IBS 2026 Orlando Preview with Homes.com: Parties, Sessions & Sales Central-167

Heading to the NAHB International Builders’ Show (IBS) 2026 in Orlando? In this episode, I’m joined by Rick Baldonado, National Director of New Construction at Homes.com, to break down the must-see sessions, can’t-miss parties, and where to find both Anewgo and Homes.com all week long.

👉 Catch Rick’s previous episode on Homes.com for builders:  Homes.com for Builders: Your Listing, Your Lead
 

Featured IBS 2026 Education Sessions

Session 1 — Storytelling + Tech
Digital Chemistry: How Storytelling & Tech Can Win Buyers’ Hearts (and Sales)

When: Thursday, Feb 19 | 11:00–11:30 AM
Where: Sales Central
Speakers: Anya Chrisanthon, Alaina Money-Garman & Chad Davies

Session 2 — Innovation & Affordability
Reshaping Home Building: Innovative, Efficient & Affordable Communities That Last

When: Tuesday, Feb 17 | 10:00–11:00 AM
Where: West 308C
Speakers: Beth Byrd & P. Allen Smith

Session 3 — AI Buyers + AI Assistants
AI Buyers & Sales Assistants: Revolutionizing Your Website’s New Home Shopping Experience

When: Wednesday, Feb 18 | 10:15–10:45 AM
Where: AI & Tech Studio – West 230

Speakers: John Lee, Barrett Davis, Mel Cervin

Find Anewgo & Homes.com at IBS

• Anewgo is sponsoring Sales Central this year-come see us there, meet the team, and get hands-on with our latest tech.
  
  
• We’ll be showcasing our AI Sales Assistants and how they transform your website into a truly interactive new-home shopping experience.
  
  
• Homes.com will have a major booth presence on the expo floor-Booth S4082 put it on your “must visit” list to hear what’s new, what’s next, and how builders can get more from their listings.
  
  

Awards & The Nationals

• 🏆 Anewgo is officially a Silver Finalist at The Nationals—and we’re up for Gold!
  Our nomination is for Best Website, awarded for the stunning, high-performing site we created in partnership with Garman Homes. This project represents the future of what an AI-ready, fully interactive, conversion-focused builder website can be… and now it’s in the running for the industry’s top honor.
• We’ll chat about why The Nationals are considered the “Oscars of new home sales & marketing,” what the night is like, and why it’s one of the most energizing celebrations of innovation, creativity, and talent in our industry. Fingers crossed for Gold!

Parties & Networking

IBS is as much about connections as it is about content:

Homes.com Party (Wednesday Night @ PBR Cowboy Bar)
 Co-hosted with Anewgo and Builder Designs—this is shaping up to be the marketing + sales party of IBS.
👉 Email me for your invite!

🥂 We also chat about:

IBS House Party
YP events and leadership connections
How to maximize networking if it’s your first time at IBS

In this conversation, we cover:

• How AI buyers and AI Assistants are reshaping new home search and websites
• Why Sales Central is the heartbeat for sales & marketing pros at IBS

Transcript

Anya Chrisanthon 0:34

hello and welcome everybody. Thank you so much for joining us for a new episode of Anewgo of new Home sales. I'm your host, Anya Chrisanthon, and joining me today is Rick Baldonado, who is the national director with homes.com for new construction. Welcome to the show, Rick.

Rick Baldonado 0:54

Thank you, Anya.

Anya Chrisanthon 0:56

Well, so you guys, if you haven't listened to Rick's episode yet, where we had a deep dive into homes.com offering specifically for new construction, I will link that episode in our show notes. You should definitely go listen. But for those people who just want a quick overview or. What is it that you do now? What is homes.com?

Rick Baldonado 1:20

Who are you guys? Whatcha are you,

Anya Chrisanthon 1:22

what's happening?

Rick Baldonado 1:23

Yeah.

