Team Lally Show with Jim Murphy
Executive Director, Honolulu Habitat for Humanity
Announcer: It’s time to enter the world of real estate in Oahu with Hawaii’s only true real estate radio show, the Team Lally real estate show. Grab a pen and get ready to take notes! For the next full hour, Hawaii’s premier real estate leader, Adrienne Lally and Attilio Leonardi will bring you the latest in real estate news and real world strategies on how they can guarantee to sell your home at a price and deadline you agree to! Or they’ll buy it! Now, here are your hosts, Adrienne and Attilio!
Adrienne: Welcome to the Team Lally real estate show, home of the guaranteed sold program or we’ll buy it. If you have any questions just give us a call at 799-9596 or check us out on the web at www.teamlally.com.
Attilio: Well hey everybody this is Attilio. You know, I think, I used to tell the mom story of the disclaimer, I’m going to, I’m going to change it to, our disclaimer is going to be the dumbest thing you can do. You know what is dumb, the two dumbest things you can do?
Adrienne: What are the two dumbest things you can do?
Attilio: Uh, take anything that we say on the show as facts or legal advice, so there’s our disclaimer. The two dumbest things that you could ever do, so don’t do that! Alright, so, uh, this is the life coach moment of the show, and I’m going to give you guys some life coaching here. Not sure if you’ve heard of uh, blue zones, uh but there was a researcher who did a TED talk on it, and there are what he considers blue zones, are places on the planet earth where human beings uh, live to a long age, I think like these are like either 90 or above, yeah, 100. Just a high percentage of people that live to 100, so if, people are living longer, what he, what did he want to find out?
Adrienne: Why?
Attilio: Yeah, why, what are they doing? So, it actually spurred an uh, I think it’s, I think this is a non-profit organization probably from him that’s being backed up by local uh medical insurance companies, like there, so there is a blue zone project going on here in Hawaii and uh, good, good uh, good friends of mine are, is uh, taking a look at that and I just said that and I blanked on his name. Anyway, so, it’ll come to me, Scott! Scott Stensrue there you go. And anyway, he’s heading up this project on behalf of uh, HMSA or brought to Hawaii by HMSA and this is not some paid advertisement or any of that stuff, I just strongly believe in these concepts, so, in these blue zones, they found that there were typical things, there were a lot of common events or situations or health or diet or exercise that was common in these, in these areas across the world by this researcher, where there’s a high percentage of people that live to over 100 years. And what they did is they created this, it’s called the Power of Nine, so there’s nine things that you can uh, start creating a healthier, happier life today. And I will tell you what those nine things are on our next show. Just kidding! I’m not going to go through all nine of them but I’ll tell you what, I’ll cover three or four of them on this show and then we’ll give you the rest on the other show. If you want to know what they are, maybe we’ll, you know what? Listen to our podcast. Uh, or maybe, you know what? I think we should do a video on this one. Subscribe to our viral video, go to Team Lally Video Blogs, subscribe and then you’ll get these coming into your, your inbox here and we’ll do a quick, 2-minute video on it, we’ll provide written documentation and/or links to what we’re talking about but here’s, I’m going to give you the first uh, couple of them. Adrienne, give us the uh, give us the first one.
Adrienne: This says to uh, to downshift.
Attilio: Downshift, like in your car, like when you’re going down a hill? Get in the low gear?
Adrienne: So, you want to reverse disease by finding a stress-relieving strategy that works for you. So, it might be like yoga, exercise, meditation—
Attilio: Watching sunsets.
Adrienne: Stress relief.
Attilio: Okay, so number, so uh, one of nine is downshift. The second one is purpose. Wake up with a purpose each day to add up to seven years to your life.
Adrienne: Be purposeful.
Attilio: Seven years to your life. Now we’ve got a training program that we offer at Keller Williams. This is open to anybody, business person, you want your kid, you know, student in college to take it, go for it, it’s not necessarily for realtors, or necessarily, it’s realtor-centric a little bit but it’s more about what?
Adrienne: Mindset.
Attilio: Mindset. It’s called BOLD, and it stands for?
Adrienne: Business objective life by design.
Attilio: So, if you want more information on that, send us an email or check out our website. We’d be happy to tell you. There’s two classes that are held every year. Usually, what? February and August?
Adrienne: Mmm-hmm.
Attilio: Okay! The next one, we’ll give them two more and then we’ll get on with the show. What’s the next one?
Adrienne: Is the plant slant?
Attilio: Plant slant?
Adrienne: So, put less meat and more plants on your plate.
Attilio: Okay, so if your plate—
Adrienne: Go vegetarian.
Attilio: If your plate was a pie shape, I would say one very thin slice of, very thin slice of, of that pizza pie should be meat and the rest of it should be fruits and vegetables.
Adrienne: Or no meat at all.
Attilio: Or, uh, as I have been, and Adrienne’s coming along on it but I think I’ve been a vegetarian probably for the last 5 years and uh, you know what? Uh here’s the deal that kicked me over. Go watch two documentaries. Forks over Knives, again, that’s Forks over Knives and the second documentary is What the Health? What’s the documentary?
Adrienne: What the Health.
Attilio: What the Health. Okay. Last one, this one’s Adrienne’s favorite so I’ll let her read this one again because it’s her favorite.
Adrienne: (laughing) Wine at 5.
Attilio: Wine at 5, so what you want to do, at 5 o’clock every day go, “I’m too tired. I’m not good looking. I don’t have enough money.” Every day at 5. That kind of whining?
Adrienne: No, the other kind of wine.
Attilio: Oh, what kind of whining?
Adrienne: Like the red wine.
Attilio: Oh, red wine sorry.
Adrienne: Enjoy a glass of wine with good friends each day.
Attilio: Alright, not a bottle! A glass. And not what, and I’ve seen people’s glasses, they look like a freaking mini aquarium, uh, fish tank, some of these people’s wine glasses. They fill like 3 bottles of wine in that wine glass.
Adrienne: Alright, so I think it’s time for the quotes.
Attilio: Go for it.
Adrienne: Courtesy of Hawaii Pacific Property Management.
Attilio: Home of the rent guarantee.
Adrienne: Yes. So, first one is from Confucius.
Attilio: Confucius.
Adrienne: “When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don’t adjust the goals. Adjust the action steps.”
Attilio: Work hard.
