Work Hard, Play Hard, and Give Back - A Real Estate Podcast
Join Michael Litzner, Broker/Owner of Coldwell Banker American Homes, as he delves into the dynamic world of real estate. In each episode, Michael interviews industry experts to uncover insights, strategies, and trends shaping the business. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just starting, this podcast offers valuable knowledge and inspiration. Tune in to learn from the best in the business and discover how to work hard, play hard, and give back in the ever-evolving real estate industry.
Work Hard, Play Hard, and Give Back - A Real Estate Podcast
S2E4 - The Jims Team: A Father-Son Real Estate Duo in Northport
In this episode of Work Hard, Play Hard, and Give Back - A Real Estate Podcast, we sit down with Jim McKenna Sr. and Jim McKenna Jr., the dynamic father-son duo behind The Jims Team in Northport, NY.
With decades of combined experience, they share:
✅ How they built a thriving real estate business together
✅ The challenges and rewards of working as a family
✅ Their success in both residential resale and new construction
✅ The importance of client-first service and community involvement
✅ How giving back through organizations like Kiwanis and the American Legion has shaped their careers
Thank you for listening
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Welcome to the Work Hard, play Hard and Give Back a real estate podcast. I'm Mike Litzner, owner broker, coldwell Banker, american Homes, and here we are in the studio in Franklin Square at American Homes. Please remember to like and subscribe. We'd love to have you join our channel and please stay around for the drop the mic question at the end. We always have some fun and I have the pleasure of having the Jim's team Jim McKenna Sr and Jim McKenna Jr one of our top teams in real estate, let alone the Huntington Market area. So welcome to the show, jim's.
Speaker 2:Thank you, there we go.
Speaker 1:Excited to have you guys in here because, again, you guys bring a unique experience, generational experience as well as teamwork, which is obviously very important. So, jim Sr, why don't we just start with you? Sure, so how long you've been practicing real estate?
Speaker 3:In 1984, I worked for a design firm and I used to work with Centex Pulte US Home.
Speaker 1:New construction.
Speaker 3:Sales offices all right throughout the country, for all these major players, okay. And I used to work with Centex, pulte, us Home, new construction Sales offices all right, throughout the country, for all these major players, yeah, all right. Then the world ended if you were in real estate, yeah, okay. So then I went to a local brokerage little Adderley Buyers little one shop place, and I knew the owner, who was a member of the art club with me, and he goes come down here, I'll print you up some business cards, right? So my training was a business card and a phone all right and back and back of those days you had the Bible, all right.
Speaker 3:It was live it every week, with supplements coming in, all right. So that's how I got started back in getting licensed in 1984. So I've been doing it for a little while Just a couple years.
Speaker 4:All right, I got my license in college, okay.
Speaker 1:So what year was that?
Speaker 4:97 or 98. Okay, I was still in college and I worked with my dad during the summer. One of the reasons I got it was I also started work on the website which back then was Dial Up and we had one of the first websites on Long Island for real estate and Dad mentioned the name of the company was Adelaide Buyers. So we actually got a couple inquiries from Australia where they were looking to buy out in Adelaide and the Internet was that new I guess they didn't know that they were dialing internationally.
Speaker 4:But it just goes to show you where we start and kind of where we go.
Speaker 1:Now we know why they call it the World Wide Web. Yeah right, wwwwhat. That's a funny story for that.
Speaker 4:But yeah, we have one of the first websites on Long Island and that's because I was studying computers at Albany.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so did you stay for what? Four years?
Speaker 4:I actually did four and a half years, oh you're on the extended program.
Speaker 3:One of those super graduates, yeah exactly.
Speaker 1:I look at Jim Sr. I'm going ouch, no wonder you're still working, Still paying off those student loans.
Speaker 4:Definitely. I graduated in 99, and then came to work with Dad pretty much full-time since then, really Okay.
Speaker 1:Did you work as a team right away?
Speaker 4:or you worked in the same office as Dad. He was nice enough to bring me in as a team. But I'm also what? 22, 23 at that point? Yeah, I don't know if you can tell now, but I was very shy. I can tell I thought I needed to know everything about everything before I walked out with a customer which you should know some stuff, but don't hold yourself back getting out there. So I did all the back office stuff. I did the. You know the paperwork and the. You know different procedural stuff setting up. Yeah, what was stuff we still use today. You know the buying process hasn't changed that much.
Speaker 1:No, everything but the paper. I've been trying to retrain myself to call it documents. We need the documents, not the paperwork.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's still paperwork to me. I hear you, I hear you, but it's a mental adjustment.
Speaker 1:Trust me, I'm trying to change myself. But how long were you in it before you made your first sale, Jim, as like a solo? Yeah, but how long were you in it before you made?
Speaker 4:your first sale, jim, as like a solo, yeah, a lot of the stuff. So dad was the point at that point and you know I would do, I'd help him with the open houses or I'd be there for the inspections. It didn't have to be stuff like that. But I guess my first real sale was to my cousin, okay, in probably 2000, 2001. So it probably took me about, I'd say, about a year to go and then do a solo right, right, looking back seems like a really long time, but at the time it wasn't right I hear you.