Anya Chrisanthon 1:24

Tell us real quick, what

Rick Baldonado 1:25

time is the show? Yes. Yeah, no. Great. No thanks. That's a good, great question on you. Thank you. Yeah, so obviously everybody knows the online home search portal industry, and if you're in home building or you're a home builder, we all know what that entails. And, long story short. The real estate industry, as everybody knows right now, is going through a paradigm shift, disruption, choice, transparency. That's the number one, bullseye right now for everybody, not only consumers, but for, the participants as well too in this space. And the key point being is, right now the housing market, as everybody knows, it's slow. Sales paces are off to year end. Everybody's expected to do more, with their budget, but they don't have the budget, so that's a problem. And real estate is cyclical and fixed costs in home building is never a good thing. And a bell curve that we are, that we live and breathe in. So, what we're doing over here@homes.com and what we believe in is, trying to provide some flexibility to our home builder partners, and that's being, having some ways that they can work with their budget and to promoting communities that need the most engagement. Need to drive more traffic and more scalability and visibility,, for their community. And that's really the nuts and bolts of it all. And, happy to talk to more people about that. And I'm already out flying cross country talking to builders across the, across the country about who we are and what we do and why it benefits them. But, it really does come down to home builders now. They just don't wanna live on one portal. They want their brand. Top of mind and out front and out in the social media universe.

Anya Chrisanthon 3:05

Absolutely. That's a,

Rick Baldonado 3:06

it's a requirement and we're able to do that for our home builder partners over here. So I'm really, pleased to share that with everybody. So.

Anya Chrisanthon 3:14

And like I said, you guys, we have a whole episode dedicated to specifically how homes.com is different from all the other portals. So please be sure to check that out. But today what we're here to talk about is the upcoming International Builder Show 2026, hard to believe, 2026, just around the corner. It is happening this year in Orlando. And we're gonna be there before we know it. So, we figured we would dedicate some time to talk about some of the highlights, some of the things that we,, can't wait for some of the things that we have planned, and some of the things that hopefully we can put on your radar. So the show is going to be February 17th to 19th. Mm-hmm. With pre-show happening starting from February 14th to 16th. So Rick, have you ever been part of the pre-show in Orlando? Have you done any educational sessions, attended any of those sessions before the show actually kicks off?

Rick Baldonado 4:19

Yeah, and actually it's a, it's a great, great question too on you. Everybody's gonna be traveling all across the country to attend this event in, or whether it's Orlando or Las Vegas, and anybody that's new to the industry especially, and this is your opportunity to go to a part of the country that you may not be exposed to as much and see different product type developments, hear different people, speakers. Skill sets. So there's a lot of great takeaways. And we really encourage everybody. I know I'll be trying to attend as many sessions as possible on meetings because it's your one time to travel to these other regions in the country and see what our colleagues are doing, and these local markets, and bring in all these ideas and, developments all together in, in the same place. So it's, it's really exciting.

Anya Chrisanthon 5:03

Absolutely. And this year we have 120 plus educational sessions scheduled again just during IBS week itself, not counting any of the pre-show. And, there's over 1700 expo so it's gonna be crazy. People are gonna be coming from all Bring your,

Rick Baldonado 5:26

bring. It is not a plug, but bring your Sketchers right Anya

Anya Chrisanthon 5:30

That's right. Bring your sketchers. That is one of the tips that I always give when we do IBS pre-show, is that don't try to pull off some crazy fashion, which, you know, me, I'm all for fashion. But yes, make sure that you wear very, very comfortable shoes because you're gonna be doing a lot of walking. I feel like, particularly in Orlando. Because of the layout, you do end up doing quite a bit of walking.

Rick Baldonado 5:56

You'll get your steps in. You'll get your steps in. Yeah.

Anya Chrisanthon 6:00

Now, if you've never been to IBS, great news is that they do have a special pricing for first time attendees at only$195. So very, very affordable. If you've never been, and you're curious, you wanna know what that's about.$195. Make sure you go to NAHB's website for the Builder Show and get your tickets sooner than later because I think tickets is one thing, but the housing. Is a whole other thing. I believe at this point, if you haven't booked your hotel through NAHB, the special rate, you're probably gonna be pretty hard pressed to find something that's still available. But

Rick Baldonado 6:48

you Yeah, you might be staying in Atlanta, Georgia and driving across over to Orlando. Right Anya?

Anya Chrisanthon 6:54

That's right. That's right. So be sure to, get that checked out right away. If that's something you're looking for. So, Rick, speaking of educational sessions mm-hmm. Are there any sessions that are on your radar already? Are there any speakers or any specific topics that you're. Really interested in this year.

