so today I'm gonna be interviewing Seth Teegarden Seth has absolutely no real estate value to bring to the table but Seth is one of my if if not my best friend to be to be completely honest and every now and then I I feel like we need to kind of kind of break up the content in the show and so I felt like it was time to have you know just a random episode with my friend Seth we're gonna talk about a lot of things from comparing Greenville to some other markets to Seth actually lives in a great little resort area in Georgia that's a great little getaway for for people you know trying to get away from from Greenville for a weekend or whatever he also lives in a Log Cabin we're gonna talk about some of that so there's gonna be obviously some plenty of real estate tie in but but really just wanna have fun and you know this is my show so I can do whatever the heck I want with it and so that's what we're gonna do So Seth welcome to the show thanks for coming on yeah man I'm excited to be here I you know go ahead go ahead no no no go go ahead what were you gonna say no just I love getting to watch some of your content and and see what you're doing and obviously you know how you've how you've grown your real estate market and use so many various ways so I'm excited to be a part of it Seth was for those listening when I first released so when when I when I 5 years ago when I did my first episodes I did what what the experts say to do and I recorded like 5 episodes right away and release them all at once and Seth was one of the first people to give me feedback So that was really helpful and so that that tells you guys he's he's been along for the ride for quite some time here been there for a while dude it's been gosh man well let's see how long have you and Michelle been married 15 going on 16 years yeah yeah so so I guess we've known each other for Almost 20 years 16 years is it yeah something like that yeah yeah long long longer than that but yeah it's it's crazy but Seth why don't you tell the people just kind of what you do you know and who you are just a brief introduction yeah so Seth Gorden I I currently live in LA J Georgia which like Stan said is a really cool kind of mountain resort town up here in North Georgia but I've my wife and I over the years have been involved in various different ways in some type of full time ministry that's kind of been been our life and for a little while we actually lived in in South Carolina just down the road from from stand there where you are and we were we were down a little town called Clinton or if you're from there it's Clinton Clinton you know Clinton you gotta say it real fast and so we we live there from Atlanta originally kind of the greater Atlanta area if you're familiar with Atlanta I grew up in in Woodstock on the sort of northwest side and my wife grew up in Lawrence that's why you look like a hippie that's right yes it that's why it's the Atlanta haha and so no my wife Diana and I have have been able to spend some really cool years doing some kind of unique ministry and so we've we've experienced some kind of unique things with working with at risk youth and at risk youth population and then we moved up here to to beautiful LA right over four years ago now it's pushing four and a/2 years which is wild for those that don't know where LJ is you wanna kind of give him a geographic kind of idea yep so essentially you head to Atlanta and you basically go kind of straight north and we're about an hour and a half basically just just due north from Atlanta kind of heading up towards you know there's there's various different ways you know you can head north towards Chattanooga and I head north towards Greenville and we're kind of in the middle if you will of kind of those two pads on your way up and so we're pretty close to the top of the state you know sort of as the crow flies if you will we're you know just a few miles away from like the the Tennessee North Carolina border up there so yeah so for those that follow me on Facebook which I tell people on here if if you want to follow me on Facebook you're you're certainly welcome to I have some spicy political opinions so you've got to be prepared for that no not you no not what am I saying yeah no I'm giving myself too much credit here but you'll notice the Seth angers every single post that I do and and vice versa I do the same thing to him including when he like sorry go ahead it's one of the highlights of my day like truly truly to get to get to scroll for just a minute and see oh what Stan posted only not I genuinely could care less about half the content but just makes me so happy that I get to go in there and hold the little thing and slide my finger over to the anger and just walk away my favorite is when you post like a family photo or something and it's like this this real sappy you know how many years you've been married and what not and I get to anger that It just it never gets old I I think every once in a while that what what really brings me joy is when all of a sudden I'll get a notification that like Stan angered your post and I look and it's one from literally like 15 years ago where you've like gone back intentionally and just God just to find ones that you missed and anger them oh it's so great I know it's a it's a deep well I haven't found the bottom of it yet I need to I it was funny I I'm sure you've gotten this I get I get questions every once in a while Like sometimes in person or like a message from somebody and they'll be like so who is who is Stan and and why did why is he angry at what you're doing just a very angry person all the time which honestly isn't wrong but there's some truth to that so let's talk about topic at hand a little bit so one thing and and honestly all of these things that I wanna talk about are things that I'm I'm just personally interested in you like some of these things are are things that we've talked about in passing but like not really in depth but you guys have gone through different periods of of renting versus owning including you know you reference ministry you guys have been house parents before which by the way the the ministry in in Clinton what what was that one called again Thornwell Home for Children Thornwell so it's a children's home ministry I guess there are multiple children's homes there right yeah there's there's multiple houses that kids stay in yeah there on on campus and well just why don't you just explain that for a second how that works yeah yeah so basically in in general when when we talk about being a house parent at a children's home there's there's various ways that different places do it but the the big picture is you have you have kids that have nowhere else to go for for one reason or another they don't have a home and and and they come and they need a place to stay and so they'll stay in our homes and so what we do we are you know our our job our full time job as house parents is we are basically paid to parent eight kids that live in our house with us and so different different homes do it different ways in terms of your off time and all that but but basically you you work for a certain period of time and then you have some amount of time off and then again depending on structure of the of the home sometimes you stay in your home and and the students or the or the kids will leave and go to like what's called a relief home or there's some places that do it like