Connections! in SW Florida - Featuring David Ged & Corlin Tucker from Heights Title

I have to remember to stop bobbing when the music's done. Good afternoon. Good afternoon, those of you watching live and those coming on in the recorded version. My name is Renee Hahn, and I've put together these series that we're doing daily for connections purposes. It's all about connecting local people with local businesses because I don't think anybody can deny that COVID has kind of created a couple of hiccups in our normal business operating procedures and really challenged us to think differently about how to connect with those businesses. And so I'm so honored to have the opportunity to sit with some of the local leaders and businesses and equally excited to have the esteemed David Jett and Corlyn Tucker with me here today. Corlyn, I actually followed on Facebook. Perhaps I stalked her, I'm not sure, but followed her. She is a marketing genius, and David Jed figured that out and brought her on the team. So it's a powerhouse duo. But thank you for joining us. We're going to spend 30 minutes learning more about Heights Title and Escrow and Jed Law. And with that, before we jump into the business Um, David and Corlyn, I'd love for the audience to get to know you a little bit better, so I'm going to pull off the screen so we can blow you up. And please, an introduction.

Hello, my name is Corlyn Tucker and I'm the marketing director with Heights Title, and I've been in the title industry for about 13, 14 years. Prior to that, I was a realtor, and prior to that, I was in I fly the Signature Major Airlines and moved here to Florida from Charlotte, North Carolina about 6 years ago. I have really, really enjoyed getting to know everyone in Southwest Florida.

I have—

Corlin, real quick, my apologies. It was— I don't know if you guys pulled back a little bit from the computer. It was getting a little quieter. And I'm sorry, Rainer. I'm sorry to interrupt. I just wanted to make sure people could hear you.

Okay.

There you go.

Is that better? Yep.

Okay.

So I'll let David introduce himself.

Thank you. And thank you, Renee, for putting this together. It's a wonderful opportunity for us and to get our message across, if you will. So I'm David Jed. I grew up in Marco Island, which a lot of people don't know that about me. And I moved here from New Jersey when I was just a young lad. And that changed my world because Southwest Florida is home and it always will be. I'm a proud Florida Gator, as you can tell behind me here. That is a gator eating a Seminole hat.

It made it very visual. I get it.

Got it. I, after the University of Florida, I went to Boston. I spent 15 years in Boston. I started my legal career there for 12 years and didn't wanna grow old in Boston and deal with the winter. So came back here in 2004. My wife and I and our son Walker live in Estero with our dog Murray. And we do a lot of boating and we love the Southwest Florida community.

I now understand your love for boating because you grew up in Marco. I don't think you're allowed to live in Marco without loving the water, correct?

True.

Yeah, I love it. And I love that you two have something in common. You both have one child and furry friends.

Yes, exactly. And I lived in Boston as well for about 6 years, so we have that in common as well.

Wonderful. And what, what David didn't share, um, that— but I, but I've heard before is, um, you're the better looking Jed in the Jed Law Firm. Is that, is that true? I've heard the rumor.

Well, my brother, Gene, he often gets asked who's older, which really gets his goat because I'm 12 years older than he is, but he does have a full head of hair for what it's worth.

Yes. Hey, hair can be overrated as we will all attest to as we've gone without haircuts during COVID We all hair envy of you, David, don't ever undersell that.

My style has changed.

Good, good. Well, thank you so much. Um, what I'd like to do, David, I'll let you pick which part of the business you want to talk about, but one of the things I'll just share that I love about your group is that you do have both sides of the house covered, if you will, and that you offer the legal services as well as your standard title services. I've obviously personally had the opportunity to work with you guys and know that you, you manage very smooth transactions from a real estate perspective. But David, tell us a little bit— actually, before you tell us about the business, business. Tell us about what, what motivated you and maybe Jean at this time to start the business, and then we'll talk about the services and offerings.

Sure. So in 2004, when I decided to move to Florida, I happened to reconnect with an old high school buddy of mine, um, and he had the same vision of coming to Southwest Florida. He was living, I believe, in Colorado at the time, and we created a conglomerate of Heights companies. It was Heights Title, Heights Custom Homes, Heights Realty, um, and we enjoyed a really prosperous couple of years. And our first office was actually in Cape Coral. And then as the recession hit, we kind of broke off, and Heights Title survived. My brother Gene joined me in 2005, and we embraced short sales and foreclosure defense and loss mitigation efforts for clients, uh, which was really our mainstay and bread and butter for a number of years. While other title companies that held on the traditional closing services, uh, didn't really do well because there wasn't really much business traditionally. So that's what got me here in 2004. We then opened an office in 2005 in Naples. Um, when business got back to normal in Cape Coral, we realized that that probably wasn't where we wanted to, to dig our put our feet in and we came to Estero and the rest is history, as they say.