Speaker 1:There's so many, so many changes over the years. You know from everything with technology, as you're saying, and social media, and just the way we communicate. The one constant that has not changed is the average age of a realtor was always 54 years old and outside of a little variation here we are 40 years later and it's still 54 years old. I'm like I'm finally above average.
Speaker 2:You'll find out Junior soon enough, you'll be above average one day too, god willing right.
Speaker 1:So, jim Junior, we're going to pivot here real quickly. So what's the biggest advantage and challenge working as a father-son duo?
Speaker 4:Well, I can only speak from our experience, and he is a saint.
Speaker 4:I've heard that before you know that my joke is 99% of the time. It's wonderful. It's because we compliment each other so well. Dad's a morning person, he's. I don't want to say the nitty gritty of it, but the backbone of it. I'm a little bit later. I deal now more with the buyers. I'm more up front with the listings. Dad jokes that I'm a chauff. Bit later I deal, you know, now more with the buyers. I'm more up front with the listings. Dad jokes that I'm a chauffeur now.
Speaker 2:I hope we go out on an appointment.
Speaker 4:But it's if it was anybody else. You know there's the love and the. I don't want to say forgiveness, but it's the. You know everybody's trying to do their best, right, and if something comes up we'll fix it. You know there's a challenge, we pivot, or if there's this or there's that and our personalities, I think, are just such that we're just easy to get along, Compliment each other. We both have a passion for it and we both want to do as best as we can for all of our clients.
Speaker 1:So it's not just compliment each other like you know who's the best looking Jim.
Speaker 4:You are no you are no you are.
Speaker 1:So let me go to Jim Sr real quickly. But we are a very strong customer first, yes, okay, client first, it's safe to say we both share the same philosophy.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and we don't chase dollars. Yes, all right, all right, I like that. Yes, and we can give you multiple examples. We had a gentleman last summer, all right, who wanted us to take a listing as super secret agents. Okay, yeah. So we told him no, that's not the best way, no, no, no, but they're the boss, they're the ones making the choices. So we did it. We had a number of offers, okay, and I'll turn it over to Jimmy, because he does all the negotiations now.
Speaker 1:Okay, does he? Yes, I step back. He learned from the best. Matter of fact, where's my wallet Hang?
Speaker 3:on.
Speaker 1:How'd you get that out of my pocket? That's some stiff negotiations there.
Speaker 4:So we ended up as Dad said. He wanted us basically to do it privately. So we listed it as an exclusive. Yeah, agents from our office, agents from other offices, cold Banker showed it. I personally showed it like five times over a weekend. We were listed at $679. We had a $660 offer. That was our own unrepresented buyer, so we would have had both sides of the 660. And he said what should I do? And I said please, please, let us bring it to market, let us do what we do, let me go out and really push this. So begrudgingly, he agreed the next week, same thing. We pushed it out. We do our normal, normal marketing plan. Come that Sunday after the open house we ended up with 12 more offers. There you go 750, all cash, wow. So we got a ninety thousand dollars more and we made half. But I sleep very well at night knowing that we were able to do that for our client.
Speaker 1:you know it's something interesting I've heard over the years. You know agents create these little sayings and it's like. You know buyers are liars. You know there's no loyalty in this business and you just hit on exactly what the root of the problem is, or the challenge is that buyers aren't liars. They don't always know what they need or want. So it's up to a good agent to get that out of them. And if they're not communicating their information, it's the agent's fault, not the consumer's fault. They don't know what they don't know. And, even more importantly, there is loyalty out there. You just have to earn it and what you just hit in is perfect. So I believe a trap certain agents fall into is that they chase the short-term dollars and the double deal and at the expense of going above and the double deal and at the expense of going above and beyond for the client at the end of the day. And when you go above and beyond that client, you kind of own that client for life.
Speaker 1:They're strong advocates, and that's always the easy business right, the referral business. And it happens by design, not by accident. So I commend you for nailing that and I think that just is the perfect snapshot to explain that to anyone in the audience who is in real estate and trying to build a referral business.
Speaker 4:For sure. The other thing that I take out of that and we might have to cut this out is that there are a lot of homeowners out there that said my house sold in a day.
Speaker 4:There are a lot of homeowners out there that said my house sold in a day and I got you know at or above asking or whatever it happens to be, and they're happy with that. My seller, uneducated, would have been happy with that 660. Right, he would have been very happy that we got that for him. And you know, using our knowledge of the market and you know, using that as an advantage, we're able to get that much more. Yeah, and they wouldn't have even realized that they would have been able to get that.
Speaker 1:But what you just hit on also is that, first of all, from a sales point, I've had people ask me about sales. And what about sales? And you sell people? No, actually, actually, one of the biggest things we have to sell people on is we have to save them from themselves right, yes, here you had somebody who's hiring a professional right and then not following your advice, very frustrated.
