Real Estate Show Interview with Lennox Scot 2023

Full Video Transcript Below

Real Estate Show Lennox Scott 

Alice Lema: [00:00:00] Well top of the morning, Southern Oregon and welcome back to The Real Estate Show. We're so happy you could join us again today. We have a spectacular show planned for you. We're welcoming Mr. John L. Scott himself, Lennox Scott. He is the chairman and company executive officer of John L. Scott Real Estate.

He's very smart, he's very funny. He's very nice. And we're gonna just pick his brain about the volatility in the market, what's going on in the bigger urban areas, and some predictions for the rest of the summer. It is gonna be an absolutely great show. We're gonna welcome J Lennox Scott. He's very smart, and he is our fearless leader.

Before we get started bringing Lennox in, let's check quickly with the statistics. For our local Southern Oregon real estate, let's start with Josephine County. The prices year over year for Josephine County are dead, even average price, and this is just for residential single family home. Well Josephine County will cost you [00:01:00] $474,812. The number of solds closed year to date are down a whopping 65%. The number of listings in Josephine County year over year are down 14%. Our foreclosures closed this week are zero. Our short sales closed this week in Josephine County or Zero, and our million dollar residential sales in Josephine County this week are zero.

Jackson County year over year is down only 1%. That means you've got an average residential home in Jackson County costing $499,651. The number of solds in Jackson County year over year are down 31%. The number of listings in Jackson County are down 6% year over year. The foreclosures closed this week in Jackson County are zero. The short sales closed in Jackson County this week are [00:02:00] zero, and we have two -million residential sales closed in Jackson County this week. One for 2.5 million in Ashland and one for 1.27 in Jacksonville.

Klamath Falls prices year over year are down only 3%, so the average in Klamath Falls residential is now $283,808.

The number of solds are down in Klamath County, 40% year over year. The number of listings are only down 3% in Klamath County year over year. We have zero closed fore closures this week in Klamath County. Zero closed short sales in Klamath County this week, and zero closed million dollar properties this week closed in Klamath County.

But again, those are residential numbers. So lots going on. We're looking forward to welcoming John L. Scott, leader J, Lennox Scott here in a quick minute. Do not touch that dial. It's gonna be a great show. [00:03:00]

Well, welcome back folks to the Real Estate Show. So glad you could have you today. We have one of our favorite people in the whole world on the show today, Mr. Lennox Scott. He's the chairman and CEO. That's company Executive Officer of John L. Scott. Thank you so much for joining us, Lennox.

Lennox Scott: Well, thank you Alice and it, it's nice to be invited back, so I appreciate that.

Alice Lema: Well, we just love having you on the show, your wealth of information and very inspiring and we have kind of a tumultuous time now and some folks are a little unclear about what to do with the next move of the real estate life.

Lennox Scott: Well let's put a little perspective to the marketplace. Traditionally real estate goes in 10 year cycles, and the first year was last year year 2022. That was the adjustment year. This year, 2023 and into year 2024, the market will solidify and then it will [00:04:00] go up for seven years. It's happened that way. Every 10 years. I've been in the business 47 years. This is my sixth, 10 year cycle. I caught the end of one, four in between, and this is the start of the next 10 year cycle. So it does follow these trends. And what happened last year during the adjustment year, is that with, we came off historically low interest rates, pandemic low level interest rates of approximately 3%.

The market the economists were forecasting we'd go up to four and a half percent interest by the end of 2022. Well, in fact, we went up to 7%. And what it did is it backed off all the multiple offer situations. Therefore, there wasn't the price support for premium pricing above the market price because those multiple offers took it above list price.

So that came off and that was the adjustment year. This year we're back to a strong [00:05:00] level of sales activity intensity for new listings. Homes are selling, especially the more affordable and mid-price ranges. And that's, that's kind of the the backdrop to where we are.

Alice Lema: So some of our buyers and sellers are sitting back cuz they're thinking there's gonna be another crash. So when we try to explain to them that this is a normal cycle and that we're not expecting a crash what words of wisdoms would you have to those folks that are, are sitting out because they're waiting for the worst to happen.

