March 26, 2022 • 19 mins
There are lots of snow birds in Southwest Florida, and you want someone you can trust to watch over your home when your not here. Today we talk with owner Vinny Saputo about his home watch company. Listen in to see what you should be looking for in a home watch company.
To get ahold of Vinny you can call 239-249-3353
Email Vinny@NaplesPremierHomeWatch.com
Go to his website http://www.NaplesPremierHomeWatch.com
Also you can get information at info@InternationalHomeWatchAlliance
where you can get the Ultimate Home Watch Guide
To learn more:
https://barefootbungalowrealty.com/
Barefoot Bungalow Homes
9200 Bonita Beach Rd SE, Suite 100
Bonita Springs, FL 34135
(239) 350-5535
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Live Your Best Life Barefoot podcast
(00:02):
with your host, Mary Mouritsenand the team at Barefoot
Bungalow Realty.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good morning, everyone.
We're here with our next episodeof Live Your Best Life Barefoot.
We are so excited to talk alittle bit about the market, we
have a little bit of cooling,not a lot don't wanna, don't
wanna get anyone's hopes up toomuch, but we're seeing, I think
spring break and a little bit ofdistraction with summer coming
(00:31):
up and kids getting out ofschool.
So it is a great time to thinkabout looking at the market
again, if you've been holdingoff because we are seeing a
little bit of even little bitmore even kill.
And so that's our little marketupdate, Ruth, how are you today?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
I'm great.
Mary, you sound so much better,so
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Much better Back to normal,
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Back to normal.
I'm excited for today's guest.
We have Vinny Saputo he's withNaples Premier Home Watch.
Hi, Vinny, how are you?
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Hi ladies.
How are you?
Thanks for having me
Speaker 2 (01:03):
So good to have you.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
It's really good.
So Vinny, tell us a little bitabout yourself.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
So I've been in business for three years now,
originally from New Jersey, camedown to Naples vacationing here
for almost 20 years.
Wow, got married here in 2009.
So Naples has really been a bigpart of my life for a long time.
It took my wife some convincing,but it's pretty hard.
It's not a really hard sell tofinally get here.
(01:30):
And we got here, three yearsago.
And we started t he businessshortly after.
When I was kind of mybackground, I was a police
officer, f ireman EMT.
So kind of 20 years of emergencys ince, as long as I can drive a
lmost.
So it's been a long time and Iknew that I was getting tired of
the cold and all d ifferentreasons why we fell in love with
(01:53):
here, you know, so we came downand decided that i t, this w as
where we wanted to live andraise our kids.
So I, you know, I'm married, Ihave two kids, 9 and 6 soon to
be 10 and 7, can't believe that.
Wow, but it's been a great placeto raise a family as well.
So we came down here and one dayI was sitting on the beach and I
was thinking, what am I gonnado?
(02:15):
Because I didn't really want toget back into police work.
I knew that was something that Ididn't really want to get into.
And what the guy next to me toldme, like, you should look into
home watch and I'm like, well, Iknew what it was.
It's kind of like a householdname here down in Southwest
Florida.
No one knows in New Jersey whathouse, what home watch is unless
(02:36):
you actually have a seasonalproperty.
So, I started looking into itand I figured that, you know,
it's something I could, I couldcertainly do.
And given my background, as Iwas getting out of police work,
I used to take care of exoticcar collections actually.
So it was really a good transferyou know, transfer down here and
kind of like with building,background and like, building
(02:59):
trades growing up in my earlytwenties and then getting into
police work gave me a little bitof credibility, kind of coming
into the field and know beingtrustworthy.
And you know, that that's superimportant.
I mean, we're in multimilliondollar houses on a daily basis
and we wanna make sure that, youknow, we have somebody in there
that's professional, you know,they have good moral compass and
(03:20):
they're, they're doing all theright things, you know, so
integrity is super, part of ourbusiness.
And, and that goes for all theemployees that we, we have as
well.
So did that.
And, shortly I started with 10homes my first year.
It quickly grew in the COVID attwo years.
Basically because people werebuying property site on scene,
(03:43):
as you guys know, they needed,they wanted relocated into
Southwest Florida and theyneeded somebody to watch their
property.
From the time they they'reselling their properties up
north and they wanted to havedeliveries sent, they wanted to
send their cars down, theywanted to get the HVAC company
out there, like start working onthe house and then all the
(04:04):
general contracting type ofstuff.
So we did a lot of projectmanagement during that time too.
