The Snow Bird Market

I'm gonna introduce a couple individuals who are royalty and you may not even realize it. Lord Shadd Boucher.

Hi.

He's one of our managing brokers here at RE/MAX Alliance Group and the Greek god Steve Zuras. So we are in great company today and we have a lot of cool information to share with you. So today our topic is going to be seasonal surge on how snowbirds fuel our local market. So we have 15 offices along Southwest Florida And a lot— Hello and welcome to Brokers Uncensored. This is raw and real footage that the brokers of RE/MAX Alliance Group are going to be sharing with today. I'm going to introduce a couple individuals who are royalty and you may not even realize it. Lord Shadd Boucher.

Hi.

He's one of our managing brokers here at RE/MAX Alliance Group and the Greek god Steve Ziras. So we are in great company today and we have a lot of cool information to share with you. So today our topic is going to be seasonal surge on how snowbirds fuel our local market. So we have 15 offices along Southwest Florida And a lot of our offices tend to get a little bit more busier during our seasonal time, which tends to run around October-ish into April. Kind of slows down around the holidays, but really picks up into January. But I'm sure you guys have all been seeing the car haulers heading into town and the traffic picking up a little bit.

So, you know, a lot less Canadians this year, though. That's actually the shocking part.

Yeah. For sure. All right, well, let's dive right on in. So let's talk about, um, how does the influx of snowbirds affect our housing demand and rental prices and inventory in our local markets? Who wants to start?

There's a lot in that question.

Yeah, there is. A little loaded. A little loaded.

Yeah.

Well, you want to go first, Shad, or let me go?

Well, I think it's, I think it's, uh, you know, most real estate, everybody talks about the summer you know, the spring and the summer selling season, like, oh my God, you know, everything's going crazy because, you know, you're out of school, you have to move the kids, you know, all this other stuff. We have 2 of those seasons really in most of our, in most of our business areas. So we, you know, we sprint through the summer through August. We slow down in September, end of October, things start to pick up because people start moving down and then they decide that, you know, they don't want to rent here anymore. They want to live here permanently. So they start doing all that. And we've, You know, we're like, we're not like the rest of the country too. And I can't speak for all 50 states, but we have, you know, 55 and up only communities. And those communities, most people, you know, they're very quiet. And so they come down and usually most of them at their last season that they want to be here, then they put that house on the market. So we have a big influx that happens. In fact, you know, the place where I live, actually, the population almost doubles In the, the final, you know, November through about May. So yeah, and a couple of things you learn, right? And you guys tell me if you're not— you don't go out to dinner, you know, at that time of the year. You, you tend not to— you tend to avoid things because they're just packed. Like, it's, you know, it's kind of like theme parks, right?

For sure.

Well, also, I think we are in a slowly changing market here. I remember when I first moved to Florida back in 1990, you know, it was like a deserted town on the roads in the summertime. It's not like that now. We've got more and more industry moving here.

Yeah.

Full-time workers, apartments are going up everywhere. So our seasonal population, let's say residents that come down during the winter months, whatever the percentage was back then, I don't have those numbers. It seems like that percentage has gotten smaller because we have a lot more full-time residents here in Florida. And let's face it, we've got a lot of good things happening. We've got one of the best governors in the country. We got— it's just a great place to live. However, pricing is starting to go up. We're, you know, they're paying for it now. And you get somebody up north, they're paying, let's say, $15,000 a year in taxes. They come down here and they say, hey, $5,000, that's nothing, that's pocket change. Whereas if we, you know, look at it at that from a person who's lived here for a long time, they're like, I'm not paying that, that's too much money.

Yeah, yeah, and I, I don't disagree.

Yeah, that kind of segues us into the next question. Um, how does the snowbird market make real estate more competitive for our year-round locals? So this is kind of a 2-part question. And do you see there's certain property types that snowbirds tend to favor more than others?

All right, I'll go first on that one, Chad, and let you pick up the pieces here. Uh, primarily they do like condos and villas, not townhouses, but condos and villas. And I'm seeing more of them wanting single-family homes because they're coming from large houses up north and they're realizing they cannot fit in a 2-bedroom condo. So I'm starting to see that. And I think that the competitive pricing, the buyers set the prices no matter what. I think there's a lot of things that go into the pricing, including economic issues, interest rates, even though they might be cash buyers, but if the interest rates are lower, then their portfolio is higher so they can, you know, buy a property a little bit larger or nicer location with their cash. So, there's a lot of factors that come into that. And it's a tough one to pinpoint one or two, you know, issues in their criteria that really stand out because there's too many factors.

