The Alimond Show

Tim Neal (Real Deal) - Weaving Resilience and Renewal into Real Estate

Alimond Studio

When life presents a crossroads, it's the courage to pursue a new path that can lead to remarkable destinations. Just ask Tim Neal, known as the 'Real Deal,' whose story we uncover in a riveting conversation that's as much about heart as it is about homes. From the deserts of military service to the warm hearths of family life, Tim's tale is a mosaic of resilience, transformation, and the pursuit of a purpose-driven life.

Grab a seat and prepare to be swept into the world of real estate through the eyes of someone who understands the tapestry of human connections. Tim brings to the table not just expertise in finding the right home, but a wealth of experience in life's deeper lessons. His touching account of how his daughter's simple wish for time over toys reshaped his career trajectory is a testament to the profound ways our loved ones influence our choices. As Tim shares his approach to balancing work and family, his commitment to renewable energy, and the importance of cultural diversity, you'll find yourself rethinking what it means to truly live well.

As we round off this episode, Tim's insights into the future paint a picture of hope and generosity. His aspirations to mentor and coach up-and-coming professionals, his fervor for philanthropy, and the unwavering support he has for his daughter's triumphs over the hurdles of Asperger's syndrome are nothing short of inspiring. This conversation isn't just a glimpse into the life of a seasoned realtor; it's a beacon for anyone seeking to weave faith, family, and fulfillment into their own narrative.

Speaker 1:

My name is Tim Neal and I'm a residential realtor with EXP Realty, and my real name is Timothy. That's my legal name, but everybody calls me Tim. And then, as you'll hear later on in my story how I came up with the tagline name that everybody calls me Real Deal, oh, I love that.

Speaker 2:

So I want to hear about that now. Like, tell me about your story. Tell me how you got from when you were growing up a little bit, just a little summary, key points from being a kid, how you grew up and then how you got into the real estate industry and how you came up with your name.

Speaker 1:

Well, actually I grew up not too far from here, actually over in Maryland, over in Prince George's County. I was born and raised there. My family, a lot of my family, still still there. I grew up in a traditional household. My father and mother both work Traditionally.

Speaker 1:

Most families do they tell you to go to school, get good grades. Most people tell them to go to college. But mine told me to get out. They didn't really tell me like that. They told me what do you want to do?

Speaker 1:

I decided to join the military because I made some decisions on my own that I didn't think were going to really tell me like that. You know, tell me what do you want to do. And I, um, decided to join the military because I made some um decisions on my own that I didn't think were going to really help me in my future. So I joined the military at 18 years old and a little bit shortly after high school and, uh, went in the military as a young, a young man and actually I was going to only go for a few years because I said, hey, I could go here, maybe do something with myself, really liked electronics, got into that and ended up staying for 20 years in the military, so I did retire from the military. During that time in the military I met my lovely wife, who I've been married to now for over 35 years.

Speaker 2:

Congratulations.

Speaker 1:

You're welcome. I have a son that's 34, eric Timothy, and I have a daughter, tania Neal, who is 32. And all that was the result of me serving in the military, doing a lot of duties around the world, serving overseas, serving a couple of wars Operation Desert Storm, desert Shield and it was, it seems, like ages ago, but I was a young man, so I got a chance to be a part of that campaign in my life. It wasn't pleasant, but I did go, served my country, made it back, retired and jumped out of the military to start a new career.

Speaker 2:

Wow, what made you want to start a new career?

Speaker 1:

Well, in the military they have, you know, you can only stay in, but so long one. And so a lot of times, once we do 20 years, you're eligible for retirement. So a lot of times people want to decide what do they want to do when they grow up. Okay, and so that was me. So I thought at the time I want to work as a government contractor, because typically many of us that serve.

