May 22, 2025 • 23 mins
Have you ever wondered what happens to your home when you're gone for months at a time? The truth might surprise you. Professional Home Watch is far more than just checking that your doors are locked—it's a comprehensive system of protection for what is likely your most significant financial investment.
Diane from Home Watch Academy brings 19 years of industry experience to this eye-opening conversation about the critical difference between professional home monitoring and what she calls "hobby home watchers." As she explains, untrained individuals who claim to watch homes often miss crucial signs of potential damage or inadvertently cause problems through improper home management. Larry from Hoosier Home Watch Services shares a shocking story of observing a supposed "professional" who simply sat in his car rather than conducting a proper inspection—a practice that leaves homeowners vulnerable to devastating damage.
The consequences of improper home watching can be severe. One particularly alarming example involves a lawsuit where an untrained watcher incorrectly set a thermostat, creating perfect conditions for mold growth. Such mistakes lead to expensive remediation costs often not fully covered by insurance—especially since many insurance companies deny claims without proper documentation of professional home inspections.
Many homeowners mistakenly believe smart home technology eliminates the need for professional monitoring, but as our experts explain, technology complements rather than replaces trained human inspection. During power outages—common in Florida, "the lightning capital of the world"—this technology fails entirely, leaving homes vulnerable.
The Home Watch Academy certification process stands as a gold standard in an unregulated industry, that it is recognized and respected by homeowners, service providers and industry professionals. Ensuring homeowners can find Certified Home Watch Reporters who undergo background checks, maintain proper insurance, and commit to ongoing education. For anyone with a seasonal property, the advice is clear: interview multiple Certified Home Watch Reporters using FindHomeWatch.com before making your selection. Your home deserves nothing less than professional protection.
HOME WATCH ACADEMY
Your Home Watch Professionals
Diane Pisani
SWFL
239-707-4296
Diane@YourHWP.com
Education website: www.HomeWatchAcademy.com
Corporate website: www.YourHWP.com
HOOSIER HOME WATCH SERVICES
Larry Meek
239-910-0767
Serving: Cedar Lake, Crown Point, Dyer, Schererville and Saint John.
larry@hoosierhomewatchservice.com
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
It's time to check out your neighbors on the Good
Neighbor podcast, where we bringgood vibes, great neighbors and
local businesses in SouthwestFlorida together.
Here's your host, Cabo JimSchaller.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome.
Good Neighbors, episode number81 of the Good Neighbor podcast.
Today we have two goodneighbors.
We have Diane from HomeWatchAcademy and Larry from Hoosier
HomeWatch Services.
Welcome.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Thank you, thank you, jim.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, pleasure to have you guys on the show and
for you to share your storieswith our listeners.
So, without further ado, let'sstart with Diane.
Why don't you share a littlebit about what you do?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
I would be happy to.
I am the founder of theHomeWatch Academy and I've been
in the profession and industryof HomeWatch for over 19 years
now, which I think either makesme a dinosaur or an innovator.
I'm not sure which, but let'sgo with innovator, Is that okay?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
We like that, we like that, but your arms are longer
than a dinosaur, that's whyExactly?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
That's a little bit better.
In a nutshell, I, with abusiness partner, owned and
operated a home watch companyfor over 15 years, and that was
in Naples, florida, andrecognized some challenges with
the industry just a couple ofyears really after we got
started, and it wasn't even anindustry back then.
It was truly hobby homewatchers, neighbors doing favors
(01:18):
and very, very fragmented.
So in 2008, I conducted my veryfirst home watch training
program with the intention ofgiving folks the basics on
HomeWatch, had a fabulousclassroom in Naples Florida for
many years and HomeWatch Academywent to an online e-learning
version around 2021.
So we're a few years intoe-learning.
(01:40):
So now we have a nationwidereach.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Love it, love it, and you're doing great things with
that.
But let's back up your story alittle bit.
How do you decide to getanother HomeWatch business?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Well, that's a good one.
I've been an entrepreneur andself-employed since 1986, after
leaving my time in corporateAmerica with the telephone
company Indiana Bell.
I'm from Northwest Indiana, Imoved to Southwest Florida and I
always say that I didn't findHomeWatch.
Homewatch found me and the realestate professional that I
(02:14):
rented from said Diane, youwould make a great HomeWatch and
concierge person.
And I said, okay, I thought youonly had a concierge at a hotel
and what in the bejeebers isHomeWatch?
And you know what?
Honestly, it's customer service.
I believe we're all in the sameworld of customer service and
it just depends where we put ourenergy and our expertise.
(02:38):
Responsibility of watching overseasonal homes is a very big
deal.
I co-owned and ran the companyfor over 15 years and then the
training got underway and,entrepreneurially, my world is
rocked every single day becauseI help very talented people
launch and grow home watchbusinesses, which is why we
invited Larry to join us today.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Absolutely, and Larry , you're actually in Indiana
right.
Absolutely, and Larry, you'reactually in Indiana right.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
I am.
I'm in St John, indiana.
As Diane mentioned, she'sformerly of Indiana.
This is not intended, it'ssimply by coincidence.
I started in Fort Myers andjoined Diane in her training
back way back in 2018.
My wife, terry, and I took hertraining course at that time.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Wow, very good, and so you've been through the
academy right.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
Correct.