Speaker 1:Very well, yeah, and you proved the value of your advice was worth ninety thousand dollars. You know, and it gets frustrating right and tell me if I'm wrong on this like, sometimes you're competing with another broker and it's like, oh, they'll do it for less000,. You know, and it gets frustrating, right and tell me if I'm wrong on this Like, sometimes you're competing with another broker and it's like, oh, they'll do it for less yeah but you know, you don't want to be the guy who drives five miles out of the way to save five cents on a gallon of milk, right To how much did you burn in time and gas?
Speaker 1:right? And that's what they'll do Like try to sell. I saved some money, but I cost myself $90,000.
Speaker 2:That's a great lesson in there.
Speaker 1:Obviously, I appreciate you sharing that, because I think that's a wonderful lesson for anyone in our audience who's either a potential seller or even an agent who wants to learn how to do business like a professional. Great, great story. I know you guys as the Jim's team, right? Yes?
Speaker 4:There's a story here.
Speaker 1:How did you get to be the Jim's team?
Speaker 4:right? Yes, and there's a story here. How did you get to be the Jim's team? So we tried to market ourselves many different ways the McKenna team and Team McKenna and there's a Team McKenna I think it's teammckennacom out of Texas, that wasn't using the website, so we didn't want to do that. And there's another McKenna team on Long Island, so we had a listing and it was back when it took a little while to sell a listing. This is going back probably about 15 years ago, about 15 years. Different market right.
Speaker 4:So, we were helping them look for a house while we were trying to sell their house. So this little boy, aiden, who now I think has graduated high school to open houses, we would bring balloons. Dad had these huge coloring books that we would bring, so we would always bring him something and he would run over to us and he was so excited every time we came over. So it's probably about a month into our trying to sell this house that I went over by myself. He comes running over and he's just so disappointed he's like Mom, I thought you said the gyms were coming and my heart just sinks right.
Speaker 4:And I mean Dad's a lovable guy right so my heart sinks and he walks away and I go and I tell Dad the story. So about a week or two later he's over there without me. Same thing. He comes running over and he's disappointed that we're not both there.
Speaker 3:yeah, and he is what four he's four.
Speaker 4:Yeah, so it turns out the mom would say, hey, the gyms are coming, the gyms are coming. He'd get all excited and come over. So I don't know if we take give colleen the credit or a little aid in the credit for calling us the gyms right. I just thought that was it stuck it did, it stopped.
Speaker 1:so do you have the domain name? The gyms we do, is it the gymscom?
Speaker 4:it is yeah, team, uh the gymscom all right yeah all right. Awesome and Aiden wanted us to move in the new house which room is for the gyms we had been in all the showings when they're moving in. This little kid was the funniest kid. He wanted to know where we were and what room we were.
Speaker 1:We had when he gets out of college is one of two things here.
Speaker 2:You're either going to sell him his first house, or you're going to recruit him to the gyms team. It's the gyms and the aid team, right? So please watch right now. Call the gyms. They'll tell you how to get into real estate school. We'll get you hooked up with. It's the Jims and the 8-inch one, right? So please watch right now. Call the Jims, they'll tell you how to get into real estate school.
Speaker 1:We'll get you hooked up with Coldwell Banker American Homes, so I love that story. Let me pivot a little bit here. So you guys have had tremendous success in resale market of residential properties. But what's a difficult market to cut into, especially on Long Island because of the limited open land opportunities, is new construction. So you've also had success in that. So why don't you share what unique challenges and opportunities come with each path?
Speaker 4:It takes a certain amount of knowledge and then also the opportunity, right. So, dad, having you know knowledge with new construction through Pulte, and that helps. And then you know what got us the availability was our networking. Okay, so I happen to know the brother of one of the developers. Okay, we came in and we interviewed a whole bunch of different agents. Right, they were doing a 21-unit subdivision in Northport, okay, which is great. It's a onesie, it's probably a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, right, right. And what they did is they gave us three listings, okay, and said good luck. They gave another brokerage three listings and same thing, okay, so, and plus, everybody else out there in the world can now sell these things too, and we're also in competition with the builder, right, okay, okay, and we've been working on it since 2020. We all know what happened in 2020 right before the road was cut in, before any models were up, I was walking through the woods with a tree map. You know what a tree map is?
Speaker 2:No, being from New York. Is there a tree of them?
Speaker 1:That's all I know. T-r-e.
Speaker 4:So in one of the things of a subdivision they have to mark every tree. They mark and number every tree, okay. So you go of the things of a subdivision. They have to mark every tree, mark and number every tree, okay, okay. So you go around the tree 2,734 and you say, according to the survey and the tree map and our top, as we're looking at all these things, here's about where your property is going to start. Let's go walk 150 feet that way.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 4:Or actually 125. Walk 125 feet that way there's. Or actually 125. Walk 125 feet that way. There's where your property is going to end. And we walked to the back. So we ended up selling. We sold 14 in total of the 21.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's more than three right.
Speaker 4:Every time we sold one, we got another one, yeah, okay. Every time we sold one, we got another one, yeah, okay. Um, so we ended up selling like six or seven before the road was even in. Okay, so it was.
