Ruth, Raine & Wright: Breaking the Rules—Three Agents, Three Brokerages form Powerhouse Real Estate Team

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South Bay Digs – Ruth and Raine

Bill Ruth: [00:00:00] Real estate really comes down to, it’s a relational business. You want to work with who you like, and real estate comes down to a personal relationship with your realtor. I think the technology is what’s changing more so than brokerages nowadays. My mom was with Ruth Realty’s small firm, and we used to be the big boys all day long.

[00:00:29] Yeah. And I didn’t think it had anything to do with that. They wanted to work with me, so it was more so the person in 30 years ago that was true. Today, I think it’s even

[00:00:46] Warren Dow: [00:00:46] welcome to DIGS Influencer Podcast, the Titans of Real Estate. The show that provides direct access to the real estate industry’s top movers and shakers is they share invaluable insight on how to best navigate and succeed in any market. I’m your host, Warren Dow, founder and CEO of m3 Media and publisher of DIGS Magazine.

[00:01:09] In this episode, Ruth & Raine, Bill Ruth, Charlie Raine, and Carissa Wright.

[00:01:19] Today we welcome to the DIGS Influencer Podcast, a powerhouse team of agents, Bill Ruth, Charlie Raine, and Carissa Wright. Better known in the South Bay is Ruth & Raine. Welcome to the show. 

[00:01:34] Bill Ruth: [00:01:34] Thank you. Thank 

[00:01:35] Warren Dow: [00:01:35] you. Why don’t we start with having you guys introduce yourself to our listeners so.

[00:01:40] Uh, they have a sense of everyone’s voice. 

[00:01:43] Bill Ruth: [00:01:43] Hello, this is Bill Ruth

[00:01:44] Carissa Wright: [00:01:44] and this is Carissa Wright 

[00:01:46] Charlie Raine: [00:01:46] And this is Charlie Raine. 

[00:01:48] Warren Dow: [00:01:48] All right, so we’ve, before we talk real estate, let’s, let’s get a brief backstory and let me go back and say brief backstory on everyone. We’ll start with Charlie. Where did you grow up?

[00:02:00] Go to school. 

[00:02:01] Charlie Raine: [00:02:01] The family moved to pals for Easter when I was five. Uh, so I want to tell 40 schools from kindergarten through high school and end up at long beach state and Michigan state for 

[00:02:11] Warren Dow: [00:02:11] college. Bill, 

[00:02:13] Bill Ruth: [00:02:13] I was born and raised in Palos Verdes, K through 12 and  and then went to USC and Marie de Bruin, and we moved back to PV and so never really left.

[00:02:25] Warren Dow: [00:02:25] Nice. Carissa. 

[00:02:28] Carissa Wright: [00:02:28] I actually grew up, been Texas outside of Austin, and then I moved to the inland empire when I was 12 and I’ve been kind of everywhere. Orange County, San Diego, um, Los Angeles. And then I moved to the South Bay about eight years ago. 

[00:02:46] Warren Dow: [00:02:46] Awesome. So what were some of the favorite things you guys did as like, you know, as young kids or young adults?

[00:02:53] What were some of the. Stuff you were into. 

[00:02:56] Bill Ruth: [00:02:56] Palos Verdes is a great place to grow up because there was so much open space and so much fun to do. And back in the days, the one rule for kids was to be home before dark. And that was about the only rule. There were no cell phones or nothing else. So you could go surfing, horseback riding, bike riding, and everything all on the same day, and your parents didn’t really care as long as you were home before dark.

[00:03:17] And so it was really, really a great place to grow up and a lot of friendships. Are still today that, uh, people where I grew up with 

[00:03:27] Warren Dow: [00:03:27] how times have changed. I remember bill, I used to be outdoors all the time, and my mom would ring a bell, like literally come home time, you know, time, you know, and just, we’d be out all day.

[00:03:38] Bill Ruth: [00:03:38] Um, if you weren’t home by dark, you’d get whipped. 

[00:03:42] Warren Dow: [00:03:42] You’d be in the dog house for sure. 

[00:03:44] Bill Ruth: [00:03:44] What about getting mom? 

[00:03:48] Warren Dow: [00:03:48] What about you? Carissa. 

[00:03:50] Carissa Wright: [00:03:50] I mean, I grew up in Texas, so it was same thing, just open outdoors, riding bicycles, just getting dirty. I loved the outdoors and we played a lot of sports, kept really busy with that.

[00:04:04] Warren Dow: [00:04:04] Are you a Cowboys fan? I don’t 

[00:04:06] Carissa Wright: [00:04:06] really follow 

[00:04:07] Warren Dow: [00:04:07] professional football. Sorry.

[00:04:14] Carissa Wright: [00:04:14] But I am a Longhorns fan. 

[00:04:17] Warren Dow: [00:04:17] I 

[00:04:17] Carissa Wright: [00:04:17] married a Trojan. 

[00:04:19] Bill Ruth: [00:04:19] Nice, 

[00:04:20] Charlie Raine: [00:04:20] well, unlike Carissa, but like you, um, we didn’t have to shoot our dinner, but when dinner was in our neighborhood, everybody had those that just like you did. And, uh, you knew the sound of the bell and that meant your dinner was ready and all the boys had home that, uh.

[00:04:38] Warren Dow: [00:04:38] That’s great. Yeah. 

[00:04:39] Bill Ruth: [00:04:39] Well, we’re old. 

[00:04:41] Warren Dow: [00:04:41] We’re dating ourselves. So what about, I’m always curious, what was your first job, your very first job? 

[00:04:48] Bill Ruth: [00:04:48] My first job was detailing cars and we thought we were so good at it that we planned a trip to Hawaii in the summer. Me and my buddy that opened this business called Catalina car care, and we didn’t pay for our Hawaii trip.

[00:05:02] We had to borrow money from our parents. We never made any money, but we detailed a lot of cars and had a lot of fun. 

[00:05:08] Warren Dow: [00:05:08] That’s cool. Yup. 

[00:05:09] Carissa Wright: [00:05:09] I worked at a ice cream store, so I scooped ice cream and made little bags of candy for people is a really cool little place where there were a lot of other high-schoolers working.

[00:05:20] So it was a great experience and we had a lot of fun. 

[00:05:24] Charlie Raine: [00:05:24] And I worked at a Texaco gas station at the peninsula center in rolling Hills estates and guy was 15 and a half or so. And then I finally got my license.

[00:05:37] Warren Dow: [00:05:37] That’s awesome. Speaking of ice cream, I worked at hognose for a while in high school in West Lake village where I grew up and I had the random opportunity to serve Mickey Rooney ice cream. He used to come in cause he lived in the area and. So what did, I was just always blown away. You know, he was larger than life and some crazy personality was fun.

[00:05:59] That 

[00:05:59] Carissa Wright: [00:05:59] was, we had a Ben Harper’s family, I don’t know if you guys know Ben Harper, but his family owns the music shop next door to the ice cream store. So him and his family used to come in as kids and his wife at the time. So it’s cool 

[00:06:11] Warren Dow: [00:06:11] to see them too. He talks about that in his career a lot too. You know, the little things 

[00:06:17] Carissa Wright: [00:06:17] in the Claremont village, there’s all the colleges right there.

[00:06:19] It’s a really cool downtown area. Um, a lot of students, a lot of local families out of really cool vibe. 

[00:06:27] Warren Dow: [00:06:27] Very cool. So did you guys have any early career aspirations? Did you want to be the. The King of the car wash bill like own 800 car washes.  

[00:06:39] Bill Ruth: [00:06:39] being an entrepreneur and trying to make money, I always thought I wanted to be a doctor until I saw a car accident once and I fainted.

[00:06:45] I ended up in the hospital. 

[00:06:47] Warren Dow: [00:06:47] So you’re not 

[00:06:48] Bill Ruth: [00:06:48] real good with seeing blood. And out of the three children I have, I fainted on two of them and it up to the hospital with one of them cause I hit my head when I fell down. So I knew that career wasn’t going to go the right way and I kind of. Got into real estate because it was a family business.

[00:07:03] My dad was in commercial real estate. My mom was in residential real estate, and I graduated from USC with a real estate finance degree and started working in commercial in the West side, and then we moved back down to palace Verdi’s. I kind of looked at my mom and said, Hey, you know, how do you guys make money in this business?

[00:07:19] Can you make money in this, this, well, what do you do? And that’s how I ended up by chance in residential real estate. The commute couldn’t, couldn’t handle the commute to West LA. Yup. 

