#001 Monterey: Learning about the Monterey Peninsula While PCSing to NPS with Jan Leasure

The Ultimate Guide to Monterey Living for Military Officers

Host: Grant Vermeer
Guest: Jan Leasure

This episode of the USNA Property Network Podcast, sponsored by the Vermeer Group, features a detailed exploration of the benefits and tailored real estate advice for Navy and Marine Corps officers relocating to the Monterey Peninsula. With insights from Jan Leasure, a seasoned property manager and longtime resident. 

Listeners are guided through the essentials of finding a new home near military bases, particularly for those PCSing to the Naval Postgraduate School. The discussion encompasses a broad range of topics including a comprehensive overview of the neighborhoods, rental markets, real estate investment opportunities, and the unique lifestyle and recreational activities Monterey has to offer. 

Jan's extensive experience not only as a property manager but also as a military spouse provides valuable perspectives on the area's growth, development, and the inherent advantages of living on the peninsula. From golfing and kayaking to enjoying the local wine scene and breathtaking views, this episode serves as a must-listen for officers and their families making the move to Monterey.

00:00 Welcome to the USNA Property Network Podcast

01:31 Introducing Jan Leisure: Monterey's Real Estate Expert

03:36 A Deep Dive into Monterey's Rental Market

06:32 Exploring Monterey: A Guide to Living and Leisure

21:34 Investing in Monterey Real Estate: Insights and Opportunities

34:28 Monterey's Hidden Gems: Local Recommendations

39:05 Final Thoughts and Contact Information

The Vermeer Group matches military families with real estate teams that we personally trust across the nation.

As a military spouse, I've learned something crucial about building a sustainable business: geography can't be my limitation. Instead of trying to be the realtor in every new market, I became the guide who connects military families with the best local experts wherever they're headed.

Please reach out if you have any questions at all or I can help connect you to trusted real estate professionals nationwide. I get calls, texts and emails everyday from families just like yours, looking for help on making their move and buying/selling their home - and I absolutely love it!

Connect with Grant on Linkedin or contact him:
📲 Call/Text Direct at (650) 282-1964
📲 Email: grant@thevermeergroup.com
eXp Realty, LLC | TREC License #769356

Transcript

Jan Leasure with Grant Vermeer on the USNA Property Network Podcast 

Grant Vermeer: [00:00:00] Welcome to the USNA Property Network Podcast powered by the Vermeer Group. The USNA Property Network Podcast educates military officers on the neighborhoods surrounding the military bases in which they could PCS. Our mission is to provide genuine, authentic, informal conversation that's going to help Navy and Marine Corps officers start their research into their new home.

This podcast is made possible thanks to the sponsorship of the Vermeer Group. Vermeer Group is a residential real estate team that specializes in helping Naval Academy graduates and other select clientele move to both Monterey and San Diego, California. If you have any real estate questions at all, please reach out to me directly at grantatthevermeergroup.

com. Hey,

today we're lucky enough to be joined by a long time property manager and a long [00:01:00] time resident in the Monterey Peninsula area. She was a long time school teacher in the area and just knows this place. Like the back of our hand. So I'm really excited. If you're looking for an overview of the Monterey peninsula from 40 years ago to today, how it's grown, how it's expanded, how it's changed and learn a little bit about all the surrounding cities and areas around the Naval postgraduate school, then this episode's for you.

Take a listen and feel free to reach out to me at any time. Grant, the Vermeer group. com. I'd love to answer any questions, learn about your situation and see how I can help. Enjoy. All right. Hey, everyone, and welcome to the USNA Property Network podcast. Today, we're joined by Jan Leisure, who is a Monterey expert.

She's run an amazing and extremely successful property management company in Monterey, has been living in the Monterey area for a long time, and has agreed to just come on and share her knowledge of the area. So, That way we can have a really high level overview of the Monterey County area and areas that you may want to live in if you're moving to the Naval Postgraduate School.

So first of all, [00:02:00] Jan, thank you so much for taking the time to join us today. I really, really appreciate you coming. 

Jan Leasure: You're most welcome. Thanks for having me. I love being an ambassador of Monterey. 

Grant Vermeer: Amazing. And so just again, I gave a brief intro, but if you don't mind, just give it a little bit of context about you and your life in Monterey and what you've done personally and professionally and kind of What gives you this credibility to be a great ambassador for Monterey?

