November 4, 2025 • 40 mins
Today's show is all about veterans, specifically Goldstar families. We have Craig and Toni gross the founders of goldstarawareness.com, on the show to tell the story about their son Frankie, who gave it all for us.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Business Happy Hour radio show with your host,
Frank Debankkodo, the owner of Lincoln Lending Group right here
in Tampa Bay for twenty three years, joined by his
incredible co host, Senia Akishna, realtor with Mahara and Associates.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Tampa's top real estate company.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Together, they have.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Helped finance and clothes nearly one billion dollars of real
estate every year.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
If you're looking for local mortgage or real estate advice.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
The Business Happy Hour team has been right here on
news radio WFLA for over a decade.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Listen right here or fight.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Us on the Business Happy Hour YouTube channel, or follow
us on Instagram at Frank Thebankkodo. Now, sit back, relax,
and get ready for some serious mortgage, real estate and
business talk with two of Tampa's top experts.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Here's Frank de Bank and Senia.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Hey, Tampa Bay, Welcome back to the Business Happy Hour,
your number one show for all things business and entrepreneurial.
And guys, we have a great show for you, whether
you're watching live on Instagram, Facebook, the radio, Spotify podcast,
maybe a courier pigeon brought you the video. No matter
how you're watching or listening. We're going to have a
(01:07):
great show today in studio with my incredible co host
Cinia Frank.
Speaker 5 (01:14):
Hello, how are you doing. I'm wonderful man. This weather
I can't be beat right.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Oh my lord?
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Is it why we live here or what?
Speaker 3 (01:22):
It is?
Speaker 5 (01:22):
Definitely why I live here.
Speaker 6 (01:24):
This is the time of year that yes, I just
I love it, love being outside.
Speaker 5 (01:29):
Halloween was actually cold this year.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
Yes, that's what everybody said it was. It was a
little chilly for Halloween.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
Oh, I liked it. It was a lot of running around,
so it was nice. You're not break a sweat. It
was great.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Didn't we talk about your daughter kind of got to
that age now where is she not really wanting to
trick or treat with you?
Speaker 7 (01:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (01:46):
Well she went with a friend with a friend. I
think she definitely still likes doing it. She loved her
costume this year. And my little one was a police officer,
all right, so he there's a couple other little boys
dressed as soldiers. Actually they they're like, no, come on,
we're you know, demon hunting.
Speaker 5 (02:02):
And my little and one guy gave him candy. Yeah,
he put handcuffs on him. Now, it was so cute.
Speaker 6 (02:10):
He's three.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
Oh god, so it was Yeah, it was fine.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
What a beautiful innocent age age three. That's right, kids,
You guys were actually cute and nice when you're age three.
Speaker 7 (02:20):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (02:20):
And then what was your daughter for Halloween?
Speaker 5 (02:22):
She was a pirate?
Speaker 4 (02:23):
A pirate? What a good what a good costume? A
classic costume? I love it. So you guys have fun?
You do anything Saturday too? Would you do?
Speaker 6 (02:30):
Well, I'm supposed to go to your place, but actually
I couldn't find a sitter because we really actually wanted
to go to the adult only Yes, Halloween party.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
We did have an adult only Halloween party, and it
was the first time we've ever done that fifteen years
doing parties, and it was adult only. It was fun.
I will say it was a lot. It was a
lot more tame than I thought it was going to be.
I feel like the parties that we had the kids
were less tame, and I don't understand how that worked out,
but I think it's because they started at like two
in the afternoon and by nighttime the adult the adults
(02:57):
were not I.
Speaker 6 (02:58):
Wasn't expecting that. I figured you'd have a pretty rowdy one.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Yeah, listen, but my wife and I looked to each other.
Everybody was gone by like twelve thirty, and I'm like, wow,
I was like, this is interesting. I was like, what
do I do now? You know, do I clean up?
I don't need to say the house is clean. So
that's good. So hopefully you guys had a great Halloween.
It was a cool Halloween. Whether it's beautiful out there.
As matter of fact, I put a fire in the
backyard last night. I sat out and worked for like
an hour and a half with a fire and it
(03:23):
was kind of nice. So this is why we live
in Florida. And a little later in the show, Sinny
is going to do our stats and for the first time,
I think the first time all year.
Speaker 6 (03:33):
Well, we may have done a few months ago, but yeah,
rarely do we do condo SATs.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Yeah, yes, So we're gonna be interested to find out
what's going on from last year to this year in
the condo market. I have some predictions about the condo market.
We're going to talk about condo financing. We're going to
talk about a little bit about reverse mortgages. Because I'm
going to put our guests on the spot today and
they don't even know that they're going to be on
the spot a little bit because they know they're coming
(03:58):
on a show, but they didn't know ex actly what's
gonna happen. I'm gonna tell you who our guests are,
and we're gonna get to meet them a little bit
more in the second and third segment. But we have
Craig and Tony Gross. They both grew up a little
background on them. They both grew up in Corning, New York. Uh,
they started dating after high school. A fun fact, Craig
is my wife and I are high school sweethearts. So
but you guys got I think you waited till after
(04:20):
high school to start dating. But you guys grew up
and homes with a strong military presence. You guys have
been married. Wow, fifty years last year? Is that right?
So you're fifty one? Now it'll be fifty? Am I
doing this right? It'll be it's fifty years this year,
fifty years this year? Fifty years a man? So wait,
hold on, let me should I ask Tony or you?
(04:41):
What is the gift for fifty year anniversary? You know
how like one years old? Is it gold? Oh? So
this is the golden year?
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Then?
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Have you already done that? It was January, right, I.
Speaker 8 (04:53):
Plead the fifth, So it's been five decades. Third, and
word to the wise is sometimes when the love wears thin,
the commitment kicks in. Oh I love that word to
the wise.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Honey, I hope you're listening, well, Tony, you want to
say that again? When the love wears thin.
Speaker 8 (05:15):
When the love wears thin, the commitment kicks in.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
That is I love you saying that. I just was
watching some show last night and it literally was it
was like an older married couple and one of them said, well,
we're out of the honeymoon phase. I guess it's time
to actually work on the relationship. And I literally looked
at my wife. I was like, how long we've been
doing that? Like, it's a little while. And you guys know,
(05:39):
you know, obviously you grow up, you have kids and
things like that, and everything changes in that dynamic. But
we're having a little bit more about Tony and Craig Gross.
Tony's father was a retired Navy officer of twenty nine
years of experience. He's buried in Arlington National Cemetery, beautiful
place if you've never been there, not far from his
grandson's crave in section sixty at ouron Craig's dad spent
(06:01):
with thirty one years in the Army, National Guard and
Army Reserves, and when their son joined the military, they
became Blue Star parents, which they didn't realize until later
they would become gold Star parents. If you guys don't
know what a gold Star parent is, we're going to
let Craig and Tony explain that here and a little
bit later in the show. Craig's dad, like I said, it,
spent thirty one years in the National Guard. They have
(06:23):
a daughter as well. The daughter is Natalie, who works
in aviation, which is pretty awesome, great industry, and she
lives up in Idaho. So since they lost their son,
they've been dedicated to helping other gold Star families. And
we also learned something we're gonn announce a little bit
later in the show about someone near and dear to
you guys, and it's actually how we met through Mission Barbecue.
(06:45):
One of the founders just became a gold Star family,
which it's a sad thing, but it is a wonderful
thing to have somebody like Craig and Tony on the
show to talk about this, because honestly, I didn't know
much about what gold Star families were. I mean, I knew,
but I had really never met somebody in person and
had a personal conversation. And I do a lot of
business with Mission Barbecue, which is an amazing restaurant, by
(07:08):
the way, and the way they support their veterans shameless
plug for you guys, Mission Barbecue, very veteran, police, fire friendly.
What really gives me goosebumpsitting. I don't know if you've
ever seen this before, but Craig tell me if I'm wrong.
Every day at noon they raise the flag basically, and
everybody stands up in the restaurant and they play the
(07:29):
national anthem.
Speaker 7 (07:30):
We closed the restaurant for three minutes to play the
national anthem. And it's something that I've been doing with
Mission Barbecue ever since I started, and I never ever
get tired, no of standing for the national.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Yeah, and the whole restaurant does and it goes silent,
and it is absolutely phenomenal. And I'll mention this. There
was one time I walked outside and it must have
been right about that time, and there was there was
an older veteran in dress blues standing behind the restaurant
playing the bugle to the either I can't remember I
(08:09):
it was taps or the national anthem anthem.
Speaker 7 (08:11):
Yeah, he was playing taps.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
She just playing taps. Was that guy hired?
Speaker 7 (08:15):
No, he would do that just randomly, just show up
occasional basis.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Yeah, yeah, And I haven't seen him in a while.
Have you seen him?
Speaker 3 (08:22):
No?
Speaker 4 (08:22):
No, So I mean I'm hoping he's okay. But that's it.
Just it blew my mind to see that.
Speaker 8 (08:28):
And to add this, no one is taking a knee.
Everyone is standing with their hands over their hearts during
the national anthem.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
That's exactly right, Tony, exactly. Nobody was taking a kny
in that restaurant.
Speaker 7 (08:42):
In all the years that I've been there, never had
anybody not stand up except for one lady. And after
the anthem was over, I was going to go over
and talk to her, and then I saw her. She
was on her phone and she was chatting with somebody
and she was using sign language so she couldn't even
And I just went over and just patted her on
(09:06):
the shoulder and said thank you for coming in, and
then I signed to her something that I know and
signed like yeah, she was very appreciative.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
Oh my gosh, she probably was just talking. Looked looked up,
and she's like, man, why everybody standing up for her?
Speaker 7 (09:18):
She didn't even notice, no, because she was talking on
her phone, you know.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
She was like, well, she was signing too, and not
for nothing. When you're signing, you kind of have to look.
Speaker 6 (09:27):
It was really wonderful though I didn't know that they
it's amazing, amazed every day, every day, every day, seven
days and a half the time.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
It yes, yes, and I'll tell you, Craig. So we
run we run business meetings there once a month. Matter
of fact, we're going to be there next tuesday for
Lincoln Lending Groups. We do a monthly mandatory meeting. And
they have a beautiful little uh I could call it
conference room, like little private room.
