Latest / Repcolite Home Improvement Show / Mastering Car Buying and the Timeless Design Wisdom of Sister Parish

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Mastering Car Buying and the Timeless Design Wisdom of Sister Parish · Repcolite Home Improvement Show

• 0:02
  Speaker 1: Hey, everyone, Welcome to Home in Progress, sponsored by Repholite
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Paints and Benjamin Moore. I'm Dan Hansen, and thanks for
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: joining me today. I've got a fun show lined up
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: with a couple of really different but equally interesting topics.
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: In the second half, we're going to take a deep
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: dive into the life and legacy of legendary interior designer
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: Sister Parish. We're going to look at her work, her philosophy,
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: and the lessons that we can borrow to bring beauty
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: and comfort into our own homes. But first, let's talk cars.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: You know, buying a car is a big deal. It's exciting, sure,
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: but it can also be stressful, confusing, and more than
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: a little bit overwhelming. Now, I recently went through all
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: of this with my kid. He was buying his first car.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: He wanted to do it on his own, and throughout
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: the very short process it probably should have been a
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: lot longer than it turned out to be. But through
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: that very short process, he kept texting me questions and honestly,
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: I didn't have really good answers at all. I've bought
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: cars before in the past, any of them, but I
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: was a little bit stumped when he was throwing these
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: questions my way, and of course that sent me down
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: the research rabbit hole, and I stumbled across a great
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: article on Kelly Bluebook on KBB dot com. It was
• 1:13
  Speaker 1: written by Chris Hardesty, the senior advice editor for Cox Automotive.
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: He creates consumer focused content for Kelly Bluebook and Auto Trader,
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: and he helps people navigate everything from buying and selling
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: to safety features and car maintenance, and on and on
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: and on. Now, before he did all of that, he
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: spent thirty years in newspapers, leading research departments at The
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: Mercury News and Newsday. He also served as the how
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: to Guides editor at Wall Street Journal, wrote practical advice
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: for the Home Depot, and has judged multiple Emmy Awards
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: in News and documentary. Well. These days, he's based in
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: Metro Atlanta with his wife and two kids, so he
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: knows all about the joys and challenges of family vehicles
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: and of course that eternal struggle to keep a minivan clean.
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: While I reached out to Chris, and luckily for us,
• 1:59
  Speaker 1: he agreed to do me on the show. Chris, welcome
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: and thanks for being here.
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: Well, thanks for having me, Dan, I really appreciate it.
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: All right, let's just start with this. Why is buying
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: a car so stressful? I mean, there's the obvious thing,
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: the money. You know, that's a big deal. But is
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: there more than the money that really, you know, causes
• 2:16
  Speaker 1: people to get stressed out about this? What's going on?
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: Well, there's a whole lot evolved in buying a car,
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: and you touched on the perhaps the biggest thing, and
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: that is the money. For most people, buying a car
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: is the second largest purchase that they'll make, just behind
• 2:31
  Speaker 2: buying a home. And so anytime you're dealing with money,
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: that can be stressful. But also, people don't really like change.
• 2:38
  Speaker 2: And you know, if they've had this car for a
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: long time, they know how it performs. It might not
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: be performing well and that's why they're wanting to get
• 2:44
  Speaker 2: a new one, but it's still it's their car, and
• 2:47
  Speaker 2: the newness of something can be intimidating to some people.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: And with the way the automotive industry evolves, it evolves
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: pretty quickly and there are so many new features on
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: cars that people are not familiar with, and so that
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: adds into the the anxiety of buying this expensive thing
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: that's new to them and they know nothing about.
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: Sure, Oh my goodness, so many things. So in your experience,
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: what's one of the biggest mistakes people make?
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: I was spending too much money buying something that they
• 3:19
  Speaker 2: don't need, you know, paying for paying for features that
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: they don't need. In the car. Cars are loaded with
• 3:28
  Speaker 2: all sorts of technology these days, and some of it
• 3:32
  Speaker 2: is very helpful, and you know, they're safety features that
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: certainly are beneficial to the driver and to the people
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: driving next to them and the pedestrians on the road
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: and that sort of thing. But you don't necessarily need
• 3:46
  Speaker 2: to have all of these bells and whistles. You know,
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: if you're buying a big truck, do you need to
• 3:51
  Speaker 2: have retracting cydeboard steps right right right? You know, No,
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: you don't. You don't need to have those things retract
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: necessarily and.
• 4:02
  Speaker 1: Shorter, Chris, and I kind of need something that will
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: just boost me up, like a little robot that will
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: pick me up and put me in the front seat.
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: Right or a catapult.
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, launched myself into the front seat.
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: So buying buying things are paying money for things that
• 4:17
  Speaker 2: you don't need, is or features that you don't need,
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: or is one thing but the biggest mistake that many
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: people make are buying accessories that they don't need.
• 4:28
  Speaker 1: Okay, what do you mean.
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: I mean things like extended warranties in in many cases
• 4:36
  Speaker 2: those often are not necessary for a variety of reasons.
• 4:42
  Speaker 2: They don't need to get you know, window etching for
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: their you know, for the windows to help with theft recovery.
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: They don't need to have their catalytic converter etched, you know,
• 4:52
  Speaker 2: those sort of up cells that that dealerships can do,
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: not not deceptively, but just because hey, here's a product,
• 5:01
  Speaker 2: We're going to try to sell it to you.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: Sure.
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  Speaker 2: And so when people fall into that, you know, the
• 5:06
  Speaker 2: either the excitement or of getting the new car or
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: just the overwhelmingness of the whole situation being overwhelming and
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: them saying, yeah, yeah, yeah, whatever, I'll take it, you know,
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: they end up spending more money than they need to.
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: And then another biggest problem, another large problem rather is
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: that they finance these automobiles for too long, and.
• 5:31
  Speaker 1: Too long try to bring their payments down a little
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: bit exactly right, is the idea?
• 5:36
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and so you know, if you were to and
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: this kind of gets into the negotiation aspect of things.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: But if you walk into a dealership and say I
• 5:44
  Speaker 2: want to spend no more than four hundred dollars a month,
• 5:48
  Speaker 2: they would say, okay, we can have all sorts of
• 5:51
  Speaker 2: financing options, and so they could sell you this automobile
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: and stretch out the payments for so long that yeah,
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: it'll be you know, right up four hundred dollars. But
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: you're going to be paying for it for eight years,
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: and you know, and that's that's not a wise financial
• 6:06
  Speaker 2: decision or a wise decision in any aspect of it.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: And again that's not anybody being deceptive towards you. You
• 6:14
  Speaker 2: you said you wanted to spend that much. You like
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: this car.
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: Here you go there helping you get there.
• 6:18
  Speaker 2: But right, but you're going to be paying for it
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: for for a long time. And you know one of
• 6:23
  Speaker 2: the you know, a rule of thumb that you know
• 6:28
  Speaker 2: has been around for a long time is the twenty
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: four to ten rule, and that is that you put
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: down twenty percent as a down payment on the car
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: you finance for no more than four years, and your
• 6:42
  Speaker 2: total outlay makes up just ten percent of your income.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: Total outlay meaning the car. But like, are you are
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: you rolling insurance and stuff like that.
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, all the transportation costs, the gasoline, gas, the maintenance,
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: and and you know any people have to pay for
• 7:00
  Speaker 2: parking and you know, so, yes, it's the whole kitt kaboodle.
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: All of it should come to about ten percent.
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and that you know, that's kind of a that's
• 7:09
  Speaker 2: an old rule of thumb. Ideally that would be great. Unfortunately,
• 7:15
  Speaker 2: with the you know, the price of automobiles as what
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: they are, it's difficult for many people to adhere to
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: that traditional rule of thumb. You know, the average price
• 7:25
  Speaker 2: of new cars is upwards of forty nine thousand dollars now,
• 7:30
  Speaker 2: and for used cars it's like twenty five thousand, five
• 7:34
  Speaker 2: hundred or something like that. And so it's difficult for
• 7:37
  Speaker 2: most people with the income that they have to finance
• 7:41
  Speaker 2: a car for just forty eight months and and be
• 7:45
  Speaker 2: able to afford that, especially to you know, have it
• 7:48
  Speaker 2: be within that ten percent of their income. And so now,
• 7:53
  Speaker 2: you know, even though there's that rule of thumb, the
• 7:56
  Speaker 2: reality is is that the average length of an auto
• 7:59
  Speaker 2: loan now for a new car or for any car
• 8:02
  Speaker 2: is seventy two months. That's a long time.
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  Speaker 1: And you know, if my kid came home and that
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: was what he told me. So, like I said, he
• 8:10
  Speaker 1: wanted to do this all by himself, and he came
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: home and that's what he has seventy two months.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, is that on a new car a used car.
• 8:17
  Speaker 2: It's a used car, and you know, and so now
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: you know, the average age of an automobile on the
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: road now is thirteen years. So hopefully he'll be able
• 8:26
  Speaker 2: to you know, whatever model year that is, it'll you know,
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: be able to last for a while. But the problem
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: that a lot of people run into when they do
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: stretch out these payments, it's longer than the warranty for
• 8:39
  Speaker 2: a new car, you know, so the typical warranty is
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: three years, so you know, even at forty eight months,
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  Speaker 2: you're still going over that that threshold. But if you're
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: going to five years, six years, and even seven years, sometimes,
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: you know, it's going to be a long time before
• 8:56
  Speaker 2: you build any equity into that car, so that when
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: you trade it into get another one, you know you're
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: not going to have that much money put into it,
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  Speaker 2: and it's going to be a long time before you
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: even are above water. You know, you're you're underwater with
• 9:10
  Speaker 2: that loan for so long, and so that's you know, unfortunately,
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  Speaker 2: that's a big mistake that people people make.
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  Speaker 1: What should people do differently? You know, what can they
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  Speaker 1: do to try to avoid some of these things?
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  Speaker 2: Well, be systematic about it. The best time to buy
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: a car is when you don't need to have a car.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: And so if you can casually go and do thoroughly research,
• 9:34
  Speaker 2: you know, all of your options. You know, all the
• 9:36
  Speaker 2: autombels that you see on the street, and you know
• 9:38
  Speaker 2: I like that, and you know you can, you know,
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: look at Kelly Bluebook and read reviews of it and
• 9:44
  Speaker 2: see if it, you know, would suit your your needs
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: and evaluate all of your options for what you like.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: Then sit down with your budget and see, well, this
• 9:54
  Speaker 2: is what I can afford. And so now with all
• 9:57
  Speaker 2: these automobiles that I like, each of them, can I
• 10:00
  Speaker 2: actually afford and be very realistic about that. You know,
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: it's not it's not good to put yourself to over
• 10:09
  Speaker 2: extend your budget for a car. I mean, you know,
• 10:12
  Speaker 2: your car is just a means to get from point
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  Speaker 2: A to point B and doesn't have to be flashy.