Jan Leasure: Well, I came to Monterey in 1977 with my husband who came as a military personnel. And, um, this was his last tour before he got out. So I had the fantastic opportunity to stay here. And I was so glad I did because when I saw the Monterey peninsula from highway one, as we came down the coast road. And I looked at the peninsula and that glistening water.

I just thought, Oh my gosh, I've died and gone to heaven. This is, this is amazing. So I [00:03:00] knew I didn't want to go anywhere else. And we never went anywhere else. This is great. 

Grant Vermeer: Yeah. And just for, because you have a military audience, what branch of the military was your husband in? And was he stationed at Fort Ord?

Was that was. Yes. Yes. 

Jan Leasure: He was with the 7th Infantry Division at Fort Ord when they were here. 

Grant Vermeer: Amazing. Well, thank you for his service. And thank you for your service as well, again, for all the military spouses that are in here. We know how difficult that life can be. And as someone who was military and is now in a relationship with a lovely young woman in the military, I get to experience kind of that significant other lifestyle.

Yes. Very good. Appreciate it. And amazing. So again, kind of mentioned that you run a company called Monterey Rentals as well. Do you mind just giving a little bit of information on the company itself, Monterey Rentals, a rundown of it and how you started it? What got you started in the real estate business?

Jan Leasure: Well, it was totally an accident. I was trained in college as a teacher and I was a high school and college teacher here [00:04:00] locally for a number of years. And I discovered that I could rent my house when I wasn't working and 

Grant Vermeer: sure 

Jan Leasure: on a teacher's salary. That's a great way to pay for a vacation. So I did that not only for myself, but I started doing it for other teachers.

And pretty soon I was in the rental business and I said, wow, I'm busy. So I had to stop teaching and devote full time to the business, which I did. And it grew exponentially. Once I stopped teaching, it eventually grew to about, we were managing about 550 properties. We have since scaled that back a little bit.

We manage about 400 now and we have a team of 10 people who do that. We manage both short term and long term properties. About 25 percent of our properties are short term rentals and about 75 percent are long term rentals. 

Grant Vermeer: [00:05:00] Amazing. And you have some military influence on your staff and on your team as well.

I 

Jan Leasure: do. My most recent hire is a property manager who detached from the Navy in, let me see, that would be early 2000, 2020. And I had said to him, if you ever decide that you are going to get out of the Navy and you want to come to work here, I would love to have you. And so he did and I did and here we are now.

So he has a great understanding of the challenges of renting and buying property when you're in the military, what it's like to be stationed here and then to leave and have to leave property in the hands of someone else. 

Grant Vermeer: Yeah. No, amazing. And, uh, we really appreciate that. And it's, it's always funny because again, we'll post this in the, the Naval Academy property network group, the military [00:06:00] fraternity, especially the Navy fraternity is really strong.

So to have that and have that influence on your staff as well, again, it just lets me know how amazing of a person you are and a business owner. You are that, you know, you had this person who you worked with previously brought on to then work for you and hired them. And that's really special. So we love that.

Yeah. And. Really appreciate you taking the time just to give us a quick rundown on Monterey Reynolds and we'll jump a little bit more back into that kind of later in the episode. But I do want to make this for somebody who's listening, who's not even sure about housing just yet, but is kind of interested in just learning about the area.

Right. And so I want to shift this conversation early on a little bit about the areas that surround the Naval Postgraduate School. So we'll kind of run through each of them a little bit and I'd be, I'd love to hear your thoughts and some of the cities in specific, but I'd love to start out of, do you mind just giving us a quick rundown of the cities that surround the Naval Postgraduate School?

Some of the things within maybe a 20 to 30 minute radius of Monterey, downtown Monterey. 

Jan Leasure: First of [00:07:00] all, the Naval Postgraduate School is located in the city limits of Monterey. Monterey is a small town by any measure. It's about 30, 000 people and the other cities on the peninsula are even smaller. So, no matter where the service member decides to live, if it's on the peninsula, it will be a very small town experience.

