Real Estate News Radio with Rowena Patton

Manifesting Positive Change: From Home Building to Senior Relocation and Pet-Friendly Spaces

• Rowena Patton

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Can our words truly shape our reality? Join us as we investigate the power of positive thinking and how what we say can bring about real-life changes. Our journey kicks off with an engaging continuation of our deep dive into the 77 essential considerations for home builders, inspired by your feedback. Randy and I also take a quirky detour to discuss the eerie accuracy of targeted ads, leading to an enlightening conversation about the impact of our focus and intentions.

Transitioning to a more serious note, we address the often overwhelming process seniors face when moving to assisted living facilities. By collaborating with facilities nationwide, we offer a seamless relocation experience through our cash offer service, enabling quick access to home equity. Highlighting our Certified Pre-Owned Homes program, we share touching stories like Josephine's, showcasing the positive effects of our services on seniors' lives. Our goal? To make these transitions as stress-free as possible for seniors and their families.

Finally, pet owners will find a treasure trove of practical tips for optimizing their living spaces. From ingenious uses for oversized mugs to the creation of dedicated pet bathing areas, we share creative solutions to common pet-related challenges. We also tackle home renovation pitfalls, from poorly placed microwaves to the critical need for soundproofing. This episode is packed with advice to enhance your home, whether you're building, renovating, or simply aiming for a more organized and functional living space.

Speaker 1:

This is the Plain English Real Estate Show with your host, rowena Patton, a show that focuses on the real estate market in terms you can easily understand. Call Rowena now. The number is 240-9962 or 1-800-570-9962. Now here's the English girl in the mountains, the agent that I would trust, rowena Patton.

Speaker 2:

Good morning and welcome to the show. This is Rowena Patton and we are doing part two of 77 things you should consider when building a home, because we had so much feedback saying you didn't finish them all. That was a pretty good show we did last week, wasn't it, randy?

Speaker 3:

Yes, I enjoyed that, and so you got more.

Speaker 2:

Oh, there's lots more. Lots more there were 77 things and I think I got through hmm, how many did we get through, do you think?

Speaker 3:

Oh, you're right, maybe 20. Yeah, right. Yeah.

Speaker 2:

So there's lots more of them, which is awesome and a good thing. So we start with our segment. Have you Noticed? We're not as cool as the segments on other TV shows and things, where you know there's a whole bunch of music and things around them, but I think we can probably do that, which would be pretty cool right.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, do an intro. Yeah, have you.

Speaker 2:

Noticed.

Speaker 3:

You can do it, randy. Go for intro. Yeah, have you noticed you.

Speaker 2:

you can do it, randy, go for it. Have you noticed exactly? See, randy did it right away. So have you noticed that when you say things and this comes from a conversation yesterday with a lady that's joining us in the assisted living cpo we're having two, three, four, five people join a, which is awesome all over the country? She's in Texas and she said you know, I notice that when I say negative things, that they tend to manifest themselves. Actually, she didn't say that. She said have you noticed that when you, when you well, basically what I said, you know, when you say something, then it tends to happen Such as and, of course, we know, when you say things, your phone will throw all those things up to you, because they really are listening to you. Remember, when we used to think that was what did we call it? What's the word for that?

Speaker 3:

Eavesdropping.

Speaker 2:

Eavesdropping covert, but also conspiracy theory.

Speaker 3:

Big brother.

Speaker 2:

Everybody said oh, no, that's just a conspiracy theory. And now it's like the laptop. Oh, that conspiracy theory. And now it's like the. It's like the laptop. Oh, that was real too, like all these conspiracy theories that people like oh, phones aren't listening to you, don't worry about it. Well, indeed, they are. However, back to what my lovely lady in Texas said. She said you know, just a week ago I was vacuuming and I said darn, this vacuum, it's not very good and it's going to give out on me every any day. Sure enough, I was vacuuming away and it died. So have you noticed that you say things like that and you kind of manifest it?

Speaker 3:

It's you. The human will find what you're looking for. If you're looking for the vacuum cleaner to die, it will. If you're expecting and looking for good things to happen.

Speaker 2:

They will happen well, yes, and it's. I think you know, whatever you believe in, whether you have faith or not, or whether you believe in things in the universe or not, it's just common sense, and what you focus on really does expand. It does so if you're focusing on a new vacuum cleaner, it's not just your phone showing you the ads for the vacuum cleaner, it's everything, everywhere.

Speaker 3:

It's your mind.

Speaker 2:

You notice the vacuum cleaner and it's actually science. It's your caveman brain that is just focusing on that one thing. Whatever you tell your caveman or your cavewoman brain, it believes it's really pretty dim. So you tell it you're amazing. It thinks you're amazing. You tell it you're stupid, it thinks you're stupid. And it keeps acting that way, which is very hard right. So have you noticed? That's the finish of our have you noticed today that when you talk about those things and of course we'd love to hear yours as well this is a live show, unless you're listening to it podcast afterwards, of course? And it's 828-240-9962. Or, if you're calling in from Mars, 1-800-570-9962. Do you ever wonder why we still have 800 numbers, randy?

Speaker 3:

Yes, I do, I never use them. Do you ever wonder why we still have 800 numbers, randy, yes, I do, I never use them. I don't know. Are there still toll calls?

Speaker 2:

I guess, so honestly Maybe on a landline.

Speaker 3:

I haven't had a landline in 15 years.

Speaker 2:

Maybe, there's still a toll if you don't use it, if you dial a direct on a landline. But it's so rare now that even having an 800 number seems old-fashioned.

Speaker 3:

It is it is.

