Marc Lyman is a leading voice in the world of home improvement and tools. He’s been the editor and publisher of the popular site Home Fixated for more than 14 years and continues to discover some of the best home products, like the Flume water use monitor.
Lyman is on the scene at every major tool event and home improvement tradeshow, all while he balances another career as a Sotheby’s real estate agent.
In this episode, Marc and I discuss the state of blogging and media, which tools he can’t live without, and some of his favorite house hunting tips for prospective home buyers.
https://homefixated.com/
https://marclyman.com/
https://twitter.com/marclyman
https://www.instagram.com/marclyman/
Read the full podcast transcript.
Timothy
Today’s guest is my good friend Marc Lyman. He runs a popular site Home Fixated and is also Sotheby’s realtor in the San Diego area. We reminisce on the early days of blogging, and he shares his tips on buying a home and the latest tools and products that he loves. Mark, thanks for being here.
Marc
Hey, Timothy. Great to be with you.
Timothy
I’m excited to have you on. I’ve feel like I’ve known you for quite a while. You’re one of the first home improvement tool bloggers that that I know of. Is that? Would you? Would you agree?
Marc
Yeah, I feel like we we connected very early on, and, uh, at least my career and probably yours as well on that front. Um, actually, I think now that I think about it, I think you won one of the home fixated giveaways like
Timothy
E was just gonna mention that because I had signed up. I forget now what tour was, but I signed up for something, and at that time now, just kind of in that world. I said, Hey, mice will throw my name in the in the batch here and then, you know, a couple weeks later, I got this cool tools like, Oh, hey, that’s uneaten way. Met up later like only hey, yeah, you’re the guy who, uh, that one I told from So that was fun.
Marc
Which, which, by hindsight, is kind of ridiculous because, you know, now that’s just the tools, our way of life for us, right? We’re constantly reviewing them, and and so it’s funny that you end up winning one early on,
Timothy
right? Right. Got kind of a this point. Now, I am not trying to, you know, acquire no more tools in that sense. So so, yeah, but at the time, it was very exciting. And, b, I appreciate
Marc
that. I know there was some ad for for a high tech company a while back, and they had, like, a little bell that would go off each time and order came in, you know, and at first they, like would clap after each bell and then all of a sudden the bell was just going DDD dd be big and, you know, panic set in Andi. I kind of think about that with tools like when you first start in this business, you know, it’s like woo free tools. You know, it’s like our dream come true, right? And, ah, and then all of a sudden you realize the free tools aren’t really free, you know, like it turns out you you have to photograph them and take videos of them and posting to social media and write about them. And so it’s Ah, there’s a transition point When when you realize that I think
Timothy
right is the lack of that goes into it that that’s that people know about. Yeah, for sure. So how did how did you get into the whole tool world and, you know, talking about home improvement? Yeah.
Marc
You know, I I was fortunate to have Ah, really great mentor on that front on dso I I grew up with a single mom and my mom set me up with a big brother from the Big Brother Big Sister program And he was, uh he was engineer type, Uh, that just, you know, basically would do anything you know, on the d i Y front. And so when I was growing up, you know, we did stuff like, you know, we built a go kart like from scratch, you know, And well, did a frame together and, you know, built a custom seat for it And, you know, stuff like that that really, um I kind of got got my feet wet a little bit in terms of being interested in tools and doing projects and then kind of is being, you know, the man of the house. Ah, from a pretty early age, I was kind of the one tinkering on the house and in some cases, messing it up. But in other cases, repairing it on DSO that that really I think kind of got me started and then later round is around high school. I spent a summer with that same mentor remodeling a house in Palo Alto, which is around the area. I grew up in the Bay area, and so that kind of got me interested in in all that stuff. And then I bought a home and, you know, once once I had my own home to tinker on. Then it was game on in terms of tackling projects. And it’s just a lot of fun for me to toe work on the house and get the satisfaction of of taking something and improving it or fixing it. And it’s a really gratifying process.
