Murfreesboro Tennessee Real Estate Blogs

Q:  Can you address ways to get my house ready to sell? What will make it more attractive to buyers?
 
A:  In a buyers market, sellers have to realize that their house is in a price war and a beauty pageant.  Not only does your home have to be priced right to sell, but it also has to be in great shape so buyers will see more value in your house than other property on the market. 
 
Of course, the biggest thing you can do to make your house attractive to buyers is to price it properly.  But aside from that, there are plenty of things you can do to make your house show well:

• Curb Appeal – Make your house look as good as possible from the outside so buyers will be excited about getting inside.  Manicure your yard and garden; put fresh mulch around trees and shrubs.  Pressure wash siding, decks, and sidewalks.  Caulk around the doors and windows.
• Cleaning – Clean the inside of your house like never before.  Pull out the stove and refrigerator.  Scrub the toilets and tile until they sparkle.  When a house doesn’t look and smell clean, buyers tend to search harder for other problems.
• Move Pets Early – Once the house is clean, find someone to keep your pets while the house is on the market.  Pets and pet odors are a huge turnoff to many potential buyers.
• Staging – Consider hiring a professional stager to help you put your home in the best possible light.  They don’t cost as much as you think and can be a real difference maker in the sale of your home.

In this edition of Tuesday Morning Coffee Rob "Peanut" Janson sits down with CEO of Star Power and CDPE Alex Charfen in Murfreesboro TN to discuss the Star Power 2010 Conference which was just held in Murfreesboro at Embassy Suites featuring Dave Ramsey as the Keynote Speaker.

Tuesday Morning Coffee is also available as an iTunes Podcast HERE or you can watch this episode on your iPad/iPhone HERE.

Transcript

ROB:  Welcome to another edition of Tuesday Morning Coffee.  Obviously, I’m not John Jones.  This is my first time ever being the man in front of the camera instead of behind it.  But we’re going to do this special edition, STAR Power edition, and John doesn’t know about it.  And I think he’ll be pretty surprised when he sees this.  I’m Rob Janson, better known as Peanut.  I am marketing and technology with our company.  And I have with me the man who needs no introduction in the real industry, Alex Charfen.

ALEX:  Thanks for having me, Rob.

ROB:  So why did you choose Murfreesboro as your spot for the event here? 

ALEX:  Well Rob, there were several considerations.  One was we had Dave Ramsey as a keynote speaker.  We wanted to make things convenient for him.  And we also wanted to choose an area where we could get a hotel that we kind of controlled the whole hotel.  So everybody was in one place—the vendors, the participants, the speakers—everybody kind of got to spend a lot of time together.  It was very close quarters, which we wanted.  We wanted people to really be able to interact.

We knew it was going to be a smaller conference, and in order to get everything you could out of it, you really could spend a lot of time with each person.  Also, it helped a lot that John and you and Joe are here in this area.  And John, I can’t thank you enough for all your help with this convention.  You really helped make this possible.

ROB:  So, you didn’t foresee the flood?

ALEX:  Can you imagine had we booked at the Grand Ole Opry, we wouldn’t have an event right now.

ROB:  I appreciate you coming even if it’s not just because I’m here.  But tell me a little bit about how you got Dave Ramsey as our keynote speaker.  That’s pretty interesting for all of us in Middle Tennessee.

ALEX:  My Dave Ramsey story is one similar to many people.  I found his information through my wife who started reading it probably about 3-1/2 years ago—maybe a little longer.  I’m not good with timelines.  But when we went through a personal financial reversal, we used Dave Ramsey’s materials to get us through that and we read his books.  We read his books; we bought Financial Peace University.  You get hired at my company—you might even get one when you interview at my company—we hand everybody a copy of Total Money Makeover.

Even people we haven’t hired.  If we can tell that they need some help, we give it to them as a gift.  And it has been an absolutely revolutionary thing for our business.  And to show you just how amazing it is when you’re doing the right thing, within about two years or three years of reading those materials, I was invited to speak at Dave Ramsey’s Accelerate Conference.  And we spoke at accelerate; we saw that there was tremendous synergies between our two companies.  Their company has been incredibly gracious about helping us and supporting us as a company.

And from Accelerate to our entire executive team spending the week with the Ramsey Company down in the Bahamas, we asked Dave and he committed to speak here, and I think he shared information that will absolutely change the 500, 600 people, however many showed up to that presentation, I think it will change their lives.  And it’s amazing to me that somebody that in two hours can change paradigms, shift belief systems, and really get people started on the path to financial freedom.

ROB:  I have never actually seen him speak, and I can say on a personal level he really changed my life.

ALEX:  Sure.  Oh, I know exactly how you feel, Rob.  We go through our lives with such a low level of financial confidence, and everything that Dave teaches is common sense.  And everything that he teaches, any one of us can apply.  And for me and for Katie, we went through the seven baby steps in about a year and nine months.  We went all the way through and now we’re in the wealth-building stage.  We haven’t bought a house for cash yet, but we’ve saved all the money to do that.  And I can tell you that when you start going through those steps, it changes your relationship with money.

And it changes the outcome with money.  And you start budgeting and doing all the things that you’re supposed to do.  And really, money changes with you.  And the amazing thing is people say money isn’t everything.  But I’ll tell you, it sure does make things a lot easier, and I can tell you that financial stress makes things harder.  So while money doesn’t buy happiness, the lack of money absolutely buys pain and suffering and all the other things that you just don’t want to have in your life.  And that’s why it’s such valuable material.

ROB:  Not on a business level, on a personal level, he really spoke to me as a—I’m financially irresponsible.

ALEX:  The decision to change your life can be made right now.  And if you commit to it right now and you decide that you’re no longer going to be financially irresponsible and you start looking at the value of running your life in a financially prudent way, you can change your life right now.  And your life changes.  We’ll see the effects in a year or two.

ROB:  Right.  After being in Murfreesboro, what did you think of our city?

