Duncan Duo 5-19-24

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Happy Sunday, Tampa Bay. We'rewith you for another week here on the
Duncan Duo Real Estate Show to talkabout the Tampa Bay real estate market.
Like we are every Sunday at teno'clock when we aren't aren't air, make
sure to follow us on all ofour socials. We are at the Duncan
Duo Twitter, Instagram, YouTube,TikTok, Facebook, pretty much every social
media channel. And to get afree home value estimate, make sure you

(00:20):
check out Duncanduo dot com again DuncanDuo dot com. And I'm actually excited
to have a new guest with metoday that I haven't had on the show
today, Kelly Lawrence with Onyx andEast, and we're going to talk a
little bit about what brought you guysas a as a developer builder to Tampa
and specifically like where you guys arefrom and how that connects to me,

(00:41):
which is which is kind of acool story, you know, considering where
I grew up and Kelly, youguys are you guys originated and are kind
of founded and built in Indiana andthen moved here and that's where I was
born in Ray So so I movedhere after graduating from iup I, which
is I think you guys are areyou guys HQ in Indianapolis right downtown,

(01:02):
very close, so right by Ilike, like, so it's funny.
So I played college basketball at IUPYmy freshman and sophomore year. Ron Hunter
was the coach of IUPUI at thetime, and now he coaches at Tulane,
but he coached at Iupui for areally long time. Yeah. Yeah,
So I played there, and Iremember running through Indianapolis as part of

(01:22):
our training. Our assistant coach atthe time, Kevin Jones, was an
ex Marine, and we would runthrough Indianapolis like like you know, like
we were in boot camp, Likewe'd have chants and all this stuff.
And so I drove back through notlong ago, and it is remarkable how
much Indianapolis has grown as a city, Like how much more advanced it is,
this city, how big it is. And from when I went to

(01:44):
college there, you know, twentyyou know, twenty five years ago.
So so obviously a pretty cool placeto be headquartered and kind of cool,
you know, kind of near anddear to me because that's where I grew
up. But what was it thatbrought you guys, you know to Florida.
Obviously, you guys have you guyshave a a development that you're working
on off of sixty off of StateRoad sixty out in East Hillsborough County.

(02:06):
Looks like it's going to be anincredible single family home community. And obviously
you know there are a lot ofbuilders and developers looking at Florida and in
Tampa Bay specifically. What was itabout our area that you guys said,
Okay, this is where we wantto be sure. Yeah, as you
mentioned, we really got our genesisin downtown Indianapolis and seeing the need for
urban, walkable, liveable housing thatwasn't being met by most of the larger

(02:30):
builders in the market. And soas you as you've talked about downtown Indy
and the vibrancy of it, weknow housing is such an important part of
vibrancy. And so again that's kindof how we got our founding fifteen years
ago in Indy and looking for marketsto expand. We really wanted that urban
context, so places that are vibrant, that are walkable, but are underserved

(02:51):
in terms of what housing is beingbuilt. And so we really looked at
Florida obviously there's a lot of growthin Florida. It's a great balance to
the steady Midwest YEP which is moreof a steady growth market. And really
liked the dynamics in Tampa, inboth urban Tampa and urban Saint Pete.
We've built several communities. The onewe're going to talk about today that we're
having our grand opening is actually oureighth community here in the Tampa Saint Pete

(03:15):
area. But really liked again whatwe saw in terms of the great neighborhoods,
the densifying urban area, and justthe overall growth story here in Tampa.
And so we actually worked with somelocal partners here early on as we
were getting to know the market.That was six years ago in our first
few projects, and then we builtour team over the time here and awesome

(03:36):
now have a fantastic, very experiencedteam in the market. We have our
own office and design center in theEbor area, so which I've driven by
before. I remember seeing it.And it's interesting because like those Midwestern roots,
you know, I always joke thatlike everyone that lives here is from
somewhere else, like you hear,like I hear a lot of Florida,
which is a lot of New York, but there's a lot of Midwest here,

(03:57):
and so you know, I've hadobviously a lot of people through the
years that grew up where I grewup and and have moved here, and
I think it's just it's just akind of a gradual thing. The community
you guys are working on now.One of the things that I thought was,
you know, really kind of differentiatingcompared to some of your other communities.
Was this a little bit more inthe suburbs, right, And so

(04:20):
I agree with you that it isunderserved because a lot of the focus on
walkable and some of the things thatyou guys have kind of pioneered. It's
a little more challenging in a suburbanarea, but it's there's definitely a demand
for it, there's no question.Yeah, completely agree. And so as
we've grown as a firm and we'veexpanded what we do, we recognize that