Speaker 7 (09:50):
It's a private dining room called her p d R.
The p d R.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Why do they call it that?
Speaker 7 (09:55):
Well, everything is an acronym. Oh yeah, like the military
Private dining room PD.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Yeah. So we do that. And I actually feel terrible
that I'm saying this out loud, and Craig, I'm gonna
need your help on this. Is we never realize when
it's noon and we're in there too. In our meeting
from eleven fifteen, to one fifteen, and I'm willing to
bet we are jerks because we're probably talking even though
the door is closed and the national anthem's going on
and the next room. So I'm gonna tell the employees
(10:22):
next time that when it happens, open the door. Notice ope,
open the door, and we will stand up as a
company and we will join you guys, because that's you know,
I just talked to myself. My gosh, I've been doing
it with them for over a year, and I don't
think I'm I think it's amazing when I never stand
up and do it. I know, right, it's but we're
gonna fix that problem. We're definitely gonna fix that. So
my gosh, I realize it's covering one of our cameras.
(10:44):
So in just a minute, Senny and I are going
to do stats. We talked about how how beautiful the
weather is. We plugged Mission Barbecue, which is absolutely amazing,
amazing place if you haven't got been there. We go
to the one on Waters and the Veterans. It's right
off a Veterans Expressway at Waters Avenue. And by the way,
the barbecue is really good. I'm a Southern boy born
in Tampa. I've eaten barbecue are all around the world,
(11:05):
and I think something I think are barbecue in the
South is the best. And they have a Carolina sauce
and the red sauce and a Texas saw. They have
all these different sauces and the barbecue pork, the briskets.
My employees beg me to put the brisket on the
menu every time and do two meats. It is that good.
So make sure you guys check out Mission Barbecue. When
we get back, Senny and I are going to do
(11:26):
real estate stats. We're gonna find out what's going on
in the market. Here's a clue. Rates just went down,
but did they There's also a buy before you sell product.
We're gonna mention again and we're gonna talk to Sennya
about what are buyers doing right now, what is the
market looking like, because generally coming up to the holidays
things get a little weird. And we're going to talk
about stats and maybe what the condo market is doing.
(11:46):
When we get back to the business happy Hour with
Frank the Bank and Senia Akisha from Mahara and Associates,
be back in just a minute.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
All the best mortgage or real estate advice from Tampa
Bay's top experts. It's the Business Happy Hour. So it's
Frank de Bankkodo and Seni.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Hey, Tampa Bay, welcome back to the Business Appey Hour,
your number one show for all things business and entrepreneurial.
I'm your host, Frank the Bankkoto. We're having a great show.
Got a couple of great guests in here. We have
a gold star family that I met at Mission Barbecue.
Craig works over there sometimes I believe it Mission is
that right? Yes, And that's how we had a chance
to meet. He wrote me a letter, gosh, probably seven
(12:25):
months ago after we got to know each other, and
I told him I had the radio show and I said,
you know, I'd love to have you guys on the show.
And I just thought about something. Isn't Veterans Day coming up?
Speaker 8 (12:34):
Yes?
Speaker 7 (12:34):
It's eleven November Tuesday.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
Right Tuesday. So this show is going to air on
Saturday and Sunday before Veterans Day. So this could not
have been a more appropriate time for us to have
you on the show. And it didn't even work out
that way because you had to postpone one. Yes, and
now we're here on Veterans Day. So this one's going
to be going out to our veterans today. Matter of fact,
we're going to talk VA loans. But before that, let's
(12:58):
talk statistics with Sennia Akisha from Mahara and Associates, one
of the biggest best real estate teams in Tampa. They
have been in business, I know them to Butcher, this
hasn't really been in business twenty five years.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
I mean longer than that.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
Longer than that. Well, Mahara has been around longer than that.
Speaker 6 (13:12):
Mahara No, but he's been a broker in selling real
estate for over.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
Thirty years now.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (13:18):
Yeah, Mahara officially like around twenty ten, twenty eleven, I
think he formed the brokerage, but even before that he
had a team and yep, yeah, it's been a while.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
And been a long time. You guys have about one
hundred agents still on that team, please do Yeah, so
great agents. One hundred great agents, not just one hundred
random agents. And Sinya as one of the managers over
there in the host here in the business happy Hour.
If you need anything real estate, you call Senia at
eight one to three seven five y five reel seven
five to five reels super easy and that don't forget guys.
(13:47):
Contact Frank Thebank dot com. Easy way to get in
touch with us. And by the way, Ryan Gorman is
now doing commercials for us for regular loans and he's
telling you guys to call eight one to three mortgage.
But it's interesting if you call that from your cell phone,
you have to drop the E so we can drop
the fee. If not, it's going to ring busy.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Ah.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
I made that up just now because it's one letter
too long and these dang cell phones won't dial the
extra number unless it's a toll free. I found out
the things you learned as business owners. But sin, let's
talk about the market because we're going to do condos today. Yeah,
and you were doing a comparison of what the condos
sales looked like.
Speaker 6 (14:22):
I think, yeah, well that was yeah for your request
last week, because normally we just do the statistics for
single family homes, right, But to touch on that, in September,
we know that closed sales volume one up, meaning so
activity picked up. We had more closings, and that actually
repeated for condos as well. Okay, so for condos they
pulled Hillsborough and Panela's numbers. But I will say that
(14:45):
I think in Panella's county there's a lot more condos.
Oh yeah, wait more So these numbers like actually went
back just to kind of see the history, to give you,
you know, a better perspective on it. Let's just go
down the list. So for closed sales, they were actually
up by over fifteen percent year every year in Panella's okay,
which is great, But the median sale price was down
(15:05):
by almost fourteen percent. So median sale price for condos
and panelas is two hundred.
Speaker 5 (15:11):
And thirty eight thousand.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (15:13):
And the median time to contract significantly longer than single
family homes almost double, So seventy seven days in Panella's county.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Okay, And that's looking at September to September.
Speaker 6 (15:25):
So this is September to September. You up in months,
supply September seven point nine months?
Speaker 4 (15:32):
Whoa in this month right now? Seven point nine months.
Speaker 6 (15:35):
Seven point nine So you know how I always talk,
And for single family homes we're still you know, around
that four or five Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
So does that mean that if you're buying a condo
you can get a better deal right now?
Speaker 6 (15:46):
For condos it's been a buyer's market for a.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
While, buyer's market for condos.
Speaker 6 (15:51):
And you know how we talked about absorption ray. Recently,
I've been bringing that up. So I've actually got the
numbers for the absorption ray as well. Okay, so in
Panella's County, the absorption rate for September was eleven percent.
Oh wow, Yes, so September single family homes twenty four percent,
which twenty percent or higher signals a seller's market. Okay,
(16:13):
about fifteen to twenty percent. That's a relatively balanced market.
Anything less than fifteen percent is a big buyers buyer's market.
So yes, the great deals to be had. You know,
they are a bit tough to sell. You really got
to price them right. You got to be in the
best shape.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
And yeah, you know, all the dviners need to be done.
All the structural stuff from the last years of hurricanes
need to be done. Speaking to hurricanes, we can all
talk to this. Guess what we haven't had this year?
Am I jinxing us? Am I totally?
Speaker 5 (16:42):
We got a couple more weeks just get out of it?
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Is that what we had?
Speaker 4 (16:44):
It was like two weeks left, right, Yeah? Pretty so,
I mean guys, if we make it two weeks, this
would be an entire year without a name storm touching
our coast. Is that about right?
Speaker 5 (16:55):
It seems promising though. So yes, we've had a wonderful,
knoful year.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
With that we have, and that's we need to get people,
you know, not worried. I mean not for nothing. Those
two storms last year scared a lot of Florindians, much
less people that are wanting to move to Florida. Like
I had a lady tell me on the phone the
other day. She lives in California. She goes, I'll take earthquake,
earthquakes and fire fires over hurricanes all day long. And
I'm like, really yeah, And she's like, well, I go,
(17:20):
but how about the fact that the hurricane you see
coming for a week and the earthquake you don't and
the fire you see coming for like a day. Well,
I guess you're right, But I've never gotten an earthquake
or burned my house down. I'm like, well, you know,
I'd live in Florida forty five years and I didn't
get a hurricane at me either.
Speaker 6 (17:37):
So now I'll take this weather and risk of hurricanes.
I mean, we're I think it's Floridians. We're just kind
of used to it. We prepare, you know, and we
write them out.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
We did what do you think Craigan Tony, what do
you think about hurricanes? You guys are originally from Florida
or where are you from Originally?
Speaker 7 (17:52):
We're originally from upstate New York.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
Oh, that's right, I read it in your bio.
Speaker 8 (17:55):
But we also built a house on the outer banks
of North Carolina. Okay, we went through two hurricanes and
multiple Northeasterners, and through a series of events, we made
a choice to move down to Florida, knowing that hurricanes
are the price that you paid to live in paradise.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
Let me ask you, is it worth it?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Oh?
Speaker 8 (18:15):
Yes, and here since nineteen ninety six, and we just
love the Tampa Bay area, especially Oldsmart.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
Oh Oldsmarre Right, that's fuddy. We were talking with Jim
Wimsat Jim Wimsat for judge, actually he's running for next year,
and we were talking about a lady this morning who
moved out of Oldsmar, the little town of Oldsmar, and
she moved all the way up to spring Hill and
now she regrets it. She wants to come back to
Oldmar Oldsmar is growing. It's got a lot of fun
(18:42):
stuff there.
Speaker 7 (18:43):
It's a great little town.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
It is.
Speaker 7 (18:45):
It's very patriotic, but it's also very family oriented. Yeah,
you know, all of the events and everything that they
have there are.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
Just it's kind of like a little town, it really is.
And if you guys don't know where Oldsmar is, it's
kind of basically between like Palm Harbor and Tampa, I
guess you could say like Tampa Road area. But it's
a tiny little place with beautiful parks and community events
and just and I didn't know, but I've heard it's
very patriotic, so that's good, wonderful.
Speaker 7 (19:13):
We live right on the edge of the Brooker Creek Preserve. Okay,
so our backyard is nine thousand acres nothing but trees
and every day we see turkeys and deer and bobcats.