Now, some people do choose to live in Salinas, which is about 18 miles from the peninsula, and that's about 160, 000 people. So you get a little bit more of a city experience in Salinas, but I do highly recommend that if. You are coming to the Monterey Peninsula to really get the, the feel and the taste of being on the peninsula to try to find housing on the peninsula proper in one of the peninsula cities, because it's so [00:08:00] wonderful to just have access to everything the peninsula offers most of all the scenic beauty.

That you will enjoy every single day coming and going from work. I purposefully drive on the coast to drive from my house to my office, which is only about 10 minutes, but I just love looking at the views every single day. 

Grant Vermeer: Sorry, I was just give a quick, just to speak to the beauty of Monterey, kind of following up on that is I had a conversation with a friend.

He's like, yeah, when I was living, he lived in Pacific Grove. He was like, when I lived in Pacific Grove, when I would step out of my front door. There'd be people painting the view of what I lived on a daily basis, right? He's like, and that's when it really hit me. Like, I'm really living in, in like a paradise right now where people really want to make arts of my current living situation.

Right. 

Jan Leasure: And it's rare that if somebody drives along the coast there between Pacific Grove and Monterey, it's [00:09:00] rare not to see somebody painting. 

Grant Vermeer: Yeah. No, absolutely. And it's, it's just, it really, it just. We can, it's such a, it gives kind of an old, almost an older small town vibe and just this beautiful coastal city.

But there's still much, so much fun and attraction down in Cannery Row and all these different areas. It's just, it really is a beautiful area. And with your time in Monterey again, you said you moved there back in around in the late 1970s, was that correctly? How have you seen the Monterey area develop and grow over your time in Monterey?

What are some of the things that have stayed true and, you know, not changed? And then what things have developed or evolved? Well, 

Jan Leasure: certainly it is, you still have the ability to take a walk along the coast to Fisherman's Wharf and to stop in at any number of restaurants on the wharf and have a bowl of clam chowder.

And that is, that hasn't changed in all these years. [00:10:00] But I think certainly there are more people, there's more traffic. Um, it's harder to park, I guess, but still you can walk along the scenic trail, the recreational trail that runs along the ocean to get where you want to go or just to enjoy the scenery.

The scenic trail runs from Pacific Grove to Castroville and that's a total of 18 miles one way. So, if you can imagine, you could ride your bicycle 36 miles and always be on the coast, how wonderful that is. But, yes, I think the things that have, things that have not changed particularly are the size of the communities.

I mean, they have grown some, but we don't have a lot of, Area to build, and we don't have water, so there has not been much development. We've seen a little bit of [00:11:00] development in the seaside and marina areas. And to get back to your original question that asked about the peninsula cities, the cities adjacent to Monterey would be Pacific Grove.

On one side, and Seaside and Delray Oaks on the other side, and then the old Fort Ord, which has become several things out there, most notably a university, and then north of that Marina, south of Pacific Grove, we have Pebble Beach and Carmel, and all of those cities together make up the peninsula. But we just have not seen, aside from development of existing lots, and remodeling of, Existing homes.

We have not seen much development. So, I mean, that's a good thing in a way from the standpoint that things haven't changed a lot. They have [00:12:00] changed from the standpoint of, I think, more things are available. For example. One of the things that I've been involved with in part of my real estate career is rehabbing and flipping houses, and I used to have to drive a very long way to go get supplies.

There was no Home Depot. That's different. And that's an improvement. 

Grant Vermeer: And just, just with that, you had kind of mentioned there's some development in the cities of, of seaside and a marina, especially around Bayonet Park course golf course up there. Do you, do you see that area kind of being in the path of progress?

Do you see a That development or excuse me, do you see that development bringing more retail, more industry, more things around it, or is it just a little bit of housing and kind of, yeah, do you see it in the past? Well, 

Jan Leasure: there is a hotel planned, you know, for that area and certainly any time a resort hotel [00:13:00] gets built, you know, there's some auxiliary.

Retail development and employment opportunities and things like that, but none of these areas that are being developed are very big. So, while it does have some impact, I think the impact is small. 

Grant Vermeer: Oh, absolutely. And do you mind talking a little bit about the university? You brought that up as well. Uh, just touching base on Cal State University, Monterey.

Yes. 

Jan Leasure: And one of the things that's happened there is that that has not grown as quickly or as large as it was initially planned. You know, the initial plans were to have 25, 000 students there pretty quick. And that, you know, has that didn't happen right away. You know, we had very small influx of students at the beginning and there are a few more every year.