Thornwell does it where where the house parents actually leave for a few days and they go to what's called their off duty house and so through that we we've done it in in multiple different homes there in Clinton we worked there for a little while and then we had a had an opportunity to work for a few years at a home down in South Atlanta and both of those two different children's homes operated in different ways in terms of your house and and your off time and so yeah like the the one in down there in in Clinton at Thornwell we would we would work for a few number of of of days I think it was nine days or something like that and then we would we would move out of the home into our off duty house that was a house that we were simply allowed to to live in it was part of our compensation package right that we we got to to live there and then when we were at the other children's home at Christian City down in South Atlanta the way that worked was we stayed there all the time so we lived there again so our part of our compensation package was us you know having having housing fully covered and paid for but we lived there the whole time and then the kids would transition out for about nine days or so and you've also so so you've had people can kind of think of those as like parsonages almost correct in a way and by the way I don't think you mentioned this but Seth for this listing is a youth pastor now at East LA J Baptist yeah yeah so I'm full time youth pastor here at East LA J Baptist yep so anyway just still working with kids loving it yep cool so and you guys also rented too right when you lived in Knoxville I'm not sure what yeah so we did just for I guess it was about a year and a half when I was finishing up college now my wife and I got married and we lived there about a year and a half and we yeah we rented a townhome there and then you've owned you've owned in Georgia and and correct in the Atlanta area now you own in LA so I'm curious cause this is a question I get as a realtor all the time but people don't like to people ask a realtor but they're always like realtors are gonna push you in the direction of being a homeowner right right and right I think you know the thing the kind of ridiculous thing about that is like if someone asks me should they rent or or own like I don't have a guarantee that I'm gonna ever get a commission from that person based on how I answer that question so it's kind of ridiculous that I'm gonna you know try to like move them in a certain direction but because of maybe the slim possibility you might get a yeah yeah I guess yeah that there I there's kind of a consideration that there's like a an inherent conflict of interest the the thing is that I also own rental properties so that's where it kind of breaks down right if everyone owned and nobody rented my rental properties would be functionally useless yeah but tell me from you know from your perspective having had these different having rented having had kind of a parsonage style having owned what what are some of the just pros and cons of of each of them that you know just kind of come to mind yes and why are you currently owning as opposed to obviously the personage option isn't an option but like owning it right now as opposed to renting yeah so so in general for me you know obviously sort of there's the financial aspect right there's the being able to build up equity in in a home that you own and all that right so there's there's that piece of it but sort of outside of that one of the biggest things and this might I don't know this might be sort of a a niche thing but I I personally am I'm pretty handy and I sort of work on things on my own I have no problem fixing things building that kind of thing and and if I you know not to be arrogant but like I'm pretty pretty decent at at doing that type of thing and so having having your own home gives you an opportunity to to do some of those things fix some of those things and you can do them as you want to and kind of immediately in in response to that I need to wait for a a landlord who may or may not even care about it so so the I get to to be fair my perspective from renting was you know officially renting only about a year and a half there and when we were in Knoxville and and that that went well we didn't have any issues there now when we were sort of the the percentage style if you will which again is a very drastically different different thing you know we had a whole system of maintenance request and when something would go wrong we had to sort of submit that out and put our hands up and hope it got got fixed and you know I would do small little things here and there but so so yeah for for me there's there's sort of outside of take outside that sort of financial aspect of it and there's just the practicality of being able to to do things yourself you know so so that's one that's but that's a I get like that's a real niche little scenario you know yeah are there other aspects to it or is that yeah is that kind of the primary thing no I would I wouldn't say I wanna own a home just cause I can fix it well I do well I do enjoy the the project here there and one of which I'm currently knee deep in a pretty pretty gnarly one there on on the back porch thing that I'm I'm basically having to rebuild my whole back porch on a on a hill in the mountain no thank you yeah yeah it's great but yeah I I think I saw by the way but I saw yesterday a a back deck to a house that it was one of the few times I would not go on it because I it wasn't rotted out or anything but I went under it first and I I kid you not the so it was supported by 4 by fours which are about the smallest supports that you can use I I would personally prefer something a little bit bigger than a 4 by four but it was supported by four by fours but get this they went up to the decking and the Joyce were completely unsupported they weren't even no and yeah there were no they they had like Joyce hangers and and and stuff like that but I was like this and then oop and then we went around to the top and they had taped off like a small section of the deck and I'm like that part of the deck must be really dicey cause like nobody should be going on any of this so anyway yeah yeah don't do that with your deck no no we no not happening I will I will attach him to at least two floorboards and not one that's good so that's good that's good no yeah I I think so much of it too has to be contextual and where like where you live if there are you know if there are good options to to own and obviously within a budget and all that you know we live we live in an area up here where you know it's kind of honestly it kind of sucked when we moved up here 4 years ago the the market was kind of just you know housing housing prices were very much on the rise when we bought and and we were we were blessed to be able to to have found one that that suited our needs and and that we needed and so yeah I think if this was happening if we would have moved up there three months later we wouldn't have been able to buy a house it just it wouldn't you know so so for us that part of the the contextualized that was our our budget and where we were looking to move to you know our our our environment was maybe a speck unique and I say that there's probably many many many other communities very similar but because of the amount of sort of short term rentals with people that that buy