Tag Archives : Brigham Young University

If you prefer to view and comment on Facebook vs. the YouTube video above, click here: Facebook Live.

Below is the actual St. George Real Estate Morning Drive show, hosted by St. George Real Estate Agent Jeremy Larkin, word for word! Enjoy and please share if you find it valuable! 

Jeremy Larkin and The Larkin Group @ Keller Williams Realty can be reached by calling 435-767-9821, or emailing sales@gostgeorge.com. 

Andy: These guys have maybe the coolest theme music out there.
Jeremy: Yes, we do.
Andy: St. George Real Estate show with Jeremy Larkin. Jeremy joined today Carl Wright. Guys, I love talking about real estate. I am always kind of in the market for a different house even though I have been in my current house seven years. Maybe you can help me out a little bit.
Jeremy: Listen, I have got some stuff in the $2-3 million range I think you should look at.
Andy: Okay, can I borrow a couple of mill?
Jeremy: Yeah.
Andy: Okay.
Jeremy: Here is the deal. I would happily contribute to your down payment. I cannot say what, but hey, by the way –
Andy: A couple of cows or –
Jeremy: — welcome. Welcome to the show, Andy.
Andy: Thank you, Jeremy. It is great to be here. I have been looking forward to this day for about a week. I have been here what, three times now, sitting and listening to you guys –
Jeremy: Yeah, yeah, this is –
Andy: — but Mike would never let me talk.
Jeremy: No he would not. He would not.
Andy: Now, I get to talk.
Jeremy: Last week was the famed, final, final, the farewell show. Mike is no longer with us. Is that how you say it?
Carl: That is sad.
Andy: Well, I will say this. I called a basketball game with him last night, so I know he is still with us, he is just not with us.
Jeremy: He is with us. Which game did you guys call?
Andy: Pineview Dixie. Three-pointer at the buzzer in overtime. It was a great game.
Jeremy: Wait a minute. Who won?
Andy: Pineview won it.
Jeremy: Oh man.
Carl: Oh wow.
Jeremy: See I was not, literally I was so focused in other things I did not even know they were playing last night, which is sad because I am a Dixie High graduate. And that used to be, that was the rivalry. But the rivalries now, there is a variety of rivalries. It used to be Pineview and, excuse me, it used to be Cedar-Dixie, which was –
Andy: Right.
Jeremy: — when I was young. And then it became Pineview-Dixie. And now there is, there is kind of a variety of rivalries. Isn’t there, Carl? What do you think? What do you think the real rivalry is now?
Carl: Gosh, it is, I think there is a rivalry between everybody now.
Jeremy: Your kids, your kids will go where? Crimson or Desert Hills?
Carl: We will go to the new Crimson.
Jeremy: You will go to Crimson.
Andy: Brand-new school in the fall.
Carl: Brand-new school.
Jeremy: Yeah, so it is has changed. The dynamic has changed. Three-pointer at the buzzer. Good grief. I think I just had a traumatic episode thinking about Jordan and him, the fallaway three-pointer on the Jazz in the 1996 –
Andy: Oh, flashback.
Carl: Thanks for bringing that up.
Andy: Yeah, thanks a lot.
Jeremy: Yeah, we are never going to live that down because genuinely speaking the Jazz are never, ever going to probably have that chance again. I am sorry, guys. It is what it is. It is hard to attract, hey welcome to St. George Real Estate sports show. It is hard to attract, I have said this forever. Now, I am going to beat up on my own state. I was born and raised in St. George, Utah. My father was born and raised in St. George, Utah. So we love, we love this state. We love this city. We love, but it is very hard to attract talent to Utah. Right?
Carl: Agreed.
Jeremy: Because the big stars are not super interested in, and can we just call it what it is, our liquor laws. Our lack of nightlife. Very much like state religious kind of predominance. They are just not interested. And that is the same for BYU and University of Utah. University of Utah has done pretty well, but at the end of the day, I love my state, but it is just hard, right, to attract talent.
Carl: True, but I have to say that Donovan Mitchell has totally –
Jeremy: Yes.
Carl: — revitalized the sports enthusiasm —
Jeremy: Yes.
Carl: Can I say that?
Jeremy: Yes.
Carl: — for the Utah Jazz. I love Donovan Mitchell. I love what he is all about. His on and off the court. He is a great, great face for the Utah Jazz.
Jeremy: Yeah, and they have come along.
Andy: To illustrate your point a little bit, Rudy Gobert should be an all-star right now. He did not get it, and I think, more than anything, is because he plays in Utah and not in New York City or LA or –
Jeremy: Bingo.
Andy: — somewhere else. And that is another reason why the great talent is not going to sign –
Jeremy: Not. It is, it is frustrating.
Andy: Yeah.
Jeremy: That is okay. That is okay. Here we are. We are here. We are live. St. George Real Estate Morning Drive. I am Jeremy Larkin, the host of the program. I have got, by the way, if you look on Facebook it says the insanely handsome Carl Wright. By the way, the insanely handsome Carl Wright joins us to share some trends that are not being told or shared, I should have said shared, by any other real estate professionals in town. And the reason I say this, it is not that it is going to be that controversial, but it is what we have been talking about, and there is this kind of, remember when you were a kid and you plugged your ears and said I am not listening, I am not listening –
Carl: Right.
Jeremy: — to your brother, sister, sibling, cousin. There is a lot of that going on right now in Washington County. A lot of I am not listening, I am not listening, I am not listening. Gang, we are inviting you this morning to actually save yourself a whole bunch of pain in 2019 by listening to what we have to say in this program. And the question that might come up, are they going to tell us that the market is crashing? No.
Andy: No.
Jeremy: No, but, but, right, Carl? But there is information that people need to know if they want to make a good decision this year.
Carl: Totally.
Jeremy: We are happy to be here. I am happy to have Carl here. Happy to have Andy Griffin here, who is not the new Mike McGary. He is Andy Griffin, and he is going to be fantastic. You moved here from where?