And have you seen.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
Her anther yet?
Speaker 7 (19:28):
I've never seen a panther.
Speaker 4 (19:29):
Yeah, we had a sighting in our neighborhood actually not
too long ago. But think people think as a Florida
panther who came through there. Yeah, and we don't have
Brooker Creek Preserve, but I know they're there. They're definitely back.
Speaker 8 (19:40):
There and to add to them, please, you have a
wonderful mayor, Mayor Katie Gannon. She's just awesome. Shout out
to Mayor Katie Gannon.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
There you go. Have you know Katie. You're welcome to
invite her to come on the show sometime. We can
talk about oldmar and we would love to have Katie
on the Business hapup here. Hey, we're gonna take a
quick break when we get backward to wrap up the
staff with VA.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Welcome to the Business Happy Hour Radio. Frank the owner
of Lincoln Lending Group right here in Tampa Bay for
twenty three years, joined by his incredible co host Senia
Akishana Rialt with Mahara and Associates.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Tampa's top real estate company.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Together, they have helped finance and clothes nearly one billion
dollars of real estate every year.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
If you're looking for local mortgage or real estate advice.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
The Business Happy Hour team has been right here on
news radio WFLA for over a decade.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Listen right here, or.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Fight us on the Business Happy Hour YouTube channel.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Or follow us on Instagram at Frank Debankkodo. Now, sit back, relax,
and get ready for some serious mortgage real estate and
business talk with two of Tampa's top experts.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
Here's Frank de Bank and Senia.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
Hey, Tampa Bay, welcome back to the Business Happy, our
number one show for all things business and entrepreneurial. And
today we have a great guest. We have Craig and
Tony GoldStar family, gold Star parents. Met them at Mission Barbecue.
Best barbecue place in Tampa Bay, by the way, I
don't care if it's a chain, it still kicks the
crap out of all the small ones. I'm not going
to name the one across the street, but it's better
(21:07):
Mission Barbecue. If you guys know where it is on
Waters You know what I'm talking about. Senio, you were
doing stats. We've got Veterans Day coming up right after
this show airs on Sunday. Let's get back into the
condo market. And then I will mention condos are not
hard to finance, guys. We can do as little as
three percent down on condos. We can even lend FAHA
condos and sometimes VA for condos, which we'll talk about
(21:28):
veterans a little bit more in the back half of
the show here. But Senia, what else do we have?
I mean, you've just taught us. I know it's a
buyer's market for condos for sure.
Speaker 5 (21:36):
Hold on real quickly, did you see Tony's moves?
Speaker 4 (21:38):
No, oh Tony, I got.
Speaker 8 (21:41):
It on my.
Speaker 5 (21:43):
Awesome Thank you Tony.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
We love the.
Speaker 5 (21:46):
Energy and here Tony, but no, get back to condos.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
So I do want to also.
Speaker 5 (21:50):
Put in perspective.
Speaker 6 (21:51):
So I mean, because you heard that number, you know,
the media on price two thirty eight, obviously this is
taken into account lots of different condos.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
I don't know if a lot of people think.
Speaker 6 (22:00):
Condo, you know, big tall building and lots of amenities,
condo is really just type of ownership. So some condos,
you know they're just two story buildings, feel like apartments.
And I feel like those are the ones that really
got in trouble the most when like the new rules
came out for the milestone surveys things like that, right,
so we actually sold our I was like, I'm looking
at the absorption rates like right in time, like in
(22:22):
twenty three, like that summer, yeah, before it really you
know kicked down because those older ones that needed a
lot of work, especially if you're close to.
Speaker 5 (22:29):
The water, you know, sea walls or you know, you got.
Speaker 6 (22:32):
To rebuild patios or you know, structurally reinforce things. So
I think those are the properties that were in trouble
the most. YEP, and of course after the hurricanes, you know,
the buildings that weren't super solid.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
The bigger problems.
Speaker 5 (22:45):
Bigger problems.
Speaker 6 (22:46):
But I do think that you know, we're we're over
that hump, and I know your predictions for you know,
next year and just in general, that that market is
going to be coming back.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
I think it's gonna boom. I do. And I what
you just taught me was there's a ton on the market,
which means good for buyers right now, but as those
get absorbed the absorbtion rate, there will be less competition.
And I think pricers are going up next year when
rates go down. And I think when people realize that
all these condo buildings have been renovated and they're walking
(23:18):
into essentially a brand new building with brand new amenities
as long as the unit is nice, the prices are
going to go up. That's my opinion.
Speaker 6 (23:25):
Yeah, And I mean I think when you know, single
family homes, those prices go up. I mean it might
just be you know, a lot more affordable to get.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
A condo great point. Great point, and if you can.
Speaker 6 (23:34):
Finance them, so tell me more about you know, financing
programs you have for content.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
So basically, if you can finance it on a conventional
I can probably finance it on a condo in a
regular house. I can probably get to a condo loan.
You can still put three percent down on condos. You
can still do faha, three and a half per percent
down as long as it qualifies conventionally. A lot of
lenders tell you it won't VA. We can get condos
approved VA as well for our veterans. So don't be scared,
is my point, just because one under a bank told
(24:00):
you they couldn't do it. We just had a Wells
Fargo deny somebody for a condo. Wasn't a veteran, but
it was a regular fah loan denied them, and they
came to us and we had that condo building already approved.
So we literally cleared it to close in five days,
which is faster than you're legally allowed to close the loan,
right and we just closed it this morning.
Speaker 6 (24:19):
So was that approved like in house with you? Because
I know, like, don't condos like they have like this
big list.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
They have a big list and we had it on
the list is what happened. So we already had all
the docks from a previous closing. We just sent it
in and the condo flew right through where Wells Fargo
literally called us and they're like, what did you They
thought we were doing fraud? Like there, what did you
guys do? I'm like, I can't do fraud. I was like,
this is a government loan. It was like, we just
know more than you do. Sorry, Wells Fargo. So contact
Frank thebank dot com and you're going to reach out
(24:45):
to Sennya Akisha at eight one to three.
Speaker 6 (24:47):
Seven five real or you can go to Tampa real
Estate dot pro.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
That's it, Tampa real Estate dot pro and we'll find
you the condo and I'll get to the financi without
further ado. I want to go into our gold Star
family here. And Tony Gross, thank you so much for
coming on, Craig, and I know Tony knows a little
does a little more on the business side. And Tony,
you also work with the Fisher House as well. What
(25:12):
is the Fisher House.
Speaker 8 (25:13):
The Fisher House is a Ronald McDonald's style house for
our military families. There are over one hundred Fisher Houses
now located on the campuses of VA hospitals. And I
have been a volunteer at the James A. Haley Fisher
House now for thirteen years.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
Oh wow, And so is this for a displaced veteran
has a place to go at the Fisher House or
is where they get services.
Speaker 8 (25:39):
The Fisher House provides free lodging for families whose loved
one veteran is getting a treatment in the hospital. They
can stay for as short as one day or they
can stay for years. We have a family at one
of our Fisher House that has been there for close
to nine months now.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Oh man.
Speaker 8 (25:57):
And it's just a blessing that the Fisher House fan family,
Zachary and Elizabeth initially had the vision to create Fisher Houses.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
I love it. That is also I've never heard of
the Fisher House before, so that's something they would contact
the VA I assume if they would need the assistants,
and they'd set them up with the Fisher House. Yes, sir,
that is amazing. So you guys should check out the
Fisher House. Who wants to go first with Craig and Tony,
I want to talk about your story on how you
guys went from a blue Star family to a gold
Star family. But I think I'd like one of you
(26:26):
to start by explaining to our listeners what does it
mean to be a gold Star family.
Speaker 7 (26:32):
Well, being a gold Star family is we call it
a club that nobody wants to join. I still remember
the day that we had two officers come to our
home to notify us they're called casually notification officers, that
(26:54):
Frankie had been killed in action, And that is still,
you know, ingrained in my mind, and I think there's
times when you know, you think about that and it
just brings back a lot of memories and grief and everything.
But as far as grief is concerned, one thing that
(27:17):
Tony and I have learned together is that your level
of grief is equal to the level of love that
you had for the person that you lost. So Tony
and I are just very thankful that our son gave
us twenty six years of you know, he was just
(27:39):
a great young man. But he was killed in Afghanistan
sixteen July twenty eleven, and he was killed in an
Ied attack. They were out, they were out to recover
a mind sweeper and his humby hit the ied and
(28:00):
Frankie was the only one that was killed that evening.
And actually he was the only soldier that was killed
out of his whole entire unit that year.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 7 (28:09):
And so it's you ask yourself this question, well, why
did it have to be my son? Well, you know
the answer is why not? Right, That's what he went
in for. I mean, he didn't go in to get killed,
but he went in knowing that there was a very
good chance that he could be killed in action. And
he and I had that conversation. Actually, we had that
(28:30):
conversation in our last time that we played golf together.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Wow, and.
Speaker 7 (28:37):
That was an epic moment. And you know, just talking
him about it. And my dad had given me a coin.
They're called challenge coins. My dad gave me one, and
so I gave that to Frankie. I put it in
his hand. I said, Frankie, please bring this home in
three hundred and sixty five days. He put his armor
(28:58):
on me. He called me daddy O and he goes, Daddy, oh,
I promise I will, and he hugged me, he kissed
me on the cheek, and uh, that was our last
golf game. But I'm thankful that that Frankie Grosser was
my son, our son. He was such a great kid,
(29:24):
got his master's degree. He could have gone into the
military as a as an officer, but he was like, no,
I'm going to be an n CEO. And you know,
he was one of those guys that liked to jump
out of perfectly good airplane do somersaults, and so he
(29:44):
got his wings, jump wings, and you know, he just
he excelled at everything that he did.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
So, man, I see where he gets it from. That's oh,
not a dry eye in the studio right now. Great name,
by the way, yes, now I need to let you
call him Frankie until he was twenty six.
Speaker 7 (30:08):
He was Frankie his whole life. And you know when
he was growing up, you know a lot of parents
they twist their ankles on legos. Okay, we twisted our
ankles on G I.