[00:07:31] Warren Dow: [00:07:31] Yup. 

[00:07:33] Carissa Wright: [00:07:33] I actually was the same. I grew up wanting to be a doctor and I was premed in college and did a hands on internship in the hospital for two years, and I was scrubbed in for surgery to, to watch one day and the surgeon, or are those the anesthesiologist?

[00:07:49] He asked me if I wanted to be married and have kids and I said, yeah. And he said, don’t become a doctor. It’s not the right. Lifestyle for. It really weighed on me. I thought about it seriously for a couple of years and I decided I wanted to have the different opportunity to spend more time at home with the kids I plan to have one day.

[00:08:11] Warren Dow: [00:08:11] Cool. Good. 

[00:08:12] Charlie Raine: [00:08:12] Well, I’m proud to say that I stayed fully conscious for our daughter’s wedding. There’s to say I did pass out in the Lamaze class, 

[00:08:22] Warren Dow: [00:08:22] so 

[00:08:22] Charlie Raine: [00:08:22] I’ve had some growth as far as the scene. Some people pass and I got 20 years ago I started a new lighting lifeguarding for Allen County site. I still do that 10 days a year more for fun than anything else.

[00:08:38] Warren Dow: [00:08:38] I want to hear more about that later. We’ll get, we’ll circle back on some of this stuff. Let’s talk about getting started in real estate. Bill, we heard your story. Carissa, how about you? How did you, how did you wind up here? 

[00:08:51] Carissa Wright: [00:08:51] I worked in bank management for a number of years and did nonprofit management after that, and then when my daughter was born, same thing, I was commuting up to Brentwood and I didn’t like the commute once I had a newborn.

[00:09:07] And so my husband and I stayed up one day and we did this thing where I just made a list of everything that I liked. And real estate had always intrigued me. I remember growing up going to blockbuster on Friday nights with my mom. Then I would leave with every single house magazine that was there when you walk out the door, and that was really what I was going there for.

[00:09:30] I didn’t give up the movies. I was like rushing to the exit to get all the, the house magazines that had all the first sales listed.

[00:09:42] Bill Ruth: [00:09:42] blockbuster threw it off 

[00:09:45] Warren Dow: [00:09:45] the age of me. 

[00:09:46] Carissa Wright: [00:09:46] Um, and I would go home and I would sit and I would scour. I would just go through all the houses and I loved it. And so when my husband and I made this list, real estate was definitely something that. We talked a lot about and so I decided to pursue my license and he’s in construction and we thought it would be a nice little marriage workwise with him being a general contractor and me getting into real estate and I found I really loved it, kind of blended all of the operations and management experience I had and allowed me to get an other homes, tore him, learn about and learn the market.

[00:10:26] Charlie Raine: [00:10:26] Charlie, similar to a bill. My mom was in residential real estate since I was probably in elementary school. So going back to the very early days, and my dad was in commercial real estate. I had wanted for many, many years since I was probably early junior high school wanting to go into real estate business.

[00:10:46] I was very focused on doing that. Ended up at Michigan state, which has that. Uh, one of the top programs in the country for HRI, which is hotel, restaurant institutional management, and start working with a company called the elephant bar when they’re, uh, travel around the country a little bit with them and didn’t like staying up till three in the morning.

[00:11:11] That was really the thing that sort of got me out of it and sort of fell back. Came here, that pals forties, when my dad passed away and. Got my real estate license and that was about 30 years ago and ended up, uh, I did residential from the beginning and stayed basically in South Bay the whole time. 

[00:11:31] Bill Ruth: [00:11:31] It’s 33 years ago, Charlie.

[00:11:37] Okay. 35. Wow. 

[00:11:41] Warren Dow: [00:11:41] There you go. So what bill and Charlie, what prompted you guys to join forces. Wait, when did you make that decision? Why did you make a decision? 

[00:11:48] Bill Ruth: [00:11:48] You know what, I’m gonna parlay this over to Charlie because it was his decision, not mine. And I’m happy I did it. But, uh, he kind of started the impetus to get together on, on a specific listing.

[00:12:00] So he 

[00:12:01] Charlie Raine: [00:12:01] started with a really spectacular piece of property in rolling Hills, and I had sold a client this land and put a house on it, and he was with a. Big apparel company and had planned on retiring back to this house. He was living out of state and not retired back to the house. He left a message on my office voicemail, which very specifically States don’t leave a message here.

[00:12:26] Call my cell phone, and I happened to pick up that message a few days later and listen to, and he said, I’m going to be out of my office for lunch until one 15 I’m available between one 15 and two 42. Give me a call and you know, I want to talk to you about listen to my house cause I’m not coming back to California.

[00:12:46] And so I picked this up on Sunday night, which is about three days later and called bill. He said, well, it’s too bad you didn’t call me earlier. Uh, I’ve got three people lined up and if you want to come in, I’ll see you Tuesday morning at seven 30. Okay, I’ll be there. And then I called bill and I asked him if he was one of the three people that was going to.

[00:13:08] To make a proposal on this listing. He said, no, I don’t know anything about it. I said, great, let’s team up. So we teamed up and we are against, uh, at the time who was sort of the, the top teams and individuals in palace freeze for houses. And we ended up getting the listing and we sold it, um, within about a week.

[00:13:32] And it was the highest price until about two years ago, so it lasted a good 10 or 12 years is the highest sales price, and that was for Reese. I actually stopped day for quite awhile and then we had another one not too long after that that we teamed up to get, and we just decided it worked out very well.

[00:13:49] We get along great. We went to high school together. We enjoy each other’s, sends it to humor. And in my case, Bill’s lack of 

[00:13:59] Bill Ruth: [00:13:59] thought. You can say, we played water polo together, you know, we were athletes, all that good kind of stuff.

[00:14:09] So circle back around to your, to try to answer your question. We still don’t know how it works. We, we don’t have anything written down. It’s a handshake deal. And I think the most unique thing about between Charlie and I is just the integrity between the two of us, that we would never lose a client or a deal or each other’s friendship over a real estate deal.

[00:14:29] And it’s too important to significant and our reputation is at stake. So that’s really what was the driving force behind us. And I think we’re probably into this seven or eight years now. And. Okay. 10 but, but it’s, it’s really worked well just because I think the, the respect and the trust and just the dedication to the real estate industry that we both have, and it works as a partnership because of our backgrounds and our similar.

[00:15:00] Interests going forward for our clients. 

[00:15:02] Warren Dow: [00:15:02] Well, it’s also unique and you guys were kind of groundbreaking in the sense that you have different brokerages, which is not very unusual. Very re three to four. Now I want to get to Chris and now joining here, but now, but it started as two different, which is sort of, you know, not not the norm by any stretch.

[00:15:20] Right? Right. 

[00:15:22] Charlie Raine: [00:15:22] I don’t want to rain on Chris’s prayer, but I’ll tell you how bill and I came to. Really decided we wanted her to join us. Chris and her husband, Ian, who is a really, really good local builder, had looked at a piece of property that we have in rolling Hills for sale and they came up, they look at it, they really liked it.

[00:15:42] I think back at that time, they made an offer on the property and didn’t quite work out, and about six months later, her husband Yan followed up and wanted to meet with us and the seller. And he had done all this due diligence on the property, had done much more than any of us had as far as designing a potential house on the property and wanting to know how it can make it work.

[00:16:05] And we just felt bill and I, with the professionalism that had had in a character that Ian showed and that they showed throughout the process, coming up and meeting with us. And. You could just tell they were great, great people. She’s very sharp. And bill and I talked to said, you know, they’re really good and we’re, we’re sort of missing something with our team.

[00:16:30] And Carissa in, in our minds, fills that void. And bill and I talked and we said, absolutely. We totally agreed. And we approached her and asked her to join us. 

[00:16:40] Bill Ruth: [00:16:40] Oh, I thought the missing thing was our hair line. No, that

[00:16:48] blonde hair. Okay. Sorry. 

[00:16:52] Warren Dow: [00:16:52] That’s great. So that’s it really. You guys think it’s an advantage when you go to market now there’s like, you know, you get three for the price of one. 

[00:16:58] Bill Ruth: [00:16:58] Absolutely. I mean, it’s really unprecedented in the industry that we have three different brokerages and I, to be honest with you, I don’t think our brokerages are thrilled about it, that we’re, that we’re doing this independently.

