Owning The Coast
Owning The Coast is your weekly deep dive into the people, places, and possibilities that make Santa Cruz one of the most inspiring places to live. Hosted by real estate pro Brandi Jones, mortgage and market expert Ryan Buckholdt, and insurance specialist Jerry Seagraves, the show blends their unique expertise with candid conversations and dynamic guests. Each week, you’ll hear stories that go beyond property lines — from navigating the local housing market to discovering hidden trails, tasting the best bites in town, and meeting the entrepreneurs, artists, and community leaders shaping the coast. Whether you’re a long-time local, a newcomer, or dreaming about making Santa Cruz home, Owning The Coast offers the insights, inspiration, and insider knowledge you need to thrive in life and living by the sea.
Owning The Coast
Hammering Out the Truth: A Contractor's 30-Year Journey w/ Nico Ciancirullo
What happens when Silicon Valley wealth meets Santa Cruz's laid-back coastal charm? Longtime local contractor Nico Ciancirullo pulls back the curtain on 30 years of building in one of California's most challenging construction markets.
Having grown up in Corralitos with deep family roots in Santa Cruz, Nico offers a perspective that bridges old and new Santa Cruz. His journey from framing multi-million dollar homes in Hillsborough to focusing exclusively on local projects reveals the fascinating evolution of our coastal community's relationship with Silicon Valley.
"Every single person is really coming from over the hill," Nico shares, highlighting the demographic shift reshaping our neighborhoods. The wage disparity is striking – locals typically earn $60,000-$90,000 annually while Silicon Valley transplants command starting salaries of $150,000-$200,000 plus stock options. This economic reality has transformed how construction and real estate function in our county.
Nico takes us behind the scenes of Santa Cruz's notorious building permit process, explaining why he steers clients toward renovations rather than new construction. His practical approach focuses on finding properties with good bones that can be improved with over-the-counter permits – allowing immediate work without the extended waiting periods that break most budgets and timelines.
The conversation delves into the art of flipping houses in a market many consider too expensive for such ventures. Nico's "short run" and "long run" strategies provide a masterclass in property transformation, from quick cosmetic improvements to comprehensive renovations that maximize value while minimizing carrying costs.
Perhaps most valuable is Nico's insight into Santa Cruz's business ecosystem, where traditional networking still trumps digital advertising. In a community where "it's who you know" remains the golden rule, Nico's connections built over decades demonstrate why relationship-building remains essential for success.
Reach out to Nico Ciancirullo at 831-818-7518 to discuss your Santa Cruz construction needs or learn more about navigating our unique local building landscape.
Welcome to the OnlyCoast Podcast. All right, hello, hello, we are back. All right, it is July. I'm Brandi Jones with Keller Williams Thrive. I've got Ryan Buckholt here, ryan.
Speaker 2:Ryan Buckholt cross-country mortgage and hideout vodka, oh hideout.
Speaker 3:You didn't bring us any tasters, though that doesn't count, I'll bring some. I'll bring some Every time.
Speaker 1:I spy with my little eye at 7 am.
Speaker 3:I'm Jerry Seagraves with Seagraves Insurance, and we brought a special guest, Nico Chanterello from Chanterello Construction, here to educate us on construction in Santa Cruz.
Speaker 2:The famous Nico. Hello everyone.
Speaker 4:The only one. Thank you for having me Appreciate it.
Speaker 1:We are so excited to have you. First of all, tell us a little bit about your radio show.
Speaker 4:We have a show on KOMY AM 1340, 2 to 4 on Tuesdays and we're just talking about Santa Cruz, people in Santa Cruz, what we're doing, building coffee, whatever it might be.
Speaker 3:I like it yeah. Just things going high rises. We should be invited onto that show.
Speaker 4:Oh funny, you should say that, Jerry.
Speaker 1:Let me guess there's a story there. Oh yeah, oh boy.
Speaker 3:Inside jab. Yeah, sorry, he came, even though I flaked on him on the last offer.
Speaker 4:I feel super bad about it. I let him dangle just a little bit though. Yeah, he did, I was panicking. You can ask them.
Speaker 1:I was like I'm sorry he hasn't gotten back to me yet. I wouldn't do that to ryan. Oh, but thanks, man. So now we're even nico. How long have you been?
Speaker 4:working in the county santa cruz county. Next year will be 30 years as a licensed contractor 54 year old.
Speaker 3:You don't even look old enough you don't.
Speaker 4:I'm oldish, you know what.
Speaker 1:So I take this hat off, you can see the wrinkles like the redwood tree.
Speaker 4:Count the wrinkles, you'll be 55 of those at the end of the year, for sure.
Speaker 1:Oh, I like that, like the redwood tree.