(04:40):
there are these great suburban areas,the first ring suburbs, where there's a
huge demand for housing. There's ademand for it to be denser, to
fill in the missing pockets of housing, and that's really what we do well.
We don't have to do five hundredhomes in a neighborhood. Actually,
we look for smaller opportunities where wecan fill a gap and find it amazingly
an opportunity that is connected to allthose great amenities. And as we've watched

(05:03):
you know, people's desires for housingchange over the last several years, you
know, we are seeing demand growingin the suburbs and especially those near end
suburbs. So while we still lovebeing in the urban center and will continue
to do that, we are definitelyexpanding our company into these first ring suburban
areas that have been underserved really inthis type of housing and the type of

(05:24):
housing. Yeah, and I thinkagain, if you look at East Hillsborough
for us, we always you know, it's funny our internal team we call
East East Hillsborough brain Reecoview. It'slike we combined Brand and Valrico and Riverview
called brain Weekoview. I asked,were we called the same thing? I
said, you know, what dowe what do we call it today?
Because it is connected to so manydifferent communities, they each have great aspects

(05:47):
to them and not great places tolive well. And I think the there's
a there's a heavy military concentration too. The a lot of people not from
here don't realize we have not justthe base and the people that work at
the base, but but that veterans. And I think that that eastern Hillsboro
corridor is heavily concentrated with with soldiersand veterans. It's still so, you

(06:09):
know, an area of town theycan afford. The commute has gotten better
with the expressway, and obviously aswe grow it, you know, I
hear grumblings about our growth and thecommutes and the infrastructure, and that's certainly
something as a real estate broker Ican't really control. But nonetheless it's a
it's an ongoing thing. But thatis a target. Do you guys have

(06:29):
plans to kind of target market thatcommunity to any specific consumer? Or is
the military veterans, you know,active duty, is that kind of a
target for you or what is youryou know, what does your targeted customer
look like for buying in the communityyou guys are working on in Brandon.
Sure, so the community the nameis Vivie, and really it's targeted towards
people that are looking for a moresimplified lifestyle, that connected lifestyle. And

(06:50):
you know, again we see thatbeing a very broad demographic group. We
see first time buyers that want lowermaintenance, want the first home experience to
be new construction and some of theyou know, the benefits that come along
with new construction, all the wayto empty nesters who are looking to simplify
their life again want to be closeto the things that are important to them

(07:11):
and everyone in between. I thinkthat again, our focus is really on
the lifestyle that we can deliver,and so we are close to all of
the major job centers, easy accessto the highway system, but we're also
walkable to the public library, tothe high school, to the YMCA,
to shopping, to restaurants. Soyou can in a suburban area have that
more urban lifestyle at this location,which is what made us so excited.

(07:34):
And I think that's what's what's continuingto happen more and more as we do
build and develop, you know,outside of kind of the urban core,
as you get into the suburbs,you're starting to see more of that.
And I think in Tampa one ofthe first places that I think really at
least on the outskirts, the twoplaces that come to mind for me on
the outskirts of Tampa Bay, thatkind of really focused on that would be

(07:54):
Liquid Ranch, which started as justa small community that just kept expanding and
expanding out. It's obvious very walkable, and I think Fishalwk Ranch has some
of that as well with its ownlittle town center and walk ability. And
I think that's a you know,there are a lot of communities that that
desire to have kind of some ofthose same some of those same things.
So speaking to you guys pedigree inTampa, how many units have you guys

(08:16):
developed and constructed in Tampa So peopleknow that if they're looking at Vivier,
they they know that there's a trackrecord in a background and you know this
isn't you guys's first rodeo. Yeah, as I mentioned, we've been here
six years. This is our eighthcommunity. We've built over three hundred homes
in the Tampa Bay area. Sothis project has eighty two homes, so
it is our largest in the TampaBay market and we're we're hoping to continue

(08:37):
to do larger projects again, movingfurther into the suburbs where there's a little
more land available than you know andacre and the urban focused on single family
homes. But I think you guyshave done some some other stuff. Do
a lot of town homes, especiallyin like this the urban core, because
the land density, it's like youif you're going to be able to and
that's honestly what some of the citieswant because they know there's a shortage of

(08:58):
housing there, you know, especiallyin Penelos, Penellos, probably more so
than Tampa. You know, notnot showing any uh, not showing any
hate to Tampa, but Penelos isa lot more comfortable with allowing rezoning and
allowing townhomes to happen in areas whereTampa is still a little behind the times
with with some of the approvals fortownhomes to be in single family home communities.