[00:17:07] I mean, they would like to see all of us in the same team and the in one brokerage. And that’s not going to happen specifically because it is the best for our client. When you have three of the top companies in three top realtors out there supporting you. It cannot be beat in, uh, in any industry. So it’s very unique.

[00:17:26] Warren Dow: [00:17:26] Yeah, it is. Well, that’s great. So I’m going to go back a little bit on what was your first sale? I’m always curious. Like, was it, it was before you guys hooked up right? 

[00:17:35] Bill Ruth: [00:17:35] Our first sale. 

[00:17:36] Warren Dow: [00:17:36] Oh, you’re very like, individually 

[00:17:37] Charlie Raine: [00:17:37] to be clear. 

[00:17:39] Warren Dow: [00:17:39] Okay. Let me use a proper, uh, let me, let me back to that up. 

[00:17:46] Bill Ruth: [00:17:46] Um, the proper term of partners,

[00:17:51] Warren Dow: [00:17:51] we want to clarify, right? I’m not talking about hookah. We’re talking about when you guys, you know, join forces. Before that. 

[00:17:58] Bill Ruth: [00:17:58] Our very first sale. 

[00:17:59] Warren Dow: [00:17:59] Yeah. What was your first, no, no, before you guys, 

[00:18:02] Bill Ruth: [00:18:02] Oh, my first sale, when we moved back to palace thirties and I talked to my mom about getting into real estate. I said, you know, how do you make money in this?

[00:18:09] And I went six months without an income and thought it was the stupidest decision I’d ever made. And my first sale happened to be on via Navajo and palace frees the States and it was 1,000,004 and back in the day, that was a huge amount of money, almost as much money as I made the previous year on one sale.

[00:18:28] And that’s when, you know, I kind of got in the wreck. Okay, you can figure this thing out and realize that if you work hard, that it can be a pretty lucrative career. And I think it was another like six months. Beyond that until I made my second sale. So it wasn’t easy getting into the business. But now I think, you know, as, as you thing, most of our businesses is referral or repeat business.

[00:18:49] And we’ve been blessed that we’ve got some great clients that keep referring us. So it, it keeps the wheel greased. 

[00:18:57] Warren Dow: [00:18:57] That’s great. Chris, how are you? 

[00:18:59] Carissa Wright: [00:18:59] I first sale, I actually signed my first listing agreement, um, the day after I got my license. And it was a friend’s investment property in Playa Del Rey and got it sold really quickly and then didn’t sell anything for 

[00:19:21] Charlie Raine: [00:19:21] God 

[00:19:22] Carissa Wright: [00:19:22] like a year, year and a half, maybe it was a long dry spell after that.

[00:19:30] And then finally, same thing, all the work I had put in that year cause I had a lot of free time that year after that first sale, then all of a sudden I started to have more transactions. 

[00:19:43] Warren Dow: [00:19:43] Cool. I 

[00:19:44] Charlie Raine: [00:19:44] got my license a few years before bill and. I don’t recall what the first house was that I sold, but I knew my goal was to try and somehow get into the million dollar club, which was nothing to do with the amount of commissions you made.

[00:19:58] It happened to do with the total volume of sales that, that’d be so neat. I’ll be taking a couple of years to get that because my intent, my mom sold real estate house. Barry’s as it builds above at the time, and I thought, well, I’m going to start in San Pedro. Then I could just sell a whole bunch of houses.

[00:20:16] I’ll do volume and number of houses and I’ll be all experienced. I can go to palace for side. I worked out of San Pedro office for a couple of years, then moved to an office at home States. But 

[00:20:28] Warren Dow: [00:20:28] that’s awesome. I love, and I love to learn about first sales because I have such great respect for what you guys do.

[00:20:36] It’s a very hard, difficult profession. You’re basically out of business, you know, like routinely, you don’t have listings or don’t have buyers. You go six months without anything. So as an entrepreneur myself, I wear respect because that’s not easy to navigate. And you got, it’s, it’s, you know, and everyone on the outside looking in.

[00:20:56] Sees the big commission checks and say, Oh, it’s so easy. You know, go over. Let’s say a $10 million house can paint a bunch of money and just go get the next one. Well, well, welcome. Come on in. Try it like, let’s 

[00:21:06] Bill Ruth: [00:21:06] get your license. You wake up unemployed in this business, you gotta make it work. 

[00:21:09] Warren Dow: [00:21:09] Yeah. I sold insurance right out of college, like life insurance as a 22 year old, 21 year old.

[00:21:16] Talk about like sink or swim and I, I love challenges. I’m like, you know what? They told me when I started 90. Like 9% or 99 people are going to fail at a hundred and I’m like, all right, I want to be the one. Like what do I have to do? Give me the phone book. Start 

[00:21:34] Bill Ruth: [00:21:34] calling the attitude you have to have every day and sales.

[00:21:36] Warren Dow: [00:21:36] Yeah. So anyway, let’s change this up a bit. Let’s have a little fun. I always like to know what’s the funniest, craziest thing that has happened to you guys thus far in your career? Because you know, as you guys know. You know, as owner of digs, I get, I get the luxury and benefit of getting to know. Well, all you guys, and hearing these stories, especially, you know, from West side to South Bay, and I’ve heard some doozies, so it’s, it’s, it’s a wild and crazy world of real estate.

[00:22:09] So tell the audience, tell me some stories. 

[00:22:12] Bill Ruth: [00:22:12] I got one for sure, and it was actually goes back to my first house and even the backup before that, I thought a bestseller book. Hands down would be realtor stories because there are some of the best, funniest, inspiring stories out there that we come across on a daily basis.

[00:22:31] But my Navajo place, there’s a Navajo place and a Navajo street, and I made an appointment. I was nervous as heck. Didn’t know where this house was. I drove to it the day before, saw it, made sure everything was working. The lockbox back then was a key, so no problem. I spoke with the owner, she said, the front door will be open.

[00:22:48] Come on in. So I’m with my client and 

[00:22:52] Warren Dow: [00:22:52] I can see where this is going. 

[00:22:53] Bill Ruth: [00:22:53] Yep. Walk right in the house. Two story house were downstairs for 20 minutes. Then we’d go upstairs and I kinda hear the shower running and I go like. Oh, you know what, maybe we shouldn’t go in there. You know, there’s a shower running is, she knows we’re here and, and.

[00:23:09] So I just wanted to, we’re in the house, I would say to, you know, like, do we let them know or do we get out or what do we do? So she says, who is it? And I said, well, it’s bill Ruth. It’s bill Ruth. And she goes, who? I go, it’s bill Ruth, the realtor bill Ruth. 

[00:23:23] Warren Dow: [00:23:23] And she goes, who are you? Get out of my 

[00:23:26] Bill Ruth: [00:23:26] house. I’m calling the police.

[00:23:27] And she starts screaming. I go, it’s bill route. You know, I want him to hit. I go, well, maybe I shouldn’t stop saying my name. You know, I’m telling her who it is. We were in the wrong house. Door was open and we had been in there for 25 minutes. Why this woman’s upstairs in the shower? We were on Navajo place, not Navajo street.

[00:23:45] So always know your places and your streets. Minor detail details and needless to say, we didn’t go look at the next house. We were done. Guys rattled, realtor, 

[00:23:58] Warren Dow: [00:23:58] great. 

[00:24:01] Carissa Wright: [00:24:01] I have some things properties. The listing agent has said that the homeowner would be gone when we arrived. So I used my supra, open the lockbox, and went inside and we’re walking around and we walk into the bathroom and there’s a older man getting out of the shower, blow dry his hair

[00:24:27] here. Um, but yeah, he was like, Oh, I thought you guys are, be here a little bit later.

[00:24:35] Charlie Raine: [00:24:35] You can edit by now. Actually, the one I was thinking of was similar to build, and that was, I called this woman and I skipped a little appointment to come to previewer house and it’s like half an hour away for them. So there’s no question like when I was going to be there and I go there and. I opened the door here, knocked off, not then open the door going, hi.

[00:24:58] Hi. Look around upstairs. Downstairs. I go upstairs and get showers. Running that 

[00:25:05] Warren Dow: [00:25:05] weird. 

[00:25:07] Charlie Raine: [00:25:07] I did have another one, uh, where I for a time back in this ad, it’d be late eighties. I’m guessing. I was doing a lot of bank repos. And I was the guy that went out and checked out the houses to make sure if they were still occupied because the bank had taken it back.