Andy: I have been in Southern Utah for 25 years. I grew up in Texas. In high school, my parents, much to my chagrin, moved to Salt Lake County and I told them flat out I am not going. I am staying here. I am going to stay with my friends. But when you are 14, 15 years old, you really do not get that choice.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Andy: So they actually sent me off to a camp and moved while I was gone.
Jeremy: Nice.
Andy: I no longer had a home.
Jeremy: You were strong when you said you were not going even though you were going.
Andy: Yeah.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Andy: Exactly. And then, I have been kicking around Utah. Spent one year, way northern Idaho, Moscow, Idaho on a (indiscernible) there. The thing I did not like about Idaho is the thing I love about here. The clouds rolled in October and did not leave until March. It was gloomy. It is cold out there, guys, but it is a glorious, sun shiny day. I love it.
Jeremy: It is. I am a big mountain biker. And I would happily go out this afternoon, get a beautiful ride in, put an extra layer one. It is going to be high 40s. That is a cold day, but not a big deal. Right? By the way, Bryant Head Ski Resort, I have, just so everyone knows how I operate. The Bryant Head webcam is typically pulled up on, there you go, Carl. On my computer.
Andy: Oh wow.
Jeremy: It is just always up. Bryant Head, check this out. So I was up there over the weekend. They had 10 inches Saturday night, and I thought well, that was nice. They have had 35 inches since then. So 45 inches, almost four feet. Eagle Point Ski Resort is at 31 inches. Storm total. So if you are wanting to get up there and get some skiing in –
Carl: It is a good time.
Jeremy: — or snowboarding, I have got to say –
Carl: That is the wonderful thing about St. George is that you can enjoy —
Jeremy: Right. That is why –
Carl: — you can enjoy the sunshine and not having to shovel your walks, but 45 minutes you can be on the slopes.
Jeremy: Yeah, gang, I have absolutely biked and skied in the same day in St. George.
Andy: Nice.
Jeremy: Many times.
Andy: Nice.
Jeremy: So you can do that, and that is kind of why I segued that. I thought how fun is this that Bryant Head, by the way, an hour and twenty up, typically I am an hour and twenty up and an hour and fifteen down. It is always just a little quicker coming down. That is pretty static. I am an 85 guy on the freeway, cruise control, and it is an hour and twenty minutes to that resort, and I am talking on a stormy day it is an hour twenty. It is just kind of an hour twenty to go up there. So check that out if you are looking for some fun this weekend, but welcome, Andy. Where do you live now, by the way?
Andy: I live in Washington City.
Jeremy: Washington City.
Andy: Yep, a new subdivision. Hobble Creek subdivision, and I have a beautiful home and really enjoy it. My only complaint is where our backyard backs up to 300 East there in Washington, so we are kind of looking to get something that is a little more secluded, a little off the busy road.
Jeremy: You know exactly what he is talking about.
Carl: I do.
Jeremy: Yeah. I know people who can help you. But –
Andy: I know you do.
Jeremy: — do that when you are ready to do that.
Andy: Yep.
Jeremy: Carl Wright. Welcome aboard.
Carl: Thank you for having me.
Jeremy: Yeah, I am happy to have you. We are going to have, so this is fun. We are going to have Carl today, and then we are going to have Carl and his entire team at my office at noon. His team, our team. Carl is with R1 Appraisals here in town. By the way, I need to have you guys go measure a home in New Harmony. That is after show, but –
Carl: Right.
Jeremy: — just so you know.
Carl: Love to do it.
Jeremy: We are listing an incredible, oh my goodness, incredible home in New Harmony. We will be placing this home on the market hopefully in the next week, and amazing views. Almost 5,000 square feet. Pretty cool home. So it has an entire detached guest house –
Carl: Wow.
Jeremy: — and when I went in it, it is like country home, like going into my home I grew up in with my mother. It is interesting, Carl, this is probably a great way to start this off, is they had the home on the market for six months with another agent, and they are very frustrated. Right? With an agent from Cedar City. So if you are in New Harmony, I want you to think through this. They listed the home with a guy from Cedar City because it was geographically closer by the mileage. But the issue is New Harmony is not in Iron County. It is in?
Carl: Washington.
Andy: Washington.
Jeremy: Bingo. So what they did is they hired somebody on the Iron County MLS to sell a home that is actually in Washington County. Now I am sure the home was on both Multiple Listing Services. And when we list your property and sell a property, we are always on Washington, Iron, and Wasatch MLS. We kind of go for the trifecta. But they were frustrated and then as we dug into this, it looked like everything was fine, and at a glance. So we do what is called a home marketing audit. And by the way, if you are selling a home right now, very quick plug, but it is not selling. That is the key is if your home is on the market and it is not selling and you are frustrated, I invite you to visit, this is kind of fun, we have a page that we have never talked about. It is called Why My Home Won’t Sell dot com. Literally. Why My Home Won’t Sell dot com. Go in there and plug in your critical information. This is not a solicitation of your listing. It is what called a home marketing audit. Maybe you are someone whose home just came off of the market, and it did not sell. Right? Let us know, and what we do is we just do an audit. And the audit is we look at three factors, which are marketing, condition, and pricing. And then, Carl, you know because you are a professional appraiser, that underneath those three, that canopy of three are probably another fifteen items. Right? So either marketing, the story that was told about your home was not compelling enough or it was not told to enough people. The condition, either the condition, the staging, or the location or all three were such that it was not compelling to a buyer. And or, and maybe all three factors were present, or the price of your home was such that either just buyers said sorry, there is something better for us at that price. Or maybe it was bracketed in a way that they did not, they did not see it. But we did this audit, and what do you think we found when we started looking through the square footage? The main floor was wrong. The basement was wrong. The upstairs was wrong. It was not reflective of a guest house. There is an entire detached guest house that is completely legal on the property that is about $150,000 to build that was not advertised.
Carl: Not presented. Yeah.
Jeremy: So it looked like everything was fine at a glance. I said, man, I do not know why this home has not sold. Then when we dug into it, so how often do you see data, Carl, as a professional appraiser that is just not accurate?