Right. Okay.

Well, and I think, you know, as far as picking up the pieces on that, I think that it's changed over time for sure.

Yeah.

It used to be kind of like what Steve was talking about. A lot of them just wanted to rent land with electric to park their big old motorhome.

Mm-hmm.

And they would stay in that motorhome for several months and then go back up north. Then all of a sudden they started buying manufactured homes and big manufactured home communities popped up. And now those seem to be getting sold off and they're going, you know, after the condos and the villas. And then now it's kind of like Steve was saying, it's gone up to single-family homes.

Mm-hmm.

Because they'll, they'll go ahead and get a lawn service for the rest of the year that they're not here or whatever. And where it does put strain, I think, on The market is they're now buying those single-family homes, but they tend to be the lower-priced ones, the more that we would think of as entry-level and starter homes. And they have a much better ability to compete because they're cash. They're cash buyers in a lot of functions. They are going to get a small mortgage and they're mostly cash. So they've just got the ability to kind of come in and swoop things up, you know. And they're also— the other thing about them is too, is they don't have to buy where there's a center of industry to support jobs and things like that because they don't need the money. So they can come into an area and say, okay, well, I'm going to— I'm going to move to Parrish, Florida, where there's nothing in Parrish. And now all of a sudden the prices in Parrish start getting pushed up because these guys are moving there. And I think— I think they put a lot of strain on the industry as a whole. But there's also a lot of boon to it, you know. The restaurant industry booms during the snowbird season.

That's right.

And, you know, the bars and entertainment spaces and, and the fact that they're now buying these homes and living year-round means they're hiring, you know, lawn crews and things like that are much busier than they were. So there's, there's both ups and downs. But I think when it comes to the housing, seeing them moving into the single-family realm was surprising, but it's now becoming incredibly common.

Like incredibly common. We were in New Jersey a few weeks ago, and there's just a basic 3-bedroom, 2-bath house, nothing special, was $750,000 on a small lot. And they could sell that house, come down here, use half of that money and buy a house or condo and still have half of it left. They may have a mortgage on that property up north. I don't know. But a lot of them have worked their whole lives and they've paid that house off. So they come down here a lot. Of purchasing power, right?

A ton of purchasing power and a ton of negotiation power because they don't, you know, and a lot of them, you know, let's be honest, a lot of snowbirds that I'm noticing are actually even going to brand new builder communities.

Yes.

And because the builders are offering incentives like you wouldn't believe. So, they're walking into D.R. Horton, like you said, Steve, they're given, you know, they're spending half their nut that they made from New Jersey. They're walking in for $350K cash only. We're done and we're out. And they've got a brand new house that's going to be basically, you know, work-free. They don't have to worry about upkeep for at least 15 years. And so they're good, you know.

Are you guys also seeing it, like experiencing like these snowbirds who only come down for, you know, certain months out of the year where they're obviously using it as an investment, where they're turning it into an Airbnb or VRBOs to kind of pay for the home to pay for itself prior to them moving down to make it a permanent residence? You guys seeing a lot of that in your area as well?

I'm not seeing much in my area. And also a lot of the condo developments do not allow it. So single-family homes, it depends on where they buy it. And there is a lot of competition in my area. So I'm not, I'm not really seeing that.

So I live, I live in Zephyrhills, which was a long time considered like the snowbird capital of like Pasco County. And, you know, we do double. We usually go from like 11,000 residents permanent. That's what it used to be. It's a little more now, but 11,000 residents permanent. to almost 24,000 residents during snowbird season. And we used to call it Little Canada because you'd see more Canadian license plates, you know. But now, kind of what Becky said, these guys are coming down here and they're, they're instead of— they're taking their money out of the stock market and they're buying 3 and 4 homes and they're renting those homes to their friends during the snowbird season and then Airbnb-ing them. You know, the funny part about Zephyrhills, which I didn't even know living there as long as I did till very recently, it's the skydiving capital of the world. Oh, so apparently people come from all over the world to skydive in Zephyrhills.

Interesting.

Well, I will not be coming there to skydive.