Speaker 8 (30:22):
Joe action figures, Snake Eyes, Obra.
Speaker 7 (30:28):
If they all had those different names.
Speaker 4 (30:29):
Yeah, I remember him. I used to fly around the
Snake Eyes jet around my family room, that black one,
that real big one that my parents didn't want to
buy me. Oh yeah, I remember that. And I remember
I joke with people if somebody had calls me Frankie.
That means that they've known me for over thirty years.
Because I think when I was about thirteen and I
looked at my mom and I was like, I am
(30:50):
not Frankie anymore ever again. But I'm sure to you
guys Frankie to the end.
Speaker 7 (30:54):
Yeah. He it was an enduring name. Even all his
buddies and everybody called him frank That.
Speaker 6 (31:00):
Is so funny you guys are talking about Frankie. So
my little one has been saying Frankie lately.
Speaker 5 (31:07):
I don't know why. Oh, you're Frankie. And I'm like,
oh was the spot? And last night in the bathtub
because he's said it again and I'm like, honey, I'm like,
what's Frankie? Like what what does that mean?
Speaker 6 (31:16):
And we were trying to go through and ultimately he
said that it means the best.
Speaker 4 (31:20):
Oh my god.
Speaker 5 (31:21):
So I'm like, okay, Mommy. He said, daddy is Frankie
because he's the best.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
So, no, you never know in this world. This world
has lots of surprises for us, and uh, there's a
world beyond us as well, and you never know, right
and things like that, and uh, I'll leave this segment
with with with wet eyes here and say, especially if
my son's listening, there's a reason I didn't name my
son Frankie. He would have been the fourth It's because
(31:48):
I hated being called Frankie growing up, so I gave
him land in frank Codo. But I never tortured him
with Frankie, so you can thank me for that. But
Frankie what an amazing name. And I'll definitely never forget that.
When we get back on the Business Happy how we're
gonna hear from Tony. I'm sure if she can talk
with us a little bit more about gold Star families
and how you guys can help gold Star families and
(32:10):
be in a club that nobody wants to be a
member of. We'll be back in just a minute.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Let's get back to the Business Happy Hour radio show
with your host Frank the Bank Koto, owner of Lincoln Lending.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Group, and his co host Senia Akishna.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Riltar with Mahara and associates.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
Hi Tampa Bay. Welcome back to the Business Happy Hour.
That was a heavy segment to say the least. Obviously
the connection with Sinnia son and with my son and
with myself and then Craig and his son, Frankie wonderful name,
something we will not forget. And I'm proud to have
you on today and to talk about your son. And
(32:47):
I know, Tony, you were the first person to volunteer
for the USO when it came here to Tampa. But
you guys have an amazing organization that helps out gold
Star families. And I know it's our last segment, so
I want to regroup myself and let's let Tony talk
about the organization that helps gold Star families.
Speaker 8 (33:04):
So I just want to start by saying, hey veterans
out there, Happy Veterans Day coming up, the time of
the year where we honor our veterans, and we just
want to say a shout out to all of our
veterans in the Tampa Bay area. We learned last night
that Tampa is the second most friendly veteran friendly city
(33:24):
in America.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
So that's a great award for Tampa. Absolutely.
Speaker 8 (33:31):
So to add to what Craig had said, after the
death of our son, we were escorted to Dover Air
Force Base and on our way to Dover, we stopped
at the USO at Philadelphia International Airport and the USO
took such good care of us and got us to
(33:52):
on the next journey of our next step of our
journey to Dover. When we arrived at Dover, we stayed
at the Fisher House for families of the fallen at
Dover Air Force Base. And this was right across from
the runway where our sons flag draped casket would return.
(34:15):
So as I began to heal up a little bit,
I said, God, I don't like what happened to my son,
but I accepted, what do you want me to do?
Speaker 7 (34:26):
God?
Speaker 8 (34:27):
And so I googled Fisher House, and I googled USO,
and I learned that both the USO and the Fisher
House would be were available to volunteer it in the
Tampa Bay area. So I'd have been a volunteer at
both the Fisher House and the USO for thirteen twelve
(34:50):
thirteen years now, and for me, it's a happy place
to go. But after Frank was killed, Craig and I
both realized that most people have no idea what a
blue Star family and what a gold Star family is.
We didn't know that when our son signed on the
dotted line that we became a blue Star family, and
when our son was killed while active duty. The blue
(35:13):
star was covered with a gold star. That's why we
are known as gold Star families. Frank never lived long
enough to become a veteran. He transitioned from blue star
to gold Star as a result of his military death.
So Craig and I began thinking about some type of
(35:33):
educational organization to inform the public about blue Stars and
gold Stars. So we'd found in an organization nonprofit five
oh one c three called gold Star Awareness and our
main objective is educational, but we also exist to serve
(35:54):
families of the fallen. As a matter of fact, with
the two hurricanes last year, are small nonprofit was able
to send big checks to gold Star families that were
displaced by the hurricane.
Speaker 4 (36:09):
That's awesome, that is amazing. And how does somebody find
gold Stars? It Goalsara awareness dot com.
Speaker 8 (36:15):
Is it's GoldStar Awareness dot com? Yes, sir?
Speaker 4 (36:18):
And can people? Can people donate and help the organization?
Speaker 8 (36:21):
Yes, there's a donate button on there, Yes they can,
And we would just love for you all to go
onto the website because there is a short video and
explains about blue Stars and gold Stars and the person
who speaks on their Initially, Staff Sergeant Michael Dubois, who's
now Sergeant first Class was in the vehicle with our
(36:42):
son Frank when it hit the ied in Afghanistan. And
then the second person that speaks on that video was
Frank's girlfriend before he died, and through an act of
God's will or fate or whatever you want to call it,
we believe it was God's will. Staff Sergeant Dubois, Sergeant
first class. Dubois is now married to Tearing, Frank's girlfriend.
(37:06):
So it's just a beautiful, beautiful.
Speaker 7 (37:08):
And we're very very close with them that we're very close,
very close. They have a little girl named Finley, and
just a wonderful family.
Speaker 8 (37:15):
But like we said, please go on to gold Star
Awareness and also we do need volunteers at the Fisher
House and the USO. You're welcome to go on to
GoldStar Awareness dot com website, connect with me on the
email address, and I can certainly help you to learn
(37:38):
how to volunteer at the USO. And we do need
volunteers at the USO at Tampa International Airport as well
as volunteers at James A. Haley v A Hospital serving
our veterans, especially during this time of the year when
it's Veterans Day.
Speaker 4 (37:54):
I love it.
Speaker 7 (37:54):
One thing that I would like to also point out
is brother in law Mike Farmer, who's my sister Patty's husband,
was actually killed on the same day as Frankie. He
was a helicopter pilot and he was killed on the
same day as Frankie nineteen years earlier.
Speaker 4 (38:15):
Oh my god.
Speaker 7 (38:15):
And I just wanted to mention that because my sister's
going to hear this broad this broadcast, and she has
never remarried since Mike was killed. But he was also
a great soldier. He was a major in the US
Army and he was highly decorated Vietnam pilot, and he
(38:36):
was also inducted into the Army Hall of Fame Fort Rucker, Alabama.
His name was Major Mike Farmer.
Speaker 4 (38:44):
Mike Farmer.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (38:46):
So I was all able to hold it together until
they started saying, Frankie, I didn't know your son's name, right,
I was holding it, holding it. I was like, oh God, okay, Frankie,
I can't take this. So we got to reiterate gold
Star Awareness dot com. That's organization. If you guys can
get to them, they can get you to the Fisher House.
They can get you to help volunteer at the USO.
(39:06):
That's what we want you guys to find. And we
have less than a minute, but I do want you
to mention real quick that one of the co founders
of Mission Barbecue sadly just became a gold Star family.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Yes.
Speaker 7 (39:14):
Bill Krauss is the founder of Mission Barbecue and his
son was a chief warrant officer, was killed in a
helicopter training incident in Washington State about four weeks ago.
Speaker 4 (39:27):
Gosh, and we would love to have Bill. If Bill
would like to come on and support the organization.
Speaker 7 (39:32):
Hopefully we'd be able to arrange that sometime in the future.
He doesn't live in the area.
Speaker 4 (39:36):
But I'm sure we could figure out something for him.
And today's day of technology, yes this is true. We
can figure out how to get Bill's avatar or something.
And Tony, let's end with you.
Speaker 8 (39:44):
And we just want to give a big shout out
to Mission Barbecue for supporting our goal Star families as
well as you do. Thank you so much, Mission Barbecue
and Bill Krause too.
Speaker 4 (39:56):
Well, Thank you Mission And I want to think the
two of you, Tony Gross for creating this amazing organization
and for bringing Frank into this world to help this happen.
Speaker 5 (40:06):
And thank you to all veterans and Happy Veterans DA, Happy.
Speaker 4 (40:08):
Veterans Day, Happy Veterans Day, guys. That's how we're going
to end the show. Today is Happy Veterans Day to
all of our veterans. We will see you guys next
week on the Business Happy Hour with a Happy Day
for Veterans. See you guys,
Welcome to the Business Happy Hour radio show with your host,
Frank Debankkodo, the owner of Lincoln Lending Group right here
in Tampa Bay for twenty three years, joined by his
incredible co host, Senia Akishna, realtor with Mahara and Associates.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Tampa's top real estate company.
Speaker 3 (00:17):
Together, they have.
Speaker 1 (00:18):
Helped finance and clothes nearly one billion dollars of real
estate every year.
Speaker 3 (00:23):
If you're looking for local mortgage or real estate advice.
Speaker 1 (00:25):
The Business Happy Hour team has been right here on
news radio WFLA for over a decade.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Listen right here or fight.
Speaker 1 (00:32):
Us on the Business Happy Hour YouTube channel, or follow
us on Instagram at Frank Thebankkodo. Now, sit back, relax,
and get ready for some serious mortgage, real estate and
business talk with two of Tampa's top experts.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Here's Frank de Bank and Senia.
Speaker 4 (00:47):
Hey, Tampa Bay, Welcome back to the Business Happy Hour,
your number one show for all things business and entrepreneurial.
