Double R Flo-Town

A Double R Christmas: Reflecting on 2025 & Dreaming Big for Florence in 2026

• Robert Thomas & Reeves Cannon

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This special Double R Flow Town Christmas episode is all about reflection, gratitude, and vision. 🎄

As we wrap up 2025, we look back on how the podcast started, the guests who shaped the conversation, and the moments that reminded us why Florence matters. From meaningful community growth to preserving culture, real estate trends, entrepreneurship, family, and what’s coming next, this episode captures the heart of what Double R is about.

We also talk candidly about:

  • What it takes to move Florence forward
  • Preserving small-town culture while growing wisely
  • Real estate challenges and opportunities in 2026
  • Why relationships and experiences matter more than things
  • New projects (including Skyview 👀) and community initiatives ahead

If you’ve been listening all year—or this is your first episode—thank you for being part of the conversation. Here’s to closing out the year strong and stepping boldly into 2026.

🎅 Like, subscribe, and share to help us grow the podcast and keep the conversation going.

SPEAKER_01:

Double R Flow Town Christmas episode. I told it I texted the guys last night. I said, let's wear something Christmassy. Izzy nailed his Christmas sweater. I almost nailed it Reeves.

Reeves:

So I've got a so I told Rebecca about that last night. I was really mad at you because I thought it was a horrible idea. First of all. But I told Rebecca, I said, I'm gonna have to go to Walmart and buy an ugly Christmas sweater. And then I forgot about it. So I woke up this morning, I had a breakfast meeting, and I first of all, I hate and love these vests. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, it's the new thing, it's the style, but now I've got to make sure that the vest I have matches the shirt.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

Reeves:

Because my coat no longer covers up my shirt, you know?

SPEAKER_00:

Right, right.

Reeves:

And so I showed Rebecca, I was like, is this work? I'm gonna be on the podcast today. Can I wear this? And she said, it's not very Christmassy.

SPEAKER_01:

Ruined the Christmas episode. Be the Grinch. I I am.

Reeves:

I'm happy to be the Grinch.

SPEAKER_01:

Next year we'll nail it. I'm really glad this episode almost didn't happen. Andrea got a little sick. It almost derailed, but I'm really glad it didn't because I hope she's doing okay. She's good. Good. She's good. She's good. Um we I feel like we can really close the year out and talk about all the things that have happened this year, what we've got coming next year, and really just thank everybody for listening. I mean, we're getting people reaching out all the time, saying they're listening and enjoying it, it's changing people's lives.

Reeves:

I'm just kidding, but it's it's I don't know if we've gotten that far.

SPEAKER_01:

No, no, no. But it's good. I I I feel like we're getting some traction.

Reeves:

It's really neat to think back. I still remember we started the podcast officially in April, was kind of our first episode. That's what Izzy said, right, Izzy?

unknown:

Yeah, April.

Reeves:

April. And so at some point before April, I don't know if it was 2025 or even late 2024, you came to me with this idea. Hey Reeves, I think we need to start a podcast. And I was up for it, but I was a little suspicious that it was going to be anything worth anybody's time. But last week I had a guy stop me at a coffee shop. I was having coffee with a buddy, and he said, Hey, you're one of the double R guys. He said, I just want you to know I really appreciate what you guys are doing in the city. Y'all are giving me hope for our city. And I was really encouraged and inspired by what he said. And it wasn't like a lot of times I'll get people who know you and maybe they don't know me, and they say, Hey, we're watching the podcast, buddy of Robert. But this guy, he didn't know either one of us. He's just happened upon the podcast and has really appreciated what we're doing.

SPEAKER_01:

For that's exactly what this is for.

Reeves:

Yeah, that was the vision you brought to me way back a year before.

SPEAKER_01:

I think you actually pushed the podcast before that.

Reeves:

Uh, whatever. I don't know about that.

SPEAKER_01:

But anyway, I mean that's that's what it's for. We like we always say, Florence has got so much potential. There's so many entrepreneurs here, but I feel like it's never just synergized right. Yeah, it's it's coming, it's happening, and that's what that's what we're here to talk about. The good, the bad. Let's let's move Florence forward. Let's really get things going. One so the big thing that's been gonna been on my mind after um Greg Robinson.

Reeves:

Yeah, that was a great episode. In fact, before you go there, let me just say if if you're happening upon our podcast for the first time, go take a look at the previous episodes. We've had some incredible guests this year, from Drew Marlowe, South Florence football coach, to uh guy, young guys in Florence and kind of where they're going after going to college, um, Greg Robinson, yeah, um, Mike, Mike Rickenbaugh. We've had some awesome guests, so go take a look at it. But anyway, you were gonna say Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

So, you know, we're we're I feel like we're getting to learn a lot about what's going on, and then we have some really interesting conversations off air as well. But Greg Robinson's got such a clear vision for what he's wanting to accomplish. And one thing that he mentioned that's really stuck out to me is the the dilapidated buildings, especially in the main corridors coming into Florence. Yes, we've got to fix that. The buildings that I mean, there's some buildings that are toast, they need to be gone. Well, I mean, what do we have to do to remove them and plant a tree or something?

