The Homeowner Show LIVE in The. Woodlands - Community, Connections, and Expert Advice

It's the Homeowner Show. We're live here at Two Tones in The Woodlands. So glad— oh, Marion's walking in front of the camera. That's fine. Guys, we're so happy you could join us for this live episode. We got a special guest host, Andrew Brockenbush.

What's up?

We're gonna have a good time tonight. A lot of fun guests. But if you're DIY or looking higher, we're here to bring you the best information. Get this thing rolling. We're gonna have a good time tonight. We got our first guest up. Why don't you let everybody know who you are and what you're doing here.

Hello, friends. I'm Alicia Fisher with Fisher Family Plumbing, but I'm not here to talk about plumbing today. I'm going to leave that to Laura later. I am here to talk about the NET events.

Ooh, yeah, we got some fun stuff coming up. Let's go. Other than the fun activities that we have going on tonight.

Of course, there's tonight, which if you're not here, you're missing out. It's always a great time over at Two Tones, but we have a lot of new stuff going on too. So actually, Marianne, who hopped in front of the camera earlier, is working on a book club. So that's fun. It's— we're gonna start with that. It's gonna be a little bit of self-development, you know, kind of stuff, business development, but fun.

Yeah, hopefully.

Okay, so the first one of that is gonna be September at Serenity Sips.

So, okay, that's a coffee shop, right?

It is.

Okay, my very favorite coffee shop. I was there twice today. Oh, so yeah, I— when I left the second time, they're like, okay, see you in an hour, right? Yeah, I told them they should just make me— give me a room with a cot and pay me rent, charge me You're not a little jittery? I mean—

No.

No?

I have 2 babies. I'm tired all the time. I need all the caffeine I can get.

She needs more caffeine.

Yes.

I'm just even right now.

I'm halfway alive, and that's kind of where it stays. It's fine.

This is fine.

Okay.

Any other big events we got coming up that we want to make sure and—

So, actually, so I didn't mention, she worked very hard on the name for this book club, and it's called the Balanced Bookmark. So I did want to say that, or she'll pinch me later.

Okay.

She wants that clip. That's what she wants. That's what she wants.

Promo, baby. But because a balanced bookshelf is a balanced life. At least that's what, that's what Marianne says. So I'm inclined to believe her. I like it, you know?

Yeah.

And then up next, actually all of September, all of our teams will be having their visitors days. So anyone that's looking to join a NET group needs to get out there and visit, see which one works best with their schedule and the location and hit up visitors day. We all have some pretty fun stuff planned. At least I know my team does. I don't know about anyone else, but—

Oh, um, it's my birthday on our Visitors Day, so it's all about me.

Okay.

Party time. I'm gonna have to make that one, I think. Yeah.

It's Western-themed, in case anybody was wondering.

That's appropriate.

Yeah, I think so.

Can you share your theme? Or is it like top secret right now?

You know what, I think I'll— they talked about keeping it secret, but I think I'll spill the beans. Okay, for the live, man. It's not bean-themed.

Not bean-themed.

Nah, I might change it.

Okay.

No, uh, it's actually, um, like Mario Party. Level up, because leveling up is all what the Net's about. So we're taking it literally with video games. And yeah, so it's gonna be fun.

Are there gonna be actual video games?

I'm not telling.

Okay.

There will be fun to be had.

You'll have to be there to find out.

Yes, you do.

Come see us.

All right.

So all the visitors days, and everyone can register for all of our events on our Facebook and Eventbrite. So everything's on there, the time, location, all the details that you need to have. And on the Net website, you can see what seats are filled in these teams so you know which one might be a good fit for you.

Yeah. I was shocked, especially at our events, how many people use Eventbrite. I didn't even know it was a thing. And apparently people use it.

Yeah. No, we had a visitor at our team last week that found us from Eventbrite. We didn't invite them. They just found us in the wild.

I know, it's like a thing. I don't know where that kind of crept into the social consciousness.

Yeah, all of a sudden it's a thing.

It is. People are using it to actually go find things to do. Yeah.

Which—

I haven't really used it like that. I know a lot of people that do. Yeah.

Yeah.

So I have a few times, like when I'm truly like, what are we doing this weekend? You know, like maybe I want to get out and like network and meet more people in the business. And I'm like, okay, what's going on in the community? What's going on in town? And so we even hosted our events and we put them on Eventbrite and same kind of scenario, found random people showing up and it's like, this is cool. Like I would have never reached those people within my own circle.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I think it's mainly people that aren't on social media that are using Eventbrite. But I did—

That makes sense.

I did go sleuthing a little I was like, okay, so if people are using it, that means there's events on there I don't know about. So let's go look. So I did type in networking and there's a bunch of stuff on there.

Oh yeah.

But the best ones are the net ones.

Yes, absolutely.

Obviously.

I'm a noob and I know that.

Even the noobs know, guys.

Exactly.

All right, so before we let you go, I want to know, is— does— do you have anything else? Sorry.

I do. I'm sorry. I didn't get through all of it. So also we're doing a really fun Halloween costume party called Wicked Good Networking.

Is that going to be here?

No, it's actually going to be at Thistle. Oh, that's right.

It's going to be at Thistle.

Yeah. Yep. So that's on October 23rd. So I love an excuse to wear a costume and be weirder than normal.

So is that open to the public or is that members?

That's open to the public.

Nice.

Yeah, it's just like this event.

Yeah, just like this event.

For everybody.

Yeah, we want more. We want people to come see our weird and know that they can be weird with us, you know? And then I would— I cannot forget to talk about 200 Businesses That Care.

100%. So 200%.

200%.

Absolutely.

We are— it's our annual nonprofit event, and it's raising money for 4 different local charities that specifically help Montgomery County. So it's giving back to the community that gives to our businesses. It's only $100 for each business to, you know, give back. They come out, tons of networking to be had. It's going to be on November 4th at Sawyer.

Wow.

So—

That's a no-brainer. Keep people listening. $100 for your business, one, gets your name out there, right? Like, not that's the reason you're doing it, but it does do that. Gets you 2 tickets, and I think each ticket has 2 drink tickets.

That's right. So you get entry for 2 people, 2 drink tickets, tons of networking, you know, you get to meet a lot of people. Yeah. And people pay more than that to network all the time, but it's going to a good cause. So you're gonna actually get to talk to each of these 4 charities, see which one is your favorite, and you vote for your favorite. So the one that resonates most with you, you vote for, and first place is gonna take home $10,000.

Yep.

So, but each of them is going home with a big old check, so don't worry, no one's getting left behind.

I think it's $10,000, $5,000, $3,000, $2,000.

Numbers.

Yeah.

I just know the big one.

So I mean, even if you come in last, you're getting 2 grand.

Yeah, I mean, that's plus a fun night and awareness for the nonprofit. So we will be announcing the nonprofits at the end of the month, so we'll be finding those out soon.

