I Picked Something Up Over The Weekend

I Picked Something Up Over The Weekend

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hey, I'm Michael Blaze. Welcometo Your Home three sixty, the show
where we talk about everything that hasto do with your home, whether it's
real estate, whether it's the maintenanceof your home or at landscaping or painting,
or taking care of your pool,or getting rid of your mosquitoes,
whatever it may be, we talkabout it on Your Home three sixty.
I appreciate you listening today. Speakingof mosquitoes. Mosquito Joe's one of our

(00:23):
sponsors eight five to five. Aska Joe and I just recently had an
experience where it pointed out how importantit is to control biting insects in your
yard, on your property. NowI've talked about this before. I've got
some vacant land down in the Bufordarea. Love it, Love going there.

(00:44):
I've got a travel trailer setup.I've got my electricity, my water,
my air conditioning. I don't knowif I could take it there without
that air conditioning. So that isa luxury. And you know, we
call it our cabin, our cabinon wheels. But you know we'll say
we're going to the cottage this weekendor whatever. And I like getting the
extra signs. Working on the land. It beats going to the gym,

(01:07):
right, and it's on the marshand it's on tidal water, so it's
beautiful. There's palm trees all overit, so it's pretty spectacular. And
it was also pretty spectacularly overgrown whenwe first bought it, and in certain
areas it still is. I mean, nobody had touched that thing in decades,

(01:29):
with vines and saplings everywhere, deadtrees both still standing and on the
ground, and I can go onand on and on, but you know,
it was like a jungle. AndI'm not over exaggerating when I say
you could not even walk through there. This is like a wall of vegetation.
So I've been dedicating my spare timeto cleaning it up, making it

(01:53):
look better, and you know,nurturing the land. So I was out
there cutting up a dead tree,well several of them actually, some big
old pine trees, and were kindof dangerous because they were big and they
were dead and they were still standing. So I cut into one of them.
And they've got these great big redants down there. I don't know

(02:15):
what they're called. They're kind oflike fire ants, except on steroids.
You know, they're almost the sizeof i'd say, like a penny instead
of these little fire ants. Andit hurts when they bite you, when
they sting you. And so Iwas cutting into this dead tree and it

(02:36):
was, you know, kind ofsoft, and these huge fire ants or
whatever they're called, explode out ofit all over me. They're crawling all
over me, and I'm dancing aroundlike a little girl, you know,
punching my smashing them, trying tokill them, brushing them off of me.
They're you know, crawling up inmy shoes and up my pants,

(02:57):
in my shirt and everything. SoI got those those bites, those stings
all over me, and like afire ant would around here, you know,
you get the little uh, youget the little tell tale kind of
blister, except with these things,it's huge. And so several days later

(03:17):
I was kind of checking it outand I'm like, this one's kind of
weird. It doesn't seem like it'sgetting much better. And I'm like,
oh my god, what is that? And it was this huge tick and
it had been on me obviously,I think for this was like on a
Wednesday or Thursday, and we camehome on Sunday, right, so I'm
like, man, this thing's beenon me for days, taking a free

(03:40):
ride, sucking my blood, livingthe good life, and and it creeped
me out. You know, itkind of made me sick to my stomach.
I'm like, oh man, becauseyou hear about lime disease, you
hear about all these other things.And I don't even know what was there
because I had these big welts allover me, and you know, you

(04:01):
got not to get disgusting, butyou know, you get there. It's
like a pimple. It's got thelittle thing a puss, you know,
like the like I said, likea fire ant, except these things are
huge that you get after you getbitten by these huge ants. And so
I had those all over me.So I didn't notice this tick until it
became huge and bothersome and anyway,I got that off and I was like,

(04:26):
uh, and it disgusted me.So anyway, it just shows the
importance. And I was actually kindof joking around with it with my wife.
I'm like, you need to benicer to me because I have lime
disease now, and I don't meanto make fun of people with lime disease.
But anyway, you know, Iwas acting the hypochondriac on purpose,

(04:49):
just to be funny. But asI was doing this, we're driving in
the car and the news comes outand they're like, yes, there's an
explosion of ticks this year because ofthe wet winter we had, so mosquitoes
and ticks and flees. There's anexplosion of them this year, and so