And guys, we have a great show for you, whether
you're watching live on Instagram, Facebook, the radio, Spotify podcast,
maybe a courier pigeon brought you the video. No matter
how you're watching or listening. We're going to have a
(01:07):
great show today in studio with my incredible co host
Cinia Frank.
Speaker 5 (01:14):
Hello, how are you doing. I'm wonderful man. This weather
I can't be beat right.
Speaker 3 (01:19):
Oh my lord?
Speaker 4 (01:20):
Is it why we live here or what?
Speaker 3 (01:22):
It is?
Speaker 5 (01:22):
Definitely why I live here.
Speaker 6 (01:24):
This is the time of year that yes, I just
I love it, love being outside.
Speaker 5 (01:29):
Halloween was actually cold this year.
Speaker 4 (01:31):
Yes, that's what everybody said it was. It was a
little chilly for Halloween.
Speaker 5 (01:35):
Oh, I liked it. It was a lot of running around,
so it was nice. You're not break a sweat. It
was great.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Didn't we talk about your daughter kind of got to
that age now where is she not really wanting to
trick or treat with you?
Speaker 7 (01:45):
Yeah?
Speaker 6 (01:46):
Well she went with a friend with a friend. I
think she definitely still likes doing it. She loved her
costume this year. And my little one was a police officer,
all right, so he there's a couple other little boys
dressed as soldiers. Actually they they're like, no, come on,
we're you know, demon hunting.
Speaker 5 (02:02):
And my little and one guy gave him candy. Yeah,
he put handcuffs on him. Now, it was so cute.
Speaker 6 (02:10):
He's three.
Speaker 5 (02:10):
Oh god, so it was Yeah, it was fine.
Speaker 4 (02:13):
What a beautiful innocent age age three. That's right, kids,
You guys were actually cute and nice when you're age three.
Speaker 7 (02:20):
Uh?
Speaker 4 (02:20):
And then what was your daughter for Halloween?
Speaker 5 (02:22):
She was a pirate?
Speaker 4 (02:23):
A pirate? What a good what a good costume? A
classic costume? I love it. So you guys have fun?
You do anything Saturday too? Would you do?
Speaker 6 (02:30):
Well, I'm supposed to go to your place, but actually
I couldn't find a sitter because we really actually wanted
to go to the adult only Yes, Halloween party.
Speaker 4 (02:37):
We did have an adult only Halloween party, and it
was the first time we've ever done that fifteen years
doing parties, and it was adult only. It was fun.
I will say it was a lot. It was a
lot more tame than I thought it was going to be.
I feel like the parties that we had the kids
were less tame, and I don't understand how that worked out,
but I think it's because they started at like two
in the afternoon and by nighttime the adult the adults
(02:57):
were not I.
Speaker 6 (02:58):
Wasn't expecting that. I figured you'd have a pretty rowdy one.
Speaker 4 (03:01):
Yeah, listen, but my wife and I looked to each other.
Everybody was gone by like twelve thirty, and I'm like, wow,
I was like, this is interesting. I was like, what
do I do now? You know, do I clean up?
I don't need to say the house is clean. So
that's good. So hopefully you guys had a great Halloween.
It was a cool Halloween. Whether it's beautiful out there.
As matter of fact, I put a fire in the
backyard last night. I sat out and worked for like
an hour and a half with a fire and it
(03:23):
was kind of nice. So this is why we live
in Florida. And a little later in the show, Sinny
is going to do our stats and for the first time,
I think the first time all year.
Speaker 6 (03:33):
Well, we may have done a few months ago, but yeah,
rarely do we do condo SATs.
Speaker 4 (03:37):
Yeah, yes, So we're gonna be interested to find out
what's going on from last year to this year in
the condo market. I have some predictions about the condo market.
We're going to talk about condo financing. We're going to
talk about a little bit about reverse mortgages. Because I'm
going to put our guests on the spot today and
they don't even know that they're going to be on
the spot a little bit because they know they're coming
(03:58):
on a show, but they didn't know ex actly what's
gonna happen. I'm gonna tell you who our guests are,
and we're gonna get to meet them a little bit
more in the second and third segment. But we have
Craig and Tony Gross. They both grew up a little
background on them. They both grew up in Corning, New York. Uh,
they started dating after high school. A fun fact, Craig
is my wife and I are high school sweethearts. So
but you guys got I think you waited till after
(04:20):
high school to start dating. But you guys grew up
and homes with a strong military presence. You guys have
been married. Wow, fifty years last year? Is that right?
So you're fifty one? Now it'll be fifty? Am I
doing this right? It'll be it's fifty years this year,
fifty years this year? Fifty years a man? So wait,
hold on, let me should I ask Tony or you?
(04:41):
What is the gift for fifty year anniversary? You know
how like one years old? Is it gold? Oh? So
this is the golden year?
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Then?
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Have you already done that? It was January, right, I.
Speaker 8 (04:53):
Plead the fifth, So it's been five decades. Third, and
word to the wise is sometimes when the love wears thin,
the commitment kicks in. Oh I love that word to
the wise.
Speaker 4 (05:10):
Honey, I hope you're listening, well, Tony, you want to
say that again? When the love wears thin.
Speaker 8 (05:15):
When the love wears thin, the commitment kicks in.
Speaker 4 (05:18):
That is I love you saying that. I just was
watching some show last night and it literally was it
was like an older married couple and one of them said, well,
we're out of the honeymoon phase. I guess it's time
to actually work on the relationship. And I literally looked
at my wife. I was like, how long we've been
doing that? Like, it's a little while. And you guys know,
(05:39):
you know, obviously you grow up, you have kids and
things like that, and everything changes in that dynamic. But
we're having a little bit more about Tony and Craig Gross.
Tony's father was a retired Navy officer of twenty nine
years of experience. He's buried in Arlington National Cemetery, beautiful
place if you've never been there, not far from his
grandson's crave in section sixty at ouron Craig's dad spent
(06:01):
with thirty one years in the Army, National Guard and
Army Reserves, and when their son joined the military, they
became Blue Star parents, which they didn't realize until later
they would become gold Star parents. If you guys don't
know what a gold Star parent is, we're going to
let Craig and Tony explain that here and a little
bit later in the show. Craig's dad, like I said, it,
spent thirty one years in the National Guard. They have
(06:23):
a daughter as well. The daughter is Natalie, who works
in aviation, which is pretty awesome, great industry, and she
lives up in Idaho. So since they lost their son,
they've been dedicated to helping other gold Star families. And
we also learned something we're gonn announce a little bit
later in the show about someone near and dear to
you guys, and it's actually how we met through Mission Barbecue.
(06:45):
One of the founders just became a gold Star family,
which it's a sad thing, but it is a wonderful
thing to have somebody like Craig and Tony on the
show to talk about this, because honestly, I didn't know
much about what gold Star families were. I mean, I knew,
but I had really never met somebody in person and
had a personal conversation. And I do a lot of
business with Mission Barbecue, which is an amazing restaurant, by
(07:08):
the way, and the way they support their veterans shameless
plug for you guys, Mission Barbecue, very veteran, police, fire friendly.
What really gives me goosebumpsitting. I don't know if you've
ever seen this before, but Craig tell me if I'm wrong.
Every day at noon they raise the flag basically, and
everybody stands up in the restaurant and they play the
(07:29):
national anthem.
Speaker 7 (07:30):
We closed the restaurant for three minutes to play the
national anthem. And it's something that I've been doing with
Mission Barbecue ever since I started, and I never ever
get tired, no of standing for the national.
Speaker 4 (07:47):
Yeah, and the whole restaurant does and it goes silent,
and it is absolutely phenomenal. And I'll mention this. There
was one time I walked outside and it must have
been right about that time, and there was there was
an older veteran in dress blues standing behind the restaurant
playing the bugle to the either I can't remember I
(08:09):
it was taps or the national anthem anthem.
Speaker 7 (08:11):
Yeah, he was playing taps.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
She just playing taps. Was that guy hired?
Speaker 7 (08:15):
No, he would do that just randomly, just show up
occasional basis.
Speaker 4 (08:19):
Yeah, yeah, And I haven't seen him in a while.
Have you seen him?
Speaker 3 (08:22):
No?
Speaker 4 (08:22):
No, So I mean I'm hoping he's okay. But that's it.
Just it blew my mind to see that.
Speaker 8 (08:28):
And to add this, no one is taking a knee.
Everyone is standing with their hands over their hearts during
the national anthem.
Speaker 4 (08:38):
That's exactly right, Tony, exactly. Nobody was taking a kny
in that restaurant.
Speaker 7 (08:42):
In all the years that I've been there, never had
anybody not stand up except for one lady. And after
the anthem was over, I was going to go over
and talk to her, and then I saw her. She
was on her phone and she was chatting with somebody
and she was using sign language so she couldn't even
And I just went over and just patted her on
(09:06):
the shoulder and said thank you for coming in, and
then I signed to her something that I know and
signed like yeah, she was very appreciative.
Speaker 4 (09:12):
Oh my gosh, she probably was just talking. Looked looked up,
and she's like, man, why everybody standing up for her?
Speaker 7 (09:18):
She didn't even notice, no, because she was talking on
her phone, you know.
Speaker 4 (09:22):
She was like, well, she was signing too, and not
for nothing. When you're signing, you kind of have to look.
Speaker 6 (09:27):
It was really wonderful though I didn't know that they
it's amazing, amazed every day, every day, every day, seven
days and a half the time.
Speaker 4 (09:34):
It yes, yes, and I'll tell you, Craig. So we
run we run business meetings there once a month. Matter
of fact, we're going to be there next tuesday for
Lincoln Lending Groups. We do a monthly mandatory meeting. And
they have a beautiful little uh I could call it
conference room, like little private room.
Speaker 7 (09:50):
It's a private dining room called her p d R.
The p d R.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
Why do they call it that?
Speaker 7 (09:55):
Well, everything is an acronym. Oh yeah, like the military
Private dining room PD.