Wonderful. And I have to ask, Heights Title, what was sort of the, you know, we all take such great care and thought in naming our businesses. Tell us about yours.

Well, I have to attribute that to my friend Steve, because he, at one point he was involved in the dot-com era and did really well. And he built a huge home on Heights Court Marco Island, where we grew up. So the Heights came from, from him. We held on to the name, um, and it's been with us now 16 years.

I love it, I love it. So one of the things— let's start with services, and then I want to talk about differentiators. But tell us about all the things that you can cover, because, you know, especially us small-minded realtors may only see a fraction of what you guys do. So I'd love for you to give us the breadth of, of offerings you do and, and how which of those falls under which roof and how they interplay, that would be most helpful.

I often say when I meet people that we're two companies focused on one business, that's delivering real solutions for real estate. So everything the law firm does in one way or touches and concerns real estate, whether it be estate planning to protect the asset that you just purchased, probate so that your heirs can sell the property of your, of your the parents, if you will. Um, real estate litigation— a lot of times there's a quiet title action that's required, uh, when somebody purchases a tax deed, let's say, or there's a, there's a defect in the chain of title.

And I know you've brought— you've teamed up with a master litigator even more recently.

We have, yes. Um, and lastly, uh, landlord-tenant work. So most of the effort with the law firm is directly related to the title company in that it involves real estate matters.

Now, do you— let me ask that, David. Do you find that even on the estate side, do you end up with independent customers? Meaning if somebody wanted to do work on an estate and they weren't going through the transaction, they wanted to set one up, you still do those things as well, correct? It doesn't all need to necessarily start with a sale or a purchase.

Correct, correct. I have a lot of clients that are just strictly estate planning clients. We handle simple things like an enhanced life estate deed for people who want to leave the sole property they own here in Florida to their heirs, but don't need an elaborate trust or other vehicles to leave their property to their heirs.

Fantastic. And I know you've got two locations, one out by the airport, one in Estero. What, um, you know, are they interchangeable? Do they serve different purposes? Tell us about your location setup.

Well, they're, they're exactly the same, but we're fully staffed in both locations. The one is not a satellite, uh, to the other. Uh, I often refer to it as McDonald's. So when you bring a contract in, it gets processed the same way, um, whether you're in Naples or Estero. I happen to go back and forth. I like the diversity. They are two different markets, but I enjoy traveling between both and representing clients in both locations.

Yeah, let me ask this, um, and Corlin, I'm going to pull you in on this one because obviously with business development and marketing, you're all about sharing the value proposition of working with these, this company, these companies. Tell us what, you know, having spent time in real estate yourself and now working on the title and legal side of things. What do you think are the big differentiators in working with Heights Title and Jed Law?

I think that's such a good question. And I do have experience with some national corporate title companies, and the reason why I chose Heights Title, um, is because they are family-owned, locally owned, and attorney-owned. And those three things were so important to me and share the same values that I have. One of the things that makes Heights Title so different is being attorney-owned. And having an attorney own Heights Title, you are paying title company prices but you have an attorney there as well to assist you with any questions or any help that you may need during the transaction. And having a family-owned company is— it's so dear to me too. But having family-owned and community-owned, we do so much in the community. We give back to the community, whether it's the Relay for Life. We have the Back to School school program that we do every year where we gather backpacks and we have a taco truck out in the— taco and snow cone truck out in the parking lot. And so we're always looking to give back to the community, and that is so important to me. Another thing that I love about Heights Title is the two locations, one in Naples and one in Cerro. And I do think that that is so important to have two locations, one in Collier and one in Lee County. Um, and, um, I just lost my train of thought. There was one more thing. Um, as a realtor, you mentioned, as a realtor, when I was a realtor, I, I really experienced, um, you know, the transactions and how important it is to choose the right company to bring your transactions to. And when you are listing those 3 companies to your clients, to your customers during signing of the agreement, you have to, you have to make sure it's someone that you trust. Because bottom line is, it reflects— the service reflects upon you and your reputation as well. And I realized that, and that is one reason why I cannot work for a company that I wouldn't as a realtor choose. As one of the people I would recommend to my clients.

