The Dayna Simmons Real Estate Show 01/04/25--with guests Blaine Callier with First Financial bank

• Blaine Callier with First Financial Bank talks about the latest fed news and how that impacts rates.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Got to enjoy lots of good food, lots of good fellowship,
and now it's time to go ahead and get this
new year started. So this week we have some of
the guests who are going to share with you ways
that you may be able to get your new year
off to an incredible start. First, we have Carly Graves
and she is with Ponchet Pilates. They have locations both

(00:23):
in Beaumont and Lumberton, and she's going to share a
little bit about what that looks like, what do they
do there, how might that influence you or help you
in your goals to be able to get a little
bit more physical this year. Also with this Kelly Talbert,
she is with the Shine Women's Conference. Kelly has her
own ministry and she has an event coming up in

(00:45):
February called Shine Women's Conference. It's an event you do
not want to miss. So if growing spiritually is part
of your new goals this year, this is an event
you do not want to miss. Also with this blank
with First Financial Bank, Blaine's going to talk a little
bit about so the Fed spoken December, what does that

(01:06):
mean for interest rates for any investments that you may
be considering. You don't want to miss what he sees
could potentially be happening in our little you know, uh,
little ball that we look at that gives us the
future that we know what's going to happen. Should have, yeah,

(01:26):
shake it up and then kind of give us an idea.
So we've got some really fun guests to talk a
little bit about some new things for the year. How
can you grow and improve in some of those. But
first I want to talk a little bit about the
market in twenty twenty four. You know, the year in market.
We don't have all of the final numbers, but I
will tell you it was definitely a little bit of

(01:46):
a softer market with the higher interest rates and just
with the uncertainty out there with so many things, uh
in a presidential election and other challenges that we saw nationally.
I feel like that did soften what we saw in
all of our real estate market. But let me tell you,
I have great hope for what we see happening coming

(02:07):
in twenty twenty five. From all of the professionals that
I'm listening to about what's going on here in Southeast Texas,
it looks like we are really going to thrive in
twenty twenty five. We see lots of new business coming
to our area. We see lots of new industry that
is deciding to go ahead and move forward on some
plant expansions and other things. So if you are considering

(02:31):
getting into the market, we'd love to sit down and
visit with you about that. You know, you can contact
my office eight to eight Monday through Saturday and one
of our licensed agents will be there to visit with
you four nine eight six six eight three two six
which is for nine eight six six team, and you
can sit down and talk with us, no obligation, no

(02:53):
cost to do that. Whether you're thinking about buying or selling,
we just want to help you to make a wise decision. Now.
If if you are wanting to just look online, you
can go to Dana Simmons real Estate dot com and
you can look at all the properties listed in Southeast
Texas and also get an idea of what your property
is worth. So check out those two things, and if
you have any questions again, don't hesitate to call the

(03:15):
office now today as we're on the line. If you
have questions that you can think of, you can call
us here in the studio ask any of our guests questions.
The number is four oh nine eight nine six, five
five eight four, and we would love to be able
to answer those for you. Now, before we get started,
I'd like for each of our guests to tell you

(03:36):
a little about who they are and what they how
long they've been in Southeast Texas, and just a little
bit about their family. So we're going to start with
your Carly. Give us a little bit of information about
who is Carly Graves.

Speaker 2 (03:48):
Yes, so I was born and raised in Lumberton, did
all my grade school there, and then after graduating high
school in twenty sixteen, I went off to Australia. Lived
in Australia for two years, went to Hillsong College there,
did the dance ministry their dance major there, and then

(04:10):
came back home started my first really big girl job
in full time ministry doing youth directing at Praise Church,
and then decided to kind of branch off into more
of the dance fitness world a little bit. And now
that's what I'm doing, is owning a pilate studio and
just really loving everything that I'm doing right now and

(04:34):
currently expecting about six months pregnant. Me and my husband
are really excited to start our family this year in
twenty twenty five. And yeah, that's it's a busy, chaotic,
beautiful life that we live.

Speaker 1 (04:48):
Absolutely and you're still really evolved over at Price Church.

Speaker 2 (04:51):
Yes, so my husband is the young adult pastor, so
he's over eighteen to twenty five thirty year old, and
I get to help out with that. I serve in
the priest kids department, getting my feet wet, you know,
changing diapers, burbing babies. It's really good on the prayer
team and the worship team every now and then. So

(05:13):
I'm really just all hands on deck wherever they need me.
I love to serve and be a part of the
churches as much as I can be.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
Love that. Thank you, Carly. Looking forward to hearing about
your two new or not new, but two locations where
you're servicing all of Southeast Texas. So we'll get into
that next. Also, Kelly Talbert, Kelly, tell us a little
bit about you.