[00:25:27] They want to know what the occupancy was, what the issues were, if I could get inside of them. And I got chased off of the gun one time I was, Oh,

[00:25:41] I’m sure it’s all good fun. 

[00:25:43] Bill Ruth: [00:25:43] See, it’s a dangerous business. 

[00:25:45] Warren Dow: [00:25:45] Dangerous. I gotta join the fun cause I’ve got. You know, and the good days, good old days. When I had time, I used to go to all of our cover shoots cause I love, I love the cover, I love the whole, you know, that whole scenario of shooting the cover and with our cover photographer.

[00:26:00] And we were in PV one time doing a cover shoot. And we always do it at Twilight. And we were at one of these homes up on the wall here and it was going to be a list of about 12 and a half million gorgeous estate PV and our photographer. We get there and we’re getting ready. And there’s a gentleman in the front yard with like torn shorts, torn t-shirt, tennis shoes, and you know, and our photographer thought he was like a landscaper and was saying, Hey, bring this over here and move this over there, ordering this poor guy around.

[00:26:38] And, and then he says. Who are you, you know? And he’s like, I’m the owner of the house. And we’re like, Oh, um, oops. So Stevie for you. Yeah. So we’re like, Oh, geez. But yeah, totally, Pete, you never know. Right? You 

[00:26:54] Bill Ruth: [00:26:54] never know. 

[00:26:55] Warren Dow: [00:26:55] So getting off to the bad start. Yeah. Let me run around here. So bill, is it true that you were on dancing with the stars?

[00:27:09] Bill Ruth: [00:27:09] Really? Are we going to 

[00:27:10] Warren Dow: [00:27:10] go there? We found out, 

[00:27:13] Bill Ruth: [00:27:13] Oh gosh, 

[00:27:14] Warren Dow: [00:27:14] our team or ours are our 

[00:27:18] Bill Ruth: [00:27:18] investigative . Yes. I was asked to do that for a couple of years in a row and said, no, no, no, I’m not a dancer. I don’t have the time. And then was taken to lunch by two very pretty girls and they fed me a beer and made me say yes, and I did it.

[00:27:34] It was for charity, mind you. So it was a good cause. But um, yeah, I did it and uh, glad it was over, but also glad I did it. I met a lot of really neat people and it was a fun event. 

[00:27:45] Warren Dow: [00:27:45] That’s cool. Yeah. Who would’ve fucking Charlie you. So you were or are still a lifeguard, right? 

[00:27:52] Charlie Raine: [00:27:52] Yeah. Still do that. 

[00:27:53] Warren Dow: [00:27:53] So did you ever save anyone?

[00:27:55] You have any crazy like, 

[00:27:57] Charlie Raine: [00:27:57] uh, life threatening rescues? Never had to do CPR? 

[00:28:02] Warren Dow: [00:28:02] No. Baywatch moments where you go rescue a 

[00:28:05] Charlie Raine: [00:28:05] lot 

[00:28:05] of 

[00:28:05] Warren Dow: [00:28:05] rescues. A lot of, yeah. 

[00:28:07] Charlie Raine: [00:28:07] Ocean rescue is pulling people out of rips, things like that. Tons of first aid. So I am out of my ass out stage when I see 

[00:28:15] Warren Dow: [00:28:15] you 

[00:28:15] Charlie Raine: [00:28:15] playing when I’m at work there.

[00:28:17] But yeah, it’s just an enjoyable thing to do. I do master swimming five days a week, six days a week sometimes. And I’m sort of a nice segue cause a lot of the guys and girls that I spoke with are lifeguards as well. 

[00:28:30] Warren Dow: [00:28:30] My youngest son is in junior lifeguards. He does that, so we’re encouraging that. That’s awesome.

[00:28:35] Awesome. 

[00:28:36] Bill Ruth: [00:28:36] Yeah. Great program. 

[00:28:38] Warren Dow: [00:28:38] Yup. Yup. Looking for a personal stylist for your home. Check out Bo concept. One of their design consultants can help you make the most out of your space. No request is too big or small for living, dining, sleeping home office and outdoor spaces, and check out their Southern California showrooms in orange County, in Costa Mesa, and also in Los Angeles on LaBrea.

[00:28:58] For more information, visit Beau concept of Bo concept.com email [email protected]. So Carissa, unfortunately I don’t, I have no dirt on you. 

[00:29:09] Bill Ruth: [00:29:09] Oh, how much do you guys have? Do 

[00:29:12] Warren Dow: [00:29:12] you guys have any dirt? We got,

[00:29:17] we heard the story about last night, but we’re not going to go back there.

[00:29:25] All right, so we have nothing on. So note to self, we gotta we got to dig up some stuff on Carissa.

[00:29:33] All right, so I think I know that answer to this question for two of you at least. What is your favorite city in the South Bay? Yeah. I think I know the answer. 

[00:29:43] Bill Ruth: [00:29:43] I mean, hands down, for me it’s, it’s rolling Hills and not just because I live there, but it is a sense of, you know, when you drive in those Gates that it’s a, you leave the hustle and bustle of LA behind you.

[00:29:57] And one of the beauties about living in the South Bay is, has so much to offer, but also being here my entire life. You do feel. You know, the streets that you use to run down are now, there’s 14 stop signs and 16 signals and you know, crosswalks and everything else. It is just the people encompassing a lot of people in a smaller area.

[00:30:19] So when you drive in rolling Hills and you see the large lots and the open views and the vistas, to me, it’s really special and it’s just a very calming effect to come home and realize that, you know, like, you know, I’ve, I’ve arrived, so 

[00:30:32] Warren Dow: [00:30:32] I would be guys on the same page. Rolling Hills. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, we’re only Hills to me, like the first time I got back, man, the gays, I was dumbfounded.

[00:30:42] I’m blown away. I mean like, is this really in the South Bay 

[00:30:47] Bill Ruth: [00:30:47] people? Even in the South Bay? No, 

[00:30:49] Warren Dow: [00:30:49] that is totally. And even 

[00:30:51] Bill Ruth: [00:30:51] out. 

[00:30:53] Warren Dow: [00:30:53] But like even, you know, on the West side, it’s, it’s still the best kept secret, private gated community, you know, that has acreage and ocean views. It’s like Carmel. Yeah. 

[00:31:05] Carissa Wright: [00:31:05] I went into rolling Hills for the first time a year and a half ago.

[00:31:07] I had never been back there and we started looking for property in pals for as we were living in Redondo beach. We had a cute little bungalow, but we knew we wanted more space cause we have four kids. And so we went behind the Gates to look up, um, for puppy child, a piece of land that we tried to buy. It didn’t work out, but we drove back there and we were just dumbfounded.

[00:31:30] We could not, my husband had been there once. And I had never been back there. And we looked at many more properties and pals bars and nothing gave us the same feel that we found in rolling Hills. And we’re like, we have to be here. We’ll do whatever it takes to lift back here. Cause it’s just, I drive behind the gate every day and I can take a deep breath.

[00:31:50] It just like life slows down. It’s really special. 

[00:31:54] Bill Ruth: [00:31:54] I remember we. Moved from the beach to palace thirties and in the beach. You know, you literally leave your door open. The neighbor comes over with a bottle of wine, you have a barbecue. The kids are in and out there, sand all over. It was really a great lifestyle.

[00:32:09] And then when we moved to rolling Hills, I thought we had made the biggest mistakes of our lives. We had no neighbors. We didn’t see anybody. You couldn’t ride your bikes. I’m like, Oh, did we? Did we blow it? And then as the kids got a little bit older, we realized that, Hey, we all of a sudden had the cool house where all the kids wanted to come because we have a basketball court and we have a pool, and we have the big open spaces where the kids can run around and play.

[00:32:32] And it really became kind of the Mecca for all the kids to hang out. And I love seeing my friends kids and much more so as meeting their parents to see who they were hanging out with. And it really became an asset as they got older too. And they still use the house today. They did when they’re younger, always having people over and it’s, it’s really a blessing.

[00:32:52] Warren Dow: [00:32:52] Or do you live behind the Gates students? So all three of you guys, we did three houses 

[00:32:58] Charlie Raine: [00:32:58] away from where I grew up. Fortunately between the house I grew up in, the house I live in now is Chris and Ian and their four children. And it’s wondering, well, to see young families moving in and enjoying the neighborhoods like this, especially already ruined.