Speaker 3:It was a remarkable experience and have another realtor in competition with us, which we don't mind competition at all. Right, all right. But I kept saying to jimmy becausetor, you know, wasn't doing what he should be doing, okay, I said, just keep doing what you're doing. Yeah, that's it, let them do what they do, all right. Okay, and the builders realized the difference between the two shingles drastically. All right, and we ended up with all the listings from then on, because Jimmy and I'm a very proud father he would walk that property in the snow, in the rain, taking buyers out. This other agent would say, oh, I can't show the property. The builder would call Jimmy, this is so-and-so's buyer, can you show them the property? He said, yes, he didn't make a dime for it, but that's our client, our client's asking us to do something Going above and beyond, above and beyond and end of story. You know they're not on the project at all. Yeah, all right. So we just have to keep doing what we feel very strongly about. All right, client first, client first, client first.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Now, Client first. Client first, client first. Yeah, Now, one of the challenges is the length of time. You know, obviously you had COVID where this started from, but was it the building department? Building permits?
Speaker 4:Well, yeah, the town of Huntington shut down, okay.
Speaker 1:With COVID, with COVID, so that added the length on, right?
Speaker 4:So that added probably a good year and a half for the road approval, okay, probably a good year and a half for the road approval, okay. And then you know it's all the things you don't know. You don't even know, right, yeah, so how long does it take to cut in the road? How long does it take to bring in the utilities and all this stuff? So we started on the project in September 2020. And the question is how quickly can we get one at the contract, right? And they were gonna hold me to it and I said I don't know, I'm walking through the woods.
Speaker 4:They already had they already had two sold before I started on the project. Okay, and those were on already the main road, which is, which is gun club, right then. So it took me until about January of 21 to put the first one in contract.
Speaker 1:Okay, okay, so a couple months, but it's walking people through the woods and trying to sell them on a road that isn't even there yeah, how hard, how hard is it to coordinate between people coming in and knowing that if I buy a resale, I can be in typically 60, 90 days, right, right, and I imagine, because I know the price point on these was a million plus, was it we?
Speaker 4:started with the lowest model at a million one. Okay, the larger model was a million 350 350 maybe.
Speaker 1:So it wasn't traditionally first-time buyers moving in, correct, there were a couple.
Speaker 4:There were a couple. We ended up not losing one. Interest rates went from below three to seven, didn't lose one contract and everybody was okay because we kept in constant communication with them of the road. Approval isn't in yet. We're still waiting on the time. We're still waiting on that. So when you set the expectation, not only for the client but for the buyer, where there were a bunch of nonrepresented buyers that knew that we worked for the builder, right, right, so I was the communicator to them, right, and they, they could walk down the street and everybody's waving, hey jim, the whole road is in. And then we still have three under contract on another little, another little offshoot, but yeah and what was the last one you put into contract for $4 million there?
Speaker 1:we go. Prices went up a little bit there and he got both sides of it.
Speaker 3:There you go.
Speaker 2:That was a one.
Speaker 4:That's a very unique house, but the price points ended up going over two for that same 1-1 model was now 1-6 by the end of the project, and the one that was basically 1-1 model was now 1-6 by the end of the project, and the one that was basically 1-4 is now at 2.
Speaker 3:Wow, and I sold it to a friend of mine.
Speaker 1:Yes, it's got to be a beautiful house, though. Right, We'll see in about a year.
Speaker 3:He's crazy, but they want what they want.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely, absolutely. What are the challenges with regards, to say, new construction? Obviously communicating the time frame and, obviously, coordinating the sale of their house in order to you know so they wouldn't be homeless while they're waiting for construction.
Speaker 4:So there were a bunch that came from the city and then we ended up really only with one local person that we were able to help. They lived one town over. We were able to help them with their sale also, but the majority of people there was four first-time homebuyers and a bunch that came from the city or Nassau you know a little further out and you don't want to be pushy right. So I'm not greedy. I was very happy with the business that we got. Yes, I would, and this one was different than over the years. We've done other minor subdivisions, a four and a five and it really comes back to having the knowledge and the opportunity and the networking. Yeah, and the work, the and the work.
Speaker 3:The work.
Speaker 4:The work. It's more work, jimmy is incredible with his work ethic.
Speaker 3:Yeah Right, he doesn't let anything. Once it's in our pipeline, it doesn't get lost, yeah.
Speaker 1:I think a lot of agents would look at new construction and say, oh, this is a great opportunity. You know the building, they're doing multiple transactions and yet it's never as easy as it sounds like. You know, on the surface.
Speaker 4:Right Very challenging, yeah, the first paycheck we got was 2023, and we've been working on it since 2020.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you put a lot of time and money.
Speaker 3:A lot of money.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so you had to really bank that time.
Speaker 4:Well, we did. We didn't let it affect our other business. But, as you know, the last two years in real estate sales are, you know, the volume of sales are down. Yeah, you know a lot of a lot of people are hurting out there. Yeah, um, and it just so happened. The timing of this is these are closing now yeah, so it works out pretty good.