Well, I got you, I got you. And but that's— but so the— there's, you know, you would say, well, you know, Zephyrhills is landlocked, it's, you know, but, but it's 45 minutes from Orlando, it's 45 minutes from South Tampa, you know, so it's, it's fairly central. And so now they're buying Because we have a lot of little ranch homes that are in the interior of Zephyrhills, and they're buying one for themselves, and in some instances, 2 and 3 of them down the same street, and then they're putting their friends into it. And then— and so it is kind of funny what you were talking about, Steve, is we're seeing the reverse in Zephyrhills. We're seeing it be packed with human beings from about November to May, and then it's like a ghost town.

Well, let me ask you this, because the barrier islands, yes, people are buying those properties and using them for Airbnb because of them being on the barrier island. But, uh, we would do little reports for these folks and letting them know what their potential return on investment would be as a short-term rental. And as you know, I used to have a short-term rental, and I watched the market change over a couple of years, so I got out. Uh, there's only so many people that are actually renting and And you wind up with, the correct word would be saturation.

Right.

In the market. So, how is Zephyrhills looking as far as saturation?

Well, it's starting to get saturated, but initially it was not because it was like a quiet, sleepy little secret.

Yes.

And it's interesting because I want to get video of it. The other day I was in the downtown area visiting a friend of mine who has a business down there. And I happened to drive down one of the side streets and all the lots in Zephyrhills are very thin, but they go from street to street. So, the lot is very thin, but it goes— so, because a lot of the garages used to be on the backside.

Yes, yeah.

And the front of the house would be set back up on the road. So, the lots are very long and thin. So, somebody recently bought one of those little ranch homes, those little 1,200-square-foot ranch homes, demoed it, and put 3 tiny homes on the property. So, I'm very interested to see what that looks like and is that gonna be a trend in there? And so, you know, that's, that's one of those things that I think is, you know, and don't get me wrong, we have some massive manufactured home communities in Zephyrhills. I mean, one of them, one of them is the size of a subdivision. I mean, it's, it's just—

They're large.

There's some large ones. Yeah.

Yeah. Like, like 1,000 homes, 1,000 manufactured homes in them.

And they're so close together too.

They are. They're very close together. And then people like it, you know, they like having, you know, their friends to come over and do stuff with and, you know, and 55+, and all that stuff. We probably have 12 of them in Zephyrhills.

We have a lot of entertainment and, you know, functions and that kind of thing to keep them active.

And, but it's amazing to me. And I think, you know, possibly the frequency of storms we've been hit with in the recent years has also caused them to start branching out into the single-family properties because they're all concrete, you know, single story, you know, and they've been standing there since '68. So, you know, Odds of them getting, you know, nailed is, is, is very low. So it's interesting, but Zephyrhills all of a sudden seems to be like the place to be, which makes sense because previous to that it was Wesley Chapel, which bumps right up into Zephyrhills. And Wesley Chapel's now become massively saturated with, you know, everything.

Yes.

I mean, all that stuff. So it's gonna come into Zephyrhills soon. Um, You know, when I look at it, when I moved there 20, 23 years ago, there was only one subdivision which I lived in. The rest of it were all small neighborhoods and things like that. Now there's 12 subdivisions, and so it's going kaboom for sure. But the rentals, it's interesting, they're doing well. The ground— so the ground is too expensive up there now to allow a lot of these parks to exist unless they're monstrous. So the smaller parks are getting sold off. So a lot of those residents are starting to purchase those little tiny ranch houses. And, but then, but like I said, then the downtown becomes a ghost town from May to November.

Yeah. Usually like downtown in our, when I go to our Marco office, usually summertime is, you know, obviously slower. It does look like a ghost town. I mean, there's certain people that come down to Marco Island for the summer, but during season, first of all, getting down there, the traffic is ridiculous. And then it, the streets are just lined with people with their beach chairs and floaties. And riding their bikes and jogging and kind of thing. So it is kind of a cool thing, but there's, you know, that's a very seasonal area and they— most areas like that, that's kind of their— that's their lifeline is during the season time with the restaurants and the bars and the, you know, the entertainment and things like that, the hotels down there. That's when their busiest times are and that's kind of, that's their lifeline for sure. All right, let's move on to the next one. Do you feel that snowbirds, so to speak, would have different buying habits than a year-round resident? And if so, what would— what do those look like?

Cash. That's, that's the buying habit. I mean, that's really, to tell you the truth, they come down, they purchase cash, and it's very— I mean, there's no state tax in Florida, you know. Yes. And in a lot of places where they, they divest themselves, like he was talking about New Jersey, Steve was talking about, you know, Boston, places like that. We're cheap. Yeah, we're still cheap. The legacy people that have lived here all their lives are like, oh my God, we're so expensive. But we're cheap.