• 10:18
  Speaker 2: It just has to be reliable. Can it get me
• 10:20
  Speaker 2: there and get me there safely? And that's all you
• 10:25
  Speaker 2: really need, but you want this and that and the other.
• 10:29
  Speaker 2: And so if you're able to sit down and evaluate
• 10:32
  Speaker 2: what do I need and what do I want? And
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: of those wants, what can I afford? And how does
• 10:37
  Speaker 2: that fit in with the you know, my overall financial plan,
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: that's the you know, the beginnings of your whole shopping
• 10:45
  Speaker 2: journey for buying a car. And then once you have
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: that amount of money, or once you've established the amount
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: of money that you can or want to pay for
• 10:57
  Speaker 2: the car, because just just because you have the money
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: doesn't mean you have to spend that much money, you know,
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: so once you have established that price point, then you
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: can actually start the whole shopping process.
• 11:12
  Speaker 1: There's a line in the article that I thought was
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: really smart. Article was smart. But remember, as a buyer,
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: you must be the one in control through the entire
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: car buying journey. And I know that that's nobody is
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: doing nefarious things. The people selling me the car, they're
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: not doing anything bad, but they certainly want to be
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: in control of that exchange. That's their goal is to
• 11:35
  Speaker 1: be in control of that exchange. That's how they do better.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: And I'm going to do better when I'm in control.
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: And you started us off. You know, how do we
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: you know, make better decisions? And right off the bat,
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: it's start that process. Before the car broke down in
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: my you know, driveway, and now I need a new car.
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: I bought a van a week before we were heading
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: on vacation, and that's when I just when we just
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: sided the van that we had was normal, it wasn't
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: safe to take on the trip. So we have three days,
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: four days to secure everything, find a new vehicle. We
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: were not in control of that situation at all. We
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: were at the whim or at the mercy of the
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: people we shopped with and shopped at, so they took
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: care of us. But you don't make great decisions when
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: you're when you're you know, impulse when when you're stuck
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: with a need or impulse shopping, same kind of thing, right, And.
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: It's not an impulse shopping like when you're at the
• 12:29
  Speaker 2: grocery store and you're in the checkout line, you see
• 12:32
  Speaker 2: the candy bars and you grab a candy bar, you know,
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: but when you're kind of not forced into the situation,
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: but you're you know, you have to get a car
• 12:40
  Speaker 2: because you're going on vacation. I had that situation when
• 12:44
  Speaker 2: we moved from New York, my wife got an offer
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: for a job in Atlanta, and we said, let's do it.
• 12:52
  Speaker 2: And there's nothing keeping us in New York. So we
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: left New York. But we didn't have a car. So
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: if you're moving to suburban Atlanta, you need a car.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: So we had to go buy a car. And you know,
• 13:04
  Speaker 2: they wanted her to start in two weeks. Dah dah,
• 13:05
  Speaker 2: dah dah. So we had to go buy a car.
• 13:09
  Speaker 2: And on one hand, it was easier because we didn't
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: have a trade to make and you know, so there
• 13:15
  Speaker 2: wasn't that kind of eliminated that component of the whole
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: car buying process. But figuring out what we needed after
• 13:23
  Speaker 2: having not not having a car for you know, for
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: several years, you know, we had to you know, start
• 13:31
  Speaker 2: from from scratch and scratch there, so right and and
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: it is you know, you feel that pressure of oh
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: my gosh, I have to find something, and you know,
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: and calling around and we're seeing it on the website
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: and then you get to the dealership and the car,
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: oh no, it was sold on Tuesday. You know, So
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: it can be that that kind of just adds to
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: the whole anxiety and stress of shopping.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: So how do you narrow it down? I mean, what
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: what are some tips to help us choose the right car?
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: You know, we talked about people making mistakes and all
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: of that. How do we you know, work through We've
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: got our budget, you know, we talked about that. You know,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: we've got that going on. But how do we start
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: to identify this list of critical things versus the you know,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: kind of the add ons the actually.
• 14:14
  Speaker 2: Well the yeah, the reliability is is is one of
• 14:18
  Speaker 2: the things. And there's no key thing to look at
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: with reliability. You know, there are some manufacturers that have
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: the reputation of being more reliable than others, but there
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: are other people who have these quote unreliable vehicles and
• 14:37
  Speaker 2: you know, drive them for one hundred and fifty thousand miles,
• 14:41
  Speaker 2: as you know I can attest to. You know, so
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: a lot of it has to do with with feel.
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: If you know what you if you know how much
• 14:48
  Speaker 2: money you can spend, and you have narrowed down these
• 14:50
  Speaker 2: options that you like. You know, you think that oh
• 14:54
  Speaker 2: I like the way that looks on the road, or
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: Jane has one of those and she hasn't complained about it.
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: You go and you test drive them. And that's that's
• 15:03
  Speaker 2: a really important part of the process. You know, you
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: can certainly buy cars online and and and that's an
• 15:10
  Speaker 2: effective way to you know, kind of broaden your your options,
• 15:15
  Speaker 2: But test driving that car is a big part of
• 15:19
  Speaker 2: buying the vehicle.
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: What am I looking for? Because that that is a
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: big part of your article right at the end. You
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: talk about a bunch of different things that we should
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: be looking for, not just can I see out the window?
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Does the seat go high enough so I can see?
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: Or does it really rev up when I go? But
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: there were a whole bunch of different things you were
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: saying to look for.
• 15:37
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, there can you can you can you reach
• 15:40
  Speaker 2: the radio button? That kind of gets to the to
• 15:43
  Speaker 2: the short joke?
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: Chris, Are you making a short joke or you.
• 15:46
  Speaker 2: Just know I might be shorter than you are?
• 15:49
  Speaker 1: Oh? Really, we should have a competition. Yeah, okay, so
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: we'll reach make sure we can reach the radio.
• 15:54
  Speaker 2: Yeah, reach the radio. Is it comfortable? Can you you know,
• 15:58
  Speaker 2: you're sitting there for you know, fifteen minutes in a
• 16:01
  Speaker 2: test drive, so ask if you can take it home
• 16:04
  Speaker 2: overnight or take a you know, a longer loop around
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: the you know, around the city, you know, because you
• 16:11
  Speaker 2: should be comfortable when you're when you're driving the vehicle.
• 16:15
  Speaker 2: So if you can reach the pedals and you can
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: reach the steering roone, you can see over the steering wheel,
• 16:19
  Speaker 2: and you can reach the radio button. Can you get
• 16:22
  Speaker 2: in the back seat? Do you have you know, children,
• 16:24
  Speaker 2: are your car seats going to fit in there? If
• 16:25
  Speaker 2: you if your children are younger? And you know, what
• 16:28
  Speaker 2: about your luggage? Can you you know, if you do
• 16:31
  Speaker 2: take this car on road trips, can you put the
• 16:33
  Speaker 2: luggage in the back end? Is it you know, is
• 16:35
  Speaker 2: it too high for you to uh, you know, to
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: lift the luggage into you know, the luggage that is
• 16:41
  Speaker 2: loaded up with your week's worth of stuff. You know,
• 16:45
  Speaker 2: if you go to the grocery store, is stuff going
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: to roll around in the back? Is there a way
• 16:49
  Speaker 2: to secure the stuff that you have if you are
• 16:52
  Speaker 2: the outdoors each person, is there a way to add
• 16:56
  Speaker 2: a bike crack on the on the back end? You know?
• 16:59
  Speaker 2: Is there a trailer hitch to pull? Uh? You know
• 17:01
  Speaker 2: a little trailer if you you know, do weekend yard
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: sale shopping and looking for dressers to refinish, you know,
• 17:08
  Speaker 2: those are all little things to consider and and again,
• 17:11
  Speaker 2: those are things that you preferably are thinking about when
• 17:14
  Speaker 2: you are thinking about the vehicle that you need in advance.
• 17:18
  Speaker 2: And those are the kind of things that are often
• 17:21
  Speaker 2: forgotten about or overlooked when you are in a in
• 17:25
  Speaker 2: a rush.
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: So you see people do that. You see people forget
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: these things. Some of them seem so obvious. Some of
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: them you can't forget because they're right there. But you
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: see people forget these Yeah.
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: Well I hear of people that, yeah, doing doing that,
• 17:38
  Speaker 2: And and that's when you uh. One of the questions
• 17:44
  Speaker 2: that I sometimes get from from readers is can I
• 17:48
  Speaker 2: return this car? It's this is not what I imagined, right,
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: this is not what I bargained for. I didn't know
• 17:55
  Speaker 2: this about this car, and you know, and unfortunately there's
• 17:59
  Speaker 2: no real return policy for for vehicles. Once you, you know,
• 18:02
  Speaker 2: sign it, then it's yours, you know, and it could
• 18:06
  Speaker 2: be that you know, I just cannot see over it.
• 18:09
  Speaker 2: It's like, well, gosh, well did you not you know,
• 18:11
  Speaker 2: test drive the.
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: Thing, my figure get used to it. You know, I'll
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: get used to how this is and I'll figure it
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: out and there are still comfortable, right, And.
• 18:20
  Speaker 2: There are some things that you you may get used to,
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: and some things that you might not get used to.
• 18:25
  Speaker 2: One of the things that is uh becoming more common
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: in vehicles or touch screens instead of you know, physical
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: buttons and you know, and having to you know, touch
• 18:36
  Speaker 2: something to move up the radio or to adjust the
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: air conditioning or heat and not having any you know,
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: feedback on that. You know, sometimes you just want to
• 18:47
  Speaker 2: turn a knob, you know, I just need to crank
• 18:49
  Speaker 2: up the air. I don't need to touch a button
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: eight times. I just know how to turn the knob
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: real quick. And that's something that you know, because buying
• 18:57
  Speaker 2: a car is not something that people do very often.
• 19:00
  Speaker 2: Most people don't do it very often. That's one of
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: the changes that are one of the new things that
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: people will see once they do get out and start
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: you know, kicking tires and taking test drives. As you know, Gosh,
• 19:12
  Speaker 2: how do I turn on this radio? How do I? No?