So some of them, they, we werejust getting ready, their
seasonal homes, same type ofthing.
So we were kind of really busy.
We really grew from, you know,10 that first year to quickly to
50.
Wow.
We, a nd right after when Ifirst hired my first employee, w
(04:26):
e w ere r ight around 50 homesand we quickly grew up to w e're
at 8 5 currently.
Wow.
So, i t's become, it's a mazinghow far we gr ew i n such a
short amount of time, but Ireally think that comes back to
customer service a h undredpercent.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Well that's now we were talking to you at our, our
meeting that we went to and youdo, it's like a concierge
service almost like right.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
It is exactly.
So we kind of started as a homewatch company serving the
seasonal absentee homeowners,homeowners had multiple
properties, rental propertyowners, and then people that
kind of needed help on a day today basis.
And it kind of evolved from thehome watch into full on estate
management.
And the best way I describe thatto people is we kind of bridged
(05:12):
a gap between propertymanagement and home watch.
So we kind of do everything inbetween.
So, project supervision,contractor supervision, letting
contractors in the housesthemself overseeing these type
of projects, talking directly tothe homeowner.
And then of course our, ourroots are home watch.
So we're watching theseproperties when nobody's there
(05:34):
for, and it kind of, you know,during COVID it became longer
durations of time that it's notjust the six months snow season
that we were kind of seeing, wewere kind of seeing Canadians
couldn't get back here for overa year.
So and then same thing withinternational clients, you know,
Europe and South America, theyjust couldn't get back to their
(05:55):
property.
So it was that six months turnedinto a year plus in a lot of
cases.
Yeah.
And they really needed somebody,not just to watch it for this,
that time, but now we're lookingat HVAC service visits, and
then, you know, God forbid youhave a problem on top of that
too.
Now you're just, it really justevolved so rapidly into that
type of work.
(06:15):
And that's where, kind of wherewe're at now.
It's just full on estatemanagement, but going back to
the concierge services, I tellmy clients, if it's not illegal
or immoral or unethical, I willhelp you with any type of
service you have, love it.
And we've kinda done everything.
I mean, we've taken bicycles toget serviced.
We've taken delivery of cars,which is a normal, e very d ay,
(06:37):
w e're s etting up cleaners t ocome see their houses, pool
guys, landscapers, you name it,we do it.
And that's k ind o f how we evolve into what we are
currently.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
That's amazing.
So what is your favorite clientstory?
Speaker 4 (06:52):
So there's so many stories, but some of these
requests, I mean, because we doso much, so many type of things,
s ome, you know, it became likepets s itting into, you know, I
basically you become a localsource of knowledge basically
because once they, you developthat relationship with them, as
(07:14):
you guys know, it's like, wedon't call them customers, we
call t hem clients because i s,it's really more of a
relationship that we have withthem.
And as you develop that, theyreally w ant t o know, Hey,
what's your favorite place toeat?
Hey, where where's a good placeto go here.
And, you know, I have a servicev isit and t hen all the
contractors that come along withthat, but I w ould tell you that
(07:34):
some of the horror s tories youhave in this field, is w hich
case I think that's why webecame so successful is that we
just do the opposite of ev ery,all those horror stories.
So it's kind of like, you know,things get undetected.
So a water leak can rapidly turninto a massive problem of not
only to mention that, but also amold outbreak, right?
(07:57):
We're not allowed to say the Mword per se, but we say
microbial growth.
So that kind of happens in ashort amount of time due to how
much humidity we have here.
So one time this client'sprevious, before he hired our
services, he said that he had alittle leak that went
undetected, and then it camedown and basically his roof
(08:18):
collapsed in his garage on topof his Maserati and his Bel air
inside the garage, that happenedto be a convertible with the top
down.
So the massive amount of stuffthat just kinda went undetected
for how long, you know, andthat's what I mean, it's such a,
you really need a reputable toreally start watching these type
(08:42):
of properties that when they saythey're gonna do something, they
say, they're gonna watch it.
They're actually actually doingthe job because you get,
unfortunately, people understandthat this became evolved from a
neighbors doing favors, kind oflike they would come over, watch
the properties.
And then we like to say thatthey turned into hobbyist Home
Watchers.
So basically that neighborfigured out, I could make a
(09:03):
little bit of cash at doing thisand a little money on the side.
And then they would watch allthe seasonal homeowners
properties on the block or acondominium, they would watch
the whole building.