Speaker 4 (10:00):
Yeah. So we do that. And I actually feel terrible
that I'm saying this out loud, and Craig, I'm gonna
need your help on this. Is we never realize when
it's noon and we're in there too. In our meeting
from eleven fifteen, to one fifteen, and I'm willing to
bet we are jerks because we're probably talking even though
the door is closed and the national anthem's going on
and the next room. So I'm gonna tell the employees
(10:22):
next time that when it happens, open the door. Notice ope,
open the door, and we will stand up as a
company and we will join you guys, because that's you know,
I just talked to myself. My gosh, I've been doing
it with them for over a year, and I don't
think I'm I think it's amazing when I never stand
up and do it. I know, right, it's but we're
gonna fix that problem. We're definitely gonna fix that. So
my gosh, I realize it's covering one of our cameras.
(10:44):
So in just a minute, Senny and I are going
to do stats. We talked about how how beautiful the
weather is. We plugged Mission Barbecue, which is absolutely amazing,
amazing place if you haven't got been there. We go
to the one on Waters and the Veterans. It's right
off a Veterans Expressway at Waters Avenue. And by the way,
the barbecue is really good. I'm a Southern boy born
in Tampa. I've eaten barbecue are all around the world,
(11:05):
and I think something I think are barbecue in the
South is the best. And they have a Carolina sauce
and the red sauce and a Texas saw. They have
all these different sauces and the barbecue pork, the briskets.
My employees beg me to put the brisket on the
menu every time and do two meats. It is that good.
So make sure you guys check out Mission Barbecue. When
we get back, Senny and I are going to do
(11:26):
real estate stats. We're gonna find out what's going on
in the market. Here's a clue. Rates just went down,
but did they There's also a buy before you sell product.
We're gonna mention again and we're gonna talk to Sennya
about what are buyers doing right now, what is the
market looking like, because generally coming up to the holidays
things get a little weird. And we're going to talk
about stats and maybe what the condo market is doing.
(11:46):
When we get back to the business happy Hour with
Frank the Bank and Senia Akisha from Mahara and Associates,
be back in just a minute.
Speaker 1 (11:54):
All the best mortgage or real estate advice from Tampa
Bay's top experts. It's the Business Happy Hour. So it's
Frank de Bankkodo and Seni.
Speaker 4 (12:03):
Hey, Tampa Bay, welcome back to the Business Appey Hour,
your number one show for all things business and entrepreneurial.
I'm your host, Frank the Bankkoto. We're having a great show.
Got a couple of great guests in here. We have
a gold star family that I met at Mission Barbecue.
Craig works over there sometimes I believe it Mission is
that right? Yes, And that's how we had a chance
to meet. He wrote me a letter, gosh, probably seven
(12:25):
months ago after we got to know each other, and
I told him I had the radio show and I said,
you know, I'd love to have you guys on the show.
And I just thought about something. Isn't Veterans Day coming up?
Speaker 8 (12:34):
Yes?
Speaker 7 (12:34):
It's eleven November Tuesday.
Speaker 4 (12:37):
Right Tuesday. So this show is going to air on
Saturday and Sunday before Veterans Day. So this could not
have been a more appropriate time for us to have
you on the show. And it didn't even work out
that way because you had to postpone one. Yes, and
now we're here on Veterans Day. So this one's going
to be going out to our veterans today. Matter of fact,
we're going to talk VA loans. But before that, let's
(12:58):
talk statistics with Sennia Akisha from Mahara and Associates, one
of the biggest best real estate teams in Tampa. They
have been in business, I know them to Butcher, this
hasn't really been in business twenty five years.
Speaker 5 (13:08):
I mean longer than that.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
Longer than that. Well, Mahara has been around longer than that.
Speaker 6 (13:12):
Mahara No, but he's been a broker in selling real
estate for over.
Speaker 5 (13:16):
Thirty years now.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Yeah.
Speaker 6 (13:18):
Yeah, Mahara officially like around twenty ten, twenty eleven, I
think he formed the brokerage, but even before that he
had a team and yep, yeah, it's been a while.
Speaker 4 (13:27):
And been a long time. You guys have about one
hundred agents still on that team, please do Yeah, so
great agents. One hundred great agents, not just one hundred
random agents. And Sinya as one of the managers over
there in the host here in the business happy Hour.
If you need anything real estate, you call Senia at
eight one to three seven five y five reel seven
five to five reels super easy and that don't forget guys.
(13:47):
Contact Frank Thebank dot com. Easy way to get in
touch with us. And by the way, Ryan Gorman is
now doing commercials for us for regular loans and he's
telling you guys to call eight one to three mortgage.
But it's interesting if you call that from your cell phone,
you have to drop the E so we can drop
the fee. If not, it's going to ring busy.
Speaker 2 (14:03):
Ah.
Speaker 4 (14:04):
I made that up just now because it's one letter
too long and these dang cell phones won't dial the
extra number unless it's a toll free. I found out
the things you learned as business owners. But sin, let's
talk about the market because we're going to do condos today. Yeah,
and you were doing a comparison of what the condos
sales looked like.
Speaker 6 (14:22):
I think, yeah, well that was yeah for your request
last week, because normally we just do the statistics for
single family homes, right, But to touch on that, in September,
we know that closed sales volume one up, meaning so
activity picked up. We had more closings, and that actually
repeated for condos as well. Okay, so for condos they
pulled Hillsborough and Panela's numbers. But I will say that
(14:45):
I think in Panella's county there's a lot more condos.
Oh yeah, wait more So these numbers like actually went
back just to kind of see the history, to give you,
you know, a better perspective on it. Let's just go
down the list. So for closed sales, they were actually
up by over fifteen percent year every year in Panella's okay,
which is great, But the median sale price was down
(15:05):
by almost fourteen percent. So median sale price for condos
and panelas is two hundred.
Speaker 5 (15:11):
And thirty eight thousand.
Speaker 4 (15:12):
Wow.
Speaker 6 (15:13):
And the median time to contract significantly longer than single
family homes almost double, So seventy seven days in Panella's county.
Speaker 4 (15:22):
Okay, And that's looking at September to September.
Speaker 6 (15:25):
So this is September to September. You up in months,
supply September seven point nine months?
Speaker 4 (15:32):
Whoa in this month right now? Seven point nine months.
Speaker 6 (15:35):
Seven point nine So you know how I always talk,
And for single family homes we're still you know, around
that four or five Yeah.
Speaker 4 (15:42):
So does that mean that if you're buying a condo
you can get a better deal right now?
Speaker 6 (15:46):
For condos it's been a buyer's market for a.
Speaker 4 (15:48):
While, buyer's market for condos.
Speaker 6 (15:51):
And you know how we talked about absorption ray. Recently,
I've been bringing that up. So I've actually got the
numbers for the absorption ray as well. Okay, so in
Panella's County, the absorption rate for September was eleven percent.
Oh wow, Yes, so September single family homes twenty four percent,
which twenty percent or higher signals a seller's market. Okay,
(16:13):
about fifteen to twenty percent. That's a relatively balanced market.
Anything less than fifteen percent is a big buyers buyer's market.
So yes, the great deals to be had. You know,
they are a bit tough to sell. You really got
to price them right. You got to be in the
best shape.
Speaker 4 (16:28):
And yeah, you know, all the dviners need to be done.
All the structural stuff from the last years of hurricanes
need to be done. Speaking to hurricanes, we can all
talk to this. Guess what we haven't had this year?
Am I jinxing us? Am I totally?
Speaker 5 (16:42):
We got a couple more weeks just get out of it?
Speaker 3 (16:44):
Is that what we had?
Speaker 4 (16:44):
It was like two weeks left, right, Yeah? Pretty so,
I mean guys, if we make it two weeks, this
would be an entire year without a name storm touching
our coast. Is that about right?
Speaker 5 (16:55):
It seems promising though. So yes, we've had a wonderful,
knoful year.
Speaker 4 (16:58):
With that we have, and that's we need to get people,
you know, not worried. I mean not for nothing. Those
two storms last year scared a lot of Florindians, much
less people that are wanting to move to Florida. Like
I had a lady tell me on the phone the
other day. She lives in California. She goes, I'll take earthquake,
earthquakes and fire fires over hurricanes all day long. And
I'm like, really yeah, And she's like, well, I go,
(17:20):
but how about the fact that the hurricane you see
coming for a week and the earthquake you don't and
the fire you see coming for like a day. Well,
I guess you're right, But I've never gotten an earthquake
or burned my house down. I'm like, well, you know,
I'd live in Florida forty five years and I didn't
get a hurricane at me either.
Speaker 6 (17:37):
So now I'll take this weather and risk of hurricanes.
I mean, we're I think it's Floridians. We're just kind
of used to it. We prepare, you know, and we
write them out.
Speaker 4 (17:46):
We did what do you think Craigan Tony, what do
you think about hurricanes? You guys are originally from Florida
or where are you from Originally?
Speaker 7 (17:52):
We're originally from upstate New York.
Speaker 4 (17:53):
Oh, that's right, I read it in your bio.
Speaker 8 (17:55):
But we also built a house on the outer banks
of North Carolina. Okay, we went through two hurricanes and
multiple Northeasterners, and through a series of events, we made
a choice to move down to Florida, knowing that hurricanes
are the price that you paid to live in paradise.
Speaker 4 (18:12):
Let me ask you, is it worth it?
Speaker 2 (18:14):
Oh?
Speaker 8 (18:15):
Yes, and here since nineteen ninety six, and we just
love the Tampa Bay area, especially Oldsmart.
Speaker 4 (18:22):
Oh Oldsmarre Right, that's fuddy. We were talking with Jim
Wimsat Jim Wimsat for judge, actually he's running for next year,
and we were talking about a lady this morning who
moved out of Oldsmar, the little town of Oldsmar, and
she moved all the way up to spring Hill and
now she regrets it. She wants to come back to
Oldmar Oldsmar is growing. It's got a lot of fun
(18:42):
stuff there.
Speaker 7 (18:43):
It's a great little town.
Speaker 4 (18:44):
It is.
Speaker 7 (18:45):
It's very patriotic, but it's also very family oriented. Yeah,
you know, all of the events and everything that they
have there are.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
Just it's kind of like a little town, it really is.
And if you guys don't know where Oldsmar is, it's
kind of basically between like Palm Harbor and Tampa, I
guess you could say like Tampa Road area. But it's
a tiny little place with beautiful parks and community events
and just and I didn't know, but I've heard it's
very patriotic, so that's good, wonderful.
