March 10, 2025 • 18 mins
Ted Otero: Ted Otero is a Cleveland native from Independence and now resides in beautiful Auburn Township with his wife and business partner, Kelly, and their two children Isabella and Austin. He is the founder and President of Otero Signature Homes. He holds a civil engineering degree from Case Western Reserve University and an MBA from Cleveland State University. He has over 25 years of real estate and construction experience both in the commercial and residential arenas. Ted served as the 2017 President of the Home Builder's Association of Greater Cleveland and is currently a member of a national Builder's 20 group. Ted Otero is also the managing partner of the Otero Group. Ted strives to offer clients a unique approach to selling their homes in a highly competitive market, which uses his extensive experience in marketing high-end luxury homes.
Kelly Otero: Kelly Otero earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Michigan and an MBA in Entrepreneurship from Case Western Reserve University. She used her entrepreneurial and business skills to start Otero Signature Homes in 2004 alongside Ted. Working closely with clients to select all of their custom home finishes, Kelly recognized the need to expand her talents. Clients were so pleased with their experience that they often asked for continued design services to give their home the finishing touch, thus founding Ovation Interior Design in 2013. Her creative talents and extensive knowledge of residential design give her the edge needed to expand both businesses and create cutting edge offerings in the Cleveland market. Kelly enjoys working alongside her team to provide the best possible experience to their customers and trades.
Kelly Otero: Kelly Otero earned a Bachelor's degree in Economics from the University of Michigan and an MBA in Entrepreneurship from Case Western Reserve University. She used her entrepreneurial and business skills to start Otero Signature Homes in 2004 alongside Ted. Working closely with clients to select all of their custom home finishes, Kelly recognized the need to expand her talents. Clients were so pleased with their experience that they often asked for continued design services to give their home the finishing touch, thus founding Ovation Interior Design in 2013. Her creative talents and extensive knowledge of residential design give her the edge needed to expand both businesses and create cutting edge offerings in the Cleveland market. Kelly enjoys working alongside her team to provide the best possible experience to their customers and trades.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
This is iHeartRadio CEOs. You should know I'm Keith Hodgkiss
and today we're talking about creating a safe space to
work and live. The mission of Otero's signature homes is
to help folks find the dream of home ownership. And
we talked about doing business with friends, decorating trends, interest rates,
and more with Ted and Kelly Otero. The CEOs homes
(00:22):
are probably the most important purchase anybody ever makes. I'm
fascinated with how you know your homeowners. How did you
get into the business of wanting to build custom homes
for people? Can you talk a little bit about your
entree into the business.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Absolutely?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
So, I'm one of those stranger people that you know,
come ninth grade, kind of knew exactly what I was
going to do. And I grew up in Independence, Ohio
and there's a lot of construction professionals, you know, within
that within that community, right And I had the fortunate,
you know, ability to be around some civil engineers and
(00:57):
be around some architects and see progressive field and c
civic centers being built. And I always knew that that
I wanted to build something, and I thought at one
point I wanted to be an architect, and then I
quickly found out that my math skills were a lot
better than my architecture skills. So I had a great
teacher that recommended that I become a civil engineer, and
and I went down that path. So I've always dreamed,
(01:20):
you know, about owning my own company, and started off
in the commercial realm of the of construction aspect and
got a very great background from a from a national
international construction company and then but always knew I wanted
to be in the residential because of the relationships that
we build, and that's what we love.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
You know about the company that we've created today, can.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
You talk a little bit about that company. It's large
and well known throughout northeast Ohio. Is there expansion opportunities?
Where's this going next? It sounds like things are going
really well.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Yeah, it's it's fantastic. We're expanding geographically. We're expanding with
our manpower, you know as well. We are high end
custom home builder and remodeler. We also own Ovation Interior Design,
which Kelly runs and does very well. I'm a licensed
real estate agent at the same time through Otero Group
and Remax. Okay, so we're hitting all of the different
(02:17):
avenues and different than other builders, we have architecture.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Interior design.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
We're really the one stop shop in Cleveland for the
high end custom home where we can make this difficult
process streamlined and as easy as possible for the client.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
I think that's the biggest piece of this is home
ownership is both incredible and daunting, right, and then you
think about acquiring the land and then what the paint.
I know people that have built the homes from the
ground up and it's stressful. Can you talk a little
bit about Kelly about how you make that process less stressful?