homes up here that rent them out as Airbnb's for people that come in you know to vacation in the mountains there was multiple factors that that coupled up but basically as those housing prices were increasing you know we weren't able to find a house to live in so we would have we would have been looking to rent yeah and and so that just would have been the reality of it sure sure so yeah so you mentioned the you know that you're handy and I've I've seen that that first hand where do you kind of draw the line like yeah because you're not a contractor like that's right I honestly I don't even know where you learn those skills are you self taught or did your dad teach you all the above I Learned growing up from from my dad and I would say I've probably kind of surpassed some of the things that dad has done would do and would would would take on and for me a lot of it is just come from it just just learning studying YouTube university is a is a huge huge piece of that so where do I draw the line first of all I have you know if I have to be comfortable with the project for whatever that is so so let me take the deck project right now so here's a here's an easy one to use cause there's pieces of it that I will do myself and there are probably aspects of it that I'm gonna have to so the whole project is basically I've I so we're on a on a mountain cabin and we've got on the back end we've got three levels of deck and it for for about half of the span of the house the deck goes up three levels and over time as we've moved lived in there the side of the deck has been sagging down towards the ground and so I knew that needed to be fixed so step 1 has been going down to to the base resupporting where the where the deck is supported Jack it back up and then do what should have been done in the first place which is pour concrete to to where the to where the supports go to the ground it's good to have gutters and and things like that ideally the so unfortunately what I have found is all 6 of my posts that support that that deck have rotted at the dirt and so that that massive deck is basically being supported by rotten timbers anyway I digress to answer the question those the physical moving the deck up raising it up rebuilding the deck part fairly simple straightforward not easy but it's straightforward yeah like a pretty simple process in terms of here's what you gotta do and you do it now there's some some you know some legal ramifications too depending on what you're doing if you you know you gotta find out what your local laws are maybe you have an HOA or your local you know what can you legally do to your house and not need a permit for so in this case doing redoing the deck I'm simply fixing damage I think is a technical term or I'm not adding anything new I'm not modifying I'm just fixing something that was broken and re repairing it now the ultimate project is as I resolidify the the deck at the at the base on the third level that part ultimately is going to be turned into a finished space with half of it being an office and half of it being another bedroom so there is an area that functionally I I can do the work but legally is a is a spot where I'm gonna have to rely on on the use of contractors and and and actually even in in this case a structural engineer to come out and look and and sort of verify and check off you know we're supporting another level of of a of a house finishing that in and so so yeah the the line really has to be first of all your comfortability but then you know where does that legal side come in'cause if you you know if you if you do something without a permit and you end up selling or or add something to your house and the tax assessor comes by and takes a picture you you know you could be out thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars that you have to redo potentially tear down the work yeah for sure yeah that's that's a a thing that sometimes out of state clients that come to to Greenville don't understand is that in Greenville we don't permit a lot of the work like house flippers I mean there's very Greenville County in particular there's not a ton of stuff that like you'll get in trouble for if you don't permit it and fascinating and our appraisers recognize this too so as part of the appraisal process they don't go digging for permits or requiring anything like that like they just understand this home's been renovated and you know pretty much unless there was some kind of a massive add on or something like that you know there's not a whole lot that's gonna be required like there's actually a joke among contractors that they do roofs on the weekend because they'll get away with it without having to to permit it yeah whereas if it's during the week you know they might have a Greenville County keyboard not keyboard warrior but a skateboard warrior come out yes and and tell them you gotta get this permitted which is you know I understand why they do that but it's a it's a roof you know it's like right what's gonna happen is it gonna cave in on on you or you know but I think I understand when it comes to things like running electrical or even plumbing you know I'll be a plumbing error is only gonna it's only gonna cost you yeah an electrical error you could lose your house right and people could die so so on those level you know I or or potentially even like with what I'm dealing with like a potential structural issue where where you know somebody that has some knowledge I might think I do and I you know and if it didn't need to be permitted I probably wouldn't do it if we're being honest right sure so I feel confident being able to do that but at the same time property within the bounds of what sort of what those those laws are you know having somebody that actually knows not just thinks they know to say yeah actually I think this can support a room you know yeah at what point do you are you gonna have to involve the structural engineer whenever it comes time to actually finishing in that room so so you currently you don't have to do that now as you're putting in the the support correct well because again all I'm doing now is just redoing what is what is currently there okay right so all I'm doing is is going and taking every one of those 6 posts that supports that whole deck pulling it out with supporting it pulling it out digging out the old part and then pouring in in concrete and then the concrete actually coming up out of the ground as it's supposed to you know in a tube so that that that post is not touching ground it's it's you know sitting on concrete and won't ever have any contact with the ground so that's all I'm doing I'm just I'm just redoing that currently and then rebuilding the deck that all can be done without without needing any of those permits right right right so are you doing any other are you taking any other steps to with regard to the the deck itself to to try to extend its life or anything like that yeah I'm building it the right way haha so so currently the way it was constructed there are no Joyce hangers on on any of the any of the of the Joyce how old do you think the deck is well I think it's original house I think it was built in 2007 I think okay so yeah pushing 20 years okay you know so yeah so no no Joyce hangers you know obviously the the 6 by 6 is what straight down to the ground and so what I've understood talking to contractors that are friends of mine up here in