But fortunately, again, you know, for the housing [00:14:00] situation and for the impact on the local infrastructure, it's growing. slowly, which is a good thing. And of course, we being a teacher, being an educator, I love the idea of having another educational institution here.

Grant Vermeer: Absolutely. And as much as we love those students, the students we really want to focus on today are the students at MPS and the Defense Language Institute. And just in your experience, one, have you worked with a lot of military individuals coming into the city? And then with that is. Where do you normally tend to see those individuals live, whether it's renting or buying?

Where do you see the trends kind of most common? 

Jan Leasure: We have worked with a lot of military folks coming to DLI and to the postgraduate school, and they oftentimes come to us initially as tenants, and then they may buy while they're here. We have many clients for whom we manage property currently that bought while they [00:15:00] were attached to either DLI or to NPS.

And they, some of them plan to come back here one day. Some of them are strictly investors that bought while they were here and are just enjoying that appreciation. But yes, we, we love our military clients. 

Grant Vermeer: I love that. And it's so amazing. And kind of when you see those militaries clients coming in, especially I would say the young single individual, uh, coming in maybe 26 to 30 years old, do you have a sense of where they would most likely start their search based on rent prices, in your opinion?

Do you see the majority of young single individuals going into, into Seaside, into Marina, or are they able to afford rents kind of in the Pacific Grove, Monterey proper areas? And then with that, kind of along those lines of questions is, what are the general rents in some of these different areas along the peninsula?

Jan Leasure: The rents span a wide range. So [00:16:00] fortunately, because they do span such a wide range, Then that does make things affordable for, um, people who come in of all ranks. So they are able to afford to be in Monterey and Pacific Grove. There are some very nice areas in Seaside and Marina that they may want to select as well.

And that doesn't take very long to get to the NPS or to DLI, but I see a lot of the DLI folks living in. Monterey and Pacific Grove within walking distance or biking distance of DLI. And the same for the postgraduate school. A lot of people like to ride their bikes to the postgrad, so they can do that if they live in Monterey or even in Pacific Grove because of that great recreational trail that runs along the ocean.

Grant Vermeer: Sure, absolutely. It's funny that you mentioned that again. I had a conversation with my friend who lived in Pacific Grove. That's what he did every day. Rode his bike to work. He was like, I don't want to deal with anything else. He's, [00:17:00] I ride my boat, ride my bike along that route and show up to, show up to work.

Well, 

Jan Leasure: and my office is located down in the Cannery Row area and I live not far from the postgraduate school. So I have oftentimes ridden my bike from my house to the office. Oh, 

Grant Vermeer: it's, it's beautiful. 

Jan Leasure: It is beautiful. 

Grant Vermeer: For all the people listening, if you thought you were going to drive, I highly encourage getting a little beach cruiser or some kind of bike and take advantage of those opportunities because it really is kind of once, especially no shade to the rest of the military locations.

Probably not riding your bike to work at North in Norfolk, Virginia, right? Maybe Pearl Harbor, but there's really no place like Monterey, right. To take it. 

Jan Leasure: Well, here again, you know, because Monterey is a small town, then, you know, we, we can do those things. We can ride our bikes through town and not be too.

Endangered by the traffic and by crazy [00:18:00] drivers and things like that. So in order to get to the trail, it's easy to, to just ride through, through town or through some residential areas. 

Grant Vermeer: Absolutely. And then just to talk, since we're kind of. I'm joking about the commute to school. We've mentioned some of the schools, uh, or the cities on the peninsula.

Do you mind just telling us a little bit about general rough distances of, hey, if I lived in Seaside, it would likely take me ten minutes to get to downtown Monterey, versus if I lived in Marina, it may take me ten minutes. 20 minutes, depending if I'm, you know, in downtown Marine on the West coast, or if I'm in East Garrison, kind of more inland towards Salinas, we're really looking at the 20 to 25 minute range.

Do you just mind giving a scale? So when people are looking on Google maps, so they're looking on their Apple maps of, Oh, this is where this place is. This is kind of generally what the commute is and the time it takes to get from city to city. Yeah, so 

Jan Leasure: if you live anywhere in Monterey, you'll be at the postgraduate school in about five minutes.