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: I completely get that in because like my truck, it
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: automatically connects to the phone and it will play whatever
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: I was last playing. And it is a feature that
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: I just it's so annoying. Sometimes once in a while,
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: it's convenient. Most of the time, Look, I didn't want
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: to listen to this right now, but I wanted to
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: go listen to the you know, baseball game, and I
• 19:38
  Speaker 1: don't normally have the radio on in the truck. It
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: took me forever to figure out where the radio. Even
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: I know where the radio the thing sits. I know
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: where I need to push buttons, but I had to
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: go through four menus, three menus to get to the
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: point where I literally had a radio option now. And yeah,
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: I can only imagine what's going to happen when my
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: parents have that, and how they're going to find the radio.
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: They're never going to find the radio the t rest
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: tell them it's been removed from their vehicle. Listen on
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: your phone, mom.
• 20:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, and you know, and it's the you know,
• 20:09
  Speaker 2: it's behind the steering wheel, you know, so you're telling
• 20:11
  Speaker 2: your mom or you know, well, you know, just go
• 20:13
  Speaker 2: like this and it's well.
• 20:15
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's painful. But I wouldn't think to test that.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: When I'm doing my test drive, I'm not looking at
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: you know, just the normal functions of the car and
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: how that if I like that, if I feel like
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: that's going to be fun, and I can see where
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: that would be disappointing once I'm living with it.
• 20:30
  Speaker 2: Well, you know, one of the you're you're talking about
• 20:33
  Speaker 2: the radio, and there are plenty of audio files around
• 20:36
  Speaker 2: and and cars have some pretty powerful audio systems, and
• 20:42
  Speaker 2: not powerful just with you know, just talking about the output,
• 20:46
  Speaker 2: the wattage and the number of speakers, but there are
• 20:52
  Speaker 2: a lot of high end cars that have just like these.
• 20:56
  Speaker 2: You know, you can create a symphony like and in
• 21:01
  Speaker 2: your automobile. And so if you are one of those people,
• 21:04
  Speaker 2: then you would want to not just turn on the
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: radio to know how it turns on and how to
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: adjust the volume, but to play your favorite music. And
• 21:13
  Speaker 2: you know, can connect your phone to the vehicle so
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: that you can play the same song in multiple vehicles,
• 21:21
  Speaker 2: so that you can see how how it sounds. Because
• 21:25
  Speaker 2: music or the radio is important to a lot of people,
• 21:28
  Speaker 2: and especially for those that have long commutes or make
• 21:31
  Speaker 2: you know, regular long distance trips, you know, they should
• 21:36
  Speaker 2: you know, enjoy their their stereo.
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: So I think that's all really really good stuff, just
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: stuff I wouldn't think about all of it. So, you know,
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: we already talked about financing. I wanted to get to that,
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: but we covered pretty much what I wanted to hit
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: is I knew there was a kind of a rule
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: of thumb. Talked about that ten percent, and you talked
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: about the loane length is probably one of the biggest
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: thing to try to don't don't get not suckered, but
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: don't buy in to the let's extend that loan out
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: forever just to bring the payments down. That's that's dangerous ground.
• 22:10
  Speaker 2: It's very dangerous ground because you'll be underwater on that
• 22:13
  Speaker 2: loan for for quite some time. And the longer you
• 22:16
  Speaker 2: extend the loan, the higher interest rate you're going to
• 22:18
  Speaker 2: be paying. So you know, that means that you're going
• 22:22
  Speaker 2: to be having even more to borrow that money. You know,
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: sometimes it might not be the best idea to pay
• 22:30
  Speaker 2: cash for a car, because at least on a new car,
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: you're missing out on some of the incentives that might
• 22:38
  Speaker 2: be in play for, you know, for financing, because a
• 22:41
  Speaker 2: lot of times you might see ads for you know,
• 22:45
  Speaker 2: from an automaker that says, you know, fifteen hundred cash
• 22:48
  Speaker 2: back or whatever it is that they're they're.
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: Those things come about when I do financing. They don't
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: get if I would pay.
• 22:55
  Speaker 2: Cash, correct, and they only come about when you're financing
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: through that manufacturer's financing arm. So many of those ads
• 23:05
  Speaker 2: that say fifteen hundred dollars cash back or you know,
• 23:10
  Speaker 2: three point nine percent financing for you know, sixty months
• 23:13
  Speaker 2: or whatever. In that fine print it says if you
• 23:16
  Speaker 2: use you know, GM's financing arm or Nissan's financing or
• 23:21
  Speaker 2: Toyota's financing arm, not if you get it through your
• 23:24
  Speaker 2: local bank, and not if you get it through your
• 23:26
  Speaker 2: credit union or not if you come in with you know,
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: cash money, and not cash money like a suitcase full
• 23:33
  Speaker 2: of money, but you know, with I've.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: Got five of them sitting with me right now, I'm
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: deciding which car I want to buy cash.
• 23:39
  Speaker 2: Well, just make sure you can lift them into the trunk.
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: Right I've got a helper. When you've got five suitcases
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: of money, you've got a helper who can lift it.
• 23:46
  Speaker 2: That's ready well, and that that's a good point about
• 23:49
  Speaker 2: having that much money. So you if you had enough
• 23:51
  Speaker 2: money to pay forty nine thousand dollars the average transaction
• 23:56
  Speaker 2: price for a new automobile, then it seems like that
• 24:00
  Speaker 2: would be you know, the best thing to do. Well, No,
• 24:02
  Speaker 2: not necessarily, because there might be a zero percent interest
• 24:06
  Speaker 2: rate going on for people who have the good enough
• 24:09
  Speaker 2: credit to qualify for that. But there's also you know,
• 24:12
  Speaker 2: this money that you might get back for you know,
• 24:15
  Speaker 2: financing it through the automaker. And what you can do
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: in many cases, and you should certainly read your fine print,
• 24:23
  Speaker 2: is you know, take out that loan from the automakers
• 24:29
  Speaker 2: financing people and take advantage of those discounts and incentives,
• 24:35
  Speaker 2: and then pay off the loan with that money that
• 24:37
  Speaker 2: you're having in your five suitcases that you got from Dan. Then,
• 24:41
  Speaker 2: you know, and then you've been able to take take
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: advantage of those discounts and incentives but not have to
• 24:48
  Speaker 2: worry about paying it every month.
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: Here's a I don't know, maybe it's a dumb question.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: So let's say, Mike, well, my kid has this big
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: loan or lengthy loan. Is there any way to change that,
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: like a house, if things go right, I can refinance,
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: you know, with the interest rates, if that makes sense,
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: I can have some option. He did the loan through
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: the dealer. Is there any way around what he's got
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: or what he's in for.
• 25:12
  Speaker 2: Not immediately if he recently bought this vehicle, then probably
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: not immediately through that lender, But he might be able
• 25:19
  Speaker 2: to go to his credit union or his bank and say, hey,
• 25:23
  Speaker 2: you know, I have this loan that I just took out,
• 25:25
  Speaker 2: and now I see you're advertising these better rates. How
• 25:29
  Speaker 2: could I know do this? And then they might be
• 25:31
  Speaker 2: able to refinance that loan at the at the better
• 25:35
  Speaker 2: uh rate. There is such a thing, as you know,
• 25:38
  Speaker 2: refinancing car loans, and that's becoming more. You know, rates
• 25:43
  Speaker 2: are still higher than what most folks would like, but
• 25:47
  Speaker 2: they're still better than what they could be. But so
• 25:51
  Speaker 2: some of these higher interest rate loans that people have
• 25:53
  Speaker 2: taken out, they might be able to refinance them. But
• 25:57
  Speaker 2: the car has to be worth what you have remaining
• 26:00
  Speaker 2: on the loan. So that kind of gets back to
• 26:02
  Speaker 2: that taking out those extended loan. So if you owe
• 26:06
  Speaker 2: this much money on the loan but the car is
• 26:08
  Speaker 2: you know, worth, going to have to cough up ten
• 26:10
  Speaker 2: thousand dollars, then you've got to you know, you got
• 26:13
  Speaker 2: to come up with a difference, because nobody's going to
• 26:15
  Speaker 2: loan you more money than the thing's worth.
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: All right, So let's talk about lease or buy a minute.
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: I know this is kind of fast, but there's a
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: couple options. And if you don't do this on a
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: regular basis. You kind of it's a toss up, it seems,
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: how do we navigate that lease or buy? Which is better?
• 26:32
  Speaker 2: It's it's better for you or better for this person,
• 26:35
  Speaker 2: and doesn't mean that it's wrong or which one is
• 26:37
  Speaker 2: better for everybody. It's because everybody has different circumstances. Typically,
• 26:42
  Speaker 2: a lease will provide lower monthly payments for people who
• 26:48
  Speaker 2: are worried about that, and I kind of I don't
• 26:51
  Speaker 2: need before I talk any more about that. Never shop
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: for a monthly payment. I mean, we talked about that
• 26:56
  Speaker 2: right at the very beginning. How don't don't walk into
• 26:58
  Speaker 2: the place and say, you know, I want to pay
• 27:00
  Speaker 2: four hundred dollars a month. So never shop on a payment.
• 27:05
  Speaker 2: Shop on the out the door price of the car.
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: That's period. Now to talk about lease versus buy. People
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: have different situations and what's important for them, what's important
• 27:18
  Speaker 2: to them, and what their needs are. And many people
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: like to have new cars every couple of years to
• 27:25
  Speaker 2: keep up with the latest technology, and they just like
• 27:29
  Speaker 2: that new car smell. I guess, so they can lease
• 27:32
  Speaker 2: these cars, which typically have lower monthly payments, which is
• 27:36
  Speaker 2: a benefit for many people. The downside of that of
• 27:42
  Speaker 2: leasing is that after this relatively short period of you know,
• 27:47
  Speaker 2: say thirty six months, you have nothing, so you go
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: turn the car in. So you've been basically renting this
• 27:56
  Speaker 2: car for three years and you have nothing to show
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: for it. In addition to that those three years worth
• 28:03
  Speaker 2: of monthly payments, you also had to put down some
• 28:05
  Speaker 2: money when you when you got the car, and that
• 28:10
  Speaker 2: money covers the depreciation of the car over that period.
• 28:14
  Speaker 2: So you know, the amount do its signing is, you know,
• 28:17
  Speaker 2: forty nine dollars, and so you got to pay forty
• 28:20
  Speaker 2: one hundred dollars and then you pay three hundred dollars
• 28:22
  Speaker 2: a month, which is an attractive thing, but you had
• 28:25
  Speaker 2: to shell out that, you know, shell out that down payment,
• 28:27
  Speaker 2: and then at the end of the period you have nothing.
