and marketing it not as a long term rental, but as a midterm rental, and targets, say health professionals that are traveling if you're in a hot rental market. Can you simply keep the rent the same, but have new incoming tenants pay a utility bill for you that you had previously been paying by sub metering your utilities. Other examples of taking the rental property you already have and making it more efficient, you know, there are more classic items, like increasing your rentable space, renting out separate on site, storage space, adding a carport, charging pet rent or just boosting the curb appeal. Can you build an adu on your property? How about appealing your property taxes or automating your rent collection. Why don't you take a look at your insurance policies? You know, a lot of them have $1,000 deductibles. Well, if you're an economically resilient investor, consider raising your deductibles to 5k that way you lower your insurance premium and increase your cash flow that way. I mean really, putting in insurance claims can be somewhat of a pain anyway. Okay, well, right. There were maybe, I don't know, 10 or 15 quick ideas for streamlining your property's operations and increasing your cash flow. Now, don't try to do every one of them, but if there's at least one or two that you can think of as low hanging fruit to go ahead and harvest with the nature of what you've got going in your portfolio. And you know, ideas like I just shared there, you can hear about that on some other real estate investing platforms. But you know what the bigger gain. Is that you can actually make they take less work and fewer people talk about these things all right, and that's the second thing I'm talking about. Yes, it is typically more profitable for you and less work for you. If, instead of all those things, you increase your leverage ratio. Now, doing this does not help your cash flow, it helps your net worth. And net worth is something that you can later convert to cash flow. And this second one increasing your leverage that's a strategy that you just don't hear about on very many real estate investing platforms. So I haven't discussed leverage ratio in a long time. So let's talk about what it is, how you can improve yours, and then what it does for building your wealth. Okay, it's the relationship between your debt and your equity, and here's how to determine yours, and then I'll tell you how you're performing. Once you've determined yours, you might even be able to do it roughly in your head. All you do is take the total value of all the real estate that you own and divide it by your loan balances. That's it. Say you own a million dollars worth of real estate and you've got 500k of total debt on all that real estate. Well, it's really simple. Just divide your value a million bucks, buy your debt, 500k and your leverage ratio is two to one. Let's just call that two. If you're looking to build wealth, that number of two is kind of low. It should be higher. It means that you've got 50% equity in your property. Now say that instead, on the day that you bought that million dollars in real estate, you only made a 200k down payment. That's awesome. A million bucks divided by 200k your leverage ratio is five. All right. Well, what are these numbers really mean? Like this two and this five? All right, it's important because it is what you use to multiply your real estate's rate of appreciation by in order to find your rate of return. So just say that your real estate appreciates 4% this year. If your leverage ratio is just two, that's only an 8% return on your skin in the game. But if you've got more debt and your leverage ratio is five, then a 4% return means you've got a 20% return on your skin in the game. Do that keep your leverage ratio high? Now, what if your leverage ratio falls all the way down to a one. What does that mean? Oh, dear, you're not really doing much to build wealth because all of your properties are paid off. You don't have any mortgages on them. So if you're down to a one, all you've got working for you, from an appreciation standpoint, is compound interest. That's the point at which you've fallen from a compound leverage instrument down to a compound interest instrument. And as we know here at GRE which is counter to the mainstream world. And yeah, the mainstream world is where you have to work all of your life at a job you hate. And that's what you'll do if all you have is unlevered compound interest, all right, and if all you have is unlevered compound interest, well, don't book your Blue Origin flight quite yet. You're not going to go on one you can count on sitting behind a desk for decades instead.   All right. Well, how do you determine your leverage ratio? Again, it's your total real estate value divided by your equity. All right. Now, how do you keep your number high? By making new purchases with 20 to 25% down payments, and by not making new purchases is another way, and instead performing cash out refinances or doing both, you know another way to increase your leverage ratio, and you might not have thought about this, it's when real estate values fall. Now, that's surely not a desirable way to do it, and it doesn't happen often, but when real estate values fall, that drops both your real estate's value and your equity value by the same amount. And interestingly, with some of the ways that I described that you can add value to a property earlier, like a carport, that makes your cash flow better, but it does make your leverage ratio worse at the same time, a way to decrease your leverage ratio fast and lower your wealth building potential fast is to make an extra principal payment of a few 1000 bucks. I mean that one act alone might drop it from, say, a 3.14 to a three point. One Two over night. But look, I don't know what