It's just right there. And Pacific Grove [00:19:00] is not very much longer. It'll take you maybe seven or eight minutes to get to Pacific Grove to the postgraduate school. Seaside, again, depending on where you live in Seaside, probably less than ten minutes. And in Marina, maybe another five minutes or so. Now, the thing that we have to take into consideration is what time of day you're going, because if you are going to come from Marina, then the morning commute traffic is Is a little bit of a crunch.

So you may want to, again, that might be an argument for riding your bike because you could probably ride your bike about as fast as you can drive there if it's at seven or eight in the morning. 

Grant Vermeer: No, 100%, 100%. And thank you for that. Because I think in the military, military perspective, we're just so used to an immense amount of base traffic that I think people are kind of accepting that [00:20:00] fact, but this is one of these amazing opportunities where if you do choose to live in Monterey or seaside or Pacific Grove, you can really cut that out.

And there are other commute opportunities. And again, talking to the people listening. The base traffic isn't horrible either, right? There's just, it's just a smaller number of people. There aren't hundreds of thousands or tens of thousands of people stationed at the Naval Postgraduate School. Right, so getting onto base, again, peak traffic hours, is there going to be some traffic?

Absolutely. Right, it's, it's the reality of it. But I also think it's not something that's just like, Oh, man, you know, I have to to get on the pier in Norfolk. I need to leave two hours early. You're not having that kind of 

Jan Leasure: No, it's not. So when I leave my house in the morning, and maybe if it's right at nine o'clock, when when people are going to work on the base, I come by the entrance to the base to go to my office.

And so I will see traffic backed up right there, maybe [00:21:00] seven or eight cars. And so that's a traffic jam in Monterey. 

Grant Vermeer: Uh, everything. It is. Yes. Everything is. Amazing. Well, well, thank you so much. And for everyone listening here too, I will be coming out and having lots of conversations with military members who have chosen to live in each of these specific communities.

So if there is a place that you want to learn a little bit more about in terms of. Hey, what's life like here? What's the kind of the vibe of the city or the atmosphere of the city? We'll have a lot more episodes coming out about that. So really what I want to take advantage of with Jan here, which again, I'm so appreciative of you being here is talking just a little bit about the rental market because we do have a lot of military members who may be interested in buying homes.

There are a lot of military members who are using their VA loan and other type of military benefits. as a tool for real estate investment as well and being able to purchase properties. And kind of the number one question is, Hey, [00:22:00] when I move two years from now, or I move three years from now, What am I going to do with my home?

Right. And so if you don't mind, I would love to turn it over to you to talk a little bit about the rental market and you kind of mentioned earlier short term rentals, um, that you manage those, but I know it's not as simple as just turning it into a short term rental in Monterey County and then the midterm rental market and the long term rental market.

Jan Leasure: Yeah. So if you buy something here. Then, whether you're going to then want to rent it as a short term, a mid term, or a long term rental is going to depend on a couple of things. One is, do you have any interest in coming back and forth to use the property from time to time? If so, then the short term or the mid term rentals.

Make good sense. It allows you to do that. On the other hand, the long term rental situation may put the most net income in your pocket, depending on where the property is located and how it can be rented. So, each [00:23:00] one of those situations is a conversation that we need to have to apply to a specific property once you've located the property you want to buy.

Or if you're buying with a particular type of rental in mind, then we would help you look for a property that can be utilized in the way you want. But rents here in general are some of the highest in the country. And so the thing to know is, and of course, so are the purchase prices. The thing to know is that as the purchase price increases, so does the rent, but not at the same rate.

So in other words, we have the purchase price increasing and the rent is increasing, but as the purchase price gets higher. The gap between what it costs to own and what it costs to rent gets wider and wider. So as far as looking at something that's going to cash flow [00:24:00] the best, the lower price properties are going to be your best bet.

Cashflow situation. 

Grant Vermeer: Absolutely. And just a brief generalization where normally would you recommend people look in this area for some of the lower price points on some of that? 

Jan Leasure: Well, certainly condominiums are a good choice because those purchase prices tend to be lower. You also have to consider of course that there's an HOA fee every month and then you have to take into consideration how much is that, how does the rent that I can get compare to the cost of owning that.