ALEX:  You know, I think it’s awesome.  It’s great.  The people here were incredibly supportive.  We went around at a local restaurant, and they were amazing.  This is one of the best hotel staffs that we’ve been able to work with.  And I think that from an attendee point of view and from our staff’s point of view, I don’t know that we could have been treated any better here.  It was absolutely fantastic.  And no major hang-ups with the hotel.  Anything that we needed done, they fixed it.

The local restaurants even brought in additional staff and additional people and additional cooks to deal with our convention.  So what a great city.  What a really nice population.  I mean, they’re just a supportive, salt-of-the-earth population.  And I’ll tell you, I know I already said something, but you, John, Joe, everybody at John Jones Real Estate really helped us pull this off.  And I can’t thank you guys enough.

ROB:  I’ll tell you what, The Star Power Conference is such an inspiration to us.  What is your inspiration?

ALEX:  I’ll tell you, Rob.  My inspiration is the fact that for some reason, and sometimes it shows itself and sometimes it doesn’t, but for some reason I’ve been blessed to connect with and be influenced by and spend time with people that it’s just not normal to be able to do that.  Then it’s amazing.  The people who are just giants of the real estate industry and really any industry for some reason I have had the privilege of connecting with those people.  And on a daily basis, I think my inspiration is living up to the responsibility that having that kind of mentorship provides.

And really I think that every day I wake up in the morning with a simple intention.  And anybody who’s heard me speak has heard it.  It’s to be the best husband I can be, the best father I can be, and help as many people on a daily basis achieve their goals as I possibly can.  And that’s my inspiration.  Seeing people come to an event like this and grow and be challenged and have personal revelations like the one that you had.  That is inspires me like you wouldn’t believe.

ROB:  Any closing words?  What’s coming down the pike for Star Power?

ALEX:  Well, there’s some amazing stuff coming up, and we are really excited about it.  We actually may have sold out at this conference.  I’m not sure.  But if we didn’t sell out, we’re very close.  We’ve got two new events coming up.  One is CDPE All Access.  And that’s CdpeAllAccess.com.  It’s going to be held in Austin, Texas.  Both are in Austin right at our headquarters.  We’re doing two very intimate events.  High profile, high-definition video recording, full camera shoot, full camera crew.

ROB:  Ahh, you’re talking my language now.

ALEX:  Yeah, it’s going to be exciting.  So we’re shooting our distance courses and we’re doing it in September and October in Austin.  So the first one is CDPE All Access, which is a very intimate rerecording of the CPDE with a whole bunch of extra stuff, a three-day event.  The second one is the launch of the CIAS or the Certified Investor Agent Specialist.  That’s also in October.  Those two launches are going to be tremendous for us.  The latter is really going to be interesting.  Brand new product never seen in the market before.

We’ve spent about eight months in development or heavy development.  It’s been on the drawing board for about a year and a half.  When CIAS comes out, I think it’s going to be just as impactful on the real estate as CDPE was.

ROB:  Is there websites we can go to?

ALEX:  CIAS.com.  So it’s Certified Investor Agent Specialist, CIAS.com.  And we launched it here.  We didn’t want anybody to know about it until they heard about it here at Star Power.  And that website will be up and running in the next two days.  We’re loading everything onto the server right now, and we’re really looking forward to launching that product.

Q:   Is it a good time to own rental property?
 
A:   Ten to 12 percent is normally considered a strong the rate of return in the stock market. Believe it or not, owning rental property has the potential to more than triple that 10 percent return on your money?
 
Here’s a realistic scenario that demonstrates the power of putting your money in rental properties. Imagine you buy a single family home in Rutherford County for $120,000 with a 20 percent down-payment of $24,000 out of your pocket.  On the remaining $96,000, you get a 30-year amortized loan at seven percent interest, which has a monthly payment of $640.  Add $1,500 per year to cover insurance and property taxes and your total payment comes to about $765 per month.
 
It is possible today in Rutherford County to pay $120K or less for a home that rents for $900 or more per month.  If your purchase is in this category, it will produce a monthly cash flow (rent minus expenses) of $135 per month.  In many cases, this cash flow completely covers other non-regular expenses that occur, such as repairs, property management, etc.
 
Now let’s say that your rental property appreciates in value an average of three percent per year, which is less than the average annual home appreciation in Rutherford County over the past 10 years.  With this conservative estimate, in 10 years your home will be worth $161,270, or $41,270 more than you paid for it.  Additionally, your principle balance on your loan will have dropped to $82,380 — that’s $13,620 of your loan that has been paid down by your tenants through their rent.
 
Overall, you will be sitting on $78,890 in equity.  Remember, your original cash investment was only $24,000.  This means the value of your investment has more than tripled in just 10 years with an average annual return of 32.9 percent.  There is no other investment that allows you to leverage your money like real estate. 
 
Of course, being a landlord is not for everyone.  This investment is a little more involved than sending a check to your stockbroker.  However, you can take much of the stress of owning rental property off your own shoulders by hiring a skillful property manager and giving him the space he needs to do his job properly.  And there is something comforting about being able to see and touch your investment.
 
Now you can see why I believe it is always a good time to own rental property.

This week on Taste of the Town, Tim Dutton visits Bobby McKee's Irish Pub, which is located in the Stones River Mall on Old Fort Parkway in Murfreesboro, TN. Tim sits down with owner George Pinger to taste some of more popular dishes Bobby McKee's has to offer including their most popular meal, the British staple Fish and Chips. This week's Taste of the Town Special? 50% of any appetizer at Bobby McKee's just for mentioning Taste of the Town!

Find us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/TasteoftheTown or subscribe to our iTunes Podcast via This Link

View in iPad/iPhone HERE

Transcript

TIM:  Tim Dutton here with another edition of Taste of the Town.  Folks, today I’m here at Bobby McKee’s and I’m sitting with George Pinger.  George, thank you for having us to begin with.

GEORGE:  I appreciate you guys coming down and showcasing some of our food.

TIM:  Hey man, I’ve looked forward to this one because I’ve heard the food is great.  George, do you want to tell folks where you guys are located?  Give them a little idea?

GEORGE:  We’re over by Stones River Mall in the Stones River Mall area right across from Shoe Carnival in front of Dillards.