Yeah, it's also a good opportunity to find a place to volunteer. Like, if you're looking for something to like actually like participate in, these are ones that we vetted in 3 the net, and like it's a good place to get plugged in and actually make a difference in the community.

Yeah.

So, and I know last year they picked up a lot of volunteers. So, and like, not only that, I mean, like, it's not like, you know, if you meet these nonprofits, like, that's not your only interaction. You can like give to them. They're fine with that. You can— we had several people, because they met the nonprofits that night last year, were like, hey, I just want to write them a check for $1,000. It's like, cool, go do that.

Yeah, they don't get mad at that. No. So no, there's lots of opportunity for that night. So I'm really excited for it.

How do we get involved with that again?

The website is 200businessesthatcare.com. Very straightforward.

Yep.

But you can also go find all the information on the Nets Facebook page. It's also on Eventbrite. So, okay, yeah, real easy to go to. And yeah, it's easy to buy the ticket, just $100, and you get a lot out of it and you're giving back.

So cool.

Yeah.

All right. So before we let you go, I want to know if there's a name for the dragon on your arm. Oh, does he have a name or does she have a name? I don't want to misgender your arm dragon.

Non-binary. No, uh, he doesn't have a name. Okay, so I've actually asked my kids if they want to name him and they change it every time. So like, I'm gonna let them finally solidify on one and then—

You're gonna let your kids name it?

Yeah, absolutely.

It's a dangerous game, my friend.

It's not getting written down, it's fine. And they change it every other day, so I don't remember what they named it the last time. I'm gonna go home and ask them now.

What's the latest name?

I wish I knew.

You don't know?

No, I don't remember. Look, sticky notes, man. I have to write things down.

So next time put it What was the name of the one in the smog?

Oh yeah, yeah, that's The Hobbit. Yeah, Lord of the Rings.

Yeah, that's what it looks like because there's like a mountain right below it. You kind of got a Hobbit thing going on.

It's kind of like a bookish thing.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay. That could be on theme.

Fantasy reader.

Have you ever read The Hobbit?

I haven't.

You haven't?

I know, I'm garbage.

At least you're honest. You didn't like lie to us.

Yeah, but I am going to branch out, do a little self-help and do the Balance Bookmark.

Do you know what the first book is in the Balance Book Club?

Yes, she did write that down because I do forget things, as I said. The Power of Engagement.

Power of Engagement. Any idea what that one's about?

The Power of Engagement? Not yet. So September 10th, I've got a couple. I'm a very fast reader and it's also on Audible, which is what I need to do because I don't have a lot of free time. So when I'm driving, washing dishes, stuff like that, that's when I listen to my books. Yeah.

I was listening I listened to one today and I realized the value— listened to one today and I realized the value of production on audio— value of production on audiobook.

Oh yeah.

Like I was— oh yeah, like I was— it was a subject that I'm pretty familiar with. It's about business and— but it was from a biblical perspective. And but like this lady who was reading the book kept mispronouncing books of the Bible and it was really— pronouncing books of the Bible and it was really irritating.

Oh, that's not cool.

And it was one, she wasn't irritating.

Oh, that's not cool.

And it was like, one, she wasn't the author. And I think if you're the author, you know, and—

You should read your book.

You're good. Go ahead. Come on. Just, you know, just, you know, people see you.

She's famous now.

People see you.

She's famous now.

But like, I feel like the author— but like, I feel like the author should read the book because they know the tone, they know the inflection, you know, like it's not going to get misrepresented if they read it.

Yeah.

For books like that, I think—

Misrepresented if they read it.

Yeah.

For books like that, I think for sure. But so like I said, I do a lot of fantasy books and there's a lot of them. It's like you've got a male and a female, like you've got a male and a female character. And so it's kind of like listening to a movie. Male character. And so it's kind of like listening to a movie on some of them.

Well, yeah, if they're doing like— well, yeah, if they're doing like the voices and all that kind of stuff.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's pretty cool.

It's unforgivable.

She's grounded.

We need a cone.

Cone of shame.

Mary is just standing right in front of it.

Yeah, she's doing it too.

That's amazing. So, all right, who's next?

Thank you so much.

Oh, it's Laura?

So you got some time.

Haha.

Sweet. I'm gonna talk mess the whole time.

Talk mess?

No.

What you got?

That's okay, I'm not.

Okay, so since I'm a noob in the room, why don't you give me like the quick rundown of Net?

Well, okay, we have a couple minutes. I didn't get a chance to introduce you.

I mean, you got to.

You want to tell the backstory or just want to talk about—

I guess to talk about myself.

No, like you're here, people want to know who you are.

Yes.

So nice to meet you. We've met earlier.

Yeah.

And to the people watching, my name is Andrew Brackenbush. Me and Craig have actually known each other for quite a long time through a lot of different circles.

Dude, were you like 18 when I met you?

Probably so.

Okay.

My first ever company was a recording studio out in Tomball, and so that was my first ever business. Since then, I opened up a marketing firm, and we're a full-service agency that supports a lot of different businesses in the area. But I also host, I guess, a producer for Marcus Luttrell's Team Never Quit podcast, and I'm just out here having a good time.

And Craig invited me to come co-host, and I said absolutely.

Absolutely. That's awesome.

Yeah, I knew he knew what he was doing.

Glad to have you.

Yeah, yeah, good to meet you.

It's nice to meet you too. I'm gonna hand it over to Laura.

Sweet, sounds good.

Come on, y'all tell her how nice it was.

Alicia, could you help me out?

Do what?

Could you help me out? Yes. Okay, I have it.

He needs more water.

They knew who I am. Come on, Laura.

How's it going?

It's going. I'm so sorry about the camera. I literally just— I knew it was there and just—

No, you're good.

I got yelled at the other night at dinner at Capitol Grill by an adjoining table. She said I had no social awareness because I talk loud, and I was like, sorry, what's social awareness? And that was an example.

So here I am. How have you been, my friend?

Oh man, uh, great. Yeah, great in school.

So is that like a celebration for you, or is it— You know, we—

so we found out, we, you know, Zach and I, when we got married, we just leased a house and we loved it so much, the area so much, that, um, we stayed there for 3 years. We walked our kids to school.

Oh, that's fantastic.

And we planned on staying for another 3 years until Jack, you know, graduated out of it. And, um, we gotta an email in March, hey, I'm gonna sell the house. And I was like, oh God, no. But, um, you know, we've been preparing and, and, and we were, we were good, in a good spot. And we found a diamond in the rough in, in Porter, 6 minutes from our old house. So I was so close to my ex-husband and my kids' dad. So because we co-parent like champions, like, okay, we're family. Yeah. I told Zach when we started dating, I was like, hey, So this is gonna seem weird, but you know, my ex-husband is— he's part of this family. He is in this family, so just deal with it. And he was

cool. They've been buddies ever since, so it's great. But yeah, we found a house that we had a pool, which saved the summer.

