Episode 21 - Flipping to Inspecting: The Incredible Journey of Andrew and Paige
Welcome to another insightful episode of The BreakThrough Podcast! I'm your host, Stephen Husted. In this episode, we dive deep into the world of property inspections with our special guests, Andrew Cumpston and Paige Bohrer from Pillar to Post Home Inspectors. They share their journey, the unique aspects of their thorough property inspection process, and valuable insights into managing and scaling their business. Whether you're a homeowner, real estate agent, or an aspiring entrepreneur, this episode is packed with practical tips and inspiring stories.
Takeaway 1: The Importance of Thorough Property Inspections They emphasize the value of comprehensive inspections, highlighting how it can save homeowners from future headaches and costly repairs. Their franchise model with Pillar to Post ensures a standardized, high-quality inspection process across all properties.
Takeaway 2: Leveraging Franchise Benefits for Business Growth Paige and Andrew discuss the advantages of choosing a franchise like Pillar to Post, including access to proven business models, established branding, and extensive support systems. They share their journey of signing up for the franchise just before COVID-19 and how they navigated the challenges of starting a business during a global pandemic.
Takeaway 3: Expanding and Systemizing for Success Paige and Andrew talk about their plans for business expansion, including focusing on environmental inspections and hiring more team members to handle specific tasks. They discuss the importance of continuous learning and improvement, sharing how they plan to adopt new marketing strategies and implement systems to streamline their operations.
Thank you for joining us in this enriching discussion with Andrew Cumpston and Paige Bohrer from Pillar to Post Home Inspectors. We hope you found their journey and insights as inspiring as we did. If you enjoyed this episode and want to stay updated on our latest content, subscribe to The BreakThrough Podcast and share it with others who might benefit.
TRANSCRIPT
∎ Teaser / Highlighted Clip
[Andrew and Paige] (0:00 - 0:57)
Now it was just, we had three claims on one of our properties because, you know, two from the downed trees near the big storm last January, and then one a hot water heater at birth in one of the rental units. And so the, you know, we got like a 90-day cancellation notice in August, and then it was up in December last month. And so we had to install the, what is it, whole home water shutoff system.
So that's like what all the insurance carriers are requiring now. So yeah, I mean, it was a fun process, you know, trying to get it done during the holidays and like you've got deadlines and you've already got things planned. So, you know, just made life a little bit more interesting, throw a wrench in it sometimes.
And then to top it all off, the company that we were going through put the wrong address on. So they ended up like, nope, sorry, can't do it. And it was like two days before we needed to get it done.
∎ Podcast Intro:
[Stephen Husted] (0:58 - 3:49)
Welcome to The Breakthrough with Stephen Husted, the show that takes you behind the scenes with successful entrepreneurs, real estate investors, and other movers and shakers in the business world. In each episode, we'll sit down with our guests to explore their personal and professional journeys, including the challenges they faced, the breakthrough moments that propelled them to success, and the strategies and the tactics they used to get there. Get inspired by new ideas and strategies and get to know our guests on a deeper level.
Join us for candid conversations, powerful insights, and plenty of breakthrough moments. Please help us grow by subscribing and sharing the podcast. And welcome to the show.
∎ Guest Introduction:
Welcome back to The Breakthrough with Stephen Husted. Today we're joined by Andrew Cupson and Pageboro from Pillar to Post, a top property inspection company in Santa Cruz. Andrew and Page bring unmatched quality, precision, professionalism to every inspection.
They've redefined what it means to inspect a property, ensuring that buyers, sellers, and the real estate professionals receive detailed and accurate information. We'll hear about their journey from flipping houses in Sacramento to launching their business right before COVID and how they thrived despite the challenges. Plus, they have some wild stories like houses overtaken by nature and an underground grow operation.
We'll also learn why pre-listing inspections are crucial and how maintaining your home is as important as maintaining your car and what sets Pillar to Post apart with its rigorous training and ethical standards. Don't miss this episode. It's packed with practical tips and fascinating stories. Stay tuned. today.
∎ Podcast Proper:
And two minutes before we jumped on, I just got word that we closed.
It's kind of a full circle moment to have you guys on too. So that's great. It was interesting hiring you guys because you guys do a whole different type of property inspection.
It's way more thorough than I've been through in the past. How did you guys, tell me your backgrounds first and foremost, before you set up the property inspection company.
[Andrew and Paige] (3:50 - 4:39)
I grew up in a family construction company. I've been doing this since I was knee high, good wave. My dad was babyfooting me on the job site.
I was swinging hammers. I was the little one on the job site, but all the terrible jobs of, hey, you're little. Can you sit?
I need you to do this. Cut this electrical for me. So I was doing all that when I was little.
I just figured that going into inspection, it was going to save my back in the long run, my hearing. We ended up getting into some slight investments up in Sacramento area and we flipped some houses. We got some for rentals and it was kind of a natural transition.
And I started looking at, or sorry, we started looking at home inspection when we were purchasing those properties. And it was kind of like, you know what, that might be a way to go.
[Stephen Husted] (4:40 - 4:42)
Yeah. How did you set up your business model?
[Andrew and Paige] (4:43 - 5:14)
So Pillar to Post is a franchise. And so we had actually used them on our property inspections that we had done. So it was kind of like a natural transition.
So we had bought the property and kind of talked to the recruiting company or the recruiting department for like two years. But then when we finally decided to pull the trigger, it was like two weeks before COVID. So we had signed all of our franchise documents and all that.
And he was supposed to go to training like two weeks later. And then you know what happened.
[Stephen Husted] (5:15 - 5:26)
Oh yeah. The whole world shifted there for a minute there. Like the world was going to end during that, but then little did we know, you're going to be the busiest home inspector who's around.
[Andrew and Paige] (5:26 - 6:00)
Yeah. Yeah. So that delayed our opening about five months.
Oh really? That was, I mean, going with Pillar to Post was really like a no-brainer for us. And they had a really good model we liked working with them.
And we felt really comfortable with their business. So I didn't know they were a franchise. Yeah.
Largest home in North America. They have Canadian franchisees as well. They're all over East Coast, West Coast.
We're just kind of the only one in the area.
[Stephen Husted] (6:02 - 6:07)
Do they limit the amount that can franchise into it?
[Andrew and Paige] (6:07 - 6:08)
They do.
[Stephen Husted] (6:08 - 6:08)
In the location?
[Andrew and Paige] (6:08 - 6:28)
Our territory is technically Monterey, Santa Cruz, and San Benito counties. And so within that area, you have to avoid somebody else coming in. That's another Pillar to Post.
You have to have a certain percentage of the share of market. I believe it's like 25% to 30%. And we're currently at about 18% to 20% depending on the month.
[Stephen Husted] (6:29 - 6:35)
Interesting. Do you know if they're in Silicon Valley, like Santa Clara County at this point?
[Andrew and Paige] (6:35 - 6:58)
We were pretty much the closest one. There's a gentleman in North Bay. He does a venture down up in Napa.
There's another gentleman as far as the east of Fresno, there's one. And then down south by Slow, there's another one. We're kind of the only one generally in this area.
Are you looking to open a territory? I was going to say that's interesting.
[Stephen Husted] (7:00 - 7:13)
So walk me through the process of going through a franchise. I'm not aware of that. I've never heard that as far as property inspection companies, but can you walk me through that?
[Andrew and Paige] (7:14 - 8:11)
Yeah. I mean, it first starts with a conversation with recruitment, right? I mean, they say it's pretty tough to get a franchise because they want to make sure that you're successful.