Well this this adjustment is so unique unlike any other one I've been involved,

Lennox Scott: with cuz the adjustment this time, although we are going through higher interest rates of and you know, the Fed reserve is trying to squash down inflation, get inflation out of the markets. What we're seeing right now, because the delta between a lot of buyers and those that [00:06:00] refinance closer to 3%, with mortgage rates now up around six and a half percent, they're just not bringing their homes on the market in the normal sequence. What's moving the market today, of course is life events, mainly around jobs and family and also those with big equity in their homes.

They're repositioning their homes right now today cuz the interest rates don't affect them as much. So with that as a backdrop, you know, there's 35% fewer in homes coming on the market than normal. And that's creating a so there's no oversupply of listings. So although premium pricing came off, cuz the multiple offers went away, after that, we're back to a strong market, which is price support, especially in the more affordable and mid price ranges. And then in the luxury price points, sellers need to position their home to be the next home to sell.

Alice Lema: So is it possible that we could have the beginnings of another seller market happening this summer because of the [00:07:00] low inventory?

Lennox Scott: We're already seeing this in the metro market area, so Portland and Seattle and, and, and, you know, close to the major job centers, we're already back up to an extreme frenzy market. Multiple offers above list price markets. And Alice, as you and I have chatted, as the major metro markets heat up it is only months away before we start to see that additional sales in the lifestyle destination market areas such Medford, Ashland Bend, Oregon, the coast in as, as an example in the state of Oregon.

Alice Lema: It's very interesting to watch that flow cuz we get a lot of people from your area in Seattle and also Portland and, and the bigger cities in California. And it did slow down a little bit, but we we definitely have the phones ringing again, which is exciting.

Lennox Scott: Well, and, and by interest rates coming off the peak, the most recent [00:08:00] peak of 7% that's really set the stage of, okay, it's okay to move the inflation is starting to slow down. There's a couple major inflection points. The the debt ceiling limit for the United States. They're talking about some pullback on some of the funds that were already approved. And then that's gonna send a signal to the bond market. Okay. They're serious about expense containment.

Also the fed reserve is making comments that at some point it will pause raising rates and may actually come down next year in 24 some. That will also send a signal to the bond market. We, we also have a elevated spread of mortgage rates above the 10 year bond right now. Right now the, it's three points above the 10 year bond for home mortgage interest raise. The normal is two points. And so when will that start to happen? To go back down? [00:09:00] Well, as these other events happen, that will. So our chief economist, Lawrence, Yun of the National Association of Realtors is predicting closer to 5,8% interest rates at year end. And, but in the more affordable mid-price ranges, we know there's price support already and we know prices are going up for sure next spring in the the yearly cycle that it happens.

So it's, it's finding out what your timing is, what timing is right for you. And hopefully down the road, mortgage rates go down further and people will refinance at that time. So I, I have a saying there will never be enough homes in the more affordable and mid-price ranges. And then the major metro areas, not necessarily yours, traffic will never get better.

So those, those are the two items, but there's just not enough housing. So that's price support and sets the foundation especially in a lifestyle market like you're in where people are moving in from out of areas by [00:10:00] choice. That prices will continue their upward trend over every 10 year cycle.

Alice Lema: What's your opinion right now on the new construction movement and how susceptible they, that part of the industry is to interest rates?

Lennox Scott: Well, the new construction is backfilling the lack of supply of new resale listings in the market. Otherwise for example, in the major metro areas, prices would even skyrocket even higher on the resale sides.

But there is some relief of new construction coming on. And now with some states passing where they can have additional units on the single family lot, a thousand square foot units, that is the supply of affordable housing in the major metro areas. That's not in all communities, but that's definitely happened to, to provide supply side housing for working families.

Alice Lema: I was just gonna ask you that, because Oregon [00:11:00] passed several years ago, the ability to have four units in town statewide, first state in the union. But it's taken several years to kind of get some legs, but most people are starting to do their additional dwelling units and put their own family in, which that seems to help a little bit, but it's not the amount of houses we need for sure.