Heck yeah.

It was amazing because when the kids are home with me, I'm home trying to work every day, and I'm like, hi, go outside. And now I don't have to worry about them having a heat stroke. I just kind of have to keep an eye, make sure they don't drown. But they're great. They're great swimmers. Everything's good as long as they don't beat them— beat each other to death with water guns.

They're fine.

Well, so here's the Here's a question for you, 'cause I know you guys are a plumbing company and you have a pool now.

Yes.

Are pools something you guys can work on?

So we can't— we can, um, the, the plumbing systems for pool, like the actual pool pumps and stuff like that, um, you— there are crews that specialize in that.

Sure.

The plumbing to and from, like, we do a lot, we've done ours, not to the pumps themselves again.

Yeah, like all the PVC stuff. Yeah, but like, yeah, like all the PVC stuff.

Yeah, but like the, the other plumbing drains and the, the other plumbing drains and stuff around the pool. We've done stuff around the pool we've done service for.

I imagine if they have like, like a natural gas heater or something—

Service for.

I imagine if they have like, like a natural gas heater or something like that, they, they need you guys to—

Right. Yeah, we do the gas lines for that. All, you know, gas lines are— I mean, we, we do gas lines in our sleep, so it's kind of one of our specialties.

Um, it looked like you— I've been seeing some of your ads It looks like you guys are doing a bunch of those, like generators and stuff like that.

You know, generators have really slowed down. Oh really? Oh yeah, yeah. Um, you know, last year we had a hurricane in the very first week of July, right? You know, Beryl came through and ruined my son's birthday party. He didn't get to have one. And, uh, and then, but we were, we were doing, uh, quick connects and gas lines probably 3 or 4 days, probably 3 or 4 a day for a while. Oh wow. Um, but you know, I think a lot of people got prepared for a while.

Oh wow.

But you know, I think a lot of people got prepared last year in the area, last year in the area, and they weren't gonna deal with that again. And we haven't had a hurricane. It always takes an emergency. It always takes the emergency to say, okay, never again, I'm never doing this again. And that— and then the sales pick up. But I think people got really prepared last year, and we haven't had a lot of severe weather. Actually, I think this summer's been one of the mildest summers we've had in a very, very long time.

A lot of rain, but not—

June, yeah, it was It rained like 30 inches in June. I know, it was great.

I mean, it kept it, it kept it very mild, kept it the temperatures. And then like one, as soon as the rain stopped, it was like, hey, just a reminder, summer's still here. Yeah, we're gonna like—

hey, like, don't forget about me, I'll, I'll make you pay for it. But no, it was one of the first times I've had a really green lawn in June and July in a long time. It was, it was great.

Without running the sprinklers every day.

Yeah, yeah, we, uh, but yeah, no, um, something cool. We, Zach and I, have been working on this for a while and we just had to find the right partners for it. But we, we have solidified our team for our white glove repipe and we just completed our first white glove repipe.

What do you mean by that?

Yeah, so homes with galvanized lines, they become brittle. You start getting a leak here, a leak here. Well, one of our homes had a leak and we just sat her down and said, listen, like, we will keep, we will keep coming out here and and patch and patch and patch, but can we please give you an estimate to do this? So a repipe, essentially it means you're, you're replumbing the entire house. Those plumbing lines, we have to cut sheetrock holes everywhere.

Yeah, yeah.

Everywhere. So homes will end up with anywhere from 20, 25 to 50 sheetrock cuts in the house. So we have a crew now. We will provide a regular repipe estimate where you can go and get your sheetrock repair done yourself. and the repainting, that's a lot of fun. Yeah. Um, or for—

it's—

I'm not gonna— I can't remember the exact number, and Zach will kick me because he's like the— he's, he's like the super regimented guy with numbers. And, um, but for, for— gosh, I want to say like $2,500 more. Do not quote me on that public, but like a very—

In that neighborhood. Yeah.

If you're talking We're talking about 50 sheetrock patch holes and painting every wall up to 6 colors for $2,500.

It's—

and you don't— and on top of that, after we're done with that, we send it— we send in a cleaning crew to come and vacuum and sweep, mop, dust, and wipe everything down. So the house will look better than before we got there. You got a fresh coat of paint on every wall that we touched.

Uh-huh.

we guarantee the color match and everything. And I got her message back today and said, your sheetrock guys left and I can't even see where y'all cut. Like, the texture is perfect, everything's great. So it was a massive success and we're really looking forward to that, being able to brand that and get that out there.

Are those PEX jobs? Are you repiping with PEX?

Yeah. Oh yeah, yeah. Copper's not bad.

I mean, it's, it's a lot more work.

It's a lot more work. Yeah, you're having to do a lot of soldering and stuff. I'm not a licensed plumber, so I'm talking plumbing by proxy, but yeah, it's a lot of soldering and it's more expensive. PEX is really— and PEX is flexible, so with the extreme weather, you know, the drops and the freezes that we've been getting more consistently, you really don't have to worry too much about that because it can expand, I think, 2 to 3 times and not, not bust.

Yeah, I was going to say, from what I understand, it's a lot more durable.

Oh yeah, yeah, it's, it's meant to last. Uh, galvanized homes— I'm an insurance agent, right? Right. So be— I'm mad at him. He made fun of a massive buck I showed him at my deer camera, or my feeder camera.

He does that.

He was like, don't pay attention. He was like, oh, that's cute. And I was like, listen, anyways, don't talk to me about hunting. I was going to ask him to show you the one he shot last.

That's the—

oh, was it— was it a Bambi?

No, but like, that's the thing is he just dumps on everybody else's deal.

And then, you know what, I usually can take it, like, I can, especially from Brian Richardson. I know he's just gonna be sarcastic, but I don't know, it hit me the wrong way.

It just did.

I was like, how dare you?

I was excited about that one.

This is a monster and he's coming to my feeder. Dare you put that in my head.

When we get done with the show, because I know that you're interested, ask me about my neighbor's buck. It is the gnarliest thing you've ever seen in your life.

Oh my gosh.

I'm not even kidding. Like, you won't— like, I, I can't like hype it up enough to tell you how gnarly this buck is.

You're gonna have to show Zach because he— his dream buck is he wants to find the gnarliest. Like, I've never seen that before in my— I'm talking like, oh yeah, he wants something crazy. Like, and that's what he wants to put on the wall next to my beautiful symmetrical 8 and 10 and 11 points that I've got up. Like, he wants to put some, some, you know.

Well, here's the crazy thing I'll tell you about this one is the story, at least the story on this one, and like, this is like fishing stories, so who knows, but he was telling me he shot him and then the buck did a death dive into a pond. And so he had to go out on a bucket and like hook him and hoist him up out of the water to even get him because he, like, as soon as he shot him, he just—

Was it into a pond?