There are also some small single family homes that are very good buys. In Monterey, Pacific Grove, Seaside, Marina, all of those communities, uh, Pebble Beach and Carmel tend to be higher priced, and the prices there are going to be higher per square foot, so you're going to get less house for the amount of money, but as far as [00:25:00] investment goes.

Anything on the Monterey peninsula is going to appreciate. Well, 

Grant Vermeer: sure. Absolutely. And you've experienced that because you yourself are an investor in. I am. Yes. 

Jan Leasure: Um, I started investing in this area in gosh, about 1980 and, um, it has been nothing but wonderful, even, even in 2008 when we had a little downturn, um, the proper to use that.

Temporarily law temporarily lost value, uh, recovered quickly, and the temporary loss in value was not nearly what some other areas in the country experienced. So overall, mm-Hmm, , the properties have done extremely well. Um, I often think about. What I thought was one of my worst investments. Um, in 1989, [00:26:00] I, uh, bought a property for 180, 000, uh, but I sold it last year for 840, 000, so it wasn't too bad, 

Grant Vermeer: not bad, not too bad.

Not the worst investment of all time. That, and that's amazing. And I think, I think it's really interesting to Point to touch on, which we mentioned a little bit earlier, which is that there's not a ton of room for development in my right, which means again, there's there's some construction going on in the north end of Seaside and into Marina, and that's kind of like the last place there really is going to be.

Development, right? Everything in Monterey, everything in Pacific Grove, the inventory is going to be fixed. Will there be some, some, uh, renovations and flips? Sure. But there's not going to be large scale development. And so, you know, if you have an opportunity to get into the market in Monterey, in the Monterey County area and around the peninsula, it could be a great idea because as we mentioned, inventory is going to be fixed for, for a long time.[00:27:00] 

And obviously we may be biased as people who love Northern California. But I think the demand of people who want to be in the area is going to stay high is going to stay high. It 

Jan Leasure: certainly has stayed high over the 40 plus years that I've been here. I don't see the demand diminishing at all. And certainly what happened during the pandemic was a very good example of that because we saw.

Um, when people could not go to work or could not put their children in school, we saw people from cities, especially in northern and southern California block to the Monterey Peninsula when they could work from anywhere they want or educate their kids from anywhere they wanted, they wanted to be here and so it's.

You know, it's Econ 101. It's the laws of supply and demand that tell us that when the supply is fixed and the demand increases, it's going to [00:28:00] drive the prices up. And that's exactly what's happened over the decades. 

Grant Vermeer: 100%. 100%. Uh, that's amazing. And I, I think over time, these conversations will continue between the two of us on a platform like this and kind of make episodes really directed towards people who are interested in investment, um, in the Monterey County area.

But I do want to just bring it a little bit back for just the average listener who may be trying to just learn a little bit about the area. And so I kind of want to share some either fun stories or recommendations of, you know, the area. And so what I'll start off is back to some non real estate related things are trips because in what people will discover at the Naval Postgraduate School is you're likely going to class three days a week in most programs.

Some programs you may have four or five days, but majority of the time you have a lot of three day weekends. And there are a lot of opportunities to take some amazing weekend getaways or trips or different things. And so in your experience, what are some amazing areas or locations or activities that you'd recommend for people?

[00:29:00] Who are coming to the area for the first time and want to get a sense of truly the beauty of Monterey County. 

Jan Leasure: Well, and, and of Northern California, too. You know, Monterey County and Northern California is all so diverse and so beautiful that there are so many different things to do. Monterey County is a huge community.

Wine area and so you shouldn't miss the wine tasting here in Monterey County, but you may want to also go to the Napa Valley to do it. And so do both and then compare and see what you like. And another thing that we think about, we start to think about now as. Winter is approaching as we start to think about how much snow there is in the Sierras.

So we're watching closely the ski cams to see when we can start skiing at Lake Tahoe and the other surrounding areas. And, um, the skiing is great fun. It is wet skiing compared [00:30:00] to, uh, the Rockies. And so if you, Are looking for a powder skiing. That's not it, but it is, it is some of the most scenic beauty that you've ever seen.

And so sitting up on that chairlift at the top of heavenly Valley, looking down on Lake Tahoe is some spectacular sites. 