real estate markets you're invested in, and if you tell me what your number is, I'm gonna know how much your future wealth building power is, because you're keeping dollars not merely compounding, but leveraged. And if your number falls below about two and a half, which means 40% equity, that's typically when I begin looking to refinance or sell an equity heavy property, to do a 1031 into a bigger one. So two and a half, that's the number where you often want to take action. And really this is all just a fresh way of approaching an enduring mantra here at GRE Oh yeah, financially free beats debt free, and this sure can make you a mutineer among the masses. And I've been talking about these mutineers sort of things a lot lately, even with a tinge of irreverence. Perhaps you might remember that three weeks ago here on the show, I discussed how, depending on your circumstance, you can even make a car loan good debt, and how a seven figure income is the new six figures and then, yes, perhaps more irreverence. Last week in your free audio course, it was pretty iconoclastic to break down in detail how a 38% rate of return from just everyday buy and hold real estate is not risky at all. And last week's episode 550 the free course, that's probably the most important episode we've done in a long time. For a beginning real estate investor, if you've got any relative or friend in your life that you know, do you have someone around you that just doesn't get it about real estate investing, that really doesn't understand why you do this, please go ahead and share last week's episode with him. Episode 550 now on to the actual person of one, Donald John Trump. And why do I always say his name that way? I don't know. I'm not sure how that ever got started, but I don't say that as often as I call myself a remorseless slack jaw. In any case, the President wants to fire the Fed Chair Jerome Powell. This is nothing new. It just flared up again. I mean, here's the latest flare up. Listen to how Trump says he's never been fond of Powell. Okay, key in on that. This is Tom llamas on NBC, nightly news. You'll also hear the voices of Trump, Powell and Elizabeth Warren in Washington.    Unknown Speaker  8:38   There's a mounting standoff between President Trump and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve. The President blasting Jerome Powell for not lowering interest rates, accusing him of playing politics. Gabe Gutierrez is at the White House with markets on edge and his trade war escalating. President Trump is lashing out at the Federal Reserve Chairman he once appointed, writing on social media that Jerome Powell's termination cannot come fast enough. I don't think he's doing the job. He's too late, always too late. Slow. And I'm not happy with him. I let him know it, and if I want him out, he'll be out of there real fast, believe me, the rebuke coming after this warning from Powell Wednesday, tariffs are highly likely to generate at least a temporary rise in inflation, the President now slamming him for not cutting interest rates to help the economy. We have a Federal Reserve Chairman that is playing politics, somebody that I've never been very fond of, actually, but he's playing politics. Powell says the Fed needs more clarity before making a move. We're never going to be influenced by any political pressure. People can say whatever they want. That's fine. Trump had previously said he would not try to replace Powell, and earlier this week, the Treasury Secretary stressed the importance of an independent federal reserve. I believe that monetary policy is a jewel box that's got to be preserved. Democrats warning of chaos if Powell is ousted, if Chairman Powell can be fired by the President of the United States, it will crash the markets in the United States. Powell, whose term as Fed Chair ends next year, has said the President does not have the legal authority to fire him. If he asked you to leave, would you go? No.   Keith Weinhold  14:38    In that clip, Trump said he's never been very fond of pow dude. You appointed him, you You appointed him as Fed Chair in your first term, where you must have liked him more than any of the other candidates. Geez. Now you may or may not like Powell, but I don't see how. He's playing politics before lowering interest rates, it's completely sensible for him to see how the tariffs play out first. The Fed has long been independent of the executive branch, so they're supposed to be Trump wants Powell to lower interest rates. And remember, Powell already cut rates a full 1% late last year, and I really don't even agree with that cut when inflation was still elevated. Trump says Powell is always too late. Well, everyone agrees that Powell was too late to raise rates back in 2022 I mean, that had to do with the whole gaff where he said that inflation is just transitory, and no one will let Powell forget that. But do you give pal credit for a soft landing? I mean, he since brought down inflation while keeping us out of a recession, that's the definition of a soft landing. You know, I don't fully give pal credit there, just a little but remember, by that point, the inflation damage has already been done. It's already hurt a lot of people, and that's not changing. Now, of course, the inflation enriched you and it enriched me, because we're the real estate investors, and inflation is always going to do that for us. What happened is that Trump is frustrated because he saw the European Central Bank just lower their rates. So that's why he wants to see that happen here too. Because of course, lower rates can help the economy, at least in the short term. So I wondered about what you think. So what I did is I asked you in our latest Instagram poll, the question I asked was simply, should Jerome Powell be retained or fired? I was a little surprised at the result. 