Let me just share a littlequick story with you, if I may.
Jim, when we signed up to takeDiane's training back in 2018,
of course we were living in FortMyers and driving to Naples for
our first day of class.
I told my wife.
I said I don't think this ladyis going to be able to teach me
anything about how to take careof a home After all, I've bought
(03:56):
and sold nine houses while Itransferred around in corporate
America and about midday, at thelunch break, I turned to my
wife and said boy was I wrong.
It was an immense amount ofeducation and the weekend was
jam-packed with her training andoutside speakers that came in
(04:16):
and added great value to thetraining course.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Very good.
She's very knowledgeable,that's for sure.
So let's touch on challenges,whether personally or
professionally, but number onegetting involved in this
industry and starting a businessfor yourself, but then starting
the academy as well.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Oh, challenges, challenges, that's always a good
one.
I said in a recent interviewthat I did one of the things one
of my superpowers is I don'thave the word failure in my
dictionary, so sometimes it's achallenge to stay focused.
I don't really see Jim anythingas a challenge.
I see what I do, in all honesty, as a privilege because, like
(04:58):
Larry I mean he's we don't haveenough time to really talk about
his whole entire background.
But here is a rock star,polished professional who is
making a career change atwhatever point in their lives,
and these are the folks that noware taking care of other
people's homes.
So my challenge, I guess, is tomake sure that I deliver to
them, and that's that's probablya good way of putting it.
(05:20):
Huh, larry, yeah, I think so,because I want to keep
delivering to you guys.
I don't.
I never rest on my laurels.
I'm always learning, becausethat's my responsibility as an
educator and mentor, if you will.
But the challenge sometimes isjust keeping up, because our
(05:41):
industry changes all the timeand anybody who knows me knows
one of my big honker pet peevesis sometimes home watch
companies will say oh, we watchyour home as if it's our own.
It's like no, you don't.
You are not going through yourhome every week with a
flashlight and a hygrometer anda moisture meter.
You're just not doing that.
So we are watching the homes ofour clients much better than we
(06:04):
would watch our own homes, ifyou will, and because that's our
place of work.
And I will segue into challenge, here's a challenge Homeowners
don't understand why we are soimportant, key willy-nilly to a
neighbor or a friend.
You've got to have aprofessional who's trained,
(06:29):
certified, does the rightdocumentation, and I will just
bet that Larry might have atleast one story to share with
what really can happen in a home.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Well, thank you, diane.
I love to tell this story.
I got started in this businesswhen I had a neighbor while
living in Fort Myers that wastelling me about this great home
watch person they had and thatit was only $20 a visit.
And I said what does a persondo for $20 a visit?
And they said, oh, he does thischeck, he has a checklist, he
(06:56):
visits the home on a regularbasis and he calls me and lets
me know if there's anythinggoing on.
So I started watching thisperson come to my neighbor's
home and as he sat in the car onhis cell phone for about 10
minutes, I surmised that was theextent of the HomeWatch visit
because he left.
And so I called my friend whenhe returned from being up north
(07:20):
and said how did that HomeWatchexperience work out for you?
Because what I saw was a guysitting in the car on his
telephone and he said, oh, hesent me this great report and he
showed me a one-pagehandwritten note that said all
is okay.
And I said this just can't bewhat HomeWatch is all about.
And that's when we starteddoing our investigation into
(07:43):
HomeWatch and found Diane.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
And it's more about the house, our investigation
into HomeWatch and found Dianeand it's more about the house
still standing right.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
You got to go in the house and see what's going on
inside there.
Right, you got to kick thetires, as they say.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Yeah, hence I mean, hence the term.
You know hobby HomeWatchers orfriends or neighbors doing
favors and everything.
But what really drives me fromthe beginning and starting the
training and everything, wasthat I very quickly saw how
underserved the seasonalhomeowners are and how flat out
taken advantage of they are.
(08:15):
So I, you know, us Midwesternpeople, we do not like to see
people be taken advantage of,that's for sure, and it's just
wrong.
It's just wrong.
And sometimes the hobby homewatcher might be well-meaning
but they don't know what theydon't know and they can cause
damage by setting the thermostatwrong.
(08:36):
We've seen lawsuits againstpeople that thought they knew it
all, and my term for that ispeople think they're too cool
for school.
And actually it was somebodyjust a few years ago and they
thought they were doingeverything right.
They even took pictures whenthey were making the visit.
They took a picture of thethermostat.
Well, that was one of thebiggest mistakes right there.
(08:58):
They took a picture of thethermostat and here in Florida
we have to be very careful howwe set it, because you can
either put the fan in the onposition or the auto position.
If you put it in the onposition it will keep
recirculating the air.
That might sound like a goodidea, but, larry, would you
agree that that could turn yourhouse into a science experiment?
Speaker 4 (09:20):
Absolutely.
If the home is full of moistureand you're recirculating the
air that's full of moisture,you're recirculating moisture
you need to put it in the autoposition and allow the HVA
system to do its job, which isto dehumidify the home, remove
the moisture and keep it cooland people make that mistake all
(09:40):
the time.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
In this case, because she took a picture of it and
once the homeowner filed legalaction, she put the nail in her
own coffin.
And for anybody that doesn'tknow about microbial growth,
which will be a humidity bloom,which will turn into mold, this
is not a $500 or $5,000remediation.