TIM:  Off Old Fort Parkway right here in the mall area.  Now George, the atmosphere here at Bobby McKee’s, tell me a little bit about the basis of the atmosphere and what’s going on.

GEORGE:  Tim, what we tried to develop here was a fun environment with friendly, inexpensively priced food and then a wide variety, probably the largest variety, of imported beers in Murfreesboro.  We have over 60 beers on draft and we have another 62 in the cooler.  So we have a total of 122 different beers basically from all over the world.  So people can come in and try things—a double chocolate ale or a Swiss beer that they haven’t had the opportunity to try before.

TIM:  And it could take a little while to get through those.

GEORGE:  Take quite a while to get through it.

TIM:  Also, you’ve got the bar, which has got the environment.  Just sit down and take a minute out and have a drink or two.

GEORGE:  You know, we just wanted to create a fun, comfortable environment where people can come in, sit down and talk, and enjoy some good food and some good beverage.

TIM:  George, tell me a little bit about—I don’t know where to start.  Man, this stuff looks just great, just off the charts great.

GEORGE:  Obviously, small portions are not a factor here.

TIM:  I see that, man.  I see that.  What do we have right here?

GEORGE:  This here is our Irish nachos, and it’s a Bobby McKee’s twist to a traditional Mexican dish of nachos where we’re using the waffle fries.  And then it has pico de gallo with the cheese on it and some bacon and sour cream and chives.  And it’s all fat free.  We don’t charge anybody a dime for fat.

TIM:  Fat free, folks.  Right up my alley.

GEORGE:  The fat’s all free.  So this is our Irish nachos.  And then to your right, Tim is our—

TIM:  Let’s talk about these Irish nachos a minute.  What kind of cheese?

GEORGE:  It’s a cheddar cheese.

TIM:  It’s a cheddar cheese.

GEORGE:  A cheddar cheese.

TIM:  And you’ve got bacon, the sour cream…

GEORGE:  Tomato, chives, sour cream on it.

TIM:  Guys, you better not be watching your weight with this one.  And it is good to say the least.  Now George, excuse me.  I’m not going to even try to attempt the burger on camera, but trust me man, this thing we’re going to try it here in just a little bit.  What we got?

GEORGE:  This is our Big Bobby.  And this is a full one-pound hamburger.  It’s an angus ground beef and it’s actually four quarter-pound burgers that are all cooked on the grill and served with French fries.  And that’s another kind of a signature of ours here, and it comes with a variety of different cheeses if you’d like also.  And on an onion roll.

TIM:  And on an onion roll.  Guys, it looks terrific.  And I’m sure you need a couch after you got finished or a cot to take a little nap.

GEORGE:  Exactly.

TIM:  That and a few brewskies.  We’re in.

GEORGE:  And you’re good to go.

TIM:  Absolutely.  Now George, what do we have right here?

GEORGE:  There is our fish and chips, which is our most popular dish.  This particular one is served with the sweet potato fries and it’s an Icelandic cod.  You get three pieces that are about three ounces a piece.  It’s dipped in a beer batter, deep fried, and also served with either tartar sauce or malt vinegar.  A big difference between this and your traditional fish and chips that they serve over in England is we’re not putting newspaper on the plate.

TIM:  I’m going to personally guarantee this right here.  That is top-quality fish and it comes with the sweet potatoes.

GEORGE:  Comes with the sweet potato fries.

TIM:  Sweet potato fries.  Finally, George—

GEORGE:  The last, which I’m trying to get standing here.

TIM:  Hey man, it’s too tall.

GEORGE:  This is one of our signature desserts.  We actually have three desserts that we feature at night.  One is our six-layer carrot cake.  Once again, this is more of a dessert for two people.  We also have our Bailey’s Irish Cream Cheesecake, which is made actually by a local company right down the street.  Cornerstone Cheesecakes makes it to our recipe.

TIM:  Great.

GEORGE:  So we use a Murfreesboro company to make our cheesecake.  And then we also have a chocolate bread pudding that we serve.  But I thought I’d bring this one out to start with, get you started on this.  This gives you your morning sugar jolt.  If I can get it to stand up.

TIM:  Let’s if we can ease it over here.

GEORGE:  And those of you who like carrot cake, it’s definitely the ultimate in carrot cake.  And that there is a dot of Lipitor that we put on the side of it.

TIM:  Y’all, you will not regret a visit and a taste of any of this stuff, and I’m sure all the other that they provide.  And man, the portion size of this is just to write home about.  George, do you have a special for the people that say they saw it on Taste of the Town?

GEORGE:  You come in and tell Shawn, our general manager, or whatever manager is here you saw Tim’s show and we’ll give you half price off on an appetizer.  But come in and say hello.  Let us know that you saw Tim.

TIM:  Well, guys.  That’s about it for this edition of Taste of the Town.  And remember, if you’re thinking real estate, think Tim Dutton.

Firstly please let us apologize for the late edition of Tuesday Morning Coffee this week. While the episode was delivered Tuesday morning as schedules to those subscribed via RSS feed, iTunes Podcast, www.DNJ.com, our www.JohnCJones.com homepage, and all the various video and social media outlets, we know many of our viewers prefer to get their weekly fill of Tuesday Morning Coffee right here on our blog. The good news is the late posting to the blog is due to a very exciting (and hectic) week here in Murfreesboro. The annual Star Power real estate conference just wrapped up at Embassy Suites here in Murfreesboro. As the host city our team was able to play hosts to a large contingent of the nation's top Realtors, as well as a number of local real estate agents who were in attendance to gain inspiration and network with a Who's Who of the real estate industry. We certainly came away with a renewed vigor and intensity after spending four days sharing and learning from the best in the industry in sessions covering every aspect of real estate, six of which featured members of The Jones Team and a very inspired keynote address by middle Tennessee's own Dave Ramsey. You can expect some great content in the coming weeks. So without further adue here's this week's Tuesday Morning Coffee.