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: Now I could potentially buy it correct that point, yes,
• 28:34
  Speaker 1: sometimes or often that price reflects what I've put into it.
• 28:38
  Speaker 2: The residual value of the car is established when you
• 28:43
  Speaker 2: sign the lease, so the lender, which is the automaker,
• 28:49
  Speaker 2: is kind of estimating that this car is going to
• 28:53
  Speaker 2: be worth this much money at the end of the term,
• 28:57
  Speaker 2: and so in three years, the remaining value this car
• 29:00
  Speaker 2: will be you know, nineteen thousand dollars. So we'll set
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: that and what's written down here right here residual value
• 29:05
  Speaker 2: is or nineteen thousand dollars. So you pay your down payment,
• 29:09
  Speaker 2: you pay your three years worth of monthly payments, and
• 29:13
  Speaker 2: then you go to return the car and walk away,
• 29:16
  Speaker 2: or you buy the car for that price. And so
• 29:20
  Speaker 2: if the market is good and the you know, loan
• 29:26
  Speaker 2: rates are favorable, or you have nineteen thousand dollars just
• 29:29
  Speaker 2: sitting around, you can buy that car for that remaining price.
• 29:34
  Speaker 2: And there are some advantages to that. You know, know
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: the vehicle, you know the vehicle, you've been comfortable with it,
• 29:39
  Speaker 2: you know it's maintenance history, you know it's quirks, you
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: know it's benefits and so on and so forth. So
• 29:48
  Speaker 2: that is an option that some people will take, or
• 29:52
  Speaker 2: like I said, you just turn it in and then
• 29:54
  Speaker 2: lease the next one. And there's some oftentimes there's incentives
• 29:57
  Speaker 2: for people returning a lease to get another one, and
• 30:01
  Speaker 2: if you feel like you need more time, then most
• 30:03
  Speaker 2: of the time they'll let you tack on some more
• 30:06
  Speaker 2: months to that lease.
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: Now, one of the bigger issues with the lease is
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: that generally you're maybe always you're limited to your mileage, right,
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: your mileage. You're allowed a certain amount for.
• 30:17
  Speaker 2: A year, yes, and that number is the mileage cap.
• 30:23
  Speaker 2: And so if you have this car for three years
• 30:28
  Speaker 2: and the mileage cap is twelve thousand miles, then at
• 30:32
  Speaker 2: the end of the term, at the end of the lease,
• 30:37
  Speaker 2: if that a doometer is more than thirty six thousand miles,
• 30:41
  Speaker 2: then you will pay a certain amount per mile that's
• 30:45
  Speaker 2: over thirty six thousand. And that that could be, you know,
• 30:49
  Speaker 2: eighteen cents, it could be twenty cents, and you don't
• 30:53
  Speaker 2: think that that means much, but if you're talking about
• 30:56
  Speaker 2: one thousand miles or five thousand miles, and it does
• 30:59
  Speaker 2: start to add up. And that's part of the whole
• 31:03
  Speaker 2: budgeting process that we were talking about earlier, is that
• 31:08
  Speaker 2: even if you're doing a lease, you need to figure
• 31:10
  Speaker 2: out what your budget is and anticipate that. So one
• 31:13
  Speaker 2: of the calculations that you should do is how many
• 31:17
  Speaker 2: miles do I drive? You know, and again be realistic
• 31:20
  Speaker 2: about it. Nobody's going to penalize you because you drive
• 31:22
  Speaker 2: so much unless you get into a lease and for
• 31:25
  Speaker 2: you know, ten thousand miles a year and you drive
• 31:28
  Speaker 2: eighteen thousand miles a year and then that's really be bad.
• 31:32
  Speaker 2: So sit down and figure out how much you actually
• 31:35
  Speaker 2: do drive. So a lease is good for somebody who
• 31:39
  Speaker 2: does not drive more than ten or twelve thousand miles
• 31:42
  Speaker 2: a year. It's good for somebody who likes to have
• 31:46
  Speaker 2: the latest technology and safety features in a car. It's
• 31:50
  Speaker 2: good for somebody who doesn't like to customize their car,
• 31:55
  Speaker 2: and they don't want to put in a fancy radio,
• 31:58
  Speaker 2: fancy stereosystem. They don't want to you know, add you know,
• 32:02
  Speaker 2: fancy wheels. They don't want to wrap it or paint
• 32:06
  Speaker 2: it or you know, do any customization to it. They're
• 32:09
  Speaker 2: not good for people who want to build equity in
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: their car because you're not going to build equity into it.
• 32:17
  Speaker 2: They're not good for people who like to put you know,
• 32:21
  Speaker 2: like big all that customers, big wheels, all the customization.
• 32:26
  Speaker 2: Leasing is not for me, not because I customize my car,
• 32:29
  Speaker 2: but because I don't want I want to build equity.
• 32:33
  Speaker 2: I just don't want to rent the thing. And that's basically. Yeah.
• 32:37
  Speaker 1: It worked out once really well for us. We did
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: a van and it was the payment thing, you know,
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: it was we had and it was the most reliable
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: thing we could get. The price was really good for
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: the payments, and then they did the you know, they
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: estimated what we would pay for it in three years,
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: and that was a really reasonable price because we were
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: shopping at that point for a used vehicle and we
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: were finding five year old used vehicles that were around
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: that same price for way more mileage than what we
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: thought we'd have at the end of three years. Because
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: we knew we weren't going to come anywhere close to
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: that twelve thousand that they wanted. We were at like
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: six thousand a year. So in the end, that one
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: worked out really well. I don't think we did it
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: again after that one. We just bought that van and
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: we're very happy. But yeah, it was it was tense
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: because it was not something my family had ever. They
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: hadn't done the leasing thing, so I was in a
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: little bit of new territority. I was sure I was
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: going to, you know, have some unspoken rule that I
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: missed somewhere, and I was going to get hammered.
• 33:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and you might have been, but just because you
• 33:41
  Speaker 2: were unaware that you could, you know, only drive this
• 33:44
  Speaker 2: far and you actually drove that far. When you return
• 33:46
  Speaker 2: the car. They'll you know, do an inspection and see
• 33:49
  Speaker 2: that you've taken care of it, and you know, and
• 33:51
  Speaker 2: if you know, everybody has their different rules, but you know,
• 33:55
  Speaker 2: one manufacturer is pretty detailed about what they considered to
• 33:58
  Speaker 2: be normal wear and tear and what kind of allowance
• 34:01
  Speaker 2: they will give for damage and if the scrape or
• 34:04
  Speaker 2: scratch can be covered up with a credit card. But
• 34:07
  Speaker 2: it's only one of those per body panel, and you know,
• 34:11
  Speaker 2: so they're very specific about what they consider to be
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: normal wear and tear. And I don't want to say
• 34:18
  Speaker 2: that they're you know, really nitpicky, but you know, hey,
• 34:21
  Speaker 2: they're in there to make money and they want to
• 34:23
  Speaker 2: be sure that they can you know, refurbish the vehicle
• 34:27
  Speaker 2: and sell it to somebody.
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: Now, I do remember that that was really stressful, that waiting,
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: you know, as they were going to go over the vehicle,
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: and you know, we were very careful. We had little kids,
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: lots of them, five of them, and so I had
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: a little basket in the back for any boots that
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: had the slightest bit of you know, we were very careful,
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: but there was that tense moment of were we careful enough? Yeah,
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: And it turns out we were all right, but yeah,
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: I get that. So trade in or sell That's another
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: big thing that comes up, you know, right as we
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: get to the end of this, what's the best? I mean,
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: trading in is so easy, it is, but I'm taking
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: a hit probably maybe yeah.
• 35:10
  Speaker 2: It's maybe maybe a little bit. But you know, your
• 35:14
  Speaker 2: time and is worth something, and your frustration is worth
• 35:18
  Speaker 2: something or the absence of frustration, and so sometimes taking
• 35:22
  Speaker 2: the easy way out is or the quick way out
• 35:26
  Speaker 2: is the is the best. And again it gets into
• 35:29
  Speaker 2: the whole timing issue again. If if you have the
• 35:31
  Speaker 2: time to wait, then you could sell it yourself, you know,
• 35:37
  Speaker 2: on the open market, and you'll get more money because
• 35:39
  Speaker 2: you're cutting out the middleman. But it's going to take
• 35:42
  Speaker 2: time to sell it, and you're going to have to,
• 35:44
  Speaker 2: you know, wait for somebody who's looking for you know
• 35:48
  Speaker 2: that that minivan that you know used to tote around
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: five children, and you know, or you could just go
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: trade the thing in and and just wipe your hands
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: clean of it and be on your way, and you know,
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: any on what the you know, what the model is.
• 36:02
  Speaker 2: It might be a couple hundred bucks, it might be
• 36:04
  Speaker 2: one thousand dollars, but at what point do you want
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: to say, well, this thousand dollars would be the extra
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: thousand dollars would be great to have, but I don't
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: have time.
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: To well rite selling it, finding a place to put
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: it where I'm going to be able to sell it easily.
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: You know, I could put it in my yard, but
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: nobody's going to go buy fixing it, getting it all
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: ready and repaired for somebody else. Right, if I'm selling it,
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: I've kind of got some obligations.
• 36:30
  Speaker 2: There, that's right, And you know, and you want to yeah,
• 36:33
  Speaker 2: you want to have it looking awfully pretty. Uh, you
• 36:36
  Speaker 2: know it's worth mentioning that. You know, Kelly Bluewoock does
• 36:39
  Speaker 2: have the Private Sellers Exchange where you know, people do
• 36:42
  Speaker 2: buy and sell cars from private owners and you know,
• 36:48
  Speaker 2: and there's you can go to KBB dot com and
• 36:51
  Speaker 2: read all about it and participate. But even so that
• 36:55
  Speaker 2: it still is, you know, time consuming for you where
• 36:58
  Speaker 2: it can be time consuming. And if your car is
• 37:01
  Speaker 2: paid off, that makes it better. And because that would
• 37:06
  Speaker 2: mean that you tip, you theoretically would have more time
• 37:09
  Speaker 2: to wait because you don't you're not making payments on
• 37:11
  Speaker 2: that car anymore. So if you're going to take new
• 37:13
  Speaker 2: payments on this. The only thing is that if you
• 37:16
  Speaker 2: were financing it and you wanted to bring that that
• 37:18
  Speaker 2: cost down, and that's you know, the benefit of trading
• 37:21
  Speaker 2: in is that it reduces that cost of the new vehicle.