Timothy
Was a great story, really pretty unique there. At what age did you were? You introduced to your mentor and got involved with you said the boys and Girls Club
Marc
through Ah, big brothers. Big sisters. That’s right. Yeah. Yeah. So, you know, I honestly don’t remember what age I started with him, but I was younger than 10. I think so, Um, you know, it goes quite a ways back, and, um, definitely, I think picked up a little bit of that fearlessness that I think a lot of us need to have some fears. Good, particularly around electrical. But But I think you know, just having that instinct of Oh, you know, it’s broken. Well, let me try to fix it, you know, And it just kind of diving in there. And, um, you know, sometimes it doesn’t work out as we hope it would. But But a lot of times, you know, if you persevere on it, it all comes together in the end
Timothy
right now. How does that transition into wanting to write about it? Take photos. How does that go going from yourself?
Marc
S o you know, around 2005 which was kind of that was kind of when blogging was like a newish thing. You know, they’re right. It was kind of the just the start of where blogging really was catching on. But it was still a TTE that level where it was more like, you know, here’s what I ate today. It wasn’t it wasn’t, you know, blogging in the sense that we think of it today. And so I I had this instinct where I tend thio over research stuff. So when I’m working on the house, if there’s some sort of esoteric, specialized tool for for whatever project I’m working on, all research it like crazy online order, that specialized tool, even if it’s something I’m going to use for, you know, five minutes and then they never use it
Timothy
again. Ground there with you
Marc
yet. Um and so I What occurred to me was I’m doing all this research and I’m spending all this time and I have opinions on these things. Maybe I should just write about it. And so I started writing about it in 2005 and I can’t remember how many months I wrote for If you go back, you can actually still find some of those horrible article. I’m excited and I wrote about it. I wrote on the site for a few months and then I looked at my traffic stats and I realize, OK, no one’s reading this air. Almost no ingredient. Why am I spending this time? So So I shelved it for about three or four years. And then around 2009 I thought, you know, I think I wantto take this a little bit more seriously and, you know, traffic be damned. I’m just gonna start writing content and do it consistently and think of it more as a business. Then just a, you know, quote unquote personal blogged. And so that’s what kind of got me rolling. And, uh and I’ve been doing it ever since
Timothy
that. So that’s 10 years ago when you kind of really, really dove into it more. I
Marc
know, I know you think I’d have a huge empire
Timothy
by now, but well, I know you’ve got a lot of other things going on, and you’ve you’ve got a family and other things. It’s as you said, it’s Ah, it’s a long haul and it can be a grind. And so you know these things, just, you know, they take time and you kind of build him to the levels that you can do at the time. So
Marc
so, yeah, yeah, I mean, it is Certainly feeding the Internet is something you could do 24 hours a day, seven days a week, non stop. And the Internet doesn’t care how exhausted you are with producing content, right? So it’s and I think it’s been a little bit of, ah process for me to transition from being the sole content provider on home fixated Thio really tryingto cultivate a team of contributors. And that’s something that more of my effort has gone into in recent years. Is getting folks on board that have a similar voice, you know, in terms of the content I’m seeking to produce on home fixated, which is informative, detailed but also hopefully engaging and entertaining. And and so that’s That’s something that I’ve been working on a lot more recently, and that takes a little bit of the burden off me in terms of not feeling like I constantly have to be cranking out content personally,
Timothy
right? That’s something I’ve I have also been a Talyn JJ, Like you said, there’s so much to do and it’s not so much even I mean now. Ah, three years on. But we used to just write these block posts and kind of that was it. And maybe you could share it on Twitter or Facebook even before then. There wasn’t much to share it. You were just like you said, looking at your you know, your analytics and hoping it goes somewhere, hoping to get that link from some other mainstream Ah, article or something like that. But now, as you know, with producing content, there’s so many other paths that we all need to use, and it just makes a lot more. We could be could both be doing social media all the time, you know, right, right, And that’s raising.
Marc
It is crazy and it’s It’s you know, technology is so hard to predict. I’m very curious where it will go because you and I have both seen going to some of the media events we go to in recent years. The sort of rise of the Instagram er right now there’s there’s people Ah, ah, lot of people at these media events that all they do really is focus on Instagram and they don’t even necessarily have a website or or other channels or platforms. They’re just putting out content on instagram and, you know, it always e I. I always like to kind of diversify a little bit, and so that kind of model would make me nervous is a is a content producer just because I don’t own instagram way and at any given moment, they can really change how they distribute their content and and how much exposure that content gets and it becomes more of, ah, you know, pay to play or pay to be seeing kind of model. So it’ll really be interesting to see. You know, I’m starting to feel like the old guy with a website thes meetings, events that are interesting to see how it pans out But my feeling is that, you know, there’s there’s always gonna be people seeking out information about the products that they buy, the tools they buy and also the processes that they go through the to use those tools, you know, projects and things like that. I’m and so so I’m still bullish on the Internet and websites and e thing. I think they’ve got a future ahead of, but time will tell.