Speaker 4:So, yeah, I've been here my whole life. You know, grew up in Corralitas and born at Watsonville hospital. Wow, dad was a counselor at Korea College. Mom worked at Dominican as a nurse. So just been here my whole life.
Speaker 1:Your second generation in a cruise.
Speaker 4:Second generation.
Speaker 1:And where's your last name come from, and spell it.
Speaker 4:C-I-A-N-C-I-A-R-U-L-O.
Speaker 1:And Vasilia.
Speaker 4:Cata in Italy. Just the ankle. I could be the Achilles heel of the boot, if you want to locate it.
Speaker 1:Well, that's kind of what your job is right now. The Achilles heel of our county or our area is remodels, flips and builds, kind of going in that order. That's kind of we don't. How are you? Let's just take a 30,000 foot view. Oh, somebody comes to you and says I've heard you're an excellent contractor, I really want my own custom house. And where would you start with them? In Santa Cruz? Where would like? What would be the top three questions? You'd ask somebody.
Speaker 4:How much money do you have?
Speaker 3:I like that that's a good one.
Speaker 4:Are you a beach person? Are you Redwoods?
Speaker 1:How big is your family? Those are great questions. And then, once you get past that and you can vet a little bit of what they want, what is your percentage of people that are coming from out of the area versus who's local?
Speaker 4:Every single person really is coming from over the hill. We don't have money, people that live here. We can't afford to buy right now. We can only take over. Aunt Edna's house.
Speaker 1:Yes yes, yes, I did not inherit my house, so I am paying double what mom and dad could have given other people. But I live here and it's amazing and I love it and we do feel the pain being next to the Silicon Valley and the fact that they get paid more than we do. On average, they're getting paid. We get over here around $60,000 to $90,000. That's just average, and then over the hill, they start at $150,000 to $200,000. So just right there. And then they have money, as we all know, that comes from stock options that can rapidly increase their wealth and they can use it towards purchasing power.
Speaker 1:As Ryan, you know, has talked about before. Yep, and part of this podcast is really to share with people. We've got third generation Santa Cruz, jerry. Second generation, nico. Second second generation, ryan. First generation, brandy. First third generation, brian, who's you know running our podcast. And really back in the day, talk about 30 years ago, what was the mental space for people over the Hill? It was, it was not. It was not welcome. Yeah, it was not welcome. And all of us are independent contractors. We are CEOs of our own business. At what point do you and this is for everyone when did your mind shift, change Like these are my now. These are now my people and I have to have a different dialogue.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean I guess I'll. I feel like a lot of my friends groups have been changing like that Right. So, like mountain people I mountain bike with are bringing in these San Jose folks and they're like hey, this is John he. He just moved here from San Jose and at first I was very like, cause they'd always tell me what the trail names were and that really bothered me because I'm like dude I've lived here for 30 years and I've dug those trails.
Speaker 1:You should not be knowing their names.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's, it's one of those weird things that happens in the mountain bike community, but yeah, I mean it's. I kind of have to accept it. They're good people. I'm not mad at that. It's interesting for me, growing up here. I'll drive Eastcliff and all those old homes that you're used to seeing are now like super modern finishes, really beautiful properties, and so I guess we could thank them for making the area nicer. But it's certainly way more expensive, right, and I think it's always been expensive. Those homes are always like, you know, three, four million and up. But now it's, you know, you've got vacation rentals looking like that and you know it's an interesting feel locally now compared to what it used to be when I was a kid.
Speaker 1:It's interesting you say that On Opal Cliffs there's a $14 million home for sale that is also applying for its vacation rental permit.
Speaker 3:That's a new thing that I've been seeing these super crazy nice houses that are going for, you know, 18,000 a night.
Speaker 1:That's incredible. And then just saw did you see East cliff Ryan today? The 15 million on East cliff? I mean it's like going to Mexico you have your own beach, it's right on East cliff. I mean that to me is like if I had $15 million. You're buying the land that it comes with as well.
Speaker 3:No seawall. What percent of your remodels that you're doing are vacation rental?
Speaker 4:you know type homes and I and my youngest daughter were like, well, let's go move to the beach. Mom never liked the beach. Let's go to the beach. I'm like okay. So I remodeled the house, was finishing it up and the lady was like, well, we're not really planning on moving in, we may use it a vacation rental. I'm like, how do you mind if I rent it? So I did that from ninth Avenue to 10th Avenue to 25th Avenue. So I just kind of kept remodeling things and people weren't ready yet. It wasn't really established enough 10 years ago as far as renting and the amount of income you would get, kind of pre COVID.
Speaker 4:Yeah, you wouldn't get all that cash just yet. So you know I love it down there. I mean, the beach is, is everything, but who can afford it?