(10:01):
This is tens of thousands.
And guess what?
Even if the homeowner has moldcoverage, it's not going to
cover very much at all.
That's the biggie.
So, larry and I and our team ofcertified home watch reporters,
we exist to educate thehomeowner so they make good
decisions, and it should neverbe a price motivated decision.
(10:23):
We're not like the cheapies outthere, the homeowners, so they
make good decisions and itshould never be a
price-motivated decision.
We're not like the cheapies outthere.
We're here that are doing realwork.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Our graduates, like Larry, and our reporters they've
invested big bucks in trainingand they're committed to ongoing
training, and that's a big, bigdeal too, absolutely, and we
touched on the obvious.
Let's touch a little bit moreabout the myths or
misconceptions surrounding whatyou do.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Larry, what do you think about that one?
Speaker 4 (10:49):
Well, I think people, as you said, diane, just don't
realize what HomeWatch is.
Think about this your home isprobably your most important
financial investment you'll makeas an individual, probably your
most important financialinvestment you'll make as an
individual and you want to trustthat home with someone that is
(11:11):
one uneducated, not trained, notinsured and, most importantly,
not accountable for what may gowrong in your home.
By hiring a professional, acertified HomeWatch professional
, you eliminate 90% of thatproblem.
Home watch professional, youeliminate 90% of that problem
and you can be assured that ifyou're away on vacation.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
You'll have peace of mind while you're away.
We are taught what to look for,we know how to look for the
damage and our job is todiscover potential damage or
obvious issues in the earlystages, before it becomes a
disaster.
And anybody in Florida goodnessgracious, almost anybody in the
United States now there havebeen so many disasters that have
taken homes.
The insurance companies do notwake up in the morning, have a
(11:53):
meeting.
How are we going to pay claims,truth be told, they're going to
say, how can we deny claims?
And another kind of dramaticsituation was I had a gal take
my training many, many moons agoand she was basically a hobby
home watcher.
She was taking money for theservice, not properly insured
and certainly not trained andpretty darn much doing a great
(12:16):
job, and she discovered waterdamage in one of the condos that
she was watching, reported itto the homeowner, the insurance
claim was filed, the insuranceadjuster came out and she gave
him access to the home and oneof the questions that the
insurance people asked thehomeowner was do you have
somebody watching the house?
(12:36):
It's like, yeah, I have a homewatch person.
It's like, okay, show me thereports.
And the homeowner said reports.
It's like uh, show me the, showme the reports.
It's like and the homeownersaid reports.
It's like yeah, oh, she callsme after every visit, claim
denied.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
And this is what larry and I mean about educating
the homeowners they need toknow this absolutely, and and
you kind of touched on it alittle bit too about talking
about the, the newer technologyand preparing yourself and
equipping yourself with propertools.
Has there been a lot changingin the industry lately?
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Well, for the dinosaur that I am, I was
carrying a flip phone when Istarted HomeWatch, so we
certainly didn't even haveHomeWatch software back then.
We now have software, choicesof software, which is rock star.
We've got the technology withour phones.
Things are time time, data,timestamped and all that.
And when Larry referred to theHomeWatch guy, that didn't even
(13:35):
go into the home because a lotof the even the earlier
softwares were GPS enabled andthat's what people would do.
They knew that their softwarewould show that they were at the
home, but some of them weresuch scoundrels they didn't even
get out of the car.
And that is unacceptable to meand Larry, and to you, Jim, and
to everybody.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
The new technology allows us to take photographs
while on property.
If we detect an issue, see anissue, we can take a photograph
of it.
We can denote and annotate thephotograph, make notes to the
file.
We can show you exactly what wevisually see while we're on
property and call it to yourattention.
Then we can add an action itemto that report.
(14:20):
It's highlighted at the top ofthe report when you receive it
via email and open it so that,in summary, you can glance and
see what the issues, if any,existed, were in your home on
this visit.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
And you talked about that.
You know that's what makes HomeWatch Academy unique, in the
sense that it, you know, you aretraining your people, you're
giving them procedures, you'regiving them guidelines and what
to look for and how to report itback to the homeowners as well,
too correct.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Absolutely.
Now here's another big mythalso oh, I have a smart home, I
don't need HomeWatch.
Nothing could be further fromthe truth.
A smart home is fine, but Iguess I'll say this somewhat
delicately.
A smart home is fine, but Iguess I'll say this somewhat
delicately.
The home, the smart home, isonly as smart as the person
who's pushing the buttons on thesmart home equipment.
(15:10):
And if, if, if the homeowner'snot educated about the settings
or about anything on theequipment they can, they can
make an unintentional mistakethat could cause damage to their
home.
But we work very seamlesslyhand-in-hand with all of the
existing and upcoming technology.
(15:31):
Neither replaces the other, andthat's pretty darn cool.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
And it is technology.
So, hey, you know we get stormsdown here quite often.
Power does go out right, andthat technology doesn't
necessarily work.
Power does go out right andthat technology doesn't
necessarily work when the poweris out right.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
You mean here in the lightning capital of the world.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Right, exactly Right.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
So let's talk about the certification process that
you put in your students throughand future home watchers
through.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Okay, I appreciate that very, very much.
Here's a very, very interestingthing, and it almost amazes me
still to this day that homewatch is not regulated,
especially in my home state ofFlorida, which has probably the
most per capita home watchcompanies out there.