Yes.

Oh my God, how long was the buck in there? Like 30 minutes. I'm so— okay, so I love the river, the ocean. I know the ocean's, especially Galveston's, tainted with all sorts of fun stuff, but there's just— lake water and pond water gross me out. And I, I, you know, I, I finally narrowed it down. My daughter's in science and they're doing labs now in 5th grade. I think it was all the amoeba, the— all the water droplet things. Like, hey, go get some water out of your backyard and bring it to class and we're gonna look at And I was like, this is what's in the water? And I got some out of a pond in our

neighborhood when I was little, and there was like amoebas everywhere. And I was like, those are going in my ears, they're getting in my brain. And it freaked me out. And ever since then, when I go to the lake, I'm just— I will, I will get in the water and tube and stuff, but I'm just— afterwards I feel like I'm gonna die of a flesh-eating amoeba in my head every time. Take me to Galveston, no problem.

What about the ocean? You fine with the ocean?

Oh yeah, like I I grew up saltwater fishing, so I mean, I grew up in Alvin, Texas.

Because the ocean is way more dangerous than any pond.

Way worse. Yeah, no, it's— and we're next to all the chemical plants. I mean, Freeport, you can't even, can't even drink the tap water down there. Not that any of us really— probably all should be drinking any of the tap water, but—

Not worried about that water.

I mean, that one, you drink tap water and you grow a third eye in a little while. So, but yeah, no, I am more— I will, I will drink water in Freeport before I will jump into a pond or a lake.

It just—

I don't know why.

It's weird.

All right, well, Marion's fixing chase you off.

What do you want everybody to know before she kicks you out of here?

You know, we're here if you need us. Small, big, doesn't matter. If you're in a million-dollar home, $100,000 house, we have set pricing for everything, and we're just here to take care of our community and teach them how to take care of themselves too and prevent stuff. And yeah, we're here to help. Cool.

Got a phone number, email?

Fisher Family Plumbing, you can reach us at 832-844-7200. You can email Zachary, myself, Laura, or office@fisherfamilyplumbing.com. You'll reach any of us that way. Um, or yeah, just, uh, flag us down in the neighborhood.

Sweet.

Good. Thanks, guys.

Thank you.

Yeah, yeah, see you later.

Appreciate you sitting down.

Sorry for walking in front of your camera. I can't promise it won't happen again.

If you do, Mary Ann will do something to you. I don't know what. Come on, come on down. Howdy, howdy.

How are you?

I'm good. How are you guys?

Good.

You okay with putting—

you okay with putting those Okay.

Oh yeah.

It'll make it easier to hear. Hear us okay?

Awesome.

Yes.

All right, so, uh, I can't read your name tag from here, so help us out. Who are you and what do you do?

Uh, I am Hillary Bailey. I'm the owner of Freedom Caregivers and Companions.

A little bit, little bit closer.

I am Hillary Bailey, the owner of Freedom Caregivers and Companions, and we take care of seniors in their homes.

Oh, awesome. Okay, so I've actually met you at a meeting before. Yes.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah, very cool what you guys do.

Thank you. Thank you. I love it. Seniors are my jam.

Well, I mean, it seems like that's like a, a very expansive market right now. It is.

It is.

I mean, like, we're entering into like the largest generation of elderly people that we've ever had.

Yep.

So now, I mean, downstream, it's not looking so good, but—

how'd you get into that space?

Oh, so I am a physical therapist assistant and a certified dementia practitioner by trade. So I was doing physical therapy in like nursing homes and things like that. Um, and then I started doing home health, and what I saw, um, in the homes was that people need help with way more activities, and they need somebody that's going to come in and do it right, not be on their phone all the dang time.

Yeah.

Oh no.

Okay.

Yeah. And I found—

Shots fired.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Um, so I just— I'm very passionate about helping people, um, with just their daily activities, right? Because Who wants— they would not— they'd rather have a shower rather than do physical therapy with me, right? Like, that's, you know, that's what they want.

Quality of life is just as important.

Yeah, it's kind of a compliment too. Yeah, yeah. Sorry, couldn't resist.

No, no, totally, totally fine. No, you know, we're just— we have, you know, you talk about, you know, having more seniors than ever before. Well, you know, you have us people people, you know, between the age of, you know, like 45 and 65, we're the sandwich generation. We're trying to take care of our parents, we're trying to take care of our kids, and trying to juggle both is— it's impossible. It's absolutely impossible. So, um, I love that I get to alleviate caregiver burnout, whether that be, you know, somebody, you know, that's, you know, just a friend helping in the home. But most of the time it's the kids, you know, and somebody, somebody loses on one side, whether it be

the family that you grew yourself or the people that grew you.

That's right. I mean, is, is your target client— are we talking about like assisted living facilities or like in-home care?

Like in-home care.

Okay.

We do have, um, I mean, it's wherever they live. So we do have some clients that are in assisted living facilities. And so, you know, assisted living facilities, there's different levels, right? So, and it's more expensive the more levels you go up. So a lot of times family will hire us, you know, for a couple hours a day just to keep from having to pay that extra couple thousand dollars a month, you know, when all they may need help with is a shower, right?

Yeah.

So yeah.

Well, I mean, So like, but like, what do you guys— I mean, like, you're talking about like coming in, giving a shower. I mean, like, what other services do you guys provide while you're there?

So I like to tell people to think of us like a personal assistance service agency. So we, we'll come in and do anything on the person that needs help. So helping them bathe, dress, you know, brush their teeth, do all that daily stuff that, you know, we want to do to feel clean and taken care of. And then we're gonna do like light housekeeping.

Okay.

Meal preparation, transportation if they want to, you know, go somewhere. Some clients we have, that's all we really do with them. We're just companions with them. So we take them to the movies or to the library or—

Oh wow.

Wherever they want to go, right? To get them out of the house because there's a lot of seniors that live on their own that can't drive.

Yeah.

And when their kids can come see them, they're trying to do all those other things like take them to the grocery store. And so what I have found is that it really helps, um, family members be family members and not caregivers. It's hard to take care of someone and keep your rightful place in the family, right? Taking care of your dad, it's hard to be a daughter if that's— if you're just mainly there to take care of them, obviously, while you're trying to take care of your family at the same time.

Yeah, I mean, and like, I want to be like as frank as I possibly can because I can imagine there's a lot of people that struggle with being frustrated with their family members that are elderly and not wanting to Yes. I imagine you guys kind of provide that buffer that allows them to kind of enjoy them again.

We do.

Yeah?

We do, absolutely. They will— and first of all, nobody wants their kids to tell them what to do. Sure. Yeah, so a lot of times the caregivers will come in there and we'll say the exact same thing that we want them to do, right? And they will do it gladly for us. But if your kid's trying to tell you what to do, you're kind of like, I'm the parent, like, I'm not gonna listen to what you say. Yeah, I'm older than you, I know better than you.