Yeah, no, that's well said. And I, I'll share just from my vantage point, um, you know, having worked with a lot— you know, when you get into real estate, you obviously date a lot, and you're finding your, your mates, your soul mates in all of these areas. And one of the things that I will compliment, um, Heights Title and Jed Law— actually, a couple things. One, What Corilyn's saying, I have personally felt, which is they genuinely care about how people feel about their services, what the experience has been. And I see that both in David and Corilyn. They are listeners. They are trying to understand and stay in touch with the needs of their clientele, whether it's the end clientele of the seller, buyer, or homeowner, or the, um, the agents that oftentimes provide the introductions. I found Heights Title and Escrow to be very much, um, you know, wanting to learn and listen and, and, and make sure that you're differentiating, whether it's offering the courses that you do to help people better understand the world of real estate. Um, you know, David, you've been very visible in things. I see you support activities around Naples Area Board of Realtors and other things. So I will just second everything you've said, that, that sense of community, that you're not just a business owner but you're part of the community, is evident in, in everything you do. So kudos to you guys.

Thank you.

And I think another valid point, Renee, is that because we are locally owned, that the feedback we receive from people like yourself or a buyer or seller, we can implement change immediately. We know the buck stops here. So, um, and we've done that. We take the comments and we take the constructive criticism seriously. For instance, um, we were finding that, that realtors needed to have 24/7 access to an estimate or to a, you know, a HUD, if you will, or seller net sheet. And so we immediately went out into the marketplace and purchased an add-on to our website so that that was available for realtors. So things like that, I think, make us a little different in that we can implement change immediately if it benefits our clients and customers.

Yeah, no, that's great. I want to talk for a minute now, David and Coralin, um, you know, especially because COVID has sort of been the forcing function of why I'm doing these Obviously, your services, for those who don't know, have been during when there were homestays deemed to be essential services. But I imagine even though you continued to work, you've been working differently, right? And you continue to evolve as the situation is fluid and changes. Talk to us a little bit about how COVID has affected the business, what you've done to, you know, to work within some of those confines.

So we, um, everyone has been working, um, really a lot of overtime as well. We've been very fortunate, we've been very busy, but we have put in place some guidelines and we are doing what we call car closings, which we have the buyers and sellers sit inside their car.

It's like the A&W root beer float, right, of law.

Skates for everyone. Um, and so they do the closings in the car, um, safely, and they call us when they arrive, and then we put the documents outside the door for them, and we get everything done that way. Um, if they're not— if they're not able to come to the office, we have notaries, online notaries, and we also have, of course, live notaries that will go to the house, or if they are mail away, we of course do mail aways. If they have to come into the office now, we will, we will space everyone apart and we will sanitize the office when they are finished with the closing. Like I said, we have been very, very fortunate. We have seen an increase in the sales. We are actually hiring people. Well, so we feel very fortunate that we've been able to do that while some people have been laid off. So it's been, for me as a marketing rep, I have transitioned into, I'd say, the new era of marketing using technology. And I have really, really been enjoying it. And I've saved a lot of mileage on my leased car. And saved a lot of money on gas, but I've been doing a lot of Zoom classes, Zoom meetings, just being really creative and really enjoying it. I'd like to stick to a lot of the things that I have learned, but I'm also looking forward to going back to the Board of Realtors and seeing everybody and enjoying the gatherings.

Yeah, and speaking of the Board of Realtors, you guys are very involved with the various, not just Naples, area Board of Realtors, but Bonita Springs, the B.A.R., and Estero, um, you know, so, so you stay connected in both counties, at least from what I've seen, correct?

Yes, yes. And I am, um, at the Bonita-Estero— I'm on the Leadership Academy this year there. I am a graduate of the, uh, NABOR. Yes, best class ever, right, Renee?

It is.

2019. This year at NABOR, I'm on the community team there as a chair, as a co-chair, and so we are always giving back to the board and giving as much time as I can.

Great. Let me ask you, David, and some of this you'll have to humor me for a minute because I know I'm going a little bit off of some of the questions I told you, but I think there's value in it, so work with me here. But When you look at your business and you talked about being agile and really being able to not just be agile in a time like with COVID where you have to think about working different, but even agile when you're getting feedback and you're adding new offerings. When you look at a given year or multiple years, David, what you would, you feel your business is successful when what? What is your measure of success in Heights Title and Jed Law, if you don't mind my asking?