Speaker 3 (05:34):
Okay, my name is Kelly Talbert and I have lived
in Port H's Groves my entire life. No Indians, yes,
go Indians. I know when you said in Neederland, I
was like, Okay, it's a big rivalry for sure. Yeah,
but I actually graduated from Port Nage's and my children
graduated from Port H's and so that has really been

(05:55):
our whole life where we've been. And then we moved
to Lumberton. Actually it's Coots. I always get confused because
it's right, we're Lumberton and Coot's Meat. But we live
in Kont's and we built a house about three years ago.
So we love it there. It's just you know, land,
and it's just real open. It's a lot more open
than where we were. So other than that, we have

(06:16):
five children together and they're all married and grown and
now we're getting grandchildren, which is so exciting.

Speaker 1 (06:22):
The best thing.

Speaker 3 (06:23):
And ever, just a little bit about me, I'll be
I'm fifty five years old, and so I really have
been a Christian my whole life. And probably about a
year ago was the first time I ever heard God
speak to me, and he said, I want you to
write a book, which I never wanted to write a book.
It was never a goal for me. That's their goals,

(06:43):
and write a book. And he even gave me the
title of the book and it was let God's Light
Shine through You. And so I wrote the book. It
was published by TBN which was amazing. I couldn't believe
it and it has just taken off. And so when
you mentioned earlier the Shine Women's we get it from
the title of that book. It's came from this book

(07:04):
and anyway, we'll talk more about it later, but the
book is really it let me know what women are
going through, like all across everywhere, people reaching out to
me because it's a national type, you know, tbneh. And
I just realized that women need something to like help
them get through the things they're going through in life.

(07:24):
And I guess mainly what I felt God was telling
me was just let them know they're not alone. That
you know, everybody, you know, we have God, and I
just want to just teach them about that. So that's
really what brought the conference on.

Speaker 1 (07:35):
Well, that's exciting. Can't wait to hear more about that.
And Glenn is here joining you.

Speaker 3 (07:40):
Yes, my husband, Glenn, he's my silent supporter. Is what
we talked about that. No, he we were ordained as
ministers Joon Hunter Ministries. I don't know if you've heard
of that. Her mom and dad were real big into
ministry and healed tons of people and we went and
got ordained through her in September, and so we've been
just on this journey. It just keeps like you said,

(08:00):
God just keeps opening doors over and over again.

Speaker 1 (08:03):
So that's so exciting. We're so glad to have you
to hear about what are some ways that if spiritual
growth is something that you're interested in, what are some
ways that you can move forward in that? And so
this new year, we are looking to improve in lots
of different areas in our life. And another way that
we are going to want to improve is many people
want to improve in their finances, and understanding what's happening

(08:25):
in the world is really critical. We want to make
wise decisions with the money that we've been given. So Blaine,
tell everyone about you. Blaine Kaye with First Financial Bank,
is the president and CEO of all seven local First
Financial Banks, with an eighth one on the way, and
we'll talk more about that too. But tell everyone a

(08:46):
little bit about you because you're born and raised here too.

Speaker 4 (08:48):
Yes, ma'am born and raised in Orange and really have
been here my entire life. Spent a little bit of
time in Late Charles, but besides that, had been here
in Southeast Texas and married to my wife, Regina of
ten years.

Speaker 1 (09:00):
Now.

Speaker 4 (09:00):
We have three kids. We have Clara, Jet and Gabrielle,
and uh, we're we're still in the Orange area. The
kids are at Little Cyprus, but uh, our our roots
are here in Southeast Texas and we love it here.
All of both of our families are here, and it's
just it's a great place to raise your kids and
and to grow up. And there's, like you said earlier

(09:22):
in the show, there's so much going on in our
area with all the expansion and the refineries. There's so many, uh,
there's businesses that are moving to town. You know, our
area in the state of Texas has always been much
stronger economy wise than the rest of the state and
really the rest of the country. And it's really because
all the oil and gas and the refineries, the L
and G facilities that are moving to this area. And

(09:45):
it's really been very impactful to all of us in
this area. And h Bank wise, the bank is in
great shape. We're in growth mode right now. As Dana said,
we're you know, we have seven locations here in Southeast Texas.
We're in Orange, Jefferson, Harden and and County today and
we're we have one location in Beaumont, and we're planning

(10:05):
to break ground on our second location in Beaumont probably
second third quarter of this year. So we're very excited
about that.

Speaker 3 (10:12):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (10:12):
Well, and you know, when you talk about all of
the reasons why we're growing, it's not just the big
plants coming here, but it's also the subsequent businesses that
are trickle down effect. Absolutely for all of those, they
have to have maintenance, they have to have all types
of businesses support that. So the growth isn't just there,

(10:33):
it's in all areas in order to support that growth.