Speaker 7 (19:13):
We live right on the edge of the Brooker Creek Preserve. Okay,
so our backyard is nine thousand acres nothing but trees
and every day we see turkeys and deer and bobcats.
And have you seen.
Speaker 4 (19:26):
Her anther yet?
Speaker 7 (19:28):
I've never seen a panther.
Speaker 4 (19:29):
Yeah, we had a sighting in our neighborhood actually not
too long ago. But think people think as a Florida
panther who came through there. Yeah, and we don't have
Brooker Creek Preserve, but I know they're there. They're definitely back.
Speaker 8 (19:40):
There and to add to them, please, you have a
wonderful mayor, Mayor Katie Gannon. She's just awesome. Shout out
to Mayor Katie Gannon.
Speaker 4 (19:49):
There you go. Have you know Katie. You're welcome to
invite her to come on the show sometime. We can
talk about oldmar and we would love to have Katie
on the Business hapup here. Hey, we're gonna take a
quick break when we get backward to wrap up the
staff with VA.
Speaker 1 (20:01):
Welcome to the Business Happy Hour Radio. Frank the owner
of Lincoln Lending Group right here in Tampa Bay for
twenty three years, joined by his incredible co host Senia
Akishana Rialt with Mahara and Associates.
Speaker 2 (20:15):
Tampa's top real estate company.
Speaker 1 (20:17):
Together, they have helped finance and clothes nearly one billion
dollars of real estate every year.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
If you're looking for local mortgage or real estate advice.
Speaker 1 (20:25):
The Business Happy Hour team has been right here on
news radio WFLA for over a decade.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Listen right here, or.
Speaker 3 (20:32):
Fight us on the Business Happy Hour YouTube channel.
Speaker 1 (20:34):
Or follow us on Instagram at Frank Debankkodo. Now, sit back, relax,
and get ready for some serious mortgage real estate and
business talk with two of Tampa's top experts.
Speaker 3 (20:44):
Here's Frank de Bank and Senia.
Speaker 4 (20:47):
Hey, Tampa Bay, welcome back to the Business Happy, our
number one show for all things business and entrepreneurial. And
today we have a great guest. We have Craig and
Tony GoldStar family, gold Star parents. Met them at Mission Barbecue.
Best barbecue place in Tampa Bay, by the way, I
don't care if it's a chain, it still kicks the
crap out of all the small ones. I'm not going
to name the one across the street, but it's better
(21:07):
Mission Barbecue. If you guys know where it is on
Waters You know what I'm talking about. Senio, you were
doing stats. We've got Veterans Day coming up right after
this show airs on Sunday. Let's get back into the
condo market. And then I will mention condos are not
hard to finance, guys. We can do as little as
three percent down on condos. We can even lend FAHA
condos and sometimes VA for condos, which we'll talk about
(21:28):
veterans a little bit more in the back half of
the show here. But Senia, what else do we have?
I mean, you've just taught us. I know it's a
buyer's market for condos for sure.
Speaker 5 (21:36):
Hold on real quickly, did you see Tony's moves?
Speaker 4 (21:38):
No, oh Tony, I got.
Speaker 8 (21:41):
It on my.
Speaker 5 (21:43):
Awesome Thank you Tony.
Speaker 4 (21:45):
We love the.
Speaker 5 (21:46):
Energy and here Tony, but no, get back to condos.
Speaker 3 (21:49):
So I do want to also.
Speaker 5 (21:50):
Put in perspective.
Speaker 6 (21:51):
So I mean, because you heard that number, you know,
the media on price two thirty eight, obviously this is
taken into account lots of different condos.
Speaker 5 (21:58):
I don't know if a lot of people think.
Speaker 6 (22:00):
Condo, you know, big tall building and lots of amenities,
condo is really just type of ownership. So some condos,
you know they're just two story buildings, feel like apartments.
And I feel like those are the ones that really
got in trouble the most when like the new rules
came out for the milestone surveys things like that, right,
so we actually sold our I was like, I'm looking
at the absorption rates like right in time, like in
(22:22):
twenty three, like that summer, yeah, before it really you
know kicked down because those older ones that needed a
lot of work, especially if you're close to.
Speaker 5 (22:29):
The water, you know, sea walls or you know, you got.
Speaker 6 (22:32):
To rebuild patios or you know, structurally reinforce things. So
I think those are the properties that were in trouble
the most. YEP, and of course after the hurricanes, you know,
the buildings that weren't super solid.
Speaker 4 (22:43):
The bigger problems.
Speaker 5 (22:45):
Bigger problems.
Speaker 6 (22:46):
But I do think that you know, we're we're over
that hump, and I know your predictions for you know,
next year and just in general, that that market is
going to be coming back.
Speaker 4 (22:56):
I think it's gonna boom. I do. And I what
you just taught me was there's a ton on the market,
which means good for buyers right now, but as those
get absorbed the absorbtion rate, there will be less competition.
And I think pricers are going up next year when
rates go down. And I think when people realize that
all these condo buildings have been renovated and they're walking
(23:18):
into essentially a brand new building with brand new amenities
as long as the unit is nice, the prices are
going to go up. That's my opinion.
Speaker 6 (23:25):
Yeah, And I mean I think when you know, single
family homes, those prices go up. I mean it might
just be you know, a lot more affordable to get.
Speaker 4 (23:32):
A condo great point. Great point, and if you can.
Speaker 6 (23:34):
Finance them, so tell me more about you know, financing
programs you have for content.
Speaker 4 (23:39):
So basically, if you can finance it on a conventional
I can probably finance it on a condo in a
regular house. I can probably get to a condo loan.
You can still put three percent down on condos. You
can still do faha, three and a half per percent
down as long as it qualifies conventionally. A lot of
lenders tell you it won't VA. We can get condos
approved VA as well for our veterans. So don't be scared,
is my point, just because one under a bank told
(24:00):
you they couldn't do it. We just had a Wells
Fargo deny somebody for a condo. Wasn't a veteran, but
it was a regular fah loan denied them, and they
came to us and we had that condo building already approved.
So we literally cleared it to close in five days,
which is faster than you're legally allowed to close the loan,
right and we just closed it this morning.
Speaker 6 (24:19):
So was that approved like in house with you? Because
I know, like, don't condos like they have like this
big list.
Speaker 4 (24:24):
They have a big list and we had it on
the list is what happened. So we already had all
the docks from a previous closing. We just sent it
in and the condo flew right through where Wells Fargo
literally called us and they're like, what did you They
thought we were doing fraud? Like there, what did you
guys do? I'm like, I can't do fraud. I was like,
this is a government loan. It was like, we just
know more than you do. Sorry, Wells Fargo. So contact
Frank thebank dot com and you're going to reach out
(24:45):
to Sennya Akisha at eight one to three.
Speaker 6 (24:47):
Seven five real or you can go to Tampa real
Estate dot pro.
Speaker 4 (24:52):
That's it, Tampa real Estate dot pro and we'll find
you the condo and I'll get to the financi without
further ado. I want to go into our gold Star
family here. And Tony Gross, thank you so much for
coming on, Craig, and I know Tony knows a little
does a little more on the business side. And Tony,
you also work with the Fisher House as well. What
(25:12):
is the Fisher House.
Speaker 8 (25:13):
The Fisher House is a Ronald McDonald's style house for
our military families. There are over one hundred Fisher Houses
now located on the campuses of VA hospitals. And I
have been a volunteer at the James A. Haley Fisher
House now for thirteen years.
Speaker 4 (25:33):
Oh wow, And so is this for a displaced veteran
has a place to go at the Fisher House or
is where they get services.
Speaker 8 (25:39):
The Fisher House provides free lodging for families whose loved
one veteran is getting a treatment in the hospital. They
can stay for as short as one day or they
can stay for years. We have a family at one
of our Fisher House that has been there for close
to nine months now.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
Oh man.
Speaker 8 (25:57):
And it's just a blessing that the Fisher House fan family,
Zachary and Elizabeth initially had the vision to create Fisher Houses.
Speaker 4 (26:06):
I love it. That is also I've never heard of
the Fisher House before, so that's something they would contact
the VA I assume if they would need the assistants,
and they'd set them up with the Fisher House. Yes, sir,
that is amazing. So you guys should check out the
Fisher House. Who wants to go first with Craig and Tony,
I want to talk about your story on how you
guys went from a blue Star family to a gold
Star family. But I think I'd like one of you
(26:26):
to start by explaining to our listeners what does it
mean to be a gold Star family.
Speaker 7 (26:32):
Well, being a gold Star family is we call it
a club that nobody wants to join. I still remember
the day that we had two officers come to our
home to notify us they're called casually notification officers, that
(26:54):
Frankie had been killed in action, And that is still,
you know, ingrained in my mind, and I think there's
times when you know, you think about that and it
just brings back a lot of memories and grief and everything.
But as far as grief is concerned, one thing that
(27:17):
Tony and I have learned together is that your level
of grief is equal to the level of love that
you had for the person that you lost. So Tony
and I are just very thankful that our son gave
us twenty six years of you know, he was just
(27:39):
a great young man. But he was killed in Afghanistan
sixteen July twenty eleven, and he was killed in an
Ied attack. They were out, they were out to recover
a mind sweeper and his humby hit the ied and
(28:00):
Frankie was the only one that was killed that evening.
And actually he was the only soldier that was killed
out of his whole entire unit that year.
Speaker 4 (28:09):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 7 (28:09):
And so it's you ask yourself this question, well, why
did it have to be my son? Well, you know
the answer is why not? Right, That's what he went
in for. I mean, he didn't go in to get killed,
but he went in knowing that there was a very
good chance that he could be killed in action. And
he and I had that conversation. Actually, we had that
(28:30):
conversation in our last time that we played golf together.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Wow, and.
Speaker 7 (28:37):
That was an epic moment. And you know, just talking
him about it. And my dad had given me a coin.