Speaker 2:

Isn't it funny? Call our 1-800 number. We have operators standing by. Yes, so actually, if you're thinking about listing your house, we do have operators standing by 24-7,. Really, you can call them at 4 o'clock in the morning. 828-333-4483. Also, if you're listening anywhere in the country and you want a full market value cash offer on your home, you can get that too, 828-333-4483. And I know, if you're calling from texas, that most of you are not paying anything because you have a cell phone. So it's not an 800 number, sorry about that, it's an 828. So I don't think anybody minds. Really, maybe it's because the 800 is is easier to remember and then you've only got to remember seven digits. Is that right? Set four, five, six, seven. Yeah, I didn't grow up here. Sometimes the amount of digits are not natural to me necessarily well, they weren't.

Speaker 2:

Uh, they're not natural to me either, because when I was growing up it was like a two-digit preface oh really yes like oh, one or so now, that, which is now like the country code, is two digits and you got to put a country code on as well. It is amazing how things have changed. Yes, is that another one for our? Um? Have you noticed we could do a lot of? Have you noticed? Well, before we get into the 17 things you wish you had in your house, actually I can kick it off with another one of mine, because I always talk about mine and the things I wished I had. The whole show last week was pretty much the things I wished I had. Well, I wished I had. This is sort of a thing you can bring in, really, except it needs an outlet outside. So we never, ever put enough outlets outside. And I was talking to my friendly neighborhood builder, who is a good friend of mine, who said that you know when houses are built, obviously we save money not putting lots of outlets in, but if only you could be that end user and put all those outlets in, it would be so much easier. So yesterday I got a little dream come true I finally went and bought my Ninja XL grill. I saw your Facebook. Oh my gosh, yeah, so you can just look me up Rowena Patton on Facebook or Instagram. You can see it on both.

Speaker 2:

This thing, it's amazing. It's amazing. It's got a lid on top. You can you can smoke a whole chicken. It's got a little smoker thing on the side. You know old fashioned smokers Like you've got to use all those pellets and the big giant things and you've got to have your smoker and you've got to have your grill. And then we all got crazy about dehydrators. Do you remember that Fad? Yeah Well, this thing actually dehydrates too. It air crisps, it's like an air fryer, or it's got a basket that sits on top of it. It's basically a big oven that the top lifts. It's like a green egg. You know where the top lifts up.

Speaker 3:

I used to have a green egg. Is this gas fired?

Speaker 2:

no, it's electric. That's what's it's electric.

Speaker 3:

Okay, okay, so you don't have to.

Speaker 2:

I I really don't. You know, I'm. I'm a girl and I'm girly, and those things are heavy. When I say girly, like I tile, I do all kinds of manly things, I'm not supposed to say any of this. I'm like whatever, um, I do all those manly things as well, but the tank is really heavy for me to take it.

Speaker 3:

And who the heck wants to mess with gas tanks? They are heavy.

Speaker 2:

They should just plug it in. Just plug it in, it's awesome.

Speaker 2:

You know what? It reminds me of A giant George Foreman grill, Except it's got a dome on top and a fan. So this thing was smoking away. I've got a picture of it on Facebook. I've got the link to it as well so you can go and take a look at it. It's expensive. It was $400. Everybody's been raving about the smaller one for years, and now they came up with this giant one. You can cook a turkey in it. It's that big. Yeah, it looks like it is and you can smoke a turkey.

Speaker 2:

You can smoke brisket in it for four or five hours, but you know what's really cool Is the app on your phone Like. This thing is phenomenal it's got two thermometers that you plug in. I said pokey things last night.

Speaker 2:

I called them temperature pokey things last night. But yeah, I mean it just comes out. You'll know, you listen to me on the radio for the last 12 years so it's got two thermometers that you plug in the front, or thermometer probes or whatever they are, and you stick them in your chicken or your steak or whatever, and your app on your phone. Now this is like no app I've ever seen for cooking, right? So the thermometers come with it. It's not an aftermarket thing, it comes with it and you put them in your steak or you put them in your turkey or put them in your brisket. It tells what to do. Like it literally said flip them over last night I've had the aftermarket.

Speaker 3:

When I had the big green egg, I had I had the uh, the instant read thermometer yeah, which is very cool. I love those yeah, and but I also had the one you're talking about that had the phone technology it. I mean you stoke fire and you're gonna let something go for three hours, or two or three?

Speaker 2:

oh wait a two or three. Oh yeah, wait a second.

Speaker 3:

You don't raise the lid and let all the heat out. Checking it's right there on your phone.

Speaker 2:

And to all your young'uns out there under 40, once you get past 40, you start forgetting things like where's my keys, where's my phone? Wait, did I put the grill on an hour ago or three hours ago?

Speaker 2:

so no, this is even better than the what you're talking about randy, because it's built into the grill yeah, so you literally it's got this whole menu on your grill and you and you click on mode on your grill. So and it's not complicated at all, I don't like complicated apps and stuff on your phone and you click on the mode so you can click on smoker and all your smoker recipes will come up. You can click on. Oh yeah, oh yeah, you can click on grill, all your grill.

Speaker 2:

And not only that, it'll say it's got like six different types of steak, but within the six different types it's got frozen. You can cook it from frozen put a frozen steak it's amazing that is amazing.

Speaker 3:

I love it sounds a lot like the big green egg in the fact that you can grill or you can slow smoke.

Speaker 2:

Yes.

Speaker 3:

It's a combination type.

Speaker 2:

Well, I suspect actually that I may be wrong here, but it's easily as big as, if not biggest, surface. That's what's nice about it.

Speaker 3:

Yeah, then say the, I had the medium size, it's not as big as the large size, I guess yeah, or small, I don't know.

Speaker 2:

And the thing is you can cook anything that's big enough for a turkey is probably big enough for most families.

Speaker 3:

honestly, yes yes, you can cook four steaks, I'm sure Easily. Oh yeah, easily, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2:

And you can. So it's got a little scoop thing that puts the and it's probably I'm just guessing here, but it's probably half a cup. That's how many pellets you use Instead of a whole bag of pellets. It's half a cup.

Speaker 3:

For the smoke part. Yes, okay, gotcha.