[00:33:15] Like I did when I was a kid. We had tons of kids there at the time. And it’s, it’s, it’s really fun to see balls out in the yard and jumps 

[00:33:24] Carissa Wright: [00:33:24] in the grass. 

[00:33:25] Charlie Raine: [00:33:25] Yeah. It’s holding up 

[00:33:26] Bill Ruth: [00:33:26] motorcycles on the horse trails. So just kidding. 

[00:33:29] Warren Dow: [00:33:29] Just kill you guys. I mean, that’s a huge competitive advantage. I mean, I want to talk about the market, you know, the real estate market of rolling Hills in a second, but the fact that you guys live there, I mean, you know, every nook and cranny.

[00:33:44] Give us the audience. What’s three things or as many as you can name, that people don’t know about rolling Hills, even if they think they know about it. 

[00:33:53] Bill Ruth: [00:33:53] Okay. I’ll tell you the first that we probably shouldn’t be saying on a podcast. Nobody locks their doors. 

[00:34:00] Warren Dow: [00:34:00] At least you can’t get back there. So 

[00:34:02] Bill Ruth: [00:34:02] what it is, I mean.

[00:34:04] Absolute security is, is it’s, it’s very safe back there. There’s zero crime now, of course, as soon as you say that something’s going to happen, but there’s no crime, it’s, there’s no traffic. There’s clean air, super, super quiet at night. It’s dark enough where you get to see all the stars and, and plenty of open space.

[00:34:23] Trails. There’s, there’s lighted tennis courts to play tennis. There’s three. Correct. Uh, riding rings for horses and people just active. They’re outside doing stuff all the time. And to me, those are kind of some of the, the biggies. You guys, 

[00:34:37] Charlie Raine: [00:34:37] you need 11. 

[00:34:39] Bill Ruth: [00:34:39] Well, he said as 

[00:34:40] Warren Dow: [00:34:40] many as you want. If you’ve got more, you can keep rolling.

[00:34:43] Pun intended, 

[00:34:44] Charlie Raine: [00:34:44] to riding right to the city, but 

[00:34:48] Warren Dow: [00:34:48] all right. 

[00:34:49] Carissa Wright: [00:34:49] Where were Charlie and I live in rolling Hills. We actually have, um, access to the hiking trails, um, in the nature reserve right underneath Del Cerro park. So I think that’s really special. I take my dog out there, but your dog can’t. Be off leash over there as I learned the hard way last week and when I got a ticket.

[00:35:10] Bill Ruth: [00:35:10] That’s another beauty. 

[00:35:11] Carissa Wright: [00:35:11] Rolling Hills. Yeah. Your doctor off leash. 

[00:35:13] Bill Ruth: [00:35:13] No leash laws. 

[00:35:14] Carissa Wright: [00:35:14] My dog roams around. 

[00:35:16] Warren Dow: [00:35:16] Cool. And 

[00:35:17] Bill Ruth: [00:35:17] the result of that is that all the dogs are friendly. Believe it or not, everybody thinks that, you know, with no leash laws, 

[00:35:23] Carissa Wright: [00:35:23] they’re not so friendly with the chickens. 

[00:35:26] Bill Ruth: [00:35:26] That’s a doggy dog world. 

[00:35:30] Warren Dow: [00:35:30] Let’s talk about the real estate is in my mind.

[00:35:33] Rolling Hills is still a crazy bargain when you compare it to homes on the West side. 

[00:35:39] Bill Ruth: [00:35:39] We all agree 

[00:35:40] Warren Dow: [00:35:40] and look at Manhattan beach like at the strand, right? If you, if you took a the largest lot, if you don’t have a double as, you know what? 5,000 square feet, right? Yeah. And you’re going to pay today. Um, you know, w minimally three and a half, 4 million, 5 million for that lot.

[00:35:57] For just for the lot. Yeah, 

[00:35:58] Bill Ruth: [00:35:58] probably North of 

[00:35:58] Warren Dow: [00:35:58] that. So five to seven. What can you get behind the Gates? You can get five acres and a full blown. Well, ocean view, Catalina view, what’s going on? Like should we not tell everyone to keep it a secret or like wouldn’t 

[00:36:19] Charlie Raine: [00:36:19] sit as the is the word gets out. We’re seeing a lot of people from the beach cities coming out there.

[00:36:24] Primarily they have kids in Chadwick or another private school and we’re seeing a lot of people moving up from her, Melissa and Manhattan beach that are finding out about it. Tired of fighting the parking. We’d have no. Parking restrictions in rolling Hills typically are our driveways leading into the houses are bigger than the lots and in Manhattan beach or most of the beach, it’s just a great place.

[00:36:48] You know, there’s no streetlights. You drive in the city at night. All the cares go away. You know, you get it all behind you. 

[00:36:55] Warren Dow: [00:36:55] It’s its own incorporated city, right. With its own police and fire, right? 

[00:36:59] Bill Ruth: [00:36:59] No unknown. Oh no, no. Yes. It’s a, it’s an incorporated city, gated city, which is one of like three in America, but they share police and fire with LA County.

[00:37:10] Warren Dow: [00:37:10] Okay. Gotcha. Yeah. And what, what’s the HOA is back there like what are you, if you buy 

[00:37:15] Charlie Raine: [00:37:15] $100. The assessed value, which equates to $2,000 per million dollars 

[00:37:20] Warren Dow: [00:37:20] per million of 

[00:37:22] Bill Ruth: [00:37:22] it’s inexpensive, which is not a 

[00:37:25] Charlie Raine: [00:37:25] lie. It’s like a condo association. 

[00:37:27] Warren Dow: [00:37:27] Very inexpensive for all the amenities that you’re getting back there.

[00:37:31] I mean, right. 

[00:37:33] Charlie Raine: [00:37:33] Miles and miles and miles of trails that can be used for hiking, jogging horses, not bikes for motorcycles, but a lots of trails. If you go back to the property that. Carissa and Ian first came and looked at that property, seven acres as a million and a half dollars. It’s got two streams on it.

[00:37:53] Warren Dow: [00:37:53] Is it still for sale still for sale? Can I, can I pay for all that? I would love to live behind the gay test.

[00:38:06] It’s true. Can you guys give me a personal like carry carry that thing for. 50 years for him. So literally 

[00:38:12] Bill Ruth: [00:38:12] we say yes to everything 

[00:38:14] Warren Dow: [00:38:14] we can. 

[00:38:15] Bill Ruth: [00:38:15] I’d say just back to rolling Hills, another really unique thing in rolling Hills is people don’t move. They stay in their houses typically until they pass away. And so it’s not uncommon that you can have people in their houses for 30 40 50 even 60 years.

[00:38:31] Yeah. Charlie and I recently had a house where they did the new addition on the house. The new addition to their house was done in 1963. Yeah. It was like, okay. So as you see turnover happen in rolling Hills, it is typically very young families with a lot of kids. So the turnover is good, and there’s a, an older population up there now, and each time we see these houses turn, we’re seeing a younger generation come in.

[00:38:57] Many times they have grown up in the city, so they understand, you know, all the benefits and the pluses of. Of living back there behind the Gates. 

[00:39:05] Warren Dow: [00:39:05] So let’s check this out. I got the stats. I love stats, right? I’m out. I’m always, we’re crunching numbers here at digs and looking at, you know, year over year and blah, blah.

[00:39:13] This is the last 10 years in rolling Hills. And what’s crazy is, I mean, last 10 years, average number of units sold behind the Gates. 24 about, yeah, 20th street. And if you look at the average list, price sold price, I mean, it’s two, 3 million. Yeah. When you compare to the other cities, I mean, granted, since 2014 February, median prices are up about 31% but still, the average sale price last year was, was about 3.8 and it has an asterix because of the big one that I want to talk about the 22 but like, I mean, so it’s still 3 million ish low and it’s a smoking deal.

[00:39:51] I mean, that’s like. For it. It’s 

[00:39:54] Bill Ruth: [00:39:54] the three of us often have this conversation with our clients that we feel that rolling Hills is undervalued by almost 50% for what it should be in rolling Hills and all the amenities that are offered in that city. 50% 

[00:40:08] Warren Dow: [00:40:08] undervalued. Yeah. I mean, if you look at the Mac sale, you know, just, it’s 6 million, 7 million, 8 million, 6 million, 6 million, 7 million, seven.