So the state does not regulateus and in all honesty and I'll
say this again tongue in cheekhere Somebody who's going to
(16:24):
give me a manicure and pedicurehas to jump through more hoops
than a home watch person has towith the state, and that's just
crazy.
Do I think that regulation andlicensing and the like solves
every problem?
Absolutely positively not.
We could take a whole two-hourpodcast and talk about trades
that are credentialed that stillhave scoundrels in them.
(16:45):
So we're self-regulated At theHome Watch Academy.
The company is all abouttraining, certification and
success.
So the training is a foundation.
These folks that start acompany without training or join
a professional organizationbefore they're trained, that's
kind of maddening to me, becauseyou haven't done the things in
order and you make very, verydifferent decisions when you're
(17:07):
educated With our certification.
It's available only tograduates of the Home Watch
Academy.
We don't have any differentsilly levels of membership for
people who are untrained orhonoring past experience in that
, because why would you honorpast experience if they make
boo-boos in that too?
But so the certification is forour folks exclusively, and I
(17:29):
stand before you thinking thatit's a great choice, or actually
the best choice for thehomeowners, because not only do
we do the background check, makesure that our people have
insurance and all the othercredentials, but they're signed
up and committed to ongoingeducation.
Much of that happens in theplatform of the HomeWatch
Academy.
(17:49):
We do live training calls,pop-up live events, and the
learning never ends.
And I just have to tell youthat, as long as I've been in
this industry, we still learnnew stuff all the day.
Larry is one of our folksthat's on our weekly educational
calls, and you've been doingHomeWatch for a while, larry.
You're still learning too.
These things change.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
I learn something new every day.
Technology changes in the home,how it's interpreted and
applied to conditioning the home.
Jim, one thing I wanted to sayabout this certification that
Diane keeps referring to for aperson in the field doing the
watches.
I want my homeowners to know Iam proficient in applying the
(18:33):
highest standards in theindustry while we're taking care
of your home.
We are fully insured, we arefully bonded, we're reliable and
we provide comprehensive carewhile you're away.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
And that's what you want watching your home,
somebody who's been through andknows what to look for and do it
properly, not the guy that sitsin the car and writes a report,
right.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Those kinds of things are just insane, just insane.
So with my longevity in theindustry, I'm very proud to say
that because I've been workingwith the different trades and
everything for years that ourcertification, the designation
of Certified Home Watch Reporter, is recognized and respected
not only by the homeowners butalso by service providers and
(19:18):
other professionals in the homeservices industry and I wear
that proud.
I've had business folks donetworking meetings, meetings,
or you know HomeWatch focusednetworking meetings, and you get
a lot of people there, somethat are trained and untrained,
and my proud moments are wherethey, when they come up to me
and say, diane, I can tell whichone are yours and that's.
(19:41):
That's a.
That's a big compliment.
But to speak of the HomeWatchbusiness owners, compliment.
But to speak of the HomeWatchbusiness owners, they come from
the most diverse background,every age group imaginable.
When I first started training Iwould even advertise, you know,
baby boomers serving babyboomers, because that was the
avatar back then.
But I've got you know 60s, 50s,40s, 30s, 20s, everything.
(20:12):
My youngest guy when he startedwas like 19 years old.
I've got business partners,husband, wife teams, father son
teams, family teams, home watchdivisions of large companies,
everything.
So it's a rockstar businessopportunity and a great business
to start, whether it's a mainbusiness or an encore or
complimentary career.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
And you're doing things the right way and
educating people and through theacademy and and doing the
customers or the homeowners agreat service by watching their
house properly and reportingback to them.
How would our listeners goabout contacting you if they had
questions, needed to have theirhome watched or wanted to join
the academy?
Speaker 3 (20:50):
the easiest way is my main corporate site, which is
at your hwpcom, so it's theletters y-o-u-r.
YourHWP.
com.
From there there's informationfor the homeowners.
There's information for peoplewho want to start a home watch
company and for homeowners thatare looking for a home watcher.
(21:16):
The website is findhomewatchcom.
That will direct them to thecertified home watch reporter
member directory.
They can enter their zip codeor their community and interview
the folks that serve their area.
And in a lot of things in lifeand business I encourage
everybody to practice the ruleof three.
So I say interview at leastthree of the home watchers.
And some time ago I had ahomeowner call and say you know,
(21:39):
diane, I did exactly what youtold me to do.
I interviewed three of yourpeople and now I have a real
problem.
I said what's your problem?
He goes I like all three, and Ididn't miss a beat.
And I said well, who do you havethe most in common with?
And he said that would be Greg,because we both served in the
Air Force and I learned enoughby interviewing your other home
(21:59):
watchers that if Greg went onvacation or had an emergency or
something that they would helpfill in, and that was like a
proud HomeWatch moment for me,and I get these kinds of
comments with regularity, andone of my HomeWatch Academy
slogans is that it's not justtraining, it's a career long
resource.
But more importantly, we'rebuilding a culture, and that's a
(22:20):
culture of colleagues, notcompetitors.
We're collaborators and notcompetitors.
That is what I'm the most proudof.
We don't sweat the small stuff.
We know there is way, way morethan enough business for
everybody.