Carl: Oftentimes. Our job as an appraiser is to sift through all of the information that is out there and try to come up with a realistic value. We are looking at everything from marketing time. We are looking at the square footage. That is why we do not ever rely on what the county says or the, as far as square footage, bedroom, bathroom count. That is why we go in and we assess the property. We measure the property so we know what your square footage is. We will come up with your bedroom bathroom count. We look at your condition, the quality. We look at from your roof to your foundation and everything in between to determine how the market reacts to what components you have in your home, and then we come up with a value.
Jeremy: Okay, so this is kind of a fun question. Real estate agents, typically when they go to put a home on the market, they pull the square footage from where?
Carl: They usually use the county.
Jeremy: Correct. They just go to the tax records, and they go well, it says it is 4100 feet. How many appraisals have you done in your life, because you go out and you laser measure, you digitally measure where the square footage you actually measured in real life matched the county?
Carl: Hardly ever. It is usually —
Jeremy: Like 5%?
Carl: — maybe, I would say less than 5%. We are usually a little bit smaller –
Jeremy: Crazy, right?
Carl: — a little bit bigger than what the county says, which is, we use the outside measurements. You use ANSI standard of measurement, which means we measure from the outside corner to the outside corner. So we are usually a little bit bigger than what the county says, which is beneficial to people who are selling their home because then you get the actual square footage of what an appraiser is going to be using as their measurement, and then you can market your home at a slightly larger –
Jeremy: Right.
Carl: — so it behooves you a little bit to get an appraisal or have somebody come measure your home to determine what your actual square footage is.
Jeremy: Well, and Robert MacFarlane commented, good morning, Robert, it was missing almost 900 square feet.
Carl: Wow.
Jeremy: And it was 6 months on the market.
Carl: That is –
Jeremy: Ooops.
Carl: Let’s just say $100 a foot, right? That is $90,000 that they misrepresented in that.
Jeremy: Yeah, so this is kind of crazy. We are doing something we have not done in a while. We are taking this property on that was listed by another agent, and they came to us after it was no longer on the market. We are raising the price.
Carl: Wow.
Jeremy: And we do not do this very often, but we are actually going to, we believe that we can sell this home for more money than they were asking previously.
Carl: Wow. And that goes against the trend I am seeing right now, Jeremy.
Jeremy: Yep.
Carl: As I have looked at the market and looked at trends, we look at, as appraisers, we look heavily at absorption rates and months of housing supply and things like that. Something very interesting that I am seeing right now is 2018, there was a perfect storm. There were, interest rates were good. It was like the jet was taking off the runway –
Jeremy: Oh yeah.
Carl: — and we built speed all the way until September about, and I was talking to my business partner, Nick –
Jeremy: This is exactly what I noticed.
Carl: — and this is exactly how Nick put it is that the jet took off in September and started to level off in September of 2018, and now we are gliding.
Jeremy: Yep.
Carl: We are in a gliding mode right now, and we are in a transitional from being a seller’s market to a buyer’s market. We are seeing more months, more time on market. We are going from about a two-month inventory of homes to a three-and-a-half-month inventory of homes in the greater St. George area.
Jeremy: So let me throw a perspective in here. And when Carl talks about months of supply, right, or absorption rates, what he is saying is well, two months’ supply is really simple. It is how long, there was enough housing that if no one else listed a property, now I want, this is really important, if no one else put their home on the market, it would have taken two months to sell them all. Correct?
Carl: Correct.
Jeremy: The simplest way to look at it?
Carl: Correct.
Jeremy: Well now he is saying well now, we are at three-and-a-half. This is what throws people off. Three-and-a-half-months’ supply is still really strong market. It is a really strong market. But the issue is we are talking about the inventory going from two to three and a half. Right? Three and a half does not sound like a lot, but an increase from two months to three and a half months is a gigantic increase.
Carl: It is a big increase.
Jeremy: Make sense, you guys?
Andy: Yeah.
Jeremy: It is not like three and a half is a big supply. It is going from two to three and a half is a massive jump.
Carl: Yeah, and I found some more statistics. I was looking at the Washington Fields area, this is right where you live, Craig. In the Washington Fields area, I was looking at homes –
Jeremy: Or Andy.
Carl: Andy. Sorry.
Jeremy: Craig just walked out.
Carl: That is right. I am sorry, Andy. I apologize.
Andy: That is okay. No worries.
Jeremy: Craig is on his way back to Parowan to play in the snow.
Carl: Washington Fields, 2000 to 2500 square feet, the months of housing supply 12 months ago was 3.26. Right now, currently, there are 6.25 months of supply in Washington Fields between 2000 and 2500 square feet.
Jeremy: But I thought Washington Fields was one of the best markets in town?
Carl: It is one of the best markets in town, but that means everybody is trying to sell their home, and so if you are going to be competitive, if you have got your home listed right now, you really need to analyze do I really want to sell my home. If I really want to sell my home, then I probably should reduce the price by, I would say, by 5%.
Jeremy: Bingo, brother. What did I say to you on the phone when we chatted?
Carl: Yep.
Jeremy: 5%. Let me share something with folks here. Carl, I have got the Multiple Listing Service pulled up. Since January 1st, have you looked at how many properties I have listed, by the way? Washington County. And of course, I should say Washington County. This includes Iron County because it is on our Multiple Listing Service. So bear with me for a second. I am going to come in here to location and I am going to say Washington County since the first of the year. Now remember, folks, when you go to sell your property, you are saying I have the best home. Hey, I looked around. I looked at every, Andy, I was over there off of 300 East in Washington, I looked around. I feel like I have the best house on the quarter mile. That is nice. Here is the issue. 724 properties hit the market in Washington County since January 1st.
Andy: Wow.
Jeremy: 700 competitors. Right? Sounds about accurate?
Carl: Yep.
Jeremy: That is what MLS is telling me.
Carl: Yep.
Jeremy: And by the way, I am talking about homes. I am not even talking about lots. If I talked about lots and water shares, there is another how many you think? A couple hundred?
Carl: Couple hundred.