Speaker 1:Our dear friends John over the Hill, that's, that's who can afford it.
Speaker 4:And he knows all the sick names of the trails.
Speaker 3:Six secret beaches you've never heard.
Speaker 1:What was your sport when you were growing up here?
Speaker 4:Soccer, wow, soccer, yeah. So, coming from the South, you know you had to be a little bit more hardcore because of our Mexican brothers played a little harder than the rest of them down there and then junior guards, you know, in the ocean surfing BMX. Before it was mountain biking, then mountain biking.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's that really encapsulates the entire County.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, just everything, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:So, going back to your clientele, let's just say over the last 30 years, would you say that they do a what's their move up, move down, remodel, kind of repeat business?
Speaker 4:Well, I think you know, 25 years ago it was I was doing stuff in town I mostly had. I was mostly framing. So I was framing new homes and you know, each time they're like oh well, just go a little bit farther out of town. You know more money, you know. So I was Los Gatos and then it was Saratoga, then it was I'm in Hillsborough building you know five $10 million homes.
Speaker 4:25 years ago, 25 years ago, holy cow and then, as I'm doing that there, every once in a while someone's like oh, what's it like in Santa Cruz? Like it, almost like there was a, a border that they couldn't cross, you know cause we were. So, you know, just stay over there, we don't want you over here.
Speaker 1:We will not fix highway 17. So you do not make it over here.
Speaker 4:Yes, it's a one horse town, don't come over here. So by the time that we, you know, started building these projects, and I'd say probably 20 years ago, they're starting to buy beach homes and so they're kind of you know, hey, what's it like? Where's the hotspot? You know, I always send them the West side, cause I didn't want to come to the East side. How much money do you have? I'll send you West.
Speaker 3:So you started that whole thing on the West side.
Speaker 4:that happened and a bunch of our boys. Well, it was just that I wanted to get back to town. You know I was missing the softball games and the volleyball games for my kids and you know cause you had it over there. You're an hour and a half in traffic, you're two on the way home and it only got worse. I mean, I go over there now once every couple of months maybe to get on an airplane. I'm like pissed off. You know that I have to sit in that traffic.
Speaker 1:We talked about that, the last episode of traffic and how it really does. Now, as a realtor and talking to people, it's interesting. That one is you just don't get past Capitola, in their mind if they're working over the hill, even though it's widening, and then after a year or year and a half living there, they cannot handle the commute and it's that last off of 17 on the Highway 1. It breaks them and it it goes into. Yes, everybody has to make personal choices, but at some point where does your health lie? Where the money is over the hill? But you have everything over here the mountains, the oceans, the trails, the people, and it's you know. You pay the price to live here, in addition to commute. So that's interesting, your own version of like I need to come home, that commute does not work for me.
Speaker 4:Just thinking about all the times that I'm over there and I'm almost talking them into it.
Speaker 3:You know, come on over you know it's so good.
Speaker 4:Oh, you want to learn how to surf? Oh, I know exactly where you need to go. You need to go to Cal. I'd steer them to all the places that I wasn't. Where's Jerry mountain biking at?
Speaker 1:I'll send them over there.
Speaker 4:And to make sure you tell them a bunch of different trails and make up names for them.
Speaker 3:This is when I'm like no, we already rode that trail. It was over there.
Speaker 4:So I just I mean, I think, the percentage of the of the customers. I mean it started, I haven't worked over the hill and I don't know 14 years 12 years Because of that. Because of that.
Speaker 1:So then you were saying, okay, now your clientele really 2025 are people from over the hill, so somehow they find you, they trust you. Are you seeing them remodel or are you seeing them try to build something brand new?
Speaker 4:you seen them try to build something brand new. So I try to steer them away from something brand new, because somehow you start building the process of you know, finding an architect, finding you know the land. Then it's two or three years down the road and then you all of a sudden lose that customer because it becomes about price. You know. Oh, nico said it was $700 a foot. Well, now I can get a guy from over the hill where I'm at, bring him over the hill and it's only $500 a square foot. So I think there's unreal expectations.
Speaker 1:I think that is a really good point, because what they don't know and I'm just gonna say it and you, you can say it if you want to we are known as santa cruz county, the hardest county to build new construction in easily. Yes and so when you're like legitimately saying straightforward hey, this is 700, I factored in the fact that the county or the city, the municipality that we're in, may reject.
Speaker 3:This may take longer, especially post-covid unless you tickle them, that we just wow, that's true, that is true. So anybody works at the cities or the county miko will tickle them.
Speaker 1:Wow, that's true, that is true. So anybody who works at the cities or the county Niko will tickle you. Wow, that was definitely all fair, that was definitely all fair, no tickling.