Grant Vermeer: Yes. That was, that was our family's vacation growing up. So we had a cabin in Tahoe. Uh, And it was my, I have the fondest of memories and we still have to this day, if we were to go downstairs in this house right now, we still have bowls and plates that have the Vermeer Lodge and all the Christmas painting.

And it looks like it belongs in a cabin and, uh, no, it, it, it is. And it's amazing. And again, for me being from the Silicon Valley, obviously I'd recommend for a lot of people to go into the city of San Francisco and explore San Francisco and all the amazing things that are there too. But like you mentioned.

[00:31:00] Wine country, Paso Robles down to the south, the Sonoma and Napa Valleys. Amazing, right? There's just so many great opportunities. Big Sur is only about, you know, less than an hour away from where you would be in on the peninsula. Don't forget Big 

Jan Leasure: Sur and also Yosemite. It's, you know, some additional scenic beauty.

And, um, gosh, I, one of the things I love to do, that's just a few minutes away, maybe like 15 or 20 minutes is to go to Moss Landing and to kayak on the Elkhorn Slough. It's so wonderful and there's so much wildlife there and some great restaurants there at Moss Landing right on the water. So you could have a kayak trip in the morning and then eat lunch and come back and your day is not even used up.

I would also, um, encourage people while you're here to join the Monterey Bay Aquarium. If you become a member, you can [00:32:00] use the members entrance of the aquarium anytime without standing in line. And it's, um, a great way to also bring your guests because you are on the Monterey peninsula. And so you're going to have some guests, people will come to visit you 

Grant Vermeer: guaranteed.

People are going to want to visit you. 

Jan Leasure: So with your membership, you'll have some guest passes and you can bring them to the aquarium. One of my favorite things to do after a long, stressful day. Is to go, um, maybe at five o'clock, maybe an hour before the aquarium is going to close. Hardly anybody is there and just walk through and look at the exhibits.

And it's so calming and relaxing to just look at the beauty of what's right there in the bay. It's amazing. So I would say that would be one thing I would urge. People to do when you get here is to get that aquarium membership. 

Grant Vermeer: Listen, take, take advantage of that. [00:33:00] Cause it really is amazing. And it's so fun.

I never did that because I haven't. Fully lived out there, but I've been to the Monterey Bay Aquarium a couple times, and it's spectacular. It's a, it really 

Jan Leasure: is. And don't forget the golf. This is a great golf area. So for anybody who loves to play golf, there's so many golf opportunities here. Some are very reasonable and some are very expensive, but while you're here, you should do it all.

The Monterey Pines golf course has special rates for the military members and for retired military, so don't miss that. It's a very well maintained course, very beautiful, and it's very close to the postgraduate school. You also have Pacific Grove and Laguna Seca, which are also very, very affordable. And if you get a Duke's membership at the Del Monte golf course, which is also close to the postgraduate school, you, your Duke's membership gives you an opportunity to have reduced rates at some of the pebble beach [00:34:00] courses, including Spanish Bay and Spyglass.

So there's some opportunity there to save a few bucks and still be able to say that you played those courses. 

Grant Vermeer: And you're actually going to have time. You actually have time for all my and working hard all the time. You're going back to school. Obviously you're going to have to study and do well, but you're going to have time, you're going to have free time.

And so, uh, highly recommend taking advantage of the golf opportunities as well. And one, one thing I also want to ask about is someone who's been in the area for a long time. Do you have any hidden guests or restaurants, locations, or things that you would highly recommend? Like when people come into town, like they need to go.

Eat at this place or, you know, whatever the case. 

Jan Leasure: You know, one of the restaurants that is loved by locals and tourists alike is right on Alvarado street in downtown Monterey. And that is Rosines and Rosines is a family run restaurant that has, uh, Wide variety of foods on the menu and they [00:35:00] gosh, I'm not even sure how long they've been in business, but they've been there as long as I was here.

So definitely try. Uh, you may have seen an episode of guy Fiori's. Um, show on TV and he went there one time and met with the owner and tried her lasagna. He thought it was amazing. There are lots of great foods there and they have the most amazing desserts that you've ever seen. And of course the desserts are right as you walk in the door in a display case.

So when you. Get there and you're waiting for your table. You have an opportunity to plan for what you want for dessert. 

Grant Vermeer: Yeah. Amazing. Uh, it sounds, that sounds delicious. 

