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SEAS5 RM - 250 - Meet Paul Smith: Realtor & Licensed Property Manager - He's a One Stop Shop!
December 28, 2023 | Posted by: Michele Cummins
SEAS5 RM - 250 - Meet Paul Smith: Realtor, Licensed Property Manager & Owner of Create Modular Homes - He's a One Stop Shop!Watch Segment One Here - Meet Paul Smith: Realtor & Licensed Property Manager He's a One Stop Shop!
Watch Segment Two Here - Create Modular Homes - High Quality Homes Built Fast!
For More Information:
Paul Smith Realtor®️
RE/MAX Magnolia
604-783-0713
psmithbc@gmail.com
Paul Smith - Sales Representative (remaxmagnoliarealty.com)
Create Modular Homes – High Quality Homes Built Fast
Let's connect.
✅ Personal website: https://www.michelecummins.ca
✅ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michelecumminsrealtor/
✅ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FraserValleyRealty/
✅ Twitter: https://twitter.com/CumminsRealtor
✅ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@michelecumminsrealtor
Michele Cummins
Cell: 778-885-4659
Email: mcummins@remax.net
HASHTAGS
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Curtis Pope 0:32
All right, here we are. You know what that means? It's time for the REMAX Magnolia show with Michelle Cummings and myself Curtis Pope. Good morning, Michelle. Good
Michele Cummins - PREC 0:40
morning, Curtis. How are you today?
Curtis Pope 0:43
Well, you know, we're, we're just what? A couple days away from Santas big day.
Michele Cummins - PREC 0:48
No, I'm so excited. How about you?
Curtis Pope 0:49
Well, today I'm really excited because today, let's face it if you're a Seinfeld fan today is Festivus.
Michele Cummins - PREC 0:55
Oh, well, I like them. But I do not know that.
Curtis Pope 0:59
Festivus is the the Costanza Christmas, a Festivus for the rest of us. Fun, which includes the airing of grievances and the feats of strength and all that fun stuff. Yeah, it was one of my favorite episodes. Oh,
Michele Cummins - PREC 1:11
wow. Okay, I'm gonna have to watch it. How about you, Paul,
Unknown Speaker 1:13
have you seen it? No, no, I wasn't a big Seinfeld fan. But
Curtis Pope 1:16
it's a good episode. That one. Yeah. I wasn't a big fan. The beginning either. My wife convinced me to what? We were just dating that. And she's like, you watched Seinfeld? I'm like, No, I haven't really watched it. And she convinced me to watch it. And after about three episodes, I was pretty much hooked. So
Michele Cummins - PREC 1:30
the first thing Richard and I watched together was the three amigos I had he had to pass the test. And if he laughed during three amigos, and he loved them, then. Yeah, well,
Curtis Pope 1:39
that's not. It's Martin Short, Martin Short. So you just funny and everything is. All right. Well, I know we have a guest today. Oh, so we should probably, you know, rely on one of your famous world famous introductions.
Michele Cummins - PREC 1:54
Well, He is no stranger to everyone. He's been in real estate for over eight years now. Wow. And I just I've ever met Paul Smith, everyone. And you've seen him around. You've seen him in advertisements. You've seen him through your neighborhood. You've seen him in your commercial buildings. He is a real estate, genius. He does all things real estate. And I was so privileged to first meet him when I needed help putting a new door on my office space. Here Paul is and he's really good at construction. And he's so kind and he goes, I'll help you with that. And I'm like, Really, and he just really him and his daughter got their stuff together and just came and built the store for me. And I was really thankful. That's was my first introduction, really to Paul, right? I forgot about that. And that door still is there and it's strong as ever and beautiful. So really excited to have Paul with REMAX magnolia. So very honored to have you at the office, very excited to be working with you again. And Paul is also a property. He's got his property management license. You do commercial, not only res and residential. So he's like a one stop shop for real estate. So I wanted to introduce Paul Smith to the public to get to know who he is, besides the man behind the curtain kind of thing like the man on the advertisements that you see, if you haven't had the the honor of working with him. He is going to take care of your needs very well. I've seen him in action for eight years now. And he's really good at what he does. Thank you. You're welcome. Absolutely. And so I have some we're what some why questions for you to get to know you. So where were you born and raised?