Speaker 4 (10:37):
You're right, it filtered trickles down. I mean to the restaurants,
to the hotel motels, to the RV parks, to the
to the retail stores. I mean, you know, the real
estate houses. People are moving here, they're bringing in you know,
it's it's it's it's always evolving.

Speaker 1 (10:52):
Absolutely. And what I love is I love on this
show that we're talking about all the positive things because
you know, it's so easy to get wrapped up in
the negativity. I mean, you have something happen, and we've
had a lot happen this week, and a lot of
it's been pretty negative, but that's been the focus. The

(11:12):
focus can also be on all the amazing, wonderful things
we have going on. It doesn't mean we put our
head in the sand and go, oh, no, you know,
everything's good now. We understand there are challenges that we
have to walk through and we all want to make
them better. But I think what we have to focus
on is we have so much good and so what

(11:34):
can we do to get better, make it better, make
Southeast Texas a better place for all of us. So
I hope that's one of the things we can do
today is we talk through what each of you have
to offer for the people who are listening today. So
when we come back, we're going to share some of
those wonderful, positive things that can improve you personally and

(11:56):
also can improve our community. So don't go away. This
is the day Simmons Show. Welcome back and happy New
Years again. I'm so happy that you've joined us on
this first Saturday of January. We have an amazing group
joining us today talking about what are some ways that
we can improve and how can they potentially help you
improve on your goals for this year. And first we're

(12:18):
going to talk to Carl Graves. Carl introduced herself a
little bit a while ago. She's a local gal and
been here a long time, and she has opened up
a pilates studio both in Beaumont and Lumberton called Ponche Pilate.
So Carly, let's talk a little bit about first. What
made you move into wanting to open a pilate studio?

(12:41):
Great question.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
So I grew up dancing probably since three years old.
I was put into dance really early on, around fourteen
years old. I was very serious, like training pre professionally,
touring with different companies in the area, dancing Monday through Fridays,
Saturday rehearsals, just really enjoying my time, and I was

(13:05):
good at it, and I really felt like it was
something that was always going to be a part of
my life. I started teaching dance when I was in
the eighth grade, like little hip hoppers like doing star jumps,
you know, on their spot. It was really cute. So
I started teaching dance at a really young age and
knew that teaching was always going to be something that

(13:26):
I wanted to do and incorporate in my life. So
when I was eighteen, I decided to move off to
Australia and do a dance stream or a dance major
there at Hillsong College, and there I also taught dance.
So it was fun to be able to teach dance
to a different culture and just learn, you know, they

(13:47):
have different terms for different things, and so it grew
me as a teacher and it grew me as a dancer.
And so when I came home from Australia, I knew
I wanted to continue to teach dance in some sort
of capacity. When I was training pre professionally, I thought
I wanted to go into the music industry and maybe
move to LA and do like commercial stuff. And I

(14:11):
had to train really hard, and part of my training
was making sure, you know, my fitness was up and
pilates and yoga and bar and all of the things
that I now teach, I was training in and so
I learned a lot as a pre professional dancer about
how important it is to keep your body in shape,

(14:33):
not just because you want to look a certain way.
It's actually to condition yourself to be able to go
to have longevity and the things that you're doing. And
so was kind of just dove first, like headfirst into that.
And so then when I moved home when I was
around nineteen twenty years old, I was like, Okay, how

(14:56):
do I incorporate this? So I started teaching dance again
here locally and BEAUMA at Lancaster Dance Academy and just
loved it and wanted to do more of it, wanted
to teach more of it, and so that's kind of
how I stepped into the fitness world. And I started
originally with bar with Carly, so that was my brand

(15:16):
before panchet Plates, and I was just teaching bar classes,
which is ballet inspired hit kind of quick cardiovascular classes
at the dance studio, but also kind of everywhere. I
went to Love Yoga and taught a couple classes there.
A week I would go to clients' homes and teach
them private classes there. And then we kind of dipped

(15:37):
our foot into pilates, built my client tele and got
certified and pilates and just went headfirst into that world.
Started with one reformer machine, which I'll get into a
little bit more of in a second, but started with
one Pilate's reformer machine in my home and had clients
coming into my home and then grew from one to

(16:01):
now we have six at our Bowmont location and three
machines at our Lumberton locations. So it's been a whirlwind
and just a evolution of Barwick Carly into Panche Pilates
and now here we are with two locations.

Speaker 1 (16:17):
So if I come into your studio, tell me what
it is that looks like. I mean, where am I
going to start? If I'm a beginner, Because listen, I'm
a beginner, Yes, so how would I start? Yes?