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Yes, of course. So we really try to understand the
client's wants and needs. We take detail questionnaires that we
go through and we're really delving into how do you live,
how does your family function? You know, what kinds of
things do you enjoy doing? You know, where are your
family gatherings? Do enjoy outdoor living? You know, we're really
trying to gather and make that process streamlined and easy
(03:17):
for them. So taking those questionnare's lots of inspiration out
there nowadays. We have Instagram, we have Pinterest, we have
house you know, so they're sharing a lot of that
with us, but we're taking that and we're curating it
and making sure that it makes sense and things work
together so that we can really produce that vision for them.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
We're talking with Kelly and Ted Otero from Oteo's Signature Homes,
and we're really learning a little bit more about the
future of the home buying and home building experience. You
guys obviously are on the precipice. You're looking at trends.
You mentioned things like family gatherings. The kitchen became an
epicenter for a long time. What's some of the new
(03:55):
trend your areas that people are exploring when they look
at homes.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
We're seeing a lot of indoor outdoor spaces, especially after COVID,
you know, people learned that, you know, we're going to
be working in the home more, we're going to be
living more, you know, in that outdoor indoor space and
really just wanting to extend that living space. So pretty
much every design that we're doing now, we're really incorporating
an exterior element where it is flowing with the home
(04:20):
so people can go in and out. Ted can talk
a little bit more about the living in place that
we're also designing. That's a pretty cool feature some other
things we're seeing. Kitchen is still the heart of the home, sure,
but we're seeing a messy kitchen, so a back area
where people can kind of do all the messy stuff
but keep their functioning clean.
Speaker 5 (04:38):
I love that for everybody.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Else, I love that. That sounds interesting. Talk a little
bit about the.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
So kind of let the Florida, California feel with the
outdoor living environments of bringing the outside in and really
being able to create that everyone wants to gather kind
of on the first floor. You know, back in the
day was Okay, we're going to gather in the basement,
and that's kind of where we're going to entertain. Now
everyone entertains on the first floor really wants to be
(05:03):
in that kitchen kind of living environment. And then I'm
pretty proud to say that we're a leader in that
living in place. It used to be called aging in place,
but it's now living in place because it's not just
for people in a greater age, it's for all different
you know, age brackets, because everyone has family members, grandparents,
family parents you know, coming over, even.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Babies and strollers.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
So it creates this zero entry feel into the house
where you can walk from your front door with no
steps right into the house and then walk into your
covered porch out to the backyard, no steps out to
the backyard.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
That's really interesting when you think about what we're looking
at in a macro level of there's been talk of
a of a housing shortage. You probably know better than anybody.
You mentioned you're expanding your team, but that's got to
be challenging, right, I mean, construction materials are higher and
more costly. Can you talk a little bit about out,
(06:00):
you know, as someone as people are looking to figure
out where they're going to live and are there enough homes?
How does the process? What do you see in the
in the marketplace right now? So we meet the client
where they're where they're at. So clients take us into
into many different geographical you know, areas, and there is
a is a shortage. If you look at the real
(06:22):
estate market, the existing real estate market, there's a shortage
of supply that's.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
On the market. It's it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
You'll go into certain high end kind of demanded communities
and you'll find four houses you know, that are that
are in that bracket of what a client's looking for,
and most of those houses need to be remodeled and
and so forth. So people are leaning into building now.
Now building is more expensive than buying an existing home,
but the demand is still very high for that. People
(06:50):
want what they want and it's a matter of finding
the right land and then with all the different entities
that we have, we have the ability to help them
navigate that process and help them move that process forward.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
You mentioned a lot about the design of the living
in place, and I think that makes a lot of
sense given that we're we are seeing people multigenerational families
start to become more of the norm the in law
suites of of old. You mentioned to land, and when
you're talking about Otero's signature homes, you're not necessarily talking about,
(07:23):
you know, a development, right, You're talking about finding a
plot of land that you can own.
Speaker 5 (07:29):
And how does that process even start? Can you guys
talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
So normally with with the custom home market, it's normally
a developer developing a plot of land and then bringing
in the higher end custom homes. You know, on the
East Side particularly, it's it's booming in that in that direction,
and and lots are moving very quickly. And then uh,
just being able to select that land, whether or not
(07:54):
you want to walk out, whether or not you know
you want you want you know, four car, five car garages,
you know that type of thing. Really being able to
pick that type of land in the right school district
and be able to meet their needs.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
And our name's out there.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
I mean, we have reputation, you know that we are
this high end custom builder. We have relationships with a
lot of different land developers as well, so they are
coming to us and letting us know, you know, when
things are available as well. And we're also doing land harvesting,
we call it on our end, where our sales and
marketing department is out there, you know, looking and seeing
(08:28):
what is out there and making those relationships to you know,
give options on land that maybe other builders aren't seeing.