Speaker 4:But what I notice about the newer stuff is trying to get them new stuff. They don't have patience. People from all over the hill have zero patience. They want what they want and want it right now. So the best thing you can do is find them something that is close enough to a good enough floor plan for them to work with. Go over the counter, because you can do a kitchen, you can do a bathroom, you can do siding, you can replace windows, doors, et cetera with over the counter permit and you can instantaneously start building.
Speaker 1:So that leads me into like five more questions. First of all, how do you know what to tell them Like, how do you know the houses? Like, are you working with realtors? Have you seen them? Do you go on tour? Do they come to you as, like the consultant, I want something in Santa Cruz and I need you to help me with a team to find it so that you can remodel it.
Speaker 4:So mostly people come to me and they have a criteria of what they really want and so I call you know that, 25 realtors that I know and basically say who's got what? And I like stuff that's definitely in the pocket, you know. Or I have a friend of mine, jamie Revoir, that I've worked with all the time. I love Jamie, great guy, and he'll just go knock on the door and say we want your house Cause I'll have people just go down and just make me a list of anything you think that you want in the area that you want to be in. And they'll just start kicking addresses and I just give them to Jamie and said go, make it happen.
Speaker 1:I just want to plug out Jamie Revar and trade in real estate. They have built a business model on flipping homes and we'll get into flipping homes in a second Like where do you see it? What do you play in there, what are your plays on it when you see it? But I think that's first of all as a contractor who is helping his consumers. I have never heard somebody that I don't want to say aggressive, forward thinking, to be like all of us know how many. Well, I know a lot, but just the average person knows five to 10 realtors in this town so that they take your call and they say I might, I'll go knock doors. Jamie is also, I believe, second generation Santa Cruz and he just he's got high end levels of where he can get through the door, whereas a lot of people walking Opal cliff or East cliff they won't even let somebody else in. That's a great connection.
Speaker 4:He. I met him first because we used to.
Speaker 4:We had both had French bulldogs and so we'd walk our, our little, cute little dogs together. But I think, I think he's so humble and so quiet and his approach is not this poke you in the chest and you know, give you three letters and say you know, we need your house. It's, how can we find that? And then, oh, your aunt may not have a house. You know that we might be able to jump into, you know, and he found me, my own house. I mean, he's done all my kids, you know transactions for their houses. He's just a super sweet guy, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. I, as a coworker colleague of his, I have the utmost respect for how he runs his business, how he networks and how he carries the business forward for people who want to do off-the-cuff sort of real estate, not just slinging houses, very much a community-oriented building type person which sounds like that's who you are too.
Speaker 4:I want to think that way. Oh yeah, for sure.
Speaker 3:From an outsider I would say that Nico's pretty well connected.
Speaker 4:Well, I mean, it's a very small town.
Speaker 3:I call you and you're like I'll send a guy up and it's done. Oh, Jerry's really kissing my ass today.
Speaker 4:It's kind of sad right now. Get your tongue in there, Jerry.
Speaker 1:He did get a haircut for you.
Speaker 2:But that's also growing up in Santa Cruz.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it is.
Speaker 2:Yes, you have a connection of everybody, right, you know, you know, if somebody who knows, somebody who's going to take care of you and that's what you need here in Santa Cruz, that's what I missed when I moved down to LA at 22 years old, it was went to the bike shop oh, I need a bowl. Here in Santa Cruz it's like oh here, bro, take it, it's all good.
Speaker 2:Exactly, and that's what Santa Cruz is about, that's what the community is about. So when I had kids, I wanted to bring them back here to grow up in that lifestyle. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Here's an interesting little segue, not raised here went to UCSC 1999 and went into real estate after deciding not to work in the Silicon Valley. I lived in China, was going to work for Sun Microsystems. I was going to become an international attorney and really just help bridge gaps. It was miserable, I hated it, landed over here, play beach volleyball and I was like I can do real estate right. I adopted what I call the contractor's mentality of like I don't need to advertise, I just need to network. Knowing that we've all lived here for a long time, this is totally just a little bit separate for people who live here that run their own businesses. In the last five years, have you changed that mental space of like it's who I know, I just word of mouth, or have you done more advertising?
Speaker 3:I think for me it's gotten stronger on my network and I just had a conversation with another realtor who's kind of new.
Speaker 1:Who Tell me who? No, I'm just kidding, I don't want to blast him out right now.
Speaker 3:I'll tell you off air.
Speaker 3:But no, he was telling me he's having a hard time getting traction and I'm like, well, what are you doing? He's paying for all this stuff and I don't know. From my perspective, I'm like that stuff doesn't really work for my business. It's literally doing a great job and letting that be the message.