38% of GRE Instagram poll respondents said pal should be retained, and 62% said fired. I didn't think as many as 62% would say fire Powell. My best guess is that it's because you want lower interest rates on mortgages, and my next best guess is that you want to fire Powell, not because you dislike him, but more because you want to abolish the Fed completely, which I guess means that Powell would be fired that way. Did you hear about what happened when Donald Trump called tech support? Yeah. He told them, my tariffs aren't working. Tech Support responded with, did you try turning them off and back on again.    Hey, coming up shortly is Florida real estate doomed. If you'd like to reach out to us here at the show, you can do so at get rich education.com/contact, that's whether you have a comment or a question or a concern or a content suggestion you can communicate either through voice or email on our contact page, there one thing that we don't need, respectfully, are booking agents for shows reaching out to us. You know, I used to say that we have 50 times as many guest requests to be on the show with me here as we do available spots, but now it is more than 50x and I'm really grateful to host a platform where I guess a lot of people want to join in and contribute here, but the reality is that we only have one show a week, and a lot of weeks like this one I don't have any guests at all on the Show. That page is monitored by my terrific executive assistant, Brenda, just like most everyone here at GRE She's an active real estate investor too, and again, comments, questions or concerns about the show, please contact us at the contact page and get rich education.com/contact. More. Next you're listening to get rich education.    You know what's crazy? Your bank is getting rich off of you. The average savings account pays less than 1% it's like laughable. Meanwhile, if your money isn't making at least 4% you're losing to inflation. That's why I started putting my own money into the FFI liquidity fund. It's super simple. Your cash can pull in up to 8% returns, and it compounds. It's not some high risk gamble like digital or AI stock trading. It's pretty low risk because they've got a 10 plus year track record of paying investors on time in full every time. I mean, I wouldn't be talking about it if I wasn't invested myself. You can invest as little as 25k and you keep earning until you decide you want your money back. No weird lockups or anything like that. So if you're like me and tired of your liquid funds just sitting there doing nothing. Check it out. Text family to 66866, to learn about freedom family investments, liquidity fund again. Text family to 66866    Hey, you can get your mortgage loans at the same place where I get mine, at Ridge lending group NMLS, 42056, they provided our listeners with more loans than any provider in the entire nation because they specialize in income properties. They help you build a long term plan for growing your real estate empire with leverage. You can start your pre qualification and chat with President Caeli Ridge personally. Start Now while it's on your mind at Ridge lendinggroup.com, that's ridgelendinggroup.com.   T. Harv Ecker  20:45   This is the millionaire minds. T. Harv Ecker, you're listening to the powerful Get rich education with Keith Weinhold. Don't quit your day dream.   Keith Weinhold  21:10   Welcome back to get rich Education. I'm your host. Keith Weinhold is Florida real estate doomed. Most anyone that pays attention has probably noticed that the Sunshine State has some areas, well, really, a number of them where property values have actually fallen. This is tied to the fact that there's an inventory over supply. There have been spiking insurance premiums tied to hurricanes. And what about the slowing population growth, and since the pandemic, Florida has had some of the fastest growing, highest appreciating markets in the entire nation. But today, in fact, there's a giant home builder there KB Homes that finds Florida's housing market. In their words, it's weak enough that they are cutting prices this spring. And KB Homes is ranked number 545 on the fortune 1000 so they're pretty sizable. And then an even larger home builder, Lennar, they basically said the same thing. The CEO of KB Homes said, quote, demand at the start of this spring selling season was more muted than what we have seen historically, despite a healthy level of traffic in our communities. So we took steps to reposition our communities to offer the most compelling value, and buyers responded favorably to those adjustments. End of the quote, yes, that is a genteel way of saying that we had to cut prices to get buyers like I mentioned to you, starting, gosh, probably a year ago or more, that other home builders have, instead of cutting prices, offered mortgage rate buy downs to buyers, be mindful though of how much your home builder is paying for those buy downs and how much you are at the closing table. Now, as we know, nationally, there's still a housing supply shortage, but KB, who does business in other states, says that Florida is the weakest, and that's due to over supply. Now let's forget about in migration for a second. Okay, that weakness is because a lot of communities are overbuilt to the point that the in migration rate cannot keep up with the over building. And of course, it's hard to generalize. Florida is a big, populous state of 23 million people. Southwest Florida has been hit the hardest that's pretty well documented. Punta Gorda, home values are down 9% year over year. Cape Coral down 7% let's go to the opposite end of the state, and Jacksonville, up in Northeast Florida that has about seven months of housing supply. It's actually pretty close to a balanced