Same thing as McDonald's, they want to make sure that you're not cannibalizing your own market with being too close to another one. So we spent the two years speaking with the recruitment company, and then they asked you to go speak with other Pillary Post owners across the United States. So we spoke to people on the East Coast, we spoke to people in Canada.
And so yeah, that's the start of it. And then they start getting a little bit closer, like, oh, do you want to read the disclosure documents? And so it just keeps going.
And then you get to the point where it's like, all right, are you ready to sign the contract? And we did. We're very happy we did.
Yeah, we definitely did the due diligence on our end, made a lot of phone calls, talked with a lot of other franchisees, made sure it was the right call. And ultimately, we've been loving doing it.
[Stephen Husted] (8:13 - 8:29)
What made you go the route of going into a franchise compared to just doing it on your own? What did you see when you went through the franchise? Did it seem like it was an easier, like, they had the infrastructure in place, the marketing that you can just kind of, okay.
[Andrew and Paige] (8:30 - 8:59)
Yeah, I mean, having all that in place is a much, you get to jump start a lot quicker, so you're not making as many mistakes as you would if you're just opening your own. So they have a proven business model. They're part of a lot of organizations that we're currently a part of now.
I mean, they really just made it so we save a bunch of years just making mistakes. And so we were just able to hit the ground running with our marketing and our inspections and I mean, with the service we provide.
[Stephen Husted] (9:00 - 9:02)
Yeah, that's really cool.
[Andrew and Paige] (9:02 - 9:35)
I like the name too. Yeah, essentially, I'd say it cut off a couple years of just us making, don't get me wrong, I love making mistakes. That's how we learn, get better, keep, you know, progressing.
But it really allowed us to hit the ground running on it. And we'll just pull the software. I mean, the software is there, the customer management, like the relationship, like people know the name Pillar to Coast.
You've been, you know, if you go to the California Association of Reelers, if you go to NAR, if you go to WCR, if you go to any of those events, like for the most part, you know, we've heard of Pillar to Coast at some point.
[Stephen Husted] (9:37 - 9:56)
And I had it. That's an interesting thing. Well, I know.
And that's, you know, that's what, and it's, yeah, I mean, it's interesting because I reached out to an agent friend that I know on the coast and said, hey, who do you use for property inspections? And she gave me you guys as contact.
[Andrew and Paige] (9:56 - 9:57)
Oh, really?
[Stephen Husted] (9:57 - 10:56)
Who was it? Or is it a- Bree. Bree Still.
Well, you know Bree? Yeah. Bree's awesome.
Yeah. We, we did a transaction together last year around this time. Or no, it wasn't around this time.
May, last May, we did a transaction together. So every time that I have some kind of interesting question for her on the coast, you know, I just reach out to her. She's super awesome.
Yeah, very nice. Again, full circle. And that was the thing that I noticed too, when I got the report, I don't know, I think it was like, it was the technology part of it.
Like this, how things came over. I'm used to more old school. How things are done.
So, you know, when I got everything, I was like, oh yeah, this, this company is really cool. So I was curious about how you guys, you know, how you ran all the software and got the reports over to the clients. So at this point, how, how many inspections are you guys doing on a weekly basis on properties?
[Andrew and Paige] (10:56 - 11:55)
On a weekly basis, we're doing about 18 to 22, just depending on the week. And that could be a combination of like, like a mold test by itself, a full property inspection. It could be a walk-in talk.
It could be a re-inspection. So about 18 to 22, just kind of depending on the week. Yeah, it definitely depends.
Obviously condos can go much quicker than let's say a 8,000 square foot, you know, mansion. The different factors, obviously the mansion, we're going to be there a lot longer on, you know, newer system, older systems. It just kind of, you never know what you're getting into in the job with this job, which is part of the fun of it.
You know, we're, we can say we inspected the oldest privately owned home in Monterey County, 210 years old. We did that last year and it was definitely an interesting, fun inspection for it.
[Stephen Husted] (11:56 - 12:03)
Whoa. So tell me a little bit about this house. It's crazy.
200 years old. What condition was the house in?
[Andrew and Paige] (12:03 - 12:42)
It was actually a pretty good condition. You know, it was used as an event space, weddings and things, beautiful, gorgeous property. Retreat.
You know, yeah, business retreats. There was three structures on the property, old barn. You know, it was an old Adobe.
So, you know, a little research needed to be done on my end with it to help understand it. But you know, it was, it was a great property. Beautiful.
How long did it take you guys to do that inspection? I had, it was me and one of my other guys. I want to say we were there for probably about four and a half hours or so.
Like I said, there's three structures. So we were there for a little time.
[Stephen Husted] (12:43 - 12:45)
How many are within the team?
[Andrew and Paige] (12:46 - 13:29)
So there's four of us. I don't do any inspections. I'll do things like water testing or that.
That's pretty much my bulk of the inspections. I'll do that. That's simple enough for me.
But then there's Andrew, does all the inspections along with Daniel. She's selling herself. She handles all the marketing, content stuff and basic phone calls.
But four of us total. And then Andrew's daughter comes in, works with us. We call her the intern.
So on the weekends or, you know, when she's out on school, school break for the summer, she comes on like broker's tour with me. She'll come to events with me. She loves it.
So.
[Stephen Husted] (13:30 - 13:38)
So what do you guys do for, as far as marketing, you said broker's tour. So what are you doing to get your name out there and market yourself? Like what are those avenues look like for you?
[Andrew and Paige] (13:39 - 14:24)
So we're in, I want to say like seven or eight different organizations. So we go to a ton of events. We sponsor a lot of events.
Always, yeah, broker's tour. I'm out three days a week at least doing that. You know, it's just always about being in front of people.
The more they see you, the more they remember you, the more they know you. Instagram is huge for us as well. All the marketing, I mean, Andrew and Chris and Daniel, they send me videos and it's a good way for people to know them as well.
Because I mean, they see them at the inspections. I see them out and, you know, at an event or something like that. So it's just a good balance.
And the marketing on Instagram really just like buttons it all up. So.
[Stephen Husted] (14:25 - 14:58)
I bet you it'd be intriguing. I was thinking about this earlier on, you know, I'm following a guy that is a plumber. You know, you would think it's not the sexiest thing is plumbing, but the way that he walks through a house and talks about what he's going and taking care of and what he found and how he solved it.
It's almost as intriguing as there's another gentleman that I that I see on YouTube where he goes and he knocks on the door of a house that has the yard is overgrown.
[Andrew and Paige] (14:58 - 14:58)
Oh, yes.
[Stephen Husted] (14:59 - 15:00)
Have you seen that guy?
[Andrew and Paige] (15:01 - 15:01)
Yeah.
[Stephen Husted] (15:01 - 15:04)
I absolutely love watching that guy's videos.
[Andrew and Paige] (15:05 - 15:05)
Yeah.
[Stephen Husted] (15:05 - 15:23)
It's just the cool. I don't know. There's something like relaxing and satisfying watching the guy clean up the yard in real time.
And it's set up right. And you see like all the cuts in it. And then he pressure washes the sidewalk.
I don't know what it is, but I'm just super intrigued on this.
[Andrew and Paige] (15:23 - 15:47)
So, yeah, it's also kind of, in my opinion, a little relaxing when you see things like that. It was just the process going by. I mean, kind of like you're paying attention, but halfway zoned out.
Yeah. Understanding it, too. And it's definitely, you know, fun to watch.
I've seen those two. They're good. What do you plumbers?
We've got a good one that you can watch. After Hours Plumbing and Drain, those guys, you would like to watch their videos too.
[Stephen Husted] (15:48 - 15:50)
Really? Oh, do they do some pretty insane videos?
[Andrew and Paige] (15:51 - 15:54)
Yeah, I think they do. I think you would like them. You should check them out.