Jeremy: 724 properties hit the market in Washington County since January 1st. Right? That is 700 new competitors that came to the market. Andy, how long have you lived in that house?
Andy: Seven years.
Jeremy: So you have been there seven years. The reason I asked is that is what I thought you said. A lot of our listeners have been in their property 5-7 years, 7-10 years, because a lot of people moved into the market. Right, Carl? Like ’05, ’06, ’07, ’08. Some of them ’10. But here is what is interesting. Values have come up since seven years ago in Washington County, Carl, what percentage you think?
Carl: I think we are right around 40%, 36%.
Jeremy: Since then. Close to 40%. So while Carl is telling us a story that is accurate and he is telling the truth, inventory is almost doubling. It doubled in Washington Fields. Right? We went from three to six months. At the same time, if I had told you seven years ago that your home value would go up 40%, the home values would go up 40%, how many homes would you have bought?
Carl: Everything.
Jeremy: Every one of them, right?
Carl: (Indiscernible) Right.
Jeremy: You would have bought all the $5 bills for $3 that you could have purchased. Okay?
Carl: Yep.
Jeremy: Right? Which is the math.
Andy: Makes sense.
Jeremy: We are saying hey, I have got a sale on $5 bills. They are on sale for $3. How many do you want? I want them all.
Carl: Yep.
Jeremy: But we did not know that. Did we?
Carl: Right.
Jeremy: So talk to me about a trend here because seven years, I would love, I love that you are in studio at seven years. What seems to kind of happen every 6-8 years, Carl?
Carl: Usually, it trends up for seven years and then it trends down. And you look at –
Jeremy: It is biblical, by the way. Seven years of famine. Seven years of planting.
Carl: Right. If you look at the trends, we crashed in the third quarter of 2007. That is when the trend started to go downward here in Washington County. And it went down until 2011. In 2012, we started the trend upward, and how it went, what is the math? Seven years. 2012 is when we started to trend upward. Now, I am not saying there is going to be a big crash. I do not think there is going to be a crash, but we are going to be gliding through 2019.
Jeremy: How many appraisals have you done? You and your company?
Carl: Our company, since we have opened up in 2008, we almost 21,000 here in Washington County.
Jeremy: We have two minutes. Two and a half minutes. I want that to settle in for people. I have got Carl on the show today. 21,000 appraisals. You might want to listen. Right? You might want to listen. Here is what is so fun for me. Everything you are saying is echoing what I have been saying, which clearly makes me feel pretty happy this morning. So 5% across the board. We feel like values are probably 5% overcooked. We have seen inventory in Washington Fields double. Where else? Where else is inventory going up? Everywhere.
Carl: Everywhere. Everywhere, but not to be alarmed. I do not want this to be people that panic and think that there is, that I need to make a huge, a 5% price reduction is not a very big price reduction.
Jeremy: If I am a seller, what do I do today because I want to sell and take advantage of a great market?
Carl: You want to reduce it 5%. It is like chasing that ball down the –
Jeremy: We talked about this.
Carl: We talked about this. You do not, you just want to get ahead of the ball. It is going to calm down. Usually, our market is spurred by the Parade of Homes which is coming up next weekend. A lot of buyers come in. So we are going to see some more buying right in the next near future.
Jeremy: 60 days.
Carl: 60 days. And so, I suspect that jet is just going to coast through 2019. I do not see a big fall. I do not see a big rise. I see it stable for the next year.
Jeremy: What if somebody says I really do not trust my agent? I want to call you and get a third-party appraisal. What is it going to cost them and how do they call you?
Carl: We have got a variety of products that we offer people from $200 to $400 for a full appraisal for a typical home. If your home is a little bit bigger, we charge a little bit more, but that will give you a full valuation of letting us come in, and like you said, give you a diagnostic of why your house is not selling.
Jeremy: Yeah, and by the way guys, we talked about this fun website. I almost forgot for a while that we had even created it. We created it years ago. When the market was crashing, we created this page called Why My Home Won’t Sell dot com. And when you go there, it is just a home marketing audit. And all you do is plug in your information, and then what we do is not a solicitation of a listing. I want to be very clear about that. We simply look at three categories: price, condition, and marketing. And we diagnose it. Right? We do an audit. I know no one likes an audit. But guess what? Would you, again, Carl, if I told you seven years ago that your value had come up, and Andy and everyone in this room, 40%, you would have said are you serious? But people want their value to have come up 45% and now they are frustrated. Are people going to miss out on this market because they are clinging onto last summer?
Carl: Yes, they will.
Jeremy: It is going to happen.
Carl: You have got to look forward.
Jeremy: How do they call you, Carl?
Carl: Our phone number is 435-627-0019. You can talk to anyone of our appraisers, me, Nick Lyman, Evan Wilkins, Jerry Johnson, Kenny Rawlings. We have got a whole crew over there that can help you.
Jeremy: Yep, R1. Literally, R the letter, 1 the number. You can Google it. Thank you, Carl.
Carl: Thank you for having me, Jeremy. Appreciate it. It is always a pleasure.
Andy: Jeremy Larkin with St. George Real Estate here on News Radio 94.9, 890, KDXU. Thanks, Jeremy.

After 41 years total on air… 35 in STG… 22 years on the open mic and nearly 5 years as our in studio co-host and guest, The great Mike McGary signs off on his final show! Today we ask him about the highlights (and low lights ) of thousands of shows, 4 AM wake ups, and being nagged by the public about their favorite city or county complaints! It’s been a great ride, cheers to you and your career and to your next phase! 🥂🙏🏼👊🏼

Jeremy: … of the morning, and what we are going to do Jesse is we are actually going to want to back that up because we want to capture Mike. I did not let you know that. Yeah, we are going to want to back that up.
Jesse: I was trying to, but he would not turn around.
Jeremy: It is okay. It is okay.
Mike: I told him to back my (indiscernible)
Jeremy: Just back it up. Well, I know, well you know what, there were words inserted there, that was very nice by the way. So the back of you is your best asset. I know, I get it. I hope your wife is listening this morning. Jeremy Larkin, host of the St. George Real Estate Morning Drive. Do you want to hear what I put on Facebook Live?