Adrienne: Work harder. Confucius also says—
Attilio: He’s a popular guy!
Adrienne: Yes, he is today. “When anger rises, think of the consequences.”
Attilio: Okay and then calm down.
Adrienne: Last one, from John Dewey: “Arriving at one goal is the starting point to another.”
Attilio: Awesome!
Adrienne: So, that was uh, from Duke Kimhan of Hawaii Pacific Property Management, and he’s actually—
Attilio: Speaking of which.
Adrienne: He’s on the line, to give us his uh, his tip of the week.
Attilio: Hello Duke!
Duke: Man, those, I was waiting for all the nine tips and I only got two. I feel cheated.
Attilio: They always say, leave them hanging, leave them wanting more.
Adrienne: Next week.
Attilio: Next week we’ll give you that.
Duke: But that’s stressful. Talking about non-stress and then you give me all these non-stress ways, only two, two to get out of them. I guess I’ve got to go to the podcast.
Attilio: Take these two, you’re going to live to 80, I’ll give you the rest and you can hit 100.
Duke: (laughing) So the tip of the week is if you’re an owner in today’s market, you may want to consider, strongly consider allowing pets in your home. When you allow pets in your home, y you can discriminate as to what size, what color, what shape, and what kind. A lot of owners are hesitant to allow pets in their homes but in today’s market, 7-8 out of 10 of our applicants have pets! So, that’s, that’s the tip of the week.
Attilio: Change your minds to change a life. Your mindset should be hey, you know what, pet owners probably are, they’re good renters.
Adrienne: So, you can discriminate against the type of pets?
Attilio: Hey, don’t use the d-word.
Adrienne: Well that’s what it said!
Duke: Yeah, you can just say fish only.
Adrienne: Yup, well I mean, just you allow you know, certain kinds of pet, right? Sizes, breeds, and so forth.
Duke: And that’s only if you don’t have restrictions from your HOA.
Adrienne: Now but you cannot discriminate against any kind of like service animal or an emotional pet, correct?
Duke: Of course not. Those, come, come, you know really restricted paperwork and we want to make sure that our uh, owners are protected and they have the registered pet and registered paperwork.
Attilio: Yeah, because you never know, somebody might have an emotional Bengal tiger.
Adrienne: Well I think the only kind of emotional pets is what, like a dog or a miniature pony. Right?
Duke: That’s service animals, yes.
Adrienne: Oh, that’s service animal, but emotional pets can be anything?
Attilio: I think it can be anything, can be emotional Bengal, Bengal tiger. He gets really upset unless he’s eating your neighbors.
Duke: But I, I’ve been told by a doctor that they’re only allowed one emotional pet. So, if a lady or a man comes in with 5 emotional pets, probably not legit.
Attilio: Well if they’ve got split personality though? One for each personality.
Adrienne: What if their emotional pet needs an emotional pet?
Duke: Yes, uh, no, it, it’s not—
Attilio: My pony needs a—
Duke: No doctor’s going to sign off.
Attilio: The goat that stands on my pony’s back, he, they’re together.
Adrienne: Bu the point of the tip is that if you want to have a higher probability of getting your home rented and even for more money, allow certain kinds of pets that you’re comfortable with in your home.
Attilio: You know something to think about to, once you get them in there and you treat them right and take care of the property and becomes a mutually beneficial relationship, they’re probably less likely to move.
Adrienne: Exactly.
Duke: Well you know in, in 9 out of 10 cases, the pet causes less damage than young children so we’ve seen some really bad damage from the other children with pens and, and paint and chalk and all kinds of colorful drawings on the walls.
Attilio: Yeah, you know, I’ve yet to meet a dog that can, can get a permanent marker and say, draw a message. If we did then I’d be like, we need that pet! That’s a, you know, we’ve got to put them on—
Duke: America’s Got Talent!
Attilio: America’s Got Talent. First dog that can write. Okay. But okay, awesome, good tips, you know I, you guys manage one of my properties, I was reviewing one of the leases, you guys’ paperwork is just so extensive and it covers so many things, so I can speak to people out there as owners. If you want a property management company between you and tenant and all the tenant landlord codes and all that liability I highly recommend—
Adrienne: And all the things that could come up, Duke and his team have thought of them. They’re on the paper.
Attilio: You guys even had the, the tenant sign a pet addendum, even if they didn’t have a pet, because what happens right? You know all these tenants are super honest with you right, they’re going to tell you immediately if they bring in a pet after the fact, right? No, they’re not.
Duke: They always tell you.
Attilio: They’re not, but at least they have the addendum up front that tells them so I thought that was brilliant that you guys had them sign it, even if, even though she didn’t have a pet because then she knew what to do.
Duke: We have a move-out addendum that they sign when they move in.
Adrienne: So, all the expectations. Up front. No misunderstandings.
Duke: Well there’s still misunderstandings but you know, for whatever purpose we try to eliminate as much as we can.
Attilio: Put it in writing, that’s the—
Duke: Put it in writing.
Attilio: Our attorneys said, our attorneys said, if it’s not in writing, it doesn’t exist and you guys put everything in writing. Last thing before we let you go, Duke. What’s that rent guarantee you guys got?
Duke: Rent guarantee states if we don’t rent your home in 30 days or less at an agreed-upon price, we pay that amount of money.
Attilio: No way, that’s crazy!
Duke: It’s crazy! We guarantee it.
Attilio: Okay, awesome sauce.
Duke: Okay! Thank you.
Attilio: Thank you, Duke.
Adrienne: Thanks, Duke.
Duke: Aloha, bu-bye.
Adrienne: So, that was Duke Kimhan of Hawaii Pacific Property Management.
Attilio: I know people are like man, how do I get ahold of him?
Adrienne: You can give him a call at 445-9223, that’s 445-9223. Check them out online at www.hipacificpm.com. And uh, actually—
Attilio: You know where you check them out at? Yelp!
Adrienne: Yeah, they’ve got awesome reviews.
Attilio: Check out the Yelp reviews. We had a couple crazies in there but hey, if it’s all good, something’s wrong, if it’s all bad, something’s really wrong. So, it’s like mostly you know, majority I would say 90-80-07% of their stuff is good, you’re always going to have, you know, there’s going to be pissed-off people in there, the outliers, they’re grumpy no matter what’s going on. They’re grumpy on a sunny day.