Speaker 5 (08:35):
Right.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
So we're trying to be as creative as we can
in this mark.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
In this market, people are concerned about, you know, the
cost of owning a home as it's uh people. As
the demand skyrockets, so does the I guess the fear
that it's going to become out of reach for a
lot of folks. Can you talk a little bit about,
you know, in your opinion what would someone who's looking
(08:59):
to start the process, what would be the best way
to start thinking about this from you know, you, as
you talk about you're more of a soup to nuts,
the one stop shop developer and real estate and interior design.
But how can someone get started when they're thinking about this?
Speaker 3 (09:14):
You know, the inspiration and so forth online is very important,
but it also can be misleading. You know, if your
budget's five hundred thousand dollars and all of your inspiration
photos are coming from a three million dollar home, well
then that's not in line. It's also very important for
a husband, wife, a family to be on the same
page and be decisive, you know, so when when their
(09:36):
wants and needs are not in the same direction, well
that creates a little confusion. So I think doing that
legwork up front, being realistic with budgets, and we try
to give clients and a very honest opinion. We're not
looking to start a slew of homes and then they
don't know the realistic budget of what this is costing.
(09:57):
We want to you know, overperform, you know, and really
give them an honest opinion, you know, on where they're
going to fall in the end. And we pride ourselves
on giving them very accurate estimates.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
We're talking with ten Kelly Otaro from Motaro's Signature Homes about,
you know, home ownership in general and the opportunity for
people to build the home of their dreams, the home
that they're going to live in place in Kelly, can
you talk a little bit about we've talked about, you know,
some of the new features, some of the messy kitchen.
What is a style of home that you have found
(10:30):
that people are really gravitating to in northeast Ohio that
makes sense for this climate and the type of person
that lives here.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
Well, I think it's interesting right now, we have a
few different types of clients. We have some that are
kind of moving into you know, that next stage of
life for their empty nesters, and they're looking for a
slab actually here so they don't have the basement to
deal with. I'm more modern actually amenities like sixty plus.
We're seeing people come in and asking for those very modern,
(10:59):
clean to take care of, low maintenance, living in place,
you know type designs, streamlined. Then we're also seeing the family,
you know, the young family they are looking for. I
think we're seeing a mixture of like the modern farmhouse
is kind of phasing out. We're seeing more of like
a modern tutor, I would say, come into place interesting
where there's a little more of that, you know, brick
(11:21):
and stucco, some traditional elements mixed you know, with some
transitional elements.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
So we never we never kind of pigeonhole our clients
into our design aspects. So it's kind of interesting to
hear what people are saying. Where the big crave, you know,
five years ago is open floor plan, open floor plan,
open floor plan. Now they've had that open floor plan.
Now they're coming in and they're like, yes, we want
it to be open, but we don't want it to
be that open, right. They want their individual nooks and
(11:49):
spaces where they can get away from it all and
have their own individual kind of area. It's kind of
it's kind of interesting to see that. And then we're
seeing a kind of a mix where it was always
first floor master, first floor master, first floor master, and
now it's switching a little bit because now they might
be asking for an in law suite, maybe not the
(12:10):
primary suite on the first floor, but an in law
suite that their parents can come and stay for an
extended period of time, and then the primary suite can
be up on the second floor.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
So one of the things I've always been interested in.
Maybe I don't know if this questions in line with
your thinking, but I moved from Cleveland to Charlotte, North Carolina,
about ten years ago, and the area was booming, and
part mostly I would think because of the climate. I
really think that people have no allegiance to the South
(12:40):
other than it's warmer. And I often said that climate
change is bad for the world, but good for Cleveland.
I feel like a warmer climate here is going to
pull people up north, not just for the great people
and going to cost a living, but just in fact
that it's not so dang hold today.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
Where we're taping.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
We're taping this on a day when it's minus ten
or something. But I often thought about the areas that
have been underdeveloped, the you know, the places between Lorraine
and Avon and between Lorraine and Sandusky, and can you
talk is that an area that people should be looking
at as far as would you go out that far
and would you look at that space?