Reeves:

I mean, that's a good question. And I remember you you know my family's part of you know Tomlinson's, yeah, and Greg mentioned, I didn't bring this up on the podcast when he mentioned it, but he mentioned the hotel that's used to be right across from Tomlinson's. And I remember for years my dad and my great uncle, who you know ran Tomlinson's for years, now my brother is running it, um, talking about how they wish they could get that hotel torn down. And for years it did not get torn down. But Greg and his team finally, along with the city, got it torn down. And then Greg mentioned how that's helped that corridor. I think we still have a lot of work to do in that corridor to tear some other stuff down, but it really helped bring new industry to Florence because that hotel or whatever it was, it was a drug-infested, you know, dilapidated mess that needed to be gone. Yeah. It helped us get industry to Florence. And we've got to be a part of continuing to do that throughout the city, especially through the main corridors. And I don't know if that's you know, it's private property. And so we we wouldn't want the government just to go in and tear up private property. So you've got to have a private, you know, partnership.

SPEAKER_01:

Like if we owned that old hotel, it set it was sitting there like that. Who are the people that own this that are just sitting there paying property taxes with no generating nothing?

Reeves:

But one of the questions is you know, how property taxes are structured, it could be that those property taxes are relatively minimal because of when they acquired the property and the rate in which they're paying property tax. And so, you know, if it's a bigger organization or entity that owns that, they may not even fully recognize that fifteen hundred dollars going out every year.

SPEAKER_01:

But you can put an ordinance in to a city. There, I'm sure all the nice cities in the country have this. If you own a property and it's truly dilapidated, I mean not safe, it's either gotta be fixed or torn down.

Reeves:

Well, maybe in 2026, early in 2026, we can bring someone from the city or county in and have this conversation with them to, you know, and maybe it's already well underway.

SPEAKER_01:

I know those conversations are happening, but I'm not seeing that not anything happen.

Reeves:

Well, 2026 has got to be the year to beautify the entry and exit corridors of Florence. Gotta do it. So we can continue this, you know, path to growth. I just again go back to what Greg said and the master plan that the county and and the partnership that Greg is a part of, Florence Economic Development Partnership. They've put the infrastructure in place. And now it's time to go execute. And it's happening, and I'm thankful for that. And again, that's what this podcast is about. I'm thankful that we have been able to be a part of that. And I think that it's the influence of the Double R podcast is only going to grow as more and more people become aware of what we're doing, and we can really be a voice for moving Florence forward because we believe so much in Florence, you know.

SPEAKER_01:

So yeah, I mean, I think I think as as our audience grows and we synergize what we're doing here, when we make these points and and our sphere of influence agrees, then we go talk to our politicians and things start happening. Yeah. So that's that's what we're here for. That's why we're doing this.

Reeves:

What was your favorite episode this year, Robert?

SPEAKER_01:

You know, the one episode that the one little snippet from one of the episodes that I always just kind of laugh and get back to is when we hit on the moon landing. Oh, good. The moon deal, which I saw another video recently, and now you can't trust me.

Reeves:

Are you really gonna go here again? Well, you asked. So, Steve Tannehill, this I'm not going down too much of a rabbit hole, but Steve Tannehill, Game Caught quarterback, he died this week. He was the quarterback for Carolina when I was a kid. I was 12 to 15 when he was a quarterback. Me, I I pulled up the Carolina Clemson game from 1992 and watched it with my boys the night that Steve Tannehill died, just to kind of give them an exposure to that. And there were video of Steve talking to his coaches who were up in the coach's booth on this contraption my kids had never seen. It was a wired phone, and they they could not stop laughing. So for us to think that in 1992 there was this wired phone talking to these dudes, you know, 300 feet in the air, we didn't do that in the moon in the 60s. I mean, come on. But anyway, what were you gonna say? Do you know your favorite episode?

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So that that had to be that had to be one, you know, going down the creek was fun. Yeah, that was cool. I I hope we can do some more get out and about. But Izzy's got the lighting so good in here now, you know. He does. We just don't look as good without being in the studio.

Reeves:

We need some makeup. That's that is the goal I have for the double R podcast in 2026. We need a full-time makeup artist. At least, at least I do.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, we need a makeup artist. We get here an hour early. We do all that. That's right. Yeah, what was your favorite?