Lennox Scott: And, and that's fantastic and it's not all at once. But we, we see this in East coast cities. You know, they've, they kept providing more housing, more housing closer into the job centers or the commercial zones. And that will continue to happen. And just talking about that for a second where we're really seeing this opportunity is on property lots that have an alley. So there's two points of entry or corner lots. These are fantastic for different points of entry. You know, extra premiums on those particular lots for the additional [00:12:00] units.

Alice Lema: So you're seeing that in the urban areas.

Lennox Scott: Yeah, definitely the alley access. Yeah. And we're seeing duplexes being put up in the urban area, close in urban area. But we're also going to be seeing that in the rural area also because they, they're there's only so much devolopable land with infrastructure. So we'll be seeing it in, in some of the rural town communities also.

Alice Lema: Where they're gonna start allowing more than one dwelling per tax lot.

Lennox Scott: Yes.

Alice Lema: Wow. That'll be interesting. Yeah. In Oregon, we just recently were allowed to add an ADU, additional dwelling unit up to 900 square feet in our rural district. But that was long and hard coming.

Lennox Scott: Yep. That's, and, and that's this is the only solution to affordability is supply. You can't buy, a government can't buy enough units to provide affordable housing. It's just way too costly. It, it needs to [00:13:00] be a public sector, a movement with the support of the government for zoning to be able to have affordable housing.

Alice Lema: Mm-hmm. And it does seem that some of the municipalities are a little bit more on board with allowing some of this development where before they weren't because of the, the housing shortage. So it's a good time to write to your Congress people, huh?

Lennox Scott: Yes. And, and housing supply supports economic development you know, for, for the corporations that provide the jobs, that provide the resources for the community it's all totally integrated concept all throughout.

Alice Lema: So looking out into the future do we see a little bit more balanced with housing supply versus need maybe two and three if we're just beginning another cycle, what are we seeing in the the future?

Lennox Scott: Well again I don't think we'll ever have enough homes in the more affordable or mid-price ranges where 70, 80% of the [00:14:00] transactions take place. There's the Northwest just the economic engines we have up here, the livability, especially in paradise where you are, the lifestyle destination market is such an attraction that for, for for the nation and for the region.

Alice Lema: We're talking to Lennox Scott, our fearless leader of John L Scott. He's the company executive officer and chairman of John L. Scott. We're so happy to have you on. We only have a, a couple minutes left before we have to take a break, but for people getting ready for those spring selling season, because we are kind of on a seasonal curve what advice would you give sellers to be particularly conscious of in this kind of a market?

Lennox Scott: Well, what you're bringing up Alice, is there, we, we consider there's six phases to the yearly housing cycle. And they go in two month increments. The first [00:15:00] phase is the new year kickoff right after the first of the year. And January one is the low point of unsold inventory Buyers come out of the woodwork after, after the holidays.

And there's very few properties that come on the market. That's when you get your biggest boost in prices is always in the spring. Then we always the, the new year kickoff and then into the spring, which is March and April because of the the demand is higher than the supply of unsold homes and those coming on the market.

As we get into pre-summer, which we, we consider May and June that's the high point for new resale listings coming on the market. And in this year in the more affordable mid price ranges there's just there's not there's a shortage of inventory on the market because there's 35% fewer homes coming on the market.

There's a shortage available and the demand is there. As buyers get, [00:16:00] accept the interest rates not being at 3% that anomaly, a 3% interest rate, but at a very good interest rate. In a scenario in the fives and sixes there's buyer demand. Buyers are resilient especially more affordable and mid-price ranges.

We're gonna have to pick that up after a quick word from our sponsors. Do not go away. We're talking to Mr. Lennox Scott. We wanna say a quick thanks to our sponsors, John L. Scott, Ashland, and Medford, the local Rogue Valley Association of Realtors, known as RVAR, and Guy Giles Mutual Mortgage. Thank you all for bringing this show every week, and just a quick reminder, it will be aired again on this same station, K C M X 99.5, tomorrow, Sunday at 6:00 PM Don't go away.