Timothy
Well, I think that maybe people come to these things for different reasons. And from the social media site, it’s just, you know, maybe pure entertainment. You want to be inspired this thing’s air aspirational there. But then when you’re you know, like you said, if you’re really researching a tool, you’re gonna go online, you’re gonna go and you do your google search or wherever, and you try to hit some other websites. They’re gonna maybe have more in depth help also, you know, obviously, you know YouTube is well in that in that respect. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. You know, when you’re talking about some of the your current project right now, you know some of the articles I’ve been actually read on your site. You know. Actually, some of the bigger project pieces wait. I start reading it. I don’t really. And also I I quickly realized that that’s not you. So it’s cool that, like, there’s so much on there, That’s not you. How does it work out with the contributors? Because again, that’s something that I’m looking and seeing, like, you know, how do you know somebody would not? You know, we don’t have a big budget, and we know how do I get people involved in Yeah, if you can share anything, any, any assistance there?
Marc
Sure, yeah, I mean, it’s it. I won’t say it’s easy because, you know, in terms of the criteria that I’m looking for, I you know, I want someone that can write really well and that that has an entertaining, engaging writing voice. And and I also want someone with ideally trade experience or woodworking experience and you know, the re and this isn’t to take anything away from the trays, but you know, people that are outstanding stellar writers historically don’t gravitate towards, you know, going into work as a contractor, for example, you know, and and so it’s it’s hard just in of itself trying to find someone that’s in the trades or with expertise in the particular topic that also has the writing skills to back it up And, you know, is good to work with and reliable and things like that, right? You know? So So it’s It’s tricky, but I’ve been fortunate toe find some great folks that have, really You know, I I don’t think home fixated would be where it is today. Without their contributions. I know it would wouldn’t be so. I’m very grateful for for their contributions. And it’s what allows me. Thio, you know, continue to run home, fix it and also focused on my real estate career, which is, you know, my quote unquote day job,
Timothy
right? Right. Actually, let’s talk a bit more about that because I don’t want art. Was it too? Was it three years ago now, when you I think you first mentioned we’re at a trade show and you said, Hey, I’m I’m I going to real estate school and kind of you think this is shot and, uh, I think like it’s been a while now in your with stuff of these, you can you share a little bit more about that. Yeah,
Marc
Yes, sir, it was. It was actually about four years ago now, and and it’s been a really great fit for me, you know? And it I work with with buyers and sellers pretty much in the San Diego market, I Sometimes I’m referring deals outs outside of San Diego. But for the most part, I’m working here in San Diego and it’s been really fantastic. And I I think it is, uh, surprisingly, allows me to kind of scratch my creative. It’s in some ways, you know, on the on the listing side when I’m representing a seller. It it’s kind of like starting a new business each time I take a new listing because I’m coming up with a marketing plan I am figuring out, you know, what is it that’s unique about this property that’s really gonna let me leverage you know, my my advertising and marketing dollars and get attention for the property and then on the buy side. I think that has an interesting sort of tie into my experience with with homes and home fixated in that, I think I just have some additional insights into kind of what people are getting into, You know, for example, of someone’s buying a fix or property. Sometimes people go into that very naively, you know, they’ve been watching a lot of HD TV and think, Wow, this is great. I’m gonna, you know, buy this home that’s dilapidated and falling apart. And, uh, you know, three weeks later, I’m gonna have this sparkling HD TV showcase. And you know, the reality is a lot dirtier than that and a lot more expensive than that, and a lot more stressful than that, typically, and and so I think that’s that’s been need t kind of tie those two worlds into each other a little bit. So it’s been It’s been a really great fit and real estates, the kind of industry and the kind of work that because you’re dealing with new people all the time and different people from all walks of life and you’re dealing with different properties all the time, it’s always something new, always something challenging. And and, um, I tend to get bored easily. So real estate’s been great and that it’s really hard to get bored and real estate
Timothy
right. Well, I’ve seen, like you said, you some of the properties that you that you are are selling or managing their you know, I see like you. But get them on TV, You get some great drone shots, you do a lot of interesting marking things kind of go above and beyond what I feel like, Ah, lot of Realtors air are doing out there. So that’s that’s exciting for me to see. And I’m always, you know, happy to share those opportunities. Um, you know, I know what areas where you worked actually focused on.