Speaker 2:

And it smokes for hours. I don't know how it does it, but it's amazing. Well, it burns the pellets, obviously, but slowly. But anyway, that's my thing. So when you're going to have things like that, now I don't have to deal with gas anymore or have the gas line piped in when you build the house. Had that done too.

Speaker 2:

I think the thing is that a lot of houses are spec built. Therefore, the builders aren't going to do things like that generally, especially now as the market's flattening and we are finding prices either flattening or dropping. There's very many more. We've had price reductions here now for six months in a row Way more price reductions than last year and the year before and the year before. At the same time and I can get you this for anywhere in the country I do it every day. In fact, you know what's new in cash CPO? Let's talk about that. What would my segment be for updating the worst job at all, the grunt. Let's call it the grunt work. We're going to have all kinds of segments today and we're going to go through them every week. So I want you to think about what grunt work you've done this week, because everybody thinks I've got a glamorous job. What grunt work you've done this week? Because everybody thinks I've got a glamorous job.

Speaker 2:

So you know, we have thousands of agents now literally running this cash offer all over the country and we're focusing on assisted living. So what we do is we work with assisted living facilities. So if you know anybody that works in a facility, we want the facility's details. On our site it's assistedlivingcpocom. Assistedlivingcpocom. There's a button at the top saying add facility, because we are going to have the biggest list of assisted living facilities in the country with all the data on. So all these they're called aggregation companies. They basically pull together a whole bunch of facilities and the facilities pay thousands of dollars as a referral fee because you're going to land on there and they've developed, you know, a pretty website with all the data on. So it's nothing wrong with that business model at all. We're doing it for free for the facilities. So we're going to have a whole list because there's nothing worse than being a senior and the average time you're going to spend in that facility is 29 months. We know we're we're. You know floating up to the pearly gates after that.

Speaker 2:

That is not very long and the last thing you want to do in your 80s is sit there and go through showing your house. In fact, none of us want to sell our house. It's miserable and you've got to tidy up. You've got to keep it show ready now. Of course, if you want a conventional listing, we can all do that as well. When you're going into assisted living, you get that call. Finally. You've been on a wait list forever and a day and you get the call and then you got to scramble, you've got to get your house ready, you've got to get 40, 50 years worth of stuff, sometimes in storage.

Speaker 2:

Or you know, you're telling your kids hey, come and get that thing that you've been asking me to say for you from grandma for the last 20 years, and the kids are like heck, I don't want that thing. You're like no, but it's grandma's. You really wanted it when you were a child. They don't want your shit. Oh sorry, randy, your, your shishel, your shishel. He's always bleeping me out. They don't want your shishel from all those years ago. Oh, I'm getting spanked now because I said a bad word on the radio. But they don't. They don't want all your crit and all your things at all at all, not even a little bit.

Speaker 2:

So just go and clear it out. Let's face it. Probably when your parents had you, you know, keep all their stuff. You probably didn't want it either. There may be a few beautiful pieces. We'll keep your few beautiful pieces, it's okay. But start getting rid of all that stuff so we can help with that too.

Speaker 2:

And your money, the majority of your equity gets released in 14 days. We it's very simple guys we come in, do HGTV magic on your home or something like that, and then we sell it and then you get the profit minus the expenses. Two thirds of sellers make more than with a conventional listing. And you don't have to go through all those showings, you don't have to fix anything up. It becomes a certified pre-owned home because our funding partner pays for the inspection, pays for the appraisal, you've got all the sizes correct and they upfront the money to fix all the things on the repair. So it doesn't drop out as often as a usual contract, which is over a third of the time.

Speaker 2:

By the way, agents, don't tell you that I'm an agent too. I told you that right from the beginning. Since 2007, when I came up with Certified Pre-Owned, I've been telling you that these houses drop out all the time. That was my first year in real estate and I was so miserable because I didn't understand why all these contracts were dropping out. Well, I thought maybe I'm just a new agent. No, it was, because it comes to the inspection and then everybody freaks out. The seller's like oh, that mist has been in my windows upstairs since 1992 and it's never bothered me and they can take it or leave it. And the buyer's like, wow, there is a defect on the house and I know I was buying it as is, our contracts are as is, guys, but it doesn't matter.

Speaker 2:

People are always going to ask you for money off. On average, it's three to 5% off your sale price. So remember that when you're comparing offers, right. So if your house is $500,000, on average they're going to ask you for 15. And I've seen more way more than that. So be prepared for that. And you know, I know you have all this emotional attachment and there are things that you just put up with. Well, the buyers are in a stronger position now because it's you know. We're either a flat depending on where you're at in this area and most areas of the country whether either a flat market, ie balance between buyers and sellers, or we're moving into a buyer's market and that's going to continue for three to five years. So you know, get your house in order. Ooh, we just came up with another segment, randy. Get your house in order. Ooh, we just came up with another segment, randy, get your house in order, isn't that cool?

Speaker 3:

Good advice.

Speaker 2:

Well, it's get your house in order, if you're going to sell it, of course, or just take your cash off and you don't have to do anything. It's your choice, right? We have a great listing presentation, even though I say so myself. Actually, a lady called me yesterday from Illinois, just outside Chicago, and she said I just want because you know I do a lot of training with all of these agents, because I want us to be the most advanced, just, you know, most well-trained people in the country because we're helping seniors. That's really important country because we're helping seniors. That's really important.

Speaker 2:

There's when you've only got 29 months left and you've got somebody helping you sell your house. We've built these teams of people that help you pack up, that help you get rid of the stuff you don't want and make money for it, that contractors that come in and you know help fix the things that need to be fixed once you're out. You can get out in 14 days or 90 days if you want, you can stay there up to you, but we've built these whole teams of people. Anyway, this lady who's very well known up there or I can tell you it is Colleen Buzinski, up just on the outskirts of Illinois, called me and said I love this, I can't wait to get going with it. And we built the list of facilities. We go and see the facilities, or each and every facility, bar none. Right now We've probably got 150 facilities under our bouts all over the country Bar none. They have said this is amazing. We can't believe somebody hasn't done this before. Bar none, it's amazing. So I can't wait to get going. In fact, usually the agents leave there with goodies. They come away with cookies and bottles of homemade wine you know the kids have brought into them it's so cool after they've gone on the tour of the facility. And then what happens is the facility managers.