market between buyers and sellers, and then in the center of the state, Orlando, there's six months of supply that is a balanced market where there is normalcy in negotiation between buyers and sellers and a smattering of offers on one property And no one rushing and doing things like waving their inspection and then Miami Fort Lauderdale, you know, I really don't talk about them much on the show, because their prices are too high to work well as long term cash flowing rentals, both KB and Lennar say that they're keeping an eye on tariffs and that the changes to immigration have not changed their operations very much yet, because, remember, a lot of construction laborers are immigrants, and if they get deported, and then you need to hire native born US labor. Well, home prices go up, all right. Well, what about the Florida insure? Crisis. You know, over the past few years in Florida, a bunch of carriers have just withdrawn. They have pulled out of the state, farmers, insurance, bankers, insurance, Lexington insurance, all pulled out. Farmers told The New York Times that this business decision was necessary to effectively manage risk exposure. Similarly, AAA is another carrier, and they said that they're not going to renew some policies. They said the markets become challenging. 2022 catastrophic hurricane season that really contributed to an unprecedented rise in reinsurance rates, and that made it more costly for insurance companies to operate there at all. And prior to that, the market was already strained and had increased claims costs due to inflation and excessive litigation. That's what triple A said. All right, so where does this leave homeowners? Well, some are already relying on state and federal insurance programs, like the National Flood Insurance Program. There's a state carrier called citizens now, flood insurance is not required outside of a special hazard flood area, but that doesn't mean that a home is going to escape flooding if a hurricane passes through, but having insurance it does help along and accelerate the recovery process. Florida has some of the best Building Code adoption and enforcement in the country, and that fact alone has saved 1000s of homes and billions of dollars. But modern building codes are not necessarily applied retroactively to older homes. So it's those homes and properties that really have more exposure to hurricanes, those older properties, and a lot of Floridians are just skipping insurance coverage altogether so that they don't have to pay the premiums. They don't have any coverage. If you don't have a lien holder, you can do that. You can skip it, right? Well, like, How bad is it? Exactly? Just, how much have Florida insurance premiums been jacked up at this point. They've increased 60% on average between 2019, and 2023, and while homeowners and investors are primarily bearing that rising cost burden, I mean, insurers are feeling that squeeze as well. It's not just that the incidence of hurricane events is up, but premiums rise, of course, when the cost of labor in materials that it takes to replace and rebuild a damaged home have gone up as well things like concrete and structural steel and now, of course, as real estate investors, we can eventually pass on the cost of our higher insurance premiums to the tenant in the form of a rent increase, But when it goes up 60% in just four years. It's really hard to keep up with that. Florida's infrastructure is under some strain, too, and I see this when I drive the Tampa area. Every few years, I see more and more traffic. It takes me longer to get places like it takes me two or three cycles to go through a traffic light, where it only took me one cycle a few years ago. So roads and schools and utilities are under some duress to keep up with the population growth over the past decade, statewide commute times are up 11% you know, really that shouldn't be a surprise. I mean, that is common in any high growth area. Now, when it comes to insurance rate increases, there is a good chance that the worst is now over. Yes, Florida, insurance rate increases have been slowing down. The average rate increases have dropped quite a bit from 21% back in 2023 to a projected just two tenths of 1% for 2025 okay. I mean, that's basically no change expected for this year. Citizens, property insurance, that state option that I mentioned earlier, their rates are also shrinking, with some policyholders experiencing rate decreases of 5% or more. Now, I told you on a previous show that if you're looking to add rental property in Florida, go with new build properties for low insurance rates. But now I actually got a hold of some real policies between some of my properties and some of my friends properties. I've got them right in front of me here on a 1970s build single family home. I mean, the premiums can be high. We're basically paying 1% or more of the property's value in insurance premiums each year. So a 250k A valued single family rental that was built 50 years ago has a premium of $3,000 in some cases. I mean, that's a lot, but a close friend of mine recently went to GRE marketplace, got connected with one of our Florida providers. There, he bought a new construction duplex for I forget it was either 400k or 420k it's in Ocala, Florida, which is the central part of the state, and his 12 month insurance premium is $694. Wow. What a low premium for a duplex. That's why you go new build in Florida. Newer properties were built to today's construction and wind mitigation codes, and they have low insurance rates. And his duplex also appraised for 10k more than the purchase price. He has both sides already rented. And in fact, he closes on the property today, and yeah, I recommended that he go to GRE marketplace and get into Florida property, because that is indeed what