(09:20):
But Saint Pete, it's definitely somethingyou see a lot of. Yeah,
we've done mostly townhomes. So againbeing more urban focused, there's just
limited land in the urban area,and so I think a lot of cities
and municipalities are recognizing, like toefficiently use land and be good stewards of
land, they need add density toreally meet the housing need and all those
no question, I think townhomes andagain you you you also targeted a consumer

(09:43):
that either as an empty nester,doesn't want the maintenance right or as a
or as a first time home buyer, same thing doesn't want the maintenance.
And townhomes kind of apply to thatbecause there is a little bit less of
that while still having a fee simpleowning land, owning your structure, you
know, not being in condo ownership. So have you guys done condos at
all or have you have you stayedclear? Now we see kind of our

(10:05):
target customer really doesn't want that feesimple ownership and also the you know,
I think in the condo maintenance feescan can scare people away from home ownership
to some degree, and so reallywe focused on, especially with everything going
on in insurance right now, forus, the condo ownership has gotten more
expensive. In my opinion, that'sprobably one of the only saturated portions of

(10:26):
our real estate market right now wherewe're probably more of a buyer's market than
a seller's market. If you lookat a single family home, single family
residential homes for sale, we're youknow, three months give or take in
most of our neighborhoods throughout Tampa Bay. When you get into condos, you
start to look at six and sevenmonths of inventory, which starts to starts
to steer towards a buyer's market,and it's because again cost of ownership has

(10:50):
gone up, the fee structures,and in essence, you're giving away some
of that asset. You're giving awaysome of the control of that asset to
an elected board that may not bebusiness people sometimes unfortunately. So so that
is I think one of the thingsthat's a downside of our real estate market
would be but condos are a littleharder sell right now. And when I
say that, when I say condosare a little harder sell, it's probably

(11:11):
up to a certain price range.When you get above a price range.
You know, when you're talking sevenfigure, you know, two three million
dollar condos, that crowd isn't therising Yeah, the rising hap isn't really
having much of an impact. Inthe right building, Someone's going to pay
the premium because they want to bein that building, whereas it's really more
of a you know, it's reallycramping the mid level consumer more than that.

(11:33):
So we're going to continue our conversationwith Kelly from ONYX and Ese.
We're going to talk some more aboutnew construction. I want to talk about
the benefits of new construction too,and v Veer. I want to get
into why you guys show. I'ma marketing guy, right, so I
also am a partial Spanish speaker.So my girlfriend is Cuban, so I've
learned like certain words and I knowthat means to live right. So we'll

(11:56):
probably talk a little bit about alittle bit about that because I think there's
that's one of the things that Ilove most about real estate is the creative
ability to market and so marketing acommunity and naming it that I kind of
want to get to a little theroot of you know, why do you
guys choose that? I think Imight have some guesses, but we'll get
to that after a quick break hereon the Duncan Duo Real Estate Show.
So back here on the Duncan DuoShow talking about the Tampa Bay real estate

(12:18):
market with Kelly Lawrence from Onyx andEast talking about new construction, new construction,
building development, a lot of thathappening in Tampa Bay. You guys
obviously have built over three hundred homesand multiple communities throughout Tampa Bay, and
you have a new community out inEast Hillsboro. I think it is it
in Brandon? Is it? Isit Brandon? City limits or is it
Valrike is Valrico okay, right onthe Bloomingdale Court or you so? And

(12:41):
so you guys have this new community. It's obviously a time right now where
there's a need for new housing.I've spoken on the show so many times
that I'm a strong proponent of newconstruction, especially for two largegments of the
population, the younger first time homebuyer and then the empty nester that's ready

(13:03):
to retire right simply because there's lessmaintenance, there's less obstacles, there's the
insurance costs are lower, there's morefeatures, that higher quality construction. All
of those things are reasons why youknow, new construction makes sense I think
for the consumer. And so youguys have this new community and it's called

(13:24):
Vivier. Now I know what thatmeans in Spanish? Was that what was
it that kind of had you comeup because you guys have had some other
unique names of communities that you guyshave have come up with, But what
was it about that area in thatcommunity that got you guys, you know,
to come up with Vivier. Sure, so you mentioned it means to
live in Spanish and that so itwas really reflects the lifestyle that we want

(13:45):
people to have at this really uniquelocation. Again, thinking about the suburbs
that you think about driving, that'swhat most people think about, and this
is an opportunity to have a completelydifferent lifestyle experience in the suburban area,
to really live and be close toall the things that make living fun,
enjoyable, and promote wellness, whichwe know is really important for people and