Speaker 1:

It was an easy transition to go from what we're doing in the uniform to getting out and doing that in the civilian sector, go from what we're doing in the uniform to getting out and doing that in the civilian sector. And so me, being in missile technology and things like that, I transitioned out and was a director for a major government contractor and I really loved it. It was a great job, great travel and things like that. But one thing that happened during that transition I did that for about five years, but my daughter she told me she said, dad, you know, when you're in the military you traveled a lot, deployed a lot, but one thing you, you weren't here for us a lot. And now you said, once you retire, you're going to spend more time with us.

Speaker 1:

But so that really hit me. It kind of changed you know cause. At first I thought, hey, I'm doing a good thing, I'm out here working, I'm doing a good thing, I'm out here working, I'm traveling the type of job I had. I would be in Japan, I would be in Europe. They would just send me all over the world Hawaii, wow and so I would bring them back things. But it wasn't the things they wanted. They wanted my presence.

Speaker 1:

You, yeah, and so to be there. So I started thinking, you know, what else can I do? And and kind of rewind just a little bit I've always been an entrepreneur. Ever since I was a child, I always had what they call today a side hustle. Even in elementary school I would sell candy out of my desk. When I got older, I got a paper route.

Speaker 1:

When I was legal, it did a lot of things just to make some additional income. Because what I realized was that, you know, even though my parents, when I came up, they gave allowance, I made money here and there. Even when I got a traditional job, I still wanted a little extra. I was one of those kids that wanted to, you know, not just wait for something to come to me, I wanted to go get it. So I always had some kind of little business on the side buying something, selling it, yeah. So that's kind of what I did.

Speaker 1:

Even throughout my military career I had some sort of side hustle going on, and that's where I kind of landed into a company that was a network marketing company where I really learned some principles and things about entrepreneurship and I really got the bug back then where I could learn how to work with others, learn how to leverage my time, learn to get personal development things I never learned in school.

Speaker 1:

Read great books. I mean I read books in school history books, math books but nobody shared books with me like Think and Grow Rich, robert Kiyosaki, or how to Win Friends and Influence People, dale Carnegie, or even just books like Rich Dad, poor Dad, just books that change your mindset, that show you that you can work for money all your life or work a job all your life, but you never will get quite where you want to be in life. So, starting to be around those people, going to seminars, really just aligning myself with people that were going where I wanted to be, they were already there and so really just locking arms with mentors, going to seminars, going to trainings, and really knew that, hey, I knew eventually, even though I worked a job, I wanted to eventually run my own business, have business ownership.

Speaker 2:

That is awesome and, by the way, thank you so much for your service that you did.

Speaker 1:

We appreciate that.

Speaker 2:

So it sounds like you got a lot of skills not only from school but from being in the military. Do you find yourself using any of the things that you learned there into your new career now as being a realtor?

Speaker 1:

Oh, absolutely the military. One thing they taught me a lot of discipline, because when I went in I wasn't disciplined at all, you know. I was, you know, disciplined with what my parents gave me. But it was another level of discipline, like leading people, really having doing things not on my own time, because there in the military you don't, you're not your own. If you will, it's like they tell you when to get up, when to go sleep. You need to be here, you need to be there.

Speaker 1:

So what it does it, it gives you a sense of urgency in the things you do, and you learn that throughout your whole career. Because they don't have time, just, you know, talk you through. When you're ready, they tell you, hey, you need to be there, and so that's a part of the discipline that they give to you. And then leading people are learning to really deal with people from different cultures, because in the military you're not just in your just little area that some people grew up in their own neighborhood or their school. When you go there you meet people from all over the world, whether you're stationed in different countries. You meet people, you learn their culture, you learn things that we think are normal here but may not be normal there. Just different things like that, just little nuances, and then even have relationships with people of different backgrounds and really become good friends with them, and so it really helps me to be well-rounded in a real estate space, because who am I dealing with?

Speaker 1:

I'm dealing with homeowners, buyers and sellers, and they're yes, as absolutely different backgrounds, differentities, people from different cultures, so I have to know those things when I'm relating to them. You know I don't know everything, but I know just enough to be dangerous, if that makes sense.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, no, it does. And now tell me a little bit about how you came up with your name.