[00:40:16] Those are, if you go to the West side, I mean it’s, there’s a hundred $200 million homes now, their spec homes are not selling per se, but 30 40 million all day long, 20 million all day long. There might be 70 listings right now I’m just guesstimating. That are over 15 20 million on the West side. 

[00:40:35] Bill Ruth: [00:40:35] The hard part about that stat is that, like I spoke about earlier, people that are in their homes for 30 40 50 years, you’ve got a one story white ranch house, so it’s not worth a lot at the end of the day that somebody spent into it, especially older people that haven’t maintained it to position.

[00:40:50] The new properties that are being built are in that excess of 10 15 $20 million range. Now. Again, those people will stay in their home probably until they’re pass them away. They’re very specific, very customed to their own needs. Maybe one guy wants the 10 car garage, maybe another guy wants a, uh, we had a guy with a telescope, his own telescope, you know, so they build them for themselves and then when they pass away, so there’s some of those six, seven, $8 million could be lot sales that they’re putting very expensive homes on the expensive new customs homes that they’re building.

[00:41:23] Don’t come on the market. 

[00:41:24] Warren Dow: [00:41:24] What’s the biggest parcel of land that someone owns behind the Gates? 70 

[00:41:28] Bill Ruth: [00:41:28] acres. 

[00:41:28] Warren Dow: [00:41:28] 70 . 

[00:41:30] Bill Ruth: [00:41:30] Owned by one family. Wow. And a unique story about that is the family that owns that 70 acres bought a home, very small home at the very bottom of the, uh, by the main gate and wild. They’re going to live in this temporary house.

[00:41:45] Why? They built their large home up there. It got busy with kids, had four daughters. And busy with work and everything. That’s 70 acres still sits there. One daughter built a house up there, but it’s still pretty much untouched in. The mom and dad stayed in that house that they originally bought us a temporary house for.

[00:42:01] That’s amazing. 60 something years. 

[00:42:03] Warren Dow: [00:42:03] If you’d ask me that question, I would have said like 1570 no, you can’t subdivide that or anything, right? You can’t. They can. 

[00:42:10] Bill Ruth: [00:42:10] Yeah, 

[00:42:11] Charlie Raine: [00:42:11] the $3 but they had, my mom was more planning commission at the time when they did this subdivision, and I don’t know why it’s so big. But the second lot that one of the daughters has, I think it’s like 30 acres and it’s 

[00:42:24] Warren Dow: [00:42:24] massive.

[00:42:26] That’s just wild. You can go down 

[00:42:28] Charlie Raine: [00:42:28] to two acres in the city, 

[00:42:31] Bill Ruth: [00:42:31] two acre minimums. 

[00:42:32] Charlie Raine: [00:42:32] I don’t want to give the wrong idea that we strictly do rolling Hills because we have listings all over palace for East. Uh, we’ve sold property in the beach cities as well. Torrents are kind of are all over the place. It just happens to be that we live in rolling and all.

[00:42:46] Uh, that one of the reasons we brought in Karesa is because she’s sort of everything that bill and I are not, you know, she’s young, she’s got young kids. She knows a whole different dynamic of, of socialized with a different dynamic of people than we do. And primarily the other reason is a lot of people from palace Verdi’s that we run into that are downsizing are going towards the beach cities.

[00:43:09] And Carissa is there to fill that need. And she’s based in  done a beach. 

[00:43:16] Carissa Wright: [00:43:16] Yup. So I have my, my office is in the Rivera village. I’m a private office that I share with my husband. Like I said earlier, we lived in Redondo beach in South Fernando for a number of years. So my older two kids are still enrolled in school there.

[00:43:31] And that’s really where my sphere of influence has been the last number of years. Um. On the board of directors for sandpipers, which is a women’s philanthropy group here in the South Bay, and most women in sandpipers are based in the beach cities. So Manhattan, Hermosa, Redondo. And 

[00:43:49] Warren Dow: [00:43:49] we heard they love to drink red wine.

[00:43:56] Bill Ruth: [00:43:56] No. In fact, 

[00:43:59] Carissa Wright: [00:43:59] I’d like to give back a little bit of wine while you did 

[00:44:02] Warren Dow: [00:44:02] it. So let’s talk about the real estate market. Typically real estate cycles last eight to 10 years ish, right? Where do you guys think we are. 

[00:44:12] Bill Ruth: [00:44:12] Way past that. But also I think that we’ve conferred that we’re in a very strong real estate market, and mostly because the economy is so strong.

[00:44:22] There’s jobs out there, there’s people working, there’s companies investing. Consumer confidence is way up. Interest rates, you know, in the media are up, but they’re actually down about less than they were a year ago today. So you can get a jumble rates still in the very low fours. And that’s important in our market because the most of the loans are jumbos and we feel real bullish on the, the, uh, real estate market in the South Bay, and this will probably continue pretty much status quo throughout this year.

[00:44:51] The fed came out and said that they won’t be raising rates anymore this year. I mean, that gave a lot of confidence to, to buyers out there and we’re seeing prices increase a little bit, but sales down a little bit. But we’re real bullish on the real estate market. Yeah. I 

[00:45:07] Charlie Raine: [00:45:07] agree with bill. Despite the news that we hear that what we see, you know, through the multiple listing service, the sales listings, how long, how’s it stay on the market.

[00:45:18] We’re seeing every bit as much activity as we did a year ago or two years. It’s a very 

[00:45:22] Warren Dow: [00:45:22] strong on it. You guys think the South Bay has its sort of its own bubble in terms of its own micro market in terms of, absolutely. 

[00:45:31] Charlie Raine: [00:45:31] I would say not just the South Bay. I think you see a couple of bubbles. You see the beach cities just skyrocketing Riviera Manhattan and all of a sudden they’ve all had their days in the sunshine.

[00:45:43] There’ve been somewhat endless the last number of years. Dallas stories has been slower to catch up. And take on that same activity level, but I think it’s for the most part, it’s there right 

[00:45:57] Warren Dow: [00:45:57] now. Yeah. I think, I think that bubble cocoon, if you will, is getting stronger because all the wealth that continues to move in to the South Bay, we’re getting wealthier as a community in terms of just the dollars that are changing hands.

[00:46:12] The dollars that are coming in, these are, you know, it, it’s, it’s not sort of the legacy original homeowner. You know, it’s, it’s wall street and hedge fund guys, uh, coming in and paying what they want to pay. Cause that’s the value that they see. You know, 

[00:46:29] Charlie Raine: [00:46:29] that’s a mixed bag. I think for me personally, I don’t like, maybe don’t like stuff the right thing, but when the market is.

[00:46:41] More stagnant or even when it’s down, it’s an opportunity for young families and for, for new life to come into a community. So the high end getting higher is not always a good, but it’s, you know, it cuts out a large segment of the population that I think could enjoy. What the South Bay has 

[00:47:01] to 

[00:47:01] Bill Ruth: [00:47:01] offer. I think another part of that too is the conservative wealth in the South Bay that a lot of people aren’t so far leveraged out that if there was a little glitch, that they would lose their home or something that they, um, have money in the bank, there’s money to back it up.

[00:47:19] And so there’s a longer staying power with them. It’s a great point, pretty unique for the sound. 

[00:47:24] Warren Dow: [00:47:24] Like in the West side, you see a lot of leverage. I mean, a 

[00:47:26] Bill Ruth: [00:47:26] lot. Right? Um, 

[00:47:28] Warren Dow: [00:47:28] I mean, well, the Palm prices, you have to, you know, but the South Bay, the sleepy little town is not so sleepy in terms of being on the, the sort of international radar now for wealthy, you know, a fluent, you know, buyers of real estate.

[00:47:42] Right? But it comes with the good and the bad. Right? So I agree. I think the middle-class in the South Bay, it’s like, is there one like. How do you move up? How do you, if you lived here, how do you sell and move up? 

[00:47:54] Bill Ruth: [00:47:54] How do you do it? Actually, an interesting article in LA times a couple of weeks ago that, that talked about most everybody in the South Bay could afford a rolls Royce, but the preferred cars, the suburban, you know, and I think that’s, that’s true.

[00:48:05] Or golf cart. They’re not a golf cart or a bicycle. You get there faster. But, um, yeah, it is conservative wealth. I think 

[00:48:15] Charlie Raine: [00:48:15] I would just want an injection. 

[00:48:17] Warren Dow: [00:48:17] She had a little bit of extra knowledge, housing starts 

[00:48:19] Charlie Raine: [00:48:19] or builds or development, kind 

[00:48:22] Warren Dow: [00:48:22] of related to your husband’s back home. 