Reeves:

You know, a lot of really cool episodes. I think, Izzy, you were telling us we've done 17 or 18 episodes.

SPEAKER_03:

This is number 17.

Reeves:

Yeah, so that's that's pretty cool. I hate to single one out, but I think for me, my favorite episode was when we had the two Luke's on. Yeah, Luke Lamaster and Luke Miller. Yeah. Luke Lemaster, a student at Duke University, born and raised in Florence. Luke Miller, a student at Hillsdale College. Yeah. And those are two exceptionally gifted, intelligent young men who were raised in Florence, and to get their perspective about what it was like to be raised in Florence and what it would take to get high capacity individuals who were raised in Florence back to Florence. I think that's a part of propelling Florence forward. So having that conversation with them, I think was really interesting.

SPEAKER_01:

More to unpack from that episode. If you really wanted to study that episode, yeah. Because it leads right back to what we're doing. We need those guys back in Florence. We do. That's how Florence moves forward. We got to have the brightest and the best coming back. They said they were open to it.

Reeves:

Yeah, so maybe it's something we do for you know this summer as well, if they come back. Yeah, yes, Sunday.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. Let's get let's continue to always do an episode over the summer when you've got those type kids back in town. That's a that's a good idea. Make us do that, Izzy.

SPEAKER_03:

All right, sounds good. Yeah.

Reeves:

What what thoughts do you have about the podcast from 2025, Izzy?

SPEAKER_03:

You're the man making the magic happen. No, I'm just pushing buttons. Bam. Um, I mean, I I think it honestly got more traction than I initially thought it would. I was kind of thinking we'd run it till people stopped listening, and then here we go.

SPEAKER_01:

Is he never believed in it? Izzy never believed.

SPEAKER_03:

But people are listening. I mean, I think I checked the other day when we were uploading the last episode, and I mean you guys have been listened to for like 450 hours on YouTube and um close to a thousand downloads on.

SPEAKER_01:

But our moms are moms are 200 hours. Easy, it's easy. We would be nowhere without our moms. Our moms are the key. Our moms are the key. Thank you, mom.

SPEAKER_03:

I've enjoyed it, and I enjoy sitting here and listening to the guests. It's awesome to hear people come in that have passion and expertise in their area and just be able to be a fly on the wall and listen to a Gary Finkley talk and listen to um a Ken Art and a lot of those haven't been on the podcast, but behind them, uh, and just be able to hear what's going on behind the curtain in Florence and the different things that go into making a city happen and successful, you know.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Reeves:

So let's let's talk a little bit about 2026. We have some big ideas for the podcast. Uh first of all, what do we want the person who does listen faithfully? What do we need them to do to help move the podcast forward? I mean, I think we kind of laugh about it, but like, subscribe, share, yeah, those types of things. Yeah. The other thing that I think Izzy, and you can speak to this, but um, we've gotten a ton of traction from the Facebook and Instagram reels, the short clips. That's how most people are digesting the podcast, wouldn't you say, Robert?

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

Reeves:

So if we could get people to share those clips, yeah, yeah, and just let people know that we're out here talking about what's going on in Florence and what we as a community need to do to propel Florence forward.

SPEAKER_01:

I love the comments. Izzy will send us comments. And I love positive or negative, I love them. Like, Izzy, what we had one or two you sent last night.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, one, he brought up a decent point, but if we're bringing all this industry in from up north and out west, uh what happens to local culture? And he in the comment was very concerned about that. I don't know if you guys have seen those bumper stickers that are going around Texas that don't California my Texas.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

It's that similar idea.

SPEAKER_03:

So do you guys have thoughts on that one?

SPEAKER_01:

I think we as Florence natives need to do a better job with our culture as well. I I feel like we all scatter a lot, and I mean, I feel like our culture was hurting even before the influx of new people.

Reeves:

Well, when you bring up the the word culture, I think in my mind, I've got to go back and say, what is culture? You know, what is what is the Florence culture? If you had to well, I'm asking you, so I'm looking at you right now, Robert. I mean, how would you describe the Florence culture?

SPEAKER_01:

Well, you know, in real estate, people that come here, usually one thing that everybody says is, God, everybody's nice.

Reeves:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Everybody's really nice. And and I I do feel that way. You know, you go to these bigger cities and all, and and and we do. I mean, we're waving and friendly. I mean, we're and you know, that's a big part of it. We we've always still had the kind of small town vibe. I feel like that's not as much as it used to be. Yeah. Um you know, I I don't know. I I love I I think we take for granted like when you go, say when you go to Myrtle Beach for the weekend and you're like, man, I think I'd like to live here. Usually I'm like, man, I I'm ready to get back home. I like that I can go visit, but it's really cool to be able to go hang out at the beach, but then still have your small town kind of farm community as well. You get both dynamics in life.