In this continuation of last week's episode Murfreesboro Realtors John Jones and Debbie Flowers sit down to discuss lead generation and follow up.

For more Tuesday Morning Coffee visit www.TuesdayMorningCoffee.com

Tuesday Morning Coffee is also available as an HD iTunes Podcast HERE or you can watch this episode on your iPad/iPhone HERE.

Transcript

JOHN:  All right.  Hey, John Jones back with you from last week.  We’ve got Part 2, Debbie Flowers, the broker team leader with Keller Williams here in town and my old colleague.  We used to work together for many years at Snow and Wall Realtors.  And last week, we touched on lead generation.

DEBBIE:  Right.

JOHN:  But we really didn’t go in depth.  Talk to me about what you’re training your folks on lead generation.  When we say “lead generation,” how are we generating these leads?  I know it can be different for everybody.  Tell us a little bit about what you guys are doing.

DEBBIE:  Okay.  Well, first off, I want to say that lead generation is very, very critical to your business.  You and I both know that.  Lead generation it’s your business.  It’s what you do.

JOHN:  Sure.

DEBBIE:  You have to go out and get the lead, but you’ve got to find ways that work for you.  One of the things we teach our agents is you have to talk to 10 live people a day about real estate.  Now you’ve got to find what works for you.  Is it social media?  I have agents that love Facebook.  They get a lot of leads from social media.  Is it past clients?  Is it going out passing out your business cards every day, meeting people in the community?  Is it door knocking or cold calling?  We have agents that do nothing but cold call all day until they get their leads.

But you’ve got to talk to 10 live people a day, 50 people a week.

JOHN:  Right.

DEBBIE:  That’s one of the things.

JOHN:  And I agree with that.  I remember when I was new in the business, there was another agent that started the same time I did and she was a female.  And she was excellent on the phone.  I mean, she would just call for sale by owners daily and she could work them.  I wasn’t so good on the phone, so I really used open houses.  I was more a face-to-face person.  I did better in front of people. 

So like for instance when we’re talking about this, I would be someone that would probably want to do more social events or breaking breads, taking people out to eat, open houses—wherever I could get in front of people, that would work better for me.  There’s some other people that they’re animals on the phone, and I think you do have to find the perfect fit.

DEBBIE:  Right.

JOHN:  Database follow-up.

DEBBIE:  Wow.

JOHN:  Or touches.  Let’s talk about touches.  Everybody has a different thing on this.  All right.  Let’s say that you meet somebody at open house.

DEBBIE:  Right.

JOHN:  You have a pretty good rapport.  They’re not working with another agent.  What do you guys say as far as how many times do we have to touch somebody before we’re going to bring them in to build that trust?

DEBBIE:  Thirty-three touches.

JOHN:  Thirty-three touches.

DEBBIE:  Yep.

JOHN:  In 33 touches, how long is that spread out over?  What kind of timeframe?

DEBBIE:  I’d say in a year.

JOHN:  You want to touch them 33 times.

DEBBIE:  Oh, yeah.  Immediately, they need to get a thank you for coming to your open house.

JOHN:  Sure.

DEBBIE:  You know, immediately.  And then follow up with them.  And one of the things too is you’ve got to categorize your buyers that you meet at these open houses.  They might not be an A buyer.  It doesn’t mean as an A buyer they’ve got to buy and be in a house tomorrow.  But they may be a B or C buyer where they have a house to sell.  They’re going to move in the future.  You’ve got to categorize your buyers.  But you’ve got to set them up in a touch program so when they get ready, they think of you.

JOHN:  Yeah.

DEBBIE:  Does that make sense?

JOHN:  I think one of the biggest mistakes we make as agents, and I know I have over the years, is I work my A buyers real, real hard.

DEBBIE:  Oh, yeah.

JOHN:  And if I’m working a lead and I realize they weren’t an A buyer, then I put them over here and eventually they’d fall into the garbage can.

DEBBIE:  Yep.

JOHN:  But then I’d look around 10 months later; I’d see these folks buying a house somewhere.  And boy, it just hurt my feelings, but then I’d just have to go look in the mirror because I did nothing to stay in touch with them.

DEBBIE:  Oh, yeah.

JOHN:  The key is plug them in the system because some people might walk through an open house and then it be 18 months before they’re a buyer.

DEBBIE:  Before they buy.

JOHN:  But if they’re in a system—and I think you have to have a system—

DEBBIE:  You have to have a system.  I do Top Producer.

JOHN:  Top Producer is a great one.

DEBBIE:  Yeah.  Top Producer’s great.

JOHN:  And I think what we’re both saying is it doesn’t matter if it’s Top Producer, Agent Office, Real Pro or whatever—even ACT!—have something where it systemizes a way for you to touch them.  Today I’m supposed to call them.

DEBBIE:  Yeah.

JOHN:  Next Thursday, they’re getting an e-mail.

DEBBIE:  Yeah.

JOHN:  The following Wednesday, they’re getting a postcard, whatever.

DEBBIE:  I think one of the things that agents forget too is when you’re out there selling, you’re not selling a product; you’re selling yourself.  People like to know if they like you.  They want to know if they can trust you, and really you’re selling yourself.  You’re not selling real estate or a product.  You’re selling you.

JOHN:  Right.

DEBBIE:  So I think that’s something you have to remember.

JOHN:  I think we all want to do business with people we like.

DEBBIE:  Yeah.

JOHN:  You know what I mean?

DEBBIE:  Yeah.

JOHN:  I think you and I both know we could probably go out and find somebody that could give us a little bit better deal on a haircut.

DEBBIE:  Yeah.

JOHN:  Or we could go find somebody that might give us a little bit better deal on a car somewhere or clothes.

DEBBIE:  Yeah.

JOHN:  But we end up gravitating back to people not so much because it’s the best deal or whatever.

DEBBIE:  Yeah.

JOHN:  Because we like them and we trust them.

DEBBIE:  Because you like them and you trust them.  Absolutely.

JOHN:  That’s right.  That’s right.  Well, this is great stuff.  We could go on and on for hours.

DEBBIE:  We could.