So then they real put theproblem is that they never were
fully insured and they never,they were working without
contracts.
So a lot of these things really,you know, snowballed into really
(09:25):
bad situations because when hewanted to play or they wanna
play golf, they wanna go fishingthat day.
These properties aren't beingactually watched properly.
So that's kind of like where wekind of took it to a
professional level.
We wanted to make sure that thisis a legitimate business.
We're fully insured, bonded,have the proper insurances to
(09:45):
drive the vehicles we drive too.
That's another huge aspect ofour concierge services is really
car drives, taking them forservice and that kind of thing.
So that probably one of thecoolest things we do, I like t
his b ecause I'm a huge car guymyself and having that
background in exotic vehicles.
So it's k ind o f tough to tellpeople t hat, you know, what a
(10:07):
re you d o on a daily basis?
Well, half of it's sometimesflushing toilets, but half the
time it's, i t's drivingFerrari's.
So it's really b alance of a loto f things in between.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
I love it.
That is awesome.
That's not a bad life rightthere.
No, we'll take it.
Try all the new cars.
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
For sure.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
So tell us what you think we're heading up into the
season switch here.
Do you have any for ourhomeowners that might be getting
away for summer or just goingaway for a few weeks?
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Yeah, so I always, so a couple tips, I would say when
the property's not occupied, Itell you always shut the water
off.
It really just mitigates so manyproblems that can really happen
between a leaky ice maker linebecause they can really put out
a lot of water undetected for along period of time and being
that most of the materials forfloors, typically tile, tile,
(11:08):
maybe some kind of wood orsomething like that.
So it really can travel a reallyfar distance, a leak that goes
undetected.
So I'd say make sure you turnthe water off when you're not
there.
Another huge tip, so we dealwith two big thing, in Southwest
Florida, it's really w aterintrusion being from a storm
(11:28):
could be a leaky pipe, could bea lot of different factors.
So w ater intrusion's one HVACpump like HVAC That's not
working properly that the flowsensor is not actually working
properly as well, can clog andthen that becomes a water
source.
It really, most of the stuff isin the attics.
So it really can kind of dump alot of water if it's not all
these things aren't workingproperly.
(11:50):
And then the other thing ismitigating humidity.
So humidity is really a numberone thing we deal with.
So it's a perfect storm.
You have a little bit of watersource and a high humidity level
in your house.
And that's where microbialgrowth can start 24 to 72 hours
after it starts, depending onhow hot it gets, humidity
(12:11):
rather.
I mean, so to really mitigatethat is you have to set your
thermostats between, I like totell my clients between 76-78
degrees, and that gives you thatsweet spot really like 50 to 55%
humidity levels.
And that's where you want tokeep it at.
I mean, lower is always better,but if you can manage between 50
(12:34):
and 55, perfect.
I think that's gonna alleviateso many other problems.
So having the humidity properlymanaged in your home, along with
shutting the water off, whenyou're not occupying the
property, two major things thatyou can do to prevent so much
kind of things that go wrong.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Absolutely.
Because I think a lot of peoplethink, well, I'm not gonna be
there.
I'll turn off the air.
Yeah,
Speaker 4 (12:57):
Exactly.
It's the worst thing you coulddo.
In fact, down here in SouthwestFlorida they run 24 hours a day,
you know, all year round.
So, and this type of year, likewhen it gets cold in the winter
months, I say cold, it's likerelatively cold, right?
So we hit 70 degrees.
I'm freezing here, but rightwhen it goes into the cooler
(13:17):
times of the year where theair's not running as much.
So when we see those humiditylevels really rise up because
the HVAC does two differentthings.
It cools your home of course,right.
AC.
But it also, it mitigates thehumidity.
It takes the humidity out of,out of the air.
So if it's not running becauseit's cool outside, it's letting
(13:39):
that humidity really rise up.
So you're gonna have to reallybring your thermostat down.
It makes, you know, it's cooloutside, but you're bringing it
down to 71, maybe 72 sometimesto get that humidity out of the
house.
And another huge thing that wedeal with that people just don't
understand.
And a lot of it has to do withpeople from the north because
they think that the fans shouldbe on because you're typically
(14:01):
in a winter months up north, youwant that air to come into your
house because it's dry.
Right?
You want to have it on auto atall times because you don't
wanna bring the humidity intoyour home.
You want to make sure you kindof, you want to get it out.
So you want to keep it in autoat all times on thermostat.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
That is a great tip.
Yep.
Yeah.