Hey, Southern Oregon. Welcome back to the Real Estate Show. We're talking to one of my favorite people in the whole world, Mr. Lennox Scott company executive officer, and chairman of John L. Scott. Thanks again for being with [00:17:00] us.

Well, thank you Alice.

Alice Lema: Right before the break, we were talking about the six cycles. Could you elaborate on that? It's quite interesting.

Lennox Scott: Yes. The six phases to the yearly housing cycle. We were just starting out talking about the new year kickoff for January and February, the spring market, which is March and April. That's the biggest price boost every year happens during that time, and then in May typically, May and June, the pre-summer market, that's when you get the most listings coming on the market.

Homes for sale. This year it's fewer and the buyers are more re resilient than the number of homes coming onto the market. So there's great price support in the more affordable and mid-price ranges where 80% of the transactions take place. And then we get into summer which is that July and August, great months high level of of homes going under contract that will continue through summer.

You're in a lifestyle destination market. People come in during the summer they want [00:18:00] to be part of the community. Then the fall market that is September, October, the number of new listings starts to drop down. Normally September one is the high point for unsold inventory, and, but the listings drop down. This year in the more affordable and mid-price ranges we're gonna have, have a shortage of, of unsold properties as we get into the fall.

And then the winter market is November, December the number of listings goes down so dramatically. Again, the buyers are more resilient than the number of listings. And then we get to the first of the year, the new Year kickoff again, and January 1st is the low point of unsold inventory and that's why you have the price boost right after that cuz buyers come out coming out of the woodwork after the holidays.

So it, it is very predictable how the year flows. And although we're down 35% in number of new listings on the market, is following the normal seasonal pattern. Yeah. And so in the major [00:19:00] metro areas we're at an extreme frenzy market right now for and the more affordable mid price ranges. And even into the upper end, only the luxury has a low supply of homes available. But so where 90% of the transactions are taking place, we're at extreme frenzy, multiple offers, premium pricing, and we, when we get to September 1st this year, We're gonna be virtually sold out. So only prices are only gonna go up over the winter and into next spring in those price points. While they're very strong in strong to, very strong in the Southern Oregon marketplace.

Alice Lema: That is so interesting. So you're getting over full price offers and multiple offers again, and we haven't seen that for a while, since the interest rates went up, but it's, it's, here we go again.

Lennox Scott: That's it. Major metro market areas, heat up, San Francisco, Portland, Seattle. It's coming your way in the months [00:20:00] ahead.

Alice Lema: Well, and the, the remote worker is more popular now and it's not as odd as it was considered a couple years ago. Are you seeing some of that in your area as well?

Lennox Scott: Yeah, so we're starting to see a couple corporations where the employees are coming back a couple days a week for networking meetings. More of a type of deal they're doing, still doing most of their work from home, but they're having conferences as they come in for a day or two. But remote from work in the tech sector is still big. And and that really changed the dynamics in the Northwest when the pandemic hit individuals, being able to work for a home. And it sure spurred on your market area for a couple years there. And it's still in play.

Alice Lema: And you know what is interesting is the starlink satellite internet, the high-speed internet from Elon Musk, that the people in our rural districts who didn't have high-speed internet, it added 75,000 to a hundred thousand dollars to their sale price.[00:21:00]

Lennox Scott: Wow.

Alice Lema: Yeah, so it's, it's, it's the remote worker and the satellite kind of all coming together at the same time. And it's hard to keep those houses on the market because everybody wants 'em now cuz they can Netflix.

Lennox Scott: Boy, they have lifestyle and technology at the same time.

Alice Lema: Yeah. Isn't that something. Yeah. Sorry, sorry, digress. Yeah. So one of the other things we wanted to talk to you a little bit about was If if someone can run the numbers for their 3% loan that they have on their existing house, but all the appreciation, how, how would you explain that to a seller? Just doing the math that they might actually be able to do a move up kind of purchase right now and not have as big of a mortgage as they think just because the interest rates are higher.