Speaker 2:

If they come up with somebody that you know they've made the call and they've still got to sell the house or the house is sitting, it's going to take you three or four months by the time you list it and then sell it. It's three or four months and often you can lose your place on the list and remember they drop out a third of the time too. It's just not fun. And who wants to be in their 80s? And you know, every time there's a showing you've got to keep it show ready. Sausage packet, patties, eggs, radish, balsamic vinegar, all kinds of yummy stuff. Um, I wouldn't like it if my house was shown right now. In fact, the people coming in would probably love it and say where's my breakfast?

Speaker 2:

But you know, most of us live our lives in our houses. That's what we have our houses for. You don't want to have to keep it like that all the time, so that's where. That's where the assisted living cpo comes in. It's a whole package.

Speaker 2:

Two thirds of you are going to make more money for your. You know, the kids are usually handling it, which is always funny when I say the kids, because we have a lady right now who's 98, josephine, in in new jersey that we're helping, and her kids are in their late 70s. So the kids in the late 70s, of course you know she's 98. She lost her husband last year, little sweetheart up in new jersey. Um, we're helping her out into the assisted living. We're going into her house, uh, redoing it somewhat. We're spending about twenty thousand dollars redoing it and then we'll list it and I'm almost sure she'll make more money. But, most importantly, we've got her in. You know, she's got two weeks to sign on the dotted line, not with us but with the assisted living facility so that she doesn't lose her spot, and she's now going to be able to get in instead of lose her spot. I wouldn't want to lose my spot if I were 98, would you, randy?

Speaker 3:

that's a win, win that is that's a great story.

Speaker 2:

Well, that's what these stories are. You know my couple with one of them having Alzheimer's and getting them out. It's the same thing. But honestly, this works for anybody. It's not every agent that comes into the program. It's so funny. The assisted living CPO says can I use this for expired listings? Can I use this on my listings? Yes, you can use it for anything.

Speaker 2:

So if you're a person that doesn't want people poking around your house or a lockbox on your door, maybe you've got a business in your house and you don't want people to know you're selling because you know they don't know whether you're moving out of the area and you're not going to have your business anymore. I had one of those recently. You know you want to be private. Most of all, you don't have to fix anything because you've got to understand how real estate works, right. So if you understand how real estate works, the offer comes in and then you're into negotiation and in most places in the country there's a period of time where the buyers can get their earnest money back. Yes, they might have spent five or six hundred bucks on inspections, but that's all they're out. Maybe another house comes up that they're interested in. For example, prices are dropping. Maybe you know they got into yours a little high, maybe interest rates have come down and they're locked in, who knows? But a third of those people back out when it's certified pre-owned. So, listen, if you have a listing right now and you wish you'd done that, you still can Just talk to your agent and have them. You know, contact an inspector and get your inspection done. And yes, I hear you say well, don't the buyers do that? Yes, the buyers do that. And then they're going to ask you for 3%. On average, it's 3% to 5% of the value of your home because they're going to find a list of 40 things. Oh no, of your home because they're going to find a list of 40 things. Oh no, they won't. I hear you say yes, so can you say oh no, they won't, randy, oh no, they won't. Wow, randy, let me tell you, here's the thing even if you've got a brand new house, there's a whole bunch of things in your home that the inspector will find after all, the inspector's got to make a living, right so there will be a bunch of things on there that are found. Um, we're doing a. So there will be a bunch of things on there that are found. We're doing a house right now found a whole bunch of things. It's very well maintained that they didn't think anything would be on there it's.

Speaker 2:

You know don't take it personally, it's not about that. When we do the cash offer, we do it automatically up front. The funding partner pays for it. It comes out up front, so it comes out of your profit eventually. But it means you don't have to lay any money out.

Speaker 2:

If we find anything in there, then we can use their money. You can use your money if you want to. That's fine. But we can also use borrow their money, essentially to put all that stuff right. They don't charge interest on it or anything like that, because they're making money. They charge a fee, but that fee is normally covered by the everybody, by the additional we're going to get for your home. Everybody wants to buy a home with everything cleaned up in it and ready to go, obviously. So get your house in order. That's our get your house in order segment. So let's have a look. Maybe trusty computer over here is finally working. No, it isn't. Hmm, we're a little stuck here. Randy, if I want to do of all, this page has become an unresponsive. We have one of our computers in here is very sad and it's having a whole lot of oh it might actually be going down the page.

Speaker 2:

This is awesome. Okay, we'll start from the bottom, because I know we didn't get to these. I love this one for pets. This is really cool. So now we're into our segment things. Oh, we'll just do a segment every week.

Speaker 2:

Things you wish you had, we'll call it that so it could be. When you're building a house, or things you wish you had, we'll call it that so it could be when you're building a house or things you wish you had and maybe now you don't have space for them or now it costs a lot of money to do the additional, like mine. For example, I've got a long extension cord. Thank you, joe, for pulling out the long extension cord out there, so I've got a long extension cord on my deck at the back. Uh, to to my ninja grill, which, if you want to see my ninja grill, go to rowena pattern on facebook, there's. There aren't many of us in the world, there's about three of us, so you'll find me real easy. So, um, you know, I wish I had an extra outlet out there now. Could I have one put in? Of course I could, but I wonder how much an extra outlet would cost 500 bucks at least.

Speaker 3:

Well, it depends on where it's got to come from and through and to and up Right.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, probably $1,000 being realistic Could be, and when you're building it I don't know any builders can call in and let us know 800-517-9962. We'd love to know how much you would charge, maybe by the foot, and you're going to say, oh well, it depends, Just like Randy did. I can hear you saying it.

