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Show Summary
The conversation delves into the complexities of buying real estate in Florida, emphasizing the importance of understanding the water table, insurance rates, and the unique environmental challenges that come with living in the state. The discussion highlights that Florida is not merely a retirement paradise but a place with significant threats, including wildlife and environmental factors that potential buyers must consider.
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Investor Fuel Show Transcript:
Comedy Coroner (00:00)
Alright, well first of all, you have to look at the water table. Okay, that’s the number one thing that I would tell people about buying houses in Florida. You have to check the water table. ⁓ Two, if you’re not comfortable with ⁓ paying high insurance rates, you know, then this is probably not a place for you to come retire. ⁓ You know, and the other thing is, is this is Florida too. Like people forget that the Everett Lady is extended all the way to Orlando until we developed everything.east and west of 75. this whole state is littered with stuff. It’s like Australia.
Kristen (02:08)
Welcome back to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m Kristen and I’m here with Levi Johnson, who’s the owner of LG Elite Trim out of South Florida. I’m really excited. We have a lot to talk about here. So thanks for being here, Levi.Comedy Coroner (02:20)
Thanks for having me. Appreciate you, Kristen.Kristen (02:22)
Yeah, so let’s talk about how you got into this industry. How did you start out?Comedy Coroner (02:28)
who, ⁓ long story short, I went to college to become an accountant and I hated that. And so my dad built houses and was into, he had a commercial deal to build a bunch of movie theaters up and down the East Coast. he was converting like regular theaters into like the Cinabistro style.you you have like the seats like that. So I hated my job and I went to work for him and then just realized that, you know, building something with your hands and giving that to people is a lot better than, than counting their beans for him, I guess. It’s just more rewarding. So that’s, that’s how I got into the industry. Just, just hating looking at numbers all day.
Kristen (03:08)
All right.Yeah, it is really nice to have something tangible to be proud of and see the progress that’s been made.
Comedy Coroner (03:22)
This is gratification right there.Kristen (03:25)
And it must really serve you well though that you have that accounting background. Has that kind of helped you?Comedy Coroner (03:30)
yeah, I mean it helps me and hinders me because all of my friends are like, hey, can you do my taxes? It’s like having a truck, like the only person having a truck when all your friends want to move. But yeah, for sure, it’s just how I’m wired, like numbers wise. ⁓ Everything is like an equation or balances out. I might have something to do with being a leaver too, but yeah, definitely having the accounting background has helped me out tremendously.Kristen (03:39)
Right. Exactly.Yeah, do you see that? Other people who might not have the experience you do, you find people struggle in one area of their numbers, knowing their numbers, you know, as they jump into real estate?
Comedy Coroner (04:12)
Well, I know a lot of people that know solid geometry. that’s, you know, because that’s tangible math. That’s math that you can apply every day. But yeah, I know so many of my friends and they might comment on this. They’re all bad with numbers and they’re always like, hey, what’s the, you know, it’ll be anything from like, what was the exit that we were supposed to get off three ago when you were driving to, you know, like what is…Kristen (04:38)
Yeah.Comedy Coroner (04:40)
45 divided by you know, whatever so so yeah being like having numbers savvy sense does come into play as a benefit soKristen (04:48)
Yeah, absolutely. Andso at what point did you kind of go off on your own and start LG Elite Trem?
Comedy Coroner (04:55)
Ooh, that’s like a pretty new adventure for me.So for a long time, like I was an accountant for like 10 years and then decided that I wanted to do something else. Then I worked for my dad for a couple of years. Then I had a son and realized that I wanted to come back to Florida where was, you know, like where all my roots are from. ⁓ once I established myself here and ⁓ started getting some connections.
then we opened up the business and everything has sort of went on from there. ⁓ So it hasn’t been, it wasn’t like an overnight thing, ⁓ it’s definitely been something that has been, a lot of work has been put into it to bring it to fruition.