Reeves:

Yeah, so I I think I appreciate that answer. I think you're exactly right. If if I had to understand the Florence culture, it is kind of like the cheers culture from the old TV sitcom. You know, everybody kind of knows your name. Yeah, yeah. And that's obviously not practically true, but there's a a sense that in Florence, if you've been around for a while, everybody knows your name. And that's something that is really cool and and really uh unique and sweet to Florence. Now, how do you keep that? Here's the reality: if you're not growing and moving forward, you're falling behind. So we can't stay in the perfect middle. There's no such thing. As a community, we've either got to move forward and grow, or we're going to fall back. And we've known countless cities that have become dilapidated and ghost towns, so to speak. And that's not what we want Florence to be. And I don't believe it's going to be that. But the danger is as we grow, are we going to continue to know everybody's name in the way we did? And I think the the best way to try to continue to keep that fabric of our our DNA, that fabric and in our culture is to grow at the right pace.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

Reeves:

And thankfully, I think we are growing at the right pace. If you grow quickly and you bring in a lot of people from a different area, then I think you can erase that culture rather quickly. But if you bring people in at a at the right pace, you have in industry growth at the right pace, people can assimilate more into what they're coming into rather than bringing their culture and overwhelming the current culture. And I think that's happening, whether it's intentional or not. And so I think that we have a good chance of preserving the best things about the culture of Florence while still growing uh into a bigger, better, uh, more economically vibrant city.

SPEAKER_01:

The people that move here that aren't from Florence, that don't have family here, the ones that really thrive are the ones that get that right group of friends, they get in the right church. They they and they love it here because it's about the people. That's what Florence is about. It's about the people.

Reeves:

Well, and I, you know, I go back to my previous work, you know, at a church here in Florence, and you always have new people showing up. And what's the difference between the people who stay and the people who move on after a couple of weeks at that church? Did they make relationships? Did they connect relationally? If you did not, you're moving on to the next place. If you did make those relational connections, you can put up with bad preaching, you can put up with a bad kid's ministry, you can put up with a lot because you love the people. Exactly. You know, exactly. So so that's the same thing with with the city. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, yeah, yeah.

Reeves:

What about real estate?

SPEAKER_01:

Real estate, we've had a good year. Yeah, we've had a great year. Somehow we had a good year. I don't know exactly how.

Reeves:

I told a guy at the gym this morning, he asked me how things were, and yeah, I said, Look, you buyers have kind of uh hibernated in the last six weeks, I'd say, which is, you know, I think a combination of time of year as well as interest rates and the anticipation that rates are going to be lower in 26 than they are right now. Um, but I also said this to him if I could do 20 more years of what we did in 25, I'd be uh blessed. Man.

SPEAKER_01:

Yes. Yes. So we've had a we've had a blessed year. The community's really supporting us and and we're thankful. We really are.

Reeves:

I think uh let's talk a minute about Greystone specifically because we're we're in a growth trajectory, I think, as a company. We've got a really cool website that's gonna our new website's gonna be awesome.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

Reeves:

I mean it I we've been talking in the office about it. I think it's it's the new Zillow for for the state of South Carolina, quite honestly. People who go to Zillow to find real estate will now be able to go to our website and find real estate throughout the state.

SPEAKER_01:

Our listings or any other yeah, all of them, yeah.

Reeves:

And so I'm super excited, but it's part of an overall growth initiative that we have and that we've been working in with Graystone and at under your leadership as a broker in charge. And and I I'm excited about all that we do as a brokerage, from you know, we we've land and helping people find land, but also existing home sales and helping, you know, that person who's living in a neighborhood that's been around for two years or 30 years, we can help you sell your house too. And and being able to continue to grow that in 26 is really exciting.

SPEAKER_01:

We've got a special team. We've got a really special team. We've got people that are plugged in, truly care about the community. We care about our clients. It's it is something I want to protect. I don't think you uh you don't take it for granted, and you I don't want to grow too much and lose what the synergy and kind of special thing we've got going.

Reeves:

That's the thing you keep preaching around the office. It's what we just talked about, is you you know, and and rightly so, you keep saying we don't want to grow too quick because we've got a lot of people who want to work with us, yeah. But if we grow too quickly, if we bring the wrong team members on, it will erode the culture that we have. So, really, that's Greystone's a microcosm of the city, the city's a microcosm of the state, the state's a microcosm of the country, and growing at the right pace to preserve the culture that you want to preserve. And and we're we've got a phenomenal team, and thankfully we're growing, I think, at the right pace.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah. Um, I I agree, and and I really feel like God's putting the right people in place with us because, like we talk about all the time, this isn't about just making money. This is about how we can if if if we're successful and thrive, it just allows us to give back and replant into this community. Yeah, yeah. And so I'm I I feel like 26 is going to be the year we really are able to implement some of the things we've been talking about, like the lemonade stand and the you know, some community things that want to do that.