I could bring on another 250home watchers in Naples, florida
(22:40):
, tomorrow, sarasota, whereverand there would be more than
enough business for all of them.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
I love it.
I love it.
You guys have been doing greatthings watching people's homes,
educating people properly.
I want to say you guys arebeing great neighbors as well.
I appreciate your time todayand I hope to see you out in the
community here soon.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Thank you for your time.
Jim and Larry, thanks forjoining us.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
You're welcome and thank you, Jim.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast, bringing together goodvibes, great neighbors, local
businesses in Southwest Florida.
To nominate your favorite localbusiness to be featured on the
show, go to CaboWaboJim.
com.
That's CaboWaboJim.
com, or call 239-427-4100.
It's time to check out your neighbors on the Good
Neighbor podcast, where we bringgood vibes, great neighbors and
local businesses in SouthwestFlorida together.
Here's your host, Cabo JimSchaller.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Welcome.
Good Neighbors, episode number81 of the Good Neighbor podcast.
Today we have two goodneighbors.
We have Diane from HomeWatchAcademy and Larry from Hoosier
HomeWatch Services.
Welcome.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Thank you, thank you, jim.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Yeah, pleasure to have you guys on the show and
for you to share your storieswith our listeners.
So, without further ado, let'sstart with Diane.
Why don't you share a littlebit about what you do?
Speaker 3 (00:38):
I would be happy to.
I am the founder of theHomeWatch Academy and I've been
in the profession and industryof HomeWatch for over 19 years
now, which I think either makesme a dinosaur or an innovator.
I'm not sure which, but let'sgo with innovator, Is that okay?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
We like that, we like that, but your arms are longer
than a dinosaur, that's whyExactly?
Speaker 3 (00:58):
That's a little bit better.
In a nutshell, I, with abusiness partner, owned and
operated a home watch companyfor over 15 years, and that was
in Naples, florida, andrecognized some challenges with
the industry just a couple ofyears really after we got
started, and it wasn't even anindustry back then.
It was truly hobby homewatchers, neighbors doing favors
(01:18):
and very, very fragmented.
So in 2008, I conducted my veryfirst home watch training
program with the intention ofgiving folks the basics on
HomeWatch, had a fabulousclassroom in Naples Florida for
many years and HomeWatch Academywent to an online e-learning
version around 2021.
So we're a few years intoe-learning.
(01:40):
So now we have a nationwidereach.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
Love it, love it, and you're doing great things with
that.
But let's back up your story alittle bit.
How do you decide to getanother HomeWatch business?
Speaker 3 (01:52):
Well, that's a good one.
I've been an entrepreneur andself-employed since 1986, after
leaving my time in corporateAmerica with the telephone
company Indiana Bell.
I'm from Northwest Indiana, Imoved to Southwest Florida and I
always say that I didn't findHomeWatch.
Homewatch found me and the realestate professional that I
(02:14):
rented from said Diane, youwould make a great HomeWatch and
concierge person.
And I said, okay, I thought youonly had a concierge at a hotel
and what in the bejeebers isHomeWatch?
And you know what?
Honestly, it's customer service.
I believe we're all in the sameworld of customer service and
it just depends where we put ourenergy and our expertise.
(02:38):
Responsibility of watching overseasonal homes is a very big
deal.
I co-owned and ran the companyfor over 15 years and then the
training got underway and,entrepreneurially, my world is
rocked every single day becauseI help very talented people
launch and grow home watchbusinesses, which is why we
invited Larry to join us today.
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Absolutely, and Larry , you're actually in Indiana
right.
Absolutely, and Larry, you'reactually in Indiana right.
Speaker 4 (03:04):
I am.
I'm in St John, indiana.
As Diane mentioned, she'sformerly of Indiana.
This is not intended, it'ssimply by coincidence.
I started in Fort Myers andjoined Diane in her training
back way back in 2018.
My wife, terry, and I took hertraining course at that time.
Speaker 2 (03:28):
Wow, very good, and so you've been through the
academy right.
Speaker 4 (03:35):
Correct.
Let me just share a littlequick story with you, if I may.
Jim, when we signed up to takeDiane's training back in 2018,
of course we were living in FortMyers and driving to Naples for
our first day of class.
I told my wife.
I said I don't think this ladyis going to be able to teach me
anything about how to take careof a home After all, I've bought
(03:56):
and sold nine houses while Itransferred around in corporate
America and about midday, at thelunch break, I turned to my
wife and said boy was I wrong.
It was an immense amount ofeducation and the weekend was
jam-packed with her training andoutside speakers that came in
(04:16):
and added great value to thetraining course.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
Very good.
She's very knowledgeable,that's for sure.
So let's touch on challenges,whether personally or
professionally, but number onegetting involved in this
industry and starting a businessfor yourself, but then starting
the academy as well.
Speaker 3 (04:34):
Oh, challenges, challenges, that's always a good
one.
I said in a recent interviewthat I did one of the things one
of my superpowers is I don'thave the word failure in my
dictionary, so sometimes it's achallenge to stay focused.
I don't really see Jim anythingas a challenge.
I see what I do, in all honesty, as a privilege because, like
(04:58):
Larry I mean he's we don't haveenough time to really talk about
his whole entire background.
But here is a rock star,polished professional who is
making a career change atwhatever point in their lives,
and these are the folks that noware taking care of other
people's homes.