Speaker 1:It works, yes, there you go you know, what's interesting is um, I have um friends and maybe you you can verify this, but you know they hear hearing that we're still having bidding wars and yeah, you know, we're still getting six, eight, ten offers on a house, correct, yes, and you go. It must be great to be in real estate. I'm like you know, and I try to liken it to the lack of inventory. It's like I feel like sometimes we're running a store and I have plenty of buyers walking through, my consumers walking through my store, but my shelves are half empty. So if you don't have stuff on the shelf to sell them, then your sales aren't going to be up, and that's the challenge with the marketplace.
Speaker 1:It's not that it's not a robust marketplace. It's not demand, it's the supply.
Speaker 4:Very well said. A lot of people just think that it's easy, like oh, you're selling it in a weekend or a week or whatever happens to be, but they don't see all the behind the scenes stuff. Yeah, it took three years of nurturing that relationship to be able and advising them throughout the whole way to get that listing.
Speaker 1:Any other projects on the back burner with this builder? You should?
Speaker 3:have a lot of goodwill in the bank. This is the low end of his construction right.
Speaker 4:Yeah, the actual builder does a lot of work out in the Hamptons Okay.
Speaker 3:In the $10 million range.
Speaker 4:We can handle that. Yes, we can. Out in the Hamptons, okay, in the 10 million range. Yeah, we can handle that, yes, we can. And he's also actually referred us a couple of clients already for resales, not for new construction, good, but for resales, because that's how much they respect and like us.
Speaker 1:That's a big compliment and for those in our audience who don't really recognize why, I want to make it clear for them Builders are a tough nut to crack you know, so they can be demanding and they know they have desirable inventory, especially in a market that's tight and it can be very demanding. On that, and for them to have that level of trust and respect for you guys and paying it forward speaks volumes for those and again in our audience who don't realize what that statement meant.
Speaker 3:so congratulations and we have worked with a number of builders over the years. Yeah, right, and I don't want to make a blanket, but these guys are true to their word. Yeah, if they say something, they don't pull it back.
Speaker 4:Yeah, all right, yeah, they're.
Speaker 3:They're the best builders I've ever worked with and I've worked with a lot of builders Best builders ever so we lucked out there.
Speaker 4:You know, I've looked every day. I have a search set up specifically for land. There you go, I got you. It's real to me we haven't found something that works yet, so anyone in our audience who has land for sale we got builders, not a one or a two.
Speaker 3:We need a decent number of views.
Speaker 1:Something subdivisible yes.
Speaker 3:Right, okay.
Speaker 4:I'll take any land.
Speaker 1:He's like Dad, you guys don't limit us.
Speaker 2:Let me worry about those standalone onesies, onesies and twosies.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so we'll make it work. So I want to pivot a little bit because I know you guys are obviously very well-known and entrenched in the Huntington and Northport markets. What makes those communities special for someone who's looking?
Speaker 3:I could talk for two days on Northport.
Speaker 1:Well, you got five minutes, but it's a normal Rockwell town. Yeah.
Speaker 3:We know the mayor, the police chief.
Speaker 1:Is that Northport or is it a village? Right, it's the village. Huntington has its own village too, right? Yes, it does. There's two separate villages.
Speaker 3:But Northport has its own police department. It's on highway department, you know, it's very self-sufficient. Yeah, and the rules in Huntington are not the same. Rules in Northport and the rules in Huntington are not the same. Rules in Northport, the rules in Northport override the rules in Huntington. Like, accessory apartment permits are not allowed in the village. They're allowed in the town of Huntington but they're not allowed in Northport Village. So there's a lot of little intricacies such as that.
Speaker 3:And we're very blessed, the first vice commander of American Legion, post 694, which has a building right across from the police department In Northport. In Northport, yes, okay, we have 220 active members. Good, all right. And we do a lot for the community, all right, yeah, I probably spend 15, 20 hours a week. All right, you know I'm a service officer. Yeah, I'm the first vice commander, all right. And people don't realize all the things that the american legion does, not just for veterans, right, which we're. That's our primary focus.
Speaker 3:But right now we're interviewing for boys and girls state. Boys and girls state was started in 1931, all right, we bring children, juniors, all right from the three high schools in our area and we pay for a week for them to go up to Morrisville for the boys Okay, the Marines run the camp for them. They learn how the state of New York's government works Okay, all right. And you talk about wanting to think about what the future holds. Yeah, you interview these young males and females and you're knocked over by how smart they are and how caring they are. Yeah, all right. So we just did the interviews last week and now we're making decisions on who we're going to choose to go up to these colleges in the summer and learn about the workings of the New York State.
Speaker 1:And that's all done through the.
Speaker 3:American Legion. American Legion started this over 100 years ago. That's amazing, Isn't that amazing?
Speaker 2:Yeah it is, and people don't realize that.
Speaker 3:And we also sponsor the football team. We also sponsor two scout troops. Plus, we do a ton of work for our veterans. So Northport VA Hospital is right in Northport. I'm over there probably two times a week talking to Joe Sledge and we're making donations and we do all kinds of other stuff for them. That's awesome.