Rick Baldonado 7:13

Yeah. It's on everybody's top of mind right now. Right. It's all about AI and for technology it's AI and there's some really great tools out there, and it's not just about. Search. Right. That's obviously the world that I live in. And that's pretty common what we all wanna see, right? But AI is gonna fall into so many different components of home building from land to entitlements. And there's ways that, we're all just, we're all looking for efficiencies in our industry because we're bookended by. Inefficiencies to begin with, right? Whether that's, buying land and titling land, it's hard to scale that or building homes, right? Get those cycle times down. So we're all looking for, in our industry ways to increase that and to mitigate market exposure risk. And that's what AI is really gonna be able to do. So whatever you're, if you're in land acquisition or your entitlement or project management, construction, sales, or marketing. There's a takeaway there for you. So that's what I'm really looking forward to, and I think that's what's super exciting as well as some of the, construction technologies that are out there. Just to shorten those cycle times, because we know now the stakes are so high in home building. Absolutely right. Incredibly. And we're going into a, cycle where we're seeing consolidation, home builder consolidation. That means you better have your game stepped up. You better be running lean. You better have access to capital and you better be leveraging as many technology and tools and try and get that exposure as much as you can. You gotta play a smarter game in home building. You can still be that local builder and still compete. You're still gonna have strategies and you're still gonna have advantages versus the big guys. But overall, you should be thinking, how I can tap into and leverage all those things that we just mentioned right now. So that's super important.

Anya Chrisanthon 8:58

Absolutely. So, and actually I'm so excited this year because mm-hmm. They're rolling out something new. It's called AI and Tech Studio. Yeah. So where they're gonna be highlighting specifically topics about that and our very own CEO, John Lee is gonna be one of the presenters. For that. So his session is going to be on Wednesday, February 18th at 10 15 in the morning. He's gonna be co-presenting with Barrett Davis, who is the CEO of NterNow, and Mel Cervin, who is actually one of our home builders,. So it's gonna be a combination of. Two, CEOs who are forward thinkers with ai. Mm-hmm. And a home builder who's actually implementing a lot of technologies. Ahead of time, so her experience with it. So I think it's gonna be a really, really great session. I'm definitely looking forward to that one. So make sure to have that on your calendar and to make things easy, I will for sure link the sessions that we discuss in the show notes. Another session that I'm excited about is also one from our teammate. Our VP of sales, Beth Byrd, is going to be co-presenting this year with P. Alan Smith, who is a celebrity in the HDTV, gardening space. And they're gonna be talking about, it's called reshaping, home building, innovative, efficient, and affordable Communities. That last, so that session is going to be on Tuesday, February 17th, from 10 to 11:00 AM So definitely check that one out. And of course, I'm gonna give a little plug to my own session. So this year I'm gonna be co-presenting with Alaina Money Garman and Chad Davies. So we're gonna be talking, digital chemistry, how storytelling and technology can win buyers', hearts and sales. And that session is gonna be on Thursday, February 19th at 11 o'clock. And that's gonna be right in the sales central. So if you guys have not. Being in the Sales Central. I would say that's probably where a lot of the action happens, right. Rick, what do you think?

Rick Baldonado 11:23

Yeah, yeah. No, without a doubt. If you'd never been there before or you've been to an IBS event bef, you know, it's about Sales Central, right? That's kind of like if you're not on the show floor. Sales Central. That's where a lot of people are gonna be, networking, talking, sharing ideas, meeting new people, exchanging contact information. So it definitely behooves you into your best interest to get out there and walk around, and see and be seen. So that's, that's the objective. That's why we're all going out there and it's a lot of fun. So.

Anya Chrisanthon 11:55

Yes. And actually Anewgo is going to be sponsoring Sales Central this year. So we're going to have our own booth, at Sales Central. We figured, you know what, that's where a lot of the sales and marketing people hang out anyway, so. That's where all of our audience is, so we're really, really excited for that. And I'm really excited because we're rolling out a brand new product, which is our AI assistance. So Rick, again, can't talk about anything without ai.