LA you know building codes have only sort of come into the 20th century in LA or sure in our county Gilmer County in the last probably five to seven years okay where people are actually you know doing being checked on as they build things so back then nobody would have thought two things about you know you throw a deck up put it into the ground and you move on you know sure even though out of all the places in the world where where you might would want to make sure the deck isn't going to slip away is when it's literally on a yeah on a 90 degree hill yeah yeah yeah exactly and I mean there's got to be all sorts of termites around there as well which I you know there are I mean we we we're treated for termites and you know obviously living in a Log Cabin you know that seems like step number one Yeah and so yeah we're we're treated and and routinely checked for termites and you know but again having having the posts that don't go into the ground you know it'll eliminate some of that yeah potential the potential for for damage yeah absolutely so I've I've looked at log cabins for a long time I actually have a search in the Greenville MLS specifically for log cabins just because just I just I love I love log cabins I always have yes and I don't know one day maybe I'll maybe I'll get one maybe not but I always like I said I I have that search you need to enhance that search to LJ well I have kind of I have it I have looked at some in your neighborhood before but not not to not to move there anyone just you know just vacation ideas but what's it like being a Log Cabin owner what are what are some of the differences in in terms of maintenance and all of that so so first of all a lot of times you'll notice a lot of log cabins were built internally as a sort of a transient place to be right not a place to live and so that means a lot of houses were made without things like closets and places where you normally have closets kitchens that are maybe a little smaller and so that's one of the things that that we noticed when we first moved up here so so so to the Log Cabin piece of it I'll talk real quick we we have wanted to live in a Log Cabin for our whole marriage we have I mean even so far back as to when we were I mean within the first couple of years of marriage when we were down there in South Carolina I I I don't know if you remember me doing this or not I don't know you've seen them now but I had this was I guess 12 years ago I made this massive I call it my throne this is massive wooden chair oh yeah yeah yeah out of out of a tree that was cut down where we lived there in South Carolina and and as I carved this I mean the the the chunk of the tree that I was using was like 3 foot tall and it was I mean you can't get your arms around it it was literally a throne that I carved out with a chainsaw and I remember telling my wife when when I finished it like man one day when we live in our Log Cabin this this will be perfect and then subsequently like a few months later I I made this random chandelier out of the root of a cedar tree it's a it's a darnest thing and and the the root system was hollowed out of the cedar tree and I was able to to make this light fixture that that drops inside of it and it and it hangs up and again I had this with my massive wooden throne and I told Diana like these things one day will will go perfectly in our Log Cabin so so they are they're now in our Log Cabin we've totted around with this all these years so we had wanted to live in that type of home and so when we moved up here or we're looking to move up here that was sort of the the top of our list was that that was what we what we wanted but we Learned pretty quickly like I mentioned a minute ago that a lot of those houses we're not made to live in they were made you know throw up a house to vacation exactly that you don't need all these extra things so bathroom floor plans were kind of wonky so we got really lucky with our home that was built specifically by somebody for it to be his personal vacation home not to rent out and not so he built it more for respect of a home that you would live in and not that you just rent out as a short term rental and so so that that's one thing that you could potentially have and even in that there there's still some some oddities that that we have that we've had to sort of come around you know smaller closet spaces you know our master closet being a little smaller than what you would normally have that that type of thing and so so there's that aspect sort of floor plan stuff and then you've got my favorite thing about living in a Log Cabin and that is do you wanna hang a picture wherever you wanna hang it yeah put up a nail and there you go it is it don't have to worry about studs don't have to worry about no studs anchoring things no yeah no none none of those no no having to find no you can you can literally hang up a picture wherever what do you do when you want to take it down though do you do you just like leave the hole behind or is there a good is there a tasteful way to like plug that hole so I have found most of the time so I'm not using big nails right unless you're hanging a a hefty painting right so I'm not putting you know framing nails in I'm you know using and but you pull them out you never know you never see that that there was a hole there okay so our our house personally not all log cabins are like this but our house internally is 100% all wood slab wood up the walls we don't we have zero drywall in in the entire house and so I always when I'm when I'm looking at these log cabins if I if I see a room with drywall and I'm just like oh come on you know I I immediately just close the tab I'm just like yes not looking at this anymore well that or and I know this might step on toes but like painting the wood oh I hate I hate when people paint wood they do that in long cabins yes yeah they do that the ceiling a lot of times they'll they'll put white a slanted ceiling white they'll use other colors sometimes but a lot of times they'll like whitewash it right yeah and oh I hate it I'm like leave the wood alone yeah no I don't I don't like that what what are some of the maintenance issues that you are yeah so like woodpeckers or wood bees or powder post beetles that kind of stuff yes so so so two things I'll talk about the so the the insect aspect but but one other piece because you know a lot of times log cabins are made specifically designed got big loft spaces in them that's kind of a a lot of times kind of a standard thing that means that heating and cooling those massive rooms can can become problematic and and I've I've found not just for our house but friends that have them and other people around here the HVAC systems were very poorly designed to handle that volume of of cooling or heating that needs to take place and so we have had to modify some of that internally so what we've done this is sort of a practical thing we never would have thought about living in a in a cabin with this this you know massive loft style ceiling we had to to redo all the fans so we've got a a a loft and then that sort of flows out into the downstairs living room area which is all one massive open area that is essentially two stories of open air and so we put in two new fans up in the loft that actually worked because the old ones didn't work and then our our main fan in the living room we upgraded to a a big wide I think it's