Marc
Yeah. So, um, I cover most of San Diego. So you know, San Diego’s a pretty sprawling place and that one of the unique things about San Diego’s just how diverse the different neighborhoods are in the different areas are I’m and I really enjoy that aspect of it. I don’t I mean, logistically speaking, it would be great to work in just one location, but, uh, that is is tricky, uh, and and I actually enjoy being able to kind of bounce around toe different parts of San Diego. So I worked throughout most of San Diego County. Most of my focus is kind of on the coastal communities and central San Diego. But I I stretch out to the outskirts occasionally to
Timothy
write just from seeing, you know, smattering of your properties. It definitely are in the posh side. I know, I know. In California, you know L. A San Diego. When you get $2 million that’s not even I mean $1,000,000 isn’t even posh in a lot of areas. But right, a lot of the home that seems like our multi $1,000,000 homes. So that so that a specialty of yours as well.
Marc
Yeah, it’s definitely a focus, but I’m not exclusive to that. And I think you know, sometimes people look at the Sotheby’s International Realty brand and Sotheby’s in general and associate that with exclusively high end properties. And I’m and that’s that’s definitely not the case here in San Diego. I think there are some parts of the world where that is true for some of the Sotheby’s offices, but I hear it’s it’s definitely not true. So you know, I’ve done transactions that are, you know, 200,000 and I’ve done multi $1,000,000 transactions as well. So So I really don’t try. Thio exclude any particular price range, but Yeah, My focus, I think, is a little bit more skewed towards towards luxury in the high end,
Timothy
right? I mean, you mentioned some helping people, maybe getting to some fixer uppers. Is that something house flipping Anything that you’ve been involved with are interested in. You know,
Marc
I have not really been interested in pursuing it personally just because I feel like I’m pretty maxed out with with what I d’oh. And And so, uh, I I definitely have represented clients. You know, buying fixer uppers on the flipper market. Here is it hasn’t been super, super vibrant. You know, I think partly because of our price points, you know, it’s it’s a more risky proposition here, a t least in the current market that if you’re buying a fixer and then you take the timeto do the improvements, you know, it’s not always guaranteed you’re gonna make money. I’m and it really depends on kind of the skill set of the flipper. So it’s not something that people tend to do real casually here. It tends to be, you know, professional companies that that’s what they dio, you know, is step in and renovate properties and flip them
Timothy
right. They’ve got it dialed in with their full teams.
Marc
Exactly. Yeah, they’ve got a super efficient set up. They’ve got a team. They know exactly what they’re going in for. They know what materials they’re going to use. You know, they’ve got all that really, really dialed it.
Timothy
Yeah, I think it’s extremely hard to just go into that without how, Having that when you’re talking about trying to maximize theme, Any margins there. Yeah, I, for sure, actually, just saw that Zillow is trying to get into that. Did you see that?
Marc
No, I haven’t seen you mean flipping?
Timothy
Yes, exactly as I don’t know if they’re building out their own teams, but obviously they’ve got the They feel like they have. You know, they have these estimate that they have their some some knowledge there that they might be able to take advantage of their position and do pretty well on that side.
Marc
It’s funny. I have to do like a public service announcement on behalf of real estate professionals. You know that Zillow is is a great sight, and it’s it’s, you know, probably the number one portal for consumers on the real estate front. But the estimate is something that should be, I think, in many markets taken with a grain of salt. And just as an example, when I give a listening presentation to a potential seller, I always include the this estimate. I’m with the comparable sales, and typically what I see is it’s anywhere from accurate Thio off by about 25% on dhe. 25% is is a pretty significant amount to be off when you’re talking about real estate. And and so I think, and it’s and I’m not really saying that to fault, you know, Zillow per se. But with any automated valuation model, there are frequently gonna be situations where it misses the mark by a substantial margin. And, you know, and that could be because, you know, they’re just in that particular area. There haven’t been enough recent sales to really provide a good data set for comparables, or it could be that the homes are so variable in a particular community, you know, some of them are old and complete fixers. Others might be completely high end, awesome recently renovated properties, so the price per square foot in that neighborhood might range from you know, $400 a square foot, thio $1000 a square foot. And so in those kind of scenarios, the village does estimate or other similar think Redfin has automated valuation system to our estimate and does just they could be off pretty substantially, in some cases. A sigh? Well, I was just gonna say, And if you’re in the neighborhood that you know, there are a ton of calms and it’s ah, you know, planned neighborhood where every fourth house is the same model is the other one. Then, you know, in those cases, those automated valuation systems can be a lot
Timothy
more accurate. Okay, it’s getting What do you say? 25% is a plus or minus side. You typically
Marc
could be either way. Okay. Okay. So a swing of 50% is it is not unheard of.