Speaker 1:

So my name Real Deal and so actually my website is your Real Deal, real deal realtor, or somebody calls me real deal. And what happened? We have a group of agents. We get together and we call legacy builders and dream team and we get together on the mornings and we talk about what we did in real estate that week, you know, did you have a closing, did you have a settlement, did you meet a buyer? And so we talk about things like that. And so when every time we had a closing, somebody would you know.

Speaker 1:

We had a gentleman who was actually my mentor. His name was mike houston. He would give everybody a little nickname and so my nickname. He said, oh, okay, you did another. Okay, real deal, neil. So he used to say that, and so after a while it started to catch hold to other people on the team. So I said, okay, that's pretty cool. So I started taking that phrase and putting it on some of my taglines and then I got an LLC with it and then I started putting on all my branding. So most of the time when people see me even at church, even my family members or sometimes people they may just see me on social media, but when they see me, they don't say hey Tim, they say hey, real Deal. And then they call our family the Real Deal Neals, because when I do my videos, at the end I always say you know, you're Real Deal Realtor or we are the Real Deal Neals. So when people see us they'll be like, oh, that's the Real Deal Neals, because it rhymes with the name.

Speaker 2:

That's why.

Speaker 1:

So that's kind of my branding.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I love that. Now, on that topic of branding, tell me a little bit about how you do your marketing. I mean, you came in with your props. They look awesome. You got the little key and then the catchphrase with your name Real deal, neil, amazing, what do you? What kind of videos are you doing online?

Speaker 1:

What are you doing to get your yourself out there for the people to see here? The main reason, the main way, is one I do a lot of marketing like personal, face-to-face. I'm a big networker. I actually run a network group in Woodbridge Virginia. It's called a 212 Network and I'm the chairman of that group and so I like bringing people together. It's like a BNI.

Speaker 1:

I used to be a part of a business network international and I like meeting people face-to-face, sitting down, learning about their business, learning what they need, learning that I just can't assume that everybody, because he's an insurance guy, he does this type of insurance. That's right. Or, you know, just like me, a realtor, you can't just assume I only do residential or I do investing. So once you sit down and have conversations with people, get to know them. That's one way that I'm able to brand myself when people know me face to face.

Speaker 1:

Personally Do a lot of social media as well.

Speaker 1:

Actually I, you know, do the Facebook, the Twitter, linkedin, and I send out something just about every day with some kind of something with my branding on it, talking about the housing industry, maybe talking about family, or maybe there's a holiday or something coming up, and so I put those things out there Whenever I'm doing selling a house, closing, like I had a settlement actually today Actually it was at 2 o'clock, but I didn't have to be there. It was a virtual one, so normally I would have them take a picture with my realtor key, or maybe I have them do a short testimony, or I talk about the process even before we go to the house. I'm showing the house, we or I talk about the process even before we go to the house. I'm showing the house, we're changing the sign on the house, the house is under contract, the house is being sold, or you know we have an open house this week. So a lot of things like that, to continue to put my name out there, that I'm branding, and then, along the way, if I have other things that are going on, like right now I'm moving to.

Speaker 1:

Another part of my business is helping in the solar industry, renewable energy oh, the solar panels yeah.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so that's a great part of what I already do as a real estate agent. Now I'm helping the people to save money. Got you in the house, but the energy bill is still going up. And the planet, yeah, and the planet. And that's passionate about that because, guess what? Our younger generation is coming behind us and we have to leave the planet better than you know, we're going to leave it.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, so really passionate about that now as well. So I started putting that branding on on my social media and things like that as well. So really just, I'm just trying to be a well-rounded that I'm not just a realtor, I'm not just solar, but I'm a family man involved in my church, I'm a minister at my church, been in my church, thank you, been there about 18, 19 years. The church here been to and very involved in ministry me, my wife, my son. He plays in the, in the, in the band. Yeah, he plays the saxophone. My daughter plays the what was that thing on?