Adrienne: Alright, so we have uh, we’ve got Janyce from uh Dream House Drafting with her tip of the week.
Attilio: Hello Janyce.
Adrienne: Are you there?
Janyce: Hi! How are you guys doing?
Attilio: Good, what’ve you got for us?
Janyce: Uh, I would like to caution everybody to use photos from magazines and DIY show clips, etc. with caution. There’s lots of things that can give you inspiration and help you to explain better to your design professional, your contractor, what you want but it’s best not to become married to a particular idea because codes and how they’re adopted by jurisdictions vary, so something that you see that looks really cool and really artsy and a fabulous photo may not be able to be built where you live.
Attilio: Yeah, especially that jacuzzi in the kitchen with the toaster oven on the counter next to it. Probably not a good idea, even if you see it in a magazine.
Janyce: Sounds like a good one. (laughing)
Adrienne: So, Janyce, instead of doing that, like what’s the solution? Are you able to help to craft them with a, a vision of what would be possible? You know, in their area?
Janyce: Well you know the guidelines, because we have to look at plans that will pass the revised ordinances of Honolulu, that’s what the building permit review is checking. In addition to which, depending on the scope of work, the city may not allow their people to be the final signature and they may require structural stamps or something. Currently I have a client who he and his wife assembled a bunch of pictures and yeah, they look nice but certain ones of them would never actually pass here and I had to reassure him that what has been submitted to the city based on his verbal description, will actually uh, not only save him money, but it’s going to uh, structurally pass and it will also pass all of the local ordinances so he can have what he wants but it won’t exactly be like those photos that he showed up with.
Attilio: Well the good news is it’ll protect the value of your home, especially when you come to do the resale, that you know uh, yeah. Okay. Well, thanks, Janyce!
Adrienne: Yeah, excellent tip for today Janyce. Thank you!
Attilio: Thank you!
Adrienne: Alright so that was Janyce Myrland of Dream House Drafting. You can reach her at 206-7107, you can also check her out online at www.dreamhousedrafting.com.
Attilio: Alright, so we’re going to take a break?
Adrienne: No, we’ve got Jodie!
Attilio: Oh! Jody, never mind.
Adrienne: The Mortgage Genius on the line.
Attilio: We’re taking a, IQ break because we, we’re not so smart so we’ve got the Mortgage Genius on the line. That’s what I call an IQ-enhancing moment in conversation with Jodie! Jodie, are you there?
Jodie: I’m here!
Attilio: Alright, what’ve you got for us this week?
Jodie: So today I wanted to talk about uh, federal first-time homebuyer programs which a lot of people uh, you know, remember the good old days of that, the $7,000 credit from, tax credit if you were to buy uh, which happened like during the 2008-2009-time period, so, a lot of people ask about it and I, I did want to talk about the home ready program. Which is, it’s only allowable to a first-time homebuyer and that would be defined as anyone who has not owned in the past 36 months. So, that’s going to be, you know, you sold back in, back in the day and now you’ve recovered and it has been 36 months, yes, you would still be considered a first-time homebuyer which is awesome. Uh, it does have an income limit, which is $87,000, uh, but, and it does have a required online uh—
Attilio: Application.
Jodie: Home-buying, well it’s a home-buying certification, so it’s like online education.
Adrienne: With a course.
Attilio: Yup, gotta get educated.
Jodie: Yup, and then aside from that, it’s, that’s it, you can, you can uh, do the 3% down instead of 5% down. You have a decrease private mortgage insurance monthly payment because you know, if you’re only putting 3% down, you’re, that is going to introduce a mortgage insurance uh, monthly and so you could, you’re going to get a reduction on that private mortgage insurance and then on top of that, you do get a discounted interest rate. So.
Attilio: You said something about the mortgage interest reduction. How do people get rid of that?
Jodie: Uh, about uh, mortgage—
Attilio: I mean, the mortgage insurance, the payment, that additional payment, can they ever get rid of that?
Jodie: They can, with this program. So, with FHA, no, with uh, FHA no, and USDA no, but if it’s, if you’re going to be doing conventional financing, which this home ready program falls under the conventional financing umbrella, which does also open up a bunch of doors because some people are FHA approved because they only have 3.5% down payments but the problem is, is that none of the condos that they’re interested in buying are FHA approved. So, if we can get you over to this conventional umbrella, where you still get to do the 3% down, then it is going to open up all those doors for all those condos that are not FHA approved.
Adrienne: So, you found, you found the work around.
Jodie: We, so it’s a great little workaround and uh, and now, as equity, as you grow equity in your property uh, i.e. appreciation, and you get to the point where you gain, you have 20%% equity, so at time of ownership, or once you officially own the property you’re going to have 3% equity right, because you put 3% down, but then as the value of your properties grows, uh, over time, coupled with as you’re paying down your mortgage, once you gain 20% equity, so you need to come up with that 17%, we will be able to remove that private mortgage insurance monthly.
Attilio: Awesome.
Jodie: And so, if we go off of a conservative 4.5% average, that would take about 3.7 years. And so, it’s 3.7 years of paying this private mortgage insurance uh, and then we get, we’ll get to remove it or somewhere in that ballpark.
Attilio: You know, what I think what our listeners need to realize here is that you are a self-employed business person, so you’re a mortgage broker as opposed to a loan officer and the big difference is this innovative approach and you’re motivated dn you’re hungry to serve your clients at the highest level possible and uh, I think that’s a key difference for people to call and book an appointment with you guys because you guys are, you know, you’ve taken the time to do this type of research and become aware of it because I think, correct me if I’m wrong, most consumers, they’re going with the first loan officers they come across. I think the statistics are like 87% don’t even talk to anybody else.
Jodie: It’s a big number, it’s a big number and as you guys know, and your team knows, not all lenders are equal and we really do place our, our mission is to educate and so it’s to educate people that are like, oh no, I’m going to wait until I save up enough money because my mom told me not to pay private mortgage insurance and we want to educate them and we want to say hey, you’re going to miss a window here. We have an opportunity, let’s sit down, map out the numbers and see if it’s going to be viable now.
Adrienne: Because that, as you’re saving up to get that 20% down, the prices are rising and it’s like, you know, you’re never able to, you know—
Attilio: Get ahead of that.
Adrienne: Catch up. Yeah, so.
Jodie: And the interest rate.