Mike: I do not know. Do I? Okay sure.
Jeremy: I got some information from Bart Taylor. Now, I hope I did not get it wrong. After 41 total years on the air, yeah?
Mike: Yeah.
Jeremy: 35 in St. George, 22 years on the open program, and nearly five years as our co-host.
Mike: That is right. We are probably four.
Jeremy: Yeah. The great Mike McGary signs off on his final show. Today we ask him about the highlights and lowlights, and I am sure there have been plenty of lowlights, of thousands of shows, 4am wakeups, and being nagged by the public about their favorite city or county complaints.
Mike: That has happened, yeah.
Jeremy: Because they are hoping you can get the pothole fixed out there in front of their home.
Mike: Well, I have connections.
Jeremy: I know you do.
Mike: I know the people.
Jeremy: The mayor is coming in. So who will be on with you for the last Open Mike?
Mike: My family actually.
Jeremy: Are they really coming in?
Mike: My wife is coming in.
Jeremy: That is so good.
Mike: I have three sons who are in town. My daughter will be on the phone, and my brother is here. So it is all good.
Jeremy: This is so good.
Mike: It is going to be good.
Jeremy: This is so good. So guys, I am Jeremy Larkin. I am the host of the St. George Real Estate Morning Drive, and we are going to talk, this is fun today for me. This is such a great break from just real estate talk. So we are going to have two minutes of real estate talk. I want to remind our friends and clients that our, we call it the Dollar Menu, the Dollar Menu expires today. So we did this program for a month where if you are buying a home in St. George and you hire us to represent you, you can qualify to sell your home for a buck. A dollar. How many clients did we have? Five? Five this month? Something like that. Something.
Jesse: Five, yeah.
Jeremy: Something like that.
Jesse: I think so.
Jeremy: So the funny part is people go what is the catch? Well, the catch is you need to buy another home in St. George. That is fine.
Jesse: Right.
Jeremy: That is the catch. There is no other catch. It is a dollar. So we will see settlement statements at the title company that say listing brokerage commission $1, and it expires today. We said we would do it only for January. We committed we would do it only for January, and we are doing it only for January.
Jesse: Right.
Jeremy: Okay, so we will be shooting an email out to our database this morning, but if you have questions about that, pick up the phone and call us after the show. Or you can call us right now if you want. Someone will answer probably.
Jesse: Yeah, probably.
Jeremy: 275-1690. 275-1690 or google The Larkin Group, and just, gosh, contact us. So that is number one. The $1 listing program does end today, and if you do not qualify for the $1 program, you will qualify for our, we had two things going. We had what we called Christmas in January, which is our up to $10,000 savings program and you will qualify. So get in on it. If you thought about selling your home, as a matter of fact, if you are planning to sell your home in February, and this is what tips you over, then let it tip you over. You do not have to list your home today. You could not list your home today. We could not –
Jesse: You could not get it all done and do it right.
Jeremy: We could not fill out the paperwork and photograph your home and bring our staging consultant through and all that stuff. Okay. So thank you, Robert MacFarlane for the, I look sharp, brother, or are you talking to Jesse? I guess you were talking to me. Secondarily, the Best of Southern Utah. So St. George News is running the Best of Southern Utah, and I want to just prep all of our listeners that we are, we will be vying for the title of Best Real Estate Team in southern Utah. So be aware. I think we are ten or maybe even fourteen days out from voting, but we have been nominated and we want this. Kevin Chavez, we know this town. Yes, we do. Yes, we do, my friend.
Jesse: That is going to be pretty cool. How do we go vote? Who votes?
Jeremy: There will be a link. The public can vote, and the public can vote every single day, and we will have a link that will be produced that will be something like the Best of Southern Utah dot com the Larkin Group. I do not know what it is. They will provide it for us.
Jesse: Cool.
Jeremy: That is the deal. Real estate sales, by the way, in southern Utah are strong, folks. Strong. If you have not been on our YouTube channel, we put some great content out there talking about the market being really great, just not quite as great as some people want.
Jesse: Well, and not as great as it has been.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Jesse: It is starting to stabilize.
Jeremy: But not as great as it has been for who?
Jesse: For sellers.
Jeremy: For sellers.
Jesse: For buyers, this is great.
Jeremy: See buying and selling is like a marriage. And if only one person is happy that is usually a recipe for disaster. Right?
Jesse: I never thought about it that way.
Jeremy: Yeah, so sellers were really happy last summer –
Jesse: Yeah.
Jeremy: — because they could do whatever they wanted. They could like run over the, they could pull up their car on to the front lawn and kick stuff over and just kind of be reckless teenagers —
Jesse: Right.
Jeremy: — and say I want what I want. But that is not a healthy real estate market. So, the market is better than it really virtually been in a decade, yet we have some sellers who are saying well, maybe I just will not sell my home because I cannot get what I want. And if you go to our YouTube channel, YouTube dot com slash Go St. George TV, couple of videos you are going to want to watch where I talk about the fact that people will look back on this time and they will say I did not want to sell because of what? Because I could not get what?
Jesse: I could not get what I wanted. I could not get the right price.
Jeremy: Yeah, and if I sell, then I will have to buy what?
Jesse: At the high price.
Jeremy: Yeah. What they did not take into account is what they cannot control, which is interest rates.
Jesse: Interest rates. I have that conversation all the time because people think well, man, I just cannot do that. I cannot, unless you went through that whole scenario really strategizing with a mortgage guy and –
Jeremy: And a good agent.
Jesse: — and a good agent, you really do not know what you can or what you are costing yourself if you do not.
Jeremy: Yeah, yeah, I promise you whatever you read on Zillow or whatever, it was not enough for you to actually run through all of your options.
Jesse: If you are thinking about a three, $400,000 investment, it is probably pretty important to really go down the whole road of investigation.
Jeremy: What are all of my options? Right?
Jesse: Well, yeah right. What are they?
Jeremy: Because –
Jesse: You could stay, you could sell, you could refinance, you could rent that one out and buy another one. There are all kinds of stuff you could do.