Speaker 2:This gentleman is certainly that guy, or, I'm sure, everyone who comes in contact with him. An Eagle Scout, someone who served in Vietnam as a forward air commander, a vice commander at the North Port American Legion, a Qantas member and past president, 35 years a member. He runs multiple fundraisers and donates hundreds of hours each year on projects like an annual golf outing, Cal Harbour Day, food drives and working with youth at the Key Club and high schools. He's just a wonderful guy, a wonderful dad and grandpa, a loving husband of 50 plus years, a wonderful realtor and friend and please, if you will help me, congratulate our 2023 Humanitarian of the Year, Jim McKenna Sr.
Speaker 1:Thank you, I don't know if you can hear me, If I may say it on behalf of our whole audience and Coal Bank American Homes thank you for your service. It's a wonderful thing and we need to, as a society, be more respectful of our veterans. We need to do more for them, because they put their lives on the line for us. And they still are doing that. Yes, exactly, exactly, jim Jr, what would you say? Are you in Northport also?
Speaker 4:I do. I live in the village of Northport, a block away.
Speaker 1:You guys got a lot of togetherness here you sure you guys aren't getting tired of each other.
Speaker 2:What makes.
Speaker 1:Northport and Huntington whatever that whole area up there in Northport what makes it special to you For me?
Speaker 4:I mean I'm biased, if you're allowed to say it I grew up in Northport so it's what I know.
Speaker 1:I went to college came back.
Speaker 4:I like walking downtown. I like going down Main Street, you know. Going in the shops, people know you. Going on the bars, people know you. We have two waterfront parks that are dog friendly. I've been told that the only waterfront parks dog friendly in the area. You see a lot of dogs. Maybe we should cut that. But yeah, it's just, it's living there to be able to, you know we'll, walk downtown, grab a bike. It's just living there to be able to walk downtown, grab a bike. It's really you know the sense of community. I know Dad mentioned the Legion, but we're also on the board of members for Kiwanis. Yeah, past president, I was president for five years until I could find somebody to take it over I was to take it over.
Speaker 1:I know you're familiar with that. Yes, yes, tom and I have both longstanding Kiwanians for over 30 years, so we have a lot of respect for our community, just for our audience for our clarification, you can explain?
Speaker 4:So Kiwanis is a there we go yeah.
Speaker 1:Just so anyone who's interested in joining. I mean you could reach out to any one of us, including Tommy, who's not here right now. But Kiwanis is a non-denominational community charitable organization, community charitable organization, so it's more focused on community, where each club has their local community and they try to contribute and engage in that community in positive ways.
Speaker 4:That's better than.
Speaker 3:I could have said it Okay, there you go. And we give out scholarships, right? Yes, our local club raises about $30,000 a year and Jimmy, like I said, is a past president. I'm a past president. We're both right now very active board members, all right. And we give out scholarships. We give $4,500 to the Northport High School in scholarships and all kinds of other stuff. So it's you know, with these two different organizations, I really feel as though we are giving back, which is one of our mantras.
Speaker 1:We want to be thankful for everything we have and give back, and it fits in so much with our company philosophy.
Speaker 3:I could not be more proud to say when people say, where do you work? I work at American Homes.
Speaker 1:Coldwell Banker. We have a fantastic team here and it feels like family, you know.
Speaker 4:Dad and I were saying the same thing as we were driving here of I wonder what Mike's going to ask us, and I'm like it probably is going to be. You know how we feel we fit within the company. It really it is. It's more of a family feel. As Dad mentioned, we started at Adelaide Buyers when I joined him, but shortly after that we knew that in order to support two households we would have to go to a bigger brokerage. So we were with Prudential Long Island Realty way back when.
Speaker 1:Yeah, which eventually became Douglas Elliman.
Speaker 4:We weren't planning on moving. We were very happy we were there 18 years Wow 17, 18 years and we knew Daddy personally and we met with one of your managers, bill McCartney yeah, and it was the best decision we ever made. Now, that was before you guys had bought the company.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and merged together with ours.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we enjoyed where we were. It was a different atmosphere. And then, a couple years later, you and Tom bought it and it's just gotten even better. Well, good.
Speaker 3:Thank you for saying that it's the only place to work.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I didn't mean to say that I will tell you we have the best agents and I look in the camera and tell our audience.
Speaker 1:we've got some great people here, we really do. Oh, it is. We've got some great people here, we really do. So you want to hear one of the common threads I'm noticing as I go through the podcast. And yes, we've been talking to a lot of agents, getting agents' views and managers' views and the caring. You know you can look at a resume or a homeowner can look at a resume and you can see what qualifications or skills maybe people bring to the table. But how do you recognize and value caring? That's the hard part, despite because it doesn't always there's not a yeah.
Speaker 1:It doesn't translate on a resume sheet but it comes out in the everyday personality and work ethic. And what have you?
Speaker 4:it does. For sure, everybody can say they're great. They might look great on paper, but yeah that's.
Speaker 1:You know what's really great is when someone goes the extra yard, you know, or the extra 125 feet in the woods you know, whatever it is, rain or shine, you know because they care and that's what jumps out. So you guys have it. You know hands down on that. So I, I love that and we have a passion for what we do.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and we see that same passion in you and tom yeah, thank you all right, and that's what drives us. That's awesome that's awesome.