[00:48:23] Charlie Raine: [00:48:23] Is there any 

[00:48:24] Warren Dow: [00:48:24] difference there or like how does your husband see from a developer builder?

[00:48:29] Is he seeing it still Rosie? Like, let’s develop, let’s go. 

[00:48:32] Carissa Wright: [00:48:32] Construction costs increase dramatically recently. I mean, they’ve really skyrocketed, so I would say. The cost of construction right now is actually really high just to offset the, the material cost. 

[00:48:49] Warren Dow: [00:48:49] What is it to build? Is it like 200 a square foot more in the way?

[00:48:52] More and more like 300 

[00:48:55] Carissa Wright: [00:48:55] I would say to do a really good job. You’re a builder’s gonna want 500 I mean, they could probably do it for 300 bucks. 

[00:49:04] Warren Dow: [00:49:04] Wow. 

[00:49:05] Bill Ruth: [00:49:05] No, that you’d want to live in 

[00:49:06] Carissa Wright: [00:49:06] construction. You’re going to walk for the 

[00:49:08] Warren Dow: [00:49:08] South day. So, okay. So when I bought my home in 1999 I was lucky. I still own my home.

[00:49:15] When we were thinking about doing a new home build, it was like a hundred. Yeah. Maybe one 31 50 so you talking about appreciation, that’s way more than the home prices have appreciated that one 

[00:49:28] Bill Ruth: [00:49:28] 50 won’t get you an apartment quality construction anymore. We’ve seen raw materials go through the roof and a lot of it has to do with the recent fires in California.

[00:49:36] So all of those houses, thousands of homes that were wiped out. 

[00:49:40] Warren Dow: [00:49:40] Tens of thousands. Yeah. All tens 

[00:49:41] Bill Ruth: [00:49:41] of thousands. They’re all needing lumber, steel, concrete roofs. I mean, they need everything that we need here in the South Bay too. So not only a contractor is a lot busier and a lot of them not doing remodels anymore.

[00:49:55] They’re only doing new construction because of the . Demand for him, but the subs, everything has gone up. So the hard costs I think are an excess of $500 a foot. But your soft costs also have gone way, way up. As far as as the subcontractors, the fire department involvement, getting involved. We’ve got real strict regulations with the fire department.

[00:50:14] So the housing build costs from start have gone through the roof where it used to be cheaper to build a home in a lot of cases, not that way anymore. 

[00:50:24] Warren Dow: [00:50:24] And then on top of that. Different regulations have 

[00:50:28] Bill Ruth: [00:50:28] changed or updated or 

[00:50:30] Charlie Raine: [00:50:30] fire codes have changed and 

[00:50:32] Warren Dow: [00:50:32] now we need to have the pencil 

[00:50:33] Bill Ruth: [00:50:33] space or something like that.

[00:50:34] Yup, yup, 

[00:50:35] Charlie Raine: [00:50:35] yup. We had a tumble properties developed in rolling Hills. They created two lots out of one piece of property, compacted, rebuilt it, did everything, put the driveways up to the pads, sold the first one about a year later and. Buyer comes to find out that the fire department regulations have changed, and now the driveway’s got to be 20 feet wide, so it’s a completely creative pad.

[00:51:02] Then things changed. Meanwhile, 

[00:51:04] Bill Ruth: [00:51:04] and the thought behind that is so two fire trucks can pass each other going up and down your own driveway on your own space. Now, 20 foot. Wide driveway for a long period. That’s a lot, a lot of dirt, and with the turnaround at the top so they don’t have to back up that they can turn around and fire the truck without backing up as it’s changed, designed dramatically.

[00:51:24] Warren Dow: [00:51:24] Let’s kind of round table and you’ve got to get to a Dodger game. I do opening day lucky dog advice for buyers today. Wait, go. 

[00:51:34] Bill Ruth: [00:51:34] What would it always go? I mean there is always a good time to buy. We did say this market, what has to slow down seven years ago. And it has not. It has continued to go. If you bought seven years ago, you’d be the happiest guy in the world.

[00:51:47] I mean, I think again, today, the South Bay is such a phenomenal place to live. Our weather, our activities, our outdoor, the people. I mean, it’s just really, really unique and anytime is a good time to buy, you know, and you can’t predict the market. I mean, we wouldn’t be sitting here today if we could do that, but absolutely a great time to buy.

[00:52:07] Warren Dow: [00:52:07] Is it still two, three to one demand? Side versus supply, like the demand. Do you think there’s three buyers for every listed home today? Is that like a 

[00:52:17] Bill Ruth: [00:52:17] all comes down to price? Yeah. I think everything comes down to price, but there’s, there is a demand to, 

[00:52:23] Warren Dow: [00:52:23] so for sellers it’s great time to list, right? I mean  so problem is 

[00:52:28] Bill Ruth: [00:52:28] they don’t have the applied to buy.

[00:52:30] So a lot of times sellers want to put their house in the market because they can get a lot of money for it. They have no place to go. Literally, they can’t find a property to buy. And so a lot of them are staying put. 

[00:52:39] Warren Dow: [00:52:39] So what’s going to trip this market up.

[00:52:44] Well, 

[00:52:44] Charlie Raine: [00:52:44] interest rates are trying to trip it up somewhat, and I think failing property taxes, the changes in the tax code or trying to trip it up and that hasn’t done it, but because the economy is so good, it seems like. There’s really nothing that is affected it and it’s not skyrocketing. It’s a fairly stable market, and I think that’s good for everybody.

[00:53:07] It’s good for planning in the future. If a buyer needs to move to the area, they shouldn’t fear buying. The only thing a buyer should fear, and ideally nobody gets in this situation, is it’s really, it’s when you sell, because there’s always the cycles, right? So you’re going to, you’re going to buy, if you don’t have to sell.

[00:53:27] If the market’s down, then you’d never have to lose. When you buy. The real estate 

[00:53:31] Warren Dow: [00:53:31] industry has been consolidating you guys. We’re all aware of the campuses of the world and brokerages and the South Bay, all the consolidation here. How important is a brokerage name today? Versus 10 years ago. 

[00:53:45] Bill Ruth: [00:53:45] Not as important.

[00:53:46] Real estate really comes down to, it’s a relational business. You want to work with who you like, and real estate comes down to a personal relationship with your realtor regardless of that brokerage. I think the technology is what’s changing more so than brokerages nowadays, and. My mom was with Ruth Realty, small firm, and we used to beat the big boys all day long, and I didn’t think it had anything to do with that.

[00:54:13] They wanted to work with me. So it was more so the person in 30 years ago that was true. Today, I think it’s even more true. You work with a referral, you work with a friend, you work with somebody you know and you like, they work for ABC Realty or XYZ Realty. That’s secondary. I think the support is always there, or a top broker wouldn’t be working for that firm.

[00:54:35] So the top brokers are with good firms and have the background and the support of their companies, but it’s not the overriding factor in who you’re working with. 

[00:54:45] Warren Dow: [00:54:45] Totally agree 

[00:54:47] Charlie Raine: [00:54:47] with re max is the company I really trust and appreciate my broker and stability. For 

[00:54:55] Bill Ruth: [00:54:55] 25 years, 

[00:54:57] Charlie Raine: [00:54:57] give or take. But the name of the company means nothing to me.

[00:55:00] It’s the people that are there and the support that stands behind that that matters. 

[00:55:06] Warren Dow: [00:55:06] So consumers are obviously getting way more educated, sophisticated with the online and the data and everything that’s available. Are they getting more difficult? I know this is a difficult question, but difficult in the sense that if you’re getting a listing and they say, Hey, bill, you know, Charlie, Chris, and my home’s worth.

[00:55:25] Here’s what my home’s worth. It’s worth three, seven. No, I’m the homeowner telling you and I, and I, here’s my sheet. I got his estimate and I got this, and I got that. And it’s like, is that becoming more challenging? 

[00:55:36] Carissa Wright: [00:55:36] No. How this happened last week. 

[00:55:38] Bill Ruth: [00:55:38] Yeah. But we actually love it because it really puts our value proposition that much higher.

[00:55:43] And that’s why you need a good realtor is to say combat the, the Zestimate, I mean, Zestimates by their own admission are off 20% now in the South Bay, they’re off a lot more than 20% and higher. Low Zillow has never been to your house and looked at your house, nor the neighbor’s house or the 

[00:56:01] Warren Dow: [00:56:01] down the street.