(05:10):
you have to be extra vigilant againstthe getting bitten and infested in against the
diseases that they carry. So it'sa reminder of Mosquito Joe, proud sponsor
of the show eight five five Aska Joe. I would have Dan Danner,
he's the general manager of Mosquito Joeon a little bit later in the
show and we'll talk about some ofthis stuff. We'll see what you can

(05:34):
do to prevent it and knock themback. Little did I know that I
would become tick bait. The latestreal estate numbers are out for the Tri
County area for the month of April, So let's dive in and take a
look and see how we're trending herein the Charleston metro era. So,

(05:54):
as you know or you may notknow, I'm a licensed real estate agent
here in South Carolina for eighteen yearsnow nineteen years, and I'm a realtor
and get this data from the CharlestonTrident Association of Realtors, and every month
we go over the key metrics forthe Tri County area. We'll start with

(06:17):
Charleston County and we're going to doof course, April's the latest numbers that
we have because we're not all theway through May yet, and this compares
year over year, so you know, how are we performing this year compared
to last year. We're going tostart with Charleston County single family detached properties.
New listings are up twenty six pointsix percent. Closed sales are up

(06:44):
just under a point at point eightpercent. The median sales price, Holy
Moley, it's up twenty four pointsix percent for the month of April.
Seven hundred and ten thousand dollars wasthe median sales price for a single family
detached home in Charleston County during themonth of April. The inventory of homes

(07:09):
for sale, it's up twenty eightpercent, So that's good news. We
need more and more and more inventory, and everybody's complaining that the prices are
still going up. A lot ofpeople thought and I've beaten this, you
know, like a dead horse.You know, what's the real estate market
going to crash? Oh, thecrash is going to happen anytime now.
Oh we're in a bubble. OhI'm going to sell my property and clean

(07:30):
up here and I'm going to comeback after a crash. Is that I'm
going to make a bunch of money. A huge mistake if that was your
strategy during COVID when the prices weregoing up and have been ever since.
Of course it's kind of slowed downthe rate of appreciation, but the prices
are still going up. So inorder for them to, you know,

(07:51):
stop going up so much, andin order for us to get to some
point of affordability, we need moreinventory. So it's good that we're up
twenty eight percent over last April inthe number of houses for sale currently for
sale. And here I'll explain thedifference. So I gave you a new

(08:13):
listings number, So that's the numberof new listings that come on the market
during the month of April. Theinventory of homes for sale is different because
that's they might have come on notin April, so that makes sense,
and some of them get sold,some of them come on. Some of
them been on for a while.So the new listings came on during April.

(08:35):
New listings up twenty six point sixpercent, inventory of homes for sale
up twenty eight percent, and thatwhopping median sales price up twenty four point
six percent. Went from five hundredand sixty nine eight hundred and fifteen dollars
last April to this April seven hundredand ten thousand dollars. And maybe you're

(09:01):
wondering, is that number for real? Well, I mean, we'll have
to wait and see if that trendcontinues. One way we can check and
see is to look at the yearto date numbers. So when you look
at the year to date numbers,what we've been talking about is this April
compared to last April. Year todate is so far this year up to

(09:22):
this point compared to so far lastyear up to this point. So you
would aggregate all of the data forJanuary, February, March April, and
that's your year to date number.The median sales price last year the year
to date number six hundred and fiftyeight thousand dollars, so it's up ten

(09:46):
point six percent. Any which wayyou look at it. The prices are
going up. So if you justcompare April to April, it's up twenty
four point six percent. If youdo so far this year compared to this
point year so far last year,it's up ten point six percent. That's
probably a little bit more accurate number, I hope. So hey, I

(10:11):
own property in a house too,so I love to see the value going
up. But you know what Imean, people are hurting now and housing
affordable housing is becoming an issue,and people are getting priced out of owning
homes, and I don't want tosee that happen. So, you know,
I'd like to see a healthy paceof appreciation rather than these huge gains

(10:35):
like twenty four point six percent.And I need to get to the rest
of the numbers before I run outof time. But let me get out
of my soapbox here for a minute. Two. You know what else happens
when you have these huge price appreciations. Here comes all of the investors,
including the institutionalized investors. So thinkthese huge companies that have a ton of