Reeves:

And you and I've had those conversations about quote the lemonade stand. I don't know how much we've talked on the podcast about it, but I think that'll be a conversation we'll have as we head into 26. Really help. And the idea behind that is giving a vision to children who are coming from more impoverished backgrounds about how you make money.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

Reeves:

And uh and and not let them feel it, and not to make money so you can make money, but the it's it's helping them get out of a poverty mindset, yeah, and empowering people to take hold of their taking responsibility for their future instead of waiting for someone else to take responsibility. And so I really hope in 26 we can get the lemonade stand off the ground.

SPEAKER_01:

We'll get that going. We'll get it going. We're gonna the whole point of the lemonade stand is for a young kid to feel what it does in your soul when you make something and sell it and and just that entrepreneurial thing that happens. Yeah, so that'll be fun. That'll be fun. Now, the one thing we didn't execute on this year that I really still want to do is the concert.

Reeves:

Yeah, we failed.

SPEAKER_01:

We failed, we we failed on the concert, but 26 we'll get to con the concert will happen.

Reeves:

We better get get going on it. Yeah, we need so we've already said we need a we you know makeup artist, yeah, yeah, and then we need a I guess a office manager to execute on all the ideas we come up with on the fly. Yeah, that yeah, you know, because we're just coming up with ideas and yeah, they don't always get executed.

SPEAKER_01:

They're they're gonna happen. They're gonna happen. This was this, we're we're getting seated, we're getting seated in here, and it it'll it'll be good. The other so the the cool new venture that we've got, yeah. I kind of wanted to talk a little bit about that because I I do feel like people like hearing about some new fun things coming up. And so our newest venture is we're bringing back, we're bringing it back, Skyview. Everybody remembers the old Skyview drive-in. We're we're taking that logo, we're taking that whole vibe, and we're creating this cool Airbnb little bit of RV center right off of exit 150.

Reeves:

164. The Cracker Barrel Barrel 52 exit.

SPEAKER_01:

We're like a mile and a half from Cracker Barrel.

Reeves:

Correct.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah.

Reeves:

So we were we were blessed over the last what six weeks to kind of stumble into about 18 acres, yeah, and three houses and begin to build out and develop.

SPEAKER_01:

We're resurrecting the old sky view sign. Yeah. It's gonna be it's gonna be fun. It's gonna be cool. It really is. So um and that's what we this we need things with character, you know? Like the sky view, that sign. I think people some people have forgotten. Izzy, we need to show that sign.

Reeves:

I mean, that was well and show show the old sign, but let's also show the new.

SPEAKER_01:

Then we'll show the new one, which we modeled right after the old one. But like, let's create things with some character and let's bring back some of the local things that had character. Let's bring new businesses back to life with that.

Reeves:

And it's gonna take us some time to execute the full vision that we have for for this area, but the full vision really is um kind of a country store, some RV sites, some really cool A-frames, some really inspiring um landscapes, a pond, some walking trails. You know, it's gonna take a minute for us to get to that point. But that's the vision in a very strategic location to tap into really one of the greatest economic engines I think we have in Florence, which is I-95. The number of people traveling up and down 95, and we can tap into their economic power and bring those dollars into Florence and not let them drive through Florence. This is part of what this you know Skyview In is going to be able to accomplish. And it's gonna it's gonna be cool.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, we get them so they stop, they're driving through, they stop here. It's a cool vibe, it's got character. We get them to Elliot's barbecue. Yes, they go eat at Elliot's, and and maybe they're see it, maybe they have a whole different impression of Florence after that.

Reeves:

Which is another reason why we talk about needing to clean up the corridors in and out of Florence. Gotta do that. And there's a plan, but let's execute the plan.

SPEAKER_01:

We're staying on it. We are gonna stay on that until we see that 52 corridor.

Reeves:

We heard the sheriff say he wishes he could just take a bulldozer to it because there's a lot of people ask about crime in Florence, and and we're not very attractive when you look at the crime stats per capita. No, but it's right there.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

Reeves:

And um, we're far enough away with this Airbnb village that it's not going to be affected by that, but we're close enough that we can, you know, take utilize it. Um, but if we could clean up that corridor and um really make that corridor a beautiful gateway into Florence, it would be so good.

SPEAKER_01:

I really think if we'll just if we'll get the right attention and focus on that, it can happen.