(14:05):
home buyers in particular right now.And so that idea of living your fullest
life was really the inspiration for thecommunity. That's awesome and and you know,
I know, you know because inmy business, you know, I
have multiple Spanish speaking agents. Iknow that's also an area where you you
obviously have a lot of Spanish speakingcustomers. And I think that again,

(14:26):
I've seen this trend where other buildersand developers have have have done that,
and it's just a good strategy becauseyou are essentially, you know, aligning
yourself with a Spanish speaking audience.When a community is named you know something
Spanish, right, so you knowthere's some other there's even local builders that
have Spanish names now that you youknow, have a communities where it's in

(14:48):
and again, it's smart and it'ssomething that I believe is underserved truthfully,
Like I even in my own business, you know, I think I have
four Spanish speaking agents, and andyou know, and I have a constant
need for more Spanish speaking agents becauseand it isn't that most of our Spanish
speaking clients are bilingual, so theyspeak English. It's a comfort level,

(15:09):
it's a cultural comfort level that wefind. So we're constantly on the hunt,
you know, for Spanish speaking realestate agent. So if you're listening,
please apply join the duo dot com. We would love to interview some
more Spanish speaking agents and sell somehomes in Vavie. What's the price range
of the homes that you guys arebuilding right now? Sure, so the

(15:30):
homes start in the low four hundred, so around four thirty all the way
up to about five thirty, andthen we have a range of options that
you can choose from to customize withinthose price ranges. We have four floor
plans, but they're customizable in thatyou know, they can range from three
bedrooms to five bedrooms. Okay,so there's a lot of options within the
community. I think one of thethings that differentiates what we're doing, especially

(15:50):
at this location and at this pricepoint is people can have a full design
center experience with that, yes,which is rare for a four hundred and
thirty thousand new construction, like wewe saw a lot of new construction.
We've worked with the large builders.We have them come in and talk to
our team, and so a designcenter experience and that price range, because
the average price point in Tampa Bayis about four eighty, so you're still

(16:11):
an you know that the price rangethat you're building is kind of right in
that right in that middle range,right, and that was really important to
us as we were conceiving the projectand what that home buyer experience was going
was going to feel. Like,you know, we recognize we build hundreds
of homes a year. Many peopleonly build one or two in their whole
life, and so we want themto have that experience even at what is

(16:33):
an attainable price point. And so, you know, home buyers can come
to our design studio, they canselect their lot, they can select the
floor plan and the options within thatfloor plan, and then they can design
every feature of their home, youknow, every fit and finish of the
home that meets their style. Sowe offer you know, home buyers that
opportunity, which again, as youmentioned, is I think it is uncommon.
It's very uncommon in the price range. Yeah, for sure, because

(16:56):
it's typically more of a we're goingto pick everything and then you're going to
have some all smaller, limited,very good choices. What's timeline for the
community in terms of pre selling,sales and then completion. Sure, So
we're grand opening our model homes rightnow, so they'll be open this week.

(17:17):
We'd love for people to come tourand see what we're doing at Vivier
and really launching sales now that ourmodel homes are open. We do have
homes that will be available in thenext thirty to sixty Wow, that's awesome.
So if you need a more immediateavailability, we have that, or
you can do the full design processand that's about a six month timeline.
That's awesome to choose your a lotand build the home. So we're trying

(17:38):
to meet everyone where they're at andtheir home buying journey. We recognize while
the design center is a great feature, some people that's overwhelming for you and
say it almost rather just plug rightin and have you pick something, because
maybe it's too much for them.We're going to continue this conversation. We're
going to talk more. We're gonnagive out your location so that if there
are people out there thinking about it, and we'll be back after a quick
break here on the Duncan Duo Show. Back here on the Duncan Duo Show,

(18:00):
talking about the Tampa Bay real estatemarket. I have Kelly Lawrence with
Onyx. Andise were talking about theirnew community, Vivier out in East Hillsboro
in val Rico. And you mentionedsomething on our break that I thought was
important to talk about, and it'sI did a show not long ago where
I talked about the pros and thecons of new construction. Obviously a lot

(18:21):
of pros. One of the consin some communities is that you're dealing with
construction forever, like it's just constant. You're waking up on Saturday morning and
hearing the beep beep beep, orthe noise from construction or jackhammers, or
the dirtiness of the streets. Andyou know, you mentioned that you guys
being a smaller builder compared to someof the large, nationally publicly traded,