Unknown Speaker 3:49
Born and raised in Michigan? Nice.
Michele Cummins - PREC 3:51
Yeah. Right. in our own backyard. So you know everything about mission pretty much
Speaker 1 3:58
I do. I guess you could say I was born into real estate. My mom was as soon as she got our real estate license. She was pregnant with me. So oh my gosh.
Michele Cummins - PREC 4:08
The day she got licensed the day she took her test Wouldn't that be amazing? Like wow, you were born into real estate you like it's out? It's okay. So also on the second segment, he also is an entrepreneur, entrepreneur. So is his beautiful and smart wife and but he's caught the business called it is the module modular, create modular homes. That's right. Modular Homes is the name of it. And he's going to talk about that more in detail about what that is in the second segment. But with that history that you have in real estate and construction, as I mentioned before, and now this create modular home business you also have it like what got you in it? It's pretty obvious to maybe some people but what got you into real estate like why did you choose your real estate license and getting into this field? Hold on,
Speaker 1 5:01
I guess it started in. I built my first home in Whistler back in 2009. And still have it. No, it sold and I fell in love with construction then ended up moving to Nelson, we built a couple more homes out there. And then kind of slowly gravitated towards towards real estate. And just fell in love with like all aspects of real estate. So
Michele Cummins - PREC 5:26
I love Nelson Nelson. I
Unknown Speaker 5:29
love it. Yeah,
Curtis Pope 5:29
it's a beautiful spot in this province. It really is. It's a little gem right smack dab in the middle of nowhere almost. About Steve Martin. Exactly. The rocks
Unknown Speaker 5:38
on Yeah. Love it.
Michele Cummins - PREC 5:40
The whole museum walking tour there for that. But okay, so so why not just your real estate license? Why? Why also your property management license and your and your love for commercial as well? Do you think
Speaker 1 5:57
it's all kind of wrapped in together, it's just it's part of real estate and part of finding people what they want. And it's, it's, I guess, that service end of it, where it's like all aspects of real estate I love helping people with so well,
Michele Cummins - PREC 6:10
I also see that you aren't happy or good enough with just the top layer of things. You dig in to everything that you do, and you do it 100% Okay, so I see that as like your you want to know everything there is to know and be that service provider that your clients need, like you said, for sure. For sure, yeah. So what is the most because you've done a lot in your eight years, you're very successful, what's maybe one of the most exciting transactions you've been part of whether it's like the most unique or the most interesting, it's interesting thing happened during it.
Speaker 1 6:52
That would probably be the first home that I built. So I was that was really exciting, actually. So I I've walked the dog around my one round this residential area in Emerald estates in Whistler and kept seeing this for sale by owner sign on this vacant lot. And I just kept wondering, like, that would be a perfect place to build a home. And one day I ended up just calling calling the guy and apparently he had foreclosed on the owner. And he really just wanted to get rid of a lot. So long story short, he ended up financing the home and the construction of a home. Oh, that's smart. So that's how it started. That's
Michele Cummins - PREC 7:26
amazing. Yeah, because that was exciting. It was almost like door knocking just walking around or just finding something. Was there. Not a lot of lots available
Speaker 1 7:35
at the time. There wasn't a lot no one. Yeah, not many foreclosed luck foreclosure loss either. So it was a it was good timing for sure.
Michele Cummins - PREC 7:43
I kind of see you have good timing and things too in your life. What do you think? Is the what do you get the most out of real estate? Like what do you like the most out of it?
Speaker 1 7:56
Just helping people talking to people. I'm I'm a people person. So yeah, that's that's the best part of it for me.
Michele Cummins - PREC 8:02
And what is a hobby that you love to do? Or what do you like to do in your downtime?
Unknown Speaker 8:06
Oh, that's an easy one. I have dirt biking. I love to dirt bike.
Michele Cummins - PREC 8:09
You did you name your dirt bike?
Speaker 1 8:12
No, no, really? It is a her though.
Michele Cummins - PREC 8:17
Your car's a he and you're
Unknown Speaker 8:18
no he's she's a she too.
Michele Cummins - PREC 8:20
She's a she did. So dirt bike. You mountain bike. Do
Speaker 1 8:26
you used a mountain bike? I've more into just spare biking right now.