Reeves:

Yeah, that's an attractive exit. There are a lot of good restaurants, a lot of new restaurants, and then obviously just down Elliott's barbecue. We love going there. We take a lot of clients there. That's cool. You know, it's a cool place to hang out. It's great.

SPEAKER_01:

Um, so but Skyview, Skyview, bringing it back, and it really fit for this project because we kind of got the country big sky vibe, you know. Yes. Go stay and sit outside by the fire and look up, and and I I think that's what people want now. They want a little bit more of an experience, and people are missing that kind of country farm vibe. And listen to any country music song these days. Yeah, it's about driving in Lamar. Why aren't they moving here? They're coming. They're coming.

Reeves:

But if people want to follow the development of what the Skyview in and that project's gonna be, just follow us on social media. Yeah, we'll be putting stuff out, letting people know about it, or reach out to us directly, we'll tell you more about it. Yeah, we do, we do ready to roll.

SPEAKER_01:

So that that'll be really fun. That'll be really fun, and it synergizes with what we're doing, it verticals into what we're already doing with our property management and real estate. It just kind of verticals nicely.

Reeves:

So personally, what do you think was a highlight for 2025 for you?

SPEAKER_01:

That's a pretty easy one for me. Yeah, I had little bro, little man, little cattle. He's awesome. God, he's he's awesome. It really rounded our family out. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's been a blessing. It really has.

Reeves:

You sent a picture of little man to the graystone team a week or two ago. I was amazed at how big he's already gotten. Yeah, he's gonna go.

SPEAKER_01:

Quick, his hair's rocking. It yeah, it, you know, before, like kind of leading up to him being born at 42 years old, you're like, How am I gonna do this? Yeah, you do it and you love it. Like, don't not have a kid because you're worried about, just do it, and it'll it'll be the biggest blessing of your life. We need to have more kids. We we need more children.

Reeves:

You can do that. I don't think I can. Izzy's done his part. I have, he's done. Well done. Well done, Izzy. Well done. Yeah, yeah. I mean, you have all you've heard many old men tell you this, so I'm gonna be the next old man to tell you that. But the the uh days are long and the years are short. So capture it, enjoy it. It's um I cannot understand how I have a 20, 17, and 15-year-old that literally in two years I'm gonna be empty nest. That that blows my mind.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, but um we won't see Reeves anymore. He'll be like, they'll be traveling the country.

Reeves:

No, I'm I might be in the fetal position crying because my kids have gone.

SPEAKER_01:

It's gonna hit you hard.

Reeves:

Already think just Talon not being in the house. Yeah, when I can get all five of us back around the kitchen table, you you it is so much sweeter than it is.

SPEAKER_01:

How often does that happen?

Reeves:

Not a lot, not a lot. It's hard to wrangle teenagers into one place.

SPEAKER_01:

That's why you gotta have a cool beach house at some point. Well, because then they'll all come home more often.

Reeves:

That's a good idea. Let's see if we can execute that in six. But when I think about 2025, you know, I go back to those experiences, like you, you obviously, and Andrea and Callaway and Till, you know, Callaway being born. I think of you know, uh a family vacation we took, all five of us. I think of uh a trip I took with my boys and my dad to the South Carolina LSU football game. And then I think of a weekend uh trip to Asheville that Rebecca and I took. And those are, you know, those experiences. And if I could encourage any young family, we especially at Christmas time, when you're thinking about what are we gonna do and and how what gifts are we gonna give? Always think more about giving experiences rather than more plastic junk.

SPEAKER_00:

Yes.

Reeves:

Go on a trip. There, you're not gonna remember the plastic toy that you gave your kid when they were seven, but they're gonna remember the trip you took. And and so just you know, I would encourage you so just wrap up a like a paper, or what do you how do you wrap that up? Yeah, so we've done it different ways. Um, we've given like scavenger hunts on Christmas morning to our kids, and they would have to figure out where are we going, what are we doing, and we didn't do this every year, and you know, many years we gave stuff, but most I would think most of our listeners, their kids have what they need. Yeah, we're just giving excess when we give gifts, but those experiences knit a family together. Wow, and so giving those, you know, experiences, and you can do it in fun, creative ways, you know, scavenger hunts or um, you know, just be creative, think outside the box.

SPEAKER_01:

I think we almost just went into a counseling corner. I think we did.

SPEAKER_03:

It was a good corner with Reeves.

SPEAKER_01:

Sorry, sorry about that. No, that was great. That was great. That's I've been kind of thinking, I need one or two more little things. What do I get, Andrea? That's what she wants. She'll love that. Oh, yeah.

Reeves:

Time together.

SPEAKER_01:

I want to do that um Asheville trip you did.