Rick Baldonado 12:29

Whoops. But here we,

Anya Chrisanthon 12:31

but here we're, so, you guys probably know that last year, I guess, right around, IBS, we had rolled out our smart websites, which are AI enabled, which allow AI search engines to easily. Find your website and not only find it, but also easily understand what content is actually on your website, so that mm-hmm. When a buyer searching for, I'm looking for a four bedroom, two and a half bath, yeah. House in Atlanta with the yard, and I'm looking for a bonus room and the office space, et cetera, et cetera. Your information can surface right under search. Whether you're using using chat, GPT. Perplexity or whatever other AI search tools you're using because AI can understand and read our website. So now we're adding an additional feature, which is called, again, AI Assistants, where you have a representative on your smart website so that, again, when the buyers come to your site, they're already used to that experience of. Chatting, asking questions and actually having full on conversations, open-ended conversations with their ai, and they don't wanna search on the website. Where do I find this? Where do I find that? What we're enabling them to do is to continue that search on your website so that they can freely express what they're looking for and the information is simply brought directly to them. It's kind of like having a store assistant when you go inside the store instead of browsing through all the aisles, trying to find a milk. And sir, yeah, they're bringing everything to you when you say, Hey, I'm looking for some breakfast items.

Rick Baldonado 14:14

I'm looking for this. Yeah. And the standard way of doing things right now is gonna change drastically in the next couple years, if not sooner. Yes. Right. And everything that we know, like, okay, your, you know, typical standard data feed, it's archaic. Okay. Yeah. Builder data feeds are archaic and it doesn't give, it doesn't give the consumer the ability to think outside the box.

Anya Chrisanthon 14:39

That's right.

Rick Baldonado 14:40

And so when you look at, you know, breaking that XML feed, blowing that up, what else can we do other than that? Or improve upon that and expand upon that so AI can feed into that, then you're talking, right? And so that's where it will go, right? And so that's what, you know, is really exciting about the industry right now, and that's obviously a component of it. And there's some other cool, exciting things to, to come as well too. So. A

Anya Chrisanthon 15:05

hundred percent and everything's been moving so fast. Mm-hmm. When AI first made a splash, now we're so far beyond that initial splash and how people are using it. And so I think to your point, I don't think it's gonna be a couple of years. It's, it's happening much, much time. Yeah. It's happening now. Yeah. The adoption has taking place much faster now. I know that homes.com. Doesn't do anything small. You guys make splash wherever you go. Right? So tell me a little bit about what can we expect from your booth this year At IBS.

Rick Baldonado 15:39

Yeah, no, really incredible. I mean, it's gonna be big, it's gonna be fantastic. And we're bringing the team, so not only you're gonna see homes.com, but we're gonna have some of our, sister companies there as well too. Representation, obviously we're homes.com. Our parent company is CoStar, the largest real estate research company in the entire world. Our number one goal is to digitize the world's real estate, and then we're gonna have some of our colleagues there from Matterport. Every home builder loves using Matterport, as you know, their engagement increases when they use and leverage Matterport. It's a great consumer experience. Some of our colleagues from apartments.com will be there, so we're really excited about that because real estate is all about that journey. Right. And having that ecosystem, and fortunately we're able to provide that ecosystem, where we can plug in not only the, for the consumers, but for our home builder and our industry partners as well too. So it really is about, coming to IBS and our booth will be really kind of revolve, around that, what we can do and thank our industry partners. And have a bunch of, information sessions, about what we're doing, product updates. We really are investing incredible amounts of resources into product technology, better engagement as and we're really excited about all that. And there's some exciting things that we will have to announce at our booth, at homes.com and at IBS. So we're excited for that. And then we will have some special surprises there too., And I don't wanna give that away. But that'll be really exciting. So,

Anya Chrisanthon 17:16

so make sure you guys have homes.com booth on your must visit list this year. You're not

Rick Baldonado 17:23

gonna miss it. You won't miss it. So

Anya Chrisanthon 17:25

I'm sure it's gonna be big and. There's gonna be lots of things going on, so definitely, definitely make sure make a point to stop by that booth. All right, so let's talk IBS events. Obviously the week is. Packed. There's lots of can't miss parties happening. So on Tuesday we're starting off strong already. Mm-hmm. Is we have our IBS House party, which is gonna be live at that point. And that one is hosted by NAHB, from six to 8:00 PM And Rick, have you ever attended that party? The IBS House Party.

Rick Baldonado 18:09

Yeah, it's crazy. It's big, it's enormous. Everybody's there. I mean, everybody, that attends IBS is there, right? Mm-hmm. So that's all industry participants, right? They all go to that. So it's, it's massive. Yes.