Timothy
Wow. Now, I was actually good point you made before earlier is how many cops are in the air you’re looking at. And the more cops that would suggest that that estimate can be closer a little bit to reality,
Marc
right? Yeah. I mean, if there’s if there’s a number of comparable properties that have sold in in recent history than it’s more likely to be accurate. So
Timothy
So what would you recommend for somebody just getting into the home buying process and evaluating properties himself? Is there a some tips techniques there that somebody could jump into? You know,
Marc
I think probably the most valuable thing on that front is Thio e think if they’re really serious about buying a first step, is to get a pre approval. If they’re, if they’re financing their purchase, if they’re not a cash buyer, and that just means going Thio, a reputable local lender, and finding out essentially what a bank will lend to them and then having, ah, you know, discussion. Ah, about what? They’re actually comfortable spending because not everyone you know, sometimes you get preapproved for something, and that person or that couple is not necessarily comfortable spending that full amount. And then once you have kind of a rough number of you know what your price range is, then a great thing to do is just to get out there and go to open houses on the weekend. There, you know they could be on Saturday or Sunday. They’re usually a lot of Sunday afternoon is probably the most popular time, and you can find those open houses either through your agent or through Zillow or Redfin or whatever. Your you know, chosen platform is with a nap or online and that that could be a really into instructive way to kind of get a feel for what? Your budget gets you in different neighborhoods. And I think unless you’re unless you’re absolutely certain about the neighborhood you want to be in, it’s also really valuable thio going experience some different neighborhoods that might be, you know, a fit for you because really, you know, it’s it’s a major major purchase, and it’s something that you really wanna do your homework in. And when you do find, you know, quote unquote the house for yourself, you wanna have a lot of confidence that that you’re making that decision. It’s always going to be an emotional decision, but that it’s an emotional decision based on in experience, that you’ve had evaluating other homes. So you really are confident in that decision
Timothy
because many open houses you can see the better, I think
Marc
I mean, I think that’s helpful and and, you know, I think obviously talking to an experienced agent, and I think that that’s ah ah valuable part of the process. No matter what stage you’re in. You know, I sometimes start interacting with potential clients literally years before they’re ready to make a purchase. And sometimes that’s just setting up a property search for them and kind of staying in touch with them periodically as they get a feel for you know what’s out there and kind of get their their timeframe in line with, you know, whenever they’re ready to purchase
Timothy
right now. If somebody was talking about the agent, how would somebody evaluate the best way evaluating agent and see if the experience they have and maybe there previous sales? I see that Zillow has some ratings, but is there any anything else?
Marc
Yeah, So, I mean, Zillah does have ratings. You can find many agents on Yelp as well. Im it. I think the the reality is most people choose their agents very randomly. So I think most people tend to, you know, they go to an open house, they fall in love with house, and they bump into the agent that happens to be holding it open. And that then becomes their real estate agent, and sometimes that works out great and other times not quite so great. And so I think I think it’s, you know, if it were me, I would interview several agents. I do some homework first in terms of looking, it reviews the transaction history. You know that some people gravitate towards the top producing agents, and so, in other words, agents that are doing the highest volume and and that that works for some people. But just because an agent is a top producer doesn’t necessarily mean you’re going to get the best experience in terms of representation or communication. You know, those top producing agents often have a team, and and they’re only as good as the quality of their team. And so, you know, I’ve talked to some folks that have worked without producers where they said, You know, every time I called in, I had to explain who I waas what I was calling about, you know, And so that’s, you know, one thing to kind of factor into that. But I think, yeah, online reviews are a great place to start, and then you really want to kind of mess with whoever you’re working with. And so I think it’s actually worth interviewing in person. You know, two or three agents after you’ve kind of narrowed down some possibilities from reviews, recommendations from friends and family, that kind of
Timothy
thing. That’s actually that’s great advice. And I actually wasn’t quite aware about these kind of super agents with these With these teams there that would that would be, uh, especially when you’re in the crunch zone and you need to, you know, have your one person. That’s, ah, you know, has your back there. That doesn’t seem that very, very appealing.