I didn't even think about thatbecause I just turn it on fan
all the time.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Good to know.
Sure.
That's really good.
All right.
Well, before we let you go, wealways like to ask our guests
for a personal tip of what youlove to do in Southwest Florida.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
So I moved here specifically because of the
subtropical climate and I liketo do anything on or around the
water.
So if it's boating, wave running, laying on the beach, that's my
favorite things to do.
And you know, having family heretoo.
And my, my kids love the beachtoo.
They're two girls that grew upon the beach from the time they
(15:02):
were born.
They were sitting on car seatson the beach as well.
So it's really one of ourfavorite activities is anything
on the water, paddle board andkayaking, all that kind of
things too.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Love it.
And how can our guests, if theydon't have a neighbor, that's
gonna be as great as you are towatch their house.
How can they get hold of you touse your services?
Speaker 4 (15:28):
So you could, if you Google Naples Premier Home Watch
or Naples Home Watch wetypically come up in one of the
top three.
But you can contact us directlyat 2 3 9 2 4 9 3 3 5 3.
You c an check our website,Naplespremierhomewatch.com.
And you c an also email us a tinfo@Naplespremierhomewatch as
(15:50):
well.
Something I like to tell youtoo, is that I'm also part of
the International Home WatchAlliance, which is a not f or p
rofit organization dedicated toreally educating the public on
what home w atch is because it'stwo things it's unregulated as
just there's no license to be ahome watch professional.
(16:10):
Okay.
And the second thing i t is thatwe want people t o really
understand that the full theyneed full coverage.
These companies that they hire,t hey need general liability, a
bare minimum.
So part of our organization isthat we, anybody in our
organization has to do, t hey can complete a background check.
They have to actually havegeneral liability insurance as
(16:32):
well.
Typically it's about a milliondollars to 2 million dollar
aggregate.
And also they also have tocontinue to do compliance
training.
So they also have to make sureall their stuff is up to date at
all times as well.
So that's the InternationalHomewatch Alliance, which I'm
currently the president of.
So it's not only is it businessthat it's also a passion.
(16:54):
So I like to say that we want tomake sure even if they didn't
hire our company specifically, Iwant them to understand that
these are the things you shouldneed to look at.
And when you're selecting theright company for your property
needs, that we also give a it'scalled about it's a, The
Ultimate Homewatch Guide.
Basically it tells themeverything they need to know
(17:17):
about home watch and the type ofservices they need to get.
And they also things to look atwhen you're interviewing these
types of companies.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
That's awesome.
And they can get that from yourwebsite
Speaker 4 (17:27):
From, they can get that from the International Home
Watch Alliance.
Okay.
And on that website, you'll see,you'll see a lot of, of the
different services that we do.
That's great education part ofour, our job as well.
And the companies that are inthere, there's a member's
directory.
So you can kind of see all thepeople part of that
organization.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Oh, that's awesome.
That is really good tip.
Beause a lot, I don't think alot of people think about are
they insured?
You know, exactly.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
I mean, you want somebody reputable, right?
And typically it's somebody, youknow, and our basically our
company really comes from a lotof referrals.
So, you know, if the neighboruses them most likely they're
gonna use them too, because theylike the neighbor they're gonna
like to service, but these arethe types of things you want to
make sure that, you know, noteverybody, gels right.
(18:15):
With the right company.
Right.
And they might do certainservices and they might operate
in a lot of different ways.
So it's kind of gives you a lotof tips, things to look for it a
nd make sure they're actuallyaccredited.
T hey're licensed to do businessi n entire county, which is a
business tax receipt.
They call it.
So they're not actuallylicensed.
So you see, y ou hear that terma lot of times licensed and
(18:38):
insured, there really is no license to do home watch.
It's really just a licensed todo business in the county that
they o perate i n.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Okay.
That is such good information.
Sure.
Well, it's been great having youon thank you for coming.
And we appreciate all of yourknowledge.
Yeah.
Really good information
Speaker 4 (18:56):
For sure.
Happy to that.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
And thank you to all of our listeners.
And if you have something youare curious about anything here
in Southwest Florida, we'd loveto hear from you.
Can check us out on our website,Barefootbungalowrealty.com, or
you can go to our Facebook page.
You can message us there.
(19:19):
We'd love to hear from you andas always remember to Live Your
Best Life Barefoot.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Thank you for listening to the Live Your Best
Life Barefoot podcast sponsoredby Barefoot Bungalow Realty, to
learn more about BarefootBungalow Realty, go to
www.barefootbungalowrealty.comor call 2 3 9 3 5 0 5 5 3 5.