Speaker 2 (16:28):
Everyone starts somewhere. So we offer beginners classes Mondays and
Wednesdays at noon and that's on the Reformer machine. Our
classes are predominantly on the Reformer machine. The Reformer includes
resistant springs, so it's going to give you that extra
strength aspect of your workout that you might not get
on a yoga mat or with a hand weight or

(16:51):
a booty band. It's going to give you that extra
strength aspect. We do have beginners classes, so we just
stay with the basics Mondays and Wednesday at noon. We
also offer privates with one of our instructors. I have
me and four other instructors and a beautiful team. Love
them all so much, and you can have one on

(17:12):
one options as well with us, so that's great options.
We also have a Panche online class on YouTube, so
you can actually purchase a membership and you can do
our map plates, bar stretch classes all from the comfort
of your home. So if you're like, I don't know

(17:33):
if the machine is really for me yet. I want
to build my strength, but I'm not feeling super confident
yet to go on the machine, we have at home
classes as well that you can you can do at
home and then get confident and then come to our
studio and see us there.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
So where are some of the locations they can find
those resources. So I know you have a Facebook page.

Speaker 2 (17:55):
Yes, our Facebook and Instagram are pretty updated for the
most part. Our web site panche pilates dot com also
has some information, some FAQs, different things like that. We
use the scheduling software called mind Body and that's an
app that you can download on your phone or you
can just go to mindbodyonline dot com and you'll find

(18:16):
us there by typing in our business name panche Pilates.
You'll see our schedule, you'll see our pricing, you'll see
our membership options. All of that is there through that software.

Speaker 1 (18:25):
So tell everyone how to spell Panche because I would
not spell it. Yes, if if I needed to spell,
that's okay.

Speaker 2 (18:31):
Yes, Poche is a French term in ballet. It means
to lean, so that's kind of where we derive from.
But p e n c h e.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
Pche so panche pilates and they can do that online
on Facebook your website. But tell us what locations. I
know you just opened a new you had a location
in Lumberton, but you've just changed locations, so give us
a little bit of information about that.

Speaker 2 (18:56):
Yeah, so our main location is here in Beaumont five
nine oh five feel in Boulevard sweet E or right
next to Bronze Body. It's a great location. It's I
feel like it's like the neighborhood Plates studio almost And
then we just moved into the same building that good
Grounds isn't in lumber Ten. So it's called the Refinery

(19:16):
off of Main Street and we have our own little
studio space in the back there.

Speaker 1 (19:22):
Love it so you can go do your plates, then
get an absolutely wonderful coffee. Exactly, great coffee there too, yes, exactly.
You know you could do your plates and then go
get one of those wonderful cookies so that you burn
off your.

Speaker 2 (19:34):
Pol They do have a healthy cookie that I opt for.
It's called the Power Cookie. It's really good.

Speaker 1 (19:39):
Okay, well you've not had that way. We've only had
the other unhealthy cookies that are really good. But now
this is great information. If you need more information, Carly,
what is the best way for someone to get in
contact with you?

Speaker 2 (19:51):
Email panche Plates at gmail dot com. We're super responsive
through email and you can even dm us on on
socials as well, and if you have any question, we
would love to chat with you.

Speaker 1 (20:02):
So perfect. Congratulations on the new beginning with a new baby. Yes,
thank you. Congratulations on two locations that's going from teaching
in another studio than in your home. This is a
beautiful picture of entrepreneurship and what happens when you follow
your passion in life and you achieve your goals. So

(20:25):
I love that, Carly. Thank you of having you on
the show. Well, when we come back, we are going
to visit with Kelly Talbert and get some information about
the Shine Women's Conference that's coming up. You don't want
to miss it. This is Dana Simmons with the Dana
Simmons Show. Welcome back. This is Dana Simmons and we
were just visiting with Carly Graves with Ponche Pilatees with

(20:47):
both locations in Beaumont and Lumberton. And if you have
more questions about what exactly is that, you can go
to their website or you can go to their Facebook
page and Ponche is p E M ch So if
you're looking to spell it, that's how you spell it.
So give them a call, give them a check out
on their website. And if you're interested in getting a

(21:10):
little more physical and stretching those muscles and improving your
health this year, give Ponche Pilates a try. Also with
this Kelly Talbert, she is with Kelly Talbert Ministries and
she is going to be visiting with us about a
new conference coming. It's the Shine Women's Conference. Kelly, thank
you for joining us today. Love to hear a little
bit about number one year ministry. You share a little

(21:32):
bit about that in the very first segment. But then
also how did the Shine Women's Conference connect with that
book that you were telling us about.