So my challenge, I guess, is tomake sure that I deliver to
them, and that's that's probablya good way of putting it.
(05:20):
Huh, larry, yeah, I think so,because I want to keep
delivering to you guys.
I don't.
I never rest on my laurels.
I'm always learning, becausethat's my responsibility as an
educator and mentor, if you will.
But the challenge sometimes isjust keeping up, because our
(05:41):
industry changes all the timeand anybody who knows me knows
one of my big honker pet peevesis sometimes home watch
companies will say oh, we watchyour home as if it's our own.
It's like no, you don't.
You are not going through yourhome every week with a
flashlight and a hygrometer anda moisture meter.
You're just not doing that.
So we are watching the homes ofour clients much better than we
(06:04):
would watch our own homes, ifyou will, and because that's our
place of work.
And I will segue into challenge, here's a challenge Homeowners
don't understand why we are soimportant, key willy-nilly to a
neighbor or a friend.
You've got to have aprofessional who's trained,
(06:29):
certified, does the rightdocumentation, and I will just
bet that Larry might have atleast one story to share with
what really can happen in a home.
Speaker 4 (06:34):
Well, thank you, diane.
I love to tell this story.
I got started in this businesswhen I had a neighbor while
living in Fort Myers that wastelling me about this great home
watch person they had and thatit was only $20 a visit.
And I said what does a persondo for $20 a visit?
And they said, oh, he does thischeck, he has a checklist, he
(06:56):
visits the home on a regularbasis and he calls me and lets
me know if there's anythinggoing on.
So I started watching thisperson come to my neighbor's
home and as he sat in the car onhis cell phone for about 10
minutes, I surmised that was theextent of the HomeWatch visit
because he left.
And so I called my friend whenhe returned from being up north
(07:20):
and said how did that HomeWatchexperience work out for you?
Because what I saw was a guysitting in the car on his
telephone and he said, oh, hesent me this great report and he
showed me a one-pagehandwritten note that said all
is okay.
And I said this just can't bewhat HomeWatch is all about.
And that's when we starteddoing our investigation into
(07:43):
HomeWatch and found Diane.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
And it's more about the house, our investigation
into HomeWatch and found Dianeand it's more about the house
still standing right.
Speaker 4 (07:51):
You got to go in the house and see what's going on
inside there.
Right, you got to kick thetires, as they say.
Speaker 3 (07:54):
Yeah, hence I mean, hence the term.
You know hobby HomeWatchers orfriends or neighbors doing
favors and everything.
But what really drives me fromthe beginning and starting the
training and everything, wasthat I very quickly saw how
underserved the seasonalhomeowners are and how flat out
taken advantage of they are.
(08:15):
So I, you know, us Midwesternpeople, we do not like to see
people be taken advantage of,that's for sure, and it's just
wrong.
It's just wrong.
And sometimes the hobby homewatcher might be well-meaning
but they don't know what theydon't know and they can cause
damage by setting the thermostatwrong.
(08:36):
We've seen lawsuits againstpeople that thought they knew it
all, and my term for that ispeople think they're too cool
for school.
And actually it was somebodyjust a few years ago and they
thought they were doingeverything right.
They even took pictures whenthey were making the visit.
They took a picture of thethermostat.
Well, that was one of thebiggest mistakes right there.
(08:58):
They took a picture of thethermostat and here in Florida
we have to be very careful howwe set it, because you can
either put the fan in the onposition or the auto position.
If you put it in the onposition it will keep
recirculating the air.
That might sound like a goodidea, but, larry, would you
agree that that could turn yourhouse into a science experiment?
Speaker 4 (09:20):
Absolutely.
If the home is full of moistureand you're recirculating the
air that's full of moisture,you're recirculating moisture
you need to put it in the autoposition and allow the HVA
system to do its job, which isto dehumidify the home, remove
the moisture and keep it cooland people make that mistake all
(09:40):
the time.
Speaker 3 (09:41):
In this case, because she took a picture of it and
once the homeowner filed legalaction, she put the nail in her
own coffin.
And for anybody that doesn'tknow about microbial growth,
which will be a humidity bloom,which will turn into mold, this
is not a $500 or $5,000remediation.
(10:01):
This is tens of thousands.
And guess what?
Even if the homeowner has moldcoverage, it's not going to
cover very much at all.
That's the biggie.
So, larry and I and our team ofcertified home watch reporters,
we exist to educate thehomeowner so they make good
decisions, and it should neverbe a price motivated decision.
(10:23):
We're not like the cheapies outthere, the homeowners, so they
make good decisions and itshould never be a
price-motivated decision.
We're not like the cheapies outthere.
We're here that are doing realwork.
Speaker 2 (10:32):
Our graduates, like Larry, and our reporters they've
invested big bucks in trainingand they're committed to ongoing
training, and that's a big, bigdeal too, absolutely, and we
touched on the obvious.
Let's touch a little bit moreabout the myths or
misconceptions surrounding whatyou do.
Speaker 3 (10:46):
Larry, what do you think about that one?
Speaker 4 (10:49):
Well, I think people, as you said, diane, just don't
realize what HomeWatch is.
Think about this your home isprobably your most important
financial investment you'll makeas an individual, probably your
most important financialinvestment you'll make as an
individual and you want to trustthat home with someone that is
(11:11):
one uneducated, not trained, notinsured and, most importantly,
not accountable for what may gowrong in your home.