(11:00):
capital to work with. They've beeninvesting in single family detached homes. So
this isn't just you and me pickingup a rental house and trying to make
some money. This is huge multinationalcompanies in a lot of cases buying up
single family detached homes at an everincreasing clip, and that is also driving

(11:20):
prices up and driving people out ofthe housing market because they can't compete with
them and they're eating up that muchneeded inventory. So you know, like
I said, if it's I liketo see the numbers going up, but
at a healthy pace, and thatwill help everybody. When they just keep

(11:41):
going up so crazy, you're goingto leave a whole lot of people behind.
All. Let me bang out therest of these numbers, or I
can keep talking and I'm going torun out of time. Townhouses in condos
Charleston County April over April, newlistings up fifteen point six percent, closed
sales up six point one percent,Median sales price up nine point six percent.

(12:07):
Median sales price for the month ofApril for a townhouse or condo four
hundred and forty four thousand dollars.Inventory of homes for sale up sixty seven
percent. You can see that's wherethe sweet spot is. That's what the
developerserve concentrating on. Are those lowerprice points, which is going to be
townhouses in condos. That was CharlestonCounty. Let's look at Berkeley County single

(12:31):
family detached homes. This is themonth of April over compared to last April.
New listings up five point seven percent, close sales up fifteen point four
percent, the median sales price upfive point one percent. It's now four
hundred and ten grand in Berkeley Countyfor a single family detached home for the

(12:52):
month of April anyway. Inventory ofhomes for sale up thirteen point four percent.
Townhouses in condos in Berkeley County,new listings up ninety two point five
percent, close sales up sixty ninepoint six percent. The median sales price
still squeaked by. It's up pointone percent, so at tenth of a
point. Inventory of homes for saleup one hundred and thirty nine point three

(13:16):
percent, So you see with allof that inventory coming out of the market,
you still see the price eke up. All right. Let's look at
Dorchester County real quick April over April. New listings single family detached homes up
twenty point two percent, close salesup nine point two percent, median sales
price were down one point three percent, inventory of homes for sale up eleven

(13:39):
point four percent. Townhouses and condosin Dorchester County new listings up fifty four
point two percent, close sales downsix point one percent, median sales price
up twelve percent, inventory of homesfor sale up one hundred and forty four
percent. So what's the lesson inall of this is that you know,

(14:01):
Charleston is still a red hot market, the Tri County area still booming.
And I think the takeaway is,if affordability is an issue for you,
and if you're right on the cuspof being able to afford a home or
not, Dorchester County might be theplace for you to look. Talk to
your realtor about it. And Iknow that we've heard of the contrary lately,

(14:22):
at least from some sources, ButI still think it's better to buy
than to rent any day of theweek. All Right. If the housing
market isn't sucking all your cash out, the mosquitoes are sucking all your blood
out. It's time for today's specialguest. Joining me today live in the
studio is Dan Danner. He's generalmanager of Mosquito Joe of Charleston. Welcome
Dan, Well, thank you somuch for having me. Yeah, it's

(14:43):
always good to talk to you.So let's jump right in here and explain
the life cycles of biting insects.A lot of people think that they're killed
off when cold weather hits, butthey're not killed off, right, They
kind of go into a dormancy becauseas soon as it gets warm, it's
amazing. A minute it heats up, they're swarming all over the place.
That is exactly the case during wintertimethose that some will die off that don't

(15:07):
burrow deep enough. But yeah,they go dormant to go into the soil.
And yeah, because you know CharlestonSouth Kakilaki know how it goes.
Like we started up in February thisyear because it started getting warm and wet,
and then here they come. Yeah, absolutely, And it's just maddening
because every time, and it's theyjust instantly appear like out of nowhere,
it seems sometimes. So, Yeah, aside from your service, what are

(15:28):
some mosquito mitigation practices that people canimplement on their own just to lessen the
impact of mosquitoes and gnats and soforth in their yard. Oh that is
a fantastic question, because I tellthis to all of my customers. I'm
eet in person all the time.Please please please go out into your yard,
and I understand if you have childrenthere might be some toys out there,