Speaker 3 (21:40):
Okay, So, like I said, I wrote the book and
women were reaching out to me just thanking me for
writing the book, just that it really helped them in
certain areas. And so that's when I realized that we
need something like this for our area because I think
a lot of churches have it for their own church,
but then you have women from all over Southeas Texas

(22:00):
that maybe don't go to church, or maybe I just
wanted it to be something when I started thinking for everyone,
I wanted everybody to be included and everyone to be there.
And so I don't know if you've ever heard this saying,
but when we're talking about New Year and like coming
into the new year, but they say, you know, if
you're wanting to know what God's path is for your life,
so think about this. If you're in a car and

(22:22):
you're just sitting still in the car, he can't really
guide you along the path, but when you start moving
and start going, then he can start guiding you on
that path. And I heard that and I was like,
that kind of links what I did with the conference.
I just started went and met with Holiday Inn and
they've been so supportive of me, and so I just

(22:43):
went and met with them and said if I wanted
to reserve the ballroom and just start getting women, I said,
I really do not know how many will come and
maybe fifty people. Well, we didn't know, and so they've
just kind of been helping me. Said, it's in a
ballroom and we could just start growing if it gets bigger,
and so that's what I did. I just started moving
my vehicle and God started opening doors. And it has

(23:05):
been amazing. We have almost filled the ballroom and it
holds six hundred and fifty women. Amazing, and so which
is so amazing, and it's really just been It's going
to be a life changing event because we're gonna have
women giving their testimonies of what God has done in
their life and how it's changed their life. And that's

(23:27):
going to be powerful. And then we have four speakers.
So I'm going to be hosting the conference and speaking,
and I'm speaking on what is God's plan for your life?
And so I truly believe in our conference. The Bible
verse for our conference is Jeremiah one, p. Five and
it's before I formed you in the womb. I knew
you that you know, He knew all of us and

(23:48):
the plan for our life before we were ever born.
And so that's what that's really the theme of the conference.
And so I'm going to be speaking on that in
his plan for your life because a lot of people
that I don't know, we're all here together, do you
really know what God's plan is for your life? We
think we might, but we're not sure. And so that's
really what my talk is on. And then my daughter
Britton Bickem is speaking on anxiety. And you know, lots

(24:12):
of women, everyone, men and women go through anxiety and
things that they face and so and she calls it
the Silent struggle. That's going to be her talk that
she speaks on. And then we have Terry Sparks and
she's a pastor with Encounter Church in Groves, Texas. And
Brent and Terry and that's her husband, Brent, and she's
going to be speaking and she's got a whole for

(24:34):
you know, just the path for your life. We all
have kind of going along the same talk. And then
we also have Catherine Barner. She's from Houston and she's
a grief and trauma expert and she's going to speak
on if you've lost someone in your life or just
things you go through as far as grief and how
to overcome it. So I feel like it covers everything
that women could be going through. We've got vendors for shopping.

(24:56):
We've probably have almost thirty vendors, so that'll be kind
of it's just a fun girl day. But it also
you get to renew your soul. I think that's really
what I want is everybody to come and just renew
their soul and start their new year off right, you know,
and just and realize that there is a purpose for
your life. And I just truly that's what I want

(25:18):
is them to know that no matter what you've been
through in the past, negative you know, we all go
through negative things, no one even even me, We all
go through things. No one's perfect. But just know that
if you read your Bible. That was one thing that
I never did up until probably a couple of years ago.
Read your Bible every day because it kind of gives
you insight. Like you'll get a Bible verse and it

(25:40):
just jumps out at you and you're thinking, wow, I
never thought about that.

Speaker 1 (25:43):
You know that verse.

Speaker 3 (25:45):
So if you'll do that, you know, our pastor tells
us at our church, Brent, He'll say, give it a
year of just going to church whenever you can, reading
your Bible, getting closer to God. Am small groups like
we do, small groups, and we have a small group
in our home, my husband and I and just you know,
communicating communications with people, I guess is what you need

(26:07):
to do and just know connections. Yeah, and it's almost
like you just see your life. Like within the past year,
my life has changed dramatically because you just start changing
your life and wanting when you help others. That's always
been the thing when you do for others. I've always
heard that, you know, it really rings true when you
really feel it in your heart, But when you do

(26:28):
for other people, it's just there's just something inside of
you that just it's just I don't know, it's just
it's changed my life.

Speaker 1 (26:35):
Yeah, it does. And yeah, I love what you're talking
about when it comes to connections and communication with others. Community,
community is so important. I mean in my life too,
we to be connected to people that when you are
going through that challenge, that you have other people that
can carry the burden with your it's not so heavy.