Kristen (06:23)
Absolutely, and how do you kind of go about in the beginning getting your client base up?Comedy Coroner (06:29)
⁓ it’s all word of mouth. mean, we don’t have an advertising budget. know, everything that we do ⁓ is all, you know, like we do a good job. And it does help that we work in one or two specific neighborhoods that are just they’re flourishing. They’re building 500 homes a year in these neighborhoods, which is insane, insane growth. But ⁓ which it also ensures that me and my guys have a job every day. So. ⁓Kristen (06:58)
Alright.Comedy Coroner (06:59)
In the construction industry, it is wild to be able to go to the same place to work at primarily every day. know what mean? Usually you’re up and down, especially in Florida. Being located in Sarasota, you’re going anywhere from Tampa to Cape Coral, Port Charlotte, area, Naples. We do jobs in Orlando, but most of our work is centered right here in a waterside, lakewood ranch. So we love that.Kristen (07:24)
Amazing. So, you you started this with a business partner. How did you meet them? How did you… I’m always interested in how people kind of forge those relationships and figure out, you know, what’s a person that aligns with their values and goals.Comedy Coroner (07:40)
This is a funny story. So I used to be a white rapper. It sounds funny. And… and… No, no, it’s… butKristen (07:48)
Thank you for clarifying, White. I was not sure.Comedy Coroner (07:55)
But my buddy Gino Mays, one of my best friends, known him for over 20 years. He’s the co-owner of LG Elytron with me. He owned a recording studio at that time. He taught me how to make beats, make money doing that. So we always sort of in that entrepreneurial sense where, you know, like…I saw him as a visionary because he opened up a recording studio, he would make beats, sell them, recording time, and he would make like $500 a day, and this was like back in the early 2000s, and I’m just like, this.
It’s like a lot, you know, like a lot of money to do something that you really love and I always have really appreciated that. So, ⁓ I always kept him close and wanted to learn from him in that aspect. with that regard, I give him like all the, you know, he gets all the flowers for that. Like he showed the way he’s always been the one that has laid down the path for us, so to speak. So shout out Gino Maze.
Kristen (08:50)
Yeah,and I know kind of one of your big strengths is networking and being able to you know approach people and go up to them. Can you talk about that process kind of like how important networking is to you and forging community?
Comedy Coroner (09:08)
I learned how to network ⁓ basically from doing comedy. So I’ve been doing comedy for probably four years now.and doing it in a range of range of venues. I might be in front of 10 people, there might be 400, but just learning how to speak and handle like awkward situations, know, hecklers, toning stuff down, figuring out, you know, how to how to speak to people in a tone scale, you know what mean?
But yeah, just definitely doing comedy has made me so comfortable being able to talk to people. you know, it’s just… Because I bombed on stage so many times. And just in front of people I love too. this is, you know, and those are, think those are the situations. You learn a lot more from humiliating yourself
Kristen (09:51)
Right. Right.Comedy Coroner (10:36)
than you do from being successful in situations. you know, you have to learn, you have to lose a couple fights to learn how to win them. I think that’s how it is.Kristen (10:36)
YouComedy Coroner (10:45)
And that’s how I got to the point where I can just approach anyone. How they feed off me is different.Kristen (10:50)
Yeah.Well, because you, I mean, you experienced, which I think it’s completely unavoidable, especially in comedy, you’ve experienced those times where things didn’t necessarily go, people didn’t receive things as you wanted them to, and life goes on. Nobody cares, like, you know, your world doesn’t collapse. So I think, like, experiencing those things were, what we’re fearful of isn’t, it’s kind of baseless. ⁓ I think it’s a good point that you really don’t have a lot to lose going up to somebody.
Comedy Coroner (11:11)
youKristen (11:25)
So you talked about kind of the market you’re in right now and how it’s really flourishing and there’s a lot of homes being built. I know that the South Florida market right now is a very hot market. I would love for you to talk about that.Comedy Coroner (11:36)
Well, right now it looks like 2006, do you know what I mean? And everybody knows what happened after that. So, like I don’t want to be the bearer of, like I don’t want to be that guy, okay? I love how it’s going.Kristen (11:42)
YouComedy Coroner (11:51)
I love that people want to move to Florida. I just wish they could figure out how to use the traffic circles. That’s the only real complaint that I have. But no, seriously, the market here is amazing right now. Like I said, I’ve literally worked in the same neighborhood for the last six to seven years. ⁓They just keep putting up custom homes, keep selling new houses. They just signed another development on the other side of the property for another 200 plus homes. So over there in Waterside, Lakewood Ranch, Florida. If you’re from anywhere except Florida, you you want to move there obviously. So yeah, it’s just, no, it’s a great time to be down here and be building houses and.
Could be still involved with it, especially coming back from 2007, 2008, what happened there. So.
Kristen (12:42)
Yeah, yeah, so you thinkkind of like the shifts going on. But that’s great. I love seeing positivity about the market for sure. And as a contractor, I’m sure you see the same things over and over. What are kind of maybe for investors, what are some misconceptions or general mistakes that you see people make who maybe are first timers or just getting started with it?
Comedy Coroner (13:09)
Alright, well first of all, you have to look at the water table. Okay, that’s the number one thing that I would tell people about buying houses in Florida. You have to check the water table. ⁓ Two, if you’re not comfortable with ⁓ paying high insurance rates, you know, then this is probably not a place for you to come retire. ⁓ You know, and the other thing is, is this is Florida too. Like people forget that the Everett Lady is extended all the way to Orlando until we developed everything.east and west of 75. this whole state is littered with stuff. It’s like Australia.