• 37:26
  Speaker 2: And if you're financing it, and that means that you're
• 37:28
  Speaker 2: financing less money, which means that you were buying less money,
• 37:33
  Speaker 2: and you'll have to not pay interest on that money.
• 37:37
  Speaker 2: And some states, I'm not even gonna pretend that I
• 37:41
  Speaker 2: can remember which ones they are, but some states deduct
• 37:45
  Speaker 2: the amount of the trade in from the taxable amount
• 37:50
  Speaker 2: of the car sale. So if you're trading in, you're
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: buying a thirty thousand dollars car, but you're trading in
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: a ten thousand dollars car, they're going to take that
• 38:00
  Speaker 2: ten thousand dollars off of the thirty thousand dollars sticker price,
• 38:05
  Speaker 2: so that you're only taxed on the twenty thousand dollars.
• 38:09
  Speaker 2: And so that is another benefit in some states that
• 38:13
  Speaker 2: would push somebody to trade in rather than sell.
• 38:17
  Speaker 1: I know, for my kid, he had you know, he
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: did not he took care of the Yeah, he took
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: okay care of his vehicle. He did not take care
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: of the inside. It was very messy. It was very
• 38:29
  Speaker 1: like riding in a dumpster. And that's what we told him.
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: And when he's getting ready to do this, you know,
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: he made this purchase. He did this all like all
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: of a sudden, he wants a new vehicle, and twenty
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: four hours later he's got one impulse. But I watched him.
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: I came home from work and he's emptying this entire
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: vehicle out onto my driveway. I said, what are you doing.
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: He says, I'm trading it in. I said, but you
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: need like a week to clean it. He said no,
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: They said, just get my stuff out. And I thought,
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: for his sake, for his situation, thank god, you know,
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: he was able to just trade that thing in because
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: I didn't want to be a part of the week
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: long exorcism that that vehicle needed. And they'll take care
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: of it for him. And they gave him less money,
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: but he got enough money that he was happy.
• 39:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, And that's the thing. You know. The week that
• 39:17
  Speaker 2: it would take to clean that car, to put it
• 39:20
  Speaker 2: into the condition that he would sell it, you know,
• 39:22
  Speaker 2: on his own, probably is much less than what he are,
• 39:27
  Speaker 2: much more than what he was able to get from
• 39:30
  Speaker 2: the dealer. But that brings up another point about buying
• 39:35
  Speaker 2: used cars is that you know the you know, the
• 39:41
  Speaker 2: exterior might be dirty, the interior might be dirty, but
• 39:46
  Speaker 2: that can be clean. What's more challenging is problems with
• 39:50
  Speaker 2: what's under the hood. And people often wonder when buying
• 39:55
  Speaker 2: a used car whether the mileage on the odometer is
• 39:59
  Speaker 2: more important than the vehicle's age, And there's no set
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: answer for that between those two because the most important
• 40:10
  Speaker 2: thing is having the maintenance records. Because you can have
• 40:14
  Speaker 2: a car with one hundred thousand miles on it that
• 40:17
  Speaker 2: had its oil changed every eight thousand miles and its
• 40:20
  Speaker 2: tires rotated every five thousand miles, and it has gone
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: through you know, all of these different routine maintenance procedures
• 40:28
  Speaker 2: and serviced on time for the past two years. Wait,
• 40:33
  Speaker 2: I thought you said one hundred one hundred thousand miles. Well,
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: if it has been taken care of, then it doesn't
• 40:39
  Speaker 2: matter that it has one hundred thousand miles or if
• 40:42
  Speaker 2: it's two years old and has eight thousand miles, because
• 40:45
  Speaker 2: you know, those eight thousand miles, you know could have
• 40:48
  Speaker 2: you know, not eight let's say thirty thousand miles, and
• 40:53
  Speaker 2: if it has not been taken care of, then those
• 40:55
  Speaker 2: thirty thousand miles are far worse than the one hundred
• 40:58
  Speaker 2: thousand miles of the vehicle that has been serviced regularly.
• 41:04
  Speaker 1: So this is a dumb question. Then how do I
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: like accomplish How do I get those records for my
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: own vehicle? I don't save every receipt Is there a
• 41:13
  Speaker 1: vehicle log somewhere that when my mechanic does.
• 41:15
  Speaker 2: Something, well, you should save all of your I should.
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: Save all my receipts.
• 41:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 41:19
  Speaker 1: What I meant to say was, of course, I've saved
• 41:22
  Speaker 1: every single thing that's ever been done.
• 41:24
  Speaker 2: And they're in that suitcase with all of your money.
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: Right, it's probably instead of the money, that's what's weighing
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: that suitcase down, it's all these repairs.
• 41:31
  Speaker 2: Yeah, so I should be saving all of that stuff,
• 41:33
  Speaker 2: save those and.
• 41:36
  Speaker 1: So that you can't.
• 41:37
  Speaker 2: If you did sell it on your own, you could
• 41:41
  Speaker 2: show the potential buyer is, look, I have taken such
• 41:44
  Speaker 2: good care of this car. Yeah, there's cheerios in those
• 41:47
  Speaker 2: seat cushions, but I've taken care of it. Here's all
• 41:50
  Speaker 2: my old changes, here's this, here's that, here's the other,
• 41:54
  Speaker 2: and then that shows them that you have taken care
• 41:56
  Speaker 2: of this this car, and it lends creed to the
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: notion that no, this is going to be a reliable
• 42:03
  Speaker 2: vehicle and a good purchase for me. But there are
• 42:08
  Speaker 2: services vehicle history report services like auto check and Carfax,
• 42:15
  Speaker 2: that when a service center reports it to those vehicle
• 42:21
  Speaker 2: history report folks, then they're retained there based on the
• 42:25
  Speaker 2: vehicle identification number. And so it would show you a
• 42:30
  Speaker 2: log of you know, these oil changes and you know
• 42:34
  Speaker 2: that have taken place, this service that has taken place,
• 42:37
  Speaker 2: this recall that was handled. Oh, here's an accident that
• 42:43
  Speaker 2: you know where the airG air bag was deployed. Here's
• 42:46
  Speaker 2: an accident with no airbag, here's d D. So it
• 42:49
  Speaker 2: gives the history of the vehicles.
• 42:52
  Speaker 1: But not all service centers report that.
• 42:54
  Speaker 2: No, and if you were shade Tree mechanic, then you
• 42:59
  Speaker 2: know they would have no idea that you you know,
• 43:01
  Speaker 2: routinely change the oil every quarter. Yeah, so that's why
• 43:07
  Speaker 2: you should save those records because those you know, auto
• 43:10
  Speaker 2: check and Carfax don't have everything because they only they
• 43:15
  Speaker 2: only have what is reported to them.
• 43:18
  Speaker 1: So even though I haven't, I will start, and that's
• 43:21
  Speaker 1: better than not.
• 43:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, and if you if you routinely went to
• 43:26
  Speaker 2: you know, if you use the dealership for your oil changes, uh,
• 43:31
  Speaker 2: they would have a record of all of those. If
• 43:34
  Speaker 2: you used a you know, one of those standalone franchises
• 43:37
  Speaker 2: like a you know, quick service oil change place, if
• 43:41
  Speaker 2: you use the same one all the time, then they
• 43:43
  Speaker 2: probably have those records and could print them out for you.
• 43:48
  Speaker 2: But the problem really comes from you know, the corner mechanic,
• 43:52
  Speaker 2: the you know, the service station at the gas station,
• 43:54
  Speaker 2: you know, or you do it yourself, and there's no real.
• 43:57
  Speaker 1: Record, no record. Yeah, right, last little bit here. I've
• 44:01
  Speaker 1: got a few questions, just just see on's how fast
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: we go? What about extended warranties? I think you covered it?
• 44:07
  Speaker 1: Worth it, skip it? Or is it one of those
• 44:09
  Speaker 1: things It just depends.
• 44:11
  Speaker 2: I guess you could say it depends. My wife had
• 44:14
  Speaker 2: one on her car years ago, and you know, just
• 44:18
  Speaker 2: because she didn't want to fiddle with it. Hey, if
• 44:20
  Speaker 2: something breaks, I wanted to be fixed. Well, the you know,
• 44:24
  Speaker 2: there was only one problem with it with that car,
• 44:27
  Speaker 2: and it was just some sort of solenoid and it
• 44:29
  Speaker 2: was a covered repair. But the deductible was more than
• 44:35
  Speaker 2: what the what the cost of the repair was so
• 44:39
  Speaker 2: it was a complete waste of money. One of the
• 44:42
  Speaker 2: mistakes people buy people make when buying a car is
• 44:46
  Speaker 2: buying an extended warranty for this car that still has
• 44:49
  Speaker 2: two years of its factory warranty left. Sure, so that's
• 44:53
  Speaker 2: just you know, wasted money. So in general, there are
• 44:59
  Speaker 2: two basic types of extended warranties. One is one that
• 45:03
  Speaker 2: includes these repairs, and others that exclude repairs, and you
• 45:11
  Speaker 2: would tend to most In most cases, you would want
• 45:13
  Speaker 2: one that excludes certain things because then you know going
• 45:16
  Speaker 2: in that this is not going to cover this, that,
• 45:20
  Speaker 2: and the other period all these other things it will
• 45:24
  Speaker 2: take care of, whereas these inclusion ones, they'll say, oh,
• 45:28
  Speaker 2: we'll take care of this, that and the other, and
• 45:30
  Speaker 2: then you're limited to those those things. Yeah, but most
• 45:35
  Speaker 2: of the time an extended warranty is not something that
• 45:38
  Speaker 2: you need to do because most of the time people
• 45:41
  Speaker 2: don't use them.
• 45:41
  Speaker 1: If somebody is gonna remember only one thing of the
• 45:44
  Speaker 1: all of the things we talked about, what's the one
• 45:46
  Speaker 1: thing you'd want them to make sure they take to
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: the bank on this.
• 45:50
  Speaker 2: Never over extend your budget for a car. There are
• 45:52
  Speaker 2: many components that you know that flow into that. But
• 45:56
  Speaker 2: it is a car that's going to get you to work,
• 45:59
  Speaker 2: to get you to visit your family, to get you
• 46:01
  Speaker 2: to the grocery store and so forth. You know, work, school, food,
• 46:07
  Speaker 2: and family. That's what your car should be for. It
• 46:11
  Speaker 2: doesn't have to be, you know, the biggest, It doesn't
• 46:14
  Speaker 2: have to be the flashiest. It doesn't have to have
• 46:16
  Speaker 2: all of the bells and whistles. It just has to
• 46:18
  Speaker 2: get you safely from point A to point B and
• 46:22
  Speaker 2: don't spend too much money on it.