Jeremy: Because if you want to move, let’s pretend that interest rates pop up to 6% in two years. You will look back and it will be a regretful moment –
Jesse: Yeah.
Jeremy: — because now your mortgage payment will be two or three hundred dollars higher and you do not have any control over that. All right. So again, call us, 275-1690 to take advantage of our Christmas in July, July, January slash dollar menu. Or just to talk about your situation and have us strategize. Okay, Mike. Here we go. Let’s do this.
Mike: Yes.
Jesse: Here is the man.
Jeremy: So 41 years, 35 years in St. George.
Mike: In St. George, yeah.
Jeremy: Okay, so give us the best and the worst. What are a couple of highlights from being on the air this long?
Mike: Well, that I had a job and paycheck for all that time. I guess would be pretty good. My career is, I think, has been too fast and at number one that is on the air. It is the news. It is the morning show. The other half has been the sports, and I have been involved in sports for nearly that same length of time. I am going to go there first because it is easy.
Jeremy: Calling games for who?
Mike: For, I did it for Dixie College slash Dixie State University now. Traveled with the team for twenty years. In fact, yesterday on the show I had former coaches, great coaches on the air with me. I had Dave Rose, now the head coach at BYU.
Jeremy: Correct.
Mike: And the head BYU baseball coach, Mike Littlewood, who was also here.
Jeremy: Oh, that is cool.
Mike: So I had them on the air.
Jeremy: By the way, where is Croshaw now?
Mike: He is semi-retired, kind of helping out here and there.
Jeremy: He is still here.
Mike: He is still in the town. Oh yeah, he lives here.
Jeremy: Okay. I knew he was involved with –
Mike: So anyway, got the opportunity of calling four national championships on the junior college level, two of which Dixie won.
Jeremy: Were you at the, do you go back as far as ’85 or no?
Mike: No.
Jeremy: That was pre-you.
Mike: I actually came here in ’84, but the great man Larry Jewell was still the voice.
Jeremy: It was Larry Jewell. Okay. That is, I was ten years old and I was at the game in Wichita, Kansas. We stayed, this was so great. I was ten years old and we stayed at the Holiday Inn Holodome, and the Holodome in the 80s was a thing because it has a miniature golf course and an arcade and a pool inside.
Mike: Right. Right.
Jeremy: And I was like –
Mike: Wow. You have reached the top, huh?
Jeremy: We really arrived. We drove all the way to Wichita. So Larry Jewell.
Mike: Larry Jewell. I actually, my claim to fame –
Jeremy: That takes me back.
Mike: — I ran the board here in St. George.
Jeremy: There you go.
Mike: So I heard that, but I got to do the national championship in 2001, Andy? Andy did it with me by the way. Andy Griffin over in the corner there.
Jeremy: So good.
Mike: So I got to call a national basketball championship, which Dixie won. I got to call in 2004 the national championship baseball which Dixie won. The only downer was that the Dixie football team twice played in a national championship for junior colleges, both here in town, both at the Rotary Bowl, and they lost both to the same team.
Jeremy: Yes.
Mike: Kind of rough one. (Indiscernible)
Jeremy: You know that stinks. Amen, and I remember that well. And the Rotary Bowl always ends up being freezing because by about two o’clock the sun is past the stadium –
Mike: Going down.
Jeremy: Right and then you are on the concrete. So yeah, you were involved in some really cool stuff.
Mike: Really cool stuff, and I could go on and on obviously, and I have been at, I really do not know. I have been very fortunate, a number of state championships. Thank you, Region 9.
Jeremy: Yeah, tons. Tons.
Mike: They have been super. Baseball, basketball, football. Region 9 teams have won them all multiple times. So I have been able to be there and call those games as well.
Jeremy: Do you have any idea how many games? Could you guestimate how many games that you have done live color commentary for?
Mike: Andy and I were actually trying to figure this out. And we, our best estimate, over 3,000.
Jeremy: Over, over 3000 games, and what is baffling to me is when I listen to you or anyone else calling a game. Hey it is Smith to Stout and Stout to McFarthen. I am looking at (indiscernible)
Mike: Right.
Jeremy: And it is Jesse. Jesse Poll, he is really great junior out of Wichita, Kansas. He has been doing a great job. Oh, hey we have got a fumble. It is like you really get good at that, right?
Mike: I do not want to give away all of my secrets. No, you kind of get into a flow of things and there is no doubt. I had all kinds of notes. I did not make the pro-level where they have a little insert in your ear and there is some guy in your ear going it is Bob Smith with the tackle. I never had that. I may have had Andy going Bob Smith and he would punch me in the side.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Mike: You get a feel. You get to learn from it. So many games over the years. It has been incredible.
Jeremy: 3000 games. Oh and I have heard Mike for so long, so long. I used to listen to all the Dixie State University games when they were on the road.
Mike: Twenty years I traveled with Dixie.
Jeremy: Twenty years. Yeah, that is incredible. So 4am is typical wake up time?
Mike: Probably 4:30, I guess. I have to be in studio by no later than 5:30. Well, until this week, and I sleep in a little bit. But anyway, to get here and get things set up and get ready to go. There is lots of prep prior to, so sometimes I do it the day before so I can –
Jeremy: The key is Mike has figured out, I figured out something that I learned from Mike. He did not realize I learned it from him. Mike lives literally two minutes –
Mike: Yes.
Jeremy: It is exactly two minutes is what I would estimate over the hill. Like he just drives up the street and comes down and parks. Then I decided, of course, a year ago to move two minutes from my office.
Mike: And it works.
Jeremy: It is incredible because I leave for leadership meetings at 7:28 that start at 7:30. That kind of stuff. Or I will show up in my, I shot a live video on Facebook yesterday from my bike trainer, and I got off at 7:25, and then I went into the office to a meeting. Because I could just run home and shower. It is no big deal. So, this is amazing. 3000 games. All these years on the air with the Open Mike Show. Who do you remember, is there anyone that you remember specifically that came in the studio beside the people that you like locally? You love interviewing the mayors –
Mike: And there have been a lot of good ones locally. It has been fun over the years. But –
Jeremy: What stands out in your mind?