(18:44):
enormous companies that build in communities fora decade. You know, when you
guys are building these eighty you knowhome communities, you're not in them for
so long that we're the consumers thatbuy into them are dealing with construction for
years, correct. Yeah, Andthat's one of the benefits here of Vivier
especially is you know, the connectednessof the road network, all the streets
are in, all of the lotsare ready to go, given the size

(19:06):
of the community. So yes,from a home buyer standpoint, the construction
disruption is going to be a lotshorter in duration, maybe a two year
window if you're one of our firstbuyers. So again, it's a lot
less of the hassle that can comewith moving into a larger master playing community.
Yeah. I mean I have friendsthat live in million dollar homes in
neighborhoods in Tampa Bay, very wellknown neighborhoods in Tampa Bay and are still

(19:27):
dealing with constant construction, like youknow, dirty roads and noises and materials
just left in the middle of thestreet. And you know, they have
this expectation and now they've bought thishome, and they bought this high end
luxury home and now they're dealing withthat. So the expedience of that,
I think is crucial for people toknow that it isn't some part of a

(19:48):
master Pennic community where it's going tobe that way forever. It's eighty two
homes, so it'll be be relativelyquickly. And you mentioned six months to
build. If so someone picks alot and they could through the process,
it's six months to build. Thatis that is fast compared to some of
the other you know, we've gotsome right now that are stretching eight and
nine months, So six months isa is a good pace. But I

(20:11):
also think it's again kind of goingback to your size, that ability to
be a little quicker with things whenyou're not as big and have as many
you know, bureaucratic hoops to jumpthrough rights. Being being a i'd say
small to midsized builder allows us tobe more nimble, allows us to really
and I would say mid size definitelynot small. I don't want to give
the impression to our listeners that youguys are a small builder, because I

(20:32):
know a lot of small builders thatbuild twelve, fifteen, eighteen homes a
year. They're infill, you know, custom home builders, or they have
a small little crew. You know, hundreds of homes build in eighty two.
Your guys are a medium sized builderfor sure. Yeah, but we
we again, we like to makesure that we can move you know,
we want people to have the timethey need in the process, but also
move them through so that they canget to that completed home in the six

(20:52):
month window. That's awesome. Andso where is specifically the location of a
viear so that people that are thinkingabout buying new construction homes that they have
the opportunity to go and check themout. Sure, So the community is
located at the northwest corner of BloomingdaleAvenue and Lythia Pinecrest Road. The address
itself for our model home is threethree zero six Tybee Square Boulevard. It

(21:15):
is a brand new street. Andif you've used Google, guess maybe I
show up ahead. So yeah,o onyxandes dot com is our website and
you can find a map and moreinformation about that location and our others in
the market. And so if you'rethinking about buying this new construction home and
you have a home to sell,where're your guy? Right? So I'm
applying for the job right now,We're gonna do an interview. I'm gonna

(21:36):
apply for the job, but we'regonna if you have people coming in they
need to sell before they buy,we would love that opportunity. We do
obviously work with some other builders andthat's one of the things that we uniquely
are positioned to do, is becausewe do have you know, access to
hedge funds, cash offers, youknow, quick type stuff for consumers as
well as the path you know,with really high success ratings and results over

(21:59):
twenty years three billion in sales tohelp someone sell their home quickly, because
I know that is something you guysrun into where you guys have a home
that you're building with someone's moving intoand they can't close on it until they
get their home sold, right.That is something that I'm sure you guys
have been challenged with before. Forsure we have, and you know,
we really value our realtor partners.It's so critical in all the markets that
we operate in. We recognize theimportance that you know, you on your

(22:22):
side bring to the whole transaction andhelping buyers navigate the journey. Obviously,
we're happy to walk alongside them throughoutthe process that we do, but we
know the realtor is also so importantin selling if they're coming from an existing
home, or even if they're afirst time buyer, right, and you
know, want need that confidant thatis their representative. So we really value

(22:44):
that and we so Kelly, wetalked about this early in the show,
and I figured we'll go a littleold school Andrew Andrew Duncan here. For
the people who have been listening,this is the tenth I think this is
my tenth or eleventh year of hostingthe show on Sunday at the same time
frame. So I've got a lotof loyal listeners, people that been listening
the show forever and supporting my businessfor a long time. But I grew
up where you guys are are headquartered, right. So I grew up just

(23:07):
south of Indianapolis and between Indianapolis andBloomington. I went to Martinsville High School,
graduated in nineteen ninety six, wentto IUPY from ninety six to two
thousand, and then moved here intwo thousand. Did you also grow up
in Indiana or did you grow upsomewhere else and then somehow get implanted into
Indiana when you guys, you know, kind of launched. I grew up
in Northwest Ohio. So I've beenMidwestern my whole my whole life. But