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Well, we absolutely, I mean it's definitely expanding, right especially
with a lot of people working still working from home
and working remote. We have several clients coming in, you know,
from California, even back from Florida, right coming back because
they like our they like our climate.
Speaker 5 (13:39):
It's in Florida this day.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
It can work wherever they want to work, right so,
and they're coming here for the standard of living. And listen,
Cleveland's got a lot of things to offer. I mean,
having the lake there is a lot different than Columbus,
a lot different than Cincinnati, and we have unique amenities.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
That I think we should be super proud of, you know,
so I agree, and I've often thought we are underappreciated
here in northeast Ohio.
Speaker 5 (14:03):
Maybe it's the best kept secret.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
And I look at this as for folks listening here
who may be thinking about that, you know, those areas
west and east near the lake that are you know,
really undeveloped right now might be an opportunity for you
and one to look at an Otero signature home. And
it does sound like the process is I'm already more
at ease after talking with you too, and I'm sure
your team feels the same about making clients feel at
(14:27):
ease because this is a big decision.
Speaker 5 (14:28):
It's a large commitment.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
And I can't say enough about our team.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
We have a fantastic team where they are highly vested,
you know, into our core values and I'm super proud
of what they what they're able to do and how
they're able to produce for these clients.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
They truly get a team, you know. So you're working
with an architect, you have an interior designer actually assigned
to each each project and each client as well as
a project manager, and Ted and I are very involved,
so they're working with the entire team throughout the process.
It's not just handed over and you've got one person
that you that is your point of contact. We are
truly working together to make it the best we possibly can.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Well, you guys have done a great job making me
feel at ease about the process. I'm curious one of
the things we talk about on CEOs. You should know
we're talking with Ted and Kelly Otaro from Otaro's Signature Homes.
Their name is on the company. So there's a stress
level that's involved.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
There, you know.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
And how do you the both of you find time
to not let stress impact your lives. What are some
things that you do to allow yourself to have peace
and serenity in this kind of crazy business because you're
it's a lot You are owning a huge business and
people are putting a lot of money with you, and
you have a lot of people that are needing you.
(15:42):
So I imagine that's stressful. Can you talk a little
bit about what you do to decompress.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Yeah, we take it very seriously on the demands of
our clients as well as the responsibility to our employees, right,
so we take the business management portion of it very seriously.
Me personally, you know, I de stress. You know, I'm
a very spiritual person. So it's it's really how I
really decompress. And then you know, physical fitness is super important.
(16:06):
When I'm when I'm hitting on all cylinders, that means
I'm training pretty hard. And I a past football player,
past college athletes, so that's super important to me to
keep that energy level. But I get a lot of
personal energy from the stress and the challenge of being
able to handle that.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Well.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
Yeah, I think it's the partnership, honestly, and we really
do set aside time. We're actually doing it today to
have monthly strategy meetings where we're sitting down, we're getting
everything off our plate. You know, whether it's business personal,
we're talking about it, it's communication, it's being on the
same page and just supporting each other and picking each
other up.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
I can I have a sense that your business is
going to continue to grow, and the two of you
really seem invested in the community and your teammates and
your clients. So the part that everybody thinks about home
building is complete. The studs are in the place, the
dry walls up, the stairs are built, maybe there's carpet.
(17:04):
What happens after that after the home is built. Kelly,
that sounds like that's your area of expertise.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
It is.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
So we are talking with our clients throughout the process
to do the selections for the home, tile, paint, carpet, et, cetera.
But you know what, You've got to sit somewhere, You've
got to sleep somewhere, You've got to eat somewhere. So
talking through you know what are those design needs. We
have interior designers, We have access to many vendors where
we are doing and able to do furnishing selections, window treatments, accessories, rugs,
(17:36):
all of the above to complete the home, and we
really have an understanding of what the client needs because
we've met with them from the very beginning. We're seeing
their color palette come together. You know, you don't have
to go to an interior designer outside of the company
because we're right there with you and we can supply
that all the way through to the end.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
So if you're looking at anything, even just the process
of getting started it up sounds daunting to you. You
know that this team from mile one to mile you know,
twenty six, it's a marathon and they're going to be
with you.
Speaker 5 (18:07):
This is O T. E. R. O Otero Holmes dot com.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Yep Otero Holmes dot com.