Welcome to the Live Your Best Life Barefoot podcast
(00:02):
with your host, Mary Mouritsenand the team at Barefoot
Bungalow Realty.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Good morning, everyone.
We're here with our next episodeof Live Your Best Life Barefoot.
We are so excited to talk alittle bit about the market, we
have a little bit of cooling,not a lot don't wanna, don't
wanna get anyone's hopes up toomuch, but we're seeing, I think
spring break and a little bit ofdistraction with summer coming
(00:31):
up and kids getting out ofschool.
So it is a great time to thinkabout looking at the market
again, if you've been holdingoff because we are seeing a
little bit of even little bitmore even kill.
And so that's our little marketupdate, Ruth, how are you today?
Speaker 3 (00:48):
I'm great.
Mary, you sound so much better,so
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Much better Back to normal,
Speaker 3 (00:52):
Back to normal.
I'm excited for today's guest.
We have Vinny Saputo he's withNaples Premier Home Watch.
Hi, Vinny, how are you?
Speaker 4 (01:00):
Hi ladies.
How are you?
Thanks for having me
Speaker 2 (01:03):
So good to have you.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
It's really good.
So Vinny, tell us a little bitabout yourself.
Speaker 4 (01:08):
So I've been in business for three years now,
originally from New Jersey, camedown to Naples vacationing here
for almost 20 years.
Wow, got married here in 2009.
So Naples has really been a bigpart of my life for a long time.
It took my wife some convincing,but it's pretty hard.
It's not a really hard sell tofinally get here.
(01:30):
And we got here, three yearsago.
And we started t he businessshortly after.
When I was kind of mybackground, I was a police
officer, f ireman EMT.
So kind of 20 years of emergencys ince, as long as I can drive a
lmost.
So it's been a long time and Iknew that I was getting tired of
the cold and all d ifferentreasons why we fell in love with
(01:53):
here, you know, so we came downand decided that i t, this w as
where we wanted to live andraise our kids.
So I, you know, I'm married, Ihave two kids, 9 and 6 soon to
be 10 and 7, can't believe that.
Wow, but it's been a great placeto raise a family as well.
So we came down here and one dayI was sitting on the beach and I
was thinking, what am I gonnado?
(02:15):
Because I didn't really want toget back into police work.
I knew that was something that Ididn't really want to get into.
And what the guy next to me toldme, like, you should look into
home watch and I'm like, well, Iknew what it was.
It's kind of like a householdname here down in Southwest
Florida.
No one knows in New Jersey whathouse, what home watch is unless
(02:36):
you actually have a seasonalproperty.
So, I started looking into itand I figured that, you know,
it's something I could, I couldcertainly do.
And given my background, as Iwas getting out of police work,
I used to take care of exoticcar collections actually.
So it was really a good transferyou know, transfer down here and
kind of like with building,background and like, building
(02:59):
trades growing up in my earlytwenties and then getting into
police work gave me a little bitof credibility, kind of coming
into the field and know beingtrustworthy.
And you know, that that's superimportant.
I mean, we're in multimilliondollar houses on a daily basis
and we wanna make sure that, youknow, we have somebody in there
that's professional, you know,they have good moral compass and
(03:20):
they're, they're doing all theright things, you know, so
integrity is super, part of ourbusiness.
And, and that goes for all theemployees that we, we have as
well.
So did that.
And, shortly I started with 10homes my first year.
It quickly grew in the COVID attwo years.
Basically because people werebuying property site on scene,
(03:43):
as you guys know, they needed,they wanted relocated into
Southwest Florida and theyneeded somebody to watch their
property.
From the time they they'reselling their properties up
north and they wanted to havedeliveries sent, they wanted to
send their cars down, theywanted to get the HVAC company
out there, like start working onthe house and then all the
(04:04):
general contracting type ofstuff.
So we did a lot of projectmanagement during that time too.
So some of them, they, we werejust getting ready, their
seasonal homes, same type ofthing.
So we were kind of really busy.
We really grew from, you know,10 that first year to quickly to
50.
Wow.
We, a nd right after when Ifirst hired my first employee, w
(04:26):
e w ere r ight around 50 homesand we quickly grew up to w e're
at 8 5 currently.
Wow.