Well, obviously the first criteria is, is revenue. So, um, but that's not the end-all. What I appreciate most of all is the relationships I have with people, and I think that's one of my strong points. Those relationships to me are critical both in life and business, and, and a lot of times those lines are blurred, whereas the people have become part of my family just because they were business acquaintances to start. Um, so I, I, I mark success by how many of our clients and customers continue to refer business, continue to use our name, uh, in the marketplace, continue to want to grow the relationship and, and, and, and get more involved in our business and our community outreach programs. And to me, that's, that's how I, that's why I sleep well at night. I should say it's more the relationships, because if you have the relationships, the business will follow. So that to me is the most important thing.

Great, great. Corlyn, I did want to go back and pick up on something you said, because as I said, we're in a changing environment. Part of why I'm doing this is because we have more people online than ever before. Um, and you mentioned that you guys are hiring. I'd like to give a little plug for what type of roles you guys are looking for and what kind of talent, just in case there's a viewer out there that happens to be looking for a change or perhaps reinventing themselves or in, in need of an opportunity. So tell us a little bit.

Well, we did, um, just fill 2 positions, um, so we're not actually hiring at point. But we, you know, are always looking for good candidates, and we are growing. So it would be an experienced processor or an experienced escrow officer closer.

Wonderful. Good, good. Well, I'm glad you guys are continuing to thrive and, and that it's going well, because, you know, in the real estate world, sometimes the services that you guys offer, you see the lag of it, right? The things you're working on now are the things that the real estate folks locked in at least 30 days ago, sometimes less. So, um, you know, I, I hope that that trend continues and that that is encouragement for all of the nervous buyers and homeowners, um, that are waiting at the borders to come in and enjoy paradise.

I think a lot of people are moving here, you know. It's like the ones that were on the fence trying to decide if they were going to leave or not They're coming.

Yeah, it's— oh, go ahead, please, David.

Migration from the Northeast before COVID and I think now we're going to have an even stronger migration from the Northeast because of the way COVID has affected their life.

No, that's an excellent point. I was going to say something similar, David, that, you know, we were already seeing some attraction factors because of taxes and other things Now you overlay our friends from out of state who were sitting in their homes for months on end looking out the window at awful weather only to watch us Floridians still safely social distanced, go enjoy beautiful walks through your neighborhoods. And David and I have been out on our boats recently. I mean, that's not a bad way to spend your time, right?

Right, true. We're blessed, thankfully.

Fantastic. Well, then what they should do in sequencing is they should first call David Jed. Let's get the estate set up the way they want. Then they can connect you with your local realtor to go find something, and then we'll loop you back around to David and Corlyn to make sure that you have a smooth transaction on your closing. Um, and then David will give you great advice like he's going to give to me on the best places to go boat. It's a wonderful setup. I think we can handle it from wing to wing.

Absolutely.

Agreed.

Great. Well, let me ask this. I'm going to pause for just a moment because what I want to do before I ask you this next question is give people a highlight of what's coming around the corner in terms of my sessions in the next few days. I've got— tomorrow is Wednesday. Isn't that awful? That's the one thing I will tell you. I've lost track of what day it is without looking at a calendar. So on Wednesday, I'm honored to have Honor Yoga. They're gonna come in and talk to us about their business. I've got Thursday, I've got Life on Your Own Terms with Beth is gonna come in. On Friday, I've got Master Touch, Chris Torres, to come in and talk about his business. And then I'm almost full next week. I've got Vision Home. I have Jack Price with Vision Home. He also owns Price Moving, but we're gonna talk about Vision Home. I've got Naples Home Watch coming on Tuesday. I've got Boring to Bombshell Nails coming to talk Mallory on Wednesday. On Thursday, I have Clear the Clutter, an organizing company coming in with Tiffany. I've still got a slot open Friday, but, but not long. I've got a couple people looking at dates. So I just wanted to let you guys know what's coming. You know, the beauty and the vision for what I wanted to do, we have a lot of great businesses, both nationally based businesses as well as local, but for me, this was really around local. It was around taking people who have started up and are running their businesses of Southwest Florida and are contributing to our communities every day. Um, and so I've just been excited at just the diversity of the businesses that I've had the honor of, of being able to showcase on here. So please remember to tune in for those. If you're looking, you can find them on Connections Southwest Florida. It's got all of them lined up in there and and what times and days they're at. So do that. And, and if you know of a business, a locally owned business that you think would benefit from being showcased, please have them reach out to Renee at yournaplesexpert.com. These are completely free, there's no catch. There's, you know, I've had a couple people when I've suggested it, I know they're too polite to want to ask me, okay, why, what, what, what, what do I, do I have to send you 3 customers, Renee? I'm not into networking. It's really just— it's intended to be, again, connecting. I have a love for the area. I haven't been here as long as David, but I fell in love with this area and got off the corporate train and decided to stay. And I want it to be as wonderful as it was the day I chose it, as the day when COVID finally clears up. So I want to make sure that our businesses have every opportunity to— for visibility and be thriving. So With that, I'm going to go back for a final question, David and Corlyn, and that is just to give you an open forum on anything that you'd like to share with the viewers that we haven't covered or anything additional you'd like to share.