Marc
Well, you know it, really, It really just depends on the team and who’s leading it. You know, there’s those agents that get to kind of that level there. They’re highly experienced, and they really, really do you know what they’re doing in most cases? And so I if they’ve kind of imbued that same ethic to their team and they have good processes in place for their team than a lot of people do have great experience, was working with them. But it’s worth being aware that, you know, if you really wanna have that one on one interaction exclusively with your agent than you know. Maybe a giant team type scenario isn’t the best fit,
Timothy
right? That’s good to know. Like everybody has different, different reasons why they want to work with people in different comfort levels. So that’s helpful for sure. Let Z let’s change gears here and go back to two tools because I know you see a lot of different tools. What any any prick, anything. Particular. Any trends that you see happening. But any any favorites that you can can point out. And I’m really liking right now.
Marc
Well, let’s let’s tackle trends first, I would say outdoor power equipment on dhe, sort of. The electrifying of of that is really kind of the biggest trend on my radar right now, and I think you know, it’s interesting. I, uh, was at an event recently for Home Depot in Atlanta, and I was talking to some of the manufacturers there, and I’m really curious to see um when, uh, landscapers start showing up with battery powered outdoor power equipment because I think we’re right on the cusp of that starting to happen. And I actually talked Thio, one of the providers there, and they said, Yeah, you know, we we know a guy that I forget what state he was in. But he started Ah, landscape maintenance company, and they exclusively use battery powered outdoor power equipment. And, you know, it’s from a consumer standpoint, even if you’re hiring someone to work on your yard. If they show up, you know it. Seven. In the morning with their gas powered blower, you know that has an effect on both you and your neighbors, and so, from all kinds of perspectives, the battery power outdoor power equipment makes all kinds of sense. I’m but it’s still kind of hasn’t quite transitioned into the market where we’re going to start seeing it it on a CZ. Landscapers are making the rounds in the neighborhood. All the sudden things are a lot quieter.
Timothy
I totally agree with you there. And, like you said, I haven’t seen the transition over the professional side. I actually do know somebody feels like it was almost 10 years ago now. A guy who started a similar situation started a company, and he was using as much of the battery powered tools that were available, which weren’t that many at the time, and I’m sure they were very, very expensive and bulky and big. But he was really committed, committed to that, for all of the reasons that you just mentioned. And and I changed it to checking to see where his businesses now, because I assume it’s, you know, it’s a lot better for him. Even environment is,
Marc
Yeah, I mean, for any entrepreneurs that are listening that haven’t interesting landscape maintenance. I think it’s actually just kind of a great opportunity on the marketing front because it were at a time where the tech is starting toe, you know, pretty much be there. You know, ego has a professional line where you basically have a backpack that has the battery unit in it and and their gear is is awesome, you know? So we’re starting Thio, and yes, it’s expensive. But, you know, so is the hassle of dealing with gas and, you know, sucking on exhaust fumes all day and things like that s so so I think I think it’s a great opportunity for some people to get out there and be, you know, kind of the green landscape maintenance folks and, uh and you know, the neighbors will start latching onto that like like wild fire. I think
Timothy
it’s got a natural like natural marketing and built into it with quiet. Yeah, it’s a 20 to something like this, too. It’s interesting, because seems like a lot of the trends start with the contractor and then kind of trickle down to the D I Y or tools. It seems like the electric. I mean, a lot of them recorded before. But some of the electric tools start out with the Black and Decker’s. And and now, finally, you know, as you’ve a few years ago. Milwaukee, Dewald Makita they all have now there they’re Ah, they’re battery powered equipment. That’s totally contractor grade.
Marc
Yeah, yeah, it’s true. It’s interesting how that’s kind of shaped up. And, uh, you and I are gonna be bumping into each other and hanging out at Milwaukee soon. I’m curious to see when they’re coming out with the mower, right, because because they’ve got essentially everything you were asking about favorite tools. I did a sponsored review recently for Milwaukee on their quick lock system. And, uh, have
Timothy
you seen that in my hand?