he was interested in, and I sure wasn't going to stop him. So suffice to say, I clearly do not believe that Florida real estate is doomed. Florida has long been the antidote to high tax, high cost states, it has attracted snowbirds and retirees and hourly workers and increasingly younger professionals unable to crack housing markets elsewhere. Since the pandemic, millions of people have flocked to the state. I mean, when you look at a list of the fastest growing metro areas of the United States. I mean, Florida domination continues. You've still got big ones up there, like Lakeland of Florida is actually at the top of the population growth leaderboard nationally for metros with 500,000 or more people, Port St Lucie is also up there. It's third nationally, and Orlando is fourth. Three of the top four population growth metros are still in Florida, but this promise of sunshine and opportunity that has been replaced by something just a little less Sunny. I mean, you've got the rising home prices like Florida's not that cheap anymore, this diminishing affordability and this growing pressure on infrastructure, but Florida has definitely not completely lost its shine. People across the country are still moving to Florida, but not at the same rate that they did a few years ago, and the state is still seeing more people arrive then depart, besides the weather and the beaches that people love, of course, there's zero state income tax, and Governor Ron DeSantis has even proposed eliminating the property tax, like I mentioned to you on the show a while ago, although we can't count on eliminating the property tax anytime soon, if it ever happens. But wow, what a real estate boom that property tax elimination would create. So for the long term, which is what real estate investing is, I still like Florida. One thing that I don't like is trying to catch a falling knife, and that is analogous to say, investing in an area that is going down and has no future. Florida's got a future. It's got some challenges, just like anywhere in the US, but the reason it has a future is because more population growth is almost a guarantee. You don't get many guarantees in investing. Just look at the decennial census figures. Okay, this is the population of Florida every 10 years, starting in the year 1900 that's when they had 528,000 people, yeah, only about a half million people in the entire state, and I'll do some rounding here every 10 years after that. So in 1910 it was up to 750,000 people, then a million, 1,000,005 1,000,009 now we're up to 1950 where it grew to 2.8 million people, and then 5,000,006 point 8,000,009.7, 1316, 18.8 and then 21 and a half million in 2020, and it's 23 and a half million today. Now I only went as far back as 1900 there, but their census data goes back to at least 1830 and the growth has always been torrid, just uninterrupted. Every 10 years. There has been substantial to massive growth for at least 200 years, and Florida has still. Grown more than 2% per year each of the past couple years. In fact, it is still first place of all 50 states for population growth. So areas that are over supplied with housing in Florida are going to be absorbed. So Florida real estate is definitely not doomed. And in fact, adding more Florida real estate at this time, you know, that could very well be the type of thing where 10 years from now, or even five years from now, when their population is substantially bigger and there's less housing available. I mean, it could potentially look like a wise buy that you're able to get property at this time with less competition and maybe even a small discount here in the mid 2020s, and today, you can find three Florida markets listed at GRE marketplace. What else is happening at GRE marketplace? We've added two new markets, and they are also in the South. They are Jackson, Mississippi and Montgomery, Alabama. Yes, these areas are investor advantaged, and they have prices lower than most Florida markets. Though, I don't know that you'll see the net migration inflows into Jackson and Montgomery that you will in a lot of Florida markets. Jackson has a metro population of 600,000 and Montgomery 400,000 they both have really low property taxes. And there's something else that these two new GRE marketplace cities have in common. Any guess both Jackson and Montgomery are state capitals, yes, so they do have a base of government jobs. So check out gremarketplace.com read more about those cities. And of course, we even connect you with free investment coaching there to help you get matched up with some good property. Thanks for listening. Until next week, I'm your host. Keith Weinhold, don't quit your Daydream.   Speaker 2  37:10    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  37:34   You know, whenever you want the best written real estate and finance info, oh, geez, today's experience limits your free articles access and it's got paywalls and pop ups and push notifications and cookies disclaimers, it's not so great. So then it's vital to place nice, clean, free content into your hands that adds no hype value to your life. That's why this is the golden age of quality newsletters. And I write every word of ours myself. It's got a dash of humor, and it's to the point because even the word abbreviation is too long, my letter usually takes less than three minutes to read, and when you start the letter. You also get my one hour fast real estate video. Course, it's all completely free. It's called the Don't quit your Daydream letter. It wires your mind for wealth, and it couldn't be easier for you to get it right now. Just text GRE to 66866, while it's on your mind, take a moment to do it right now. Text, GRE to 66866.   The preceding program was brought to you by your home for wealth, building, getricheducation.com.