Speaker 3:Moving forward, and with real estate, if you haven't got your first deal, you need to figure that part out right now and talking to as many people as you can that are in the industry not necessarily having house parties at your house to ask people if they're needing to buy a house, but talking to brokers and other mortgage personnel that are referring sources, and that's just building your network and that's 100% what I am. I mean like I know Nico and other mortgage personnel that are referring sources, and that's just building your network and that's 100% what I am. I mean, like I know Nico, I know Ryan and I talk to these guys about what I do and at some point they're going to call me and say like, hey, I got this problematic thing. He's not hearing from his agent. Can you call him? And that's how it starts right.
Speaker 1:I just want to shout out, jerry, everyone that I refer to whether they're a client. I meet people at open houses. The number one thing they ask especially if it's up in the valley, san Lorenzo Valley what about insurance? Call this guy, he answers his phone and he talks to them and hands down. They may not pick me as the realtor, but they definitely pick him for the insurance.
Speaker 3:I did write one of yours last week.
Speaker 3:I think and I got another one out oh yeah, week, I think, and I got another one out. And you know, from my perspective, I think that that in my business is just the core. You know there's. You could do a bunch of advertising if you want to be the man to the people, but that doesn't mean you're going to get business from that, they're just going to go. Oh yeah, I know that guy's name. You know, maybe when they get a DUI and they lose their insurance they'll call you.
Speaker 3:But that's not the kind of client we're looking for, right. I'm looking for a client that needs to be cared for by Nico. He's like dude, I've done a great job on this house. I need insurance for it. They're having a really tough time getting their agent to respond. Can you see what you can do? And sometimes we come through and sometimes we don't. But I think that that networking component of our local market is so different than like the Bay market. There's a bigger, like you were talking earlier about. You know the demands of that client. I feel like the business is like that too. It's like it's like really high pressure, it's really stringent and their demands are really high and maybe those referral sources burn out because you're not like super on it, but I mean I'm on it as much as I can be and I'll be honest when I fall short, right, like that's the only thing that I can bring to the table, but I mean it just. I think that's the. I don't even know where we're going with this.
Speaker 1:I love that. Ryan and Nico, how about? In the last five years, have you changed from networking to advertising, or have you yeah, so for me and being a real estate agent versus being a lender.
Speaker 2:So the sexy part of the whole transaction is the house, not money. People don't talk about money first, they go look at the house first. So my business comes from real estate agents because the client goes to you first and then gets referred to me. So my marketing has been directly to real estate agents to prove to them that I do a great job. And then I get referred to the client. You everybody is your client. You don't know who exactly your client is, because everybody needs a house.
Speaker 1:Only fans Just kidding.
Speaker 3:Whoa whoa, we found something out. Oh there you go.
Speaker 4:You're the toe jam girl. I knew it. I knew I'd seen your toes before.
Speaker 1:Very sandy, very sandy.
Speaker 4:Sorry, Ryan Go ahead. Hide out vodka very sandy, very sandy, sorry, ryan. Good, I mean, I think when you start putting signs on everything, you get your website going, you just open yourself up for trolls, and every single one was, you know, your guy. You know, cut me off because I saw your giant insignia with your big phone number on your truck.
Speaker 3:That's why you pulled those stickers out. I had Dave broom, you know that's why you pulled those stickers out.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I pulled those stickers out. I had Dave Broom.
Speaker 3:RIP Dave but he pissed people off everywhere.
Speaker 4:But I think word of mouth in this town is the key, and that's always what it's been for me. Every time I'd finish framing something, the neighbor would be like, hey, can you change me a sliding glass door? Sure, we can take care of that. We'd run over there take care of it. Oh, my aunt's building a new home, you know, I gave her your number One, just hit off the next, off the next, off the next for me. And that's the way it's been my entire life. And when I fall short and I don't have enough work, then I just I have a little book. And there's the people that love Nico and are patient, and they I say I'm coming over, I got a week for you. What do you want me to do?
Speaker 1:Oh, that's really cool. That is really cool. So basically everybody still leaves in networking belly to belly, toe to toe. What do they call it? Eyeball to eyeball? I don't advertise at all Right, what has I?
Speaker 4:don't even know where Jerry's office is actually.
Speaker 3:It used to be upstairs, you built me.
Speaker 1:So, as a realtor, this is fun for me because I think there's a whole. Just like in any profession, you have certain people that will do certain things in construction and all the way to the top to like custom builds, we get more people who need help with bidding. What's wrong? Is that something that you are willing to do for realtors or for special realtors, or do you come into that? So I've got a couple of guys that you know like hey, if you give them $250 cash, $300 cash, they'll walk you through it, because otherwise you guys are so busy you can't get bids in our escrows. The contingency period is, if we get five days, it's maybe seven to eight. Now things are slowing down, especially more in the mountains, where it's like 30, 40 days on the market and the contingency period ideally lasts a little bit longer. But most of the realtors have inspections up front. Is that something that you do or have done in the past?