Speaker 1:Um, I do want to go to uh senior for a second just to kind of get this uh angle out here. So because you're a vet, obviously you have some unique experiences. What's one thing maybe you learned by serving? That translates over into the real estate business.
Speaker 3:Life is very short. Okay, I joined the Air Force to avoid the Army. I land at Benoit Air Base October 22nd 1967. Yeah, and they go radio communications. I said yes, we're inserting you into the 3rd Brigade, 1st and 5th Division. You're going to be the forward air controller, All right. So I saw, every time there was combat they dropped me off there, All right. And I was 19 years old.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:All right. And you know it was a life affirming Right, all right. And and you know it was a life affirming Right, right. And when I came back, people say how come that doesn't bother you? I said in relationship to what I've gone through before yeah, nothing bothers me.
Speaker 1:Why are you getting upset over that? Over small things, over small things All right.
Speaker 3:So Talk about perspective, right? Oh, I still live it every day. Yeah, I still have PTSD and I still have those flashbacks, so it keeps me sharp.
Speaker 1:Well, you know what it seems like you manifest them in a positive way.
Speaker 3:Oh, absolutely I'm here. I shouldn't be here, but I'm here, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:God bless, thank God for that. Right, right, all right, good. Thank you for sharing that. That's important.
Speaker 4:I think that also drives a lot of the volunteerism that he has and he's instilled in me. Yeah, we just started last year working with another vets program out of the Northport VA. It's called Vets Out of the Rough and they help combat vets who are struggling and going through and they teach them golf. But they're not really teaching them golf. It's the camaraderie, it's the being around them. And I started volunteering last year because they came in and spoke to our Kiwanis Club so we donated money to them and I said I don't know if this is a good thing or not, but I really want to help. You're going to start seeing a lot of me.
Speaker 4:So we started showing up and it took and we were there every Monday throughout the summer, minus any holidays, right, and it took a little while for the guys to open up. Guys and girls Service the service people's yeah too, and you started to hear some of the stories and what they were going through and you know, really it really takes you back and really you know if you can't be blessed for what you have, you know and give back and you know, try to. You know I don't know pay it forward. However you want to say it, you should be out there doing something to help somebody else.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well said, jim, thank you. So I want to pivot a little more personal side for a change. And what have you? So who wants to start here?
Speaker 3:When you're not working in real estate, how do?
Speaker 2:you both like to unwind Grandchildren, bestly ever, that's easy.
Speaker 3:We have an 8 and 12-year year old that we see 3 days a week. My wife gets him off the bus, does homework with him until my daughter gets home from work. She's the city school teacher. I don't care what kind of day you're having, grandpa, they run over and give you a big hug.
Speaker 1:Every worry is gone you don't get the same reception in the office of Jim Jr.
Speaker 4:And then also to sell himself short. My older sister has three down in Charlotte, so they're down once a quarter at least. Yep, Yep Down to see them and, you know, enjoying family.
Speaker 3:Right, they're 16, 18, and 21. So you know a little bit different time, but I'm blessed with five, all right, so, and we're involved in their lives a lot. Okay, good, and I go to the VA because I'm fighting at Agent Orange, yeah, and you sit down with these doctors and they always ask you are you suicidal? I said I got grandkids, I can't be suicidal.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, exactly. Oh geez, yeah, perfect, I can't be suicidal.
Speaker 3:Yeah, exactly, exactly. Oh geez, yeah, perfect, very blessed, very blessed.
Speaker 1:Jim Jr. What do?
Speaker 4:you like I'm uncle five times, so I don't know. But I do I love going to the basketball games and the hockey games, but on a day-to-day. I just like enjoying life, you know, going out to eat or just spending quality time with family.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah that. Or just spending quality time with family, yeah, yeah. That's what makes you go right. Yeah, it gets you up in the morning. You're both known for having a contagious laugh, and so who cracks up first? And what's the last thing that you both had tears in your eyes laughing about.
Speaker 4:I laugh too much, honestly.
Speaker 1:Is there too much?
Speaker 3:We're very blessed because he's worked with me over 25 years. Yeah, I've almost talked to him every day or seen him every day for the last 25 years. Yeah, all right, I'm a morning person, he's an evening person. Yeah, so in the middle of the day we usually hook up. Okay so, but I am so blessed to have Jimmy working with me. And it's not a job. He told me I can never retire, so that's already done.
Speaker 4:Yeah, that is my joke.
Speaker 3:We laugh about that, so you know, just family, and you and Tom are the same way. It's family, family first.
Speaker 1:Yep, all right, so it makes you happy.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, all right, and that's what drives us all.
Speaker 1:Yeah, awesome, that's great. Obviously, I love the stories you're sharing, with giving back and your involvement in the community. What's a recent community initiative or event you've been part of that really stood out to you? Who wants to take the lead?
Speaker 3:Well, I'm very proud of my son for the initiative he did with honoring veterans from our post. Okay, okay, he went to the village, he got the village to approve it. He got all the directors to get on board with it. So the Northport Village Highway Department puts up all the planners. I'll let Jimmy talk to it, because he was the point on this and he did a fabulous job. Yeah, and everybody in the village is very strongly behind this. That's awesome. A lot of village spirit is behind this.