Mike: I think a couple of politicians who have come down. I mentioned this the other day. I have interviewed all, the last six governors of the state of Utah –
Jeremy: Wow.
Mike: — going back to, wow, now I cannot think of his name. My mind just went blank right there.
Jeremy: I am thinking back to Norm Bangerter.
Mike: Right prior to Norm Bangerter. Norm Bangerter ws the second one. Anyway, right up until our current mayor here. Or governor, excuse me. That has been a lot of fun. I have been able to interview some well-known athletes here on the this one, and one of the fun ones I did was Joe Namath.
Jeremy: Oh wow.
Mike; Now, it was not during his, during the heyday of his career mind you. He was a little bit older, but he was fun. That was probably one of the funner ones.
Jeremy: And he was cool and respectful.
Mike: He was very good. Very respectful, very neat to have around. I think some of the highlights have just been sometimes you would not think this, they would come in and we would get talking and we would get into the best of discussions. And I have discussed all kinds of political things, all kinds of local events, and I have really enjoyed it.
Jeremy: By the way –
Mike: Yes.
Jeremy: Scott Matheson.
Mike: Scott Matheson, thank you.
Jeremy: I looked. Do you know, who was the first governor of the state of Utah? People, this is a funny one. I would not even have thought of this.
Mike: I was from Idaho, so I did not know this.
Jeremy: I would not have even thought of this. Brigham Young.
Mike: Okay.
Jeremy: Thank you, Wikipedia.
Mike: There you go.
Jeremy: Isn’t that interesting? Brigham Young was the first governor of the state of Utah. So these guys come in, I do not know who will ever hear this. Is there anyone you remember that was like a pain? And obviously if it is someone local, you cannot name it. Is there anyone that you have spoken with that you said, okay, that guy or gal, that was a problem?
Mike: Yea, I have had interviews when they, it just did not go well. And this is going to sound really sexist, and I know this, but I am sorry. But years ago, they brought in the winners of the local queen pageant. And here is what I ask, and I do not think I am going to be able to remember this, so I can say it again. I just, well, it is good to have you in, first of all. And your name is so-and-so. I just want to get a feel. Which part of the area do you live in? And she looked at me and she said, I do not understand the question.
Jeremy: This is so good.
Mike: Let me just tell you the 20-minute interview became seven minutes and we were out of there. Sometimes people are so nervous. They do not know what to say.
Jeremy: I do not think it is sexist. It is just what happens.
Mike: It is just what happens. That was a tough one. I have done a lot of politicians and that has been fun because of the local races. We tried to bring all the candidates and interview them. They range from being really good. The thing is, whether they are good on the air or not does not mean they are a good or not a good candidate. So I hope people realize that.
Jeremy: Hey, Jesse, which, here we go. Which area are you in? Hurricane, just say Hurricane.
Jesse: I think I am in Hurricane. Is it Hurrican or Hurricane?
Jeremy: Did that come over the air? I did not mean my whisper. That is incredible. Which area are you from? I do not understand the question. That does remind me of some snafus of the like I do not, is it the Miss Universe. There have been some funny –
Mike: There has been some big time.
Jesse: We have had some on this because Jeremy never tells me what he is going to be talking about. And I get asked these questions and I am like –
Jeremy: He has pulled up lame a couple times, but I love him. I love him. Man, I love the guy. What would you, that is so incredible, so what do you feel like, what is the biggest challenge of doing what you have done? What is the hardest part? There has to be hardest part.
Mike: I think really kind of feel like I am at least semi-prepared for whatever may come up that day. Now, I will never know everything, but I try to look, I try to get a feel, especially when it comes to the talk show portion of the day because I always, I feel like somebody is going to call up and ask a question. So I will go through the paper, well, not the paper anymore. I go through the internet, I bring it up on line, I look at things. I may only know the headline, but if someone calls and says hey did you see this? You bet. I did. Isn’t that amazing that that happened? I have no idea what the rest of the story –
Jeremy: And they will tell you what the story is.
Mike: And they will tell me. What would you think about it? And then we can get into a discussion. There are little ways of doing it.
Jeremy: Yeah, you are giving away a trade secret. I think it is interesting because I hear about Rush Limbaugh or these guys, he loves to ruffle the papers on the air.
Mike: Yes, yes.
Jeremy: But yeah, they have stacks of stuff because they are kind of going I could get into anything today.
Mike: Right.
Jeremy: Now, of course, those guys have the benefit of a call screener.
Mike: Absolutely. We tried that once here.
Jeremy: Did you really?
Mike: Yeah, it did not really work out well.
Jeremy: So you get caught, you are on the spot, you do the Open Mike program here at nine o’clock.
Mike: Yeah.
Jeremy: Is this the family?
Mike: Yep. There is, looks like my wife is out there. That is my son –
Jeremy: Oh, this is so fun.
Mike: — you can see there.
Jeremy: This is so fun. We are looking on the little –
Mike: It is a little entry video.
Jeremy: It is an entry video. That, by the way, that, that TV monitor was brought here by NASA in 1968.
Mike: That is mine. Just kidding.
Jeremy: That is incredible. He is like that is how I watch, stream Netflix.
Mike: That is right.
Jeremy: But these folks call in, let’s talk about the Open Mike program for a minute.
Mike: Sure.
Jeremy: What have people most complained to you about? What is the most typical, because it is kind of like the vent in the spectrum.
Mike: Yes, it is. It is. I will tell you honestly it is national politics, national politics. People want to talk about what the President is doing, what the Congress is doing or not doing. What is good, what is bad, and a little bit unfortunately, the split we see in the nation is right here in this area. I have tried to interject other programs involving more local. Now there are some good local issues. Water is always a great local issue. Growth is always a great local issue, but over and all, they seem to like to talk about the national, and one thing that was surprising to me. I have trouble getting on state issues. They do not want to talk about it.
Jeremy: They do not want to talk about it.