Speaker 2:

cello flute no. Violin.

Speaker 1:

Violin, I'm looking at it. When you did that, I was like violin.

Speaker 1:

Violin. She plays that and I'm not musically acclaimed but they are Thank God it's passed on to them so very involved in my church, involved in my community, and then also I'm a member on the board of Prince William County Association of Realtors, so I'm actually a board member, so sit in some meetings and kind of talk about some of the things that we're going to do to make it better for the realtor community and then also our community as large as far as home affordability.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, okay, that's awesome. You sound very busy, got all kinds of things going on.

Speaker 1:

Love that.

Speaker 2:

No, and then tell me a little bit about the industry right now. As far as like rates, how is everything looking right now?

Speaker 1:

Right now rates are still kind of on the high side. I mean, if I'm looking at where it's been over the last like five years, but historically it's not too far off of before we were in COVID. But a lot of people have seen the low rates two and three percent. So now you say six and seven, eight percent. It's like oh my God. But when I bought my first house it was like this. It was, I think it was around 7% and I just bought to affordability. I said okay, I can only afford this. I would like a million dollar house, I would like a mansion, but this is what I can afford. And then later on I can upgrade, start somewhere, build some equity and then rent it or be able to sell that, use the equity and upgrade. So it's always a great time to buy.

Speaker 1:

I just ran into a gentleman a little while ago and went to go see my dad and I ran to one of the um. I think he was a maintenance guy because he lived. My dad lives in the senior facility. He said you're Melvin's son, right? I said yeah. He says you're a realtor, right? I said yes. He says is it a good time to buy? Because people telling me it's not, I said, man, it's always a great time to buy. Because people telling me it's not, I said, man, it's always a great time to buy. And I gave them a couple of stories you know about people that bought last year, Like I was telling you about the client that was closed today. Yeah, they bought a house last year for $800,000 in Fairfax Brand new house, built it. They decided they wanted to move to Washington State, Put their house on the market for $900,000. They made $100,000 in less than 13 months on the house. So it's always a great time to buy.

Speaker 2:

Absolutely no. And then what advice would you like to give to people who are considering moving anywhere around Maryland, Virginia, around our state, DC? As far as being a new homeowner, what should they be looking out for or how will you help them transition into their new homes?

Speaker 1:

Well, I know you always heard the phrase cliche is location, location, location. Really, where do they want to live? Because at the end of the day they're going to have to make that travel back and forth Great thing. Today A lot of people do work from home, so sometimes people don't have to be confined to a certain area, but a lot of times people consider that they consider what's their community, especially if they have children. They don't want to be too far away from something happens. They have to go pick up their child. It's a snow day or something goes on, that they have to drive an hour to get home to pick them up from childcare, because that right there could cause you a lot of stress sitting in traffic for an hour or two back and forth, you know. So the house may be great and have everything that you need, but if that commute is going back and forth too many people will say hey, they want to move in a couple of years because of just that kind of stress.

Speaker 1:

So really, just first listen to them, find out what they're looking for, get all parties together. If it's the wife, the husband, the children, the pets, whoever, we get everybody together to see what they want. And then I try to customize that search to get what they need. If it's the schools that's important to them, if it's the neighborhood, if it's the commute, if it's a certain type of house, they may want to live in a rural area instead of living within the city limits. So, whatever they're looking for, we sit down and do a buyer's consultation first of all and say, and we have a questionnaire that we go down so they can kind of put in their want list what do they need to have, what do they want to have and what can they live with.

Speaker 1:

And I tell people like this we're going to start looking at homes and unless we build it from the ground up new construction and that's definitely an option we can probably take you to a community to get exactly what you want.

Speaker 1:

It may not be in the ideal location, but we can try. And once we start looking, I always tell people the 80-20 rule kind of applies, because if a couple of people are looking, somebody may see something they really like this. They like the big closet, somebody else likes the man cave, somebody else likes the big kitchen, the kids like the backyard, somebody else likes the proximity to you know, stores or something. So we may can't get everything in there sometimes, but if we can get pretty close, then people can say, hey, you know what? I can live with that. And I know you've probably seen those home shows where they go back and forth and then they pick the three houses and then sometimes when they pick you, like I wouldn't pick that for you, yeah, but you know, you just got to put it out there and they will let you know.