(15:48):
but please check your yard for anykind of buckets, pots, containers
that can be holding standing water,because standing water is your worst enemy.
It is literally an assembly line formosquitoes. Do you think it's a good
idea? You see those for lackof a better description, those biscuits they
sell you in the store, thatyou put in your fountains and all that
stuff. Is that something that peopleshould utilize? Oh? Yes, most

(16:11):
definitely. You can most oftenly usethat. They are very safe for all
types of aquatic life as well.So if you have like fish or anything
like that. First of all,if you have a coipon with fish in
it, you don't need anything.The fish themselves will eat the mosquito larvae.
But if you have a fountain thingslike that, Yes, those little
biscuit things called BTI dungs, theyare very useful. And tell us about
your product, about mosquito Joe ofCharleston, what's involved with your service and

(16:33):
what kind of products do you usein your treatments? Okay, well,
I can't give you the kernel's secretrecipe, but I can give you the
gist of about what we do.Sure, So what we do is we
come out, we treat the perimeterof your property. We treat the perimeter
of your home that we come out, and we look for sources of standing
water that you might miss. See, we do this for a living,
So we're gonna come and check outall the hidden spots, cracks and crevices
and things like that where you mightnot realize you have some children's toys underneath

(16:57):
the deck or like a little youknow, a bee each sand bucket from
your kid that might be holding standingwater that's been there for several weeks,
and now it's just teeming with mosquitolarvae, which is a big problem.
So you're telling me it's probably abad idea that I have a bunch of
old used tires laying around my yardthat have water in the bottom. Oh,
that is the absolute worst. WheneverI see a tire, I know

(17:17):
immediately where the problem's coming from.I can just walk over. Yep,
there's the water, and it's prettystagnant and brown. So this has been
here for a while, and ohyeh, here comes the mosquitos flying right
out of it. Yeah, andit's kind of amazing. Like I said,
not only do they seem to appearout of nowhere when it gets warm,
but also if there's like a moistarea or even like mats on your

(17:37):
porch sometimes or something, you moveit and poof, here comes a bunch
of little insects. Oh yeah,most definitely. And something I hear a
lot of customers talk about the issueswith mosquitos going into their houses. So
I can show up and I takea look, and right there on their
front porch are two very large fernson either side of their front door.
Ferns are notorious for hoarding mosquitos.Wow, I did not realize that.
With other kind of plant life sheltersmosquitoes. Oh, let's see. Basically,

(18:02):
lots of all of our families prettymuch, not all of it.
Like flowers, you're usually pretty good, but dense bushes azaleas, which are
very popular around here, those canbe once they're not blooming. While they're
blooming, mosquitoes tend to stay awayfrom them. But while they're not blooming,
Oh yeah, that's a big hoardingspot for mosquitoes. You see those
like giant looking They look like themosquito version of Daddy long leg spiders.
They're like giant mosquitoes. Now I'veheard that those are male mosquitoes and those

(18:29):
are good because they eat the females. Is there any truth to that?
Halfway? What those are commonly knownas? Yeah, these big giant mosquitos
that look like the ones from thecartoons back in the days, like Looney
Tunes or Tom and Jerry, Right, those are actually not mosquitos. Those
are commonly known as mosquito hawks,and they eat mosquitoes. Wow, So
mosquito hawks. That's interesting. Idid not know that. So if you

(18:51):
see one of those flying around,leave it alone. Yeah, yeah,
basically leave it alone. But alsobe aware that is a sign that you
have mosquitos in the area. Soit's the same way as like when you
have a snake problem, you haveto assume there's rodents in the area,
right exactly, so you know thatthere's a food source that you have to
that you have to mitigate. Youhad mentioned about a natural solution, So

(19:15):
explain to us how the natural solutionworks and how that may differ from your
regular service. Well, well,it's the application is exactly the same around
the perimeter of the property in thehouse, but with the all natural solution,
it's safer for the pollinators, forbees and butterflies and things like that.
We never spray flowers directly. Younever do that with synthetic or all

(19:37):
natural, but if a little bitof the all natural kind of drifts over
to the flowers, it's going tobe safe for the pollinators once it is
dried, and it is normally drywithin fifteen to thirty minutes. When you
say the synthetic product, that isnot an unsafe product. However, tho
are oh no, no, no, absolutely, these things are heavily regulated
by the state and federal level.A lot of people have questions like that,
is this safe? If it's safe? The bottom line, if these