A little bit of stubbornness.

Yeah, absolutely. So yeah, I love— that's probably my favorite part is coming into the home, seeing the family dynamics might be a little altered, and then we come in for a couple of weeks and, you know, they're calling us, the daughter's calling us like, oh my gosh, thank you guys so much. You know, I'm able to come over and visit with my mom. I don't have to worry about is her laundry done? Do I need to take her here or there? You guys are just taking care of it. And it takes a weight off of them because they know their loved one's being cared for. They don't have to do it.

Yeah, my sister actually does in-home care.

Oh really?

Yeah, so she was a— worked as a nurse in a nursing home for a long time.

Okay.

And just, she could see that the quality of care wasn't exceptional, and it was frustrating as someone who really was empathetic and cared and wanted to go the extra mile, but there's still limitations.

Absolutely.

And so she got into that, and same thing, she's like, I've got a relationship with these people.

Yeah, yep. It's the relationship that you cultivate with people in their homes is much different because you go into their space, right? So once you're there for a little while, they, you know, they learn to trust you and you get to hear the coolest stories from people. That's one of my favorite parts, is just hearing the stories about their life. It's amazing.

That's great.

Yeah, it really, really is.

So what's one of the biggest things that people— I mean, because a lot of people listen to the show all across the country and are dealing with this issue because a lot of people have aging parents and things like that. What's one of the best things that people can do to sort of instill dignity in their parents while they still need help?

Ask for help.

Ask them for help?

No, ask us for help. Ask for outside help. Because what I find most of the time is that it's not that the children are upset at their parents, they're overwhelmed and they're burnt out, right? So it's not that they're upset with them, but it's just one more thing on their plate, you know, that they have to deal with. So they love them, but they don't want to, you know, have to take care of them. I mean, some of them do, and don't let me say that people don't want They want to take care of their parents, they do.

But it just gets hard.

It just gets hard, right?

Especially if they have their own families.

Yes, especially, definitely if they have their own families, that makes it 10 times harder.

Yeah, for sure.

So I mean, like, if someone's not in Texas, in the Houston area— where are you guys, only in Houston area?

Yeah, so we go all the way up to Montgomery and all the way down to like the Heights and River Oaks.

Okay.

Humble and Kingwood.

So if they're not here, how do they find somebody like you?

I would say, I mean, if you're a Google fan, great, go on Google and, you know, in-home care near me.

I mean, is there like a network of you guys that you, you're connected with or something like that?

In this area, yes.

In this area, yes.

But you don't— I mean, unless you've actually worked with another company, it's really hard to talk about if they're, you know, worth it.

Yeah, the quality of care.

If their quality of care is good.

Yes. So, so like Google, Google reviews actually matter and they— yes, they do. They 100% matter.

They 100% matter.

Don't, don't pay attention to the marketing guy. The marketer will tell you that Google reviews matter.

Yes.

They 100% matter. But I'll tell you, you know, my digital marketer, you know, the first couple that I talked to, oh, SEO, SEO, you have to get your name out on Google. No, because when people that are going on Google, they're price shopping. I will lose every time in a price war.

Race to the bottom.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I, I pay my caregiver I pay my caregivers very, very well. Most agencies pay their caregivers between $11 and $13 an hour. I start at $17.

Oh wow.

And we go up to $22. So yes, I charge a lot more, but you know, I don't have turnover in my agency.

Yeah.

So my clients get continuity of care, so they get the same caregiver, so not a different person coming in every day.

Yeah, so you just said that, and I know people online are gonna be asking, are you hiring?

Actually, we are looking for someone in the Tomball area right now.

Okay, there you go.

We are.

So we're kind of in the—

I might actually know somebody.

Well, I, I'm actually— I, since I'm on here, I'll just say it. We're looking for, um, I also have a nurse on my staff cuz we actually also do RN delegation. And basically what that means is with the license that we hold with the state of Texas, we're not able to do anything that's considered medical, right? But since I have a nurse on my staff, we're able to help, you know, administer pre-dose medications, help with oxygens. If they have a PEG tube, we're able to feed them, you know, via the pegged to. So we're actually able to do a lot more than other agencies out there, which is another reason our prices is higher. But you know, you get what you pay for.

Yeah, 100%. I mean, so I mean, like, but if people are looking— like, if people are in the area and they're looking for you, how do they get a hold of you?

So you can give us a call at 346-468-1000 or go on our website, which is www.freedomcaregivers.net. We have a Facebook page, a LinkedIn page, an Instagram page.

We're everywhere. Awesome. And are you, are you in the Breakfast Club that meets here?

Yes, I am.

Yeah, I am.

I love the Breakfast Club.

I think that's like our newest group.

It's one of the newest.

Yeah. How are you enjoying it so far?

I love it.

Yeah, I love it. Well, it's, you know, a lot of the people that I know, so it feels like home.

Yeah.

Coming from another networking group, it feels, it feels like home.

They who must not be named.

Exactly. Exactly. They must not be named.

Exactly.

They don't deserve to.

Yeah. Awesome.

Yeah.

Well, I think, I think Marion's giving me Give me the single.

Thank you so much for sitting down.

Thanks, guys.

Yeah, yeah. What do you think, man? Oh, your sister's involved in this business.

Yeah, I'm like literally gonna connect the two.

That's awesome.

Yeah, I mean, I know that to my sister it's like that's a really meaningful cause.

So we got John Wagner. Who?

Come on, John Wagner. What's up, brother? We met.

Hey, y'all, how are we doing today?

Good, man. It's awesome. So let me, let me tell you a little something about John Wagner. I actually ran into him— was it like 4 months ago when you were like up on a boom lift changing out streetlights in Carlton Woods.

Yep. Yeah, that's right.

I didn't know you worked in there.

Yes, sir.

I was like, hey, for a while now.

There's my buddy. Are you doing all the streetlights in there?

We do all the electric work for the HOA for Carlton Woods.

See, that's fantastic.

A couple, couple of neighborhoods, actually.

A couple different neighborhoods.

Yeah.

Okay.

Bender's Landing is another notable one.

Okay.

Yep.

Dude, we need to, we need to connect about this because I need to like, like I have clients in there. but like I need more in there.

Okay, yeah, well make sure you're— make sure your truck is all badged up because that's how we get all our work in there is having our trucks in there.

Oh dude, yeah, that's how we do it.

Badged up.

Yep. So okay, so I've been seeing posts that you've been putting up. It looks like you guys are expanding.

Yes sir.

What are you guys doing? What's going on over there?

All right, so, uh, it's something we can—

well, real quick, let everybody know what you do.

Hey, I'm John Wagner. I own Y Electric. We're a full-service electrical contractor based out of North Houston, Montgomery County, servicing the North Houston and Montgomery County area. Yeah, we do it all, commercial and residential.