Anya Chrisanthon 18:24

Yes. And yeah, so if you haven't gotten your ticket yet, I don't know if they're available still. I know those tickets go super fast. Mm-hmm. So be sure to check it out if you haven't signed up for that party. It's a separate ticket that you'll need to get in order to attend that. Now also that same night, Tuesday, we have our nationals that are happening. So from five until 10 o'clock. It's usually a pretty long show. It's gonna be right at the Hyatt Regency, so mm-hmm. Hopefully if you're staying right there by the Hyatt. I mean, it's, doesn't get any closer than that because I remember one of the years I had such a hard time getting to whatever it was. It's just transportation is not ideal. At IBS in Orlando. That's one thing. So plan

Rick Baldonado 19:12

accordingly.

Anya Chrisanthon 19:13

Yes, plan accordingly for sure. But if you are planning to go to nationals, and if you don't know what nationals is, I like to call it the Oscars. Of home building industry specifically for sales and marketing. So that's where everyone's gonna be dressed to the nines, right? Like it's a black tie type of an affair. So everyone's gonna be looking fabulous. Lots of champagne drinking going on. And, it's just a great show, to be a part of it, to see all the wonderful work that is happening in our industry, and especially if you are being recognized as one of the winners, that's always fun to receive your Sam. which. Mine, see here, sitting right here from way back in the day, from, let's see, this was. Oh, early in my career, I don't think they put the date on it, but yeah, this was my one to watch award that I got at the Nationals. So I keep it right here, my desk. Very

Rick Baldonado 20:16

cool. My desk Very cool. Keep your speeches brief.

Anya Chrisanthon 20:19

That's right. Keep

Rick Baldonado 20:21

be mindful. Be mindful. Keep your speeches brief.

Anya Chrisanthon 20:23

Yes, that is one thing that party does go for a long, long time. So, uh, plan to be there for a while. But

Rick Baldonado 20:31

yeah,

Anya Chrisanthon 20:32

it's well worth it. Right.

Rick Baldonado 20:34

Absolutely. I love going to those.

Anya Chrisanthon 20:36

I think so now Wednesday, we have a lot going on on Wednesday. Yeah. One of the things that is happening is the YP party. So if you are a young professional, if you're under 45 years old, that is a party that I would recommend you attend. It's gonna be at the Hampton Social and it's gonna be at seven 30. Check it out again. If you are new to the industry specifically, it is a great way to meet like-minded individuals who are your age. It's not very intimidating. So it is just a great, great, great party now. homes.com is throwing a huge party this year from what I've heard. Right. So, Rick, tell us a little bit about that. That's gonna be on Wednesday from seven to 10,

Rick Baldonado 21:25

Wednesday from seven to 10. And what's great about that is obviously we're gonna have, you're one of our partners, so that's really super exciting siding. And we have another, exciting builder partner as well too, builder designs. Mm-hmm. So in collaboration, and we all know this, there's. If there's events to go to, there's big events and there's, there's small events, more intimate events, and, but this is really built for home builders, sales and marketing executives, all home builder executives for that matter, to really network and, with their peers in the industry. So it's a very high, high concentrated networking event. For our home builder friends and our key partners, such as Anewgo and Builder Designs. So we're really excited about that and those invites will be going out next week. So please RSVP. And it's gonna be fantastic. There's gonna be lots of surprises, gifts, swag, you name it, and it's gonna be a lot of fun. So get your RSVP in for that. Yeah, we're looking for a fantastic event and great time to be had by all. So, and obviously thank you Anya, for your collaboration on that and that's gonna be exciting and as well to the builder design team as well. So

Anya Chrisanthon 22:41

thank you. We are so very excited to be a part of that event. I really think it's gonna be the event. Of IBS. So you guys, if you are looking for a great party to attend, it's gonna be at PBR Orlando Great venue again from seven to 10 on Wednesday, February 18th. So don't miss that. Pretty much who's who of marketing. Is going to be there if you're looking for some great ideas, some inspirational conversations, and of course to make some,

Rick Baldonado 23:17

some laughs. Some laughs and fun.