Okay.
[Stephen Husted] (15:55 - 16:13)
Are you guys videoing when you're doing your art? Wait, I guess here's a better thing. Are you allowed to do videos of the property inspections when you're walking through to tell the audience or tell, you know, who's following you on social media, like what you're doing and what you're looking for?
Man, that seems to be, that would be super intriguing.
[Andrew and Paige] (16:15 - 17:42)
So, we don't necessarily go to that extent of it. I try to, I like to keep it kind of informational of like, if I'm calling out why kick out flashing is important on a roof, I'm generally just focused on that section of the roof. If I'm talking about a water heater, them in the garage, I'm like, sometimes, I've never had an issue, but sometimes people don't their stuff out there.
You can obviously, yeah, read the situation. Sometimes we're representing a fire, the house ends up falling through. So, like, I'm not trying to put that house on blast for whatever reason, so to speak, if there were issues.
Absolutely. So, I just kind of focus on what I'm trying to talk about. And then, you know, if there's certain really cool, you know, like I said, the oldest home in privately owned home in Monterey County, you know, everybody was okay with me putting that out there.
The lifting, we were representing the lifting agent on that one in the tellers and he was okay with it. So, yeah, we kind of ask, we feel the situation, we know when not to. Yeah.
Right. Well, we're not calling out the property address ever. Like, I'm sure like you've seen other home inspectors, like they take a picture of the front of the house and they're like, inspected, right?
We don't do that. We don't call out an agent unless they wanted to do that. But we are strictly just like, we'll hold some of the videos for like months so you could never really know which house we're referring to and we're talking about.
[Stephen Husted] (17:43 - 19:12)
I do the same thing. If I have an issue during a transaction or on a property, I'll typically, I'll put it in stories on Instagram. I'll talk about certain things and I won't really say what property, I'll just kind of briefly and be vague about it.
But for instance, I've been waiting to make a video on the Broadway transaction on staging. Because we were really adamant of staging the property and the seller said that she was going to take care of herself, even though we were going to even pay for it. She did herself and it wasn't staged good.
And you know that it, the rooms didn't have beds in it. Some of them, you know, the back master bedroom, you know, had a day bed. And so it was funny.
We started doing the open houses and buyers would walk through and they go, how many bedrooms are in here? And then they'd be in the back room going, can I do a queen or a full, like what can go back here? And I just had to like, and at that point I had measured the room out and figure out the beds myself just so that I could tell the buyers what they could do, but they can't visualize it.
[Andrew and Paige] (19:12 - 19:12)
Yeah.
[Stephen Husted] (19:13 - 19:47)
Yeah. So, you know what I mean? Like they just can't.
And so that was a, I was just holding off, but today I'm going up to Santa Cruz doing the key exchange. I'm going to make that last video. There you go.
I'm just going to say, and I think that it's important to look, I think it's very important to be very transparent, good or bad on transactions uh, because it's very easy to just shoot something on Instagram or Facebook and say, just listed now it's pending and then just sold.
[Andrew and Paige] (19:47 - 19:48)
Yeah.
[Stephen Husted] (19:48 - 20:19)
But there is so much to a transaction that I think buyers and sellers want to know whether it's good or bad because the bad, the bad scenarios they want to learn from that. Oh, I really do need to stage my house. This is why, because I think that not having it staged properly, one didn't get as many people in the door because they didn't show that it didn't show good online.
And once they got in the door, they couldn't visualize anything. They didn't even know where their TV could go.
[Andrew and Paige] (20:19 - 20:19)
Yeah.
[Stephen Husted] (20:19 - 20:23)
And we were on the market. That was the longest, uh, days on markets I've ever gone through.
[Andrew and Paige] (20:24 - 20:25)
My whole career. You've ever gone through? Wow.
[Stephen Husted] (20:26 - 20:26)
Yep. Yeah.
[Andrew and Paige] (20:27 - 20:28)
Are you sure you worked the part?
[Stephen Husted] (20:30 - 21:00)
No, no. Well, that's funny. No, even the, but well, that's funny.
You bring that up. The property inspection was, was good. That was a pretty damn clean.
That was a clean, a clean property. Um, for the most part. So no, I think I really do truly think it was a combination of maybe the busy street and, and the staging.
So I'm going to talk about it and put it out there so that a seller could learn, you know, that, you know, it's wise to stage your house. So.
[Andrew and Paige] (21:01 - 21:43)
Yeah, no, and that's good to share all that stuff that's in between, because I mean, anybody that had a transaction in their life knows that nothing goes the way that you think it's going to go. I mean, we've never had anything go easy on any of our transactions. And I mean, if I would have had an Instagram when we were doing that, I would definitely be sharing it.
So going forward, I definitely will be because I like to be a cautionary tale for people. So, I mean, I recently, we recently had our homeowners insurance get canceled on one of our properties. And that was like, it turned into a really good, like informational theory for our Instagram.
And so we just, you know, we like to share all information besides just home inspection tips. Right. So.
[Stephen Husted] (21:43 - 21:44)
Yeah, that's cool.
[Andrew and Paige] (21:45 - 21:45)
Yeah.
[Stephen Husted] (21:46 - 21:56)
So what, so let's hear about this cancellation of, uh, insurance. So California, were you in the mounds or are you close to, where were you?
[Andrew and Paige] (21:56 - 23:06)
No, you would think that it was like high fire zone or mountains or something like that. No, it was just, um, we had three claims on one of our properties because, you know, two from the downed trees, uh, you know, the big storm last January. Um, and then one, a hot water heater at birth and one of the rental units.
And so the, you know, we got like a, a 90 day cancellation notice in August. And then it was up in December last, last month. And so we had to install the, what was it?
The whole home water shutoff system. So that's like what all the insurance carriers are, are, um, requiring now. So, yeah, I mean, it was a fun process, you know, trying to get it done during the holidays and like you've got deadlines and you've already got things planned.
So, you know, make life a little bit more interesting, throw a wrench in it sometimes. So. And then to top it all off, the company that we were going through put the wrong address on.
So they ended up like, Nope, sorry, can't do it. And it was like two days before we needed to get it done. Scrambling to find.
Yeah. It was a good experience. So yeah, we shared that, that whole debacle on the Instagram.
So.
[Stephen Husted] (23:07 - 23:09)
Yeah. Were people commenting on it?
[Andrew and Paige] (23:09 - 23:16)
Oh yeah. I mean, it's good. It's good information because if you haven't been through it yet and you're in real estate, it will happen to you.
So.
[Stephen Husted] (23:17 - 24:03)
That is interesting enough. Back in like 2020, late 2019, you know, I started following people in the Midwest that were agents that were, you know, doing investment properties and that's kind of how I got into investing out of state. And a lot of it was just based on their learning lessons and all the good, the bad, the ugly and watching that.
And it was so intriguing that finally you can get some real life information, good or bad. And I think that's the most important part. I mean, I know that if you have investment properties, you could make a ton of content just based on all the things you go through, right?
Yeah. The insurance, what you had to go through, the deadline, the issues.
[Andrew and Paige] (24:03 - 24:03)
Yeah.
[Stephen Husted] (24:04 - 24:12)
And you guys are in property inspectors. And so you guys are more versed on understanding this and it still can be a complicated puzzle. Don't you think?
Don't you agree?
[Andrew and Paige] (24:13 - 24:20)
Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean, nothing's ever easy. It was easy and I'll be doing it, right?
So.
[Stephen Husted] (24:20 - 24:23)
They definitely glamorize it online, don't they?
[Andrew and Paige] (24:23 - 25:01)
If you just listen to somebody and they don't share their fail, fail. Yeah. A hundred percent.