Speaker 1:

That's manscaping, manscaping, oh you better bleep that one as well, randy, we're not going to ask what, anyway?

Speaker 2:

so let's talk about pets, for example. So plan a specific place for your dog food. I've actually got a lot of these I haven't got I'm not being a oh, I've got that person here, but I do have that and it came about by accident from a little cupboard that I built. That's one can deep on the end of my pantry, so it's one can deep. I think I mentioned it last week. You can see everything and basically, if you can't find something, look in there, because you know you can find it, basically, which is very cool. So I've got. It's got a little overhang because it's stuck on the side, around the side where that wasted space was. And now I've got two mugs that you know I bought from the grocery store and I've got messages coming in on Facebook, by the way, laughing at your manscaping. Yeah, so we'll just say that a few times. Maybe we'll have a manscaping section. Mansplaining, that's what we. Oh, that's another segment, it's called mansplaining.

Speaker 3:

That's what we. Oh, there you go. That's another segment. It's called Mansplaining. Yeah, there's another whole segment.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you're going to do some mansplaining every week, randy, it'll just be one piece on there. If you'd like to call in with your mansplaining or what your man says about something that you always think is mansplaining, give us a call. 800-570-9962. We are going to start doing uh giveaways. We have um condo weeks in fort lauderdale, which is a very easy flight from here, but you can take it anywhere you are in the country. Um for you know, a long weekend or something like that. If you happen to live in asheville, then you can get flights as cheap as 40 bucks on Allegiant direct into Fort Lauderdale. It says it's Miami, but it's Fort Lauderdale, so it'd be very inexpensive vacation for you. So you want to get online looking at these, so tell us about your mansplaining. 800-570-9962.

Speaker 2:

So my cabinet on the end creates a little space for these mugs that I never use. They're great big giant. You know those great big giant chili mugs or soup mugs that you buy from the grocery store and you're like, oh, they're really pretty, they've got a nice picture on the side, and you buy them and then never use them and they get stuck in your cabinet and you're like like why have I got all this junk. I've been listening to that girl rowena. Oh wait, she's got all that junk too. Um, so now they make a nice little doggy bowl for sophie. So one's her water and one's her food. So, um it, she and I can. I mean it doesn't get tucked under all the time, obviously, but when my little roomba's running around or something like that, I can tuck, or they're just annoying me, I can tuck them underneath, which is really nice. So a specific place for your dog food can often be. Actually, it depends on whether you've got little dogs or big dogs. I understand that. But plan a space in your mudroom, you know, under the sink. Maybe you leave it open and just have a little area built there Again, very inexpensive when you're building, but oh my gosh, try and modify something after afterwards for that that's not fun.

Speaker 2:

A place for the cat litter box? Hmm, you might want an outlet as well, because if you've got a cat, invest in one of those ones, and you've got the money to do it. Obviously. Invest in one of those auto ones. They've gotten so much better. They basically roll around and you know, once your cat's done the hoo-ha, they roll around. It senses that your cat's been in there. Now, if they, if your cats, just like to go in and look around which I used to have cats years ago that did that. I bought one of the early ones, probably 15, 20 years ago they just like to look around then you're stumped, basically. But the thing rolls around. When your cat triggers, um, something it's either a pressure point or a light, depending on the model that you get and then it scoots around and it chucks the litter into a box underneath.

Speaker 2:

Now how cool would it be if you built think about the drip tray at the back of your your barbecue. Wouldn't it be cool if you built, oh. Or like the outage, your barbecue. Wouldn't it be cool if you built, oh. Or like the outage on your fireplace? Wouldn't it be cool if you built a little drawer, right, that you could pull out Stop laughing, randy or like a door on the outside of your house where you could just pull that outside, yeah, and then you have a big trash can, right, if you've got enough space, obviously.

Speaker 3:

I can see this Rube Goldberg invention here.

Speaker 2:

I like stuff that works right. So you've got a door on on the back right. So imagine this you're in your mudroom or your little room, or whatever you like to call it, and under the sink or under the countertop or under the bench for that matter. Under the bench you have your cat litter tray. Of course you need an outlet under there as well. We've got to think about those outlets. Your cat litter tray goes in there and you put it on a rolling drawer, right, and that rolling drawer you can access outside with a door. It's not as silly as it sounds, like the size of a big dog door basically, but it's a proper external door. Yes, that might cost you 500 bucks, but how nice to be able to pull the cat litter stinky cat litter outside. And then you double up on your trash cans. You know your big green trash cans and you have one at the back that you just fill it with all that cat litter. Wouldn't that be cool? That's my dream house.

Speaker 2:

Not, I don't have a cat, so it'd be pretty strange but place for the dogs to be bathed. That's another important one that you don't necessarily think about. Again, depending on the size of your dog and I don't know. I don't know why people don't like bathing their dogs in the shower. I've no idea, in fact. Um, when I lived with two dogs last year, I used to take them in the shower with I have no idea. In fact, when I lived with two dogs last year, I used to take them in the shower with me and they were big dogs, big giant dogs, and I'd take them in the shower and they got used to it. They loved it. Actually, you might be surprised.

Speaker 2:

You shut the door they can't get out. You're in there with them. You go in with your bathing suit on or naked, whatever you like. Are we allowed to say that, randy?

Speaker 3:

Yes, okay, good, n-e-e-k-e-d Naked.

Speaker 2:

Naked. Can we say naked?

Speaker 3:

Louis Grisard, great southern columnist in Atlanta for years, said that if you don't have any clothes on, you're naked N-A-K-E-D. But if you don't have any clothes on, you're naked. That means you don't have any clothes on.