Attilio: Yeah, and interest rates and mortgage interest deductions and the equity. Private ownership, all those things, so do it now.
Adrienne: Lots of things to consider.
Attilio: You know other cities I wouldn’t be so strong with my advice but I want to tell you in Hawaii, you’re never going to go wrong and uh, buying something’s that reasonable, that you can afford, that you’re going to take care, don’t sell it, when you move out, stick a renter in there, use Hawaii Pacific Property Management. Go back to Jodie, buy your second property, 98% of the wealth of this country was built with?
Adrienne: Real estate.
Attilio: Real estate! So.
Jodie: I, I’m at a point, well we’re lucky enough to be at a point where we are working with our second and third generations, which are people that we may have helped 14 years ago, and now they’re on to their second or even their third property which is, I mean, it happens every day when they tell me, “we never would have thought that we would have been owning multiple properties.” Like they just didn’t think it, you know, and it, it is doable and it is what we want to, it is our mission, it is what we want to do, it is what we want to help people do.
Attilio: Alright. Awesome, Jodie.
Adrienne: Alright, thanks Jodie!
Jodie: Thank you guys! Okay, bye!
Adrienne: So, uh, so book your strategy session with Jodie Tonga, the Mortgage Genius.
Attilio: What’s a number they can call?
Adrienne: You can give her a call at 488-5510.
Attilio: What if I’m an introvert, I don’t like to talk to anybody, I like to look on the website first.
Adrienne: Www.pacrimmtg.com.
Attilio: Www.pacrimmtg.com?
Adrienne: That’s right.
Attilio: Did you say www.pacrimmtg.com?
Adrienne: I did. Alright, we’re going to take a quick break but stay with us.
Attilio: When we come back, we’re going to be uh, when we come back we’ll be talking with Jim Murphy of Honolulu Habitat for Humanity who will tell us about some programs that offer affordable housing so stay with us!
[Music fades to commercials]
Announcer: The Team Lally real estate show continues.
Adrienne: Welcome bac and thanks for listening to the Team Lally real estate show, home of the guaranteed sold program or we’ll buy it. I’m Adrienne—
Attilio: And I’m Attilio.
Adrienne: And if you have any questions just give us a call at 799-9596 or you can check us out online at www.teamlally.com.
Attilio: Our guest today is senior-level strategic and organizational professional with extensive leadership experience in strategic business development, real estate, finance, and operations.
Adrienne: He’s originally from Chicago and earned his MBA for non-profit, public, and organizational management from North Park University.
Attilio: Here today to tell us more about the Honolulu Habitat for Humanity and the programs they offer, please welcome their Executive Director, our special guest today Jim Murphy! Welcome!
Jim: Thank you! Happy to be here.
Adrienne: So, I, I guess in the intro you know, we, we uh alluded to you being from Chicago. Uh, so, how, how did you make that journey from Chicago here, you know, to Hawaii? What, what brought you here?
Jim: We flew.
Attilio: Wait a minute, I’ve got a question. I’ve got a question.
Adrienne: You flew, of course!
Attilio: If there’s a North Park University, is there a South Park University?
Jim: There probably is a South Park University.
Attilio: If you can’t make it into North Park, they send you to South Park University but uh, anyway, so.
Jim: My uh, my wife and I, uh four years ago lived in Chicago and we sort of reached that point in our life where uh, we had an opportunity to, to make a change and we had always said uh, that if we had an opportunity uh, to make some sort of life change like that, that we wanted to go to a climate that allowed us to be outdoors and uh, and to do the things that we want, so, yeah.
Attilio: All year long.
Adrienne: So, were you working for Habitat for Humanity in Chicago as well or?
Jim: I wasn’t, my, my background was actually in healthcare, I used to work in community health, and uh, in community non-profits and financing there, so I had a, I had a relatively diverse background uh, and uh, the timing was right and I just decided to take a leap of faith and we uh, we’ve been here 4 years now.
Attilio: Now it looks like you, you’re, you studied it and you’re leaning towards the, what made you want to be in the non-profit sector?
Jim: You know, it was purely by accident, it was right after uh, it was in the, the dot com bust in 2001 uh and I found myself unemployed and I just, I got a job working for a non-profit in uh, in healthcare and uh, had never really worked in a mission-oriented uh place before and uh, once that mission soaked into me, uh, I never wanted to let it go and I never went back to, never went back to corporate America again, so.
Attilio: Yeah, I think, you know, I was just listening to some podcasts uh where he was, he wasn’t the founder, he actually is, I forgot his name for Starbucks, it was an existing coffee, they used to uh, they were a coffee wholesaler originally and then he went to Europe, saw how people made coffee there and how it was a big social event, brought it here and then the rest is history but his big thing was his father had slipped on a sheet of ice, broke his hip and got fired and he didn’t have any health insurance, so his big mission statement was all about uh, providing uh, a decent wage and health benefits uh, for all, for his staff and he said on the show, it literally costs $250 million a year for all the health insurance for the Starbucks baristas and corporate America’s always telling him to get rid of that because it would increase profits and he refused. So, I think the corporate basically the point is, the corporate America is taking, taking some hints and directions from non-profits in that you’ve got to follow a mission, it’s got to be mission before profits. And if it, that’s the case, profits will follow. So, anyway, so let’s talk amore uh, you have a question you want to?
Adrienne: Well I was going to say, let’s talk more you know, your mission here in Hawaii, the Honolulu Habitat for Humanity.
Attilio: Yeah, what is their mission statement?
Jim: So, we uh, our work is uh, primarily to build homes with uh, families in need, uh, we also have a home preservation program for folks who’ve already got a home and they need for uh, certain repairs done, uh but family come to us who are in a need of a new home and uh, they have to fit in to uh, a certain economic uh, position 30-60% below the median area income level. Uh, they have to be financially sound, uh, and strong, and uh, they have to be in need of housing, so they can’t simply be that I’m sick of my house, build me a new house. Uh, and they have to be willing to partner, they have to be willing to uh work side-by-side with our volunteers to help build this house because there is a mortgage uh, that they have at the end of this construction uh that we finance uh, but it’s a 0-interest mortgage so whatever our cost is to build that house that is what the family pays back to us.
Attilio: Oh wow, didn’t know that!
Adrienne: I didn’t know that. That’s amazing.
Jim: Yeah, yeah, and it’s really the, the programs are really about getting families into stable housing and keeping them there.