JOHN:  But we don’t want to spend too much time of your day.  But thank you, guys.  Thank you, Debbie for all that you do for your industry here, constantly doing things.

DEBBIE:  Thank you, John.  Thank you for being a leader.

JOHN:  So anyway, thank you guys.  If you need us, JohnCJones.com.  Thank you.

Q:  If I know that I’m likely to get a low offer on my house, why wouldn’t I price it a little high to leave some room for negotiation?
 
A:  In a buyer’s market, the asking price for your house should be based on the value a prospective purchaser can get for the money compared to the competition.  When a buyer surveys the marketplace, he is going to take a closer look at properties that seem to offer the most value while weeding out houses that appear overpriced.  Even though you may be willing to take significantly less than your asking price, a buyer looking at it on the MLS or the Internet has no idea that might be the case.  When the competition is this fierce, it’s much better to have a low offer to work on than no offer at all.  There’s nothing to negotiate if you don’t have an offer.  If you price your house high in an effort to leave wiggle room, you risk the market rejecting your home before anyone even gets a chance to look at it.

This week Tim Dutton takes Taste of the Town to Sal's Pizza, located on Church St. in Murfreesboro. This new pizzeria does new york style and sicilian pizza better than anyone around. Originally "Picnic Pizza" in the Hickory Hollow Mall, the Sal's franchise was the first to sell pizza by the slice in Tennessee. Sal's Pizza is one of Murfreesboro's best kept secrets and as you'll see in this episode of Taste of the Town, Sal's daughter Rosa takes great pride in keeping the family business alive and as her father intended, simple, tasty and true to their Brooklyn and Sicilian roots.

This week's Taste of the Town Special? 10% off your total bill at Sal's Pizza in Murfreesboro just for mentioning Taste of the Town!

Find us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/TasteoftheTown or subscribe to our iTunes Podcast via This Link

View on iPad/iPhone HERE

Transcript

TIM:  Tim Dutton here with another edition of Taste of the Town.  And folks, today, we’re at Sal’s Pizza, which is located on Church Street, and I’m sitting here with Rosa who is Sal’s daughter.  Now Rosa, tell the truth.  Your dad’s name isn’t Sal is it?

ROSA:  Yes, sir.  It is.

TIM:  That just sounds so Italian, New Yorkish.  Tell me about the background of your family and the pizza business.

ROSA:  Okay, first of all, his name is Sal.  It’s Salvatore, and both of my parents were born in Sicily, Italy.  And I was born in Brooklyn New York.  My parents came down here in 1976 and started pizzerias, the first pizza by the slice.  And we have been doing so since then.

TIM:  So we are talking about authentic Sicilian…?

ROSA:  Yes, sir.  Everything is made from scratch from the dough to our sauces to our cheese we shred ourselves.  Everything is prepared fresh daily.  There’s no preservatives, no artificial flavorings.  Everything’s made by Italians.  They’re both from Sicily.

TIM:  By authentic Italians.

ROSA:  Yes, sir.  Yes, sir.

TIM:  This is not just a name on a menu?

ROSA:  No, sir.  My father’s name is Salvatore, and we are Italian like I said, and we’ve been serving pizza to the people of Nashville since 1976.  It started in Hickory Hollow Mall.

TIM:  And you guys, y’all do a buffet here.

ROSA:  Yes, sir.  Seven days a week from 11 to 2.

TIM:  And it’s all you can eat.

ROSA:  For $6.99.

TIM:  You’ve got spaghetti.  I saw some pasta.

ROSA:  Yes, sir.  We have three or four different types of pasta.  Every day it changes.  Same with three or four different kinds of pizza.  Fresh garlic bread.  Then we also make a pasta salad and then a house salad, cucumber tomato salad.  And then we also have several desserts.  And it is all you can eat, seven days a week from 11 to 2.

TIM:  Now what hours are you guys open because you do other things other than the buffet?

ROSA:  Of course, we have a full dine-in and takeout menu with all different kinds of pasta dishes, almost every type of pasta dish imaginable, along with a very full menu of different variations of pizza.  And we’re open from 10 to 10 during the week and 10 till later on the weekends.  We are a mom and pop restaurant, so depending on business, we stay open later if needed.

TIM:  If need be?

ROSA:  Yes, sir.

TIM:  Now Rosa, we took three different samples of what you guys put out on the buffet.

ROSA:  Yes, sir.

TIM:  And you’re going to have to help me a little bit.

ROSA:  Okay.

TIM:  And I’ve been eating regular pizza all my life—

ROSA:  All your life.

TIM:  —and love it.  But it’s just been regular pizza.  I think the first time I came here was a couple of weeks ago and I said we have got to do a show on this restaurant.

ROSA:  Well, thank you, sir.

TIM:  Tell me a little bit about what we have here.

ROSA:  Okay, that’s our double crust, which is two layers of hand-tossed dough.  And in the center, we load it with Italian meats, which would be like our Genoa salami, ham, Italian sausage, pepperoni, and beef, and it’s got two layers of cheese.  And then of course it’s baked in the oven, and it’s called the Sal’s Double Crust.

TIM:  Sal’s Double Crust, eh?

ROSA:  Yep, because it’s got two crusts and the meat inside and then there’s also cheese and sauce inside and then cheese on the top.

TIM:  And the person overseeing my diet wouldn’t have a problem at all with me eating this, would they?

ROSA:  It’s delicious.

TIM:  This is right up my alley.  Guys, if you’ve never eaten true Italian pizza, you have got to come here and try this out.  That is magnificent.  I don’t know the words to describe what you and Sal have put….

ROSA:  Thank you, sir.  Everything is fresh.  Everything was made today, and like I said, we’re blessed because my father is getting older and we’ve brought Alex in as my father’s partner and he’s done a stupendous job in upholding his reputation and quality of food.

TIM:  That’s as good as it gets.

ROSA:  We’ve been very fortunate and blessed.  The people of Nashville as well.  Thank you so much.

TIM:  Because that’s kind of where you guys got started in Nashville was it?