Well, one of the things that I'd like to share is we are really focused on, um, making realtors— helping realtors with thriving in their business. And as David mentioned, we do have a NetSuite app and it's located on our website. It's one that you can put on your computer and you can also put it on your phone. And we also have a— we just launched a new printing site that you can go in and make marketing materials and have them printed at a very discounted rate. And I am actually doing one-on-ones through Zoom to walk people through that and to open an account for the realtor to show them how to do that. And the printing platform is connected to another site where you can actually choose a radius in a neighborhood and have all the postcards printed with the addresses. And then all you have to do is take them to the post office and they will pay, they will send them out with the postage. So it's a really, really cool platform with a lot of, lot of different options. And I'm really excited to, to show everyone this platform.

And I think that real quick, and David, I want to give you a moment, but I want to say that is a perfect example of your business trying to add value beyond just what people hire you to do. So it's about relationships, and I think that's a wonderful offering because that doesn't benefit your close, you know, your closing benefit business. That's all about helping the people that you work with. So, so thank you so much for offering that. David, how about with you?

Well, I think, um, two points I'd like to make. One, uh, we are always available for training. So if you have a young, uh, group or you're starting a group yourself and you want me to come in with Coralin We can pick a topic. We can design a training course where you'll learn the details between, you know, what contract to use in a certain situation, the differences between a NAIBOR and a FAR/BAR contract. We have a fun fact pattern that we developed where it's kind of a spot the issue, which is really interactive, and realtors seem to like that. We're always available to do that. Secondly, in these really difficult times, people say, well, what do you do? How do you, I mean, how are you supposed to act? And I've seen in transactions where there's just been some people who have been really, really compassionate and there've been others who have not. So I think the attitude and compassion is really important right now. People need to understand that not everybody deals with situations the same way. So, you know, discuss things, talk out loud, feel free to use us as a sounding board before you make a rash decision on, in your involving your transaction, because a lot of times we can salvage that, you know, it benefits both parties. And Renee, I want to say thank you. We love having you in this community. We love what you bring to the table in terms of your knowledge and your enthusiasm for the real estate market.. And I just want you to know that we're really appreciative of you.

Thank you so much.

Well, thank you, David. And I was just thinking when you were talking about the courses, as you know, now that I've invested in this StreamYard, maybe I need to have you on to do some realtor-focused sessions on some topics, and we can blast it out the same way. So we should table that and, and come back to it. I've already bought it, we might as well use it, right? So, well, listen, I know David, David and Corlyn both You know, you guys have stayed very busy, which is a good thing. And, and that makes it all the more meaningful that you've carved out this 30 minutes to come and spend and be able to share. I, I have nothing but good wishes and hopes that you guys will also come out of the COVID situation, if not doing as well, even better, because I'm convinced that the businesses that kept moving forward and kept putting one foot in front of the other in the face of adversity are going to come out even stronger. So, you know, when all those folks from the Northeast start piling down the, you know, 75 into Naples, but not the beaches yet, folks, stay off the beaches, that they will continue to help your business grow and flourish. So again, thank you so much for sharing your talents and your passion with Southwest Florida. With that, we're going to wrap up. I appreciate everybody coming on and look forward to bringing you some future sessions where we can connect local people with local businesses. Thanks everyone. Have a great week.

Thank you, Renee.

Thank you, Renee.

Bye everybody.

Bye now.