Lennox Scott: What's moving the market right now, a big part of it is those with equity in their home, those that have been their home five years or more or [00:22:00] retiree or seniors, they have 50% equity and many have a hundred percent equity, and they're so now is an opportunity they can reposition themselves and, and really it's really looking to where are you going to?

And what, what is the price of the home? Are you able to take your equity and are you going straight across? Are you downsizing? Are you getting closer? And what's the reason why you're moving? Is it closer to family and friends or for environment or health? For that group of the right retirees and the seniors.

But they're, they're in play right now because they're able, able to move and to the to other communities especially in the lifestyle destination markets, haven't heated up to the extent of the major metro. So yeah, people moving from the major metros into your market areas right now, it is that opportune time for, for them to purchase.

Alice Lema: And so if your market is [00:23:00] heating up, then it would be. Easier for the sellers in an area like ours to accept a contingent offer? Yes. From something in Seattle. It would be less risky then, is that? Part of the process?

Lennox Scott: Oh, definitely, as a listing broker of a house in your market area communicating with the agent that's working with them in their current current home and get the competitive market analysis, get an understanding of the intensity to the market. At in our company we have A market update of each market area throughout the three state area. So you can see what the trends are for that area and that price range of what is the intensity of homes going under contract, to be able to make a recommendation to the seller. Here's the facts of what's going on. It may, it is okay to take a contingent offer. You've, that you've communicated and, and looked at the stats.

Alice Lema: Yeah, [00:24:00] so that's super exciting. If the urban areas are in a frenzy market and their prices are going up, and then the folks here have more equity, then that really is kind of a low risk situation for a seller out of the area to take a contingent offer from an urban area.

Lennox Scott: I really like what you're bringing up, Alice. It, what, what it shows is that for sellers, especially in the metro areas, they're a little skittish about putting their home on until they find their next home. We actually call that seller gridlock cause the current home sells too fast and they're not ready, they haven't found their next home yet.

So this helps the market move forward. And you're, you're bringing it up a, a really good market condition, to allow somebody to to put under contract their next home and get their current home sold. Plus, that increases motivation. Cuz when they're going to a lifestyle destination market, that's by choice.

They really wanna be there. They're able to secure their next home. They're going to get their current home sold. [00:25:00] So you're really bringing up a, a nuance to the market.

Alice Lema: Well, it makes it exciting. I hadn't heard seller gridlock, but that's perfect. That's exactly how it feels. Okay. So when folks are getting their house ready to sell and timing the market what other piece of advice do you have?

Lennox Scott: Well we get the question on occasion. When's the best time to sell? And our answer is when the timing's right for you. Cuz it's okay to buy and sell within same market timing at today's market price. So you're either buying and selling in the spring or you're buying and selling during the summer or during an adjustment you might be a little bit lower.

You're buying and selling within same market timing. At today's market price, it's okay to do that. And it's really just looking at where are you going to what's your motivation for moving and and just taking a look at you know, having a consultation with your broker associate [00:26:00] about those items cuz your broker associate is a more of a consultant, a counselor, a a transactional expert in getting helping you move forward in the next phase of your life.

Alice Lema: So timing the market is something people do try to do, and that's not a good idea because it's not about the market, like you're saying. It's, it's about your life and when you're ready.

Lennox Scott: Yeah. Especially when you're moving within same market timing, both buying and selling. It just comes down to what, what's right for you to move, to move forward.

Alice Lema: And we've had more success lately with helping sellers get their homes market ready, getting it nice in the front. Nice on the inside. One thing we haven't talked about is John L. Scott has a program to help sellers with some repairs and getting their house ready. Do you wanna speak to that a little bit because it's kind of new.

Lennox Scott: Right. So not only our broker associate does the consultation on getting your we call it five rights, make [00:27:00] a Sale. House, right yard, right price, right marketing right, and the right listing Broker associate to represent you. Five rights make a sale. But what we're talking about here is house right and Yard, right?