(26:56):
And that is exactly what a small group or a
community of people can do for you. Now, let's talk
a little bit about where the Shine Women's conferences, what
day that is, what are the hours, how do people register?
Give me a little bit of insight into if someone's
listening and they're like, you know, I just really need
some encouragement, or I know someone who needs some encouragement.

(27:20):
I'd love to bring them and be a a part
to help encourage them. How would they do that? Where
is it?

Speaker 3 (27:26):
Let's get some of those details from Yeah, sure, I
would love to. So it's the Holiday Inn in Suites.
It's in Beaumont, Texas, which is right next to Popito's
if you know where that is, off Walden Road, Walden
and I ten, Yes, And so it's going to be
in the big ballroom there and so you'll arrive at
eight am on February twenty second, twenty twenty five. So

(27:46):
you will arrive and you'll go in, get checked in.
And what we've done is really exciting. I think a
lot of women like this is we did VIP reserve
seating and so you get to sit with all the
people that you love, your friends, and it just kind
of helps with your experience. You're not saving seats or
trying to hurry up and get a table. Your table's reserved.
And so we're still doing that now and so you'll

(28:08):
come in, find your table, you know, grab some breakfast
because breakfast, lunch, and dinner is included in your ticket,
so you'll grab some breakfast, you'll go look at the
vendors shop for a little while. We're gonna have worship.
It's gonna actually have a band with worship there that morning,
and then we'll start with the speakers, and so we'll
have our speakers, we'll go into lunch, and then we
have someone it's really cool coming to do a live

(28:31):
painting and it's gonna be about the Shine Conference, and
so we're working together on a theme for her to paint,
which I think is so cool. And then we just
go through the day and towards the end of the
day we're gonna have prizes that we're given away and
things like that. But at the very end of the day,
it's get about six thirty, so it's right after dinner,
we're gonna have a healing and worship service where we're
gonna pray for people and just it'll just be real

(28:54):
healing before you leave for the evening, because you know,
you go over some topics throughout the day and then
you'll just end on real positive note before you go home.
And so I think it'll probably end around seven thirty
in the evening.

Speaker 1 (29:06):
Well, I love all that you have. Now, if someone
is interested and wants to get more information, where are
they going to find that?

Speaker 3 (29:12):
Okay, So I have a Facebook page and it's Kelly
Bose Talbert, so if you can find it there. But
also I have a website and it's Kelly Talbertministries dot com.
And so you go to that and it'll have a
place for tickets and you can click on tickets and
it'll take you straight to it where you can go
find how to get the tickets to the conference.

Speaker 1 (29:30):
And if you have any questions about that and you
don't know how to find that, you can call my
office and we will connect you absolutely with Kelly and
the Shine conference. Or if you want more information from Carly,
we can do the same thing. So if you can't
locate them, call my office four nine eight six six
eight three two six and we can connect you with
any of those. Perfect. Thank you so much, Kelly. So excited.

(29:53):
I'm excited to be a part of that and I
can't wait to see all that's going to happen on
that day. Thank you. So coming up next we're going
to visit with Blaine Kaye, and we're going to talk
about what's going on in the financial world for this year.
And he did bring his crystal ball, so he is
going to have some good information for us, So don't
go away. This is the Dana Simmons Show. Welcome back.

(30:18):
This is Dana Simmons and I am joined today by
Carly Graves with Ponchet Pilates and also Kelly Taubert with
the Shine Women's Conference. If you need more information about
either of those after the show today, I'm going to
link their websites on my Facebook page so that you
can also locate any information you need there as well.

(30:38):
Also with this Blaine Kaye with First Financial Bank. Blaine,
so glad you're with us again today. I know you've
been with us in the past, but the financial markets
change a lot and so we love hearing some insight
into what we're seeing. I know we had the fed
meat in December, so tell us a little bit about

(30:59):
what that meant not only for December but for the
next several months. What you see. I know nothing is
set in concrete, but what do we see and what
do we think may be happening.

Speaker 4 (31:11):
So I did bring my crystal ball, but it is
not as foggy as it's ever been. So it just
kind of depends on what day you watch the news,
what station you watch, You kind of get a different
read from everybody. But overall, I think that we're in
a much better position. You know, the rates. They did
cut rates quarter point at the beginning of December. FED

(31:33):
meets again in I believe, on the twenty eighth of January.
Then they meet again sometime in the middle of March.
They are predicting right now two more rate cuts in
twenty twenty five at least, However, that could change. It's
truly driven. There's a number of different factors that are involved.
You know. The largest one is the inflation. You know,

(31:55):
they have their the target set. I believe at two percent.
We did see some improvement in twenty twenty four. It's
not to where it needs it's where they want it
to be just yet. So if it does continue to
drip down and get closer to that two percent mark,
I think that we will see you know, rates you know,
continue to can you continue to decrease? You know that