So, i t's become, it's a mazinghow far we gr ew i n such a
short amount of time, but Ireally think that comes back to
customer service a h undredpercent.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
Well that's now we were talking to you at our, our
meeting that we went to and youdo, it's like a concierge
service almost like right.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
It is exactly.
So we kind of started as a homewatch company serving the
seasonal absentee homeowners,homeowners had multiple
properties, rental propertyowners, and then people that
kind of needed help on a day today basis.
And it kind of evolved from thehome watch into full on estate
management.
And the best way I describe thatto people is we kind of bridged
(05:12):
a gap between propertymanagement and home watch.
So we kind of do everything inbetween.
So, project supervision,contractor supervision, letting
contractors in the housesthemself overseeing these type
of projects, talking directly tothe homeowner.
And then of course our, ourroots are home watch.
So we're watching theseproperties when nobody's there
(05:34):
for, and it kind of, you know,during COVID it became longer
durations of time that it's notjust the six months snow season
that we were kind of seeing, wewere kind of seeing Canadians
couldn't get back here for overa year.
So and then same thing withinternational clients, you know,
Europe and South America, theyjust couldn't get back to their
(05:55):
property.
So it was that six months turnedinto a year plus in a lot of
cases.
Yeah.
And they really needed somebody,not just to watch it for this,
that time, but now we're lookingat HVAC service visits, and
then, you know, God forbid youhave a problem on top of that
too.
Now you're just, it really justevolved so rapidly into that
type of work.
(06:15):
And that's where, kind of wherewe're at now.
It's just full on estatemanagement, but going back to
the concierge services, I tellmy clients, if it's not illegal
or immoral or unethical, I willhelp you with any type of
service you have, love it.
And we've kinda done everything.
I mean, we've taken bicycles toget serviced.
We've taken delivery of cars,which is a normal, e very d ay,
(06:37):
w e're s etting up cleaners t ocome see their houses, pool
guys, landscapers, you name it,we do it.
And that's k ind o f how we evolve into what we are
currently.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
That's amazing.
So what is your favorite clientstory?
Speaker 4 (06:52):
So there's so many stories, but some of these
requests, I mean, because we doso much, so many type of things,
s ome, you know, it became likepets s itting into, you know, I
basically you become a localsource of knowledge basically
because once they, you developthat relationship with them, as
(07:14):
you guys know, it's like, wedon't call them customers, we
call t hem clients because i s,it's really more of a
relationship that we have withthem.
And as you develop that, theyreally w ant t o know, Hey,
what's your favorite place toeat?
Hey, where where's a good placeto go here.
And, you know, I have a servicev isit and t hen all the
contractors that come along withthat, but I w ould tell you that
(07:34):
some of the horror s tories youhave in this field, is w hich
case I think that's why webecame so successful is that we
just do the opposite of ev ery,all those horror stories.
So it's kind of like, you know,things get undetected.
So a water leak can rapidly turninto a massive problem of not
only to mention that, but also amold outbreak, right?
(07:57):
We're not allowed to say the Mword per se, but we say
microbial growth.
So that kind of happens in ashort amount of time due to how
much humidity we have here.
So one time this client'sprevious, before he hired our
services, he said that he had alittle leak that went
undetected, and then it camedown and basically his roof
(08:18):
collapsed in his garage on topof his Maserati and his Bel air
inside the garage, that happenedto be a convertible with the top
down.
So the massive amount of stuffthat just kinda went undetected
for how long, you know, andthat's what I mean, it's such a,
you really need a reputable toreally start watching these type
(08:42):
of properties that when they saythey're gonna do something, they
say, they're gonna watch it.
They're actually actually doingthe job because you get,
unfortunately, people understandthat this became evolved from a
neighbors doing favors, kind oflike they would come over, watch
the properties.
And then we like to say thatthey turned into hobbyist Home
Watchers.
So basically that neighborfigured out, I could make a
(09:03):
little bit of cash at doing thisand a little money on the side.
And then they would watch allthe seasonal homeowners
properties on the block or acondominium, they would watch
the whole building.
So then they real put theproblem is that they never were
fully insured and they never,they were working without
contracts.
So a lot of these things really,you know, snowballed into really
(09:25):
bad situations because when hewanted to play or they wanna
play golf, they wanna go fishingthat day.
These properties aren't beingactually watched properly.
So that's kind of like where wekind of took it to a
professional level.
We wanted to make sure that thisis a legitimate business.
We're fully insured, bonded,have the proper insurances to
(09:45):
drive the vehicles we drive too.