Speaker 5 (18:12):
And the interior design companies.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Ovation Interiordesign dot com. All right, we'll look for it
inspiration pictures there.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
We'll look forward to seeing your company grow and continue
to success for you here in Cleveland. Oto, Ted and
Kelly Otero, thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
And this has been iHeartRadio CEOs. You should know today's
show is produced by Bob COATESID.
Speaker 5 (18:33):
I'm Keith Hokis. We'll see you next time.
This is iHeartRadio CEOs. You should know I'm Keith Hodgkiss
and today we're talking about creating a safe space to
work and live. The mission of Otero's signature homes is
to help folks find the dream of home ownership. And
we talked about doing business with friends, decorating trends, interest rates,
and more with Ted and Kelly Otero. The CEOs homes
(00:22):
are probably the most important purchase anybody ever makes. I'm
fascinated with how you know your homeowners. How did you
get into the business of wanting to build custom homes
for people? Can you talk a little bit about your
entree into the business.
Speaker 2 (00:36):
Absolutely?
Speaker 3 (00:36):
So, I'm one of those stranger people that you know,
come ninth grade, kind of knew exactly what I was
going to do. And I grew up in Independence, Ohio
and there's a lot of construction professionals, you know, within
that within that community, right And I had the fortunate,
you know, ability to be around some civil engineers and
(00:57):
be around some architects and see progressive field and c
civic centers being built. And I always knew that that
I wanted to build something, and I thought at one
point I wanted to be an architect, and then I
quickly found out that my math skills were a lot
better than my architecture skills. So I had a great
teacher that recommended that I become a civil engineer, and
and I went down that path. So I've always dreamed,
(01:20):
you know, about owning my own company, and started off
in the commercial realm of the of construction aspect and
got a very great background from a from a national
international construction company and then but always knew I wanted
to be in the residential because of the relationships that
we build, and that's what we love.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
You know about the company that we've created today, can.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
You talk a little bit about that company. It's large
and well known throughout northeast Ohio. Is there expansion opportunities?
Where's this going next? It sounds like things are going
really well.
Speaker 3 (01:55):
Yeah, it's it's fantastic. We're expanding geographically. We're expanding with
our manpower, you know as well. We are high end
custom home builder and remodeler. We also own Ovation Interior Design,
which Kelly runs and does very well. I'm a licensed
real estate agent at the same time through Otero Group
and Remax. Okay, so we're hitting all of the different
(02:17):
avenues and different than other builders, we have architecture.
Speaker 2 (02:21):
Interior design.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
We're really the one stop shop in Cleveland for the
high end custom home where we can make this difficult
process streamlined and as easy as possible for the client.
Speaker 1 (02:34):
I think that's the biggest piece of this is home
ownership is both incredible and daunting, right, and then you
think about acquiring the land and then what the paint.
I know people that have built the homes from the
ground up and it's stressful. Can you talk a little
bit about Kelly about how you make that process less stressful?
Speaker 4 (02:53):
Yes, of course. So we really try to understand the
client's wants and needs. We take detail questionnaires that we
go through and we're really delving into how do you live,
how does your family function? You know, what kinds of
things do you enjoy doing? You know, where are your
family gatherings? Do enjoy outdoor living? You know, we're really
trying to gather and make that process streamlined and easy
(03:17):
for them. So taking those questionnare's lots of inspiration out
there nowadays. We have Instagram, we have Pinterest, we have
house you know, so they're sharing a lot of that
with us, but we're taking that and we're curating it
and making sure that it makes sense and things work
together so that we can really produce that vision for them.
Speaker 1 (03:34):
We're talking with Kelly and Ted Otero from Oteo's Signature Homes,
and we're really learning a little bit more about the
future of the home buying and home building experience. You
guys obviously are on the precipice. You're looking at trends.
You mentioned things like family gatherings. The kitchen became an
epicenter for a long time. What's some of the new
(03:55):
trend your areas that people are exploring when they look
at homes.
Speaker 4 (03:58):
We're seeing a lot of indoor outdoor spaces, especially after COVID,
you know, people learned that, you know, we're going to
be working in the home more, we're going to be
living more, you know, in that outdoor indoor space and
really just wanting to extend that living space. So pretty
much every design that we're doing now, we're really incorporating
an exterior element where it is flowing with the home
(04:20):
so people can go in and out. Ted can talk
a little bit more about the living in place that
we're also designing. That's a pretty cool feature some other
things we're seeing. Kitchen is still the heart of the home, sure,
but we're seeing a messy kitchen, so a back area
where people can kind of do all the messy stuff
but keep their functioning clean.