Like everybody's going to fail. You get back up, you try again, you keep doing it, keep pushing forward, learn from it. A lot of the videos on YouTube, podcasts, books, whatnot, whatever I'm consuming, they're constantly saying, especially I'm doing this so you can learn from my mistakes and keep pushing forward.
And they'll share their big fails, their little fails, whatever. And if you just think it's all roses and nobody shares that, whether it's gym culture, investment culture, whatever, people fail.
[Stephen Husted] (25:01 - 25:26)
Get up, keep going. 100%. I'm with you on that.
I try to limit who I follow. I try to make sure that I feel like they're giving me a good balance of what's truly going on behind the scenes because it's definitely not rosy with investment properties. How many do you guys have?
[Andrew and Paige] (25:26 - 25:47)
We have a triplet right now. We're working on something else. Hoping for more in 2024.
We're definitely not big time. We're a little time going for it. But yeah, we're trying to always keep the ball rolling, have our fingers in different pots, so to speak, where a bunch of heads, however you want to look at it.
[Stephen Husted] (25:47 - 25:53)
Yeah. Are you guys only in California or are you out of state? Where are you investing?
For right now, only in California.
[Andrew and Paige] (25:54 - 26:12)
One of my goals is to get out of state, where it could be a fun vacation for us. Airbnb the rest of the time in Key West or whatever. That's down the road, though.
Yeah, I think I was listening to one of your episodes. Are you investing in Missouri?
[Stephen Husted] (26:13 - 26:36)
I am. Yeah, that's one of the states that we're in. We're in Kansas City.
Well, throughout Missouri, Detroit, my problem child, and Tennessee. We have an Airbnb. We got a cabin out in the Smokies.
Nice.
[Andrew and Paige] (26:36 - 26:42)
Very cool. That sounds diverse. It looks like you can take a couple trips, business trips.
[Stephen Husted] (26:42 - 27:09)
Yeah. We go out there a couple times a year and look at the cabin, make repairs, make adjustments. I haven't personally gone out there and just enjoyed it, where I just showed up and relaxed for a week.
We have a laundry list. The running joke is, let me see how many times I'm going to go to Lowell's and Home Depot in three days. It's so funny.
[Andrew and Paige] (27:10 - 27:23)
Kate does the same thing when I'm doing repairs around the house. She's like, you just went. Why do you need to go again?
I'd be like, because now I need this other thing that I didn't think I needed. It snowballs.
[Stephen Husted] (27:24 - 28:23)
The last time I went out in September, we got the bright idea that we're going to stage the house for Thanksgiving and Christmas and take photos. Of course, my ADHD kicks in and I'm at this hobby lobby place, picking out Christmas decor and all this other stuff. I'm just on overload, buying all this stuff and bringing it back.
We're setting up the Christmas tree and taking photos. You look like you went overboard. I seriously did.
I got it back and I'm like, oh gosh, there's so many bags of stuff. At the end of the day, we decorated the whole house, took the photos. We have a personal decorator that comes in before the holidays and she sets up the Thanksgiving decor, takes it down, comes back in for Christmas, sets up the trees, sets up everything else, takes it down for us.
[Andrew and Paige] (28:23 - 28:41)
Yeah, that's nice. We went to the Green Canyon for Christmas and they had done the decorating like you're talking about. I've never seen an Airbnb do that.
I don't know if that's a new super host thing that people are doing. We travel a lot on the holidays, but I've never seen anyone do that. It was very nice.
[Stephen Husted] (28:42 - 29:30)
Yeah, I see it in some markets, but definitely in the Smokies for Thanksgiving and Christmas, they're coming there for that type of vibe. Downtown like Gatlinburg is very Christmassy, pretty much all year round, it seems like. They have a complete Christmas store that's open all year round.
We just decorated it out. Interesting enough, if you ever decide to look in the Florida market, the short-term shop, Avery and Carl are definitely your go-to. If you want to join their Facebook group, I can definitely connect you guys because they have boots on the ground, agents, inspectors, the whole nine yards.
[Andrew and Paige] (29:30 - 29:40)
Well, yeah, we would love to. We're actually leaving for Florida tomorrow, so if we see something, we might be able to go see it while we're there. We're going to be there for two weeks.
[Stephen Husted] (29:40 - 29:41)
Yeah, what part of Florida are you going?
[Andrew and Paige] (29:42 - 29:55)
We have a brand conference starting, oh my God, when is it there? Third Thursday, so we're going to Jacksonville. It's actually at the Sawgrass.
I don't know if you're a golfer. Then we're going to Daytona and QF, so we're going to be all over the place.
[Stephen Husted] (29:56 - 30:01)
Great. Yeah, that's a little business- All business. Pleasure write-off.
[Andrew and Paige] (30:02 - 30:02)
All business.
[Stephen Husted] (30:02 - 30:03)
All business.
[Andrew and Paige] (30:05 - 31:13)
That's one thing with me and Paige is it doesn't stop, honestly. We're always talking a good hour, two, three a day of work, whether it's actually inspecting or maybe the plans in the future. Well, we've got a brand conference, and then we're taking all the goals that we've written down, and we're hammering all of that out.
We don't really start our goals until after brand conference, and we get back in February, so that's when we really start changing things for the new year. One good thing about brand conference, we're essentially all the franchisees, or the majority of the franchisees are all together, and we can share ideas, try to learn from them, what's working for them, could we implement, making the relationships. I've got a group of guys that I text.
We'll ask each other questions, pit ball ideas. Paige is the same way, so usually get home at night, six, seven, eight o'clock at night. Oh, hey, what do you think about this?
Then we'll start the conversation about that too.
[Stephen Husted] (31:13 - 31:36)
We're always just essentially what's next. Do you feel like you're ever going to a different market? Do you think you'll scale into another market, or do you feel like sticking to where you guys are at right now, it just makes more sense, and it's easier to concentrate on just one area, or areas?
You're on the coast for the most part.
[Andrew and Paige] (31:36 - 32:33)
Yeah, we're on the coast. We go into Santa Clara, but we live in B5, which is right in Monterey, so within our territory, we can drive for up to two hours and still be in our territory. For us, we're in San Jose, it's like an hour, so why wouldn't we work in San Jose?
Expanding potentially, but we want to really get to a higher share of market in the territory that we're currently in, so maybe at year five. Yeah, that's something we widely talked about, but we're in agreement that it's always going forward. There's not we're trying to stall and think complacent.
It's what can we do to keep growth going, get better, whether it's implementing systems and processes, or just going up to expand. I think it is a natural transition that down the road, it'll happen, but as of right now, we don't have any immediate plan. Yeah.
[Stephen Husted] (32:34 - 32:41)
This kind of jogged a question. Have you guys been business owners before? Is this your first business that you've owned?
[Andrew and Paige] (32:41 - 32:41)
Yeah.
[Stephen Husted] (32:42 - 32:43)
It is?
[Andrew and Paige] (32:43 - 32:50)
Yeah. I've always worked for somebody else. I mean, you've worked for other people, so yeah, first business.
[Stephen Husted] (32:51 - 33:10)
It's interesting, right? I mean- It's much different. Much different.
Much different than the W2. I like it. It's like a puzzle, right?
You always feel, no matter how far you're moving forward, you always feel like you're behind the eight ball.
[Andrew and Paige] (33:10 - 34:45)
Oh my God. Yes. Absolutely.
I mean- Right? Isn't that the truth? Some of my friends will say, Paige, if you just stop and look at what you've done for the business, like the two of us, you would be amazed because every single day, you're in the trenches.