That's another huge aspect ofour concierge services is really
car drives, taking them forservice and that kind of thing.
So that probably one of thecoolest things we do, I like t
his b ecause I'm a huge car guymyself and having that
background in exotic vehicles.
So it's k ind o f tough to tellpeople t hat, you know, what a
(10:07):
re you d o on a daily basis?
Well, half of it's sometimesflushing toilets, but half the
time it's, i t's drivingFerrari's.
So it's really b alance of a loto f things in between.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
I love it.
That is awesome.
That's not a bad life rightthere.
No, we'll take it.
Try all the new cars.
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 4 (10:25):
For sure.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
So tell us what you think we're heading up into the
season switch here.
Do you have any for ourhomeowners that might be getting
away for summer or just goingaway for a few weeks?
Speaker 4 (10:43):
Yeah, so I always, so a couple tips, I would say when
the property's not occupied, Itell you always shut the water
off.
It really just mitigates so manyproblems that can really happen
between a leaky ice maker linebecause they can really put out
a lot of water undetected for along period of time and being
that most of the materials forfloors, typically tile, tile,
(11:08):
maybe some kind of wood orsomething like that.
So it really can travel a reallyfar distance, a leak that goes
undetected.
So I'd say make sure you turnthe water off when you're not
there.
Another huge tip, so we dealwith two big thing, in Southwest
Florida, it's really w aterintrusion being from a storm
(11:28):
could be a leaky pipe, could bea lot of different factors.
So w ater intrusion's one HVACpump like HVAC That's not
working properly that the flowsensor is not actually working
properly as well, can clog andthen that becomes a water
source.
It really, most of the stuff isin the attics.
So it really can kind of dump alot of water if it's not all
these things aren't workingproperly.
(11:50):
And then the other thing ismitigating humidity.
So humidity is really a numberone thing we deal with.
So it's a perfect storm.
You have a little bit of watersource and a high humidity level
in your house.
And that's where microbialgrowth can start 24 to 72 hours
after it starts, depending onhow hot it gets, humidity
(12:11):
rather.
I mean, so to really mitigatethat is you have to set your
thermostats between, I like totell my clients between 76-78
degrees, and that gives you thatsweet spot really like 50 to 55%
humidity levels.
And that's where you want tokeep it at.
I mean, lower is always better,but if you can manage between 50
(12:34):
and 55, perfect.
I think that's gonna alleviateso many other problems.
So having the humidity properlymanaged in your home, along with
shutting the water off, whenyou're not occupying the
property, two major things thatyou can do to prevent so much
kind of things that go wrong.
Speaker 2 (12:53):
Absolutely.
Because I think a lot of peoplethink, well, I'm not gonna be
there.
I'll turn off the air.
Yeah,
Speaker 4 (12:57):
Exactly.
It's the worst thing you coulddo.
In fact, down here in SouthwestFlorida they run 24 hours a day,
you know, all year round.
So, and this type of year, likewhen it gets cold in the winter
months, I say cold, it's likerelatively cold, right?
So we hit 70 degrees.
I'm freezing here, but rightwhen it goes into the cooler
(13:17):
times of the year where theair's not running as much.
So when we see those humiditylevels really rise up because
the HVAC does two differentthings.
It cools your home of course,right.
AC.
But it also, it mitigates thehumidity.
It takes the humidity out of,out of the air.
So if it's not running becauseit's cool outside, it's letting
(13:39):
that humidity really rise up.
So you're gonna have to reallybring your thermostat down.
It makes, you know, it's cooloutside, but you're bringing it
down to 71, maybe 72 sometimesto get that humidity out of the
house.
And another huge thing that wedeal with that people just don't
understand.
And a lot of it has to do withpeople from the north because
they think that the fans shouldbe on because you're typically
(14:01):
in a winter months up north, youwant that air to come into your
house because it's dry.
Right?
You want to have it on auto atall times because you don't
wanna bring the humidity intoyour home.
You want to make sure you kindof, you want to get it out.
So you want to keep it in autoat all times on thermostat.
Speaker 2 (14:20):
That is a great tip.
Yep.
Yeah.
I didn't even think about thatbecause I just turn it on fan
all the time.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Good to know.
Sure.
That's really good.
All right.
Well, before we let you go, wealways like to ask our guests
for a personal tip of what youlove to do in Southwest Florida.
Speaker 4 (14:40):
So I moved here specifically because of the
subtropical climate and I liketo do anything on or around the
water.