It’s, you know, it’s not nice to the person from New Jersey who is 80 years old and has a tiny dog. Like, you know, there’s real threats out here. The pirate, the Python invasion is wild. So there’s a lot of things that you have to think about. It’s not just paradise. We are literally living in the middle of like a, just a prehistoric swamp.
Kristen (14:05)
Right.Comedy Coroner (14:05)
You know, just because there’s there’s Teslas and you got 3500 square feet of living room doesn’t mean that as soon as you walk outside that there’s not a panther or a river otter that’s going to rip your face off. but look, I love it here. So it’s just a little bit of a joke. uh, it. No, look, I tell everybody people say like, oh, are you scared? I’m not scared of alligators. I’m scared of river otters. That’s if you.Kristen (14:21)
No, I mean, I didn’t even think of that. That’s good point.Comedy Coroner (14:34)
You’d have to pay me over a million dollars to get into canoe and freshwater in Florida, I’ll just tell you that. they look cute, but they have hands that are equipped to open clams and oysters. So, you know, you can Google it, just give it a go. It’s River Otters Lakewood Ranch, Florida. There’s, IKristen (14:40)
What do river otters do?Okay.
Comedy Coroner (15:41)
don’t want to be too, you know.Too graphic on here, but that’s a good one.
Kristen (15:44)
Good to know.everyone listening, can Google that later. And then what about, what are some trends you’re seeing? Are you seeing kind of the same things being put in homes that are very ⁓ popular and good for a return?
Comedy Coroner (16:02)
Yeah, think a lot of people are doing, ⁓ well, they’re not going with so much ⁓ interior woodwork. They’re doing a lot of this level five flat drywall finish, especially with interior beam work on the ceilings. It’s just more of a nouveau European look that we’re seeing. ⁓ I personally am more into the woodworking aspect of it, but that’s because I make a lot of money off of that. ⁓Yeah, it’s just a lot more drywall, a lot of flat stuff, a lot of like non-right angles, you know, just really abstract. And that’s I think that’s a part of being in Sarasota also with Ringling being here. And, know, there’s 17,000 millionaires to live inside this county, which is per capita, I think the most as far as population density goes. So there’s a lot of there’s a lot of weirdos that have money or make analysis here. And I’ve worked in a lot of them.
Kristen (16:38)
All right.Yes.
Comedy Coroner (17:01)
And people love it, you know what mean? So… But yeah, I just think a lot of this new Vogue stuff, there’s… I do a lot of work for a lot of… for a lot of young ladies that graduated Ringling… the Ringling School here in Sarasota with architectural degrees or designing degrees and, you know, I would say this. What you can do on your computer is not necessarily what you can do in real life, okay? So just keep that in mind because…That’s probably the number one thing that I run into working on these houses. It’s just the application of what you can do with your computer versus what I can do with the material in real life, you know.
Kristen (17:41)
Yeah, absolutely. To kind of shift gears a little bit, it seems like you have, I mean, you have two podcasts. You obviously have comedy that you lean into. Like it seems like you have a very full life outside of real estate as well. I would love to kind of talk about that work-life balance and what makes real estate so attractive for that.Comedy Coroner (18:02)
Well, I think the number one thing about that is everybody’s looking for a place to come home to where like you get there and that’s your spot, you know? ⁓ And me, I haven’t got to that one yet. I think that’s where the hunger comes from is I wanna find and I hate this word, my forever place, but you know what I mean? Like that is a real thing though, ⁓ just, you know.Kristen (18:23)
Yeah.Comedy Coroner (18:28)
And I think there’s there might be a little bit of testosterone involved in that, but just like wanting to find the ideal spot, you know what mean? Just always like a fluence every day. It could be better in this way and being able to to shape shape something up like a like a thing of clay. But I think, yeah, a lot of that drive is just ⁓ I want to own something that’s eventually. And so in doing that, you end up making stuff that’s perfect in the drive to make yourself something that’s perfect.That’s how you reach your dream, think, just to affluence a little bit better every day. ⁓
Kristen (18:58)
Yeah.Yeah, absolutely. Having that vision and kind of working towards that. ⁓ And I’m sure having all of these passions outside of it, it only makes you work harder and it probably makes you recharge where you can do your job even more efficiently.