Speaker 2:

Yeah which one they want absolutely that's great advice there. Um, and then, who are you outside of real estate and being a minister like what do you like to do on your own time? What? What do you enjoy? Any hobbies?

Speaker 1:

you know that's an interesting question because people always ask me what's your hobby? And I'm not going to say I don't have one. But I like family time, me and my family. When I'm not doing anything, I say let's get in the car, let's just go to the park, let's go to Great Falls, let's go down to the Potomac, let's go drive go-karts, let's go do some adventurous stuff. I'm kind of like I like to do stuff outside. Or even if we go walk to the mall or go window shopping or go look at houses and things like that, that's kind of like the things are like. It's like building memories. Or we go on trips all the time. We do a lot of trips throughout the year. We go to, like, virginia Beach, we go down to Florida. We've been twice this year already.

Speaker 2:

Nice.

Speaker 1:

Florida. We just came off a cruise a couple of weeks ago oh from where? When I took my kids on their first cruise to the Bahamas? Nice Seven-day cruise. It was amazing. And then we went on another cruise before that. Last year we went to the Bahamas too, but this last trip was a lot longer. But I like doing things like that. I do have golf clubs. I only golf once a year when my church has a golf classic, so I do have breast those off and we have one coming up this year, so I do that. But I don't really have one of those things where I just do every week Some people go bowling, Some people play baseball, basketball, sports and things like that. I really like just being kind of family-oriented.

Speaker 2:

No, I love that, and through that you can also like I know you're like it's not a particular hobby, but I'd say it is, because whatever your kids want to do, that's your hobby too. Like, hey, dad, let's go to a party, let's go play, like catch some balls or some basketball, something like that. You just want to build memories and have good memories with them and them of you. So I think that's really important.

Speaker 1:

That's awesome because I'm a little older but I'm still a big kid. But we went on our trip to Bahamas. They had a what was it? A water slide, and they said the tallest water slide in North America. Not that that's North America, but that's what they say. Yes, and it was like 300 feet. I don't know how tall it was, but anyway, it took me a long time to get to the top and, uh, I conquered my fear. I didn't want to do it, but I didn't want to. Um, you know I wouldn't say punk out, and so I went. So I did get on it was it fun.

Speaker 1:

It was so much fun I would be scared.

Speaker 2:

But then I'd be like okay, that was fun, but scared that was fun.

Speaker 1:

I got on the ones that were a little lower after that. But okay, you know, I like doing things like that. I'm still kind of a kid at heart, although my my body says, hey, you need to slow down, you know.

Speaker 2:

So no, I love that. It's good to keep that kid at heart. You know it helps you go Like, even if your body's like no, but your mind and everything. I love it. And now, where do you see yourself in the next five years, as a person or with your business? What do?

Speaker 1:

you see for yourself, retirement, okay, and when I, when I'm in retirement I don't think I would ever just stop working but really kind of that day to day going out, uh grind, it'd be more of a coaching, mentoring, um, helping other entrepreneurs, helping other real estate agents get to where they need to be, in that kind of capacity, really public speaking, you know, just sitting down and sharing my story with other people, just inspiring, because I think everybody has a compelling story.

Speaker 2:

Yes. You know, maybe even write a book or something like that I was just about to suggest that, like have you ever considered writing a book?

Speaker 1:

I considered it, you should.

Speaker 2:

I mean, if you're going to retire, like, and you want to tell your story, you can write it down on paper and that way people can read it over and over. Or you can, like you said, go the public speaking route and also just have motivational speaking, talk about your journey, all that good stuff.