Speaker 4:I started out like that. I was like section one King, I was underneath. You know, the deck, pier a is rotten and I go fix that. You know soft spots around toilets. I mean, that's kind of where I started in construction, because that's all the work you could really find, you know, instead of people. I was so young. I got my license when I was like 23 and no one was going to have me build their home just yet.
Speaker 4:So I do for friends. If Paul Catelli calls me and says you know I need you to go climb under the house, I might send my little boy under there, send me a little FaceTime video from under there. But Jason Gingery.
Speaker 1:I love all those guys yeah.
Speaker 4:Jason's a great guy. Why not pay $500 to go through the plumbing, the electrical, the HVAC, the roof, the windows, the doors? You know every single thing and have a report about it, so you could kind of knock off those items.
Speaker 1:Well, yes and no. Jason, by the way, is amazing as a home inspector. Just saw Paul today at one of his listings.
Speaker 4:That was my house.
Speaker 1:Was that your house? Yeah, on Old Pink.
Speaker 4:I can't even. That's how small Santa Cruz is Right, that's my house.
Speaker 1:Wow, so you're going to live there.
Speaker 4:No, it's on the market. Well, it's technically pending now.
Speaker 1:Yes, that shows you how no it's, it's, it's wonderful.
Speaker 4:So that's how small Santa Cruz is.
Speaker 1:No cause, I have a, I have a backup buyer for you, Good, good.
Speaker 4:So just so you know one of my ex employees saw it and was like I have to have it.
Speaker 3:So, he put it in escrow two days ago.
Speaker 4:Yeah, on the market today. I'm excited. Look at my oh it says pending Really Technically yesterday.
Speaker 1:Do people leave?
Speaker 4:if they see pending, are they willing to think that they could throw a couple extra bucks at it and snag it from?
Speaker 1:Today, in today's market.
Speaker 4:In today's market.
Speaker 1:In today's market? I don't know, man, I would say it's back to that location location, locatelli, locatelli, locatelli, location, location. Yeah, my guys were pretty bummed. They didn't rush up there. I said, eh, I'm pretty sure this is probably already going in a certain direction, because just certain things about it, and so they're, they are still very interested. I don't. It's really hard to say. Three years ago I'd be like absolutely In fact, if you didn't already have it buttoned up there'd be backup offers sitting yeah absolutely Especially for that.
Speaker 3:You know it's it's got a decent yard sunny location it's private my insurance agent. I'll sell you a policy.
Speaker 4:You want a three, a, six a nine month policy and I was like let's just do three.
Speaker 3:I'm selling it in three, I mean.
Speaker 1:I think we did even shorter than that.
Speaker 3:We figured out a way.
Speaker 1:Well, nice driveway.
Speaker 3:I'm going to cancel tomorrow.
Speaker 1:How many people tell you that driveway is nice?
Speaker 4:That's a nice driveway. I shoveled all that gravel myself actually yesterday. Did you really Absolutely 11 tons, me and the boys. It was fun. Gravel doesn't rake as well.
Speaker 3:Uphill it's easier to dump it at the top, bring it down the hill. So I learned that it's been a while since I shoveled.
Speaker 4:Don't we have tractors Like why am I doing this? This is stupid.
Speaker 1:That's so funny. Okay, well, my point was more. Here would be some a total example. My clients that are interested in your house do not have flipping or rehabbing experience. They love the idea of the land and they love the idea that it's standing Right Right. So in their mind they're not very clear what that would look like. So even if Paul and Brian gave me a home and a pest inspection, there's really no cost in there. That's what I'm talking about.
Speaker 4:Okay. So what we do on our specs is we have short run and long run. So basically the short is can I clean it up in a way that someone's going to grab it right away? So I don't have the carry for that eight months. Why tear it apart and put it all back together? But we also run. The long run is the full, and so we put numbers to every single thing kitchen, bathroom, siding, whatever it might be, whatever it needs to be to make it presentable. Where we could get top dollar in a short to six month time is usually where we're thinking.
Speaker 1:The short run is going to be like paint carpet gravel landscape gravel, doing the gravel yourself, do not pay 30 an hour for somebody else.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yes. So I really always love finding something that's like a gem, like that. You know, most of the time we're looking. You know boulder creek. I just stopped the slv like two years ago. I said no more because every single thing never had a permit. I mean, the first things I do with people is go down assessor's office and find out at the building department. Does it have a red tag on it? Does it have? You know, I think this extra section of the house might be added on after the fact, and that's always the case in SLV Nothing, everything's a one bedroom, one bathroom. If you look at it, you know on paper.