Anya Chrisanthon 23:19

Yes. Laughs and fun. And great networking, right? And that's what I love about these types of events is like obviously we're all on a network. But it's just how it happens. So I think just the atmosphere, everything about it is gonna be a fun setup. So you guys make sure you're looking out for that event. Invites are going out ASAP. So actually as we, release this podcast episode. You may have it sitting in your inbox right now, so be sure to check it out. And then of course, we can't not talk about the final showstopper on Thursday when all the festivities come to the end on February 19th from five to 7:30 PM and that's the IBS closing concert. Now, Rick, have you ever attended IBS closing concert?

Rick Baldonado 24:12

I have, but the last few years the tickets have sold out and sold out and not been able to go. So that was unfortunate.

Anya Chrisanthon 24:22

Yeah, so I imagine the tickets are also sold out,

Rick Baldonado 24:26

I think are sold

Anya Chrisanthon 24:27

out. So I, I, I wish I could tell you to go check it out, but. You know, check it out and see. You can stand

Rick Baldonado 24:34

within ear, you know, listening distance. Right. Meet. Would that work? Or, you know, maybe,

Anya Chrisanthon 24:38

maybe I, I, I mean, yeah. I've never made it personally to the closing concert, just because. I'm always there. Well, at least for the last few years, I'm always there a week before, at least few days before. Yeah. Because I'm involved with NAHB. Yeah. And so NAHB has their leadership meetings before IBS starts. So for example, this year I'm the chair for the young professionals and we're gonna be meeting before the show starts to discuss some business. So I feel like my week just. Starts earlier and stretches on. So usually by Thursday I'm like, all right people, I am ready to go home. So as soon as I can get outta there, especially when the show's in Vegas, you know? Yeah. It's challenging to fly back for me to the East coast. Timing wise, and I, every year, as much as I enjoy the show, I mean, it's just. So much goes on. I always feel like I need to spend about a week in a white padded room afterwards.

Rick Baldonado 25:45

Yeah, yeah. No, you, yeah, no, it's like, uh, for, you know, industry veterans, these events, you definitely gotta get yourself up and ready for'em and it can be exhausting. But it's rewarding at the same time.

Anya Chrisanthon 25:57

Yes. Right. That's why there is a reason why we only do it once a year, right?

Rick Baldonado 26:01

Yes.

Anya Chrisanthon 26:02

That kind of event, for sure. Yes. So yes, you guys, I strongly encourage you if you have not been to IBS before Orlando, it's a great venue. I mean, again, obviously, I'm gonna be honest here, I prefer. Vegas over Orlando, but this is the last year where they're doing it in Orlando because we've just simply outgrew Orlando. It can't handle the capacity. There's too many of us that show up and, and swarm. So, but if you've never been. Or if you're thinking, should I go? Should I not? I encourage you to go and check it out. Mm-hmm. We talked about so many different events. We didn't even mention, the, bookstore, all the things that they have. So you guys, when you're gonna be at the floor show, where all the expos happening, NHB is gonna have their own big booth set up. And usually right next to that, they're gonna have a bookstore set up where some of your favorite authors. From our industry. They published their books through NAHB all about, relevant topics directly for our industry. So you can check that out as well. I wanted to make sure we plugged that in. Anything else that we didn't talk about today? What, yeah, here's

Rick Baldonado 27:17

here. So anybody going, especially if you have not been there before to an event and you're with somebody like, as an example, obviously just, whether it's you on you or myself, you're with somebody that hasn't been there for. And you're walking around, you're meeting people, make the introductions to them, introduce those people to that have never been through to your friends and your colleagues and your business partners and so forth. And that's how our industry grows. That's how we all grow. And that's super important because at some point in everybody's career, you were that new person, you were that young person, and you're feeling yourself around. So step up, help out and make a difference. And that's how you can do it, at an event like this. Or could be your, local builder, H-B-A-B-I-A event or whatever that may be. But this is a real great way to show somebody and that's got stars in their eyes and make it a fantastic experience. So,

Anya Chrisanthon 28:08

absolutely. I remember the first IBSI came to, it was just such an overwhelming experience. Mm-hmm. And I knew a lot of people already at that point. I feel like. Yeah. But yeah, if you're coming in brand new, so help that person out. If you see somebody sitting by themselves having lunch. Go and introduce yourselves. You never know who you're going to meet, especially at this event because it's international. So you literally could meet people from all over the world. And of course, I love spending some time at the expo. I mean, mm-hmm. You see some of the coolest. Products for our industry. I mean, I remember last year they had like some crazy toilets. Like, I mean, the stuff that they have there is literally insane, right? Like from toilets to insulation, to siding like you can. And those aren't, and

Rick Baldonado 29:00

those aren't resting areas by the way, right? Just make that clear. Right. You don't just don't hang out, charge your phone.