By hiring a professional, acertified HomeWatch professional
, you eliminate 90% of thatproblem.
Home watch professional, youeliminate 90% of that problem
and you can be assured that ifyou're away on vacation.
Speaker 3 (11:30):
You'll have peace of mind while you're away.
We are taught what to look for,we know how to look for the
damage and our job is todiscover potential damage or
obvious issues in the earlystages, before it becomes a
disaster.
And anybody in Florida goodnessgracious, almost anybody in the
United States now there havebeen so many disasters that have
taken homes.
The insurance companies do notwake up in the morning, have a
(11:53):
meeting.
How are we going to pay claims,truth be told, they're going to
say, how can we deny claims?
And another kind of dramaticsituation was I had a gal take
my training many, many moons agoand she was basically a hobby
home watcher.
She was taking money for theservice, not properly insured
and certainly not trained andpretty darn much doing a great
(12:16):
job, and she discovered waterdamage in one of the condos that
she was watching, reported itto the homeowner, the insurance
claim was filed, the insuranceadjuster came out and she gave
him access to the home and oneof the questions that the
insurance people asked thehomeowner was do you have
somebody watching the house?
(12:36):
It's like, yeah, I have a homewatch person.
It's like, okay, show me thereports.
And the homeowner said reports.
It's like uh, show me the, showme the reports.
It's like and the homeownersaid reports.
It's like yeah, oh, she callsme after every visit, claim
denied.
Speaker 2 (12:52):
And this is what larry and I mean about educating
the homeowners they need toknow this absolutely, and and
you kind of touched on it alittle bit too about talking
about the, the newer technologyand preparing yourself and
equipping yourself with propertools.
Has there been a lot changingin the industry lately?
Speaker 3 (13:11):
Well, for the dinosaur that I am, I was
carrying a flip phone when Istarted HomeWatch, so we
certainly didn't even haveHomeWatch software back then.
We now have software, choicesof software, which is rock star.
We've got the technology withour phones.
Things are time time, data,timestamped and all that.
And when Larry referred to theHomeWatch guy, that didn't even
(13:35):
go into the home because a lotof the even the earlier
softwares were GPS enabled andthat's what people would do.
They knew that their softwarewould show that they were at the
home, but some of them weresuch scoundrels they didn't even
get out of the car.
And that is unacceptable to meand Larry, and to you, Jim, and
to everybody.
Speaker 4 (13:58):
The new technology allows us to take photographs
while on property.
If we detect an issue, see anissue, we can take a photograph
of it.
We can denote and annotate thephotograph, make notes to the
file.
We can show you exactly what wevisually see while we're on
property and call it to yourattention.
Then we can add an action itemto that report.
(14:20):
It's highlighted at the top ofthe report when you receive it
via email and open it so that,in summary, you can glance and
see what the issues, if any,existed, were in your home on
this visit.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
And you talked about that.
You know that's what makes HomeWatch Academy unique, in the
sense that it, you know, you aretraining your people, you're
giving them procedures, you'regiving them guidelines and what
to look for and how to report itback to the homeowners as well,
too correct.
Speaker 3 (14:49):
Absolutely.
Now here's another big mythalso oh, I have a smart home, I
don't need HomeWatch.
Nothing could be further fromthe truth.
A smart home is fine, but Iguess I'll say this somewhat
delicately.
A smart home is fine, but Iguess I'll say this somewhat
delicately.
The home, the smart home, isonly as smart as the person
who's pushing the buttons on thesmart home equipment.
(15:10):
And if, if, if the homeowner'snot educated about the settings
or about anything on theequipment they can, they can
make an unintentional mistakethat could cause damage to their
home.
But we work very seamlesslyhand-in-hand with all of the
existing and upcoming technology.
(15:31):
Neither replaces the other, andthat's pretty darn cool.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
And it is technology.
So, hey, you know we get stormsdown here quite often.
Power does go out right, andthat technology doesn't
necessarily work.
Power does go out right andthat technology doesn't
necessarily work when the poweris out right.
Speaker 3 (15:46):
You mean here in the lightning capital of the world.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
Right, exactly Right.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
I love it.
Speaker 2 (15:54):
So let's talk about the certification process that
you put in your students throughand future home watchers
through.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Okay, I appreciate that very, very much.
Here's a very, very interestingthing, and it almost amazes me
still to this day that homewatch is not regulated,
especially in my home state ofFlorida, which has probably the
most per capita home watchcompanies out there.
So the state does not regulateus and in all honesty and I'll
say this again tongue in cheekhere Somebody who's going to
(16:24):
give me a manicure and pedicurehas to jump through more hoops
than a home watch person has towith the state, and that's just
crazy.
Do I think that regulation andlicensing and the like solves
every problem?
Absolutely positively not.
We could take a whole two-hourpodcast and talk about trades
that are credentialed that stillhave scoundrels in them.
(16:45):
So we're self-regulated At theHome Watch Academy.
The company is all abouttraining, certification and
success.
So the training is a foundation.
These folks that start acompany without training or join
a professional organizationbefore they're trained, that's
kind of maddening to me, becauseyou haven't done the things in
order and you make very, verydifferent decisions when you're
(17:07):
educated With our certification.
