Latest / Rick Outzen: (we don’t) color on the dog / Kuhn Joins Sotheby's
Transcript
- Rick Outzen: Welcome back. I'm Rick Altson. This is Rick's blog live. This is where we bring the newsmakers to you. We're we're covering city council races, but there's been big news in the Realty World. Kuhn Realty, Larry Kuhn and his group have joined Sotheby's International. Larry, thank you for joining us. We've Larry Kuhn: Thanks for having me, man. Appreciate it. Rick Outzen: grown exponentially over the last what seven years? Larry Kuhn: Seven years. Rick Outzen: And w why the move with Sotherby? 'Cause you've been operating without an affiliation. Why this? Larry Kuhn: they came to me in January, late January this year. and it's a process. This is not easy. And I just felt like it was time. I think when you're a business owner, you always look further down the road and just seeing where real estate's going and what that brand does for my agents and also our clients that we serve and gets their exposure out there. I just felt like it was time to make the move. Rick Outzen: Well talk a little more about what w what will it do for your clients? There w the someone trying to sell a home or sell a property. Sure. How does that help? Larry Kuhn: I mean, the connections that Sotheby's has globally is it's unmatched. You know, they've been around fifty years as of this year, but the Sotheby's name has been around for a long, long time. Right. That everybody knows. But perfect example is I launched today, I get an email w within probably 30 minutes of launching from a developer who also owns a Sotheby's brand and is coming into our city to develop. And said, hey, we already had a representation, but we want to stay with Sotheby's. And now that we have a proper presence here, we see the value in Sotheby's. cool. So that was cool. He's coming here, building eighty homes and meeting with them on Friday. So just that quick is just really already seeing the dividends up. Rick Outzen: That makes you feel good right away. That was nice. Yeah. Well Kuhn Realty, what's what's the secret sauce? I mean, y'all have grown so much in seven years and handled some huge deals. Larry Kuhn: Yeah, we I have a lot of really, really good agents. And they I s feel like when you sell Penn School, w we're blessed. We get an easy thing to sell for the most part. The lifestyle here, where the kids go to school and just overall quality of life, I think is unmatched. I mean I'm born and raised here. I never went to high school with your daughter, but it's just they every agent has l kind of lived in different areas and has kids at different schools. and can really match with clients really well and just kinda sell that lifestyle to them, which is really nice. But we just got really hard workers. I think we provided something different that the marketplace wanted and they wanted some independence and, you know, someone that was from here representing them. So it was just it was right place, right time, seven years ago, and I think it is right now. Rick Outzen: So you know when you when you look at it it the course you're hitting a a a seven year period which coming out of COVID has been red hot. I mean it w it it and you see you know you know people are scrambling you know scrambling to try to find homes and homes at different price breaks and it it's it's been a challenge. You know, when you look at your company the what's the what's the edge? I mean you talked a little bit about it, but if you if if you're selling Pensacola, what what are you selling? How do you sell it? Larry Kuhn: i I mean it starts with this is where you go fish, this is where you go eat, this is where you go drink. I mean, that is stuff to me that's valuable. It's not just opening a door and talking about the house. You're like you're an ambassador to the city. You know, where do you go get health care? Who's your doctor? Who's a guy who's gonna be a roofer? I mean, you're their connection and we've had such an influx of people that have not been here and had that lifelong connections. So we've got that built in with our network of vendors and just relied upon people that can help our clients with a drop of a hat. Rick Outzen: You know, you think about and I I when the storm was approaching, I was also going through my head thinking, okay, we've had a tremendous influx of people who haven't been through a hurricane. So as as a newspaper and as a blog, we were trying to help prep people to understand this is what it's gonna be like. You know. And I can imagine on y'all's end, you know, the people that y'all put in homes, the people that are looking for homes, they're they're starting to see this. As the weather can be a challenge here. Larry Kuhn: Yeah, we call it a weather tax. I mean, you get this great lifestyle, but sometimes you're gonna get a tax and this is what it is. So luckily it wasn't too much damage, but it it's gonna be a road to cover. Rick Outzen: It will be. It will be. And and and what the great thing is we've been through it before. some are easier than others. This one It's still early. I mean we're we're we're recording this on Wednesday, October fourteenth. and we're just now have gone to press conferences and listened to the numbers. I think they're saying on the personal damage right now inside the city is over seventy two million dollars. it is gonna be a you know, it's it's gonna be an expensive comeback. how with the Sotheby's label now, how does that change your operation on what you're all doing? So Larry Kuhn: The beauty of it is it will be Coon Sotheby's International Realty. So I'm a hundred percent owner, still the broker. but for me it allows if I'm going to list your house, Sotheby's has different avenues of exposure from Wall Street Journal, New York Times, and the list is endless. And they have good exposure on the social media front. So I can go to you and guarantee that your home will be on these sites. You know, some agents kinda just throw it out there, but the the proofs and the pudding and I can reserve that and have it on a certain channel at that time, as well as just the global network of other agents that we can send it out to and have clients. it's really powerful stuff. Rick Outzen: Are you seeing more people interested in Pensacola coming from the outside looking in? Larry Kuhn: Yeah. For sure. I mean how why not? You know, it's it's it's definitely more attractive and we're seeing a lot of push from both our sides, from the Orange Beach and Thirty A that have they've overdeveloped and it's priced them out and sometimes they've cashing out and coming over here and getting a better, you know, we got good healthcare here. Right. We got a great airport here. You know, there's a lot of stuff that These outside markets don't have that we can provide. Rick Outzen: Well, Larry, I appreciate you coming out. Congratulations. For sure. This Larry Kuhn: Thanks for having me. Rick Outzen: affiliation is is new. And and you're right, the Sotherby's name is known internationally, so it it'll be exciting to see wha how y'all grow from here. Thanks Larry Kuhn: Yeah. Thanks for having me. All right. Thank you. Rick Outzen: for coming. All right. We'll take a break, we'll pay a few bills, I'll be right back.