Speaker 2:

You're up to something. Oh in, eeked, naked, interesting. I'm waving in front of my randy's like what are you waving at? My phone keeps stopping um streaming on. It's obviously a setting or something. I need somebody who knows how to use a phone properly to come and fix it for me. So when I wait, see it's just oh, it's messages coming in. Now I see what's happening because everybody is is um, can't use camera. I've used all the space in the camera. How hilarious is that? Oh my gosh, I've literally used all my space in my camera. For those of you listening, you're wondering what on earth I'm talking about. This also streams on YouTube as well, but not today.

Speaker 3:

Because your memory's full.

Speaker 2:

It's probably a good thing, because I don't look so great on a Saturday because it's my radio day. Poor Randy sees me out and about in town and he doesn't even recognize me because you know I'm in my radio gear on a Saturday. It's pretty funny, all right. So cat litter box door on the outside would be pretty cool, or just have the outlet down there, because you know most of us can't go to those extremes. Think of a place where that rolling cat litter box can go.

Speaker 2:

Because I can tell you all the houses that, oh my gosh, especially when you're selling your house, people don't like the idea that cats have been in the house. Very often. A lot of people have allergies to cats. But not only that. I know this is going to be a shocker. They stink. The cat litter it's not. Cats don't stink, they're very clean, but the cat litter tray and you can't help it. That cat litter gets tracked. Yes, I know the special mats you can get to, you know capture it and everything else, but you do not want to see. You want to like eliminate any traces of that when you're selling your house. But yeah, when you're building a house, a place for the cat litter box, don't forget that one.

Speaker 2:

And of course, that's difficult because most houses live longer than we do. That's a scary thought, isn't it? So they don't have just one owner. And you know what if you have cats now and the previous people didn't? The nice thing is that it doesn't people say well, what if the next people don't have a dog? A lot of people put the dog coming back to a place for the dogs to be bathed. A lot of people, um, have something in a mudroom if they've got a house that big. I love it when people say these things, by the way, because I don't know if you agree with me, but most people, well, it's, it's just a fact. Most people live in a house that's 12 to 1600 square feet. That doesn't leave you a lot of room for because we're living in, you know, 1916, 1970 houses. So, um, obviously we're living in, we're living in a house that's smaller. Generally not not always. Obviously some of you are living in giant houses, but the majority of the population lives in a small house.

Speaker 2:

So we talk about things like mud rooms and laundry rooms, laundry rooms in my house. When I moved in, the laundry was downstairs in what I call my dirt basement. I did build a box upstairs to put it in, basically, and stacked it because I didn't want to go downstairs. But we don't have these giant laundry rooms with windows and places to put the dog bath. However, when you're building a house, you want to think about that. Or, in my case, I built a bench basically in the shower. It didn't cost me any room and I can sit on it as well. Um and it, you know, it doesn't cost any more to put that in and that's where sophie stands when I shower her, so I'm not having to bend down to shower, it's just the right height and that's where sophie gets bathed.

Speaker 2:

But I do know that I've seen these wonderful mud rooms that have a whole little mini shower in to bathe your dog and then you go what?

Speaker 2:

What if the next people don't have dogs? Who cares? You're building it for you. That's the whole point of building your whole own house and often I mean, I don't know, maybe people store things in it or maybe they might get it go. Oh, I love this dog shower in here. I'm going to get me a dog to put in the dog shower, knows. But you know, make it how you really want it, like your dream house, because all of this is not a big cost when you're building. I know there are builders out there going oh, she just added two grand, oh, she just added five grand. Like you know what, if you're spending five hundred four, five hundred thousand dollars to buy a house, spend an extra 20 and get, get it perfect. Well, okay, 20 wouldn't be enough for some people because, like, where does the list stop? I understand that, however you can get it, you know much more close to to what you're looking at here's another one plan a specific place for your dog food.

Speaker 2:

If you've got anything like a big now, sophie has uh place for your dog food. If you've got anything like a big now, sophie has uh probably a gallon pretty stainless steel pot that lives on the countertop with a scoop inside it. She gets one, one cup a day, so she has half a scoop in the morning and half a scoop at night, and then all my leftover tomato pieces because she loves tomatoes. That's a whole other story. However, when you've got a big dog, they have giant bags of food giant bags. What do you do? Put them in in the garage. Guess what happens then? Good luck, because the mice really like they can nibble on that all winter. I had that in that last house that that I lived in, and it was disgusting. These little mice get in, doesn't matter how airtight your garage is they. I don't know how they get in, but they do, and this is that. That was in a more modern house, so I don't even have a garage now. But where do you put that giant bag of food? So plan a space for that when I do get big bags of food. I happen to have a and I don't have a big kitchen at all, but I have a rollout tray that it goes on, so that you know you don't have to like bother with dragging it in from the garage. You're going to the garage with that ding ding if you've got the you know alarm on your garage. That goes on every single day when you're feeding your doggy, so plan that space. You're feeding your dog every day, just like you're feeding yourself every day, so plan a space for your dog food.

Speaker 2:

I feel like I'm starting some arguments now, randy, don't you at home? I told you we needed a place for the dog food. Now she said the same thing. Are you hearing that girl saying that? Can't you hear the arguments going on? I told you. I told you the dog freaking stinks, and I told you we needed a place to bathe it. And I told you that it would scratch. Look at all these scratches on my arm where I tried to take it in the shower with me. Now they'll be blaming me because they've tried taking the dog in the shower. A lot of dogs actually love being showered. If you get the water right and everything else, you know and and soap them all up, they don't mind at all. And if you get it right for you, you'll bathe them more often. Your dogs won't stink there you go. So, um, let's do the overall section on here.

Speaker 2:

Receptacles for fire extinguishers um, I'm not even sure what that means, honestly, because most fire extinguishers come, and you can find this list, by the way, at thebungalowcompanycom, and it's 77 things to consider when building a new home. I'm going to start putting these together from ones you're sending me, because you're sending me all kinds of things. Go ahead and just message me on Facebook. Look up Rowena Patton on Facebook, or you can DM me on Instagram or YouTube or anywhere else you can find Rowena Patton. I'm very easy to find because there aren't many people with my name. I guess I got lucky there or something. Not when I was a kid, because everybody thought it was a ridiculous name.