Marc
Okay. All right. And you know, it’s funny. I We have a pretty small yard here and virtually no trees. And so I had to review a pole saw I’m going to do with this, you know? So I called up a buddy of mine. He’s also a real estate client, and they’ve got a a good sized property with lots of trees and brush and stuff on it. And I said, Hey, how do you feel about me coming over with some battery powered at our power equipment? Terry, apart your yard. It’s like, Yeah, come
Timothy
on. You gonna keep you on the speed dial?
Marc
Yeah, exactly. So it was really fun. And actually, the pole saw, uh, I had never used one before, so, you know, I don’t have a great frame of reference on all my past experiences using pole saws, but it was awesome. You know, you put that thing up there on a tree branch pulled the trigger, and two seconds later, the branches off, you know, it’s it’s pretty amazing. So I was impressed with that system, and I think stuff like that is really gonna catch.
Timothy
All right, You know, actually, I haven’t been to our place here, but we have. We’re fortunate to have some trees around here in some really big hedges that require a pole saw. So, yes, A force to be able to review a few different ones. And I’ve got some of these, I think Fisk ours makes the larger, ah, pruners that are on a big, long extension. And those work, Ray and I have one that with a regular saw. But, you know, that’s once you start using the post as opposed to that, you won’t put it down. One of the things one of them have a steel pulse as well, and it just some of them a little unwieldy and heavy. Um,
Marc
that they are a little awkward. They’re a little top
Timothy
heavy, right? But, you know, the Milwaukee, like, I have never really been a great fan of some of the, you know, extendable things that are kind of one. It’s things, does everything, but yeah, that system is a lot of promise. I think it’s the They’re already great with that.
Marc
Yeah. Yeah. And with it, I mean, was a poolside really has to be extendable. Yeah, unless you’re pretty in cages, you know, it’s you need some length out there. So
Timothy
since you mentioned the mowers too, because it seems like everybody else has one now, and it’s kind of been proven. Hey, you could do a more now. Battery powered, No problems. So So, yeah, I sad point might put money that they have got one, you know? Yeah. You know,
Marc
I think what I I be on the verge of putting money on it, too. I think my question is, if they’ve been so focused on their 18 volt platform and not really heading out into these, you know, higher voltage battery platforms. They’ve really been trying to do everything with 18 or 12. I’m And so I think it’ll be interesting to see what they dio with the mo or if they if they bring out a different battery platform or if they just stick a bunch of em. 18 Battery is right, you know, two or three or four M 18 batteries into the mower.
Timothy
Well, now they got that. What was that? The HD 12 and 12 have some bigger, larger capacity ones. But you’re right there. Pretty much. Everybody else is kind of split off with some larger, larger platforms, which again that could that would be a huge big thing for them. But I’m trying to think of what else they would use it for because it pretty much covered their aging full with so many, so many tools. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that’s great. What else? Here? So, yeah, you mentioned some outdoor power equipment. Anything else on that on that line? Yeah.
Marc
I think another trend and thing that has been on my radar is just smart home and and some of the technology that’s kind of creeping its way into our homes. And I’m in the process of reviewing a I’m It’s a whole whom water monitor and essentially leak detector. And this was partly inspired because I aa number of months ago, I randomly woke up at two o’clock in the morning, and I think it was I think it was my homeowner Spidey sense, you know, heard heard some drips in the background, and I went went into our bathroom and found the entire bathroom flooded. Um, from an angle stop that just decided to start leaking in the middle of the night. And I I luckily caught it just literally right before it would start pouring onto hardwood phono cause all kinds of destruction, right? And so, uh, that that kind of got my attention a little bit. And the funny thing is, I’ve actually had a leak sensor in that very bathroom in the past, and I’ve always found that most of the leaks sensors out there tend to be, you know, their battery operated obviously and most of them they’re battery dies and you just never know about it. And so s so I haven’t had, like, a reliable leak detection system. And then I was actually representing a client on a home sale, and we had a fire sprinkler line and, like a low pressure fire, sprinkler lines spring a leak, and it wound up destroying the ceiling in one of the rooms of the home. It was a very expensive home, so it’s painful that have that happen. And right after we got it repaired and this was, of course, while it was on the market, or actually that one was right before it was on the market. Then there was a home inspection done in the home. Inspector thought he had turned off the water upstairs, but apparently like the valve was just sticking, so he thought it. He turned it