Yeah.

And they come down and they, and they go. And, you know, it was, it was tougher before the, you know, the inception of Uber and things like that. But now they've got cash to burn.

Yeah. And I think the proof of that was like during, you know, the pandemic and that kind of thing. I mean, people were coming down to Florida and they were paying $100,000 more than asking price. And we were in bidding wars and, you know, $20,000. That's, you know, those are the people who lived in their home for 30 years. And they were like, I have to get out of here. If I have to sit in a house and look at these same 4 walls, I want to be able to enjoy it. And I want— I mean, pool homes, the reality is, is if you had a pool home on the market, it was gone in like a second.

Well, let's be honest. I think COVID tore the mask off of the fact that we all owned homes.

Mm-hmm.

We didn't live in them.

True.

We came home, had dinner, went to sleep, you know, putted around on the weekends.

Yep.

But we had the option to go somewhere else.

Mm-hmm.

And then when you were in your house for even 2 weeks and you—

You discovered everything you hated about it.

Correct. You know, and, and, and you discover and you're like, okay, well, if this could happen again, I need to make sure that this is a place that I don't have to go off the property. So I want, More than a you know, you know, more than just a small lot. I want land. I want you know. And so they all started coming, and and like like you said, we were we were cheap to them for sure. You know, even what we know what I said, you know about my house. I'm like, oh my god! I can't believe I'm paying this for my house. They thought, oh my god! I can't believe I'm paying this for my house the other direction.

Right.

So if I could add to this topic as well, they're also looking for a bargain. So they're cash buyers, but they're looking for a bargain.

They are.

I think for 2 primary reasons. Number one, they want to hold on to as much money as possible because I always say nobody loves my money more than me.

Right.

The other issue is, you know, they're paying cash. So in their minds, they're like, hey, I'm paying cash, so I want a better deal.

Right.

I can close fast. No hassles, no appraisals. Let's let's you know let's work out a deal.

Yeah, yeah.

All right. Well, we'll get move on a little bit into the agents' perspective of things. What advice would you give to one of your agents on how to prepare for season differently than they would during normal time of year?

You have any special move your marketing? No, your marketing should be all around where those people are coming from. They your marketing needs to go into Boston and. I mean, you know, the funny thing is everybody talks about, you know, New York, Boston, all that. I run into more people from Ohio.

Oh, a ton.

Than I would— I don't—

Down here, I don't know. Football on, right?

I don't know how there are people in Ohio left because every time I'm like, oh, are you native? No, we're from Ohio. No, we're from— and let's be honest, transparency, I grew up in Ohio. So, you know, it's— but there's— but look at where they're coming from. You know, grab the census, look at where people are immigrating to Florida from and move your marketing. Yeah, that's it. You know, if you're not doing that in the second half of the year, like around, you know, September, August, and you're not marketing up north where people are coming from, what are you doing?

Yeah, we have— well, we have the Punta Gorda Airport here locally in Charlotte County. And obviously they're flying from all of those places in straight into, you know, Punta Gorda. And I've had some of my agents previously advertise in their in-flight magazines or in the airport because you want to hit them the minute they hit the ground, you know, so, or they're, you know, they're sitting in the flight. So I mean, that, that's a great place to advertise as well. I think it was costly, but I think it was pretty effective of just getting their name out there and just, you know, advertising and hitting them, like I said, once they hit the ground.

Sure.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, and most people don't realize, like, now, like, this is one of those things that I think agents don't realize now is you can go to somebody like Roku, okay, who has all— like, every TV now comes with a Roku box in it that you buy, okay, for streaming services, right? Most of the people, even if they access Netflix or they access whatever, they're doing it through a Roku box, okay? Roku will let you advertise on these TVs like a commercial for $500 a month. And there's nothing wrong with doing it in Ohio.

Right.

It doesn't say you have to do it in Florida. So you can be hitting these people while they're watching TV. You can go to YouTube. YouTube will let you advertise on YouTube for fairly cheap. And now, how often do people spend on YouTube every day watching cat videos or You know, so yeah, I mean, hopefully they're watching Brokers Uncensored on YouTube. Well, hey, I was going to tell you guys, not that I want to out us to everybody watching this right now, but we actually have subscribers. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeehaw!

Go viral!