It's available only tograduates of the Home Watch
Academy.
We don't have any differentsilly levels of membership for
people who are untrained orhonoring past experience in that
, because why would you honorpast experience if they make
boo-boos in that too?
But so the certification is forour folks exclusively, and I
(17:29):
stand before you thinking thatit's a great choice, or actually
the best choice for thehomeowners, because not only do
we do the background check, makesure that our people have
insurance and all the othercredentials, but they're signed
up and committed to ongoingeducation.
Much of that happens in theplatform of the HomeWatch
Academy.
(17:49):
We do live training calls,pop-up live events, and the
learning never ends.
And I just have to tell youthat, as long as I've been in
this industry, we still learnnew stuff all the day.
Larry is one of our folksthat's on our weekly educational
calls, and you've been doingHomeWatch for a while, larry.
You're still learning too.
These things change.
Speaker 4 (18:11):
I learn something new every day.
Technology changes in the home,how it's interpreted and
applied to conditioning the home.
Jim, one thing I wanted to sayabout this certification that
Diane keeps referring to for aperson in the field doing the
watches.
I want my homeowners to know Iam proficient in applying the
(18:33):
highest standards in theindustry while we're taking care
of your home.
We are fully insured, we arefully bonded, we're reliable and
we provide comprehensive carewhile you're away.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
And that's what you want watching your home,
somebody who's been through andknows what to look for and do it
properly, not the guy that sitsin the car and writes a report,
right.
Speaker 3 (18:55):
Those kinds of things are just insane, just insane.
So with my longevity in theindustry, I'm very proud to say
that because I've been workingwith the different trades and
everything for years that ourcertification, the designation
of Certified Home Watch Reporter, is recognized and respected
not only by the homeowners butalso by service providers and
(19:18):
other professionals in the homeservices industry and I wear
that proud.
I've had business folks donetworking meetings, meetings,
or you know HomeWatch focusednetworking meetings, and you get
a lot of people there, somethat are trained and untrained,
and my proud moments are wherethey, when they come up to me
and say, diane, I can tell whichone are yours and that's.
(19:41):
That's a.
That's a big compliment.
But to speak of the HomeWatchbusiness owners, compliment.
But to speak of the HomeWatchbusiness owners, they come from
the most diverse background,every age group imaginable.
When I first started training Iwould even advertise, you know,
baby boomers serving babyboomers, because that was the
avatar back then.
But I've got you know 60s, 50s,40s, 30s, 20s, everything.
(20:12):
My youngest guy when he startedwas like 19 years old.
I've got business partners,husband, wife teams, father son
teams, family teams, home watchdivisions of large companies,
everything.
So it's a rockstar businessopportunity and a great business
to start, whether it's a mainbusiness or an encore or
complimentary career.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
And you're doing things the right way and
educating people and through theacademy and and doing the
customers or the homeowners agreat service by watching their
house properly and reportingback to them.
How would our listeners goabout contacting you if they had
questions, needed to have theirhome watched or wanted to join
the academy?
Speaker 3 (20:50):
the easiest way is my main corporate site, which is
at your hwpcom, so it's theletters y-o-u-r.
YourHWP.
com.
From there there's informationfor the homeowners.
There's information for peoplewho want to start a home watch
company and for homeowners thatare looking for a home watcher.
(21:16):
The website is findhomewatchcom.
That will direct them to thecertified home watch reporter
member directory.
They can enter their zip codeor their community and interview
the folks that serve their area.
And in a lot of things in lifeand business I encourage
everybody to practice the ruleof three.
So I say interview at leastthree of the home watchers.
And some time ago I had ahomeowner call and say you know,
(21:39):
diane, I did exactly what youtold me to do.
I interviewed three of yourpeople and now I have a real
problem.
I said what's your problem?
He goes I like all three, and Ididn't miss a beat.
And I said well, who do you havethe most in common with?
And he said that would be Greg,because we both served in the
Air Force and I learned enoughby interviewing your other home
(21:59):
watchers that if Greg went onvacation or had an emergency or
something that they would helpfill in, and that was like a
proud HomeWatch moment for me,and I get these kinds of
comments with regularity, andone of my HomeWatch Academy
slogans is that it's not justtraining, it's a career long
resource.
But more importantly, we'rebuilding a culture, and that's a
(22:20):
culture of colleagues, notcompetitors.
We're collaborators and notcompetitors.
That is what I'm the most proudof.
We don't sweat the small stuff.
We know there is way, way morethan enough business for
everybody.
I could bring on another 250home watchers in Naples, florida
(22:40):
, tomorrow, sarasota, whereverand there would be more than
enough business for all of them.
Speaker 2 (22:45):
I love it.
I love it.
You guys have been doing greatthings watching people's homes,
educating people properly.
I want to say you guys arebeing great neighbors as well.
I appreciate your time todayand I hope to see you out in the
community here soon.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Thank you for your time.
Jim and Larry, thanks forjoining us.
Speaker 4 (23:03):
You're welcome and thank you, Jim.
Speaker 1 (23:06):
Thank you for listening to the Good Neighbor
Podcast, bringing together goodvibes, great neighbors, local
businesses in Southwest Florida.
To nominate your favorite localbusiness to be featured on the
show, go to CaboWaboJim.
com.
That's CaboWaboJim.
com, or call 239-427-4100.
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