like a 10 Blade fan yeah it's huge it's like it's like the fans they have at my at my Planet Fitness I go to yes yeah those helped but what really made the impact was we put a couple of mini splits in and or well what we one one head unit that you can you can feed off multiple feeders into your house or you know or you know where the air actually comes out and so we put one of those in our bedroom and one in that loft so that's one thing that sort of is unique that you might have to to try to figure out every house is gonna be different how how that works we had some H fat guys come out and look and see if we even needed to like sort of close off some of the ducks that weren't really doing anything to force air other places and then in place put those mini splits in and and those types of things so so that's that that's sort of a a unique piece as far as the the like bug piece of it because the whole outside is wood we have carpenter bees that potentially could wreak havoc and so we get treated for that we've got a great pest control guy that comes and does all of our you know the termites and all the external stuff so they'll spray the whole outside of the house but I didn't realize until we had him in come to to come and spray was that essentially the now I'm I'm not a pest control guy so if this isn't right I'm gonna I'm gonna send you to him you can help him for my understanding this is pest control advice or real advice these these these these carpenter bees will will bury into the wood and then they'll leave their their larvae in there and as they leave the woodpeckers come and and get at the larvae like they wanna eat the so that ultimately you know you're not just destroying your house from the little little holes everywhere but then the woodpeckers come and they just completely destroy and so sort of have to stop the problem by stopping the the the bees getting in there in the first place so so yeah we get we get sprayed for that and that has seem for the most part has eliminated any of any of those issues yeah do you do you like I've seen those like carpenter bee traps and stuff like that do you guys we've never had to no the the treatment so far has has been enough to keep them away and then we've got obviously the you know the the bigger animals you know we've got bears periodically that are around the we call them big trash pandas cause that's really all they care about is is your trash and I know I have had to fend them off of destroying my trash before there's yeah it's a it's a great story of nobody was home but but of Seth having to run outside naked yelling at a bear because it was destroying my it was it was walking away literally walking away with my trash can as I was getting ready to get in the shower and so I it's one of those things where like I'm glad nobody was home but at the same time like I kind of wish somebody would have like got a video of of me running out of my house with no clothes on yelling at this bear to put the trash can down and yeah it's a shame that we don't have that that memorialized that would be phenomenal yeah that that that would have been one for the ages right there oh man yeah so tell the people a little bit about LJ cause so yeah well I'll start real quick give give you give you a second to catch your breath here so for this listing Michelle and I obviously very good friends with the tea gardens since all the way back to college and so when they moved to LA we didn't visit them right away but once they got settled in then then we visited we've been back many times since then and it's it's always a great little getaway for us it's a unique mountain town that's kind of like a if if you like Gatlinburg but want something a little bit more low key and hopefully this isn't offensive but also kind of a little bit more redneck which might be hard to believe but you can get a little bit more redneck than Gatlinburg that's kind of what LJ is is for me and and without all the traffic that you get in Gatlinburg obviously and and you know there's no rundown theme parks like Ober Gatlinburg or or anything like that but yeah but it's about what trying to think three three and a half and a half hours away from Greenville Drive yeah and it's not a bad drive you know you don't have to like completely go through Atlanta so you take 85 I've never gone through Atlanta to go yeah to go up to Greenville you go down 85 and then and then kind of work your way up so it's a it's a pleasant drive but like Yup what you know what are some of the things that you know people want to do that getaway that they should be prepared for yes so Ella that's a that's a pretty good description we've you know we're we're the small town mountain community that's that's a good way to put it but here's the I'll put this is this is what I like to tell people cause you know immediately when you think when you you say we live in a small town you think like Dumpy Rundown you know that it's not that it's not that at all here's here's how I describe it we are big enough to have we have a chick fil a a Walmart and a Lowe's so you know yeah so we're not we're not super tiny town for sure and so so we've so fit I mean I'm still angry that how many times did we get like KFC or something like that I don't even remember what we what we were getting and I didn't realize you had a chick fil a and then like I found that out like the fifth time that we visited that you guys had a chick fil A yes we've been getting like all this other crappy fast food it was like you there's a chick fil a right there you've been holding out on me oh and it was it was Dairy Queen that's what we kept getting I'm like I don't nobody likes Dairy Queen well my daughter does but well yeah I tried yeah not not not the hot spot no but so yeah yeah we it which you know sort of laugh out but at the same time for me it's sort of practical to have you know we've got everything we need to to to live here right like we don't have to go somewhere else yeah to get groceries or anything like that so that's sort of the main part of town then we have the really cool like the historical like the downtown the walkable shopping area type of thing and and actually I'm I'm personally very familiar with with that part of the town I actually ran a retail store in in that downtown space for the better part of about 3 years and so having been in yeah dude it was it was it was right hard to believe it was that long I know but so I have pretty firsthand experience with what it looks like to you know we're a we're a pretty big tourist economy in in the downtown area you know a lot of our a lot of our income is is directly related to those coming in to visiting and so that's obviously you know spring breaks summer Christmas time is is a is a big one actually bigger than I would have thought that that people vacation at Christmas and New Year's so so anyway LA has as the the downtown sort of quaint little downtown shopping area restaurants that type of thing but then outside of that in in the surrounding areas you've got if you're into the outdoor stuff you've got all kinds of hiking mountain biking matter of fact I just got off the trail couple hours ago out mountain biking and I about this time of year it's beautiful my mountain bike stays on top of my car just about 99% of the time unless it's gonna rain I take it off we have actually our county is a is officially the the Mountain Bike Capital