ROSA:  Well, my father started originally in Brooklyn, New York, but Nashville has really brought us to another step of success.

TIM:  Right.  And you’ve been in Murfreesboro for how long?

ROSA:  About a year now, sir.

TIM:  About a year?

ROSA:  But 30-something years, since 1976 in Nashville.

TIM:  Yeah.  Now tell me about this one.

ROSA:  This is the typical, hand-tossed, New York-style pizza, which is just straight up New York style, a nice big slice of New York pizza.

TIM:  Thin crust.  Now how do New Yorkers eat this?  Do they fold it over?

ROSA:  We fold it in half, sir.  Just like that.

TIM:  Like this right here?

ROSA:  Uh-huh, and it should stand straight up and you should be able to eat it perfectly like that when you know it’s a good slice of pizza.  Just like that.

TIM:  And it is a good slice of pizza.

ROSA:  Thank you, sir.

TIM:  The taste is…

ROSA:  Well, because our pizza sauce is homemade.  It’s out own special blend of cheeses.  No fillers.  My father uses only real mozzarella.  It’s all real products.  You’re getting the real deal.

TIM:  And you know what?  It tastes that way.  No need for me to go to New York or Italy?

ROSA:  No, sir.  No, sir.

TIM:  Either one.  I’ve got it right here in Murfreesboro.

ROSA:  You’ve got it right here.

TIM:  Finally, what do we have right here, Rosa?

ROSA:  This is our typical stromboli, and you can get it in any way you’d like with any toppings.  This one was made with pepperoni and cheese, and of course, we sprinkle it with parmesan, oregano, and dress it with a little bit of our garlic olive oil.  And we also make calzones, but the stromboli is very popular.

TIM:  Now do people just pick it up and make a mess out of themselves with it?

ROSA:  Yes, sir.  And a lot of people like to dunk it in some marinara sauce.  But it’s loaded with cheeses.  You’re making me laugh.

TIM:  Oh, my goodness.  I could not work here.  I’ve got issues anyway.

ROSA:  No, it’s really healthy for you.  Hey, pizza’s got all four food groups all in one slice.

TIM:  I love it.  You know what?  It may not be how long you live; it’s how you live.

ROSA:  It’s how you live.  Exactly.  Hey, and Italians, we eat good; we live good; and we work hard.

TIM:  This is terrific.  Hey, one of the things that I wanted to mention.  Sal’s is located on Church Street and it’s kind of across from the Waffle House as you’re getting ready to go over the interstate on the left.  It’s in the old Burger King building on the left-hand side before you get to I-24.  Rosa, do you have a special for people that came in and say they saw you guys on Taste of the Town and want to try it out?

ROSA:  I’ll give them 10% off their check.

TIM:  Ten percent off their purchase?

ROSA:  Yes, their purchase.

TIM:  I guarantee you, you will not regret this.  Well, that’s about it for this edition of Taste of the Town.  And remember, if you’re thinking real estate, think Tim Dutton.

In this episode of Tuesday Morning Coffee John Jones interviews Debbie Flowers, the Broker/Team Leader of Keller Williams Realty in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. In part one of this three part series they discuss the importance of staying positive in a down market and the nuts and bolts of the real estate industry, lead generation.

Tuesday Morning Coffee is also available as an HD iTunes Podcast HERE or you can watch this episode on your iPad/iPhone HERE.

Transcript

JOHN:  Hey, John Jones here with another edition of Tuesday Morning Coffee.  It’s with great honor and privilege, I have an awesome old friend—not old.  Great friend, Debbie Flowers, with me today.  When I started in the business, Debbie was at Snow and Wall Realtors here in Murfreesboro, and I worked with her for several years.  And now Debbie is the broker team leader—

DEBBIE:  For Keller Williams

JOHN:  —for Keller Williams here in Murfreesboro.  Just wanted to make sure I got the terminology correct.  And let me tell you something about Debbie.  Debbie is one of the most positive people that I’ve ever been around in the business, and I can see where she is really doing a good job over there.

DEBBIE:  Thank you.

JOHN:  She was a great producer.  She’s gotten out of the production mode for the last five or six years and is more into managing and coaching and training, and she gets right in the middle of it.  So I wanted to have Debbie on today because I wanted to talk about the things that they’re doing over there and we were going to kind of share with some things I’m doing here.  And this will work for any industry.  Anybody in sales I think will benefit from this.  So it’s a real treat and I’m glad to have you, Debbie.

DEBBIE:  Thank you.  Thank you, John.

JOHN:  What I’m going to start off with today, Debbie, obviously the media is telling us that we’ve been in a recession now for 2-1/2, 3 years and there has been a shift in the market.  And it’s not the same market that you and I knew the previous 15.  And running a business, and as many agents as you guys have over there, what do you do to deal with that?  What do you do to train against the negative and keep those people upbeat.  Tell me some things you guys are talking about over there.

DEBBIE:  Well, first off, it like you and I discussed before.  You can’t listen to the media.  You’ve gotta just stop watching the news.  If we all listen to the news, we’d just stay home in bed and never get up, right?  Don’t you agree?

JOHN:  I would go jump off a bridge.

DEBBIE:  So I think mindset is so critical in today’s market.  Ninety percent of everything you do is mindset.  You’ve gotta have a passion for what you do, and you’ve gotta really care about these people because they have a lot of sellers and buyers out there that are struggling.

JOHN:  That’s right.  You were talking about affirmations.

DEBBIE:  Affirmations, yes.

JOHN:  And I know a lot of people think that affirmations are goofy or whatever, but I’m a big believer in affirmations.

DEBBIE:  Absolutely.

JOHN:  I’m a big believer in that.  In fact, I was telling you earlier I used to have laminated cards in my shower that every day I would sit there and say, “I’m a listing animal.”

DEBBIE:  I’m a lean, mean, listing machine.

JOHN:  A lean, mean, listing machine.  Do you believe in affirmations?  Do you talk to your people about that?

DEBBIE:  Absolutely.  Absolutely.  Affirmations every day.  You’ve got to speak positive every day.  “I’m a lean, mean, listing machine.”  “Buyers and sellers are attracted to me.”  “I have what people want.  God loves me, and no one can take that away.”  Those type things.