And there's certain items that you can take on yourself to to improve the appearance. One of the easiest ones to add value is get your yard right, especially that front yard, cuz you might feel like a million bucks walking up to the house. The house is the house and the price range. But you wanna really feel good at walking up and say, I could live here.

That, that's, that's market presence. And then of course, inside the home it's of, of course clean. It's decluttering. It's you know, getting some bins and putting some things away, creating some spacing, and your broker associate will help you on the counseling on that. On occasion what you're bringing up, Alice, is there are some bigger items and we have a program called Market Ready Plus where you're able to have access [00:28:00] to resources to be able to fund some of those items.

Maybe it's changing out a countertop or a carpet. Or painting certain areas that, that cost some additional dollars. It's paid back at closing and there is responsibility for paying the money back. But it really brings the value out in in the marketplace, especially when you're competing with other unsold properties and homes coming on.

Depends upon the area and the price range that you're looking at to about how much you really want to move forward for doing this. But buyers in today's market especially they, they want to see a home that's market ready to be able to move into. So it, it has more importance in today's market.

Alice Lema: It really does. It used to be back in the old days, that people were willing to, to buy a fixer rep and work on it over time, but that's not the case anymore.

Lennox Scott: No, we're not, we're not seeing that quite as much, especially with a little bit higher interest rates. Buyers are wanting that home to be more complete at this [00:29:00] at this time.

 Okay. I was just wanting to talk a little bit about pricing for a second also. And we have a John L. Scott term. It's a, a trademark to us called Sales Activity Intensity. And when selling a home, you know, the best chance to sell your home at the best price is the first 30 days.

And so that's what we really look at. What percent of homes are going under contract within the first 30 days they're on the market. And we look at each individual property. How many sell the first week, second week, third week, the first the first 30 days. So that we can see the trends of what's going on by individual price range within each market area.

And this really helps give information to the seller to be able to make a a decision on, okay, I really wanna move at this time, or I want to get my home positioned to get it sold cuz I'm going forward of what I [00:30:00] wanna accomplish. Also, it shows like in the major metro areas here prices are going up.

You know, they adjusted last year and the press keeps talking about year over year, median home price reduction. Well, that happened last year. That's eight months ago. Right now, prices in the more affordable price ranges in the metro area are going up and in your area, they're there's price support and a a few, there might be a few multiple offers in the more affordable where 50% of the homes are going under contract.

So it just depends on each area, each price range, but the sales activity intensity, this indicator really showcases what's going on in the market for pricing momentum or do I need to get it priced more solidly to get the next sale in the market.

Alice Lema: So that 30 day timeframe is super important to get your house under contract and sold in the [00:31:00] first 30 days.

Lennox Scott: It, it sure is. Especially cuz when you launch a new listing onto the market, you do have buyers already in the market looking and they're, they're the most the ones most apt to put an offer in on the property. Not that we're not we market to buyers that come in the market two weeks after you launch.

But it's, there's not quite the same momentum as you have, right when you bring a listing on. I wanna talk about the luxury market also for a second. In the luxury market you know, there's low supply of inventory or healthy supply. And so you need a position as a seller to be one of the next ones to sell.

And I, we like to put out to have a seller peer group. And so your particular home in, in, in price range, you might have another six or seven homes that are also on the market in that area in price range. Well, that's your peer [00:32:00] group. So it's really finding out what's going on in my peer group and really looking at it each week.

This is what happened in my peer group. One new listing came on. Maybe there were no homes went under contract this week. There was a price reduction, but then over the month, maybe there was one or two homes went under contract. Two came on, two price reductions. So you can get a a framework, a scope of what's going on in the market to make the decision and when the timing's right for you to, to get positioned to be the next home to sell.

So that, that's what we call seller peer group. And when we sell our home, that's we always look at the seller peer group, what happened the month before we are, are bringing her home on the market. And then what's happening each week, and then a monthly re review for any adjustments that we need to make if we're not under contract.