(23:29):
I ended up at ball State.Okay, so not too far from indianap
Plus, he's a ball State.There's some pretty good ones there. I've
been, so it's funny I hadI had a buddy that went there and
played football. But yeah, I'vebeen to Muncie a few times. I
remember I was a basketball junkie.So I remember Ball State had Bonzie.
Well, yes, that was whenI was there. I was there at

(23:49):
the same time you were at IQUI played against Bonzie. He was a
little older than me. I thinkmaybe a couple of years. So I'm
forty five and I want to sayhe was maybe a or two. He
might have been a year or twobefore, but I remember playing against him
in au basketball. And then hewent to ball State, and he put
ball State's basketball program on the mapbecause that during the time you were there,
they were really they won, theymade the tournament, they were they

(24:11):
had a lot of fun to bea student during that time. And then
he went to he went to theNBA. So see, I've followed so
yeah, small world. I rememberplaying I had tournaments and months all through
high school and and but yeah,what a small what a small world?
And how long have you lived inTampa Bay? I live in Indianapolis.
You still do live? I stilllive in India. Yeah, so I

(24:33):
come down all of you. Wehave a full team here. So we
have a full team here. That'syou know, really making things happen day
to day. We have land developmentconstructions. I think I thought you'd moved
here, but now I'm here often. I like, it's kind of my
second home. Yeah, there yougo. I do. I love I
love the Tampa Bay. In fact, I'll be so I mentioned this to

(24:56):
you in the break, like Igo back and forth. So my my
mom lives with lives with me fulltime, and then vacations with my brother
is basically how we describe it.So she's with me about seventy five percent
of the time, with him aboutabout twenty five percent of the time.
And so you know, she isthere right now in in uh in Martinsville,

(25:17):
which is an hour south of Indianapolis, and so out in the country,
out in the middle. My brother'sgot acreage, and you know,
he's out in the middle of nowhere. And so so my mom is there,
and then I go and pick herup and we're going to the Indy
five hundred, which a really kindof cool story. A lot of the
listeners know this because I talked aboutit. I actually got to race one

(25:37):
of my cars on the Saint PeteGrand Prix Indy car track this year.
So LPT Realty, the cloud basedbrokerage, I'm with sponsors to Saint Pete
Grand Prix, and so I'm oneof their you know, top agents and
you know, friends with the founderand you know, I'm the largest Tampa
team within within LBT. So everyyear I get to bring you know,

(25:57):
and I'm a car junkie, sohave a bunch of a bunch of cars,
and so I get to bring oneof my cars on the track.
Well, anyway, at the lastminute, my brother calls me and he
says, hey, you know thatthat was the last race that dad got
to go to, was an IndyCarrace in Saint Pete before he passed.
And so my dad was in awheelchair towards the end, and he had
emphysema and he was he was notin good shape, but we we carded

(26:19):
him and we pushed him through theheat. He's there, he's loving it
and so I actually was able tospread some of his ashes this year on
the on the IndyCar track at SaintPete. So we're going back to the
Indy five hundred and we're gonna dothe same thing. We're gonna we're gonna
spread some ashes like around it becausemy dad was an IndyCar a fanatic.

(26:40):
So I grew up in Martinsville,but up until like fourth grade, we
literally lived in speedway across the streetright there. Yeah, like literally we
could so we could see and hearthe track from the home. My parents
would actually rent out their yard forparking every year. They'd make extra money,
and so so we went to therace every single year. We went
to qualifying. They they did aday and I don't know if they do

(27:03):
it now, but my parents hada van and they did a day where
you could pay for a vehicle fora call for a one vehicle and as
many people could fit in the vehicle. We would put like we would load
like twenty people in that van andwe'd pay like fifty bucks to go for
a day of like qualifying or whatever. So we're taking my mom this year
to the Indy five hundred next weekend. We're gonna do the same kind of
thing, So it would be aIt'll be a really cool experience because,

(27:25):
like you know, I'm a carjunkie, a racing fan, and then
having having done that with my dadand then being able to take my mom,
so it'll be a pretty cool experience. So see, I still go
back to Indy myself. You know, I'm rooting for the Pacers right now,
and I'm sure that probably keeps Indyquite vibrant because Indy, Indiana is
a basketball town. Like I'm aI still watch and play like I play