Speaker 4:So thank you, dad. So I wanted to honor veterans and my father. My uncle also happens to be the commander of the North Port of America, okay, so this is Dad's banner that hangs on Main Street, okay, Look at our handsome bugger hey.
Speaker 2:Old 18 years old.
Speaker 4:Combat decorated Vietnam vet. If you want more information you can go to northportbannerscom. But what we did was they have them in Huntington, they have them in Lindenhurst, they have like 700. So I wanted a way to give back to the vets and have dad on Main Street and we started the program the end of last year and we ended up with, I think it was like 21. 21, 22. 21 banners.
Speaker 4:Of different veterans who have served oh different veterans, yeah, so the American Legion sponsored a few, and most of them were private sponsored. Okay, where somebody wants to honor their father or mother or grandfather or whoever you want to honor, that was in service, it's $200, and for that you get the banner and it hangs from Memorial Day through Veterans Day. Right now we have a couple posts left on Main Street and the thought is to go into the parks that I'd mentioned earlier. It's really, it's really a great project. All the money raised goes to Back to the Legion, goes to vets, which does a lot of good, not just for vets but throughout the community.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. What a wonderful project. I love this. So not only do we highlight the very heroes who serve and put their life on the line, but it's also a fundraiser for the local organization.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's a win-win. The American Legion is very happy.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, Good good. That's the way it should be. You know, you're doing a good job when they're happy.
Speaker 4:You'll know when they're not happy. Volunteers slash now. I'm dedicated to doing this for a long time, hopefully. That's awesome, I love that Love that.
Speaker 1:I just want to remind our audience to please remember to like and subscribe. We'd love to have you guys viewing not only this episode but future episodes, so we've got a great lineup scheduled for upcoming weeks. It's time for the Drop the Mic question. All right, so we're going to try this one from the Jim Jr side. So what's one thing your dad does that makes you shake your head? Butt.
Speaker 3:Butt.
Speaker 1:Butt, it's going to be hard to keep down to one Butt Exactly.
Speaker 3:Here's the caveat.
Speaker 1:But you secretly admire.
Speaker 2:Oh.
Speaker 1:Yeah, see, now we made it tough. Yeah, definitely.
Speaker 4:Well, I got to say the one that popped into my head first and I don't know if you can admire this. So my brain works differently than it is.
Speaker 3:And we found that out over the last 25 years Very strong. So and we found that out over the last 25 years Very strong. So we have everything in Dropbox.
Speaker 4:So we have all the files labeled and then inevitably something will be filed miscellaneous or something in the folder is just. Why is that?
Speaker 2:in the folder and all these other things and how come.
Speaker 4:One of the ones was we just got back a tax lien search for one of the commercial properties that we're doing. So I go, and it got emailed, so I go and I save it because it was addressed to me and I'm dealing with them trying to help out the problem. And then I go to send out another email and I pop into a totally different folder and it's saved in there too and I'm like so he saved it and I saved it in totally different folder and it's saved in there too, I'm like so he saved it, and I saved it in two different spots.
Speaker 1:He says it's a miscellaneous.
Speaker 2:He's got a guy for this, he'll know what to do. I got a guy.
Speaker 1:He's got the same name as me. He'll take care of it. If there was a TV show about the gyms real estate adventures, what would it be called? The show about the gyms real estate adventures? What?
Speaker 3:would it be called the gyms? That works very well.
Speaker 1:Tell us everything we need to know.
Speaker 4:We're not in competition with anybody else. For that name, I'd like to steal your headline of work hard, play hard, give back.
Speaker 1:It's been a fantastic motto for the company and you guys live and breathe that motto. That's why we feel so very comfortable here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely correct. So any concerns we've brought over the years when we've been here a number of years, we were here even before Mike and Tom owned it. Okay, you address it immediately yeah all right and you're very approachable. All right, and that's probably the nicest part of our relationship here is how approachable and even thinking that you come out to things that we hold in our office and the two of you show up, I say I don't see how you do it with everything else you have on the platter.
Speaker 1:Sometimes I'm not sure either. It's just an incredible simulation.
Speaker 4:Are there multiple mics and times? I can tell you that, but I have to kill you.
Speaker 1:It's an industry secret, right? Well, gentlemen, thank you for joining the show today. You guys have been a great interview and if anyone's interested in reaching out to you with new construction, with land, with properties, how do they reach the Jims?
Speaker 4:So the best way is probably go to jimmckinnoncom. Goes right to the company website or give us a call 631-974-9153. That is 9151. And the joke is mom is 9152 because we got the phone numbers 20 years ago, so she doesn't know much about real estate, but she's a wonderful woman.
Speaker 1:Yes, there you go. That's awesome guys. Thank you for joining our show and again, you were a great interview. We really appreciate everything you guys do.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much for the opportunity.
Speaker 4:Mike, it's been a pleasure.
Speaker 3:And I say the same thing Thanks very much for the opportunity and it's a pleasure working with you and Tom. Thank you and remember.
Speaker 1:Please like, subscribe, and we look forward to having you tune in to the next episode. We've got a great lineup of speakers.