All right, so, and you guys are doing hookups on like generators? You got—

I mean, like— Absolutely. Yeah, we do generators, we do inlets for portable generators. We'll even help you secure one at a decent price. All right, uh, we'll, uh, we do a lot of, uh, lighting upgrades like in luxury homes. We do a lot of really cool like wavy or, you know, lines up the wall across the ceiling kind of stuff or Or help build fixtures sometimes out of all the antlers that your grandpa killed over the years. So I love it, kind of, kind of all over the place. But we'll also wire up an office or change out lights in an office, help with all sorts of stuff.

I know you've helped me out of a couple jams, so—

Yes, sir.

Some stuff that I screwed up.

Now, do you like battery installs for houses, for EVs and things like that?

We do, yeah. That's actually a big thing that we're doing right now. We, we have a contract with the company that we, we do a battery backup system daily with one of our crews. Wow. What do you you mean daily?

What does that mean?

Like every day of the week I've got a crew that's installing a battery backup system.

Oh, it's like at a different location?

Every day.

Oh wow. Wow.

Yeah.

What do you— okay, so like battery backup for what?

For the house. Yeah, for the whole house.

Whole home.

Yep.

So like which ones are you seeing being installed more? Is it like a lot of Tesla? Is it like—

So Teslas are in there.

I know LG's in the mix probably.

Briggs Stratton actually has batteries.

Really?

Yes. Yeah, That was one to see there. That's been pretty cool. Let's see. There's a couple other things. The company we work for, I don't know that I can mention that we work for them or not.

I don't know how that works.

I don't know.

So I'm not going to go that far.

Yeah.

I mean, I saw an energy provider.

There's some gray lines that I'm not going to attempt to cross. Let's just say that.

Fair enough. Yeah.

That's pretty cool, man.

Yeah, it's been good.

Nice.

Is this with the battery backups, is that in conjunction usually with solar, or are they just doing the battery backup?

It's both. Sometimes it's just battery, sometimes it's solar. And, uh, we've got different applications for if they have solar or not.

Yeah, because I mean, you can, you can put a battery backup on your home without having solar, correct? Yeah. Yeah.

Yep.

How long do those typically last? So if you take it down to like the basic, like I need to run my refrigerator and like my lights, so I'm—

that's, that's a little more— that's a little above my pay grade. We don't provide the batteries, we install them for this company. So we're installing the systems for a certain contractor that's kind of sweeping Texas with battery backups. I don't know the math on batteries.

And when I imagine different batteries do have different capacities.

Absolutely. Yeah. And they've got— we've got engineers that figure all that out, that determine what they go on there, and then they give us the ticket to install it.

Okay.

Yeah.

So doing a lot of those?

We're doing a lot of them. But like, those aren't cheap.

No, they are not. No, they are not.

I mean, I think entry on like a whole home battery is like $10,000.

Yeah, it's all financeable.

Yes, it is a massive financing game, let's be honest.

It is. Yes, it is.

For sure.

It is. And then there's a lot of it where, you know, like they're, uh, they're basically installing these batteries and collecting power, and then at night when you're not using anything, they're selling it back.

I just saw an electricity provider that kind of does that. It's like, hey, you buy our electricity service and our little setup fees and include this whole home battery backup.

Okay.

But you know they're making their money.

Who is it?

Probably who you're working with, but I can't remember the company's name. Yeah, we'll talk about it after the show.

4-letter word maybe?

Yeah, yeah, I think so. Yeah, yeah, that's it.

Are you kidding me, guys? I got like an exclusive like right here. Like you guys are like, ah, we'll talk about it.

That's exactly how it works.

Yeah, I'm thinking about getting the largely controversial Cybertruck, so I might be needing you to come out and hook me up.

We do that. Yeah, we install EV chargers all the time. Yeah, listen, not just, not just for residential, but we also have— I could say this one, Echo Suites. Yeah, we're doing all that. They're putting battery, uh, battery EV chargers on all of their, uh, properties. And we're doing 2 on— I think they're building like 5 around town.

That's pretty awesome.

We're installing all those.

What are Echo Suites?

It's a new hotel.

Okay.

Yep.

Okay.

Okay.

It's a new hotel that you'll be seeing soon, I'm sure.

Where? Okay, like, where's, where's the newest one going up?

Uh, Katy.

Katy. Okay.

Yep.

Like right there off I-10?

Yep. I don't think they're up here up north yet. But yeah, right off I-10.

Is it close to the Buc-ee's?

Next door.

Oh, is it really?

Yes.

Okay.

Are you in the low voltage game as well or no?

Oh, we have partners that we subcontract for low voltage.

Okay.

Yes. So we— I can't say no because that's—

You got people.

It's quite often that we need both on some of these projects.

Especially commercial.

Instead of the GC dealing with 2 companies, they can deal with us because we have no problem subcontracting and helping with that process because I do understand that.

Yeah.

So when we say low voltage.

Yeah, we're talking about like internet security, automation, All that.

Sometimes basic lighting for hospitals and stuff like that.

Yeah, but it's pretty cool.

Green lighting where the— yeah, it's 48-volt lighting or, you know, low-volt lighting. And we'll install everything and then we'll get them involved to do all the low voltage stuff and get it all going. And we'll partner together on the automation of it.

All power over Ethernet.

I was gonna ask, is it PoE?

All PoE. Yeah, it's really cool.

We did a job on a building where they— we came in, we installed the power for it. Our subcontractor came in and ran all the low volt, and this thing was basically ran— the lights would, the lights would dim whenever the sun was coming up the one, because we're like 18 stories up. So when the sun was shining in, the lights would dim on parts of the building that were getting the sun.

Oh wow.

And raising parts that weren't. Yeah, it monitors the sunlight and everything.

That's crazy. It's crazy what we can do with that stuff.

Yep.

So, but I mean, you can do the same thing in somebody's house.

Absolutely.

Yeah?

Yes.

Yeah, we're doing one in Bender's Landing right now that has a lot of really cool technology Yeah?

Yep.

So like, what all does that entail?

So basically it's a bunch of access points where they could walk in a room and say, hey Alexa, or hey Siri, turn on the living room level 2, and it'll turn on a portion of lights that they want on for that moment. They could walk out, do the same thing. Yeah, in any room, inside, outside, the whole house is controlled essentially by an access point that you can use the internet.

So how much, how much of that is gonna be— how much of AI is gonna be coming into that now? I mean, like, are you guys experiencing that where like the automation is—

No, not quite yet. I'm not really seeing any AI built into it. I mean, we've discussed the idea of it where you put sensors in and you walk into a room and make gestures. Yeah, it would then understand, but that's a program that hasn't been built. I can't believe I just said that.

But yeah, that's something that we could do. Andrew might be able to help you with that.

Yeah, sounds cool.

He's got an AI company.