• 46:23
  Speaker 1: Well, Chris, I think all of that is really good info.
• 46:25
  Speaker 1: I'm going to put a link to the article in
• 46:27
  Speaker 1: the show notes so people can check that out. Do
• 46:31
  Speaker 1: you have contact information or anything like that places where
• 46:34
  Speaker 1: they can find more of what you do?
• 46:36
  Speaker 2: If they go to that article. Down at the bottom
• 46:39
  Speaker 2: of the article is a little biobox and if they
• 46:42
  Speaker 2: click on that, then that will be a link to
• 46:44
  Speaker 2: all of the other articles that I've written about buying
• 46:48
  Speaker 2: and owning and selling vehicles for Kelly Blue Buck.
• 46:52
  Speaker 1: All right, definitely recommend you check that out. I'll put
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: a link in the show notes, so look for that.
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: Chris Hardesty, thanks so much for being here.
• 46:59
  Speaker 2: Well, thanks for me, Dan, I appreciate it.
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: All right, it's time to shift gears. Sister Parrish was
• 47:04
  Speaker 1: a legendary interior designer, widely credited with shaping what we
• 47:07
  Speaker 1: now think of as classic American style. In just a minute,
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: we're going to take a look at her life, her
• 47:13
  Speaker 1: design philosophy, and most importantly, we'll pull out some practical
• 47:16
  Speaker 1: takeaways that you can use to bring that same sense
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: of comfort and personality into your own home. That's all
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: coming up right after. This home in progress is brought
• 47:25
  Speaker 1: to you by Repcolite Paints and Benjamin Moore Top tier
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: paint expert advice. Your next project is way easier than
• 47:32
  Speaker 1: you think it's going to be. Well, several years back,
• 47:36
  Speaker 1: several years back, we hosted what we called color and
• 47:39
  Speaker 1: Design events. I'm sure some of you remember, you know,
• 47:42
  Speaker 1: I met a lot of you out there. They were
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: fun evenings, you know, we had a bunch of good food,
• 47:47
  Speaker 1: We had a lot of conversation about color and design. Originally,
• 47:50
  Speaker 1: when we did those, we talked about Benjamin Moore's Color
• 47:53
  Speaker 1: of the Year. That was kind of how we launched
• 47:55
  Speaker 1: the Color of the Year. But eventually, as we did
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: a few of those, we realized there was something bigger
• 47:59
  Speaker 1: to talk about than just color of the year, and
• 48:02
  Speaker 1: we started looking at some of the biggest names in
• 48:04
  Speaker 1: the world of architecture and interior design. I mean, you know,
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: we hear these names all the time, but we wonder,
• 48:11
  Speaker 1: or at least I always wondered, what makes them geniuses?
• 48:14
  Speaker 1: You know, we always hear these names, and we hear
• 48:17
  Speaker 1: the moniker of genius attached to them, But I always
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: struggled to figure out why, you know, what do they
• 48:22
  Speaker 1: do that nobody else thought to do? And most importantly,
• 48:27
  Speaker 1: you know, the thing that I really wondered about is
• 48:29
  Speaker 1: what can we as just regular people learn from them
• 48:32
  Speaker 1: and their work and their process. And so with that
• 48:34
  Speaker 1: in mind, we started looking at some of these pioneers,
• 48:37
  Speaker 1: some of these geniuses, and we looked at Frank Lloyd Wright,
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: we looked at Iris Appful, and then most recently, we
• 48:43
  Speaker 1: looked at David Lynch and architect Frank Gary. Now, each
• 48:46
  Speaker 1: one of those events when we focused on those folks,
• 48:48
  Speaker 1: was an incredibly profound experience for me. I mean, I
• 48:51
  Speaker 1: learned so much during those events and I'm still living
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: off of it today. It's still impacting me. It's really
• 49:00
  Speaker 1: amazing how big a difference that has made in my life.
• 49:03
  Speaker 1: Well because of that, because it was so much fun,
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: because there was so much to learn. It makes me
• 49:08
  Speaker 1: want to do it again. And someday we will get
• 49:11
  Speaker 1: back to hosting events like we used to. But with
• 49:14
  Speaker 1: this show, you know right now that I've got I've
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: got this opportunity to dig into these movers and shakers,
• 49:21
  Speaker 1: you know, in this world of creative thought in interior
• 49:24
  Speaker 1: design and architecture, and so I thought, why not do that?
• 49:27
  Speaker 1: Why not do exactly that? And that's going to be
• 49:30
  Speaker 1: today the rest of the show. And I'll let you
• 49:32
  Speaker 1: know right up front, the podcast version of this show
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: is going to contain this full discussion about this person
• 49:40
  Speaker 1: that I want to talk about. The radio version, it's
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: going to be somewhat edited anyway. With that said, I
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: want to look at one of the most influential interior
• 49:49
  Speaker 1: designers in American history, somebody whose work didn't just shape
• 49:52
  Speaker 1: how wealthy, you know, super snob, super rich, super fancy
• 49:56
  Speaker 1: families decorated their homes, but really the style helped define
• 50:01
  Speaker 1: what we now think of as American style. You know,
• 50:04
  Speaker 1: this designer's rooms were comfortable, they were lived in They
• 50:07
  Speaker 1: were elegant, but they were never cold. They were personal,
• 50:11
  Speaker 1: they were layered, they were warm. Now, her name was
• 50:14
  Speaker 1: Sister Parish, and we've got to start by doing some
• 50:17
  Speaker 1: explaining about the name, because it's a weird name, Sister Parish.
• 50:21
  Speaker 1: And no, she wasn't a nun, which was my first
• 50:23
  Speaker 1: thought when I stumbled upon her on the name, I
• 50:27
  Speaker 1: thought she was a nun. She's not a nun. She
• 50:29
  Speaker 1: was born Dorothy May Kinnicutt in nineteen ten, right in
• 50:33
  Speaker 1: the middle of New Jersey's Old Money Horse Country, you know,
• 50:37
  Speaker 1: an area known for grand estates, you know, fox hunting,
• 50:41
  Speaker 1: you know, the kind of genteel lifestyle where nobody worked
• 50:45
  Speaker 1: in the trades. And that made what she did later
• 50:47
  Speaker 1: all the more surprising. Now her family, getting back to
• 50:50
  Speaker 1: her name, her family called her sister from the time
• 50:52
  Speaker 1: she was just a little girl, as in the sister
• 50:55
  Speaker 1: to her younger brother, and somehow that name just stuck
• 51:00
  Speaker 1: later on when she got married. She married Henry Parrish
• 51:02
  Speaker 1: the second at nineteen and there you go, Sister Parish.
• 51:06
  Speaker 1: And in the design world, that name is absolutely legendary. Now,
• 51:10
  Speaker 1: she had no formal training, no apprenticeships. She never even
• 51:15
  Speaker 1: read a book on decorating. At least there's quotes of
• 51:18
  Speaker 1: her explaining that she never read a book on decorating.
• 51:20
  Speaker 1: What she did have was taste, She had instinct, and
• 51:23
  Speaker 1: she had a confidence that was really rare, you know,
• 51:26
  Speaker 1: a confidence that, oh, man, I wish I had that
• 51:28
  Speaker 1: kind of confidence, but alas I do not. And I
• 51:31
  Speaker 1: think sometimes half of genius is just confidence and the
• 51:36
  Speaker 1: willingness to go ahead, which is why I'm no genius. Anyway.
• 51:40
  Speaker 1: In the nineteen thirties, during the depression, that's when Sister
• 51:44
  Speaker 1: Parrish's story really gets moving, you know, at least in
• 51:47
  Speaker 1: the design into the design world. At this point, you know,
• 51:51
  Speaker 1: the depression, her father's finances, her husband's finances both are
• 51:55
  Speaker 1: being hit really hard, you know, and to help things out,
• 51:57
  Speaker 1: to help everybody out of that pit that they're in,
• 52:01
  Speaker 1: Sister Parish does something practically unheard of for women in
• 52:05
  Speaker 1: her social class. She decides to go to work. So
• 52:08
  Speaker 1: she rents a small fourteen by fourteen room in Far Hills,
• 52:11
  Speaker 1: New Jersey. She rents it for like thirty five bucks
• 52:14
  Speaker 1: a month something like that. She furnishes it with a
• 52:17
  Speaker 1: wicker chair and a desk. That's it, and she hangs
• 52:19
  Speaker 1: a sign on the door that says missus Henry Parrish.
• 52:22
  Speaker 1: The second interiors, and that was it. That was the
• 52:25
  Speaker 1: launch of her design career. And it didn't take long
• 52:29
  Speaker 1: for word to spread. You know, friends and then friends
• 52:32
  Speaker 1: of friends started calling. They were really blown away by
• 52:34
  Speaker 1: what she'd done with her own home. You know, she'd
• 52:37
  Speaker 1: painted the floor, she'd used ticking fabric for curtains, layered
• 52:40
  Speaker 1: white on white with pops of bright color, all kinds
• 52:43
  Speaker 1: of different things like that. It was fresh, yet it
• 52:45
  Speaker 1: kind of felt familiar. It felt homey, it was traditional,
• 52:49
  Speaker 1: but it was really personal. It was very very unique,
• 52:52
  Speaker 1: and they wanted her to do that for them, and
• 52:54
  Speaker 1: so she started doing that, and as time went by,
• 52:57
  Speaker 1: word spread and spread and spread. She was taking homes
• 52:59
  Speaker 1: that it felt like they came out of a catalog.
• 53:01
  Speaker 1: So they were perfect in that way, and she breathed
• 53:04
  Speaker 1: a soul into them. You know, sometimes these perfection you know,
• 53:09
  Speaker 1: these rooms of perfection don't feel to really have a soul.
• 53:13
  Speaker 1: And that's what she was doing, and that's part of
• 53:15
  Speaker 1: the genius here. And as she was doing that, just
• 53:18
  Speaker 1: like that, you know, everything was off and running. Her
• 53:21
  Speaker 1: reputation just exploded and soon she was designing homes for
• 53:25
  Speaker 1: some of the wealthiest and most influential families in the country.
• 53:28
  Speaker 1: You know, names like Astor, Vanderbilt, Rockefeller. Her style stood out.
• 53:32
  Speaker 1: It was warm, it was refined, it was full of personality.