Reeves:

You you and I talked about it. So I've I'm not Grove Park. Grove Park Inn. I'm not kind of this guy, but I knew Rebecca is that kind of girl. So I booked us, our birthdays are together in November. So we went to Grove Park Inn, Biltmore, and the spa at Grove Park Inn. And I was not prepared. It was a Friday, and it's kind of this dystopian experience where like I walk in, they give me this blue robe that I have to wear. They take my cell phone from me, and I went into kind of a mini, I had a little mini panic attack. So I took the blue robe off and left the spa and kind of did some breathing, made some phone calls, made sure everybody was good for me to be away from my phone. And I went back in and we had the whole day at the spa just to sit and be together and enjoy whatever was there at the spa. Yeah, it was incredibly beneficial. Yeah, so I'm sure Andrea would love that type of experience.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, yeah. I don't know with Little Bro if we can do that quite yet. Yeah, yeah. But that's that's awesome. Yeah, it was fun. That is awesome. So what so next year, what's the plan? What's the plan, guys?

Reeves:

You know, I for me, I love setting goals, Robert. I still think that we mentioned it a minute ago. I still think that me personally and Greystone as a brokerage, we're still in a growth phase. You know, I think uh we still have put it in brass tax terms, I think there's still a lot of market share for us to go get. I do too. And I'm excited about that for us to do it in a uh unique way, in a uh a professional way. Um, and I think that to continue to grow um the brokerage that way will be really good. Yeah. So I'm excited about that professionally. What's gonna come? I think 2026 is gonna be pretty good from a real estate perspective, both people moving in, as well as I think rates. My prediction earlier this year didn't go too well, but hopefully this prediction will go a little better. I think rates will come down enough where some of these people who you know bought homes when rates were really low, they have enough courage to make that move, whether that's moving up or moving down in-house. I think we'll see a little bit more of that in 26. So we'll see how that does.

SPEAKER_01:

The interesting thing with inventory in Florence is if you when we have the person that wants the single-story brick home, not track built, kind of in that 1,500 to 2,000 square feet in the right neighborhood, there's not there's none of that inventory. No. So there's not like there's some excess, there's excess inventory of certain products, but then there's certain products there's not much inventory at all. So if the market was to perk back up with rates next year, which I think it will, that inventory will be gone immediately. And we need somebody to develop a neighborhood, another neighborhood with that.

Reeves:

Yeah, we still have a housing shortage. It's hard for people to believe, but there truly is not there are not enough houses, uh, both nationally and in Florence. And it's I'm I am concerned about the lack of a nice, let's call it middle class neighborhood that's not track built.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah.

Reeves:

The fact that we don't really have that in the works because it takes time to get that done is a big pinch point for Florence.

SPEAKER_01:

Big time. There's gonna be a pin-up demand for that. Yeah. And we gotta, we gotta figure out how to execute that.

Reeves:

I think we have a little bit of we, I mean, we're all of our local builders, they've got land in front of them where they can execute some of that, but an entire development where we really, you know, move into that demographic, I think still needs to still need to happen.

SPEAKER_01:

The problem is, just to kind of let everybody see behind the curtain a little bit, is the track builders are able to pay the primo for the land and the lots that used to used to would be, okay, well, that that land's gonna be something pretty nice because of the cost. Yeah, that's not happening anymore and is squeezing the local guys out of developing what we're talking about.

Reeves:

It really is. The track builders are overpaying for the land because they're building cheap products.

SPEAKER_01:

Um and they're pulling back, they are starting to pull back a little. They got enough on their plate. Yeah.

Reeves:

And you know, I I it's an issue. And we had I had a listing, we had a listing in a subdivision. I won't I don't want to name the subdivision, but we steadily we sold this house. It's a track-built house, it's about four years old. We sold it for 90,000 less than what we first listed it for. And that's that's what track-built communities leave in their dust. Yeah, is they go in, they build, they give incredible incentives, people buy those products, and then two, three, four, five, six years later, the equity that should be there isn't there because the next track-built development has come in, and all those buyers are going to that development, and so there's no appreciation of that track-built house.

SPEAKER_01:

And um COVID jumped them all up. That was just somewhat artificial. Yeah. And now we're about to kind of see reality of how it plays out. But here's the other thing that's really been on my mind back to neighborhoods in Florence, South Carolina. We need so young families. That are here live here or moving here. We need neighborhoods where their kids can ride on their bikes till dark and you don't worry about them. And I feel like we're losing that. I mean, there's not a lot of those left. How many neighborhoods are there to where the families just feel like the kids and that's probably all over the country.

Reeves:

It it is, I think.

SPEAKER_01:

But we need neighborhoods where the family feels totally safe and the kids are outside playing until dark.

