From Inspections to Mountain Retreats: Greg Spencer’s Journey with Toccoa House Properties
Join Nick Constantino on the Marketing MadMen as he interviews Greg Spencer, owner of Toccoa House Properties. Greg shares his journey from a master’s degree in planning to building a successful mountain retreat in Blue Ridge, GA. Learn about his hands-on approach to home inspections, the challenges he faced, and his philosophy of patience and passion in property development. Discover how personal experiences and community changes have shaped his vision and success.
Key Takeaways:
- Hands-On Approach: Greg’s client-involved method in home inspections builds trust and transparency.
- Learning from Experience: Extensive experience in inspections informed his property development approach.
- Patience and Passion: Emphasizing a slow, deliberate approach over quick financial gains.
- Influence of Personal Experiences: Visits to places like Timberline Lodge influenced his design choices.
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Keywords:
- Greg Spencer
- Toccoa House Properties
- Blue Ridge
- Marketing Mad Men
- Nick Constantino
- Home inspections
- Property development
- Patience and passion
- Community change
- Mountain retreat
Happy Saturday and welcome to the Marketing Mad Men, Nick Constantino here and before we start, everybody take a deep breath. We’re going to transport you to the mountains right along the river base where the Blue Ridge Mountains, the base of the Smoky Mountains. And we’re going to talk about the mounds is one of my favorite places on Earth. And I think anybody that can’t escape to the mountains and see what it feels like and how much different life changes from being in the city, go do it and learn to relax, because that is one place where you can absolutely relax. So to help me on my guest, I have Greg Spencer here, who’s the owner of Toccoa House properties in Blue Ridge. And we’re going to talk about a lot of stuff. But Greg, how you doing, Bud?
I’m great this say is a super spot here. Love being in the battery, love digging the energy. Yeah. So thank you so much. Been very well received and taken care of by your staff here.
Good.
Good, good. It’s good to have and let’s let’s start there. So you grew up with a love of sports. You’ve been a long time listener of 680 the fan, our sister station, you know, much of the guys out there, let’s talk about that upbringing in sports. And I bet you it’s going to make its way through a lot of what we talked about. So once you start with.
So thank you.
That.
OK, well, I was one of those kids where if there was a ball around, I was playing with it came from Portland OR had a great neighborhood we would play with football, football, basketball, baseball, everything.
Parents would just let you run out. There was no. There was nothing to keep track of. It was the sun comes down. Get your little booty home.
Yeah. That’s the end of the conversation. Come in for dinner at 6:00 and then summer time. We eat dinner and go back out and play some more. So it was just me and my brother, but we had a lot of neighborhood kids and.
Yeah.
Back out.
We had a lot of fun. My brother was the stud in the family. He was all state catcher, defensive back scholarships to college and ended up being a football coach his whole life. He’s retired and lived in lives in Bend OR now.
But oh, they talk about the high the high desert there. That’s a wonder.
Every. Yes.
Yeah, it’s when we were sweating a couple of weeks ago. I said, hey, bro, what’s the what’s the nightly temperature there? He said. Oh, about mid 40s, so. So yeah, it’s great when it’s not on fire. Yeah, that’s why. But he yeah, he had a great career. He coached it. He’s one of the only guys that coached it two or more academies he coached at Navy with Paul Johnson came with Paul Johnson to tech there five years and then got recruited by Jeff Monken to army and then now he coaches Bend.
No.
High school football for $500 a year.
That’s a different. That’s a change. And ironically just. Four months ago I played golf with Jeff Monken, the coach of Romney. So how how funny things work? But he was a wonderful person, and I I was a little worried because the way this worked, we draft all these college coaches, and like Spurrier, was there at Urban Meyer. We had one of the last picks, so we got Monk and I think most people were like, ohh no, could I drink a beer in front of this guy? That’s the coach of Army.
Ohh really? Yeah. He is.
But he was a blast and the best part is he was worse than I was. And our candy handicaps were so high that we won the whole thing on net. So and he gave me his army, his coin, which was really awesome. So I had a.
Great time with him speaking. It’s. I’m going to a game is really special. My my brother was at Navy right after 911. Wow. Talk about patriotism. Wow, that was fabulous. And you know, West Point’s awesome.
Yeah.
Yep, Yep. I’ve been many times we used to go once a year from New York City. We used to take.
And the necklace? Yeah.
The ride. To go once a year to an army game. Yeah. Army, Navy is something altogether different, though. That is as cool of an experience as there is. In sports, so talk about you. You were. Lucky guy, yeah.
Yeah, I was. You know, there was a ice rink near where we lived, and I started out, you know, when I was like 10. Skating with my girlfriend on Friday night date skate and I don’t know, I just was pretty good at it. I was pretty coordinated anyway, but I love to skate right-handed but I played left Wing and Doug Messier who played then he’s.