of Georgia there's trails all over the place so there's that there's beautiful hiking I think we've taken you on on some of the hiking trails kind of down to the river and and then actually one of one of our claim to fame is our county is the official start point of the Appalachian Trail so the famous at that goes all the way up to Maine you actually start from from our county and because of that we we have a thing called a trail fest every year and I'm actually the vice president of the Gilmore County Trail Association that helps put on that that that trail fest and and support that so a very outdoorsy town we've got kayaking you can tube down the rivers you've done the kayaking part with me before it's and the tubing it's a blast and the tubing that's right and so the other thing I would say is it's it's fun for all different styles like if you just want a a chill float down a river there's a spot to do that if you're looking for something a little bit more intense and a few rapids we've got you know you you can do that as well so so all the outdoor stuff and then if you're here for a chill we've got incredible wineries up here all littered all across our county everything from really cool vibes to really beautiful views and some mix in between and so there really is incredible things to to do for for just relaxing and then in the fall apple picking season is sort of a big deal here we've got our Big Apple Fest once a year and we've got tons and tons and tons of apple Orchards that are all most of them lined down one of the the main highways headed kind of out of town and there's tons of things to go do there and festivals and stuff so yeah it's for a small town there's there's there's quite a lot going on again sort of mostly in the outdoorsy space you know kind of thing yeah and I would say for those that like are wanting a reference point for like how large like downtown area is and kind of LA as a whole I I kind of consider it comparable to like Travelers Rest yeah yeah I I think it it's a it's a little bit the the downtown space is is more walkable than tr probably probably a little bit closer to like Greer in that sense that Greer was what first came to my mind I think with the only caveat though and this is where it's it's so hard to to to to speak in those terms'cause the problem is like Greer you know you could consider it like a suburb of of Greenville right right it's just an extension of whereas LA is just its own thing like there's not a suburb of anything there's nothing close to it you know you you have to physically leave our town to go to the next one and then the same thing there go to you know so we're not a suburb of Atlanta you know we're an hour and a half from Atlanta we're not so yeah it's like when you think of a downtown area yeah but like our whole community is kind of its own self sufficient little face me ish thing yeah you know well and this is really really off topic kind well kind of but how how far away is the is the where the cocaine bear story took place how how far away is that from you guys so I think that's a blood mountain I think is officially the the cocaine bear story and actually I was just hiking up there not too long ago to did did you see any white powder lying around anywhere no sniffed a couple of things but it didn't no it didn't do it wasn't doing anything alright about an hourish hour hour 15 maybe to where that sort of trailhead is yeah beautiful area up there yeah that's yeah that's not our our county but yeah that's that's that's a it's pretty pretty crazy story ha ha ha yeah that was that was quite the movie too did I tell you I've actually seen the the actual bear that they caught did I think oh yeah I think I think you did where where is that you told me it's it's in Lexington Kentucky the the most random this this is maybe the most random story I've ever experienced personally I was listening to a podcast we were on our way down from Cincinnati headed back down to Atlanta and I happened to be listening to a podcast that was describing the so I'd never heard of the cocaine bear story didn't know anything about it and on this podcast is this before the movie yes OK yes it was the movie was about to come out which is why they were talking about this and they mentioned this cocaine bear story and then the guy proceeds to describe what the story was and randomly somebody says well yeah I think they've got the bear now on display in Lexington Kentucky I looked at my map I'm not kidding we're driving south and we were driving through Lexington Kentucky and so real quick I googled Cocaine Bear Lexington Kentucky and found the spot and I dude I if I'm lying I'm dying the exit to get off was the very next exit I was passing and so I literally like like got off the interstate and Diana's like what are we doing I was like just wait just wait and so we pull up to this not the only time you had to tell her that right yeah truth I don't even know how to describe this place that we went to it was like a a weird souvenir shop slash T-shirt thing that was like in an old mill place kind of remind me some of the old mill Greenville places yeah and anyway we walk in and lo and behold in front of us is this stuffed black bear and there's all these things written up about it about this being the famous cocaine bear that the story was that the movie was coming out about so anyway unbelievable random yeah yeah yeah that that that is right yeah you you had I think told me that you had seen it but I I I didn't know all of those details that's that's a that's very interesting so a couple more questions here we've we've gone for close to an hour I think if I'm not mistaken So 1 one thing that I'm I'm again this is something we we've probably talked about this in in bits and pieces but just to kind of pivot a little bit I'm curious to hear from your perspective so you so probably most of my listeners or at least a lot of them didn't know me prior to me getting into real estate so you know everyone that knows me they associate me with real estate you know in one way or another now with you I'm guessing it's not really the case because our friendship well predates that so you've seen kind of you know as I the evolution yeah I yeah I'm like trying to think of what the word is but you've seen me get into real estate and all of that and I'm I'm curious if there's anything I you know that you've Learned about my like hearing about my job me telling you what it's like being a realtor or the the world of real estate anything that was like surprised you or like hasn't aligned with your expectations or or anything like that yeah so I I think a couple of things one I think before sort of really you know I mean you know we we've had some pretty pretty in depth conversations about real estate like when we're we're together like you know I I I I love learning about what you're doing and and you've you yeah you're sure gone into some kind of really niche things and so I've I've really enjoyed but as I've Learned more especially kind of early on when you were kind of learning you know it was all kind of new to you and and we're kind of learning through you some some of those things and and some things you were experiencing I think one of the biggest things that stuck out for me was sort of how how complicated the real estate could be I think my perception a lot of times was you know real estate was excuse me an easy way to