Speaker 2:

So receptacles for fire extinguishers most of them come with, oh, maybe little nooks that you can put them into. But then what if the size changes? That's the same thing as a built-in microwave for me. I don't believe in those, because it always goes eventually. And also, here's another thing Don't put your microwave over the range. It's the doofus-y place for a microwave. It gets hot underneath. Often you have them venting into the house. That's a really daft idea, by the way. It's just blowing your smells out into the room, it's. They get all greasy and nasty. And what happens when they go? They're not all the same size. And then you've got the daft as heck cupboard over the top of the microwave that you never, ever use or can't get to, or, if it's vented, it sticks out.

Speaker 2:

Do you know and I'm gonna, I am to buy a domain or use one of my domains and point out my blog posts on this. So in fact you can go to cashgpocom, cashgpocom, click on blog, and on the blog there's a section called remodeling and I'm sure I've got the vent in there, which is $300. I've put them in four different houses now. It's $300 for the metal chimney and then the vent that comes out the motor, everything Lights in it. My lights have just gone, so got to figure that out, but it's been five years since the lights went, so I'm sure it's fine. It's very quiet. $300 to really modernize and upscale your house. Take that silly cupboard out at the top and do your nice tile back, splash behind it and then put your chimney in and is it worth venting?

Speaker 2:

Yes, a lot of you have them vented into the attic as well and I can tell you that when we do the inspections it will come back. Shouldn't be vented into the attic. I I'm just saying I'll get into a lot of trouble for this, but but I think that's a bit daft because your attic's usually big and it's usually vented. So you know the fact that you're cooking your bacon and that smell's going up into the attic. I don't know why that's such a big problem. You know, if you're an inspector out there, maybe you could tell me why it's a big problem.

Speaker 3:

I can understand the. I can understand not venting the bathroom exhaust fan into the attic because of the moisture it releases, but not the exhaust fan in the kitchen.

Speaker 2:

Well, I guess that's moisture as well, you know.

Speaker 3:

Maybe, maybe.

Speaker 2:

Except that aren't you getting moisture in there through the vent anyway, and how much are you putting in there? You know, anyway, they're supposed to be vented. That will come back on your inspection report and that's part of the three to 5% that they're going to ask you for in repairs. Just know that most old houses vented into the attic. It's another one of those things that where we say we grew up with it and it didn't hurt us, right? I think it's another one of those.

Speaker 3:

When we grew up, we didn't have an exhaust fan in the bathroom.

Speaker 2:

In fact, your bathroom had 100 feet to walk to it down the yard.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, absolutely so. You spoiled people with vents. Oh, why we're talking about that? Always put the timer on the switches Always. It's just ridiculous not to do that. So all the builders will tell you that might add 50 bucks if that it's a timer, so that when you leave the bathroom you click on 10 minutes. And I want you all to think about now uh, talking to your spouse or your partner or your kids or anybody else you live with going turn the fan off. Don't we all hate those things running all the time?

Speaker 3:

And I'll tell you. Furthermore, they're dangerous when you forget that the thing has. I come into a radio station early on Monday morning and I find the exhaust fan running in the bathroom. That's been running all weekend.

Speaker 2:

Oh really.

Speaker 3:

That's dangerous.

Speaker 2:

Why is that?

Speaker 3:

They're a little motor and they run and get hot and create fire danger, oh my gosh, yeah, lots of fires start from those things.

Speaker 2:

And that's why we need those fire extinguishers.

Speaker 3:

Yeah right.

Speaker 2:

Or no a timer. I mean, we're all so environmentally friendly. But it's so funny. We use coffee pods. You know, for the convenience we use the stirrers are the funniest things to me. What freaking plastic and wooden stirrers for your coffee oh use a spoon rinse it out under the faucet and then put it back in the tray right away like I don't get it. I just I don't get some of these things anyway. Or paper plates. All you boys using paper plates do you use them.

Speaker 3:

You've quit preaching and gone to meddling now you use them, don't you?

Speaker 2:

of course, what? What a waste of money. So anyway, I won't go on and on much. So I guess that's what I'm I'm paid to do, right, sit and go on and on on the radio so you're all just out of luck.

Speaker 2:

So, yes, put, put your. Who likes to hear that darn thing going anyway? Um, I'm sure when you spend five times as much money you can get quieter fans as well. They do tend to be quieter now. Motors on most things have gotten a little quieter maybe. Maybe they break sooner, but a little quieter. However, get that timer on there.

Speaker 2:

It's just ridiculous not to put that in and you end up cracking tile. You know, if you've got a tiled wall and all that kind of stuff, when you try and do it later, it doesn't fit the same Enough outlets as well. Add soundproofing where needed. So this is another thing where you know what. We all know that when you build a house's going to cost you 10 to 20 percent more than what you thought it was going to cost. Add money in the comforts, because that's what we're talking about a lot of here. A comfort is not screaming at somebody to turn the fan off or going back into the if you live on your own, going back into the bathroom in the morning and going oh wait, I left the fan on all night. It's costing you money, it's wasteful and it's noisy, unless you have well soundproof doors, I guess. So here's another one add soundproofing where needed.

Speaker 2:

When I was first in ashville 18 years ago, I bought a four unit building on flint street it's actually called the pattern flint house and it's 117 flint street and we made some of the first luxury condos in Asheville. I nearly said the country it's not the country In Asheville and we gosh. I spent weeks researching stuff to use and we had this thick, rubbery rolls of stuff that we put down on the floor. I've never seen it since. Actually, you can do all kinds of things, but I didn't. There's nothing worse because I've lived in a condo building than people clomping about above your head. Not only that, you can put insulation, obviously, between the floors. Now you can do this in a house as well. Do you really want to hear people clomping about upstairs in your house? So find ways to insulate it, whether it's spray in or insulation. I'm sure our builders out there have all kinds of good ideas on that. Do a little bit of research and see how much it would cost. It's probably going to cost you a thousand dollars to insulate that floor would would be, you know, but if you're living in a house full of people, maybe they're there.