Speaker 1:I will not mention the address but again, some other clients and I are looking in Ben Lomond and I'm going. This is built in 1930 and remodeled 17 times through the seventies, the eighties, the nineties. There's a piece of everything and then in some cases. So we kind of jumped in that you'll help your clients do that, but you also do these for yourself.
Speaker 4:Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And when you're looking in this area, do people first of all? Do people think you're crazy?
Speaker 4:No, I think. I mean I found my house a little COVID by. I always seem to find things. It's depends on who's a photographer. You know I swear people go and like Paul's pictures of my house were terrible, terrible. I love the guy to death, but it was like I think there was like a dead body on the carpet or something. There was like a tape around something you still have tape.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the tape's still there. Yes, awesome, we in fact thought we photoshopped that out nope, nope. In fact, somebody did ask if somebody died because of the tape yes, that was, that was only one death that was a short, short run, yeah, good thing, it's an escrow this is not published for a while, so you're good hopefully, 31 days from now would be preferable did we sign a disclosure?
Speaker 4:that's all in the disclosures. Okay, what happens in the blue tape stays in the disclosures oh, my god, I'm crying.
Speaker 1:Okay, so here's what I get as a realtor. So you have the bell curve. There are rational people in the middle that understand what their budget is, and once you explain to them, or a realtor explains to them this, I think what you provide for people is the money. Mind the numbers that you're already thinking, the way that you're presenting it. That to me is who's coming from over the hill. They want to know that you do more than just hammering in a nail and telling guys what to do. So that's like the perspective you have, probably because you're doing it and we keep flirting with the fact that you do buy and sell properties for your own benefit.
Speaker 1:I want to jump into that because I think it's fascinating. But again, the average person figures that's not for them. Then you have the two extremes I'm going to wait till the bottom of the market and totally do that like they do in Vegas, which doesn't happen. And then you have the other side of it. That's like it's too expensive. I could never flip in here. I'd be in Stockton or I'll be in Fresno. Why here? How did you get into flipping here, or rehabbing, whatever you want to call?
Speaker 4:it. Well, we started by building new homes. I had a couple of partners and we were building new homes because I only wanted to touch brand new things. I was so tired of section one and being on these people's dirty houses.
Speaker 1:I hope things change right yeah.
Speaker 4:Yeah, yeah, and no dead bodies. You know things like that.
Speaker 4:I. I hope things change right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And no dead bodies, you know things like that. No blue tape. I just wanted to build brand new and because my ego was so involved in it and I wanted to be super proud of what I did and you know, nowadays I might just be painting something on the outside and give it like a nice perspective. That house that you looked at today was Smurf blue, like neon Smurf blue prior to us painting it. Like Like neon Smurf blue prior to us painting it.
Speaker 1:Like one of the bedrooms is 100% Wow.
Speaker 3:What color did you end up painting? I'm curious. White, oh yeah, dove white, it's beautiful.
Speaker 1:Sorry, paul, but as crappy as your photos were, the white of that structure made people interested, I bet you he has a lot of calls just because.
Speaker 3:I hope so yeah.
Speaker 1:No, the white, Definitely.
Speaker 4:No the white definitely Super clean. I think the angle is if a customer myself I'm looking at it is, I kept losing everything because I didn't have money, so everything I would try to go buy someone, buy out from under me with cash. I can't go to Ryan and be like, okay, I'm thinking about buying this house, and then I have this 70-day escrow setup where it's contingent I'm on a sale of my trailer or you know whatever it might be. I need to be ready, ready to go. I got to be ready.
Speaker 4:So we found a guy that we borrow money from, and it's so, it's instantaneous. That was as is. That was like a wholesale buy, and it hit seven different people and money probably trickled up at the same time. But some guy put in escrow from, I guess, the trust, and then it bounced to another builder, and then Paul found out about it. The builder didn't want to do it because he was overextended in something else, and so it was like, hey, nico, do you want this? And so within we had to make a decision in three days.
Speaker 1:You did a good job and just for people listening, wholesaling is a different part that we don't talk a lot about in real estate. This is a whole segment of the industry where they are looking for properties to rehab and to flip on an industrial scale so that wholesaler, as you said, that goes up. They could be located in Illinois, texas, like they have ants in every part of everywhere trying to figure out and it's, it's this whole thing. So being connected with a wholesale wholesaling group is phenomenal for what you want, because you're probably the first or second to hear about these opportunities.
Speaker 4:I don't know that. I mean, that's only our second buy of a wholesaler, you know, and you know. A couple of these things that I think I get frustrated with is they're also putting that out to everybody. So you got to be quick, like you said. You saw that picture. You saw that. You know Zillow came out. If it's on Zillow, it's too late.
Speaker 1:It's true.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it's too late and so.