JOHN:  That’s good stuff.  I love that stuff.

DEBBIE:  Thanks.

JOHN:  Talk to me about the knowledge and the education stuff y’all are doing.  With the shift in the market, it’s not the same market.  I mean, in ’06 I derived about 80% of my commission dollars from new construction.

DEBBIE:  Right.

JOHN:  And about 20 from existing.  And for me that’s flip-flopped now.  So what are you guys talking about as far as where the market is and how to articulate that to your clients or whatever?

DEBBIE:  Well, one thing I always say is when you get out of the learning business, you get out of the earning business.  Always remember that.

JOHN:  That’s awesome.

DEBBIE:  Always remember that.  Education is so critical, and knowledge is power.  If you want to have the right mindset, get all the education you need to be a professional in whatever business you’re in and then your mindset is so comfortable that you feel comfortable with what you’re doing.  But lead generation, as you know, we talk about it.  Real estate is a lead generation business.  It’s how many people can you talk to every day about your business.

JOHN:  In fact, we both know the quote from your CEO, Gary Keller, your founder and leader.  And he says in his book Millionaire Real Estate Agent, “We are not in the real estate business; we’re in the lead generation business.”

DEBBIE:  We’re in a lead generation business.

JOHN:  It’s not too hard to help somebody find a home once they choose you to work with them.

DEBBIE:  Right.

JOHN:  The hard part is getting them to choose you to work with them.

DEBBIE:  Yeah.

JOHN:  We both had the good fortune, which was kind of unheard of 17 years ago and 23 years ago when you got in the business.

DEBBIE:  Right.

JOHN:  We had a leader, Howard Wall, at Snow and Wall, that was big into training.

DEBBIE:  Yeah.

JOHN:  And you didn’t get that back then.  And we were very fortunate.  But I can remember something Howard told me because when I started I was 24; I was scared to death.  And he said, “John, once you get through this training, you will know more than 95% of the people you’re going to come in contact with.”

DEBBIE:  Absolutely.

JOHN:  And that really gave me that armor to go out there.  When I had that knowledge, it gave me that armor and confidence to go out there and really have a shot at succeeding.

DEBBIE:  Absolutely.  And I want to give a kudos to Howard Wall.  You know, in your business you’re going to find—we call it the ring of five.  There’s five people that got you where you are today, and I want to say that Howard and Sally Wall are the people that got me where I am today because he gave me training knowledge that we did not get anywhere else back then..

JOHN:  No, it is incredible.

DEBBIE:  And it was how to get on the phone.  It was about lead generation.  It’s about passing out your business cards daily.  And if you remember, back in the day, he would have us go out back then in 1990 and pass out our business cards every day and come back and report to him of whose names and information we collected.

JOHN:  Yeah.  He held us accountable.

DEBBIE:  He held us accountable and we were doing the basics back then.

JOHN:  Right.

DEBBIE:  Before we even knew that that’s what we should be doing all along.

JOHN:  Right.  It’s amazing.  Well, guys, thank you for watching today.  Debbie, thank you so much.

DEBBIE:  Oh, you’re welcome.

JOHN:  And you know what?  We are going to follow it up with a part two that you’re going to see next week because this stuff is so good.  So anyway, thank you.  If you need us, call us or hit us at our website.

This week we kick off the second season of Taste of the Town at Great Harvest Bread Company, located on Memorial Blvd in Murfreesboro, TN. Tim Dutton interviews the owner Greg Baughn and tastes some of the more popular varieties of bread and sandwiches Great Harvest has to offer. This week's Taste of the Town Special? Receive a free chocolate chip lunch cookie with your purchase of a sandwhich just for mentioning Taste of the Town!

Find us on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/TasteoftheTown or subscribe to our iTunes Podcast via This Link

View on iPad/iPhone HERE

Transcript

TIM:  Tim Dutton here with another edition of Taste of the Town.  Today, I’m sitting with Greg Baughn with the Great Harvest Bread Company here in Murfreesboro.  Greg, tell folks a little bit about where you’re located.  Help them to understand where you guys are.

GREG:  Okay.  Yeah.  We’re located at 2445 Memorial Blvd., and that is right across the street from SportsCom or we’re diagonally across the street from State Farm regional office, which houses about 1,600 employees.  We’re out 231 going toward Lebanon, right between MidSouth Bank and Rite Aid pharmacy.

TIM:  Right across from the Sports Com folks.  Now Greg, when I saw the name, I was thinking bread, but you guys man, y’all make sandwiches.  You’ve got just a wide variety from chicken breasts, salads, and different things.  Tell folks a little bit about what other things you do other than just the bread.

GREG:  Sure.  Well, of course, the thing that does drive us is our bread.  We’re a whole grain bakery.  We bring the wheat from Montana and we mill it in our store and then we make fresh bread from it.  From that, we also do various whole grain muffins, scones.  We do a thing called the Savannah Bar, which I can get one of those out here too.  So we do a lot of breakfast, people coming by and picking up a cup of coffee and a scone or muffin.  Or they can pick up a six pack of sweets for their office and take it by the office to feed employees.

TIM:  Great.

GREG:  Another thing we do is the lunch.  We have a pretty good walk-in business.  We’ve got several sandwiches that we do.  Of course, we’re making the bread from scratch every day.  And we also do catering, so we can put those sandwiches on trays or we can put them in boxes with boxed lunches.

TIM:  From breakfast all the way through dinner, you guys have something for people here.

GREG:  We do.  Now our hot sandwiches we only do from 11 to 3.  So we don’t do the hot sandwiches at night per se and we do close at 6:00.  So we’re not open until 8:00.

TIM:  Okay.  Greg, tell me a little bit about the sandwich we’ve got here and the type of bread we have.