Yeah, I got some, I got some really good ideas.

Sounds fun.

Yep, spilled one. There's much more where that came from.

All right, but I'm getting the signal from Mary Ann, so like, uh, anything else you want everybody to know? Like how to get a hold of you? Like anything, any other services you want to make sure you're doing right now?

Yeah, uh, yeah, so, uh, I mean really, we're, we're a turnkey full-service electrical contractor, residential and commercial. Uh, there, there's really no stopping what we can do. We do residential, commercial, big things, small things, something kind of in the works with Metro, you know. So there's really no stopping what we're doing right now.

Okay.

My phone number is 281-706-0966. It's my personal cell phone.

There you go.

I don't have the office number memorized.

You'll be getting calls at 2 in the morning if I don't answer texts.

Yeah. That's awesome.

Again, John Wagner with Weil Electric.

I appreciate y'all having me.

Thanks for sitting down, man.

Thanks, man. Absolutely.

Hey, so Alicia was supposed to help me out and she failed. Could you help me? Absolutely. Thank you.

We're definitely going to talk, by the way. I got to know all these. Nice to meet you, brother.

Yeah, good to see you, bud.

Come on down. How's it going, man?

It's, um, I think they're using—

good, how's it going?

Good to see you, man.

Whatever.

Yeah, whatever it is they have back there.

Yeah, yeah.

I'm Andrew, by the way.

Andrew.

Chris.

Nice to meet you, Chris.

Yeah, pleasure.

What's going on, Chris?

What's going on, Brian? Brian, right?

Craig.

Craig!

God dang it!

Brian Williams.

Craig, I knew that. No, no, no. We've met once. It's fine.

Yes.

Yes. I won't hold it against you.

I think I was thinking of Brian Williams, the basketball player for Xavier, a long time ago.

He's way uglier than I am.

Of course he is.

So, okay, so, oh dude, okay, so you got my drink. I'm a little jealous because they just went to go give me another one.

She told me I had to have it over here.

You absolutely have to have it on here. Yeah, so let everybody know who you are and what you do.

Okay, so my name is Chris Halliburton. I am with CMG Home Loans, so I am a lender. Even though CMG is a, you know, pretty big company nationwide, here in Houston we have a local feel. So we love—

you have a local what?

A local feel. Local feel.

Okay.

Yeah, so, you know, when you're meeting with us, we— it's like talking to a family member. At least that's what we want to portray. So, you know, agents clients, investors, insurance people, financial advisors. We help everybody. We talk to everybody. We try to kind of cross-sell, help them build their business as well as them helping us.

100%. Yeah. So, I mean, like, so here's what I know is everybody, like, everybody wants to know where the rates are at right now. I know we hit a low here pretty recently, like a 2-year low. Is that right?

It's about a 2-year low. year low, depending on how you look at it.

But yeah, but like, you got to have good credit, like all this kind of stuff. Like, but that's, that's the question everybody always wants to know. Where's— where are the rates at? I know you get sick of hearing it, but like, everybody wants to know.

Hey, that's the million-dollar question. And, and when you tell people, they are kind of like, oh, they still don't know anything.

Yeah, no, they don't.

Awesome.

So that's why we educate them. But I'll, I'll answer the question. So the rates right now, we're probably looking in the mid to low 6s, but we're hoping the Fed, you know, makes headway a couple of times the rest of the year.

Yeah.

And we can get a solid low 6 to maybe even the top 5.

Because I think they said they're talking about lowering it like 3 or 4 more times just in 2025.

Yeah.

Which, I mean, like, that's, that's a lot of moves.

That's pretty much once a month.

Less than 6 months left in the year, right? I mean, like, it's, it's crazy, right?

Yeah, we'll see if they actually do that. Um, you know, the only thing with that is everybody wants it.

Sure.

But, and I probably shouldn't say this, but remember Remember, when rates get cut, competition comes out. So if you're searching and refinancing, waiting for that, don't wait for that. Do it now, especially on the purchase side, because you're going to be caught in a snowstorm.

Yeah, well, like, what I always try and tell people is like, yeah, you want, you want your rate cut for when you're buying your house, but like, don't come crying to mama when you put your money in the bank to save it and you're getting 2%.

Yes. You know, it's so funny you say that. We actually have a program that can actually, you know, help people take that money that sits and they can roll it into one of our products. It's called an all-in-one. And I tell you, if they do it right with our coaching, right, you can cut that principal, you can cut that interest that you pay literally 2 to 4 times. You can cut it enough to where you can pay off the house within 7, 8 years if you just do it average.

Right.

But the good thing about that is that money that you're paying down it's still liquid, so you can tap back into it as you're going through the years.

Okay.

It's a beautiful place, a beautiful program.

I love it. Okay, so like, what are you— how are you seeing home sales going right now? Because you guys are kind of like the heartbeat of making property move. I mean, how are you seeing home— I mean, like, I know we just hit the end of summer.

Yeah.

So we're not in like the peak season, but I think it seems like things are going a little bit better than they have.

So they're going okay now.

They're going what now?

They're going okay.

Okay, okay.

So the funny thing about it though is the summertime is typically the hot market.

Yeah.

So it was just a lukewarm market, but it's one of those things where, you know, we get through it. I think again everybody's waiting for that rate cut.

Yeah, they're just hoping it'll happen.

They're hoping it'll happen, and it's just like, I get it, don't wait, buy now, because when that cut comes, you could be on the other end of something else happening.

Exactly.

Spend more on that same house that you thought you wanted, now you're fighting And a lot of the research that we've been—

because this is, you know, with the topic of our show, it's something we follow a lot, you know. And we have access to like all the research that's coming out of A&M now. Like, I don't know if you know that they have like the whole home research center.

Oh wow.

At A&M now. And so they're putting out reports almost weekly about the home markets like across the nation. And one of the things, one of the trends that we've been seeing is because so many people got in at like 2% and 3%, right? And then COVID came, and then they needed to move for work. And they're like, I don't want to sell my house because I'm sitting at such a pretty interest rate, and I'm looking at buying, I'm gonna have to pay 7% to 8%.

Right.

Shoot, I'll keep it, put it as a rental property, and then just go buy another one.

Yeah.

And so many people have done that now. And so I think that's part of why we have— we've seen such a demand for homes. And then, you know, compound that with like we had so many builders that just got behind the 8-ball and couldn't produce like they needed to.

Everything was going up at the same time, you know.

Yeah, everything.

Well, and, and like what we've seen is, you know, I mean, like in my regular business and then through the show, like builders are starting to focus on projects that are lower-income housing but are outside. Like specifically here in Texas, I got in a lot of trouble for this statement, by the way. They're, they're building in where they have less regulations.

Oh.