Speaker 5 (04:38):
I love that for everybody.
Speaker 1 (04:39):
Else, I love that. That sounds interesting. Talk a little
bit about the.
Speaker 3 (04:43):
So kind of let the Florida, California feel with the
outdoor living environments of bringing the outside in and really
being able to create that everyone wants to gather kind
of on the first floor. You know, back in the
day was Okay, we're going to gather in the basement,
and that's kind of where we're going to entertain. Now
everyone entertains on the first floor really wants to be
(05:03):
in that kitchen kind of living environment. And then I'm
pretty proud to say that we're a leader in that
living in place. It used to be called aging in place,
but it's now living in place because it's not just
for people in a greater age, it's for all different
you know, age brackets, because everyone has family members, grandparents,
family parents you know, coming over, even.
Speaker 2 (05:26):
Babies and strollers.
Speaker 3 (05:27):
So it creates this zero entry feel into the house
where you can walk from your front door with no
steps right into the house and then walk into your
covered porch out to the backyard, no steps out to
the backyard.
Speaker 1 (05:39):
That's really interesting when you think about what we're looking
at in a macro level of there's been talk of
a of a housing shortage. You probably know better than anybody.
You mentioned you're expanding your team, but that's got to
be challenging, right, I mean, construction materials are higher and
more costly. Can you talk a little bit about out,
(06:00):
you know, as someone as people are looking to figure
out where they're going to live and are there enough homes?
How does the process? What do you see in the
in the marketplace right now? So we meet the client
where they're where they're at. So clients take us into
into many different geographical you know, areas, and there is
a is a shortage. If you look at the real
(06:22):
estate market, the existing real estate market, there's a shortage
of supply that's.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
On the market. It's it's amazing.
Speaker 3 (06:29):
You'll go into certain high end kind of demanded communities
and you'll find four houses you know, that are that
are in that bracket of what a client's looking for,
and most of those houses need to be remodeled and
and so forth. So people are leaning into building now.
Now building is more expensive than buying an existing home,
but the demand is still very high for that. People
(06:50):
want what they want and it's a matter of finding
the right land and then with all the different entities
that we have, we have the ability to help them
navigate that process and help them move that process forward.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
You mentioned a lot about the design of the living
in place, and I think that makes a lot of
sense given that we're we are seeing people multigenerational families
start to become more of the norm the in law
suites of of old. You mentioned to land, and when
you're talking about Otero's signature homes, you're not necessarily talking about,
(07:23):
you know, a development, right, You're talking about finding a
plot of land that you can own.
Speaker 5 (07:29):
And how does that process even start? Can you guys
talk a little bit about that.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
So normally with with the custom home market, it's normally
a developer developing a plot of land and then bringing
in the higher end custom homes. You know, on the
East Side particularly, it's it's booming in that in that direction,
and and lots are moving very quickly. And then uh,
just being able to select that land, whether or not
(07:54):
you want to walk out, whether or not you know
you want you want you know, four car, five car garages,
you know that type of thing. Really being able to
pick that type of land in the right school district
and be able to meet their needs.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
And our name's out there.
Speaker 4 (08:07):
I mean, we have reputation, you know that we are
this high end custom builder. We have relationships with a
lot of different land developers as well, so they are
coming to us and letting us know, you know, when
things are available as well. And we're also doing land harvesting,
we call it on our end, where our sales and
marketing department is out there, you know, looking and seeing
(08:28):
what is out there and making those relationships to you know,
give options on land that maybe other builders aren't seeing.
Speaker 5 (08:35):
Right.
Speaker 4 (08:36):
So we're trying to be as creative as we can
in this mark.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
In this market, people are concerned about, you know, the
cost of owning a home as it's uh people. As
the demand skyrockets, so does the I guess the fear
that it's going to become out of reach for a
lot of folks. Can you talk a little bit about,
you know, in your opinion what would someone who's looking
(08:59):
to start the process, what would be the best way
to start thinking about this from you know, you, as
you talk about you're more of a soup to nuts,
the one stop shop developer and real estate and interior design.
But how can someone get started when they're thinking about this?