off, but it was just a stuck valve. And when everyone left the property, the hot water kicked on for, like, 14 hours. And and it’s in this property had, like, a commercial grade that water heaters. It just It was cranking out, you know, a blistering hot water for like, 14 hours. And and so the drain fixture cracked and literally the same ceiling that we had just spent a couple weeks repairing was again flooded. And I thought, you know, there’s got to be a system out there that can reliably notify a homeowner when, when something like this starts, you know, And it’s not gonna necessarily save you completely because, you know, they’re all gonna have a threshold of when it alerts you, you know, But anyway, so I found a product called Flume S L U M E. And I’m in the process of testing that, and there’s a number of similar products out there, and most of them have Mr then require that you hire a plumber and it basically install a special sensor slash valve on your main water line. And that sensor than monitors the flow of water through the pipe, and it can determine when water’s running. If there’s a potential league, you know that kind of thing, and it can distinguish between some sort of high output water fixture or just a slow leak, like in a wall somewhere or something like that. And the difference that I found with flume was that it? Actually, it’s sensor again. It’s battery powered, but it’s one device rather than you know, having 14 of these things distributed around your home. I’m but the sensor actually straps onto your water meter so you go out to your your water meter strapped the sensor on it, and it’s almost like I think it almost kind of takes an E k G basically of of your water flow, and it ties into a nap and ah ah, hub that’s connected to your your WiFi system, innit? Then tracks all of your water usage, so it will tell you you know how you’re doing relative to other families. It’ll tell you how you’re doing. Ah, relative thio your own past usage in previous months or previous days, and you can also set up alerts where if the water is running for X amount of time. Either in a low flow scenario or a high output scenario, it’ll send you an alert and notify you that you’ve got a potential leak going on. Um, so anyway, so I’m still in the review process with that, But But that kind of technology, I think, has a lot of promise. And, you know, as you know, water is the enemy when it comes to toe Holmes. So So anything that can save if people, some of that grief is
Timothy
all I’m already sold. Now I need I need one of those fluids if they’re listening. Wait, so you put it on the water meter. Dude, you don’t need to tap into it. You just wrap. But you
Marc
know, now that’s what I think is like an e k g. Okay, it’s the sensor just wraps around the outside of the meter. It has like, a little bungee cord that kind of strap it onto the meter with and and that that then does its thing on DSO You don’t I mean, yeah, I suppose you could hire a plumber to install it for you, but in my opinion, it’s not really necessary pretty much any homeowner that’s capable of, you know, But in our neighborhood, most of the water meters on the sidewalk. So you have to be ableto you know, Pop, open the lid to the water meter and and strap the device on there and set up a little WiFi thing and then you’re off to the races.
Timothy
Pretty amazing, is there, uh, is there a subscription? That’s part of that as well? There. That’s a good
Marc
question. I don’t think it’s subscription based. Yeah, I don’t think so. I think it’s just part of the
Timothy
What is the price point for that? That is a given mission. I yeah, let
Marc
me on the spot. It’ll be in the article, but I want to say it was around 200
Timothy
dollars. That’s something that you know and in. Like you said. The fact that it also gives you comparables to other families what’s not only a warning system, but also a warning system. And no, hey, you’re used to just, you know, pretty high leg name. There’s areas you can cut back,
Marc
right? Right? Yeah, a CZ. Soon as a soon as I set it up, I realized exactly how much water my daughter uses when she shot,
Timothy
which was a live. Your instincts were right on track with
Marc
that. Yeah, Yeah, exactly.
Timothy
Mark, this has been great enough taking a lot of your time here. But where else can you know? How can people find you? Where should they were? Should they connect with you? Yeah.
Marc
Yeah. So well, on the home fixated front home fixated dot com is where we put out most of our content and all of our social channels Instagram, Twitter, all that are just home fixated. And on the real estate front, it’s basically my full name, which is spelled m e r c l Y m A N and same deal there. I’ve got a website set up for that and time also on social
Timothy
media with that same handle. A swell Excellent. Thank you, Mark. And we’ll see you in Milwaukee. Yeah, Looking forward to his great talking with you, Timothy. Thanks for having me on. Thank you. Thanks for listening to To crave if you like the show, please rate interview us on apple podcasts or wherever you’re listening. Fall along with us for guests. Updates on Instagram Twitter and Facebook at Tool Crate and pull free to email us at podcast at tool crap dot com for guest suggestion or just to say hi, Thanks again and see you soon.