Yeah.
For the Portland Buckaroos, the Portland.
Buckaroos not a name I’ve ever heard before. I got to. Look that one up.
That’s probably an interesting story. Doug Messier would haul us kids. I guess that was 12 or 14 or something to all these Canadian destinations, including Edmonton.
Yeah, that’s crazy.
And his one of his kids was Mark Messier. I don’t.
There you go. I’m might have. I’m have probably top five player of all time.
Know if you’ve heard. Of him or not but. Yeah, it’s weird to see. Like, I was really into the Florida Edmonton Series course. And he’d be in there, up on ESPN talking. Going that’s the kid that sat in the front seat behind Daddy and thought his thought he was like entitled or something, but. I think he was like, yeah, yeah, yeah, but that was.
Must have worked out. Must have worked. Must have worked. Must have. Worked out somehow.
That was a blast and we got to travel and we learned to say a yeah.
What set a boot? What’s in a boot? Eh? I love that is. I haven’t spent a ton of time there, but the Vancouver Victoria part of Canada is my favorite part of Canada by far. It is gorgeous up there. It is otherworldly.
Canada.
I would, I would agree. I would agree. That was that was great. Like I say, my brother was the stud athlete. I was more of an academic and you know leadership kind of guy, but we we’re happy we’re still.
Yeah. You know, I wish more people played hockey and the reason is is that so I used to ice skate all the time, never played hockey but was a huge ice skater. Would go four days a week and it’s nothing like it. You could Sprint, you could play any sport. If you go on ice skates and go full speed, the muscles that are sore are so different. The body, the way your hip flexors work, and I cannot imagine that to be a bad thing to have for other sports. I think I became an athlete when I start ice skating. All the other things I got better at lateral movement everything. I just wish there was more. People out there ice skating because any time your body can do a different movement, it’s better for everything. And I think we look at sports wrong altogether. We’re trying to make kids specialized versus playing a little bit of everything, but that’s a different story.
Well, I I agree. And it’s when I moved to the South, it’s kind of hard to find a frozen pond around here. So I put on some rollerblades and I would. I lived two blocks from Piedmont Park and the Beltline and. When the Beltline came along, that the smoothest track on the planet, I thought. I’m in heaven. Yeah. And I would, you know, I’d go out skate 10 miles and that’s cool and so.
Yeah.
It’s cool. I like. I like roller skating. I’m. I rollerblade with my daughter. But there’s something about ice skating and the ability to go the the way you can go side to. Side and skate out like.
Exactly.
Yeah, when once you get control of ice skates, it’s unbelievable what you can do with them. So anyway, so we’ve already went down a rabbit hole, so let’s leave this rabbit hole and let’s talk a little bit about the proper. Because the story of how you ended up moving in here and and getting this property and starting this all is crazy. So we’re talking about Toccoa River, we’re talking about Blue Ridge. Talk about your property. Talk about how you got it and let’s bring us up to speed because there’s a lot to cover there.
So yeah, yeah, there is a lot to cover. I came to Atlanta right out of grad school. First job. It was fine, like being able to walk to restaurants.
Fine, there’s definitely air quotes for Lindsey. Fine.
But I you know, it was really cool. This kid from Oregon, downtown Atlanta, Virginia Highlands, you know, going to walk into restaurants and bars and, you know, whoa, work was awesome. And but I just felt claustrophobic and I needed my mountains and my rivers and.
Yeah.
Camping and paddling and biking and all that. And so I would go north, I’d go through Clayton and Dahlonega. Blue. Red. Yep. And I thought, man, this is pretty cool town. Yeah, and this is 30 plus years ago. 19 late, late 80s, early 90s. And I don’t know. I’ve started looking around and planted my flag as I say, for $500 down and a 10 year mortgage on a piece of land from a seller. And built, we were off grid then we didn’t have electricity until the late 90s, which I actually brought from across the the river in Mineral Bluff.
There’s no easy process like. It’s not just like you ran a power line across the thing like you’re drilling, you’re going under. There’s rivers, there’s permits, they’re they’re not easy to work with. Georgia Power. It’s remote. So you’re pulling in to begin with. So there’s a.
No, no, no.
Lot that goes into that.
So initially I just wanted a place. To walk up my my gear, my bike and. I don’t know. One thing led to another. I built a cabin that actually envisioned it as a B&B, not an Airbnb. This is way before then.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. The old school bed.
And yeah, and it’s.
Breakfast with the creepy dolls all over the place. I don’t know why I always feel like there’s always a creepy doll at every B and.
If.
B I’ve ever.
Stayed at. It’s never operated as a B. Be because it became very popular as a big house. We can accommodate 14 people. There’s a huge great room that’s 32 by 3228 feet tall.
Yeah.