(32:18):
that does Mortgage rates are not tied directly to the federates.
They're tied more to the really a ten year treasury rate,
but they are there is some correspondence to them. As
the economy continues to improve, mortgage rates should continue to decrease.
I don't know that we'll see rates again that we

(32:39):
saw in the twenty twenty one whatever twenty twenty two,
that kind of COVID area when you know, the Federate
dropped to zero and you could get a thirty year
mortgage for you know, less than three percent. But I
do expect them to decrease over twenty twenty five. And
I do think overall the market will improve in twenty
twenty five. I think we saw that in November after

(33:02):
the election, they you know, they said the Trump bump,
and I think everybody saw that, and you know, the
market conditions really improved, and I think that overall, I
think that we're we're in a better spot today, you know,
going to this year, and that should continue to improve.

Speaker 1 (33:17):
Yeah, And when they talked about reducing that, they what
I had heard was that you're right probably twice maybe again,
but that it's never going to get where. We can't
imagine that it's going to get to where it was.
So if the rates are improving. We don't see the
drastic changes that we've seen in the past.

Speaker 4 (33:39):
If it got to where it would, it would not
be a good situation. It would be another disaster, be
another major catastrophic event happening to our country that got
us there, which is we don't want.

Speaker 1 (33:50):
We don't want. Yeah, average interest rate over the last
thirty years seven point seven percent. We are absolutely below
that average right now. We're in a very good position.
We've talked about that on this many many times. You know,
when my husband bought a house, it was fourteen percent,
you know, and then when rates went down, my son
got a rate of two and a half percent. But

(34:11):
we're not going to see that two and a half percent,
and god forbid we see that fourteen percent too, you know.
But where we are now is a pretty good medium.

Speaker 4 (34:20):
You're right about that.

Speaker 2 (34:21):
You know.

Speaker 4 (34:21):
The big difference is, and we were talking about this
the other day, is it's rates. Really they're not that
high right now. A thirty year rate in the sixes
or seven, you know, around that range. But you know,
if you look at insurance costs compared to what it
was when you know, when Ken bought his first house,
or you know, you look at just the cost of
a house. What's a you know, your first time home.

(34:43):
People were buying a house, you know, for one hundred
and fifteen thousand. Well, now in today's world, your your
first house is two seventy five, three hundred thousand, and
it's just I'll add the rate in there.

Speaker 1 (34:55):
It's I'll tell you the challenge though, if I'm honest,
what people look expect for a first house today is
different than what we expected twenty five years ago. You know,
we expected something modest when we were young, but unfortunately
it's not terrible. But people expect sometimes what their parents
already have at the age that they are when they're young,

(35:18):
and so they're wanting to buy these half a million
dollar houses that are really something you build up top,
you know. And the challenge is, you're right. For a
lot of buyers, the cost of insurance and taxes, so
people are going to have to adjust their expectations down
just a bit in order to be able to afford

(35:39):
a home. But a home is such a great investment
long term. It is how you can build wealth over time.

Speaker 4 (35:46):
In most people's life, it's one of the biggest investments
they'll make in their entire life. It's right probably one
of the largest assets in their life that they'll own,
you know, minus maybe aside from their retirement, but it's Smith's.
It's a very large investment. And what I tell people
all the time, it's kind of a quirky saying that
right now, with rates a side as they are, it's
you know, date the rate, but marry the house.

Speaker 1 (36:08):
Yeah you've heard that.

Speaker 4 (36:09):
I mean, if you can find a house that's a
good house, that's that's your future, jump on it and
get it. You know, the rate may be a little
bit higher than what you're expecting, but you have the
ability to refinance it when rates, you know, drop back down.

Speaker 1 (36:22):
Yeah. And the rates right now aren't bad and the
prices right now aren't bad. So that's what when I
have people who are asking me about is now a
good time to buy them? Like absolutely, because the prices
of properties I feel like are the lowest right now
that they're going to be for this entire year. I
think values are going to start going up. I'm hopeful.

(36:44):
I'm very hopeful that what I see, I mean, based
on what I hear, is that values should start to
go up again. So if someone is thinking about buying
while the property costs are down, it is a great
time to jump into that. Now. A couple of other
things that you guys handle that I know is a

(37:07):
help is that you also do investment properties. You know.
One of the ways that Ken and I our retirement
is based on, of course, real estate, because that's what
we are and what we do. So one of the
ways that First Financial has personally helped us is investing
in real estate. And that can be from residential to commercial.

(37:29):
I mean, you guys do all type of investments.