It seems like you're doing the same thing, but you don't really realize the growth until you get there. So, I mean, I started doing a daily business journal, right? Like, what did I do today?
Successes, things like that. Maybe not some successes, things that piss me off. Things go back in a year, and I'd be like, oh, look, that sucks, but everything's good now.
On my end, I've been saying a lot lately to Paige, especially that success leaves clues. What are the other people doing that are bigger than me that I can do as well? And I'm just trying to learn from it because we briefly touched on it, with all the fails, the mistake people make.
I mean, I want to learn from those too. That's one of the reasons why we watch some of those videos, but it's also, what can I do better? What are they doing that I can implement?
And so, one of the goals this year, we kind of set the goal last year, but I feel like this year, we're actually going to be sticking to it, is I want to go tour a couple shops, some of the bigger guys that have ten inspectors underneath them. What's their training process like? What are they doing that I can do?
And that's one of the goals is I think we're going to stick with this year, get out there, see what other people are doing, learn from it.
[Stephen Husted] (34:46 - 34:50)
Do you guys read books or do audiobooks?
[Andrew and Paige] (34:50 - 35:25)
He's the big book. I mean, I read, but just not the self-improvement stuff. I haven't gotten there yet.
And so, yeah, exactly what you just said, owning a business is a little different. And that's when I started diving into the self-development business first, personal, and then probably fatherhood third. I feel like they all do kind of go hand in hand.
But yeah, I read... Honestly, it's mainly audible audiobooks because I can have a five-minute drive to my inspection or I can have an hour, hour and a half, depending on traffic.
[Stephen Husted] (35:26 - 35:27)
And that's just like one way.
[Andrew and Paige] (35:27 - 35:59)
Yeah, one way. So it's like, I've not... Whether learning from podcasts or the audiobook or however I'm consuming it, I'm definitely dived into it, the self-development journey and figure out how...
Yeah, you did that a lot of times. That was big for you. Yeah.
And I mean, back at you, you're big into reading the books, right? You're leaping into it. I just want to ask you, what is probably the best book you've read last year that helped shape it?
[Stephen Husted] (36:01 - 36:05)
Traction, Profit First, Unfuck Yourself.
[Andrew and Paige] (36:06 - 36:15)
What's the name? Traction and Profit First, those are... I've actually got them on my audible and I'm...
Do you? Yeah.
[Stephen Husted] (36:16 - 36:16)
I... Oh, that's great.
[Andrew and Paige] (36:17 - 36:21)
I went and got them and I'm about to finish up The Richest Man in Babylon right now.
[Stephen Husted] (36:22 - 36:22)
Oh, cool.
[Andrew and Paige] (36:23 - 36:30)
I think I've got like 30 minutes, 45 minutes left on it. And then either Traction or Profit First is the next one I'm going.
[Stephen Husted] (36:31 - 37:05)
Traction is definitely... When you're having your sights on that bigger property inspection company that has 10 and you just... So you just said, how are they doing that?
How they got 10 in there? It's not who, it's not how, it's who. Who can you hire, outsource, whether it's some VAs?
I think VAs can really make your business flourish really fast.
[Andrew and Paige] (37:05 - 37:12)
It's funny you say that. I just replied to an email today about a virtual assistant. I was like, maybe we'll get this for 2024.
[Stephen Husted] (37:13 - 38:21)
Absolutely. I would highly suggest it, honestly. And it will take off some things off your plate.
And you know what's really cool? I try not to talk about VAs on the podcast a lot because it's a big part of being an entrepreneur, especially when you're wanting to scale. You can't do it all yourself.
You have all these ideas and you want to put all these systems in place, but you are out doing the day to day. And so what you want to do is get people behind you that can... You're basically making more of you and they're taking on roles that they're really good at and you can let them focus, hyper-focus on one certain task.
And you will be amazed if you do this in the beginning of the year, and we're in January, so this is the best time to start it. You will be blown away by the end of the year of what you've put in place, whether it's how to systemize your business, whatever it is, you just find somebody to do it and just let them go to town. I'd highly suggest a VA.
[Andrew and Paige] (38:21 - 39:41)
As a business owner, and we're somewhat small, we're essentially small, wearing so many different hats as the business owner, I'm kind of lead inspector, trainer, inspector myself, so I've got so many different hats and trying to focus everything. And then it's like I'm realizing I need to transition and pivot so where I can focus, hire people to take some of that off my plate and focus on other things I need to focus on as a business owner, vice versa on her end. And that's just one of the things where I'm coming to realize is you have to let the hustler die pretty much.
Any business owner that goes into it, nobody's going to work harder than me. I'm going to be the best. I'm going to do this.
I'm going to do that. It's not realistic. You can't grow like, yeah, I'm the hustler and I've always done it.
But essentially this year, it's like, okay, I got to let the hustler die and bring in the other people. And we've had the conversation before where like, you know, well, if you're busy, you're a baby, you're the one doing it. Well, okay, if you can do 100% of everything you're doing, but you need to bring in, you know, people underneath you hire, and they might only give 80%, but you hire five of them.
That's still a lot more percentage than 100 you can take on. So it's really coming in 450% versus your 100. So that's one thing that I'm focusing on this year.
I know for sure.
[Stephen Husted] (39:41 - 39:52)
You're on the right path. You're thinking of just exactly how you should be thinking and you're at that moment, right where you need to be. Like this is just the natural progression too.
[Andrew and Paige] (39:52 - 39:52)
Yeah.
[Stephen Husted] (39:54 - 41:02)
It's good to hear. I like hearing this. I had the burnout a couple of years ago because I thought I could do it all.
And I wasn't. And you know what it really was doing? It was setting me back actually, because I was so stressed out all the time, bouncing around through the day, doing all kinds of different things.
And I'm still, I have a full-time VA, and then I have a almost full-time social media manager as well. And then I have a bunch of editors and, you know, other people on my team. And it's still overwhelming.
And now I'm at that point where I want to put team members in just to do one certain task all day. Like this is all they do. You know, I'm working on that for our short-term rental and the Smokies.
It's easy to do, but I want to systemize that. You know, we have a lot of properties and there's a lot of back and forth. There's just some things that really need my attention, but I'm trying to, you know, be better with time.
[Andrew and Paige] (41:03 - 41:05)
Time management is top.
[Stephen Husted] (41:05 - 41:56)
Time management is the one thing. This is my biggest goal for this year is getting up earlier, having some time to myself in the morning and not getting up and then all of a sudden going, oh, okay. I got a podcast at 10.
What am I going to talk about? Oh, I got to drive to Santa Cruz. I got to do, you know, I need that one hour, hour and a half to myself, not to think about that, not to build up any anxiety and then set that day up.
And, you know, I think that when you're an entrepreneur, you're always learning. You're always trying to figure out better ways for your business. And that's the key because the minute you stop doing that, you're kind of, you're done.
You're done. You're not into it anymore, whatever that means.
[Andrew and Paige] (41:57 - 42:03)
So you had burnout a couple of years ago and then what brought you back?
[Stephen Husted] (42:03 - 42:05)
I finally hired a VA.
[Andrew and Paige] (42:06 - 42:06)
Hiring the VA.
[Stephen Husted] (42:07 - 43:05)
And yeah, I hired a VA and then I had to learn how to train my VA. And then I was like, oh, I don't even know how I'm going to keep her busy. Why?
I would think, but isn't that the weirdest thought? Here I'm stressed out, but now I'm like, I don't know how I'm going to keep her busy. Then just now it's, she's busy from the minute she starts to the minute she ends and she's in multiple businesses and she's learning.
And I consider what I do, you know, being in real estate, being a real estate investor, shooting content, having a podcast. I feel like I'm in a constant startup. Like that's how I feel on a daily basis.