Jan Leasure: I would say that would be one. Now, another thing that. Most people might not know that they could do is to pack a picnic and to [00:36:00] go into Pebble Beach over towards Spanish Bay and right by the beach at Spanish Bay.

There's a big parking lot. So there's plenty of parking. There's some picnic tables over there and you can sit and have a picnic out there. And it doesn't cost anything. So 

Grant Vermeer: that's phenomenal. I didn't know that I would have, I would have assumed to even be, yeah. Walk close to Pebble Beach. Hands off. But I mean, those are some of the most, that's what makes part of that course is so amazing or the, the views over the cliffs, right.

And to see that. And so, um, what an amazing opportunity just to go out there. That's a great, that's a 

Jan Leasure: good one. Um, if you like to hike, there are numerous hiking trails. All over Monterey County. Some of the ones that I like the best are at Palo Corona Park, which is, um, just south of the, uh, south of Carmel, just a little bit at Monastery Beach, and the views from the top of that hike are spectacular.

I [00:37:00] also like Jack's Peak, which is, again, close to the postgraduate school. And, um, the trails are well marked. You could go there for the first time and find your way easily. So, I like both of those. Oh, one other thing that I forgot to say about the aquarium is that, um, you can, uh, you can ask the aquarium, you can sign up for Getting a text for unscheduled feeding times at the aquarium and, um, they will text you and say, you know, we're going to feed the otters in 20 minutes or whatever, and you can go there and see that without being in a crowd.

So that's kind of nice. 

Grant Vermeer: Amazing. Well, thank you so much for the hidden gems. Those are great ones for people to go and check out. And I would say just to kind of wrap this up and finalize this, if you were talking to a niece, nephew, son, or daughter, again, in their mid twenties that are moving to Monterey for the first time, what would you tell them?

What would you recommend to them that they should be [00:38:00] either researching or checking out or making sure that they're considering prior to moving? 

Jan Leasure: Well, I think it's, um, basically the thing that I mentioned earlier, and that is that there are lots of places. So for people coming to this area, there are lots of places that you can choose to live.

That are within a reasonably acceptable range to get to work every day. In other words, you could come from Salinas in about 30 minutes. You can come from other areas that might take you a little bit longer, such as Watsonville or Hollister. But I would so encourage you to try to live on the peninsula because you will certainly be able to take advantage of everything the peninsula has to offer if you are right here and it'll make such a difference.

Especially in the fact that you won't have much commute time, so you'll be close to work and you'll have lots of time to do [00:39:00] other things and lots of opportunity. So that would be the main thing I would tell them. 

Grant Vermeer: Amazing. Well, Jan, thank you so much for, for joining us and talking with us today. If anyone's watching, if you're getting ready to PCS to the Naval Postgraduate School, reach out to me.

If you have questions about renting or buying or just living situation in general, I'd be so happy to talk to you. And get you in touch with Jan, right? Especially if you're looking to rent a home and you're not sure you don't know anyone to move into a home directly. And you're kind of looking for help on the rental side, please reach out to me and I'll get you in touch with Jan to make sure that you're set up and squared away on your living situation to get ready to go.

And if you are someone who has purchased a house and you're looking to rent it out again, if you reach out to me, we'll get you in touch with Jan and her team over at Monterey rentals, because she is. By far, just as you can tell, just through this conversation, the sweetest, most professional, extremely high performing individual in our whole team.

And they do an amazing job on the property management side. So if you're interested in any of this, or you have any questions, feel free to reach out to me and Jan, thank you again so much [00:40:00] for taking the time to join us today. This is super great again, Monterey is not an extremely well known area because the military presence is lower compared to other locations.

So taking the time to explain to us a little bit about the peninsula was super helpful. Thank you so much. 

Jan Leasure: Thank you so much. It's been my pleasure. 

Grant Vermeer: Isn't Jan just the best? But in all seriousness, I hope you enjoyed the episode. I hope you learned something during this episode as well. And if you want me to put you in touch with Jan, or you're interested in learning about your rental options, or potentially renting your home, if you're an owner, let Please send me a message, grantathevermeregroup.

com, you can text me at 650 265 8121, I would love to be that resource to help you out and get you put in touch with Jan. So thank you so much for listening, I hope you enjoyed, and have a great day.