Michele Cummins - PREC 8:30
I'm you ski, snowboard, snowboard. I like skiing but don't do it on ski too. Cool. Yeah, I love it. Cool. Learned in Montana. Okay, so So if that's what you do for fun, dirt biking, which kindred spirit here not as extreme as you though because I know you got a dirt bike too. Yes, my mind has a name. Oh, that's what's duster. duster. Yeah, green is like a desk because I used to own in 1971 sublime green duster. And it's it's a it's a Chrysler okay. Yeah, it's it. I beat police I get that thing was fast. It was beautiful. It was light and it went like hack the
Curtis Pope 9:09
fact that you used to own it bothers me. I
Michele Cummins - PREC 9:11
know it bothers me.
Curtis Pope 9:14
Yeah, I think mostly those old muscle cars are my like favorite so when it used to be they got duster or charger, Mustang or Camaro or Cougar river. I love all those cars. So it's like, oh, you say used to it's like, I used to have a 69 Mustang. So I know how you feel. Feel the pain? Yes. It's like
Michele Cummins - PREC 9:33
It's like property like once you buy it, a vehicle or a car. Never sell it? No, it's too special. Because when you do you regret it later on. Same thing with real estate. Unless of course you need to move your equity into something. Yes, that's a good time to sell. So Paul, what do you most excited about in 2024 2024?
Speaker 1 9:54
Well, the new broker joined up I'm excited about getting going with that. So that is a lot of exciting things going And on there? That's, yeah, that's number one for sure.
Michele Cummins - PREC 10:03
And what about mission in particular, what's kind of on the horizon that you see, you know, a mission so well, like the back of your hand, born and raised in your your mom being in real estate being very successful agent? What's coming up in Michigan that you see, that is the most exciting for you that you're happy with that you're seeing the progress or the direction, some direction? Well,
Speaker 1 10:27
it's, I guess it would be the new legislation that's coming in with. It's called small scale, multi unit housing. So that's the density that the provincial government wants and they're mandating to municipalities that they want more density, which that's exciting, because it's, that is, there's a lot of limitations on building secondary suites. And that's part of that is is the modular company, modular construction company that I'm starting to
Michele Cummins - PREC 10:52
talk about that and so excited that you have that service to offer the Fraser Valley and beyond. And so we'll get into that. I know, we have to go on break soon. But how do you my one question to go with that new legislation, though? What do you think this is going to do to land assemblies? We're going to see less of them, more of them different types of them, now that you can do so much with one lot?
Speaker 1 11:19
You know, that's a good question. Like, off the top of my head, I guess smaller land assemblies? Is that what you say? Or yeah,
Michele Cummins - PREC 11:26
maybe it's specific land assemblies only for high rises or condo projects. A little bit townhouses, but not as much I don't think we're going to see as much subdivision happening or possibly even row homes if you can do a four Plex and six plexes to Yeah, depending on the width and depth and size of the lot so that I think this is gonna change the trajectory of actual land assemblies.
Curtis Pope 11:53
With that, we should probably take a break. So Michelle, if people want to see more information about your listings and what you do as a realtor in your team, where
Michele Cummins - PREC 12:00
can they go REMAX Magnolia realty.com
Curtis Pope 12:03
We're back and more right after this?
And we're back to segment two of the REMAX Magnolia real estate show. No Michelle has taken off Actually, she's just off of the shot. She's still here watching me make sure I don't screw anything up. But Paul is still here. And Paul, of course, you were talking a bit about create modular homes there. But your other business and I wanted to find out more about that, because that must be something that I can only imagine is this going to grow in the coming years? Absolutely.
Speaker 1 14:15
Yeah. Yeah. So just started the company a year ago. So we have an industrial location out in heartsick just just outside of Michigan. And very simply, what we do is we we build homes on that site get loaded on trucks, and then they get craned onto permanent foundations.
Curtis Pope 14:32
Yeah, and I imagine that that's something that, you know, there's been that there was that little boom there with tiny homes, but then that was, you know, how functional Are they more than one or two people? If you've got a family or something like that, and you're looking to get a chunk of property or something like that and get into the real estate game. Modular homes are probably a good way to do it. Exactly. Yeah. So that's kind of a good base level entry point, I guess for sure.