So just learning to not putting the who in place is the key. So anytime there's a big issue like, oh, we need to systemize, we need to systemize our business. You brought that up, right?
[Andrew and Paige] (43:06 - 43:06)
Yeah.
[Stephen Husted] (43:06 - 43:14)
Okay. What is systemizing a business look like? Okay.
Let's do some research on that. Okay. Who can help us systemize our business?
[Andrew and Paige] (43:14 - 43:14)
Yeah.
[Stephen Husted] (43:15 - 44:38)
All right. Now I'm going to Upwork. So now I'm going to Upwork and I'm going to look for a VA or, you know, some type of someone who can systemize my business out and you'll find those types of contractors there and you can hire them out of in another country.
And then what happens is you start to, now all those pain points, you just start finding people to take care of those pain points. You're just like, I need this. You're hired.
I need this. Yeah. And then you focus on the bigger parts of your business.
And I'm still not there. You know, it sounds, I don't, I'm not trying to make it sound easy because it's definitely not easy, but it's made it easier. You know, we're on this podcast right now and we're talking and my assistants are, you know, doing four or five different tasks right now.
Does that, you know what I mean? Some days I'm not even in the mood to do anything, you know, like maybe a day I'm just burned out and I get bummed out, I'm going home. And then I realized, well, a lot of things got done today because my team was helping.
So support is a big thing. And yeah, I'd like to see you guys, I want to see you get to the bigger property management team.
[Andrew and Paige] (44:38 - 44:56)
I know. We want to see you too. It's definitely something that we've been really more looking at in the past, like even four weeks.
So there's going to be some more stuff happening in 2024. It's just hours in the day. Can I get a VA to go look up all these properties for me?
[Stephen Husted] (44:59 - 45:09)
So I got an idea. So what would, what would a VA do for you right now in your business? What would be the task you would have your VA do?
[Andrew and Paige] (45:10 - 47:01)
What would you have your VA do? I, well, I do a lot. I'll go first.
So I do a lot of like, CRM stuff, you know, and client follow up. So I would probably do that. I mean, I spend like an hour and a half in the morning doing like tasks like that.
And I spend like three or four hours in the afternoon doing tasks like that at least two or three times a week, where I fit it in my schedule. So that right there is like at least an hour and a half a day or, and then if you're adding the other days that I do it, that's like five hours worth of follow up and CRM manage that I can take off my plate then. I mean, I think getting more help on her end is probably the most important part of our business right now, because even right now, like we're both here, our phones are on silent.
We'd be getting phone calls to book inspections. We don't know. I'm probably checking out there.
So that would be, you know, Hey, we're going to be unavailable. We're doing a podcast. Phones are yours essentially.
You know, I think on her end, the more important on my end, I need to focus on training protocol and essentially, you know, inspectors and trainers get out there doing the groundwork, so to speak, you know, and putting the systems in place. That's I've been working on myself is updating our template with our inspection software. I'm trying to do X amount of amount of hours a month doing that.
And so, I mean, if I don't think I'm there to be hired a personal assistant yet on my end with it, but I know that's down the road for sure. I think getting some help on her end is more important right now.
[Stephen Husted] (47:01 - 47:20)
Yeah, that, and definitely a VA could definitely help you on that part page. You'll have to do some training in the beginning, but once you, once you develop how you train your VA, you're also developing systems as you're doing that too.
[Andrew and Paige] (47:20 - 47:20)
Yeah.
[Stephen Husted] (47:21 - 47:22)
And then you're just going to be blown away.
[Andrew and Paige] (47:23 - 47:23)
Yeah.
[Stephen Husted] (47:23 - 47:41)
If you get a good one. We'll have to come back in a year and do like an update or something. We're going to have to do that.
So, we're doing that. You got it. So, give me some crazy things you've been seeing on property inspections.
[Andrew and Paige] (47:42 - 47:50)
Yeah, that's fine. Oh man, where do I start? No, I mean, we've seen it all.
[Stephen Husted] (47:50 - 48:01)
This has been a question on my mind for the last couple of months when I knew that you guys were going to get on. I was like, I want to hear some, what, what they really go through and what are some of the crazy things they see?
[Andrew and Paige] (48:02 - 49:39)
Most of the time it's just a standard huddle, you know, lacking maintenance in some regards versus the others. Getting in a crawl space, nobody ever really does that. They don't know if they have any plumbing leaked or whatnot underneath there.
But I mean, or it's like some crazy stuff I've seen, you know, up in the Santa Cruz mountains, there was- Oh, here we go. That they ended up deciding to sell, the family decided to sell, but everybody lived back east in New York, I believe it was, and nobody's seen the house for 30 years. It was logging, they used the land for logging, essentially, and they would have a plot, log it next year, change it, change it, just keep going.
So, nobody's seen this house in 30 years. I get there, the forest is taking the house back, like it's sliding off the hill, mushrooms growing in the field. And I'm looking at the agent, I'm like, why am I here doing this?
And he just said, we don't have any disclosures on the property, nobody's seen this house in 30 years, you're a force of disclosure. I was like, okay, I got it. So, got the word, done it.
I've done houses where they've been rentaled, and again, they lived in Washington state, hadn't seen the house in however long, and people decided to do some big grow houses in the property, and they ended up getting kicked out, and then they niched on the other house. So, then the city came through, found out there was a third house not permitted, they just took a big chainsaw right down the middle of the house, removed it, kitchen and bathrooms, they red-tagged both houses. That was my longest report yet, 296 pages on that one.
[Stephen Husted] (49:39 - 49:39)
Wow. Yeah.
[Andrew and Paige] (49:41 - 49:43)
So, I've seen some crazy stuff.
[Stephen Husted] (49:45 - 49:56)
So, when you go through, when you start doing these property inspections, do you see issues that you go, okay, this could have been easily preventable?
[Andrew and Paige] (49:57 - 50:50)
Yeah. I'm trying to do it on my dad's house when I go visit. You know, he was in construction for, had his own company for 43, 44 years, something like that, before he retired.
And so, it's like, you know, dad, you need to get this thing care of. And he goes, but I could do it. I'm like, then do it.
But he's older now. But you're not. You can't do it.
And so, it's just one of those things where, you know, it's like, just hire somebody, I'll pay for it. Just call them, get them to come start painting, fix some dry rot, whatever, you know. And I mean, a home has maintenance issues just like a car.
You go get your car oil changed, brakes changed, tires rotated, a home is no different. You have service requirements need to do on the home. Otherwise, it just kind of, you know, goes downhill from there.
And once it starts going, it, you know, you're going to put a lot of money into it to get it back to where it needs to be.
[Stephen Husted] (50:52 - 51:01)
Yeah, absolutely. Do you think that, because it seems like, well, it is from what my experience, sellers only do property inspection when they go to sell their house.
[Andrew and Paige] (51:03 - 51:10)
Majority, yes. There's been some people that just call us and say, I've lived in the house for a few years. I just want to know more about it.
Will you come inspect it?
[Stephen Husted] (51:10 - 51:10)
Really?
[Andrew and Paige] (51:11 - 52:01)
Okay. Typically, yes, that is the case. During real estate transactions, there's probably 99% of the time.
Well, and it's funny too, I don't know if you, I know you work in like different parts of the country, but I think California, because I mean, franchise are always like different parts of the country are doing different things. Our area here in California, we're like the first to be doing these pre-listings. It's like a very West Coast thing.
And so, yeah, different markets don't do it. And so, we get calls from other franchisees all the time, like, how are you guys marketing this pre-listing stuff? And we're like, just how it's been.