(27:47):
three three days a week, stilla ton of basketball. And Tampa doesn't
have the basketball culture that Indiana does. It's completely different, right Indie.
Indiana is known for basketball. Imean it's from school basketball games pack from
yeah, grade school all the waythrough you know, the collegiate level.
And the Pacers obviously are doing sophenomenally. We're thrilled young team a lot

(28:08):
of for a long time. Iagree. It's so very watch and they're
not so like a lot of theteams are really specific with one star player.
They're very balanced. I mean theyhave like seven guys I think averaging
double figures in so yeah, it'sit's a fun team. It's an exciting
team to watch. So I'm hopingthat I don't think I'm going to be
able to pull off. You know, I'm hoping they pull off the upset

(28:30):
versus the Knicks because then they goonto the next round and I'll be able
to see a game in Indy becauseI don't think I'll be able to pull
off Tomorrow or Tuesday in New York. I think it would be So watch
are you going to the game?I am. I'm thrilled. And that'll
be at the race track actually tomorrow, so you'll be there, so you'll
be at the race tomorrow for qualifying. So yeah, it's the whole month
of May, as you know growingup in the area, I mean that

(28:52):
the Indie five hundred is really theentire month of May full of festivities.
So it's there, and there's anotherrace too. There's the there's the five
hundred that's Indye cars, but Ithink there's a race maybe the day before
that's like the smaller sprint cars too. They do. There are a number
of races. I know there wasa Racis last weekend that was another variation
of it. So it's yeah,the number of events and activities, and

(29:15):
then now with the Pacers going onat the same time, we have the
Olympics swimming trials coming to Indy thissummer. So yeah, a lot of
really big things happen. So Ijust went not long ago on one of
my last visits, I walked aroundthe campus at Iupui and like, when
I went there, you know,it was it was still a large school,
but it was very and it's stillcommuter, but it's it has grown
so much. It is a muchbigger campus. It has grown so much

(29:38):
compared to what it was when Iwas there. Yeah, and there's a
lot of there's been a lot ofstudent housing built to kind of make it
also a residential campus as well asthe community campus. So it's gross.
When I went there, it wasthere was not there was no student housing.
It was it was almost all apartmentsand people living at home, and
you know, there was very verylittle student housing. In fact, one
of my favorite things about going toIupui, and I'm not sure if it's

(30:03):
even still there. The National Instituteof Fitness and Sport they call it NIFTS.
Okay, so that's where my collegeteam would practice and do individual workouts
and waits. And I loved goingto school there because I could go to
NIFTS during the NBA season and alwayssee NBA players. They would be there
working out, they would be theredoing individual I have so many stories when
I was in college because I playedmy freshman sophomore year and then you know,

(30:26):
but but you know, so Ididn't play after that. I got
hurt and I didn't want to playanymore, and so my junior and senior
year, I worked, but Istill went and would play pickup basketball and
you'd see so many NBA players atNIFTS. So if you ever do go
to Indianapolis and you want to runinto NBA players, get a NIFTS some
membership pay for a day. Ifa team is in town, they're either
going to practice there or work outthere. So yeah, I remember running

(30:49):
into the Bulls. I saw MichaelJordan there. I saw Scotty Pittam there,
so it was like a really coolThey had their entourages and security.
We have such a compact downtown inIndia that you do see when we had
the NFL combined. Same thing yousee NFL players again was my that was
my icon. Mom. Well,Anyway, we're gonna wrap up with our
last segment after a quick break hereon the Duncan Duo Show. So back

(31:10):
here on the Duncan Doo Real EstateShow, talking about the Tampa Bay real
estate market. Kelly Lawrence from Onyxand East building a community in val Rico
from my hometown, my home,my hood in Indiana. But now,
you know, building a nice business. You guys have done a lot of
projects. You built out a nicename for yourselves in Tampa Bay, and

(31:30):
so this community you guys are buildingVVR in val Rico. We talked about
it before in the four mid fourhundreds, four thirty to five thirty range
with some options and upgrades, differentfloor plans and elevations. But an eighty
two unit, you know, intimate, small community, so not taken forever.
What are some of the amenities goingto be in that in that community

(31:52):
specifically? Yeah, so even withina smaller community, we really focused on
how do we use the open spacesthat we have and soar of what we
did to in bringing our urban flavorto this development is to focus on that
front porch living experience. So whileevery home has a two car attached garage,
we do have alley loaded homes,so again really bringing that community feel

(32:13):
to the streetscape. We have somegreat pocket parks and amenity areas within the
community, so homes fronting onto largegreen spaces, a wreck area with the
playground. We have a grand oakpark, so a beautiful grand oak tree
that we've saved in the center ofthe community that we've designed with some hammocks.
Are really a beautiful place to relaxin the center of the community.