So this is, this is no, this is no longer just us, you know, not trying to avoid therapy bills, but, um, but yeah, this is, this is kind of— but yeah, that's the whole thing. Like, the reach is, is amazing now. And hit them where they're coming from.

Yeah. You know, and if I could add, first of all, I hope a lot of consumers are subscribing to us because it's good for them to know what's going on in a realtor's head. Yeah. What's going on in the market. I think this is a great place to get information, you know. And, uh, the, the other thing, if I could piggyback on what you were saying earlier about agents, I tell my agents they need to do everything all the time.

Yes. Oh yeah.

You know, everything all the time. Don't And one of the hardest things for them to do is to market themselves when they're very busy. But I'm always passing out cards. It never, never ends, you know, and you just got to keep doing it and, and the business will come. And if you get too busy, you can hire an agent. You can, you can give it away as a referral.

Right. 100%.

Consistency is key with everything. All right. Well, before we— I'm gonna— I have a little fun segment for the end of this, but before we We end in closing. What advice or tips would you give to someone considering moving to Florida and being a snowbird?

All right, I'll go first. Do your research. Do your research. Understand exactly where the pros and the cons are, because there are lots of pros. There are a few cons, but those cons can be, you know, life-changing. Like homeowners insurance in Florida is not $300 a year. Okay, so understand how that's going to hit your budget. You know, understand that yes, you're living here as a snowbird. You're not going to be here during hurricane season, so you need to harden your house before you leave. Okay, or you're gonna have to fly down to do it if we're getting hit by a storm. So do your research and understand what it is to live here because paradise is not cheap, and it's a great place to be. It's one of the greatest states in the in the fifty states. I love it. You know, I don't ever plan on leaving. But it is different. You know, it's different in, you know, you're going to wake up in the morning and there's an alligator in your front yard. You know, what do I do? You know, so do your research. That's the biggest thing. Do your research. And let's go ahead and just do a shameless plug. Get a great agent to help you because half the time don't even know the questions to ask.

Correct.

And I would say, you know, I mean, at some point we are going to retire and wind up Maybe northern Georgia, somewhere around there.

Okay.

Because we want the seasons when we retire. Right now, we're here in Florida, and we're going to stay here for a while and continue having fun and working. But one of the things that we've been doing is getting to know different areas. So you physically need to go and get to know those areas. I've heard horror story after horror story of people that came down here, and then they realized they didn't like the area. And the reason is because they went on what one of their friends said, or they heard about it, or they came here once on vacation. And it was 20 years ago, so they assumed it was going to be the same. So you have to visit these locations and spend the time, whether you do it in an RV or a hotel or, you know, couch surfing through friends' houses, however you want to do it, you need to do it.

Well, I'm just going to piggyback a little bit on that, Steve, is you're right. Florida is not just one ecosystem.

No.

Everybody looks at the beach, right? But the beach is not Miami. Miami is not St. Augustine, you know, Parrish, you know, going up to the Panhandle.

Or Hudson.

Hudson, right. The Panhandle, you know, all of these places are all different ecosystems. I mean, you want to be— you're a guy from the, you know, from the Midwest. Well, go to Ocala. They have forests. And I mean, you know, all that stuff is up there, you know, horse country. And, you know, there's so many ecosystems in Florida that if you don't go and figure it out, I mean, let's be honest. I mean, we might get in trouble for this, but I ain't moving to Orlando in history of ever.

Okay, because the happiest place on Earth.

I thought The Villages were. The Villages.

Yeah, yeah, let's go to The Villages. Let's go to The Villages. Let's, let's go to The Villages. Yeah, right.

That's a popular place.

Oh, it's very popular.

The Villages.

Yeah, it's a very popular place. But, but the funny part about The Villages too is kind of to that point, there's different villages.

Yes.

In the villages, right? So if you get in the wrong— like, there's villages where the people, the residents of that village, have decided this is a baseball village. Like, we worship baseball. And like, if that baseball ain't your thing, you ain't gonna fit, right? So yeah, do your, do your research, figure it out, travel around. Don't just throw a dart. And because Florida ain't the rest of the United States.

No.

Nope.

Sorry, it just isn't.

Yeah, there he is. All right, you guys ready for some fun?

Yeah.

All right, here we go. Would you rather deal with a seller who always follows you around during showings or a buyer who brings 10 family members to every showing?

Oh my goodness.

Is there a— is there a— both are torturous, but they're like a third option?