• 53:36
  Speaker 1: It was completely different from the stiff formality that was
• 53:38
  Speaker 1: common at the time. Now she continued her work, and
• 53:41
  Speaker 1: in the late nineteen fifties, Sister Perrish decorated a Georgetown
• 53:45
  Speaker 1: townhouse for a young senator name of JFK. John F.
• 53:49
  Speaker 1: Kennedy and his wife, Jacqueline. And when the Kennedys moved
• 53:52
  Speaker 1: into the White House in nineteen sixty one, Jackie turned
• 53:56
  Speaker 1: to the one decorator who had already made her feel
• 53:58
  Speaker 1: at home in her previous space of residence, and Sister
• 54:02
  Speaker 1: Perrish became the first interior decorator ever hired by a
• 54:05
  Speaker 1: first Lady, and she went to work on the private
• 54:08
  Speaker 1: family quarters in the White House, including the famous yellow
• 54:11
  Speaker 1: Oval Room where JFK would receive foreign dignitaries. Now, when
• 54:15
  Speaker 1: she arrived on the site to get the work underway,
• 54:19
  Speaker 1: that space was formal and really cold. It was more
• 54:21
  Speaker 1: like a stage set, you know, than a sitting room.
• 54:24
  Speaker 1: But she reimagined it completely, and she had the walls
• 54:28
  Speaker 1: painted a soft, warm, rich yellow. She brought in delicate
• 54:31
  Speaker 1: white and gold woodwork, antique French furniture, and her trademark
• 54:36
  Speaker 1: Chintz Gotta have that. There were framed botanical prints, elegant
• 54:40
  Speaker 1: lamps with custom shades, and everywhere you look, you know,
• 54:44
  Speaker 1: go google it. Everywhere you look there are small human touches,
• 54:47
  Speaker 1: you know, embroidered cushions, delicate fringes, books stacked on side tables,
• 54:51
  Speaker 1: stuff like that. It wasn't just stylish. She kind of,
• 54:55
  Speaker 1: you know, made the room feel alive. It felt lived in.
• 54:57
  Speaker 1: It felt like a room where real people came and
• 54:59
  Speaker 1: read book books and had conversations and had tea.
• 55:02
  Speaker 2: You know.
• 55:02
  Speaker 1: It felt like home, way better than that formal, cold
• 55:07
  Speaker 1: setting that it previously had been. It was graceful and welcoming,
• 55:10
  Speaker 1: and in the words of one observer, it was quote
• 55:13
  Speaker 1: a triumph of charm over grandeur. However, while it was
• 55:17
  Speaker 1: a triumph, the victory lap didn't last that long, because,
• 55:20
  Speaker 1: according to popular legend, sister was dismissed from that project
• 55:23
  Speaker 1: after she scolded a young Carolyn Kennedy for putting her
• 55:27
  Speaker 1: feet on the furniture. Now we don't know if that's
• 55:30
  Speaker 1: technically the full truth, but even then, I like the story.
• 55:34
  Speaker 1: It's kind of a story that's lived on, you know,
• 55:37
  Speaker 1: kind of like urban legend or something. And I like
• 55:39
  Speaker 1: it because it captures something essential about Sister Parish. You know,
• 55:43
  Speaker 1: she had standards. She didn't bend them. And whether you
• 55:46
  Speaker 1: were a society hostess or a part of the First Family,
• 55:51
  Speaker 1: you were going to abide by the rules or or else.
• 55:54
  Speaker 1: And in this instance, the or else meant Sister Parish
• 55:57
  Speaker 1: could take a hike and go find work somewhere else.
• 56:00
  Speaker 1: And she did. She did just fine. We don't need
• 56:02
  Speaker 1: to worry about her. That was Sister Parrish in a nutshell.
• 56:05
  Speaker 1: She would be affectionate at one moment, razor sharp the next.
• 56:09
  Speaker 1: And speaking of Razor Sharp, here's another story that I love.
• 56:11
  Speaker 1: She was famous for her custom of wheeling. You know,
• 56:14
  Speaker 1: she'd come on a job site or a job site,
• 56:17
  Speaker 1: she's in a home. Somebody has brought her in their
• 56:19
  Speaker 1: home to help them with their design, to help them
• 56:21
  Speaker 1: pull the space together. And she had a custom for
• 56:24
  Speaker 1: bringing this empty tea cart and wheeling it through the
• 56:27
  Speaker 1: client's homes. You know, at the beginning of this project.
• 56:30
  Speaker 1: She didn't have a clipboard. She didn't, you know, wander
• 56:32
  Speaker 1: around quietly pondering and imagining what the space was going
• 56:35
  Speaker 1: to be. She'd get a little tea cart and she'd
• 56:38
  Speaker 1: rattle along through the hallways and the rooms, and she'd
• 56:41
  Speaker 1: remove anything that didn't meet her standard, all of it.
• 56:45
  Speaker 1: Just pull it out of the space. Trinkets, figurines, lamps, pillows.
• 56:49
  Speaker 1: If she didn't like it, it's getting yanked. And you
• 56:51
  Speaker 1: can just picture it. I can picture it anyway. You know,
• 56:54
  Speaker 1: the very wealthy, nervous people standing there watching Sister Parish
• 56:58
  Speaker 1: roll that little cart straight towards their little favorite shelf
• 57:01
  Speaker 1: of porcelain nick knacks, No doubt they were nervous, they
• 57:05
  Speaker 1: were sweaty, they were freaking out. Because she was ruthless,
• 57:09
  Speaker 1: she was brutal. She know what she wanted, she know
• 57:11
  Speaker 1: what she liked, and she made sure that if it
• 57:14
  Speaker 1: didn't meet those standards, it was on the way out.
• 57:18
  Speaker 1: That was her. She was witty, she was precise, she
• 57:20
  Speaker 1: was fearless, and she was always, always, always in control
• 57:23
  Speaker 1: of the room, both literally and figuratively. You know, she
• 57:26
  Speaker 1: hated mid century modernism. She called it sterile lifeless. She
• 57:30
  Speaker 1: believed the room should reflect people and not be these
• 57:33
  Speaker 1: utterly immaculately you know, pristine, sterile spaces. There's a quote
• 57:38
  Speaker 1: where she says, quote, there's nothing wrong with a little
• 57:41
  Speaker 1: clutter keeps you honest. Right, We are as honest as
• 57:45
  Speaker 1: can be at my house, if that's true. She even
• 57:47
  Speaker 1: joked that some minimalist houses were so empty that quote,
• 57:51
  Speaker 1: even ghosts would feel uncomfortable, really hated, you know, that
• 57:55
  Speaker 1: modernist look. She had a sharp sense of what belonged
• 57:58
  Speaker 1: in a space, not just what matched. You know, that's important,
• 58:01
  Speaker 1: what belonged, not just what matched. She wasn't just decorating homes.
• 58:05
  Speaker 1: She was redefining them, you know, changing how rooms were used,
• 58:09
  Speaker 1: how they made people feel. She was setting the tone,
• 58:11
  Speaker 1: you know, the emotional tone of a home in a room,
• 58:14
  Speaker 1: not just the look of the space. And she made
• 58:19
  Speaker 1: a home not just a showplace but a reflection, not
• 58:22
  Speaker 1: just a backdrop for your life, but an expression of
• 58:25
  Speaker 1: the lives of the people who lived in it. And
• 58:27
  Speaker 1: her genius and her approach, all of that still hold
• 58:31
  Speaker 1: up today. So with that in mind, let's look at
• 58:34
  Speaker 1: just three takeaways from Sister Parrish's playbook. Three things that
• 58:37
  Speaker 1: you and I can apply right away today in our
• 58:41
  Speaker 1: own homes and our own designs. And I want to
• 58:43
  Speaker 1: start with this particular idea because it's such a freeing idea.
• 58:48
  Speaker 1: The concept is this, contrast creates character. Okay, contrast creates character?
• 58:53
  Speaker 1: What am I getting at? Sister Parish believed that the
• 58:56
  Speaker 1: charm of a room, you know, the thing that gives
• 58:58
  Speaker 1: it its soul or its character, all of that is
• 59:01
  Speaker 1: found in contrast. She was known to accomplish this by
• 59:05
  Speaker 1: pairing things like a delicate antique side table with a
• 59:08
  Speaker 1: simple wicker chair, or hanging an ornate chandelier over a
• 59:12
  Speaker 1: rag rug. You know, the rooms didn't look like they
• 59:15
  Speaker 1: came or were ordered straight out of a catalog. They
• 59:17
  Speaker 1: look like they had kind of evolved over time. She
• 59:21
  Speaker 1: once said, quote to be perfect, the perfect must be imperfect.
• 59:24
  Speaker 1: And it's a little bit of a confusing quote, especially
• 59:27
  Speaker 1: when you're just hearing it, but here's the point. She's saying.
• 59:30
  Speaker 1: If a room has too much polished, or if it
• 59:33
  Speaker 1: matches too well, if it's just too perfect, the space
• 59:36
  Speaker 1: stops feeling real. You know, it starts to feel staged,
• 59:39
  Speaker 1: like a hotel lobby or maybe a magazine spread or
• 59:42
  Speaker 1: an Instagram photo shoot. But when you bring in something worn,
• 59:46
  Speaker 1: something handmade, something with a little age, something imperfect, that
• 59:50
  Speaker 1: piece or those pieces begin to ground everything else in
• 59:54
  Speaker 1: the space and it brings humanity into the room. So
• 59:56
  Speaker 1: when we layer the old and the new, the shining
• 59:58
  Speaker 1: and the worn, we're creating character. And that's what makes
• 1:00:01
  Speaker 1: a space memorable. It's really important. That's the piece that
• 1:00:05
  Speaker 1: makes a space memorable. So how do you do that. Well,
• 1:00:08
  Speaker 1: that antique dresser from your grandma, you keep it, you
• 1:00:10
  Speaker 1: paint it, or maybe you don't paint it. Whatever, you
• 1:00:13
  Speaker 1: just make sure you use it, you know, bring it
• 1:00:15
  Speaker 1: into your space. Mix in a modern lamp, hang a
• 1:00:18
  Speaker 1: new mirror above it. If you've got a matching dining
• 1:00:20
  Speaker 1: room set, swap out a couple of the chairs, find
• 1:00:23
  Speaker 1: something vintage or upholster that you can put in their place.
• 1:00:27
  Speaker 1: You can do this with textures too, Pair shiny brass
• 1:00:30
  Speaker 1: with weathered wood. You can hang modern art over old paneling.