make some cash and and and and people you didn't need a whole lot of of of training thought process you can just kind of go go do it and vice versa because of that I didn't have I thought I would say I don't have a lot of respect didn't have a lot of respect for Realtors I don't know if that's the right way to put it cause cause like as people know I didn't I don't know that I valued the agent to the level that that I have grown to like in comparison to other careers yeah I don't know that I saw it as necessary right I knew it was necessary in terms of legal but like you know how what do what do we really need you guys here for you know and and so I think I think that's been one thing that that there's there's so much complexity to so so there's two aspects of it not just like the transaction itself I think that's that's one piece but the the entire like market knowledge there's so much that goes into to knowing and learning and I know you know cause I know you personally I know the time that you put in to learn that study that speak to that constantly the changing ever evolving landscape yeah and so I think those two things not not just the transactional value of of how do you go about selling a house and there's some incredible value to have in a real estate agent that knows what they're doing on the flip the flip side knowing the market both from the buying and selling standpoint also brings incredible value right and so I think that that's the one one big thing and then the other thing I would say is from from knowing you and and now that the time that I've you know gotten to know you or been with you while you've done the real estate stuff is and and maybe this is more to to those of you that are that are listening like there are a ton I don't know what you're about to say here we go there's a ton no there's a ton of realtors that that maybe don't put the same amount of effort into those two things that I just described Seth Seth is the one that I that when I need to vent it's it's either my wife or it's Seth and I I just have to I have to get off my chest the stupid stuff I have to deal with sometimes well let me let me with that caveat too I I have here in where I live I have two or three very close friends who are also realtors so this is more than just you calling and inventing right like this is like I can I can actually say more than just one person that this is true yup there's a whole lot of people that are are real estate agents by title or or by like you know pass the test that that do not put the same amount of care into the the transaction of of of the the sale of the house buying or the sale and and and the market research in in general right and so I think what I didn't realize before was the value that actually brings and and and then not just sort of those are all almost like back end things right like the the the market research is an ongoing thing a lot of times I think people think about the transactional piece like it happen you know get everything to contract we got it and then you're sort of off yup and and I think the the amount of work that that you put in to make sure that that's not the case and that you know whether it be responsiveness whether it be you know getting something that comes in I mean I've we've been together before when you've been on quote unquote vacation which you know I think you would argue doesn't doesn't necessarily really even happen right yeah and so it's it's it's a you're you're you're working with a different viewpoint that's right that's right it's at your house I'm I'm working with a cabin in mountain yeah but but you know where where we'll be you know in the middle of doing something playing a game or have a conversation or something and you know and you'll you'll peel off for a minute because something needs to be done and this is this is not a you know I can get to it later whereas I know that that's not the case for for many many many agents and yeah sure I I think that you know if I can toot your horn for a minute and maybe you know those that are listening if you're looking for an agent yes I am biased but no you really do you do a you do a great job it it continue to serve your clients both both you know before during and and after that that process so yeah yeah yeah I I appreciate that yeah I just had a client from several years ago reach out to me for some random thing that I'm not gonna get paid for and I got to them within like an hour you know yeah and and that's what I what I tell people is that I well I don't tell everyone this but jokingly that when they sign up for my service it comes with a lifetime warranty as long as I'm alive they're gonna still be able to to to tap into my expertise and and still be able to come back you know and and you know like I I'll have clients that like years later will ask for like a contractor recommendation and they benefit from the fact that I I might have new contractors now that I didn't have three years ago you know I might have a new electrician or a new plumber whatever the the case may be well I think ultimately that speaks to you know your the the the the foundation of all of it is you know a heart to kind of serve people right and and and yeah ultimately you're you're making money and and that's a piece of what it looks like to be a real estate agent or any profession for sure like I can make the same argument do you know I'm I'm a paid full time staff member at a church right like I'm I'm getting paid by a church but but ultimately the heart is I'm here to I'm here to serve people and I I think that's that's where that heart comes from that's why you do those things absolutely that's why you you know it's it's because it's a heart not not to get a check but it's a heart to serve to serve people you know for sure alright last but not least you you're in a unique perspective you you know Greenville really well you lived in Clinton for years you've been you've spent a lot of time in Greenville but you've mostly lived outside of Greenville I'm I'm curious for those what would you say to those who are listening from outside of Greenville but are interested in in this area what are the things from your perspective that's like okay here are the here are the the things to consider that you know I'm not even asking for good things it could be could be something that's like here's a here's a hesitation point whatever yeah what's what's your perspective what would you what would you say to them so I'll I'll put it this way and I'll and I'll expand but almost four years ago or over four years ago when we were we were looking to move and and we didn't necessarily we we sort of had our options open as to where to go at the time and and LJ wasn't even in the cards didn't even honestly the only thing I knew about LJ was I used to have to drive through this dumpy little town cause it used to be it used to be real dumpy I used to have to drive through this dumpy little town well Greenville used to be pretty dumpy as well well yeah 40 years ago yeah so well anyway so I knew nothing about LJ it wasn't in the cards when when we were when we were ready to move and and make sort of a next step and I think you know this we we had we had two options one was move to Greenville and and personally Greenville you know we're very familiar with the area we have family and friends that you know all of my wife's side of her family lives in Greenville all