Speaker 1:Well, yeah, the wholesalers have a whole network behind by the time it gets to Zill. Sorry, I cut you off.
Speaker 4:No, no, no. And this gentleman, he wholesaled it to another wholesaler. So I mean it just keeps getting touched. And then I know everyone is putting $25 or $50 on top of this, pushing up that price. I mean I love to get it direct from the wholesaler. So I'm trying to work on that. I feel, like that's Jamie too, jamie's working with him.
Speaker 1:He's got direct contact. I'm just not that. I want to help Jamie's business and your business. I feel like that's a good marriage.
Speaker 4:I guess you could call it everything that Jamie and I've looked at it, trying to get these people that you know they're overdue on their taxes. So that's the thing. In Santa Cruz you're going to get something that someone has that they've owned for 30 years and they're getting older and they want their heading off into the sunset money, but their house is dilapidated. So they have to figure out a way. You know, maybe I go fix it up and we become partners with that person. We played that game before. I've learned every angle.
Speaker 4:The best way is just to write a check for it and just be done with it, buy it and then anticipate that the drop might happen during the build and then it is coming back up, you know, gaining speed, and then you actually have a product that's ready to go. Yeah, but that's that's the scary part. So that's the short game's the best If you can beautify it in the front and give it that curb appeal. You know chips, gravel, dove, white paint job and people go there and, oh my God, it's so beautiful, and then you help them realize the potential of what can be done inside.
Speaker 4:If someone came to me, my partners don't like to do it, they don't want to take on their custom home builders I won't say their names in this town and they don't. They do stuff that's thousand dollars and above. So they do all the things that you keep driving down Eastcliff and you're like, oh my God, that's amazing. What happened to my grandma's house? Well, now it's this super ultra modern thing. Those are the guys building that, so they don't want to do the dumpy remodels. I don't care, because it goes up and it goes down. I might be working on a trailer, I might be doing a new strip mall, so I got to be ready for that kind of stuff to happen.
Speaker 1:Well, as we're kind of winding it up, Nico, what would you like to say to people listening? Let's do two things Obviously, plug yourself. But what would be the two things that you would say?
Speaker 4:to Nico Chancharulo tan Italian luscious skin okay.
Speaker 1:Excessively for Redcious skin.
Speaker 3:Okay, exactly 54 redwood rings. Yes.
Speaker 4:Slightly slower in a mountain bike than Jerry.
Speaker 3:It's okay though.
Speaker 4:Fastest mountain biker in all of Santa Cruz, self-proclaimed.
Speaker 3:Self-proclaimed.
Speaker 4:Self-proclaimed.
Speaker 1:All right Now about your business.
Speaker 4:Sorry, no, I love my business. It's Chantrula Construction, we do commercial. It's a Chantrula construction, we do commercial. I we did a lot of restaurants until COVID, you know, and that was mainly what I did. I was trying to get completely out of residential and less buying and selling real estate was that part of it. So I tried to do my work. I got five guys they're they're great guys, you know been at Jerry's house, been everybody's house in this town trying to keep those guys busy, Cause I love them. They all been working for me. One guy's worked for me for 25 years.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 4:So I just want to make sure that they have a future, and they have kids going to college soon, so I want to make sure they have a future, but I'm also thinking about my exit strategy too, at some point, you know cause I feel like fourth two minute warning. I'm right there, right now.
Speaker 1:Oh, you got four kids, three grandkids.
Speaker 4:They're doing okay. They're doing good. My kids have their own. They work over there. Boysland works for the city of Santa Clara. He's a building inspector for over there, so he knows how everyone lives. Send me their contacts, son.
Speaker 1:Thanks, yes, what's your contact phone number? You want people to reach you.
Speaker 4:You can hit me on my cell phone. It's 8 1 8, 7, 5 1 8 8, 3 1 8, 3, 1.
Speaker 1:Perfect, All right.
Speaker 2:Jerry you brought this guy in? Yeah, I'm Jerry Seagrave. Seagrave's insurance 8 3 1 4, 6, 4 1 8, 7 0.
Speaker 1:Ryan Buckholt cross country mortgage 8 3, 1, 8, 1, 8, 2, 3, 3, 9.
Speaker 2:Hideout vodka where are they finding that? Basically at almost all liquor stores and Safeway everywhere here in Santa Cruz, all over the hill too, san Francisco.
Speaker 1:So don't call you for that one, but call you for the mortgages.
Speaker 2:Exactly, call me for mortgages.
Speaker 1:All right, I'm Brandi Jones with Keller Williams Thrive. I'm at 831-588-5145.
Podcasts we love
Check out these other fine podcasts recommended by us, not an algorithm.
Broken Tiles
Brian & Stacey Upton