Speaker 1:

Maybe start a podcast, I don't know yeah, that would be great, right, yeah, so that's kind of the business track. You know, I figure I'll be a multi-millionaire by then, so I'll be able to do that and that's my goal, it's my goal board. So gonna make that happen and just just personally, uh, really to do ministry, mission work, to be able to go places and help out those less fortunate where there's, to help them get into new housing they're gonna get some solar panels on the house help them to grow. I want to start being like, um, not really a farmer, but learn how to grow food and things like that to be self-sustainable. So I really want to do that to help people to help themselves.

Speaker 1:

At the same time, you know, put them in a position that they don't have to always be in poverty or destitute, because we have resources that can help them. They just probably don't know how to get. It can help them. They just probably don't know how to get it. If I could facilitate that to make that happen, help ministry and help them learn more about God and help them have a better quality of life, because really deep down inside who I am, it all glory goes to God. It's not me. He put me here, he gave me the activities of my body to be able to do this in good health and a great family to support, and the great pastors and great mentors around me that are helping me on this journey. So I mean, I really can't take any credit, for it is all to God, but I'm just going to use what he has for me to do while I'm here that is beautiful.

Speaker 2:

I love that. You're all about giving back to the community and helping the planet with the solar panels, and I think it is so important to help those less fortunate to actually learn how to like, crop and grow their own fruits and vegetables and be self-sustainable, like you said. I think that's such a powerful tool to have like in life, even for us today.

Speaker 2:

There's something to be said about how much we can learn about cultivating and growing our own vegetables and yes learning about yes that we are able to also sustain ourselves and we don't always have to rely on, like a big grocery store or amazon fresh or things like that. We're able to do that right it'll last longer too. That's right, that's right, and if you have too much, you can always give it to like a neighbor or something here, you go, or the less fortunate even absolutely there's room for everybody to go around and get your veggies and fruits. So that's awesome.

Speaker 2:

And now, as far as with your kids and your wife, what do they like to do? Are they helping you, like when you have like open houses? Are they like here's some cookies, come on in, or anything?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and actually my daughter, she has helped me when I did open house. My daughter, she's actually a pastry chef.

Speaker 2:

Ah, look at that.

Speaker 1:

She graduated from Stratford university. An interesting story about my daughter is um, my daughter is uh, has Asperger's, which is a form of autism. I don't know if you ever heard of that before.

Speaker 2:

I have heard of it, but I wasn't quite sure what it was.

Speaker 1:

So that's what it is. It's just a what it means. You have, um, um, autism, but they call it high functioning, which means you know good verbal skills and things, and they still function, but they have some things that you know. They just need some redirection. And so when she was little, they thought maybe she had something we didn't need to put on medication, and they did, and back then, so many years ago, they didn't really understand a diagnosis. So, um, she did have to get some tutoring and things like that through school and, uh, you thought they thought maybe she wouldn't be able to graduate school, but she graduated high school with honors and so that was awesome. And then she did. You know, we wanted to her to go off to college and she did. She really wanted to. Um, she's an awesome artist and also she sculpts clay and um.

Speaker 1:

So we wanted to put her in art school, but the things they wanted her to do there it was was, too, I would say, a pigeonhole that she didn't want to take away from her creativity. So we ended up putting her in um, baking and pastry arts and, uh, she did. She did amazing in that in that course, because when she first started she did have some challenges. I had just started in real estate and what ended up happening? She had a kind of a situation at the school where they thought maybe her being around sharp knives and things and you know kind of the you know risky tools, they thought that maybe this may not be a good field for her. Maybe she should get into social, you know math or psychology or something different. And so what ended up happening was they thought that maybe she they wouldn't let her stay in the program. But what ended up happening was they thought that maybe they wouldn't let her stay in the program. But what ended up happening was I spoke with the dean and I said, listen, if I come here with my daughter, can she stay in school?