of her extended family are are there Greenville Greer area so we know the area very well you know we have some decent friends in the McCune's that we hang out with here and there so you know there's there's some there's a few good things but it was really it was either sort of move move back closer to where our parents were in the Lauren Stone Mountain area or or Greenville and and and ultimately like out of nowhere LJ LJ came up but but we were we were really pursuing every possible lead to move to Greenville during that time so so I'll start with with that in terms of that was you know had had it not been for this pretty crazy out of the blue set of circumstances that brought us here to LA and I'm so thankful for now the odds are we probably would have end up ended up in Greenville there sure four years ago and and the reasons were obviously there's personal reasons we have friends and family there right so for us that that is a piece of it but I think you know we we lived for three years just south of Greenville so Greenville was our biggest city that we would come to so everything that we would would would do shopping wise and and you know entertainment wise was all was all their ingredients yeah the shopping for for all of Clinton's perks the the shopping and entertainment scene in Clinton's not super hot at the moment hey we had an IGA dude I mean that's a good point you might have a food line too somewhere I don't know they do yeah that was on the other side we didn't go there as much oops the other side of the Quinn sounds bad yeah dude you gotta you gotta watch so obviously we've got kids and family so I can only speak from my perspective and and Greenville just has so many things to offer in in terms of being able to to plug your family into community you know what whether it be you know in in ways of faith if you're you know going looking for a church school systems other ways to get involved in community get to know other families honestly one of the massive things is the parks Greenville has some incredible parks we we you know when I'm up there we love to go play disc golf and and there's so many beautiful parks to go play disc golf and yeah we love to take our kids to you know they're they're putting in new parks all the time and each one has sort of a cool unique feel and so from from that aspect that's some really cool things and obviously the downtown part of Greenville you know you've got all sorts of you know the vibe if you will is is really cool there's there's lots of stuff going on and then what I have loved to see happen in Greenville over the last probably 10 years maybe you could speak a little bit more specifically but all these sort of restorations of the old Mills in these little pockets that that are being revamped and redeveloped I'm a big fan of like the the mixed use space that sort of builds from one area and you can sort of have a an all in one zone where you can yeah kind of hang out shop eat live potentially so yeah I I I think I've described to people before Greenville is like kind of the best of of all the world it still feels from I don't live there right but it still feels a little bit and I'd say small town not in terms of like living in an LA but but small town in terms of ease of access getting around traffic isn't insane everywhere you go you still bump into people that you know that's right that's right but then you've got everything you know outside of a major sports team you've got just about everything that we do have Clemson which is close but it's not a professional sports team I said major sports team yeah says the guy that lives in Georgia and is an Ohio State fan this is true I was born there I was born in Ohio yeah you know anyway but but but yeah I mean you were you have literally everything else that you could want you know from and and then just the the ease of access to to other cities like you know if you need to be in Charlotte or Atlanta you know professionally wise like if if that you know if you're if you travel a lot you know Greenville has airports too obviously but you know so yeah that that would be my if you're looking to to move to to Greenville really just phenomenal place really cool unique things like a like a loves grocery store or a Lowe's sorry not loves a Lowe's grocery store I don't know if it's is that specific unique to Greenville no I've never seen them anywhere no it's not OK it's not a I don't I don't know much about specifically about the the chain like where it where all it is but it's it's not a Greenville chain OK and then just on on the one last thing I'd say there's there's so much diversity of of of people and influence all over the city you know you've got all sorts of international influence it it it feels like there's there's there's multiculturals you know whether it be from restaurants or or to people you get to see and it's yeah it's it's just it's a very enjoyable place to to be at and and to I say live I've I've never actually technically lived there but but yeah Clinton Clinton counts to me I mean yes close I mean I've sold I've sold homes in Lawrence County and yeah and and Anderson County like all all down those areas so that's all part of the upstate it's not Greenville but it's part of the upstate it's part of the greater Greenville area as we well I guess too like like we've you know I love the outdoor spots here in LA Greenville is not adverse to its own close proximity to to outdoor things right like oh yeah you've got lots of great outdoorsy things and you know are pretty close to you know if you want to get up up further north up in the mountains North Carolina and stuff you know very very accessible yeah yeah absolutely yeah we've got Panther Town which you and I have hiked at Table Rock up there Caesars Head and you know you keep going I mean it just and of course Asheville is one hour away basically is it really only an hour yeah well I mean it depends it wouldn't be an hour from like Clinton but from right from where we are it would be about an hour yeah yeah okay so yeah yeah well thanks man I by the way I didn't pay Seth to say good things about me or about Greenville you know before we did this I had sent him like a list of here are some questions I'm gonna ask I didn't I didn't ask for him to go in any direction I just if he said anything bad I was just gonna edit it out so hahaha as one should as one should but Seth thank you so much for coming on if if you guys I'm I'm not gonna put Seth's contact info in the show notes but if you guys do want to visit LJ I'm I assume Seth that you would be more than happy to share information with them absolutely absolutely yeah and so I'd be happy to to connect you with him to to give information I do recommend that you that you do visit that area at some point it's definitely worth doing and and I'm looking forward to once I post clips of of this interview online that Seth's going to anger anger my own self he's gonna anger himself I can't wait and I will too we're we're gonna have we're gonna have to anger it since we're both in it this is gonna be the greatest thing ever ha ha ha thank you guys thank you so much dude ha ha ha sorry no you're good thank you guys for listening that's all for today's episode like rate review subscribe if you need a realtor in Greenville please reach out to me my information all my contact info is in the show notes we will talk to you guys again next time