Speaker 4 (37:31):
We do everything. We're a full service bank, but we
do for investment properties. We do you know, your single
family residents. We do commercial properties. We do fix some
flip people buy a lot of houses in our area
and fix them up and then sell them. We do
spec houses, people building houses to sell. Really, there's not
much we don't do. We do a lot of developments.

(37:52):
We do our VP parks, residential developments, commercial developments. Really
kind of the sky's the limit.

Speaker 1 (37:59):
Yeah. And one of the things I really love about
First Financial is the depth and breadth of all that
you do and that you can handle just about anything.
But the other thing I love is that the majority
of those decisions are made here.

Speaker 4 (38:15):
Yep, majority of all the decisions are made here. We're
a you know, we're a good sized community bank. We're
about thirteen and a half billion in assets, and we're
we're headquartered in Abilene, Texas, and we're publicly traded, but
we how our bank is structured, and we're a we
have eight regions throughout the state of Texas. So we're
the Southeast Texas Region and each each of our eight

(38:36):
eight regions has its own president CEO and has its
own local boarder directors that make the decisions for that region.
And so fortunately we have Dana that serves on our board.
But our directors actually it's like old school banking. They
approve loans, I mean, are you know, loans up to
a certain size go to our board and they approve

(38:57):
those loans. And it's it's beneficial because they know. Our
boards made up of ten successful business men and women
in Southeast Texas that know what's going on in Southeast Texas.
They know how the economy here is in Southeast Texas.
They know a lot of people in Southeast Texas. Someone
we're looking at different loans, they can say, oh yeah,

(39:18):
that's a good loan er. Hey, you may want to
think about this or have you talked to so and
so about this? And it's very beneficial and you know,
it really keeps the local touch.

Speaker 1 (39:28):
It does, and that's what I love about first financial
is all of the local aspects of it. But the
other side of it is the protection that it also offers.
You know, even just this week, we had a situation
where someone tried to utilize one of our credit cards
and it automatically sent Ken a text message and he

(39:49):
was able to decline it. So talk a little bit
about fraud is running rampant.

Speaker 4 (39:53):
I could talk for hours and hours about fraud. But fraud,
like you said, it is, it's crazy and it's rampant
as it's been, and it's it's it's the new form
of bank robbery. I mean banks in the past, you
see shows, old shows on TV if people coming in
bank with a gun and robbing the bank. But now
today's form of bank robbery is fraud. I mean we're

(40:15):
getting attacked every day, Customers are getting attacked and robbed.
But you know, to your point, I'll just say, no
matter who you bank with, if you don't have text
alerts on your debit card. You need to get them.
Most people have on these days, where most institutions have
on these days. But you know, you'd be surprised the
how bad debit card fraud is. And you know, when

(40:38):
your debit card goes off, it's you'll get a text
alert that shows you know where it was spent, the amount,
the date, and you'll you can know right then immediately,
hey this was not me, you know. But you know,
fraud overall is just at its all time worst, one
of the worst types we're seeing right now. And it
kind of goes through phases where you see a lot

(40:58):
of debit card fraud, then a lot to check fraud.
But you know, right now and it really over the holidays,
you's just elder abuse fraud where these fraudsters are targeting
your elder folks. They're calling them with a scam stating
that you know, we had one just instance where it
was a fraudster calling and they were, you know, calling

(41:20):
this elderly woman and they were acting like they were
with a fraud company and saying, your bank is you know,
giving your information out. It's not safe anymore. You need
to move all your money to this account because it's
safe there. Well, they fell forward. You know, they asked
for her so they asked for all the stuff that
you typically would not give it give out, but you know,

(41:44):
they convince these people and they eventually fall for it.
And this lady moved all her money to a miscellaneous
account at another institution and then you know, before you
know it, it's gone. And I mean, it can be
your life savings. And really the only way to to
you know, to combat it has just spread the word,

(42:06):
you know, and talk to different you know groups, We
do all kinds of fraud presentations and lunch and learns,
and talk to church groups and talk to a variety
of different people and just you got to spread the
word and educate.

Speaker 1 (42:20):
People absolutely, and that's one of the things that First
Financial has done very well. So if you're interested in
get getting more information about fraud or anything at First
Financial Bank, you can go to their website and go
ahead and give us.

Speaker 4 (42:34):
That's www dot f f I n dot com. Frank
Frank Indian Nancy dot com.

Speaker 1 (42:41):
You can find more information about the fraud and also
all of the products that they offer. I just want
to thank all of you for being on the show today.
Thank you so much. Thank you, Carly. I loved having
anything you well, you know what, out of time. I
was going to let you say a few words, but
I think we've had such a wonderful visit today. I

(43:01):
want to thank you and Kelly and Blaine for being
on the show today. WI you a wonderful twenty twenty five.
Happy New Year everyone, Happy, Happy New Year. Year