Anya Chrisanthon 29:07

Yes. Actually, I think last year they introduced. The sensory room, where you know, if you are feeling overwhelmed, you can actually go and hang out in this room. So I don't know if they're gonna have it this year in Orlando or not, but I thought it was a great idea. Great concept. If you need a little time off and you feel a little overwhelmed, and of course one of the best things about Orlando. Is that even though it's February, it's gonna be beautiful outside and the show is not only contained to the inside of the convention center. It actually spills out to the outside, into the village IBS Village. So Rick, have you spent some time exploring the Village before? Yeah,

Rick Baldonado 29:51

that's actually pretty cool because then you get to see some, some, site built, product that's out there. There's, a lot of the modular, the A DU partners in our industry, they're usually out there. Showing new materials, different ways of doing construction. Could be hardscapes and all that stuff. But yeah, that's a really great way to see stuff that we're not able to do within the actual convention center themselves. And definitely make sure you take some time out and go check that out because there's some really cool things to see. So.

Anya Chrisanthon 30:16

Yeah, it's nice to sneak out, when you know, you feel a little overwhelmed, go outside, explore some of those things. They, they'll have food trucks out there. Usually, a lot of vendors will set up like outdoor games. So it's a really, really cool experience. And again, it'd be in Orlando. Hopefully the weather is gonna be nice. I mean, I think last. Time we were in Orlando. I remember it was like crazy rain or something came through.

Rick Baldonado 30:40

Yeah,

Anya Chrisanthon 30:40

I remember I was, I was standing on the side of the road waiting for my uber, completely soaking wet. So hopefully it's not gonna be the case this year. I'm looking forward to some sunshine. I'll be ready for it right in February. So yeah, definitely, make sure you have that on your list. And, one of the other things I'd recommend is you can also buy tickets to tour the new American home, which is

Rick Baldonado 31:06

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's really cool. This

Anya Chrisanthon 31:06

home that they build every single year to showcase the latest and greatest. And this year, this house is over nine. Thousand square feet. So I'm going on Monday, before the show starts to tour that I can't wait to see it. And I'm sure you guys, I will be sharing it all as I mm-hmm. Go through it. But yeah, it'll be really, really exciting. Let's see. Anything else that we didn't talk about that we should bring up at this point? What do you think? Or do we cover it? Just have fun.

Rick Baldonado 31:38

E enjoy, enjoy your, enjoy your trip out there. Have fun. Uh,'cause that's the goal. And, and learn as much as you can. Meet as many people as you can, and make sure you give yourself plenty of time to get to the.

Anya Chrisanthon 31:51

Yes. Or get anywhere in Orlando or get

Rick Baldonado 31:54

anywhere. Yeah, exactly Right.

Anya Chrisanthon 31:56

Yeah, that's, that's definitely a challenge in Orlando. So just transportation could be a little tricky. So make sure you plan accordingly. Uh, bring lots of outfits, comfortable shoes. And remember you're going from day to nighttime. If you think like, oh, this show is from. You know, nine to five, like, no, it's gonna continue into the wee hours of the night. I don't know if it's gonna be as crazy as it normally is in Las Vegas.'cause in Las Vegas, let's be honest, the party never stops. But yeah, you're going from one place to the next, to the next, to the next. So make sure you are. Maybe creative with your outfits that you can take from day to nighttime. So, you don't have to pack five different suitcases. But yeah, I can't wait. You guys, again, I will link up all the information in the show notes. I'll highlight our educational sessions there. Of course, the best part I'm looking forward to is the party, the homes.com party on Wednesday. February 18th from seven to 10 at PBR Orlando. So you guys don't miss that one. Look for an invitation in your mailbox, this week, and we hope to see you there.

Rick Baldonado 33:10

Cool. Thank you Anya.

Anya Chrisanthon 33:12

Thank you for joining me for this, Rick. I appreciate it and I will see you in Orlando. Bye.

Rick Baldonado 33:20

We'll be there.