(32:37):
Some grilling stations, a fire pitarea, and a dog park. And
I have a lot within that area. The dog park is probably the probably
one of the most important parts.Like I think there are a lot of
people in Tampa Bay that their petsare their children, you know, And
I'm one of those. So mytwenty year old is already off to college,
so I've I don't have kids athome, but you know, my

(32:58):
dog has become like my child,right, And so the dog parks,
I think are I think there's alot of communities in Tampa that underserve underserve
the pets, right. We know, best friends, they are a valued
member of all of our families forsure, and want to make sure they
have a space to recreate as well, so we've intentionally designed it into the
community. And you guys have homesfor sale ready to move in now,

(33:22):
as well as some that will beyou know, thirty days, sixty days
all the way to if someone wantsto start from scratch and pick every single
thing about the house, you know, a six month process, right,
so we can meet people wherever theyare on their home buying journey. We
have two fully decorated model homes thatwe'd love to show show off to everyone

(33:43):
listening to the show, as wellas homes that will be completed in the
next thirty sixty days. And asyou said, you can start from scratch
and design a home just to meetyour style. That's awesome and it's interesting
because you mentioned the model homes.This is one thing, you know,
so home sellers that are listening tothis and somebody, let's say, somebody's
listening to this and they're like,I'm not interested in new construction. I'm

(34:04):
not going to buy a new construction. That's one thing I think so many
home sellers could learn from new constructionbuilders is tour a model home if you're
thinking about putting your house on themarket, because that's the vibe you need
to have. I can't tell youhow many times we walk into homes that
are being sold by customers or byother agents where they don't get that device,
or we give the advice and thecustomer doesn't listen and it doesn't have
that same kind of vibe. You'relosing money essentially, like you're if your

(34:28):
home isn't set up like a modelhome going to you're not going to get
a premium price. Yeah, Icompletely agree. It's and it's more than
staging. It's really how can peoplelive in a home? How do they
really see how it functions for them? And so we've been very intentional in
the two model homes that we haveto try to show different lifestyles and make
sure that the home really shows howyou can live there and how you can
make it your own. Smart homefeatures we've got We've only got two minutes

(34:51):
left before the end of the show, but smart home features are another thing
that I think you have the abilityto control in a new construction opportunity that
you don't as easily in a resale, because I'm sure those are offerings that
you guys are having. You know, the ability to make the home fully
autonomous at this point is we're headingin that direction where everything can be automated.
Correct. Yeah, we offer smarthome features, smart thermostats, smart

(35:15):
doorbells, garage door openers. Wealso allow again I mentioned our design center,
but we also do work with anaudio video and technology provider that you
can customize everything. If you wantsound systems, if you want other audio
video and high tech features, wehave the ability to add that. Yeah,
it's interesting because I built my homefive years ago and I did the

(35:36):
same I hired a company and dideverything smart that I could. But it's
amazing how much more has come outand how much more you can control with
your phone and what you can turnon and how you can automate things,
and so even just in five years, the technology that I have is advanced
to where now I'm having to makechanges and upgrades and improvements to be able
to optimize what I want to beable to do, like things like you
know, like I can control justabout it, like I can turn on

(35:59):
the TV right now in my livingroom, or turn on lights or locked.
Not all my doors are smart,like some of my patio and stuff
isn't. But the things like youknow, if I left the garage door
open for more than ten minutes,it automatically closes it. And there's so
many things that you can program today. New Construction is a great start because
you get the ability to pick anddesign that from the beginning right and you

(36:19):
can make sure the infrastructure is thereto add to what you have over time
and as technology changes, which isso critical and often the biggest cost when
you make those repairs on a resalehome. Yeah that's awesome. Well,
anyway, Kelly, we've appreciated you. Do you coming on? Make sure
to check out vv in val Rico, Onyx and East New Development. If
you're thinking about selling your home,you want a free home value estimate,

(36:39):
you want an instant cash off orwhatever that is, just go to Duncan
Duo dot com. You can gothrough our home selling journey type in your
dress. It gives you an automatedvaluation. Our team will reach out and
customize that valuation for you. Sowe add the human element to the process
where all of the online based sitesdon't add that, so we can cuss

(37:00):
sstomize it, determine what the featuresare of your home so you can get
the most accurate home value estimate availableagain. You can do that at Duncan
Duo dot com and we hope youhave an awesome rest of your Sunday,
Tampa Bay, thanks for tuning in.