Speaker 2:

Have you ever noticed kids in a house? It's funny I was was when I was away the other weekend. The lady of the house said I'm so sorry my kids were clomping around because we were in like a little basement apartment downstairs. She's like the kids walk like they're 300 pounds, yes, and they're tiny, but they just like clomp, clomp, clomp. You never know when that's going to happen, when your grad kids might come to stay, or your kids or just your friends coming to stay basically clumping. Maybe they've got lead feet and they're clumping about upstairs. It might be worth that many, or maybe one of you wants to watch a different TV show, maybe what's the famous couple? Where is it? James Carville and his wife are Democrat and Socialist.

Speaker 3:

Yes.

Speaker 2:

Democrat and Republican.

Speaker 3:

Madeline. Yeah, her first name's Madeline.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I hope I'm getting his name right Anyway, so imagine they probably watch different news shows. I can imagine they probably need an insulated wall. You know, but get a quote and where you can add that soundproofing. For some of you money's no object. You know, I'd definitely think of it then, but you don't necessarily know all the things you don't know, so definitely think about, um, soundproofing there. Here's uh, uh, here's another one a phone by the door leading into the garage for calls when you're getting in and out of the car. What?

Speaker 2:

this is a I wonder if this list was made 20 years ago. Wait what?

Speaker 3:

A wall phone outlet.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm not sure. I think that one's a bit old hat. An inside button to open and close your garage door who doesn't have that?

Speaker 3:

Actually.

Speaker 2:

I have seen them when they're not in place before. Yeah, which is kind of annoying One is pocket doors too, that's another one I love pocket doors. Yeah, now the only thing is, you can't hang things on the back of them. I like putting hooks on the back of my door.

Speaker 1:

No, you can't.

Speaker 2:

In the bedroom, for example, I like to have that for a robe or my PJs or whatever. So, um, a robe, you know, or my pjs or whatever, so you don't have that on the back of linen cupboards. I like to hang things like a mop or you know, I don't know those long pokey things you can't like.

Speaker 2:

Long pokey things like a duster for the ceiling yeah, use your words bro come on you can do it like a not, not, not, not a swiffer, oh, like a swiffer, yeah, duster, yeah, duster, yeah, um, just because I don't want to advertise swiffer, because they, they just won't pay me the money. I'm kidding, but no, the things on poles. Like a bro, maybe you use a broom, you know you put your broom in there, so you can't do that with pocket doors. But, oh my gosh, when, when you're in a tight space which, again, most builders aren't thinking about tight spaces unless they're building tiny homes, but there's a whole slew of homes that are mid-sized right, so 12 to 1600 feet, which is what the vast majority of the population lives in, and that's why they used to use pocket doors. You know pocket doors in the bathroom, so you don't have this big door banging into you or two doors that are opening onto each other in in a space. It's so helpful that's not on the list, by the way, I just um added it in there ensure builders don't box off spaces where storage or shell shelving could go. It's cheaper to box off a space right just to put the sheetrock up, but you've probably got space above the stairwell or where you go downstairs, there's probably hidden space. If you go down into a basement. There's hidden space there. I've got one above mine and I put a door on it and about four shelves there I go, being the know-it-all again.

Speaker 2:

Plan an elevator. This is a really important one. Plan an elevator shaft. All that means is leave room. If you've got a house that's more than one floor, obviously, because you don't need an elevator if it's not more than one floor. Plan a space on the different floors where that elevator could go. They can be very, very small these days and actually they can be very inexpensive as well. It's not about putting an elevator in, just make sure there's a. There's a space there where you could put the elevator, and it doesn't have to look odd either. You know that that's a really important one. It could serve as storage closets right now two closets on top of each other.

Speaker 2:

Yes, yeah yeah, there you go, and that's a real aging in place thing and it's something I've been discussing lately that you know I always like to add mine. I'm apparently like the knickknack or the gadget girl or something, but this one is a true spatial one. To me. It's so obvious to have a pantry that spans both the kitchen and the garage Right. So it's not, you don't walk through it to get into your house. That's a different door, but this is my dream. Actually is a refrigerated one, but it's a. It could be big, it could be again.

Speaker 2:

This is when you're building your house Right, or your barn, barn, dominium or something like that, where you have it could even be. Imagine something that's 10 by 8. Randy's imagining it in his head now, where you it's got a door into the from the garage and it sticks out a little bit into the garage, because you've got a giant garage anyway, and you walk in the shelves everywhere and your your toilet paper, to be called toilet rolls or toilet paper here. I can never get that one right, but you know what I mean. They're called toilet rolls in England, so I'm going to call it toilet rolls, darn it. So, all you know, you can actually finally, go to Costco or Sam's Club. Get all your toilet rolls, put them in there.

Speaker 3:

Get all your paper towel, get all your can goods, get all your stuff. Is this thing a pass-through? Yes, yeah, that is a pass-through.

Speaker 2:

But it's accessible from the kitchen too. But you don't have to go into the kitchen or anywhere to put all this stuff away. Isn't that cool? That's right, but isn't it like really obvious? Imagine if, one side of that now to do it cheaply, you could just put a fridge in there, right. But imagine if you had a refrigerated one of those. Oh my gosh, um, but yeah just, you could buy a cheap, you know ding and den freezer to put in there and then put all your refrigerated stuff in there as well. But all you have to do is open the door and that becomes your pantry to your kitchen. Wouldn't that be cool, don't you want one, randy?

Speaker 3:

I can see that.

Speaker 2:

Thank you for listening today, guys. We'll be doing our segments next week. We love you all. See you on the radio next week.

Speaker 1:

This has been the Plain English Real Estate Show with Rowena Patton. Visit Rowena and post your questions at radioashvillecom or call her at 828-210-1648.

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