Mike: They will complain but I feel like people are going to say, they are going to sit back and wait and then they are going to complain –
Jeremy: So it is either national –
Mike: Or local.
Jeremy: — or I cannot believe these guys are developing another subdivision.
Mike: Yeah, that is big time. How about our water? And I am not saying right or wrong. I am just saying these are the hot button issues. And have been for a long time.
Jeremy: How often do you have to, Jesse, I do not know, man. Jesse is in sales, so he is on the phone a lot with angry people. How often have you had to just cut a call off? Like hey man, you had to hang up on them.
Mike: Let’s just say numerous times. No, it happens. I will be honest
Jeremy: (Indiscernible)
Mike: I have tried, very few. Very fortunately very few. I think back to my career starting up in Pocatello, Idaho. Probably on two hands, I could honestly say –
Jeremy: Here we go, mother –
Mike: Yeah, I have been called a thing or two. And probably the only, less than ten times in 40 years. So that is not too bad. Now we get into discussions, and I think that is kind of what led me in my Open Mike Show to say we are not going to get personal. You can disagree with what I say. You can disagree with the events. You can disagree with the people, but you cannot get personal about the people.
Jeremy: Yeah.
Mike: And for the most part, people have been good. And I have appreciated that because it has kind of help keep us on a little bit better level. I am not a national talk show host. I do not want to be. I do not want to go where they think they have to go. So.
Jeremy: Yeah, and I do not think, I think it is very easy to go personal. I think –
Mike: Easy to do.
Jeremy: It is so easy to go personal about the people, easy to go personal on you. Well, you know what, Mike, I have been listening to you for five years, and all you ever do –
Mike: Right. Right.
Jeremy: All you ever do is one of the great statements that we make and we love to make —
Mike: We all do it, don’t we?
Jeremy: — this to our family and our spouses, whatever we do. Right? We love to say all you ever do is, which is I am always trying to teach my kids okay, no absolutes.
Mike: Right.
Jeremy: Always, only, never. Not helpful language. Not helpful language. What are you going to do now? So as we wrap this program today, now what? Because you are going, you are going to walk out of here at ten o’clock? Eleven or will you be here for a while?
Mike: Well, probably one o’clock. There is a little get together from eleven to one today here.
Jeremy: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah,
Mike: Honestly, for the very near future, sleep in. Seriously, just kind of take it easy. I do have family down. Right now, I do not have a lot planned. My wife and I have a few trips that we are going to be taking. We are going to become, I am going to become a full-time grandpa, at least for the near future. And we will see where we go from there.
Jeremy: You do appreciate that.
Jesse: I do.
Mike: I love it. I am going to Portland in April or March, two little kids.
Jeremy: Do you know what is cool? And I think you will appreciate this. So Jesse has got how many grandkids?
Jesse: Four.
Jeremy: Four. And how many are in Boston?
Jesse: Two.
Jeremy: Is it two in Boston?
Jesse: Two in Boston (indiscernible)
Jeremy: He and his wife, they are breaking themselves up, down to get there at least twice a year.
Jesse: Well, four times.
Jeremy: Four times a year (indiscernible)
Jesse: We go four times.
Mike: That is really good.
Jeremy: Right. So you appreciate like and Jesse gets this.
Jesse: My wife gets it. She reminds me that the kids are only going to be little once and they will, it is going to matter.
Mike: Yep. Yep.
Jesse: Right now.
Jeremy: Yeah. Now we cannot forget. Andy, you are to remind us. When this program ends, we have to get the last in-studio photo of the three of us guys. We have to have this. Okay. You got it? Because, by the way, the contract with Cherry Creek, they cancel it if you do not remind us. Okay. So I am sorry. I hope Cherry Creek is listening right now. Mike, it has been, we have got two minutes, right?
Mike: Yeah. Yeah.
Jeremy: It has been such a pleasure. Honestly, I mean it. I just mean it. You are, and it is hard. It is almost emotional. Mike is a man of character and he is a man of credibility. I worked with his son doing some real estate –
Mike: That is right. Yeah.
Jeremy: — and he is just a good man, and I think that that is being lost with the Matt Lauers and Rush Limbaughs of the world just to use a couple of public personalities who are either out of control or secretly out of control.
Mike: Right.
Jeremy: It has been such a good time. I cannot believe it. I cannot believe this is the day.
Mike: Looking back, it is always like oh my gosh, where did that 35 years go? A couple of times during it, I am going oh my crud, is this ever going to end? I am sorry. That was –
Jeremy: But I feel the same way.
Mike: Sure we do.
Jeremy: And when it is great in real estate, when our clients, when we closed Hale and Dan Balthesar’s home two weeks ago and they are elderly and they needed our help, and they needed our help moving, and they needed our help putting multiple transactions together –
Mike: Right. Right.
Jeremy: — and we took this tiny fee to get it done, we were so happy.
Mike: Sure.
Jeremy: And the next day you have a deal fall out the day before closing and you just want to quit.
Mike: Highs and lows. Every career has it.
Jeremy: I have never felt so high and I have never felt so low. Ladies and gentleman, kudos and congrats to Mike McGary on his retirement and becoming a full-time grandpa.
Jesse: That is going to be awesome. Thanks, Mike.
Mike: You bet, guys.
Jeremy: If you have got questions, there is Mayor Pike. If you have got questions about, again, to take advantage, please, today of the Dollar Menu or our kind of Christmas in January, call us at 275-1690. Mike will give you a little bit more information. And Mike, we are going to hand this over to you. This is kind of first. Favorite people. We had these custom made in Fargo, North Dakota. It is a mantle, you will see. I hope this is on your mantle.
Mike: (Indiscernible)
Jeremy: On behalf of the Larkin Group. There you go. It is cool. It is very cool.
Mike: Jeremy, thank you.
Jeremy: Thank you.
Mike: Jesse, thank you.
Jeremy: Over and out guys.
Mike: All right. That is going to wind it up for another edition of the edition. Again, this has been the St. George Real Estate Morning Drive with the voice of St. George Real Estate. As always for more information, call 275-1690. Find them online at Sold in St. George dot com.