Speaker 3 (09:14):
You know, the inspiration and so forth online is very important,
but it also can be misleading. You know, if your
budget's five hundred thousand dollars and all of your inspiration
photos are coming from a three million dollar home, well
then that's not in line. It's also very important for
a husband, wife, a family to be on the same
page and be decisive, you know, so when when their
(09:36):
wants and needs are not in the same direction, well
that creates a little confusion. So I think doing that
legwork up front, being realistic with budgets, and we try
to give clients and a very honest opinion. We're not
looking to start a slew of homes and then they
don't know the realistic budget of what this is costing.
(09:57):
We want to you know, overperform, you know, and really
give them an honest opinion, you know, on where they're
going to fall in the end. And we pride ourselves
on giving them very accurate estimates.
Speaker 1 (10:08):
We're talking with ten Kelly Otaro from Motaro's Signature Homes about,
you know, home ownership in general and the opportunity for
people to build the home of their dreams, the home
that they're going to live in place in Kelly, can
you talk a little bit about we've talked about, you know,
some of the new features, some of the messy kitchen.
What is a style of home that you have found
(10:30):
that people are really gravitating to in northeast Ohio that
makes sense for this climate and the type of person
that lives here.
Speaker 4 (10:37):
Well, I think it's interesting right now, we have a
few different types of clients. We have some that are
kind of moving into you know, that next stage of
life for their empty nesters, and they're looking for a
slab actually here so they don't have the basement to
deal with. I'm more modern actually amenities like sixty plus.
We're seeing people come in and asking for those very modern,
(10:59):
clean to take care of, low maintenance, living in place,
you know type designs, streamlined. Then we're also seeing the family,
you know, the young family they are looking for. I
think we're seeing a mixture of like the modern farmhouse
is kind of phasing out. We're seeing more of like
a modern tutor, I would say, come into place interesting
where there's a little more of that, you know, brick
(11:21):
and stucco, some traditional elements mixed you know, with some
transitional elements.
Speaker 3 (11:27):
So we never we never kind of pigeonhole our clients
into our design aspects. So it's kind of interesting to
hear what people are saying. Where the big crave, you know,
five years ago is open floor plan, open floor plan,
open floor plan. Now they've had that open floor plan.
Now they're coming in and they're like, yes, we want
it to be open, but we don't want it to
be that open, right. They want their individual nooks and
(11:49):
spaces where they can get away from it all and
have their own individual kind of area. It's kind of
it's kind of interesting to see that. And then we're
seeing a kind of a mix where it was always
first floor master, first floor master, first floor master, and
now it's switching a little bit because now they might
be asking for an in law suite, maybe not the
(12:10):
primary suite on the first floor, but an in law
suite that their parents can come and stay for an
extended period of time, and then the primary suite can
be up on the second floor.
Speaker 1 (12:19):
So one of the things I've always been interested in.
Maybe I don't know if this questions in line with
your thinking, but I moved from Cleveland to Charlotte, North Carolina,
about ten years ago, and the area was booming, and
part mostly I would think because of the climate. I
really think that people have no allegiance to the South
(12:40):
other than it's warmer. And I often said that climate
change is bad for the world, but good for Cleveland.
I feel like a warmer climate here is going to
pull people up north, not just for the great people
and going to cost a living, but just in fact
that it's not so dang hold today.
Speaker 5 (13:00):
Where we're taping.
Speaker 1 (13:02):
We're taping this on a day when it's minus ten
or something. But I often thought about the areas that
have been underdeveloped, the you know, the places between Lorraine
and Avon and between Lorraine and Sandusky, and can you
talk is that an area that people should be looking
at as far as would you go out that far
and would you look at that space?
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Well, we absolutely, I mean it's definitely expanding, right especially
with a lot of people working still working from home
and working remote. We have several clients coming in, you know,
from California, even back from Florida, right coming back because
they like our they like our climate.
Speaker 5 (13:39):
It's in Florida this day.
Speaker 3 (13:40):
It can work wherever they want to work, right so,
and they're coming here for the standard of living. And listen,
Cleveland's got a lot of things to offer. I mean,
having the lake there is a lot different than Columbus,
a lot different than Cincinnati, and we have unique amenities.
Speaker 1 (13:55):
That I think we should be super proud of, you know,
so I agree, and I've often thought we are underappreciated
here in northeast Ohio.
Speaker 5 (14:03):
Maybe it's the best kept secret.