No. Are we allowed to drink before we answer?

Okay, um, I'll go with, I'll go with the seller because at least I'm not dealing with 10 people.

Okay.

And 10 opinions.

Uh-huh.

Steve?

Oh geez, I've dealt with both many times. Um, I, I would say the buyer because sometimes, especially with some of your ethnic groups, they have to have the whole family together.

Okay.

Because it's, because it's a fun time.

Make a decision. Yeah, I get it.

But if I can explain to them, look, we need to stay together because Of security reasons, and that's what the seller wants. For the most part, they'll stay together as long as we can keep the kids from going into cabinets and drawers and all that. But I, I think the buyer, especially with an ethnic group where it's understood that it's a family affair.

Okay. All right. Would you rather have to negotiate with the world's toughest lawyer or the seller's nosy neighbor?

Toughest lawyer.

Toughest lawyer because he at least understands contract doctrine.

We're going to have a little contrast in this segment.

Okay, go for it. Look, I— that's fine.

I would, I would say the nosy neighbor because, okay, if you listen to what they're saying, they're going to tell you what you need to say without words.

That's a fair point. I just look at it. I just look at it as the lawyer at least understands Yes. What the contract says, and I don't have to hear 17 stories about my uncle's brother's kid's family that did this, and one time they allowed this in Pennsylvania, and okay, we're not in Pennsylvania, you know. So—

I know, but the neighbor doesn't care about the contract. They care about the emotional aspect of the transaction. They want to be praised, they want to be heard, and they want to feel as though they're in authority on that particular property. So you praise them, you let them do it.

Okay. Okay. Would I think I already know the answer to this one? Would you rather deal with seasonal snowbird traffic forever or hurricane prep every single month?

I'm gonna go with hurricane prep every single month. Really? Yeah.

Oh, I thought I thought it would have been snowbird traffic.

No, my house is prepped once.

Oh, okay.

Like I don't do I don't do prep. Like my house is prepped. Like like I like I'm I'm one of these creatures that. I don't fail at anything more than one time the same way. So like the one year I needed a generator and I didn't have one, I'm like, I'm buying a generator. Then it became, okay, I, I ran 17 extension cords to get all the stuff in the house powered. I'm putting a freaking plug on the side of my house, you know? So yeah, I— my house is always—

We are kind of experts now, I would say. I think we've kind of been, you know, groomed for what works and what doesn't and Yeah, for sure. Steve, what about you?

Well, you know, the seasonal traffic is— and I've got to take the opposite angle because we got to give it some attention, right, Chad?

Sure.

The seasonal traffic, we know the time frames and we know what to expect. And we know, all right, everybody's going to be heading north probably, you know, the first week of April because they want to be home for Easter. Everybody's going to be headed south probably, you know, after Thanksgiving. Uh, you know, so we, we can expect those traffic patterns every year consistently, and you know when to go, when not to go.

Steve, they ruined my freaking Christmas.

Yeah, well, you know, so we got the Grinch here, Becky. What can I say?

You know?

No, I'm with Shad. I got 8 Christmas trees in my house, so yeah.

Hey, stop ruining my Christmas.

I'm trying to get my wife to cut down on some of the Christmas decorations, but she does a great job, but Well, yeah, no, I—

that's, that's my big thing is I look at it and say, well, hurricane season, I'm going to need to prep. You know, if I prep once, I— it's not like water doesn't go bad and all that stuff.

True.

Yeah, you're— yeah, you're kind of— but I get it.

It's easy. Hurricane prep is easy. I took the— I took the tougher route.

Okay.

Yeah. And honestly, like I said, we're kind of pros now, so we know what to do. And it's like, you know, we don't— it doesn't scare us. Yeah, we're just more scared about being without electricity and AC for a week than we are the actual hurricane itself. Correct.

I'm more scared when my wife watches the Weather Channel all day and she's like, you know, freaking out.

Oh dude, look, shout out to Dennis Phillips. That's who I watch, okay? He's got lots of rules, and number 7 is you don't freak out until Dennis Phillips freaks out, okay? And he, he's the one that, that predicted the, the curve of Charlie that went into Punta Gorda. And he's like, don't, you know, because it was coming up the mouth of Tampa Bay forever. And he's like, "Don't don't freak out. It's going into. It's wobbling. I'm telling you, it's going to right hook." And he was warning Punta Gorda. Yeah. And nobody was like, "No, it's going right into Tampa Bay. This is our storm." And whoop! Duck hooked. And bad. You know, it was bad. So yeah, I I just I I don't freak out unless Dennis Phillips freaks out. And and here's the thing, like you said, Becky, to give you kind of some contrast, we've done this enough.