Speaker 1:

And she said, can you do that? I said I'm an entrepreneur, I work for myself, I have my own real estate business. She said absolutely. So I went to school with my daughter for two years straight. Every class, every culinary arts class, didn't cost me a dime, didn't cost me a penny. Every class she went through she graduated some kalani top of her class. She was the best, best cook in the class. And um, they gave me a chef jacket, even with my name, chef neil. So you were there too yeah.

Speaker 1:

So I went through the whole thing, got a with an honorary degree, didn't get the piece of paper, but I learned all the techniques and once my daughter got, she started her own business making custom cakes. And I mean these are cakes that you see on TV, phenomenal cakes. What's her business called? It's called Isles of Confection Isles of Confection Isles, like an island.

Speaker 2:

Oh, Isles, Isles of Confection, got it.

Speaker 1:

Islesim Confection. So that business took off and then she also started her clay sculpting business and that's called Jim Zorn World. She has clay figurines. That business took off and right now she does a lot of shows. She does different weekly shows. She has her stuff online which she sells on Etsy site and some of her sculptures have went all the way as far as Turkey.

Speaker 2:

So all over the world she's international yeah.

Speaker 1:

So she's very, very talented and my son he's actually a law enforcement officer. He's a federal police um works over for bellboard community and so he loves that in law enforcement and that that's not what he went to school for. He he liked art and gaming but somehow he landed in law enforcement.

Speaker 2:

That's life sometimes.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, life situation. And my wife actually works at a hospital, fort Belvoir Hospital and she works at an information desk where she's the supervisor that tells everybody where to go and what to do and how to get there. Yeah, and so she really enjoyed that because she's like myself, loves helping people. She has a heart of gold. So our family together, uh, if you see us you you many times you see us on facebook a lot of times, you'll see our family together. Yeah, because that's just you know how we are you guys sound like such a beautiful family.

Speaker 2:

I love that like you guys like are there for each other, and the fact that you went with your daughter so she could like accomplish her dreams, like that's so sweet and beautiful. I love that. I think that's amazing that you were there to support her every step of the way and just be there for her like that. It's like something that it's kind of a privilege too, because maybe not all parents are able to do that, you know. So the fact that you were able to do that for her is amazing, and I'm sure she really appreciates it, because now look at, look at her journey and her business with all of that.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely.

Speaker 2:

So that's amazing. And now, just to wrap it up here, one of my final questions here are if you could leave our listeners with any message, maybe in regards to, maybe God or life in general, the real estate market, anything that's in your heart, what would that message be?

Speaker 1:

The message would be to keep God first in all things, because the reason that we're here, the reason why we have breath in our bodies, the reason why we have purpose in life, because I believe, whether you're a believer or not, we understand that we just didn't come out of thin air. I believe that's my belief and I just stand on that because I know that I wouldn't be here today had it not been for me having to understand. You know, I can be honest. I wasn't in church all my life. I kind of grew up in church but I wasn't in church, if that makes sense. I had a relationship with God, but I didn't really know God. I knew of him, but when I really got a relationship with God it really helped me to create who I was supposed to be. I really understood my purpose as a husband, as a father, as somebody, a friend. I really understood that purpose. And once I understood that purpose, then I could really see where I wanted to move in life, whether that was in business, whether it was in finance, whether it was in marriage. It just kind of gave me a total understanding of my purpose here in life.

Speaker 1:

So I would tell you, you know, say to your listeners. You know, have a purpose in life. You know you pray, pray about it. If you don't know, pray about it. And even if you're already in your career and you've had so much success and you know you're not wanting for anything, I mean you may be content, may not have a lot, or you may have an abundance, you may have plain boats and yachts, but still I would seek the Lord because one day all of us are not going to be here and I think we do have to stand and answer for the things that we did while we were here. So I would say you know highly um encourage people to. You know, evaluate yourself, evaluate your purpose and really um get a relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Speaker 2:

Wow, that was really powerful. I'm like shaking in my boots here. That's who I am. Yes, thank you so much for being on the show. We really appreciate your time and just your presence and you being here with us today.

Speaker 1:

Thank you.

Speaker 2:

Of course.