Comedy Coroner (19:18)
yeah, I mean think you have to have a couple healthy hobbies. I have ⁓ enough bad ones. I work really hard. ⁓ I’m obviously a parent, ⁓ business owner. I also coach my son’s football team. Then I run comedy nights. But I feel like that is what, all of it together is what keeps, it’s just like a bunch of gears that are going like this.And they all keep each other turning, you know what mean? So if I stop doing one of these things, then I might, you know what I mean? All of them might grind to a halt. So being a good dad, being accountable at work, being accountable for my comedian friends, trying to make shows, you know, doing what I have to do. Because I’m, you know, like I’m the only person that works at my podcast, which means like, I don’t know if you know, if you’ve ever edited a podcast, it’s for every minute you record, it’s about three minutes of work afterwards. So,
Kristen (20:12)
fun work.Comedy Coroner (20:18)
But having all of those things to do leaves you with less time to mess things up. Do you know what I’m saying? To make bad decisions. yeah, I wake up every day. I don’t hate what I do no matter what it is. And I think if you can get into a place where you have like half of those, like half of the things that you have to do every day you don’t hate, you’re in a really good spot. But being in a spot where you don’t hate anything that you do every day is…Kristen (20:26)
Yeah, it must burn out too. Yeah.Comedy Coroner (20:48)
That’s optimum, it’s ideal, I think that’s the apex of where you can be. Not saying I have it all figured out, I’m just saying I don’t wake up every day and want to drive to the skyway, you know what mean?Kristen (20:52)
Absolutely. What it’s all about. Sounds like you’re always very comfortable.So to kind of wrap all this up, what’s a piece of advice that you wish you learned earlier in your real estate career that you can share with people?
Comedy Coroner (21:06)
YouOoh, man, there’s so many. ⁓ my grandfather once told me that every hot woman that you see, there’s somebody that’s tired of being with her. That’s ⁓ Shout out Merle. But no, I think a lot of it is just, you you don’t automatically know who you are or what you want to do.
And for some people, you know, you gotta go swimming in a couple pools to figure out which one’s your temperature. ⁓ It took me 20 years past college to figure out what I really wanted to do. And I don’t feel like I lost any of those years. feel like that now I have the experience from all that stuff just to make it even better. So I just say, don’t give up on your dream no matter what it is. ⁓
Kristen (22:08)
you.Comedy Coroner (22:09)
I mean, unless it’s, you know, like my son wants to play in the NFL, he’s… fourth grade, he’s still three foot something, so… They don’t all work out. He can’t be a seeker. Sorry. But no, just don’t, you know, don’t ever abandon your dream. It always… You can make it work out in some sort of aspect of the reality, you know?Kristen (22:17)
youI’m sorry.
Yeah.
Yeah,
and there’s never a time limit on when you want to try something new or develop a new passion.
Comedy Coroner (22:38)
I’ll saysome of the funniest people that I know in the comedy business are like 85, 87. Like this guy, Cliff Hornsby, I just had him on my podcast. He had a stroke like two weeks ago. He’s texting me from the hospital like the new bits that he’s writing in the hospital. I’m like, you’re a savage, dude. You know what I mean? Just… But yeah, I you know, I hope that’s how I look at having a stroke. It’s like, let me find out what’s funny about this.
Kristen (22:59)
Yeah.Yeah, look at the positives of things. Well, that’s awesome.
Comedy Coroner (23:11)
But just people likethat, just see the eternal positivity and stuff. You gotta have those people in your life.
Kristen (23:15)
Totally. Yeah,and keep, you know, fun kind of going through your life no matter what. Well, that’s awesome. Thank you so much for all of this. I feel like you’ve given some good inspiration, some good tips. Tell everyone where to find you and how to find LG Elite Trim and then your podcasts as well.
Comedy Coroner (23:22)
yeah.Yeah, we have a website, lgelitetrim.com. You can find us there. ⁓ If you live in this Sarasota-Bradenton area, you can find me out at Waterside. I’m always out there. I’m always around. ⁓ You can check out our podcast. You can watch us on youtube.com backslash comedy coroner or youtube.com backslash conspiracy coroner. I have a five part series coming out about Nathan Vennerson.
the guy I alluded to who is the developer who struck a deal with the Florida government here to develop all these wetlands. this is going to be a banger series people. So keep in tune with that. don’t mean to, I I, you know, to do a shameless plug, but I had to take the chance. But no, yeah, but you can catch me on those two. ⁓
Kristen (24:07)
youNo, of course, that’s what we’re here for.
Comedy Coroner (24:18)
On Spotify, the same names, Comedy Coroner, Conspiracy Coroner. We’re trying to grow the channel as everything’s brand new. I think we’re just pulling up on almost 50 episodes for Comedy Coroner. So like I said, I figured out how to do it while I’m doing it. I love platforms like you guys, and I appreciate you guys having me on. Thanks for letting me plug my stuff, dude.Kristen (24:43)
Of course. Well, thank you everybody for listening. Hope you learned a lot, got some good inspiration for your own business and we will see you back next time. Bye.