[00:56:02] Bill Ruth: [00:56:02] Yeah. So we like informed buyers. I mean, the more information they have. The better it is for us in our job. And it’s nice to have that conversation is starting at a higher level than it is from scratch and kind of educating them. Most of the buyers and sellers nowadays do know what they want to pay for a house because they’d gone through the myriad of of the the internet and have their own predictions of what their house should sell for.

[00:56:28] But to us, I think it’s a benefit. 

[00:56:31] Warren Dow: [00:56:31] Yeah, I think that was very well stated. Do I think intrinsic value that you guys bring. Is this really, really, you know, the in depth market knowledge. Algorithms are tough to capture that knowledge, you know, at the street level, you know, so to speak. You know what I mean?

[00:56:49] So I think that you guys are becoming more valuable with the technology. You know, it’s sort of counterintuitive, but 

[00:56:54] Bill Ruth: [00:56:54] even for, so is from palace. Verdi’s to the beach. Cities is Karissa’s strength in the beef cities. And it’s been such a nice one, two punch because we get the Hill, Carissa gets the beach cities and there are different.

[00:57:06] And we could easily do it, but you know, if somebody is asking about an elementary school or specific thing here or there, something she’s going to know on the beach cities we’re going to know on the Hill. And because we have clients going back and forth so often, it’s really been a nice segue segue.

[00:57:22] Okay. She said segway, so I’m going with that. 

[00:57:24] Warren Dow: [00:57:24] That’s a great word. Segue. Speaking of segue, let’s segue, segue. Let’s segue into closing thoughts. We’ve got to get bill to that doctor again. Let’s have a little fun. Let’s go. I’m going to just round Robin, but I want to stay with you, Charlie first. What’s your favorite thing to cook?

[00:57:40] Oh 

[00:57:41] Charlie Raine: [00:57:41] gosh, 

[00:57:43] Warren Dow: [00:57:43] that sounds amazing. What is 

[00:57:45] Charlie Raine: [00:57:45] it? God’s fired and way better than they do. Wow. 

[00:57:50] Warren Dow: [00:57:50] What’s in that dish? 

[00:57:51] Charlie Raine: [00:57:51] Uh, I put dried cherries and everything. 

[00:57:55] Warren Dow: [00:57:55] Your stature, your secret ingredients.

[00:58:06] Bill Ruth: [00:58:06] It’s funny. 

[00:58:09] Warren Dow: [00:58:09] A favorite movie. Charlie  an oldie but goodie. Um, favorite vacation spot. 

[00:58:19] Charlie Raine: [00:58:19] Probably balling. 

[00:58:21] Warren Dow: [00:58:21] Surf body, sir. Nice. Good waves. 

[00:58:25] Bill Ruth: [00:58:25] Very good. 

[00:58:26] Warren Dow: [00:58:26] Thank you. Carissa? Favorite movie? 

[00:58:29] Carissa Wright: [00:58:29] That’s a tough one. I like Harold and Maude was actually one of my favorite.

[00:58:42] Warren Dow: [00:58:42] What’s your favorite thing to cook? 

[00:58:46] Charlie Raine: [00:58:46] What’s your favorite chain to eat? 

[00:58:49] Warren Dow: [00:58:49] What’s your favorite thing to put in the white? Correct 

[00:58:50] Bill Ruth: [00:58:50] reservations.

[00:58:59] Lucky husband 

[00:59:00] Warren Dow: [00:59:00] by bill. What’s your favorite baseball team? Just kidding. Okay. We know that one 

[00:59:06] Bill Ruth: [00:59:06] flier. 

[00:59:06] Warren Dow: [00:59:06] What’s your favorite thing to cook. 

[00:59:08] Bill Ruth: [00:59:08] My favorite thing to cook. We got a pizza oven recently, and so we’ve been doing pizzas every night by the boat, Joe from trader Joe’s, and throw in just about everything in the world on top of that dough, and it’s, it always tastes good.

[00:59:21] It’s awesome. 

[00:59:22] Warren Dow: [00:59:22] I love pizza. Yeah. Favorite movie? 

[00:59:25] Bill Ruth: [00:59:25] Airplane. 

[00:59:26] Warren Dow: [00:59:26] Airplane. 

[00:59:27] Bill Ruth: [00:59:27] Yeah. You brought up with Kadie Jackson. She said, I didn’t want to say the hangover. 

[00:59:33] Warren Dow: [00:59:33] Okay, so final, final, final thoughts. Tell the audience, Charlie, one thing about you that they would be super surprised to know or hear about you 

[00:59:45] Charlie Raine: [00:59:45] competed in masters swimming.

[00:59:47] Warren Dow: [00:59:47] Whoa. Okay. What is that 

[00:59:51] Charlie Raine: [00:59:51] master? It’s old people, at least 19 more than qualified for that, 

[00:59:57] Bill Ruth: [00:59:57] but he also gets up at 4:40 AM every day to swim. 

[01:00:01] Charlie Raine: [01:00:01] Five o’clock wow. 

[01:00:04] Bill Ruth: [01:00:04] Repay him. Not a real fun guy. At happy hour, he has to go to bed

[01:00:10] Charlie Raine: [01:00:10] for years and years. I mean, same master team for 25 years now. 

[01:00:15] Warren Dow: [01:00:15] Very cool. Yeah. Carissa? Something 

[01:00:19] Carissa Wright: [01:00:19] unique. 

[01:00:20] Warren Dow: [01:00:20] Yes. We shocked. Not shocked. Surprised. People 

[01:00:24] Carissa Wright: [01:00:24] are always surprised that I have four kids. I don’t know. It’s a lot. So I guess that’s why 

[01:00:30] Charlie Raine: [01:00:30] great kids 

[01:00:31] Warren Dow: [01:00:31] keeps you busy. 

[01:00:32] Carissa Wright: [01:00:32] Ages two, four, nine 11 

[01:00:36] Warren Dow: [01:00:36] wow. You’re busy.

[01:00:37] Bill Ruth: [01:00:37] It’s radio, so you can’t tell that she’s looks like a 16 year old with blonde hair. The smart one 

[01:00:46] Charlie Raine: [01:00:46] part is she has hair. 

[01:00:47] Bill Ruth: [01:00:47] That was, that was a compliment, by the way. 

[01:00:50] Warren Dow: [01:00:50] So huge compliment

[01:00:55] me. That’s you’re okay. You’re 

[01:00:57] Bill Ruth: [01:00:57] alright. Some of the people that are that I raced a Catalina on waterski over and back in less than an hour. Whoa. 

[01:01:03] Warren Dow: [01:01:03] Nope. That’s 

[01:01:05] Bill Ruth: [01:01:05] great. 

[01:01:07] Warren Dow: [01:01:07] Did you see anything? Any shark fins 

[01:01:10] anyway? 

[01:01:10] Bill Ruth: [01:01:10] Yeah, we should see it all whales, dolphins. Pods going through pods of hundreds of dolphins and they hear the boat, so they move out of the boat.

[01:01:18] You’re 250 feet behind the boat and they don’t hear you. So dolphins are going right in front of you, literally have jumped off funds. 

[01:01:25] Warren Dow: [01:01:25] So w an hour there and back, or is that what you said 

[01:01:28] Bill Ruth: [01:01:28] there and back in an hour? Oh my God. Under an hour. 

[01:01:31] Warren Dow: [01:01:31] That’s crazy. That’s hard in your arms to look kinda like a one second, right?

[01:01:35] It’s, it’s hard. It’s like, 

[01:01:37] Bill Ruth: [01:01:37] it’s not a real smart sport. I’ll admit it. 

[01:01:41] Warren Dow: [01:01:41] It’s like meeting the blender for an hour. Right. Okay. So I want to thank Ruth & Raine, Bill Ruth, Carissa Wright, and Charlie Raine for coming to the digs influencer podcast. I think we, we all learned something about you and we had some fun.

[01:01:59] So Bill, get to that Dodger game and you guys get back to work. 

[01:02:02] Bill Ruth: [01:02:02] Thanks Warren. Appreciate it. 

[01:02:06] Warren Dow: [01:02:06] Awesome.

[01:02:16] And that wraps up this episode. Thank you for tuning in and we hope you found some value. Please share, subscribe, and leave a review. Find us on iTunes and your favorite podcast provider. Until next time.