Yeah.

So Dennis Phillips has like three of those twelve-foot skeletons in his yard, and like. He's a huge, like, holiday nut. Okay. When Dennis comes on the, on the TV and says, well, this weekend we're putting up the skeletons, I'm like, hmm, nothing's happening for at least several weeks because he's putting up the skeletons.

That's a good sign.

Yeah. And then when he goes, he goes, well, at the end of this, as soon as Thanksgiving or as soon as Halloween's over, we're decorating for Christmas. 'Cause he does, he raises money for Children's Miracle Network. He does one of those big things where people walk by his house and donate. And his whole house is lit. He's like, as soon as Halloween's over, we're putting up the Christmas decorations. I'm like, ooh.

Yeah, I decorate fall, not so much into Halloween, but Christmas, it's game on.

Well, I decorate the outside of the house as Halloween and the inside is Christmas because of The Nightmare Before Christmas movie.

Oh, okay.

Yep.

Like it. All right. So this is a funny one. So as we know, there's a lot of unique situations and stories that we have— I'm sure we all have had over our years in real estate. So this one's kind of silly. And You know, and you'll probably laugh because it could be totally realistic. Would you rather sell a home with a pet alligator named Fluffy or a parrot that repeats your client's secrets?

Do. All right, Steve, I'm gonna let you go first this time. See if maybe we agree.

I I kind of like the parrot idea. I like secrets.

Oh, see, I'm gonna go alligator. I'm gonna go complete alligator. Because, I mean, let's be honest, that parrot starts throwing secrets out. I have had houses that haven't sold, not because there was anything wrong with the house. It was just because of, you know, something that, that, you know, I don't like the energy in here. I don't like— yeah, I think that parrot could screw me. I think he would, he would go in the backyard for sure at any showings, you know.

Yeah.

And let's be honest, his cage door might get left open. Like, go. Like, the alligator I can coop up. And you feed the alligator a chicken—

You heard about the parrot that kept swearing, and the owner kept saying, look, if you don't stop swearing, I'll throw you in the freezer.

Yeah.

And the parrot kept swearing, so he throws the parrot in the freezer, and then he comes back after a little while and lets the parrot out, and, uh, there was a frozen chicken in there. And the parrot said, What did they get in trouble for?

That's exactly right. Exactly right. But no, I would go with the alligator. The alligator I can handle. Alligator I can deal with.

Parrot?

No.

We've had an African grey in the past, and we know people who've had different types of parrots, and they can be fun.

They can be fun, but they can all— I mean, I think it's weird. Most of the time when you get a parrot like that, you have to like will it to somebody else because they live like 60, 80 years or something.

Well, I'll have to tell you folks a story. Not online, of course. Maybe considered rated R, but it's about a parrot and it's quite funny.

All right, we got one more before we wrap it up. So this one's kind of a fun one, the grand finale. Would you rather have to always sing your listing presentations or rap your negotiation calls?

Jeez, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna go rap. I can't carry a tune for Nothing. Okay. If I sing, it sounds like a cat going through a chipper shredder. Like, I can rap. Like, rapping is just rhyming. I can do that and talk.

Can you give us a little—

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no white boy slim on the side of— we're not doing any of that stuff. Not, not even close.

Wow. Well, I'm a percussionist and a drummer because I don't like to sing. I don't like the sound of my voice and I can't sing. So singing's out. Rapping, I don't know a whole lot about rapping. Uh, I know some songs. Uh, I mean, I hear it, but, uh, I'd have to go with rapping, but I'd have to learn how to do it.

No, you should go with singing because you would—

I can't carry a tune in a bucket.

You would get on the drums, and if you bang the drums loud enough, nobody's gonna hear you singing.

Well, that's a, that's a good idea. Yeah, yeah, I could turn on up the amplifier or something.

That's right. Cool.

Awesome. Well, this was a lot of fun. We thank you all for joining us today. We certainly enjoyed this segment and sharing a lot of information with you. We hope that you'll like and follow our YouTube page. This is Brokers Uncensored, and if you have any topics or information that you would like, feel free to reach out to us, and we'll be seeing you soon. Have a good one.

Thank you.

Awesome. Bye.

Bye now.