Attilio: Now I know, you know this, maybe you already know this but maybe you can help us out, there’s a reason why we want to promote home ownership in communities because it, for me, I mean, one of the things I noticed is that it just stabilizes the uh, the community because you have someone that’s not moving, they’re taking ownership in the community, they probably you know, want to participate—
Adrienne: They have pride of ownership.
Attilio: But wat else have you seen with, with the organization?
Jim: So, it, we have a saying that it, it’s not about the house, it’s about the community that builds that house and the family that makes it a home and it’s very true. We’re in ___ right now, uh building a house and uh, the community comes out and participates in that build. Uh, and the family, because they are a homeowner, they are more inclined to uh, you know, send kids to school in that community, go to a church in that community uh, shop in that community, uh, volunteer in that community, so there’s, there’s much, you’ve got much more community participation from uh, from families when they own a home in that community than a renter.
Adrienne: So, on average how many homes per year are you guys able to build?
Attilio: Here in Hawaii?
Jim: This year we are budgeted uh, to build 7 homes, uh, we’re growing a little bit uh and we plan to build 40 homes in the next 5 years, so. Now that’s a significant uh, stretch for us, we’ve not historically done that, but uh, we’ve positioned ourselves well uh, and we’re, we’re a very, very committed to uh, working with the affordable housing situation here in Hawaii which is large, arguably one of the biggest __ space in the state.
Attilio: Well we definitely know there’s probably more people that need the help than you can help but there’s, there’s uh, never, never a shortage on your guy’s part for looking for people for volunteers. Uh, for maybe providing these properties, providing uh, donations, money, monetary, I always say, you know if you’re going to help out a non-profit, just write them a check. Just write them a check because then they can put that money to good use. So, how, talk about all the different ways that business people, whatever, organizations—
Adrienne: People in the community.
Attilio: That can help with your program.
Jim: Sure, absolutely. So, we, there, there really isn’t a, you know, there isn’t a, uh, there isn’t a way that somebody can’t get involved in the organization in some way. If, if you’re not in a position to, to write a check or make a donation, uh, come out and swing a hammer with us on a Saturday uh, if you are in need of housing, uh, you know, and regardless of whether you, you think you’re going to fit, or you’re not going to fit, come talk to us and we’ll, we’ll, we’ll help you through that process. Uh, if you are a business and you want to do something for uh, for the community maybe, maybe you’re a business that can donate materials, maybe you’re a business that can donate eservices, maybe you just want to do something for your employees uh, and you’re team-building and it, come out on a Saturday with your, with your employees and uh, and we’ll get a T-shirt with your logo on it and a banner and we’ll do some social media blasts for you but it’s a great team-building exercise. Uh, and that is our mission and action. Every single Saturday we are out there building uh, our volunteers are right next to uh, and working with the family that’s going to be living there. Uh and together we build that O’hana and it’ll change your life and it will absolutely uh, affirm our mission uh, and we get volunteers who come out once, maybe because they’re employer asked them to be a part of this and then they find themselves coming back and volunteering on their own.
Adrienne: So basically, every Saturday, you guys are out there building a home so from what time to what time?
Jim: Uh, we get there at about 8 o’clock and uh, we’re pow at about 4.
Attilio: About 4, oh nice! So, all year long and because it’s Hawaii, we can do this all year long. So, nice! You know, two things that I, I uh, you know, want to mention to our listeners to make them feel more compelled to participate, you know, Tony Robbins talks about it, everybody’s seeking happiness but we actually truly need fulfillment to underlie that and how we get fulfilment in our lives is through contribution. And he says, literally one of the six human needs and he studied, you know, millions of people all across the world, but, getting involved and contributing actually helps you get closer to happiness, so even if it’s just, you’re not doing, you know, you go to do, to help with the family but you’re just, for your own personal mental well-being it’s a good program to participate and you talk, we talked about it before you brought, came on, uh, tell us about that name recognition and how long it’s been around.
Jim: Sure, so uh, Habitat for Humanity as a national organization was founded in 1976 uh, in America’s Georgia so it’s been around for a number of years. They just uh, celebrated ad built their 1 millionth house in uh, in I believe 2016 uh, we, this affiliate, our affiliate was formed in 1988 uh, it is Habitat for Humanity is the most recognized uh, non-profit brand in the country. So, uh, there, it, you’d be hard-pressed to find somebody who isn’t aware of it, who hasn’t at one point in time volunteered for it and in some capacity, whether it’s here in the United States or even abroad as well because they do a lot of work internationally. Uh, so, it’s a great brand to be able to go out there uh and talk about one of the, one of the best things about the fact that it is a national brand uh, we are a local affiliate that serves here on Oahu is every dollar that I raise here, stays here. So, you give me a dollar, I’m going to put that dollar into a house from somebody here on Oahu.
Attilio: Right in our own community, yeah. I can imagine in the beginning you hear the phrase Habitat for Humanity and I’m like, what is that, like a zoo for people? And then, okay, here’s our enclosure, here’s our enclosure for the 5-eyar-olds. Notice how they are always looking for food—no. But so, nowadays within you know, so talk about that name, how did they, was there any history with that, that Habitat for Humanity?
Jim: Uh—
Attilio: It seems pretty straightforward.
Jim: It’s, I do not know the history of the name.
Attilio: Okay, unless you’re a wacky person like me you’re thinking human zoo, zoo for humans! No, so uh, the, and everybody’s, especially you know, the other thing I wanted to touch upon, fulfillment, happiness, Tony Robbins, is the uh, for-benefit-marketing. So, I want to share you with that, that, that phrase because every, what’s the most popular radio station in the world, Adrienne?
Adrienne: WIFM.
Attilio: And that stands for.
Adrienne: What’s in it for me.
Attilio: What’s in it for me? So even, even Mother Theresa got a really good feeling helping all those people in India, so she got something from that. And uh, the point being is that uh, when we, when we uh, when we have a business that’s for profit, here’s the connection to our non-profit. First of all, correct me if I’m wrong, there is, a non-profit never existed without a for-profit because even if it wasn’t’ the business directly donating, it was probably some employee of a business who got income time and/or money, so for-benefit marketing, to encourage businesses to come sign up and blow up your guy’s website with all these volunteers and donations and materials, it’s that when you incorporate social media into the event like you guys will do and help them, when two, when a consumer, Adrienne, when a consumer looks at two businesses or services that they consider similar, 98% of the time, this has been uh, statistically studied. 98% of the time, which one will they go with? The one that’s?