Speaker 1 (14:05):
And I look at this as for folks listening here
who may be thinking about that, you know, those areas
west and east near the lake that are you know,
really undeveloped right now might be an opportunity for you
and one to look at an Otero signature home. And
it does sound like the process is I'm already more
at ease after talking with you too, and I'm sure
your team feels the same about making clients feel at
(14:27):
ease because this is a big decision.
Speaker 5 (14:28):
It's a large commitment.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
And I can't say enough about our team.
Speaker 3 (14:31):
We have a fantastic team where they are highly vested,
you know, into our core values and I'm super proud
of what they what they're able to do and how
they're able to produce for these clients.
Speaker 4 (14:44):
They truly get a team, you know. So you're working
with an architect, you have an interior designer actually assigned
to each each project and each client as well as
a project manager, and Ted and I are very involved,
so they're working with the entire team throughout the process.
It's not just handed over and you've got one person
that you that is your point of contact. We are
truly working together to make it the best we possibly can.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Well, you guys have done a great job making me
feel at ease about the process. I'm curious one of
the things we talk about on CEOs. You should know
we're talking with Ted and Kelly Otaro from Otaro's Signature Homes.
Their name is on the company. So there's a stress
level that's involved.
Speaker 5 (15:20):
There, you know.
Speaker 1 (15:21):
And how do you the both of you find time
to not let stress impact your lives. What are some
things that you do to allow yourself to have peace
and serenity in this kind of crazy business because you're
it's a lot You are owning a huge business and
people are putting a lot of money with you, and
you have a lot of people that are needing you.
(15:42):
So I imagine that's stressful. Can you talk a little
bit about what you do to decompress.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Yeah, we take it very seriously on the demands of
our clients as well as the responsibility to our employees, right,
so we take the business management portion of it very seriously.
Me personally, you know, I de stress. You know, I'm
a very spiritual person. So it's it's really how I
really decompress. And then you know, physical fitness is super important.
(16:06):
When I'm when I'm hitting on all cylinders, that means
I'm training pretty hard. And I a past football player,
past college athletes, so that's super important to me to
keep that energy level. But I get a lot of
personal energy from the stress and the challenge of being
able to handle that.
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Well.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
Yeah, I think it's the partnership, honestly, and we really
do set aside time. We're actually doing it today to
have monthly strategy meetings where we're sitting down, we're getting
everything off our plate. You know, whether it's business personal,
we're talking about it, it's communication, it's being on the
same page and just supporting each other and picking each
other up.
Speaker 1 (16:42):
I can I have a sense that your business is
going to continue to grow, and the two of you
really seem invested in the community and your teammates and
your clients. So the part that everybody thinks about home
building is complete. The studs are in the place, the
dry walls up, the stairs are built, maybe there's carpet.
(17:04):
What happens after that after the home is built. Kelly,
that sounds like that's your area of expertise.
Speaker 2 (17:10):
It is.
Speaker 4 (17:10):
So we are talking with our clients throughout the process
to do the selections for the home, tile, paint, carpet, et, cetera.
But you know what, You've got to sit somewhere, You've
got to sleep somewhere, You've got to eat somewhere. So
talking through you know what are those design needs. We
have interior designers, We have access to many vendors where
we are doing and able to do furnishing selections, window treatments, accessories, rugs,
(17:36):
all of the above to complete the home, and we
really have an understanding of what the client needs because
we've met with them from the very beginning. We're seeing
their color palette come together. You know, you don't have
to go to an interior designer outside of the company
because we're right there with you and we can supply
that all the way through to the end.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
So if you're looking at anything, even just the process
of getting started it up sounds daunting to you. You
know that this team from mile one to mile you know,
twenty six, it's a marathon and they're going to be
with you.
Speaker 5 (18:07):
This is O T. E. R. O Otero Holmes dot com.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Yep Otero Holmes dot com.
Speaker 5 (18:12):
And the interior design companies.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Ovation Interiordesign dot com. All right, we'll look for it
inspiration pictures there.
Speaker 2 (18:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:19):
We'll look forward to seeing your company grow and continue
to success for you here in Cleveland. Oto, Ted and
Kelly Otero, thank you for joining us.
Speaker 2 (18:27):
Thank you so much.
Speaker 1 (18:28):
And this has been iHeartRadio CEOs. You should know today's
show is produced by Bob COATESID.
Speaker 5 (18:33):
I'm Keith Hokis. We'll see you next time.
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