GREG:  Okay.  This is our best-selling cold sandwich.  It’s a chicken salad sandwich.  And this sandwich comes with lettuce, tomato, red onion, and mayo.  And it’s on honey wheat bread.  So this bread actually, our honey wheat, only has purified water, yeast, salt, and honey, and our flour.  And that is our best-selling cold sandwich.  The one thing about our chicken salad I think that makes it so good is we have a sweet and spicy pecan in it and it’s all white meat chicken.  And it’s very high quality.  And I don’t think you’ll find much better than that.

TIM:  No.  And man, the details in that bite of bread alone with the chicken.  I mean, you can tell a world of difference between this bread right here and what is ordinarily put on sandwiches.

GREG:  Oh, yeah.  It’s going to be a lot different than store-bought bread because we’re making it from scratch.  We’re making it just like let’s say your grandmother would take a wheat berry and mash it.  All natural.  We’re making our own flour, and it’s very difficult to make whole grain bread like that, and that’s what Great Harvest has perfected.

TIM:  That is good.  Now Greg, we’re got another sandwich here.  Tell me a little bit about it.

GREG:  Now that is our spicy smoked turkey pepper jack panini.

TIM:  That’s a mouthful.

GREG:  It is.  It is.  And it’s also a mouthful when you take a bite of it.  But it’s a very lean turkey with a pepper jack cheese.  It’s got lettuce and tomato and it also has a chipotle mayo.  And it’s on an Italian herb focaccia bread that has basil, oregano, and olive oil.  And that’s something that we make right here in the store.  And that is probably the best-selling panini sandwich, that and the Tuscan chicken that we have.

TIM:  Guys, y’all need to come in and try this.  This is different, but it is great.  I mean great.  Now Greg, I think you’ve got a sample of all the different bread that you guys cook.  What are some of the different ones?

GREG:  We’ve got a lot of our breads right here.  And I already talked about the honey wheat.  So we actually mill our wheat.  We add purified water, yeast, salt, and honey, and that’s going to be our honey wheat bread.  That is the base of all of our whole grain breads.  This bread is actually a Dakota bread.  So you can’t really probably see it very well, but we add pumpkin seed, sunflower seed, millet, and sesame seed to our honey wheat and we make a Dakota bread.

And this is a whole grain goodness bread.  So we take our honey wheat and we’re going to add millet, sunflower seed, flax seed, some pecans, and whole almonds in that.  So that is full of all healthy stuff.  It’s called whole grain goodness.  This is the pumpernickel rye, which you’ve probably had before.  It’s a pumpernickel, caraway seed bread.  It’s going to be colored a little bit and it’s got a really nice texture.  And people who like that kind of bread, they love it.  And people who don’t like it don’t like it.  But they know what I’m talking about with the pumpernickel rye.

TIM:  Right.

GREG:  This is a strawberry shortcake muffin, and this is a peaches and cream muffin.  And then this right here, that’s our Italian herb focaccia, which this sandwich is on.

TIM:  I can account for that one.  It is great.  Greg, all your bread man, it’s such a cut above anything that you’re going to get anywhere else.

GREG:  It is.  Yeah, I think it’s going to be a cut above definitely the grocery store.  You are going to pay a little bit more for the bread than at the grocery, but our bread keeps seven to ten days on the counter.  You can also double bag and freeze the bread, and it freezes really well.  And it’s hard to really get that bread to mold just because it’s all natural.

TIM:  Right.

GREG:  It’s the good stuff.

TIM:  Exactly.  Now Greg, do you have a special for the people that come in and say that they saw you guys on Taste of the Town?

GREG:  Yeah.  Right now, if you come in our store and say that you saw us on Taste of the Town, we’re going to give you a free lunch cookie with your sandwich purchase.  So you just tell us that you saw us on Taste of the Town and when you order a sandwich, we’ll give you a free chocolate chip lunch cookie.

TIM:  That is great.  So guys, that’s about it for this edition of Taste of the Town.  And remember if you’re thinking about hot, quality bread, think Great Harvest Bread Co., and if you’re thinking top quality real estate service, think Tim Dutton.

A comparison of the Murfreesboro TN area real estate statistics from June 2009 and June 2009 as well as the year-to-date numbers. John Jones explains why the statistics support that the Rutherford County real estate market has finally stabilized.

Tuesday Morning Coffee is also available as an HD iTunes Podcast HERE or you can watch this episode on your iPad/iPhone HERE.

Transcript

JOHN:  Hey, John Jones with another edition of Tuesday Morning Coffee.  Thanks for tuning in.  We’re going to go over June numbers today that came out last week.  I was interested to see what June looked like.  June we had 8% more closings this June than we did last June.  I still feel like that is part of that carry over from the tax credit.  Remember, those had to be closed by the end of June.  They did extend it a little bit to be closed; I think gave them 90 days, but for the most part, everybody was in at that point.  So they were up 9%.

Now an interesting statistic that I was really more concerned with, what were pendings for the month?  Pendings for June were 17% less than last June.  And I know that’s less, but quite honestly, I was surprised it wasn’t more and I’m happy to see it was not more because the tax credit had run out, we knew there were going to be less pendings, but I honestly thought that number would be higher than 17%.  So let’s kind of recap the last few months.  Okay, you had April, which was kind of a record month as far as closings, 54% up over last April.

A lot of that had to do with the tax credit.  May was 21% over last May.  There again, a lot of that had to do with the deals that were written before the end of April for the tax credit, and June was slightly up as well.  I think we’re going to see some small decreases for the next few months as far as closings compared to last year.  But I don’t think they’re as bad as what maybe I anticipated or at least I hope not.  The pendings for this month give me hope.  Another interesting statistic.  Our closed sales price was almost dead even year to date with this time last year.

Year to date last year we were at $165,587 average close price.  This year, we’re at 165,538, so I mean it’s like $50 off, which is incredible.  That tells me that maybe we’re kind of stabilizing on evaluations here a little bit.  Another thing, year to date, we have closed on 21% more homes this time this year than we had this time last year.  Twenty-one percent, so we’re still on an increase there.  That’s about all I have.  If you guys have anything or need anything real estate-related, please call us at 867-3020.  We would love to help.  And you can see us on our website at JohnC.Jones.com.  Thank you.