Adrienne: They’re going to go with the one that’s giving back to their community.
Attilio: Yes. So if you want to do more business for yourself, give more and it’s always a basic tenant right, when you give more you get more, so I would encourage businesses to get involved with you guys, great team-building exercise, you’re showing people in the community that as an organization it’s not about the bottom dollar and profits, but you want to give back and you’re putting your time and money where your mouth is and giving back to the community.
Jim: And I have found that that is uh, that’s ingrained in the culture here. Uh, it, in my four years here, uh, I have found that uh, giving back and getting involved and participating in uh, the good work that a lot of non-profits are doing, I mean there are more non-profits in Hawaii per capita than any other state in the nation. So, uh, the fact that, the fact that they exist and, and oftentimes thrive, is because in the culture of the community that is here, uh, giving back and participating is a huge, huge part of that.
Attilio: Nice, alright so you’ve uh, right now you’ve got a home in ___, so, like, if somebody wanted to like, they hear this show and they want to help like right now, what could, what could be something they could do within a couple minutes during the show?
Jim: Uh, they can do a couple of things. They can go to our website and really find out the, the best ways to, to get involved but uh, and at our website, you can register to see if there is a build happening this Saturday uh, if there’s a slot open, we, we set our uh, our volunteers, we only have about 25 volunteers per Saturday because that’s about what we can accommodate. To keep it manageable, to make sure that they’re having an engaging experience and also keep them safe. Because a lot of times people come to the build and they’ve never hold, you know, they’ve never held a hammer or a saw or anything, so we want to make sur that they’re safe and they’re building a good quality house for our family. Uh, so go to our website and see if there’s any availability to, to participate in that way. We’ve got a retail story here in ___ that uh, people donate building material, furniture, appliances uh and then we sell that out of the, our what’s called Restore, uh we sell that out of the store and then that, those funds go directly to fund our mission. So, if people are, have got you know, a couch that they want to get rid of it, we will pick it up and then we can sell it out of the store.
Attilio: And you guys pick it up.
Adrienne: Or you can go shopping.
Jim: Or you can go shopping, yeah, absolutely.
Attilio: Buy something, I think that’s a big one, especially for people who want to save the planet. Because I—
Adrienne: Go shopping at Habitat for Humanity store.
Jim: We, we estimate that we keep about 24 tons out of the land fil every year uh, by selling it and having it in our restore.
Attilio: You know, tell us more about these things that people don’t normally, if you’ve never been involved, you, you kind of like see it from afar, oh, they build houses. But what are, so you’ve got the store?
Jim: So we’ve got the store uh, you know, we’ve got 25 volunteers out there uh, working every Saturday who uh, get hungry, and so we have uh, you know, we’re, we it’s a great opportunity for church groups to come out and provide lunch, uh, to sort of patriciate in the mission that they, that you know, that, the way that they can uh, it is uh, you know, we’re certainly open to any and all kinds of uh, donations and uh, you know one of my biggest challenges is land, too, so we’re always looking for opportunities to develop uh, you know, properties in any way that we can because sometimes families come to us with land of their own, but they may be living on, and a house that needs to be demolished, uh, and uh, sometimes they’ve got a land lease from someplace like DHHL uh, but we’re starting to have conversations where we can find land which means that we’ve got to go out and find families who don’t have uh, land of their own. So, we’re always looking for, of partnerships in that way.
Attilio: Yeah and there may be somebody that would, if they, if they own this land outright, maybe they just want to get a big tax deduction.
Jim: Absolutely.
Adrienne: So, like how many applicants a year do you get for, you know, for help? To build the homes?
Jim: Oh, we get, we probably get at least uh, 3 or 4 phone calls a week from somebody who wants to know, uh, whether or not there’s an opportunity, whether or not they qualify, uh, for a, uh remains to be seen. We’ve got, you know, we’ve got the 7 houses that we’re going to build this year and we’ve probably got about 12 other families who’ve been approved and another 20 that are in the application process. The application process is a daunting process, I mean it, you are buying a house, uh, so we have a full-time uh, employee, our family services coordinator, who will take them through uh, step-by-step that entire process.
Attilio: Okay.
Adrienne: So how long does that process typically take? From start until the time to build?
Attilio: If they were responsive and get all the stuff that you need?
Jim: Form the time that it takes them to apply to get to, and every house has to be approved by our board, so, from the time that it gets them to uh, from them to apply, to our board can probably take about 5 months, just because it is a long process, it’s a lot of information that needs to be uh, we need to make sure that they’re qualified uh, and then from that point, uh, we start our partnership and they come in and they do an initial equity with us just to sort of get to know one another and—
Attilio: Get educated.
Jim: Get educated, we send them through financial literacy class and a home owners class and then uh, and then we determine what it’s going to cost us to build that house uh, and then we reach an agreement there and then we go on to permit. So, but that’s always, that’s always its own story, you never know. Uh, but that can, you know, from the time that it gets approved to the board uh, by the time that we uh, hand them the keys to the house can be a year. And we’re trying to make that a much, much faster process.
Adrienne: More streamlined.
Attilio: So, if you’re, if you’re just tuning in uh, we’ve got uh, Jim Murphy is the executive director of Honolulu Habitat for Humanity, we’re asking questions about his program, we’re calling out to our listeners, maybe you want to be qualified for the program and apply for it, but, I think where the big call-out is for people to help.
Adrienne: The volunteers, donations, shoppers.
Jim: Yup, absolutely.
Adrienne: All of that good stuff. So, uh, so Jim, what, what would you say your, your biggest challenges are?
Attilio: In fulfilling your mission?
Jim: Uh, it, there’s, well there’s probably two. One is I, I need to fund every house before I build it. Because we do hold the mortgage on that so I’ve got to, I’ve got to pay for all my construction costs and labor and things like that. So, it’s, it’s either getting the funds to do that or having businesses who, an electrician who maybe just wants to come out and, and help in whatever way and help us offset the cost of that, getting those people involved so we, we can bring that cost of the house down as much as possible. Uh, but, so it’s funding and then it’s access to land. It’s finding opportunities where there might be a piece of property that somebody wants to donate or somebody wants to sell at a reduced price uh, that we can then develop into either a single-family home or a multifamily project.