(20:00):
pesticides were not safe to use onyour property, we wouldn't be able to
legally use them period the old daysof using DDT and crop dusting and you
know, waking up with a lumpsomewhere. And this is why pesticides have
to be heavily regulated. Since we'reon that subject, there's also a health
benefit to getting rid of mosquitos andbiting insects because they spread all kinds of
nastiness, diseases and everything else,don't they. Oh, yes, absolutely,

(20:23):
mosquitoes can pass on things like theWest Nile bird flu and all kinds
of different types of fancy names theyhave for them, but definitely had diseases
that you don't want to be apart of. It's just the same as
how during the old days of theblack plague or the bubonic plague, it
wasn't the rats that they thought,it was the fleas that were on the
rats that were spreading these diseases.Dan, is there a specific type of
mosquito that happens to carry you know, West Nile more than another? Say

(20:49):
no, not really, It's prettymuch when it comes to mosquitos, the
species and the type of mosquito doesn'tmatter. What does matter is that they
have access to us and to injectus and in our blood and things like
that that they need for eggs.And while they're injecting us, you know,
it is quite a strong possibility ifit is carrying something that's going to
transmit it to you. The reasonthey're biting you in the first place is

(21:11):
to get your blood to feed theireggs. Right, So explain how that
process works. How many generations dowe go through over a season of mosquitoes?
Oh, geez, you getting realtechnical with it. Okay, Well,
the part of the life cycle thatmatters. I want numbers, Dan,
you know what. I'm going togive you. The numbers that are
the most important. During peak season, I'd say between June and August,

(21:34):
it will take one week for amosquito to go from the egg to flying
around trying to bite you. Itis the females that will bite us to
drain our blood to get the proteinfor the eggs, but both males and
females to get energy. They comearound and they suck the juice out of
plants, which is why we treatthe plants in the foliage around your property
and around your home, so thatwhen they're trying to get some energy to

(21:56):
fly around and do some hunting,they're going to touch the chemical, synthetic
or all natural and it's going totake care of them. Well that's interesting.
Now, if a mosquito bites you, can they bite you more than
once? Oh that is a goodquestion, long answer plus short answer,
yes, because they will lay morethan one batch of eggs, So they'll
lay a batch of eggs, probablyusually a couple dozen at a time in

(22:18):
different spots around the yard. Andthen yeah, they're not just going to
die off just because they laid eggs. And then once they go through that
cycle of egg laying, they're goingto come around and they're going to be
hungry, and you are the meal. Yes, unfortunately, So now I
don't know the proper terminology. Isthere anything that our bodies. I know
that our breath, the carbon dioxidefrom our breath will attract mosquitoes. Is

(22:41):
there any other kind of substance thatwe emit and endorphin or something like that
that will attract mosquitoes? Please explain? Well, yeah, the carbon dioxide
and our overall body heat that attractsthem as well. Just because you know
they're hunting mammals, that's where theyneed a million blood, if you will.
They tend to stay away from reptilesand things like that, amphibians unless

(23:02):
they're just absolutely desperate. But forthe most part, what you can do,
you don't have to walk around holdingyour breath or anything like that.
What you do is try to findsomebody, a romantic partner that tells you,
oh, I constantly get just eatenin life by mosquitos. This is
the person you need to be withfor the rest of your life, because
there's way every couple, every couple, it's the husband or the wife always

(23:25):
won gets eaten up in the otherone. They oh, they don't touch
me. It is because they reallylike whatever's going on with your partner.
That's why. So find somebody likethat and put a ring on it.
Well, that's great advice. Yeah, And then make sure every time you
go out in the yard you're like, hey, honey, I could you
sure help out here? I justenjoy your company. Can you please say?
Yeah, I'm with me. Youknow, honey, I have to
mow the law, could you,you know, just come outside on the

(23:47):
deck and just, you know,have a sweet tea and it's wonderful weather.
Sooner or later she might pick upon it, but you know it'll
last as long as it can.Well that's funny. Now, this might
be bad news for dudes. I'veheard that beer drinkers get bitten more often
by mosquitos than non beer drinkers.Is there any truth to that. That's
a new one. I haven't heardthat before because I think that was my

(24:11):
wife trying to get me not todrink as much beer anymore. Oh,
I see, I see. Well, then what you do is you tell
her will be sweetheart. See,if I drink the beer, the mosquitos
will be more intracted to my carbondioxide. So when I'm out here on
the back deck, just join me. You have a sweet tea, and
I'll be out here, and thenthey'll still go back to her. I
was just doing it to protect you, honey, exactly, And then they'll
still go back to her. Right, of course, that is funny.