• 1:00:34
  Speaker 1: You know, the list goes on and on. The point
• 1:00:36
  Speaker 1: isn't really to give you a rundown of things to do.
• 1:00:39
  Speaker 1: The bigger point is to just make the concept clear.
• 1:00:43
  Speaker 1: Let opposites play together. You know, that's where life is.
• 1:00:46
  Speaker 1: That's where the soul of the room comes about. The
• 1:00:48
  Speaker 1: contrasts really create the character. You know, that's where the
• 1:00:51
  Speaker 1: room starts to feel like you. Now. The second big
• 1:00:54
  Speaker 1: takeaway from Sister Parish is this, and it's right along
• 1:00:57
  Speaker 1: those lines. You want to fill your space with the
• 1:00:59
  Speaker 1: things that matter to you. You know, she wasn't interested
• 1:01:02
  Speaker 1: in rooms that looked like they came straight off a
• 1:01:04
  Speaker 1: showroom floor. You know, those were way too perfect, they
• 1:01:07
  Speaker 1: were too matched. They were lifeless soulss. She called those
• 1:01:11
  Speaker 1: kinds of spaces unstudied and unconvincing. Her own rooms, the
• 1:01:16
  Speaker 1: rooms that she created, they were anything, but you know,
• 1:01:18
  Speaker 1: they had texture, they had story, they had soul. You'd
• 1:01:21
  Speaker 1: walk into one and you'd kind of feel like it
• 1:01:23
  Speaker 1: had grown around the people who lived there, not been
• 1:01:26
  Speaker 1: installed overnight by a design team on a deadline. Basically,
• 1:01:30
  Speaker 1: everywhere you look she had something interesting set around. There
• 1:01:33
  Speaker 1: was something to discover. Books, need a point, pillows, botanical prints,
• 1:01:38
  Speaker 1: painted floors, crocheted throws, white wickers. She had a lot
• 1:01:42
  Speaker 1: of that. Dog portraits, quilts, handmade lampshades, you name it,
• 1:01:46
  Speaker 1: lots and lots of chintz you know, lots and lots
• 1:01:49
  Speaker 1: of chintz. Nobody brought a room to life with chintz
• 1:01:54
  Speaker 1: quite like Sister Parrish did. So she did all of that,
• 1:01:57
  Speaker 1: but none of those items that she's grabbing and throwing
• 1:01:59
  Speaker 1: into that I shouldn't even use the word throwing. None
• 1:02:03
  Speaker 1: of it was random, None of it was just thrown
• 1:02:04
  Speaker 1: in there. None of it was just stuff that she
• 1:02:07
  Speaker 1: got just to fill space. Each of these items were
• 1:02:09
  Speaker 1: personal and they were layered in very carefully, each one
• 1:02:13
  Speaker 1: telling a part of a story. So how do we
• 1:02:16
  Speaker 1: do that in our own home? Well, I think we
• 1:02:17
  Speaker 1: start by thinking of decorating less like styling a space
• 1:02:21
  Speaker 1: and more like storytelling. I think there's a lot of
• 1:02:24
  Speaker 1: power in thinking about decorating as if it were storytelling,
• 1:02:28
  Speaker 1: and don't feel like you need to tell this story
• 1:02:31
  Speaker 1: all at once. Sister Parrish often said that a room
• 1:02:33
  Speaker 1: should feel collected over time. That's what it should feel like,
• 1:02:37
  Speaker 1: and that's giving you permission to wait, to go slow,
• 1:02:40
  Speaker 1: to let your space evolve, you know, to live in
• 1:02:42
  Speaker 1: it and let it take shape. So let the room speak,
• 1:02:45
  Speaker 1: let the pieces speak. And I know that sounds crazy
• 1:02:48
  Speaker 1: to a lot of you, but they really will it's
• 1:02:51
  Speaker 1: really unusual, but they really will. And I'm not saying
• 1:02:55
  Speaker 1: that they're speaking with voices, you know, because maybe you
• 1:02:59
  Speaker 1: were thinking that that's what I'm hearing our voices, because
• 1:03:03
  Speaker 1: you know, you've known me over the years, and you
• 1:03:05
  Speaker 1: maybe think that seems par for the course. I'm not
• 1:03:07
  Speaker 1: hearing literal voices. But the pieces do tell me. You know,
• 1:03:11
  Speaker 1: what the room needs and where it needs to go,
• 1:03:13
  Speaker 1: and a lot of the times it's not what I
• 1:03:15
  Speaker 1: was initially thinking. You know, I start putting a room
• 1:03:18
  Speaker 1: together with a very clear vision of where I want
• 1:03:21
  Speaker 1: to go. And as I've done this, I've collected pieces
• 1:03:25
  Speaker 1: over time, pieces that really speak to me, and I
• 1:03:27
  Speaker 1: found that the room has gone in way different directions
• 1:03:30
  Speaker 1: than I ever would have thought. You know. Initially, the
• 1:03:33
  Speaker 1: room spoke and the room pushed me in another direction,
• 1:03:35
  Speaker 1: and it's a way better direction. So give yourself time.
• 1:03:39
  Speaker 1: The pieces will speak to you, the room will speak
• 1:03:41
  Speaker 1: to you. And another thing that will help with this
• 1:03:43
  Speaker 1: is if you ignore the pressure to follow anyone's style.
• 1:03:46
  Speaker 1: You know, if you are landlocked by a style that
• 1:03:49
  Speaker 1: you're trying to stay within, it's very tough to stretch
• 1:03:52
  Speaker 1: outside of that and to find these pieces that matter
• 1:03:55
  Speaker 1: to you because you've got to find pieces that matter
• 1:03:57
  Speaker 1: that fit within your style. Throw that idea style out
• 1:04:00
  Speaker 1: the window, you know, just try that once. It's so
• 1:04:03
  Speaker 1: absolutely freeing. You're gonna have the freedom to collect anything.
• 1:04:07
  Speaker 1: You know, whatever you love can fit into the space.
• 1:04:10
  Speaker 1: And it sounds like it wouldn't work, it absolutely does work.
• 1:04:13
  Speaker 1: And over time, as you're bringing those pieces in, the
• 1:04:16
  Speaker 1: space that takes shape is deeply personal and it becomes
• 1:04:19
  Speaker 1: deeply meaningful. And when you're decorating with things that matter,
• 1:04:23
  Speaker 1: it really starts to feel like home, even if it
• 1:04:25
  Speaker 1: doesn't look perfect, you know, it feels like the space
• 1:04:28
  Speaker 1: you want it to be. And there's so much power
• 1:04:30
  Speaker 1: in that all right, last thing, Sister Parish believed that
• 1:04:34
  Speaker 1: homes should be lived in, so comfort over perfection. That's
• 1:04:37
  Speaker 1: the third big concept, you know, a home should be
• 1:04:40
  Speaker 1: lived in, not admired from a distance, not guarded like
• 1:04:42
  Speaker 1: a museum, but used, enjoyed, relaxed in. And that's something
• 1:04:46
  Speaker 1: that we need to hear today. We're surrounded by images
• 1:04:49
  Speaker 1: of impossibly perfect rooms, you know, curated stage, filtered images
• 1:04:53
  Speaker 1: on Instagram, social media, you name it. But Sister Parish
• 1:04:57
  Speaker 1: reminds us. Real homes aren't about impressing it anyone. They're
• 1:05:00
  Speaker 1: about living well in your space. You know, I've got
• 1:05:03
  Speaker 1: this old desk that's a really good reminder of this
• 1:05:05
  Speaker 1: for me. It's an antique oak desk, beautifully grained, but
• 1:05:08
  Speaker 1: it's marked up with a couple of dark rings and
• 1:05:11
  Speaker 1: what looks like an ink spill, you know, something from
• 1:05:13
  Speaker 1: a long time ago. When I bought it, I fully
• 1:05:15
  Speaker 1: intended to refinish it. But the longer I lived with it,
• 1:05:18
  Speaker 1: the more I came to love all of those old imperfections.
• 1:05:22
  Speaker 1: You know, those old marks, the rings, the stains, all
• 1:05:24
  Speaker 1: of that. They told a story, and I really as
• 1:05:27
  Speaker 1: time went by, I realized I didn't want to erase that.
• 1:05:29
  Speaker 1: You know, the desk spoke to me, The peace spoke
• 1:05:32
  Speaker 1: to me and told me what really should be done
• 1:05:35
  Speaker 1: with it, and I was listening, and so I left it.
• 1:05:37
  Speaker 1: Now people think I'm nuts. People come and see the desk.
• 1:05:40
  Speaker 1: First thing they ask is why haven't I fixed it yet?
• 1:05:42
  Speaker 1: Or did I know I could do that? And yeah,
• 1:05:45
  Speaker 1: I gotta tell them, I know I can. I've chosen
• 1:05:47
  Speaker 1: not to because of all these reasons. And when I
• 1:05:50
  Speaker 1: tell them, they kind of look at me like I'm nuts,
• 1:05:52
  Speaker 1: but I don't care. Piece works in my space and
• 1:05:55
  Speaker 1: I like it, and that's really all we're after. You know,
• 1:05:58
  Speaker 1: That's what we all want with our home. We want
• 1:06:01
  Speaker 1: the home to work for us. We want the rooms
• 1:06:03
  Speaker 1: to feel welcoming, we want our space to feel like
• 1:06:05
  Speaker 1: our space. So think about your space, think about Sister Parish,
• 1:06:09
  Speaker 1: think about those concepts and see what you can apply
• 1:06:13
  Speaker 1: today to help you get where you want to go
• 1:06:16
  Speaker 1: when it comes to putting your room together. And that's
• 1:06:19
  Speaker 1: going to do it. For today's episode of Home in
• 1:06:21
  Speaker 1: Progress brought to you by repcoll Light Paints and Benjamin Moore.
• 1:06:24
  Speaker 1: Big thanks to Chris Hardesty for joining us and sharing
• 1:06:27
  Speaker 1: such helpful advice on car buying, and thanks to you
• 1:06:30
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• 1:06:32
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• 1:06:38
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• 1:06:42
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• 1:06:44
  Speaker 1: find links to today's topics, photos and more over at
• 1:06:48
  Speaker 1: repco Light dot com, so check that out and while
• 1:06:50
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• 1:06:53
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• 1:06:57
  Speaker 1: All right, we'll be back next week with more stories,
• 1:06:59
  Speaker 1: more dips, more advice, all of that. Until then, I'm
• 1:07:03
  Speaker 1: Dan Hansen. Thanks for listening.