Alice Lema: And the luxury market is an indicator of sorts. We just started selling our luxury [00:33:00] homes again at a, bigger clip just in the last two weeks. It's kind of exciting. So we're tracking that every week and having a peer group with the with the seller and watching what's happening in their area is super important.

Lennox Scott: Yes, definitely. And yes, we're seeing this everywhere, a healthy sales activity in the luxury space. There's a more unsold inventory in that space, but there's a healthy sales activity. So it's just positioning your individual home in the right framework to get it sold.

Alice Lema: So maybe the worst is over the market may have absorbed all these changes, and we may be positioned to move on to another seller's market.

Lennox Scott: Well, the buyers are coming your way over the months ahead from the major metro areas. The interest rates will be coming off, and that's an inflection point. We also know that the stock market at some point, is gonna be poised for a real breakout. I don't know if it'll go up or down between them, but that's another signal that [00:34:00] the Fed Reserve is stopping raising interest rates.

The business community feels confident in moving forward. And then and the public also.

Alice Lema: Let's see. We've got a couple of other questions about John L. Scott working in the community. We have amazing foundation that you're very much involved with. We've got a a few minutes left in this segment. Can we speak to what John L. Scott is doing?

Lennox Scott: Well we get involved with the community throughout the company. Our broker associates, our support team, our leadership team, and we've taken on a project called the through the a entity called the John L. Scott Foundation. We all contribute to the John L. Scott Foundation and a hundred percent of that money goes to help sponsor events in local communities to help raise money for children's healthcare. And so we take on all the administrative costs as a company so that a hundred percent of the money stays local. So we[00:35:00] help sponsor 30 events for 18 children's hospitals throughout the three state area.

And in too far, far North California. The Siskiyou is there. So and, and then each of our offices also get involved with the local community. But let's talk about the foundation for a second, sponsoring these events. And also we serve 50 dinners at Ronald McDonald's house.

 And, and what this is all about is experientially being a contribution to others. And in fact, this supports our core value. Our, our statement is living life as a contribution. That's our core value at John L. Scott. And this is how we experientially express ourselves. And not only we get this learning of of our being, but it's being a contribution to our clients. Supporting our teammates friends and family, community and place of faith. [00:36:00] We, we get involved and it's just having a positive work environment.

Alice Lema: It really does make a difference. And I, I don't know of many other real estate companies that have that core value as well as that cooperative vibe. It's really, really amazing. For the hospital work that's happening, do we have any future events coming that we can announce? We didn't even talk about that. Sorry. Do we have anything coming this year?

Lennox Scott: We every year, we'll excuse me for the John l. Scott Foundation, every year we help sponsor 30 events. And by bringing in our energy and our resources, it just supports the events and, and gets exposure to invite the public to engage. And that's what this is all about. These sponsorships, this is inviting the public. People want to give. We have such a giving community in the Northwest and they attract towards different items. And this is just one of [00:37:00] those that really makes a difference in the lives of those kids and their families.

Alice Lema: And I think the, the public is not aware of how active real estate folks are in the communities and how much they do, not only through foundations like John L. Scott, but also National Association of Realtors is very active in that.

Lennox Scott: Oh, definitely all across the board. But what I'm so impressed is each individual broker associate within the company and within the real estate industry, getting involved in the community. You know, we work and we we're involved. We live in our communities, so we just naturally get involved cuz that's just our our expression and, and way of being.

Alice Lema: And it's such a personal thing to help someone with their life change through a home or an investment purchase or or sale. And getting to know people intimately. Sometimes you find out that they do need a little bit of help. And real estate agents often do step up and help contribute not only as volunteers, but also some of their commission checks [00:38:00] to communities foundations like what John L Scott has.

Lennox Scott: Yeah. One of the great joys of life is being a contribution to others.

Alice Lema: Well, lots of good news. Thank you so much. Lennox Scott, the company executive officer and chairman of John L. Scott. We all love being part of the John L. Scott family and appreciate your time.

Well, thank you

Alice. All the

Lennox Scott: best to you.

Alice Lema: You too. Bye folks. Have a good weekend.