Speaker 1 14:55
The initial design we had is two pieces. So it's two modules for Team by 52 feet. And so two pieces. So three bedroom, two and a half bath, 1500 square feet. So a nice size,
Curtis Pope 15:08
that's a good size. Now do different floor plans as well for people to kind of choose from or we do.
Speaker 1 15:13
And a lot of concepts we've have two designs we've come up with so far. And we've I've had a client design a laneway hair salon, we haven't started production on that one yet, but they have a home based business admission. And they're designed to small 14 by 28 feet. For a couple barber chairs and nice view down down to the river. It's yeah, it's a nice project.
Curtis Pope 15:37
Now that must be kind of a fun part of the job in some of the planning things out and finding new ways to make these things you know that much more, you know, you know better for people, you know, better design more efficient things like that, is that something you really enjoy doing? For sure
Speaker 1 15:51
and more more on the higher quality side of things. So Florida ceiling windows, and we can make a nine foot ceiling. So it's it's a nice comfortable space?
Curtis Pope 16:00
Absolutely. And I imagine you're probably finding that, you know, from also your real estate background that more and more people are probably looking to get into the game that way. Absolutely. Now, is that something that obviously, you're biased? Because that's something you would often recommend to people coming to go and look at a first time homebuyer, you know, where do I start? 100%?
Speaker 1 16:17
Yeah, and yeah, another opportunity too, is, if a house is getting too small, you need to add a little bit of square footage to add modular addition onto it. So you can just create it into place. And, and you're done. That's
Curtis Pope 16:29
an option I never would have thought of Yeah, other than building an entire new segment of your house, you could bring in something that's pre built. Exactly. Yeah. That's amazing. I never would have thought of that. So now where are you finding when it comes to you know, people that are getting into the into the game into the modular homes, and they're coming to you, you know, are they are the young couples that are just starting out? Are they you know, people that are empty nesters, I mean, who's buying them from you? Within
Speaker 1 16:54
the past year, we've had a ton of inquiries, a lot of people are in the caribou area. Caribou being a place where it's hard to find skilled labor. And it's, it can be very expensive to build on it can take a long time also. So it's a good option for somewhere, somewhere like that. Yeah,
Curtis Pope 17:12
I lived up in Prince George for seven years. And I know that getting things built up there, because your depends on the winter, sometimes get a mild winter, you can work other times it's 35 below for, you know, three, four months, and you're not getting much work done. Exactly. So I can see how that would be a challenge. But and that makes sense, too, because people can get a good chunk of land up there. And do they want to go through the whole process of building their own home? Or do they want to get something that's already pre made and just dropped into place? Exactly.
Speaker 1 17:40
Yeah, I sold a friend of mine, five acres for $52,000. And at Horse Lake.
Curtis Pope 17:47
Yep. And that'd be a perfect spot to to drop a couple modular home onto and you're good to go. Right, because it's, you know, you've already done all the work at that point. So the person is it's almost like just, you know, turnkey, right, exactly. Yeah. So that makes it a lot easier, I guess. So you talked a bit in the first segment about you just called up, you know, a real sign and bought a property in Whistler. And from there got the bug going. You also said, you built a couple homes in Nelson. Oh, what's that, like? That's a beautiful spot with a lot of older style buildings. So when you build something up there, you have to take that in consideration and try to keep it looking like everything else,
Speaker 1 18:24
or exactly this was a newer subdivision. So it wasn't we weren't trying to tie in with a lot of the heritage homes that you'd see in right inside. And also it was just slightly outside but still within the Nelson boundaries. But that was an so the third that the second project was a duplex that I built. What was interesting about that is and this is how I got into looking obsessive about modular construction is so we bought this lot started building a duplex and the designer who designed the home for us, after we got the building permit, he saw another little lot off to the side and decided to purchase that. And so he purchased the lot ordered a modular home from Idaho, had it built, had it had the foundation built, had it delivered, listed it and sold that before we even finished the dupe the duplex. So seeing that happening I was the lights kind of turned on it's that there's something to this. Yeah,
Curtis Pope 19:22
absolutely. I can see how that would be like Well, wait a minute, why are we doing all this work? When there's another way to do it? There's always another way of doing things right. And that's just one way of doing it. Yeah, even the fact that he came up from Idaho I mean, I guess it's not that far from the Nelson trail area. But still Yeah, the fact that there was nothing kind of in BC, I guess is a again another light bulb. Right? That exactly, absolutely. So now you're a real estate agent. You've also got your own business going. I mean, when do you have time for those hobbies? You talked about?