Reeves:

Yeah, I mean, that's a magic uh bullet. I think that that's beyond just a new neighborhood being built. I think it's it speaks to government leadership and crime reduction. And I think it goes back to the family, you know, and and the nuclear family and having policies from the government that help build and sustain nuclear families rather than incentivizing the tearing up of the nuclear family. And people may not like it, but the reality is our government, in the name of trying to come alongside and help people who find themselves in a struggle to help them, we're actually creating policies that are perpetuating the problem.

SPEAKER_01:

Definitely.

Reeves:

And and it leads to crime, it leads to poverty, it leads to a degradation of society.

SPEAKER_01:

And then the politicians never want to correct that because then you lose all those votes and you don't stay in office.

Reeves:

Yeah, they don't have any courage to do it.

SPEAKER_01:

Senator Reckenbach is now on a board. Uh, did you see he got on a board that's really going to help, you know, young kids in hard situations, and his heart's in the right place.

Reeves:

Well, I one of the enduring memories of the podcast for me, going back all the way back to that conversation from from for us in this year, was I was sitting on the other side besides you and uh Senator Rickenbaugh was sitting in this seat, and the genuine heartache on his face in thinking as we were talking about the breakdown of the family, and it was and the children that are the victims of that, and his heart for that. If we could just replicate his passion, his vision for how to care for those individuals, we would do we would be in a great place. And so I'm thankful that he's in leadership. I'm thankful that uh that he's continuing to get more and more leadership in our state government.

SPEAKER_01:

We do have some really good leadership.

SPEAKER_03:

I think another challenge too is that the not only the underprivileged kids, but kids that have parents that are doing fine financially, there seems to be a shift that we want to keep kids safe and distracted and not necessarily competent and strong. Um and so it that also changes the game because to have kids, I mean, I want to have a 10-year-old kid that you can send outside with an axe and give him a walkie-talkie and let him run the rail trail on his own. Yeah, well, all the kids, all three of the kids are getting walkie-talkies in their stockings. Um, and it'll be for them to go out and play in the woods behind the rail trail. Uh, yeah, ransom splits my wood, he's got a hatchet, and uh you know, at nine years old. And um, I just think there's a danger in uh it takes a lot of time to make kids competent. Yeah, to move them from just being safe and distracted to intentionally creating men and women that know what the heck they're doing. Yes. Uh, and we don't want to give that time.

Reeves:

The worst thing, well, maybe not the worst thing, but one of the worst things a parent can do for their child is to keep them safe. I loved when my kids started bleeding because they did something stupid. And you know what? They need to suffer in it because that'll make them stronger. Rather than coming to their rescue and loving on them and you know, trying to ease their pain as quickly as I can. Enjoy the struggle. We grow in struggle, we grow in heartache, and um, I'm not talking about abusing your kids obviously.

SPEAKER_01:

I get it, I get it. But but we don't want the struggle because of it It's inconvenient, it's inconvenient to us, yeah. So we're like, oh God, I don't need you bleeding because now I can't go be on Instagram for 30 more minutes.

Reeves:

Yeah, but let the kids grow go through hard times, and and dare I say, even kind of put them in situations that are more inclined to producing hard times because they will be better men and better women because of it.

SPEAKER_00:

Wow.

SPEAKER_03:

There's an antifragility, which is good, you know. Nobody wants their kids to blow over. You get those trees right by the beach that have been hit by storms and wind constantly. There is antifragility that I can take uh punch and stand back up.

SPEAKER_00:

Yeah, wow.

SPEAKER_03:

Uh that's the sort of kids we want, right?

SPEAKER_00:

Wow, that's right.

SPEAKER_01:

That's that's good, powerful guys.

Reeves:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01:

Yeah, that's awesome. Well, do we need to wrap this thing up? It's been a great year. It's been a great year. Do we need to is he gonna sing a Christmas jingle or anything?

SPEAKER_03:

Or where I'll join it. You start us off, Robert.

Reeves:

I don't, I think you're the only one here who can sing, right?

SPEAKER_01:

I don't know if I can or not. I don't I don't really know. Yeah, you're a guitarist, you're a musician. Yeah. I I need to get back into that a little bit. You do. I need to, yeah, I need to do that. Maybe, maybe in our concert, they'll let me do a one opening song.

Reeves:

I'll do a if you've got the guts, do it.

SPEAKER_01:

All right. Awesome year. Love you guys. 2026 is gonna be a lot of fun.

Reeves:

It will. And again, just please like, subscribe, share. We want to grow this podcast. We're so thankful for how it has grown in 25, but let's uh let's blow it off the charts in 26.

SPEAKER_01:

We're going to buy Reeves a Christmas sweater.

Reeves:

No.