But like people are willing to live that's just a little bit outside of the commute time. And because it's cheaper housing, and it's cheaper housing because here's the statement that got me in trouble, is not every county requires a pretreat. And so they're able to save a lot of money on the build time because they're not having to shut down for guys like me to come in and treat for termites. And, and they're not having to pass that cost on to the consumer. So smaller homes, less build time, less, you know, all those things compound into a more affordable home.

Yeah.

And so those are the projects that they seem to be focusing on, um, you know. So we, we have several like communities that we know that are coming up like in Hockley, you know. Yes, you know.

Yeah, right.

But like people are looking at it going, I'll drive 45 minutes to work.

Yeah.

You know, and it's like you can't blame them because they're, they're paying less of a premium because there's less regulations out there.

Yeah, and we've noticed that shift as well, moving obviously away from the city, going, you know, Katy, even further out. I'm a Kentucky boy, so—

Oh, come on.

I don't, I don't really go too far out.

Wait, wait, wait, wait, what part of Kentucky?

Believe it or not, I'm from Lexington.

Lexington?

Yes. Okay.

But I, I am a Louisville Cardinal.

Okay.

So that kind of gets that— if we were back in Lexington, the music would stop right now.

So my wife was born there.

Okay.

Just last year we went to Mammoth Cave. Oh yeah, yeah, dude.

Man, incredible.

Oh yeah, dude. Have you been there?

I haven't been to Mammoth Cave, at least I haven't as an adult. I may have been when I was younger, I just don't remember it.

But yeah, that was the whole reason we went, was like my wife's nostalgia. She was like, we gotta go see this. And it, like, to her credit, it was incredible.

Kentucky has some nice lands. Oh my God, a lot of nice, nice lands. And even the bluegrass that's not really blue.

Blue. Yeah, I need to look into that. I need to know why it is— why it's called that, why it's called bluegrass.

I've, I've never looked into it personally. Yeah, it's green, but let's just indulge them to make them feel better.

That'll be a ChatGPT conversation for later.

Put it— put in the prompts and see what comes out.

There you go. Oh, I do want to mention something again. Yeah, yeah, you mentioned people having 2% and 3%.

Yeah.

And then going to buy other houses. I don't mean to hog up the time with this.

No, no, no, we haven't got the signal yet.

Come on.

But with this program, that 2% and 3% rate that people are chasing, 5%, 6%, whatever. Yeah, that doesn't matter with this program because again, you're hitting the principal balance first. You're paying that interest. So I say to people, who are like so nervous about giving up that 2 or 3%. Yes, turn that house into a rental. Absolutely. Get as much money as you can. But come talk to me about this program because you'll see time, uh, time is a huge factor. And of course, you know, how you pay that principal balance is the biggest factor. So I'm trying to plug this thing, you know, and I think it's great. I think it's great. So anyway.

Yeah, I, I've been hearing of different like creative finance options for homes. I was talking to a guy the other day. He's a real estate agent. He was working on a program where, you know, the owner can actually kind of in a sense become the lender. You know, it's like lease-to-own. Seller finance.

Yeah.

Well, I mean, like, but like it's a different like sort of contractual obligation where like if you stay in the house for 5 years, then you have the option to pour your lease money back into like a down payment kind of a thing. And then you basically use the equity that they built up in the house to be the down payment. So, which, I mean, like, that's a booger that I think a lot of people try and avoid is, you know, because there's the mortgage insurance.

Yeah.

I mean, that's a booger.

Yeah, it's on there.

And then you add all the other random stuff—

PIDs, MUDs.

It's like, got a lot of stuff that adds up.

Sweet.

Yeah, want to give us a plug? What you're doing, how we can find you, support you?

Absolutely. So I am actually here local in Spring. My office is here local. Let's see, I don't even know what to say. You caught me off guard on that.

Website, phone number?

Yeah, so my website is kind of specific. It's TXmortgagelending.com. And my social media handles, social media handles are Loans by Halli, H-A-L-I, obviously short for Halliburton.

Nice.

My name is Chris Halliburton.

What a last name, by the way, brother.

Boom!

Come on.

You know what's so funny? Real quick, growing up in Kentucky, I lived in Germany for 3 years, but growing up in Kentucky, no one could ever pronounce my last name, so I had to tell them. I come down here and they're like, oh, Halliburton. I'm like, how do you know that?

I was gonna ask, do you, do you like— people are like, oh, Halliburton?

Absolutely.

And they just assume you're loaded?

That's my cousin. I'm like, yeah, that's that old money. That's my, that's my Oh, money. Now my name is with one L, theirs is 2, so I always tell them they cheated me out of an L. That's right, a lot of money, but cool.

Thank you so much, appreciate you being on, brother. Nice to meet you.

You too, you too.

Good to meet you, bud.

Appreciate it, appreciate it. Thanks, guys.

Yes, sir.

Thank you, man.

See, we're getting to meet like famous celebrities.

Celebrities?

Yeah, Mr. Halliburton himself.

He's got, he's got unclaimed money out there somewhere. We got this guy.

This is the guy with the sass, right?

It keeps getting worse and worse.

I've learned a lot about you.

Over the last 5 episodes.

Your name is— your name has come up a couple times.

The rumors are true. Except I'll stop.

Inappropriate comments, insert here. It had something to do with like Lagrange in a Dolly Parton movie. I don't know.

I am not sure what you're talking about, sir, but, um, there we were. I was up to my knees in grenade cans.

Uh, thank you? I think, I think that's me. I think that's you.

Yeah, I think that's you, bud.

It's pretty sure.

Because it seemed inappropriate, so.

So, Brian, you have, in my ears, coined a term that I find endearing for what we're living through right now, and that's squishy.

Soggy squishy.

Soggy squishy.

Yes, sir.

Yeah. So, I mean, like, real quick, let everybody know what you do, but then I want to talk about the soggy squishy.

I own a boutique real estate company that does commercial and residential real estate, and I'm surrounded by absolute angels that are wicked smarter than I am.

I am. All right, so are any of them here tonight?

No, they're smarter than me.

No angels.

They knew not to come.

They're smart.

Yeah, I'm unsupervised, so please forgive me.

We don't let them out in public.

There was mistakes. People will be blamed.

You stay in the lab. All right, so, so talk to me about soggy and squishy. I mean, like, you— I— because the last podcast that we did, we had the lender and the inspector, and we started talking about soggy and squishy, and I don't, I don't know that we got like a firm definition as to like what you mean by that.

Are those puppets?

No, no, no.

Go ahead, go ahead. I'll bring it.

You looked like you were getting excited.

I'm excited.

I love that. So the idea is you look at the amount of active homes that everybody wants to sell, right?

Right.

Then you look at the amount of homes that are, uh, they downgrade their prices or price correction.

Okay.

And those exceed the amount of actives. And then you go back to, which is one quarter value, homes that come on active. So that's a metric that means we're not selling real estate. There are houses are still moving in the Greater Houston area. And again, I'm not gonna trash anybody, but—