They're called challenge coins. My dad gave me one, and
so I gave that to Frankie. I put it in
his hand. I said, Frankie, please bring this home in
three hundred and sixty five days. He put his armor
(28:58):
on me. He called me daddy O and he goes, Daddy, oh,
I promise I will, and he hugged me, he kissed
me on the cheek, and uh, that was our last
golf game. But I'm thankful that that Frankie Grosser was
my son, our son. He was such a great kid,
(29:24):
got his master's degree. He could have gone into the
military as a as an officer, but he was like, no,
I'm going to be an n CEO. And you know,
he was one of those guys that liked to jump
out of perfectly good airplane do somersaults, and so he
(29:44):
got his wings, jump wings, and you know, he just
he excelled at everything that he did.
Speaker 4 (29:51):
So, man, I see where he gets it from. That's oh,
not a dry eye in the studio right now. Great name,
by the way, yes, now I need to let you
call him Frankie until he was twenty six.
Speaker 7 (30:08):
He was Frankie his whole life. And you know when
he was growing up, you know a lot of parents
they twist their ankles on legos. Okay, we twisted our
ankles on G I.
Speaker 8 (30:22):
Joe action figures, Snake Eyes, Obra.
Speaker 7 (30:28):
If they all had those different names.
Speaker 4 (30:29):
Yeah, I remember him. I used to fly around the
Snake Eyes jet around my family room, that black one,
that real big one that my parents didn't want to
buy me. Oh yeah, I remember that. And I remember
I joke with people if somebody had calls me Frankie.
That means that they've known me for over thirty years.
Because I think when I was about thirteen and I
looked at my mom and I was like, I am
(30:50):
not Frankie anymore ever again. But I'm sure to you
guys Frankie to the end.
Speaker 7 (30:54):
Yeah. He it was an enduring name. Even all his
buddies and everybody called him frank That.
Speaker 6 (31:00):
Is so funny you guys are talking about Frankie. So
my little one has been saying Frankie lately.
Speaker 5 (31:07):
I don't know why. Oh, you're Frankie. And I'm like,
oh was the spot? And last night in the bathtub
because he's said it again and I'm like, honey, I'm like,
what's Frankie? Like what what does that mean?
Speaker 6 (31:16):
And we were trying to go through and ultimately he
said that it means the best.
Speaker 4 (31:20):
Oh my god.
Speaker 5 (31:21):
So I'm like, okay, Mommy. He said, daddy is Frankie
because he's the best.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
So, no, you never know in this world. This world
has lots of surprises for us, and uh, there's a
world beyond us as well, and you never know, right
and things like that, and uh, I'll leave this segment
with with with wet eyes here and say, especially if
my son's listening, there's a reason I didn't name my
son Frankie. He would have been the fourth It's because
(31:48):
I hated being called Frankie growing up, so I gave
him land in frank Codo. But I never tortured him
with Frankie, so you can thank me for that. But
Frankie what an amazing name. And I'll definitely never forget that.
When we get back on the Business Happy how we're
gonna hear from Tony. I'm sure if she can talk
with us a little bit more about gold Star families
and how you guys can help gold Star families and
(32:10):
be in a club that nobody wants to be a
member of. We'll be back in just a minute.
Speaker 1 (32:14):
Let's get back to the Business Happy Hour radio show
with your host Frank the Bank Koto, owner of Lincoln Lending.
Speaker 3 (32:20):
Group, and his co host Senia Akishna.
Speaker 2 (32:23):
Riltar with Mahara and associates.
Speaker 4 (32:25):
Hi Tampa Bay. Welcome back to the Business Happy Hour.
That was a heavy segment to say the least. Obviously
the connection with Sinnia son and with my son and
with myself and then Craig and his son, Frankie wonderful name,
something we will not forget. And I'm proud to have
you on today and to talk about your son. And
(32:47):
I know, Tony, you were the first person to volunteer
for the USO when it came here to Tampa. But
you guys have an amazing organization that helps out gold
Star families. And I know it's our last segment, so
I want to regroup myself and let's let Tony talk
about the organization that helps gold Star families.
Speaker 8 (33:04):
So I just want to start by saying, hey veterans
out there, Happy Veterans Day coming up, the time of
the year where we honor our veterans, and we just
want to say a shout out to all of our
veterans in the Tampa Bay area. We learned last night
that Tampa is the second most friendly veteran friendly city
(33:24):
in America.
Speaker 4 (33:26):
So that's a great award for Tampa. Absolutely.
Speaker 8 (33:31):
So to add to what Craig had said, after the
death of our son, we were escorted to Dover Air
Force Base and on our way to Dover, we stopped
at the USO at Philadelphia International Airport and the USO
took such good care of us and got us to
(33:52):
on the next journey of our next step of our
journey to Dover. When we arrived at Dover, we stayed
at the Fisher House for families of the fallen at
Dover Air Force Base. And this was right across from
the runway where our sons flag draped casket would return.
(34:15):
So as I began to heal up a little bit,
I said, God, I don't like what happened to my son,
but I accepted, what do you want me to do?
Speaker 7 (34:26):
God?
Speaker 8 (34:27):
And so I googled Fisher House, and I googled USO,
and I learned that both the USO and the Fisher
House would be were available to volunteer it in the
Tampa Bay area. So I'd have been a volunteer at
both the Fisher House and the USO for thirteen twelve
(34:50):
thirteen years now, and for me, it's a happy place
to go. But after Frank was killed, Craig and I
both realized that most people have no idea what a
blue Star family and what a gold Star family is.
We didn't know that when our son signed on the
dotted line that we became a blue Star family, and
when our son was killed while active duty. The blue
(35:13):
star was covered with a gold star. That's why we
are known as gold Star families. Frank never lived long
enough to become a veteran. He transitioned from blue star
to gold Star as a result of his military death.
So Craig and I began thinking about some type of
(35:33):
educational organization to inform the public about blue Stars and
gold Stars. So we'd found in an organization nonprofit five
oh one c three called gold Star Awareness and our
main objective is educational, but we also exist to serve
(35:54):
families of the fallen. As a matter of fact, with
the two hurricanes last year, are small nonprofit was able
to send big checks to gold Star families that were
displaced by the hurricane.
Speaker 4 (36:09):
That's awesome, that is amazing. And how does somebody find
gold Stars? It Goalsara awareness dot com.
Speaker 8 (36:15):
Is it's GoldStar Awareness dot com? Yes, sir?
Speaker 4 (36:18):
And can people? Can people donate and help the organization?
Speaker 8 (36:21):
Yes, there's a donate button on there, Yes they can,
And we would just love for you all to go
onto the website because there is a short video and
explains about blue Stars and gold Stars and the person
who speaks on their Initially, Staff Sergeant Michael Dubois, who's
now Sergeant first Class was in the vehicle with our
(36:42):
son Frank when it hit the ied in Afghanistan. And
then the second person that speaks on that video was
Frank's girlfriend before he died, and through an act of
God's will or fate or whatever you want to call it,
we believe it was God's will. Staff Sergeant Dubois, Sergeant
first class. Dubois is now married to Tearing, Frank's girlfriend.
(37:06):
So it's just a beautiful, beautiful.
Speaker 7 (37:08):
And we're very very close with them that we're very close,
very close. They have a little girl named Finley, and
just a wonderful family.
Speaker 8 (37:15):
But like we said, please go on to gold Star
Awareness and also we do need volunteers at the Fisher
House and the USO. You're welcome to go on to
GoldStar Awareness dot com website, connect with me on the
email address, and I can certainly help you to learn
(37:38):
how to volunteer at the USO. And we do need
volunteers at the USO at Tampa International Airport as well
as volunteers at James A. Haley v A Hospital serving
our veterans, especially during this time of the year when
it's Veterans Day.
Speaker 4 (37:54):
I love it.
Speaker 7 (37:54):
One thing that I would like to also point out
is brother in law Mike Farmer, who's my sister Patty's husband,
was actually killed on the same day as Frankie. He
was a helicopter pilot and he was killed on the
same day as Frankie nineteen years earlier.
Speaker 4 (38:15):
Oh my god.
Speaker 7 (38:15):
And I just wanted to mention that because my sister's
going to hear this broad this broadcast, and she has
never remarried since Mike was killed. But he was also
a great soldier. He was a major in the US
Army and he was highly decorated Vietnam pilot, and he
(38:36):
was also inducted into the Army Hall of Fame Fort Rucker, Alabama.
His name was Major Mike Farmer.
Speaker 4 (38:44):
Mike Farmer.
Speaker 1 (38:45):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (38:46):
So I was all able to hold it together until
they started saying, Frankie, I didn't know your son's name, right,
I was holding it, holding it. I was like, oh God, okay, Frankie,
I can't take this. So we got to reiterate gold
Star Awareness dot com. That's organization. If you guys can
get to them, they can get you to the Fisher House.
They can get you to help volunteer at the USO.
(39:06):
That's what we want you guys to find. And we
have less than a minute, but I do want you
to mention real quick that one of the co founders
of Mission Barbecue sadly just became a gold Star family.
Speaker 1 (39:14):
Yes.
Speaker 7 (39:14):
Bill Krauss is the founder of Mission Barbecue and his
son was a chief warrant officer, was killed in a
helicopter training incident in Washington State about four weeks ago.
Speaker 4 (39:27):
Gosh, and we would love to have Bill. If Bill
would like to come on and support the organization.
Speaker 7 (39:32):
Hopefully we'd be able to arrange that sometime in the future.
He doesn't live in the area.
Speaker 4 (39:36):
But I'm sure we could figure out something for him.
And today's day of technology, yes this is true. We
can figure out how to get Bill's avatar or something.
And Tony, let's end with you.
Speaker 8 (39:44):
And we just want to give a big shout out
to Mission Barbecue for supporting our goal Star families as
well as you do. Thank you so much, Mission Barbecue
and Bill Krause too.
Speaker 4 (39:56):
Well, Thank you Mission And I want to think the
two of you, Tony Gross for creating this amazing organization
and for bringing Frank into this world to help this happen.
Speaker 5 (40:06):
And thank you to all veterans and Happy Veterans DA, Happy.
Speaker 4 (40:08):
Veterans Day, Happy Veterans Day, guys. That's how we're going
to end the show. Today is Happy Veterans Day to
all of our veterans. We will see you guys next
week on the Business Happy Hour with a Happy Day
for Veterans. See you guys,
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