(24:34):
And you have a background in comedy, don't you. Dot. I don't
know where you hurt. These ridiculousrumors I cannot confirm, nor didn't I.
Well, tell us how you gotin the mosquito mitigation business. Well,
for mosquitos, I had years ofpest control experience, and then after
my travels doing comedy and things likethat, I came back to South Carolina

(24:57):
got into pest control. Then aftera few years, I just joined a
mosquito joe of Columbia, South Carolina, and long story short, I worked
hard, learned to work smart,and did a good job, and then
came down here to Charleston and absolutelyfell in love with Charleston. This is
it. I'm done. I'm retired. I'm not moving anywhere else. Grew
up a military brat, traveled allaround after high school. Nope, absolutely

(25:18):
fell in love with Charleston and thisis this is where I'm here to stay
and just doing my part, tryingto keep them skeeters off you, because
you know they're going get you.They going and get you real good.
Yeah, they're good at it herebecause we just have vast expansions of marshland
here and I've got some vacant landa little bit south of here when we

(25:42):
go to and I mean that placeis those little noseums and everything are getting
It drives me nuts because they goin your ears and up your nose and
in your eyes and in every orificeof your body. Yes, they do,
Yeah, as they do. Iwanted to keep that as clean as

(26:04):
I could, but I mean,it's just irritating when you're out there working
on something and you have to keepyou know, wiping your eye and the
things are like everywhere. You know, I was following you around like a
cloud coming out of the marsh,going up the nose and in the eyes
and everything. Like I said,it's maddening. Yeah, the no seams
especially are a big problem, notjust because I mean they'll hang out in
the bushes like the mosquitoes will aswell, but no seams are small enough

(26:26):
to hide in the grass and theywill just swarm as you just walk across
your backyard. A lot of peoplecome to me and they ask about no
sms and they say, yeah,nobody can take care of no seams,
And I'm always, what are youtalking about? I can do that.
It's like, I'll come back heretomorrow and prove it to you well,
and you can prove it to ourlisteners. To thirty nine bucks for your
first service, and how long doesthe service usually last? For the service

(26:48):
with a synthetic treatment, it lastsup to three weeks. With all natural
it lasts up to two weeks.We guarantee sprays, which means if we
come out and treat you notice acouple of days later a significant amount of
still swarming swimming flying around you,then please give us a call. We
will come back out retreat your propertyat no extra charge to you. Nice.
What's the phone number? Oh,it's a eight four three six two

(27:08):
eight seven seven eight eight eight fourthree six two eight seven seven eight eight.
That's right, it's eight four threehey, well do that for me.
Well, it's eight four three sixtwo eight seven seven eight eight.
That's eight four three six two eightseven seven eight eight nice. And then
you can also go to Mosquitojoe dotcom right, oh absolutely, yep and

(27:32):
check out their service right now,thirty nine bucks for your first service.
We can do a regular service,we can do special events service. The
point is I care about providing agood service to people. You're you're paying
a mortgage, Okay, the backyardcomes with it. Shouldn't you be able
to enjoy this? Yes, youshould, so call Mosquito Joe and give
the number one more time. There, Dan, it's eight four three six
two eight seven seven eight eight.That's eight four three six two eight seven

(27:56):
seven eight eight Dan Dan, generalmanager of Mosquito Joe Charleston, Thanks for
your time today. Well, thankyou so much for having me. That's
it for your home three sixty.Make sure you tune in every Saturday.
And if you want to catch thepodcast, you can download that for free
on your iHeartRadio app. You canalso find it online at ninety four to
three WSC dot com. Just lookunder podcasts