Attilio: Are you guys able to eliminate most of the labor costs because of with the volunteers and?
Jim: We largely do most of the labor ourselves, uh, we uh, I get really nervous about uh, volunteers doing electrical and plumbing, uh, so we’ll bring in contractors to do those, but that contractor wants to donate their services or give us a discount on their services, then uh, that’s a great opportunity for us. Other than that, for the most part, volunteers can do everything. But if we get uh, if we get a dry-wall company for example that wants to come in and donate either the dry wall or the uh, the services for the dry wall, we’re more than happy to take that as well. We’ve got a, uh, a great relationship with this Discount Windows and Doors, every uh, house that we built here, uh, the windows and doors are donated by Discounted Windows and Doors.
Adrienne: Oh wow!
Attilio: Well I think being ___, too, what was it?
Jim: Discount Windows and Doors.
Attilio: Are they a local company?
Jim: They’re a local company located in ___. Sorry I didn’t really do a plug there.
Attilio: No, plug them!
Jim: They’re a great, great partner.
Attilio: If they give, we’re always about plugging the heck out of them and maybe we’ll have them on the show and help them build their business too because they’re giving back to our community.
Adrienne: Do you guys every use any of the materials that, like, uh, like that, Reuse Hawaii has?
Jim: We, we uh, the materials that we get in our restore sometimes it’s, a lot of it is a timing issue. So, if we get flooring for example that’s been donated to the Restore, if we need it now, to build this house, then we can put it into that house, uh, if we, if we don’t need it now, we’re probably better off just selling it and use the funds. And we’re also very keen on letting the home owners and our partner families have some selection in the uh, you know—
Adrienne: The materials.
Jim: The material, the colors and things like that because you know, for some of these folks, this is, this is their first, this is it, this is their first and potentially only chance to own a home and you know, I want them to have the same opportunity that we had when we built our home, you know, choosing the paint color and the flooring and all those fancy things.
Attilio: Do they uh, and is there anything worked into like them not selling the home like the next day after they close and putting a for sale sing in the front yard?
Jim: Yeah, we do, we do have a ___ that we, that we have with the families that uh, that if for whatever reason they did you know flip it and decide to sell it then they would have to pay us whatever that appraised value is. Uh, so you know if it’s, if they’re on land, then our mortgage is just for, for the house. Just for the house. So, but then after 10 years that ___ uh, expires and they’re free to do whatever they want.
Attilio: Gotcha, we want them to have the same benefits of home ownership, long-term, not like right away because we want to help the program and putting people in there who are going to be stable and around for a while.
Jim: And you know, this is, this is very much a partnership and so you’re not going to find a lot of people who want to uh, come out and help build a house for you know, six, seven months with us, and then suddenly sell that house because when you build your house, you, you own your house.
Adrienne: Yeah and you’ve got the pride of—
Attilio: You have an emotional connection with that. Alright, any last questions for Jim?
Adrienne: Oh, uh, I’d like to hear like a success story.
Attilio: Yeah!
Adrienne: Just, you now, shar with us one of you know, one of your stories.
Jim: Sure, so uh, the most, one of the most recent houses that we’ve built was in ___, uh, it was a woman by the name of Mrs. ___ and uh, it was uh, DHHL property, she’s been uh, living there since the 1950’s uh, when, when she moved there as a little girl. Raised her family there, uh, but ___, there’s not a flat piece of ground in ___, so the house was literally sliding down the hill. Uh, to the point that piece by piece, the house was literally falling apart, uh, she was living on her Linai. Uh, DHHL stepped in and made her leave because it just wasn’t’ safe for her to be there. She came to us and we were able to uh, fit her into our program, we demoed the house, what was left of the house there. Uh, fixed the retaining wall so the house, you know, so we could build a new house there. Built her a new house, she’s 73 years-old and she moved in last August.
Attilio: Oh, wow that’s an awesome story! And I’m knowing with all the family, it’s not only just her but all the family that gets to enjoy visiting their grandma and oh, we don’t like to visit Grandma, her house is sliding down the hill. Now they’re like, oh, we feel safe, we’ll go visit grandma now.
Jim: And it was a really emotional day that we’ve, we finished her flooring and we brought her up onto you know, what was going to be the floor of her home and she looked out over, she has a million-dollar view, looked out over ___ and she said the last time I was able to see that view, none of those buildings were there. Because she was a little girl, so, and now she’s got a Linai and I tell her all the time, she’s got a million-dollar view.
Attilio: Yup. So, it’s nice and I’m sure you made it all user-friendly for someone of her age and—
Jim: Yes, yes, absolutely, yes. She uh, she’s not in a wheelchair but she’s 73-years-old and realized that she probably is not too far away, so we went ahead and built her a wheelchair ramp.
Attilio: Oh, nice!
Adrienne: You guys think of everything.
Jim: Well, you know.
Attilio: We did a little aging in place.
Adrienne: Love it.
Attilio: Awesome.
Adrienne: Alright, well any final words you want to share with our listeners?
Attilio: Anything we haven’t asked you or talked about?
Jim: No, other than, other than you know, go to our website uh, if there’s, if there’s any information that you need anything that you would like to get involved in any capacity, please, our number is 538-7070, our website is www.honoluluhabitat.org.
Attilio: Give them that phone number one more time.
Jim: Uh, it’s 808-538-7070.
Attilio: And uh, alright, well thanks for being on the show.
Jim: Thank you. I appreciate it.
Adrienne: Alright, I think we’ve got Mike on the line.
Attilio: Mike!
Adrienne: To talk about open houses.
Attilio: He’s going to talk about, he’s going to give us his pearl of wisdom for today. The meaning of life. Mike with the meaning of life. What’ve you got for us?
Mike: Hug everyone that you love because you never know when you’re not going to see them again.
Attilio: What about stinky people?
Adrienne: Hug them too.
Mike: Hug them too.
Adrienne: They need love too.
Mike: They need love too.
Adrienne: They need extra hugs.
Attilio: Have you hugged your stinky people today? That should be a t-shirt. Anyway, go ahead, Mike.