And so, we give tips and stuff like that on how we do our pre-listing inspections. But I mean, it's not very common, like Midwest, East Coast, it's not really prevalent over there yet, so.
[Stephen Husted] (52:01 - 52:34)
Oh, absolutely. Yeah. And you get in a contract on the property, you do your inspections and you might find issues and you try to negotiate and maybe that seller says, screw you, take it as is.
And you're like, okay, I guess I'm in the hole, another 5K. Completely different. But I think because the West Coast is such a non-contingent market for the most part that we just have to get those inspections done upfront just to make sure we get a cleaner offer.
I don't know why they don't do it like that out there, but I don't know.
[Andrew and Paige] (52:34 - 52:36)
I don't know. Maybe we'll find out.
[Stephen Husted] (52:36 - 52:36)
Yeah, it's interesting.
[Andrew and Paige] (52:36 - 53:27)
Maybe we'll find out at a brand conference. I mean, California has always set the precedent in a lot of regards for the rest of the country. And I feel like that is one thing that is going to start trickling over, whether it's five years, 10 years, 15, I think it's just a matter of time because as a real estate agent, if you realize, all right, we're going to get the pre-listing done, we can do repairs, clean up the report, put it on the market, get stronger offers.
But I mean, as far as if you're a seller, the buyer goes and gets a home inspection done and there's the major red flags that they might not have known about. And then all of a sudden it's like, they needed to sell. Like I've got a job somewhere else, I'm relocating, I need to sell this.
That could be a big hit for them. And so just knowing that upfront would be big in my opinion. I mean, it is big in my opinion for the seller to get the most they can.
[Stephen Husted] (53:28 - 54:44)
Absolutely. And just knowing the bigger issues that you can actually work through it with a potential buyer and the buyer agent when they see the reports, there's a level where you can start to work through that. Or they could put a dollar amount on what that repair looks like and build that into their offer.
Instead of getting a contract and going, oh my gosh, I didn't know it had this. And I think this is going to cost me 20 grand and it's a $10,000 fix. So I don't know why they don't do it like that in the Midwest.
The only thing in the Midwest that I go through, it's mostly on my investment properties. When a tenant moves out, my property management company goes in there and does a property inspection. And then we go through that list of like, okay, here are the things we got to do to get it ready for the market again.
And we do that on all the properties, which is really good. So it kind of gives me a good insight of what's going on, on my rentals. Not every property management company out there does that, but my new PM definitely does.
And God, I love him. Best property management company I've ever had. Give him a shout out.
He's going to be on the podcast. He was on the podcast.
[Andrew and Paige] (54:44 - 54:51)
Oh, which one? I missed that one. I haven't listened to all of them just yet.
I was like trying to get through some of them this weekend.
[Stephen Husted] (54:51 - 55:18)
Yeah, he was just on. So it's actually getting launched tomorrow. And honestly, I thought it was an amazing episode for somebody who wants to buy investment properties out of state.
Property management, just like your contractor, will make or break you. It's that simple. If you don't have those two firing in all cylinders, you're going to have a rough time out there investing.
[Andrew and Paige] (55:18 - 55:49)
Yeah. We do work with a couple property management companies. We won't necessarily do a full home inspection.
It's kind of like an agreed upon list of like, what do we need to take care of now? Any leaks, major issues, safety thing. And what we'll end up doing is we'll shoot the house on a 360 tour.
So they'll have a reference point of when the tenants move in versus when they leave. And so there's no discrepancies of, hey, that wasn't me. That was there when I moved in.
They can always go back on the empty home and be like, no, you punched the hole in that.
[Stephen Husted] (55:51 - 55:56)
That wasn't there. We got photos. Yeah.
So what do you guys like to do for fun?
[Andrew and Paige] (55:57 - 55:57)
For fun.
[Stephen Husted] (55:57 - 56:00)
Travel. What do you do? Oh, man.
[Andrew and Paige] (56:00 - 56:01)
Fun, fun, fun, fun.
[Stephen Husted] (56:01 - 56:03)
I mean, it's a loaded question.
[Andrew and Paige] (56:05 - 56:48)
It's loaded because we're busy all the time. I mean, we're outdoor people. You know, we went to the Grand Canyon for Christmas.
We like to, you know, go to National Park. We've got like the National Park Passport. So we kind of like make it a thing to do that.
So travel, hiking. Yeah, we go hiking locally. And then we try to do one or two big trips a year and just work through like we, my daughter knew a lot of the National Park and just so she can experience that.
I mean, everybody, every kid's kind of got the stories of their family tradition growing up. And that's one of ours. And so like she's done some really cool stuff for being a nine year old, like last year for Thanksgiving or two Thanksgivings ago, we she did the Zion.
Oh, cool.
[Stephen Husted] (56:48 - 56:50)
You know, hike through the narrows. Yeah.
[Andrew and Paige] (56:50 - 57:01)
Utah Canyon or the river. We just did mule riding at the Grand Canyon for Christmas, you know, a couple of weeks ago. So, yeah, she's got some fun stuff under her belt that she can look back on and reference.
[Stephen Husted] (57:02 - 57:03)
Yeah, that's great memories.
[Andrew and Paige] (57:04 - 58:23)
Yeah. What else do we do for people? Oh, my God.
I don't know. Yeah, building out of business and being outdoors. I mean, we've got our two dogs and so we love our dogs.
You can do the dog part. Dog part be, you know, reading is kind of what I'm doing. I'm page has had a goal of reading so many books last year.
Yeah, I try. Yeah, I try and read at least a book a month. Sometimes I can get a little bit more on there.
But, you know, maybe when I hire my original, I can do two months. So if you can have some festival last year, you know, Tally Roots is coming up. So, you know, things like that.
Oh, kind of music you guys like. Right into either, do you? I mean, I just kind of like gotten to country a little bit, but, you know, reggae death death metal a little bit.
I mean, Wu-Tang just got the residency in Vegas. I haven't talked to her about it yet, but we might be going really at where are they going to be? I can't remember where exactly I saw my head.
They're launching it Super Bowl weekend. And so, yeah, they got a residency this upcoming year in Vegas. Then, yeah, I thought it'd be fun to go see Wu-Tang and, you know, kind of somewhat grew up on Wu-Tang.
So, you know, Wu-Tang's for the government.
[Stephen Husted] (58:23 - 58:29)
Stephen's like, I'm going. Yeah. Well, whenever they're playing at.
What is it? The sphere?
[Andrew and Paige] (58:29 - 58:34)
No, it's not. There's one of the casinos. I'm just blanking right now off the top of my head on which one it is.
[Stephen Husted] (58:35 - 58:45)
Yeah, that'd be cool. I want to I want to go check out my dream concert would be to see Tool at Sphere in Las Vegas. I think that'd be just absolutely insane because I heard that the sound system is crazy.
[Andrew and Paige] (58:46 - 59:03)
That would be a good one. And they do like a lot of like I went to a Tool concert and I was probably like 14 or 15. But I do remember like they're very long songs and so that would be really good with a good sound system.
If Tool goes to the sphere, let us know.
[Stephen Husted] (59:03 - 59:03)
We'll meet you there.
[Andrew and Paige] (59:04 - 59:04)
Yeah.
[Stephen Husted] (59:04 - 59:17)
All right. Now, I like you guys even more because you're you're you like Tool? You like Tool?
Okay. All right. This is good.
Hold on. Let me show you. This is the book I have.
I got for Christmas. And yeah, I have you in my notes.
[Andrew and Paige] (59:23 - 59:24)
Oh, very keen.
[Stephen Husted] (59:26 - 1:00:23)
How is it? I don't know. I haven't started.
You look very long. It's huge. Oh, man.