Speaker 1 19:57
dirt biking. Hi, I have to I have to pick a window and it's been early mornings, early mornings during the week, as is the best time to a dirt bike route lately. That's been great ever since I started with REMAX magnolia. I've been quite busy, so I have to pick my time wisely to go dirt biking.
Curtis Pope 20:14
Now one thing about the team down there, I've met pretty much the entire team now and great bunch of people. But you and James wrote numbered.
Speaker 1 20:21
We are you are, by by how many? I have to run.
Curtis Pope 20:26
It's a lot. That's for sure. And, and these are some strong women too. They are they'll they'll keep you guys in place. And let's face it, James needs it. For me, too. Yeah. You know, sometimes you need a little a little help down and to keep us in line. Right? Yeah. So now, Michelle, when she comes in here and does the full show, she has listings and stuff like that. Do you have any listings? You want to talk about her? Oh,
Speaker 1 20:50
you know what, there's one little pocket listing I have that's kind of interesting. It's,
Curtis Pope 20:54
I like to pocket Yeah, you guys always have a pocket listing.
Speaker 1 20:57
So this one is in. It's a small lot in stave falls, it's a quarter acre. And it's 299 That's it. Yeah, it's 299 it's there's a little bit of work to get this driveway in but it's definitely a lot of opportunity. It's nice and private, outside of town. Perfect
Curtis Pope 21:15
spot to drop a modular home in.
Unknown Speaker 21:17
Yeah, exactly.
Curtis Pope 21:19
I see how this works. It's like, you know, cause and effect if I get the property sold, and I can send them over here. Warm. It's perfect. I love it. So now you're you've been working now with with the new team. And I imagine you guys all bring different strengths to the team. So what do you bring to REMAX magnolia?
Speaker 1 21:42
I guess that my construction background that's knowing how to build a house from ground up as I can be useful in that way to help clients make informed, informed decisions.
Curtis Pope 21:54
It must almost help you to because you can you have a good idea of that a building codes and things like that. So when you're going to view a house, you can almost do a pre inspection inspection, I guess.
Speaker 1 22:03
And the big thing too is knowing how much something more cost so that they can budget that before they even write an offer. Just just ballpark knowing how much something will cost.
Curtis Pope 22:12
Yeah, so you get there and the decks rotting and you're going okay, well, the decks gonna cost you for that size, with labor 2500 bucks kind of thing, right? So that must actually, you know, must be helpful. It is very, very cool. Now did Michelle asked you to get a quote ready and things like that, because she usually tries to get a quote ready for
Speaker 1 22:30
oh, yeah, that's a quote. Well, I have a quote, and then I changed it to a different quote,
Curtis Pope 22:34
you change the quote to a different quote. Well, that makes sense, too, because we've done that a few times before. I mean, I have a couple of quotes that you know, I just keep around just in case Michele throws it back at me, which he does sometimes. But I'm sure you have one. So
Speaker 1 22:48
what is this? Learning to listen is the essence of intelligent living, learning to listen is the essence of intelligent living.
Curtis Pope 22:57
I like that. Yeah, I should probably listen more. There's a lesson there. Yeah, there's a lesson to be learned there for sure. Well, now you so you probably have a couple of websites we should promote because we're talking about both the gigs you have going so people want to know more about the modular home aspect, where can they go? Create modular.com Okay, that's nice and easy. And what about your real estate website? You must have one of those that
Speaker 1 23:20
would be we'll go with the brokerage real estate website. So that's REMAX magnolia. realty.com All right.
Curtis Pope 23:28
Look at that. Michelle's nodding in the corner pretending she's not here again, but we got it right. We've we've struggled with that a bit with the new change, but we're getting there even I've got it memorized now. So it's all good. Well, Paul, I appreciate you coming in today and in chatting a bit about what you do and how you do it.
Unknown Speaker 23:42
Thanks for having me.
Curtis Pope 23:45
And join us again next week when we will talk real estate in order to unlock your real estate potential on the show real estate is maximized. Thanks for listening