Mike: Awesome guys, awesome show as usual, this Sunday, September 17th, I need you guys to come and check me out at 2355 ___ Boulevard in the heart of Waikiki. I am just down the road from the International Marketplace, just down the street from the zoo, you guys have to come see this beautiful place, it’s a, it’s phenomenal! It’s refurbished, words don’t really describe it, but better yet, if you can’t come see me this Sunday, September 17th from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m., go to our website at www.teamlally.com, take a virtual tour of not only this property but all the properties that we have listed. Guys! Come on down!
Attilio: You know, Mike is uh, very hungry realtor, please bring him some coconut water and a Spam sandwich. And more importantly uh—
Adrienne: A Span sandwich?
Attilio: Yeah, it’s—
Adrienne: From a vegetarian?
Attilio: Yeah, it’s like healthy and not-so-healthy, it’s like—
Adrienne: No, it’s just not healthy, it’s not healthy.
Attilio: Okay, don’t bring him a Spam sandwich, bring him a—
Adrienne: Bring him a vegetable sandwich.
Attilio: Bring him a vegetable sandwich.
Mike: With lots of alfalfa sprouts.
Attilio: Well Mike, when you say, when I ask you what day is the open house, you have to say it like you’re like one of those announcers at like a tractor pull. What day is this, what?
Mike: Like this Attilio? SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY! COME ON DOWN TO OUR OPEN HOUSE AT 2355 ___ BOULEVARD! UNIT 302, COME ON DOWN THIS SUNDAY, SUNDAY, SUNDAY!
All: (laughing)
Adrienne: Perfect!
Attilio: Let’s get ready to open house! Alright.
Mike: Yahoo!
Attilio: Thank you, Michael.
Mike: Bye.
Adrienne: So, I, I believe we are hosting like 7 open houses this weekend.
Attilio: Holy moly!
Adrienne: And that was just one of them.
Attilio: That was just one of them.
Adrienne: If you want to find out more about our open houses, you can go to our website, we’ve got them all listed there. Again, with full pictures, video, write-up and you know, times, directions, all that good stuff.
Attilio: Hey folks, if you’re thinking about selling a home, don’t you want to have a real estate team that’s got 7 open houses going on a weekend because that is out there physically in the world, generating buyers for our properties. You know, let’s talk, let’s walk them through our little secrets, oh wait, it’s going to be on the radio, it’s not going to be a secret anymore.
Adrienne: We’ll let the cat out of the bag.
Attilio: But here’s, there’s, there’s uh, 3 tings the typical realtor does and they start with the letter P. What’s the first one?
Adrienne: The three Ps. Well first they uh, they put the sign in the yard.
Attilio: Put the sign in the yard. What’s the second thing?
Adrienne: They put it in MLS.
Attilio: Put it in the MLS! The multiple listing service to advertise it and then what’s the third one?
Adrienne: They pray.
Attilio: They pray. Now nothing wrong with praying! They pray they get an offer and get the home sold or one of the other realtors brings a client to get it sold, but we do the fourth and fifth P, do you remember what those are uh, you do one and I’ll do one.
Adrienne: Well, we uh, proactive prospect.
Attilio: We proactively prospect. So, we’re constantly doing this, you know, on these open houses real quick and then we’ll bring Abby on, we actually call the 3 other surrounding neighbors to invite them to the open house.
Adrienne: And help them pick their next new neighbor!
Attilio: Yeah, that’s called being proactively prospecting. Alright, speaking of prospecting, we have Abby. Abby, are you there?
Abby: Yes! Hello, I’m here!
Attilio: Alright, tell us about your open.
Abby: Okay guys, so I have an open house, it’s not a Sunday open house, it’s actually going to be on Saturday. Uh, 2 o’clock to 5, it’s a really nice subdivision, uh, move-in ready, it’s a single-family home, huge house, and uh, I got the, uh, old uh, solar PVs there, really nice gourmet kitchen, uh 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom, uh, it’s in uh ___ subdivision, 91-1174 __ Street. Come down this Saturday, I’ll be there so, uh, on Sunday you can watch your football games and Saturday come by my open house from 2-5.
Attilio: 2-5 you said on Saturday?
Abby: Yes, Saturday.
Attilio: You didn’t say Saturday, you said SATURDAY, SATURDAY, SATURDAY!
All: (laughing)
Abby: Exactly like that, yeah, so please come by to see me, any questions, you know, 234-9107 is my number, give me a call and I’ll be more than happy to answer any questions.
Attilio: Alright, we’ve got Veronica.
Adrienne: On the line.
Attilio: Veronica, you’re in our last minute of our show. Give it to us real quick. What’s your open house about? When is it, where is it?
Veronica: So, this is the first open house, it’s on September 17th, which is this Sunday from 2-5, it is uh, on, at 95-227 ___ Drive, apartment A303 in ___. It’s a spacious 2-bedroom, 1-bath unit and just please give me a call uh, at 931-249-8329 for the access to the building uh, and please come and visit me! Yeah, you’re going to miss your football game but please visit me! I promise it’s going to be fun!
Adrienne: It’ll be worth it.
Attilio: Go visit her. Thank you, Veronica.
Veronica: Thanks!
Adrienne: Alright, thanks for listening and thank you to our sponsors.
Attilio: Jodie Tanga and Derek Tanga of Pacific Rim Mortgage!
Adrienne: Bradley Maruyama of Allstate Insurance!
Attilio: Nathan Baker of Pillar to Post Home Inspections!
Adrienne: Ben and Tony Mamood of AAA Roofers Hawaii!
Attilio: Janyce Myrland with Dream House Drafting!
Adrienne: John Speed of Kilauea Pest Control!
Attilio: Duke Kimhan with Hawaii Pacific Property Management!
Adrienne: Mike Metts of Kama’aina Plumbing!
Attilio: Thomas Pattison with Pattison Land Surveying!
Adrienne: Myron Kamihara of Kamihara Law!
Attilio: If you want to get ahold of any of our sponsors just go to www.teamlally.com.
Adrienne: We also want to give a big thank you to Lea, our producer here in the studio.
Attilio: And Jim, chi-hoo!
Adrienne: Make sure to tune in next week, we’ll have an awesome guest talking about something that’ll change your life—
Attilio: Forever! This is the Team Lally real estate show, home of the guaranteed—
Adrienne and Attilio: SOLD PROGRAM!
Adrienne: If we can’t sell your home at the agreed-upon price and your timeframe, we’ll have it bought for cash.
Adrienne and Attilio: THANKS, AND ALOHA!