You know, I'm I I try to I have good intentions and some things just don't happen. And reading books is just one of those things. I've I think I've read I've read a couple books.
Rich Dad Pulled Poor Dad was one that I read. But it's just hard for me. I just want an audio.
I can just go through an audio at any point. Like what you said, I could be in my car, go to Target, wherever, and I can just go through that audio book. Yeah, I'm just better that way.
But my wife bought it for me for Christmas. And, you know, I got to read it. I got it.
And I put it out on Instagram stories. So now I'm definitely have to do it because now you have to you're committed.
[Andrew and Paige] (1:00:23 - 1:00:35)
I have to. Yeah. Well, see, I started doing a library book instead of buying books, because then it gives you a deadline on when you have to get it read by.
And I mean, I don't want to pay the quarter fine, you know?
[Stephen Husted] (1:00:36 - 1:00:39)
Yes. You set yourself a deadline.
[Andrew and Paige] (1:00:39 - 1:01:37)
Yeah. It forces you a deadline and you're saving like fifteen dollars a book or thirty for the Elon book. You know what I mean?
Yeah. No, I was definitely audible. Don't let anybody talk you out of it.
You know, it's you're consuming it. You're understanding. But there have been a couple of books that I read or listen to an audible and I'm like, I need to read this now and then I'll end up purchasing it from my Amazon, whatnot, and then I'll actually go through it.
There's been a couple like that. And then there's a few books I was I do like to read about people that have done extraordinary things. So like right now I'm reading T.E. Lawrence with the World War One and the fall of the Ottoman Empire. I'm actually physically reading that one. And so, yeah. But audible, hey, you're no different.
You're still retaining and learning. So I consider it. How long is that book?
550 pages with the little print. So, you know, probably very similar to that one.
[Stephen Husted] (1:01:38 - 1:01:56)
Oh, gosh. Yeah. I mean, this one is how many pages are we on on this one?
Oh, gosh. Yeah. Yeah.
It's about 600. Oh, it's very similar. Come talk to me in 2027.
[Andrew and Paige] (1:01:56 - 1:02:00)
No, next year. Our follow up podcast.
[Stephen Husted] (1:02:01 - 1:02:36)
I know. Right. So what other.
Here's my last question for you guys. I just thinking about this. So your goals and things, what is what do you have on your radar that you're it's in your brain, you're thinking about it, but you haven't executed on it.
Hadn't put anything in play, whether that's for it, that could be individual or collectively. But what do you you know how we always have something in the beginning of the year or we have something all year round that we really want to do and work on, but then you never do it. Yeah.
Do you have any of those?
[Andrew and Paige] (1:02:36 - 1:04:55)
Yeah. So I I do want to start another business. I would want it not in the real estate sector.
I have something that I thought about for many years, and it's something that I would like to do one day. So, yeah, I would like to do that. If we're talking about the business, we would like to expand.
We would like to have somebody doing more of this like environmental stuff, though. Mold testing, lead testing, asbestos, that's like essentially doing all of that. We just have one person doing that.
And that would be huge for us in our business. So that that's kind of the goal for this year to. Yeah, as far as the business, you know, like she said, I mean, we've touched on a lot of it, growth, expansion, you know, we there's certain numbers we track monthly, you know, market share being one of them.
What is it? How many houses sold? How many do we expect?
We compare the two, get our market share. So like the numbers, you know, they steer us certain things we need to be doing as far as like marketing. I think we have a different approach going to be happening this year.
Yeah. You know, it's what's that old thing? You know, the definition of infinity, doing the same thing, not learning and same result, whatnot.
So, yeah, we're trying to switch it up a little bit this year. Yeah. I mean, we've gone through three full years of business.
So every, you know, first it was just like getting ourselves out there and oversaturating ourselves and just like being at everything and doing everything. And so now I think they're going to be a little bit more intentional with certain, you know, with people that we think can help grow our business. So that's I mean, I've got four pages of stuff that we've talked about throughout 2023 that we're going to do.
And so part of my packing list for Florida tomorrow is to print out two sets and we're going to like go through that. I mean, we're driving from Daytona down to QS. So that's going to be a full eight hours of conversation about going through these things.
So that's great. I think this is going to be a good two week breath to be able to really just kind of focus on what we want to implement for 2024.
[Stephen Husted] (1:04:56 - 1:04:58)
It's good. Fantastic.
[Andrew and Paige] (1:04:58 - 1:05:13)
I appreciate you guys. Me personally, I know I just like have recovered from, I flipped like two discs a couple weeks ago and been working with a chiropractor again. What were you doing?
[Stephen Husted] (1:05:14 - 1:05:18)
What was that? What did you do? What happened?
Do you know how you did it?
[Andrew and Paige] (1:05:18 - 1:06:25)
I was yawning too hard. I was putting on my bling. I don't know.
Yeah. I mean, I kind of do know. I was, you know, this job is a little bit physical.
I was in the crawl space down there for a while. Got out. I was whopping my boot, my dirty boot out for my clean boot and it just happened essentially.
So health is up kind of on my radar. Last year I was 39. You know, like I started working out pretty regularly.
Like I'm up 445 at the gym by five, do that for our little over an hour. I think you get, Damn good for you. Being a little more cardio physical, just my health.
My health is really after slipping those discs. I was on the couch out for too many days. I feel like, and luckily I got the guy on the team that helped step up when I couldn't do much.
Yeah. Yeah.
[Stephen Husted] (1:06:26 - 1:06:36)
Well, good. I'm, I got a lot of good goals. We'll do a follow-up next year and see where you got that VA implemented.
[Andrew and Paige] (1:06:36 - 1:06:37)
Yeah.
[Stephen Husted] (1:06:37 - 1:06:45)
And I definitely appreciate you guys jumping on today and I'm just glad I, now I have my, my coastal property inspectors.
[Andrew and Paige] (1:06:45 - 1:06:46)
Heck yeah.
[Stephen Husted] (1:06:46 - 1:07:04)
You know, that I don't have to figure that out anymore. And I just stick to one. And I was really impressed just how the report came out and how you guys ran the whole thing was, it was great.
So kudos to you on doing that. How, where can anybody, where can anyone find you on? Is it Instagram?
[Andrew and Paige] (1:07:05 - 1:07:27)
Yeah. Where are you guys at? We are Instagram.
We are pillar to post home inspectors, eight, three, one. We're on LinkedIn. You can find me by my name, Paige bore B O H R E R.
We're on Facebook. Also pillar to post home inspectors, eight, three, one, and we're on YouTube pillar to post home inspectors, eight, three, one. And I mean, Google, I mean, give us a phone call.
[Stephen Husted] (1:07:27 - 1:07:27)
Yeah.
[Andrew and Paige] (1:07:28 - 1:07:38)
Phone call eight, three, one, eight, eight, four 6160 text. One of us answers the phone, you know, so it'll be one of us. So if you call you, you get it.
[Stephen Husted] (1:07:39 - 1:07:58)
Great. Yeah. I'll put it in the show notes too.
Well, thank you guys for joining today. Really appreciate taking time out of your business. Yeah.
So I'll get it. We'll, we'll do that follow up at the end of the year and see, you know, maybe we'll compare, you know, the things that I want to get in place and what you guys did and we'll see, see how that all panned out.
[Andrew and Paige] (1:07:58 - 1:08:00)
Perfect. All right.
[Stephen Husted] (1:08:00 - 1:08:02)
All right. I'll talk to you guys later. Have a great day.
[Andrew and Paige] (1:08:02 - 1:08:03)
Bye.
∎ Podcast Outro:
[Stephen Husted] (1:08:03 - 1:08:32)
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