So if it's boating, wave running, laying on the beach, that's my
favorite things to do.
And you know, having family heretoo.
And my, my kids love the beachtoo.
They're two girls that grew upon the beach from the time they
(15:02):
were born.
They were sitting on car seatson the beach as well.
So it's really one of ourfavorite activities is anything
on the water, paddle board andkayaking, all that kind of
things too.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Love it.
And how can our guests, if theydon't have a neighbor, that's
gonna be as great as you are towatch their house.
How can they get hold of you touse your services?
Speaker 4 (15:28):
So you could, if you Google Naples Premier Home Watch
or Naples Home Watch wetypically come up in one of the
top three.
But you can contact us directlyat 2 3 9 2 4 9 3 3 5 3.
You c an check our website,Naplespremierhomewatch.com.
And you c an also email us a tinfo@Naplespremierhomewatch as
(15:50):
well.
Something I like to tell youtoo, is that I'm also part of
the International Home WatchAlliance, which is a not f or p
rofit organization dedicated toreally educating the public on
what home w atch is because it'stwo things it's unregulated as
just there's no license to be ahome watch professional.
(16:10):
Okay.
And the second thing i t is thatwe want people t o really
understand that the full theyneed full coverage.
These companies that they hire,t hey need general liability, a
bare minimum.
So part of our organization isthat we, anybody in our
organization has to do, t hey can complete a background check.
They have to actually havegeneral liability insurance as
(16:32):
well.
Typically it's about a milliondollars to 2 million dollar
aggregate.
And also they also have tocontinue to do compliance
training.
So they also have to make sureall their stuff is up to date at
all times as well.
So that's the InternationalHomewatch Alliance, which I'm
currently the president of.
So it's not only is it businessthat it's also a passion.
(16:54):
So I like to say that we want tomake sure even if they didn't
hire our company specifically, Iwant them to understand that
these are the things you shouldneed to look at.
And when you're selecting theright company for your property
needs, that we also give a it'scalled about it's a, The
Ultimate Homewatch Guide.
Basically it tells themeverything they need to know
(17:17):
about home watch and the type ofservices they need to get.
And they also things to look atwhen you're interviewing these
types of companies.
Speaker 2 (17:24):
That's awesome.
And they can get that from yourwebsite
Speaker 4 (17:27):
From, they can get that from the International Home
Watch Alliance.
Okay.
And on that website, you'll see,you'll see a lot of, of the
different services that we do.
That's great education part ofour, our job as well.
And the companies that are inthere, there's a member's
directory.
So you can kind of see all thepeople part of that
organization.
Speaker 2 (17:46):
Oh, that's awesome.
That is really good tip.
Beause a lot, I don't think alot of people think about are
they insured?
You know, exactly.
Speaker 4 (17:55):
I mean, you want somebody reputable, right?
And typically it's somebody, youknow, and our basically our
company really comes from a lotof referrals.
So, you know, if the neighboruses them most likely they're
gonna use them too, because theylike the neighbor they're gonna
like to service, but these arethe types of things you want to
make sure that, you know, noteverybody, gels right.
(18:15):
With the right company.
Right.
And they might do certainservices and they might operate
in a lot of different ways.
So it's kind of gives you a lotof tips, things to look for it a
nd make sure they're actuallyaccredited.
T hey're licensed to do businessi n entire county, which is a
business tax receipt.
They call it.
So they're not actuallylicensed.
So you see, y ou hear that terma lot of times licensed and
(18:38):
insured, there really is no license to do home watch.
It's really just a licensed todo business in the county that
they o perate i n.
Speaker 2 (18:46):
Okay.
That is such good information.
Sure.
Well, it's been great having youon thank you for coming.
And we appreciate all of yourknowledge.
Yeah.
Really good information
Speaker 4 (18:56):
For sure.
Happy to that.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
And thank you to all of our listeners.
And if you have something youare curious about anything here
in Southwest Florida, we'd loveto hear from you.
Can check us out on our website,Barefootbungalowrealty.com, or
you can go to our Facebook page.
You can message us there.
(19:19):
We'd love to hear from you andas always remember to Live Your
Best Life Barefoot.
Speaker 1 (19:25):
Thank you for listening to the Live Your Best
Life Barefoot podcast sponsoredby Barefoot Bungalow Realty, to
learn more about BarefootBungalow Realty, go to
www.barefootbungalowrealty.comor call 2 3 9 3 5 0 5 5 3 5.
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