Yeah. Sanctuary or something. A big big table.
Yeah. And anybody that’s been in the mountains knows how important that is because there’s not a lot of places to go when you’re in the mountains. It’s about being in the mountain, being on property the second it’s night time, unless you got an ATV with the light and I’ve gotten lost many times in those mountains. So don’t do that. But that, that, that communal area where a bunch of people can stay and be together, the drinks start pouring, weird stuff starts happening. But as you need that in the mountains.
Exactly. Need covered decks too. Rain is not exactly great when you’re trying to grill some steaks.
Yeah, and rains different in the mountains it. Comes in lightning.
Sideways. Sideways always comes from Alabama. Those those Nick, Nick Saban is, yeah.
Fast and comes in shades. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, freaking Bama. Everything. Blame him for everything so easy. Such a such an easy target. Such an easy target to blame, Alabama.
So are you Alabama friends out there?
Yeah. Nah, Nah, that’s fine. We don’t have to apologize. All right, so you, you, you set this place up, you went from 1. You know, I don’t want to Fast forward it, but just tell how, where. What are you at?
Now, because the place is we have 6 cabins, we have an event space, so we we do a lot of weddings and events and. Business meetings love to have you all come. Cool, cool. But it’s a recreation destination, is what we call it because it’s a big hunk of land. It’s 17 acres which, like I say I I bought 2 1/2 acres for $500 down in a mortgage and then, you know, just I’m not that guy that goes out and buys. A fancy sports. Yeah, I bought another uncle land. Yeah. And I don’t know. I just always love to build. Since I was a home inspector, I sort of knew my way around. Then I was energetic and I just can’t sit still. So.
Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, built everything.
Love it, love it. Love it. Love it and I want and I brought you there because we’re going to talk about the middle part in the next segment because how marketing goes into that, the business acumen, the inspector, how that all built to what the property is because you know a lot of people, unfortunately this country is searching for instant gratification and they think these things just happen overnight, right. Like you’re gonna buy a power and you’re gonna build this thing. That’s not how anything works. And if you do it that way, you will never be as invested. As you were in this process, so when we come back from the break, we’re gonna give some practical advice to people. We’re gonna talk how we marketing luxury. We’re gonna talk about all the good stuff that got us here. We’ll be listening to the marketing man at Extra 106 three. We’ll be right back. I hope I timed that right. Flounder, I forgot where I was close.
OK, you’re really good.
I forgot my files. Forget the ******* the stop button.
Where do you how do you what’s? Usually 8 seconds.
Off get the **** out of.
Here what’s your? What’s your background I?
Mean. Oh, similar to you, I I I graduated. University of Maryland in 2004. Moved to the beach in San Diego. Really. Then I was driving back to New York. I stopped in Vegas, started my own personal chef company there, got into radio. Then I moved to Washington, DC because I wanted to move back East, NE. But my parents were nuts. So I moved to DC and then I moved down here. I’ve been in media and marketing, marketing. I was never in. I just started doing the show about two years ago. And just everyone. Mark, it’s something so it’s like a really easy conversation.
Yeah. And.
And I’m like, you know, this is probably the 80th, 90th episode I’ve done. So it’s just become it’s just.
Yeah, I listened to you. Did one. There was a guy that that was on pickleball few weeks ago who had. Yeah.
Become a little. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. The rocket company. My godfried. Yeah, it was cool. And I and I think that like, there’s everyone out there. Everything is so hyper produced and it’s always like these people who are talking down to you about what to do in marketing, right. And they’re *******. They don’t even have jobs. They’re just teaching because they can’t market anything. So practical application has come to be it. And like I did an episode last week, I had to do one with a spirit company and I drank and then I. Do one about. The Bible. So it was it was, it was. It is. I feel like it’s a challenge for me. Alright. We’re just gonna keep going. Yeah. OK. Welcome back to the marketing Mad Men on Extra 106 three. We’re going to keep our conversation going with Greg Spencer of Toccoa House properties. So Greg, we set up. 500 bucks and you got a mortgage, right? We know that that doesn’t happen anymore. Quite the same way, but one. You had the cojones to do it. You had the vision to do it. So. And we’ve talked about now it’s this 6 property 17 acre facility. I’m sure you’re doing weddings. All these wonderful things in there. Let’s get a little bit into the middle, OK, because I think the middle is what is so forgotten about? Everyone wants instant gratification. Everything wants it to be the end, but no one wants to talk about it. Got there. So First off, before you even did this, you are a home inspector in Atlanta, and I’ve never talked about heard someone talk about the home inspection job quite like you did with such a a vigor and a smile. About it, so talk about why you love that. Talk about that because I bet you that helped you and what you were doing with building the property out.
For sure I.
How about masters in planning OK and came to Atlanta to do that worked on a bunch of different projects including the early phases of the Beltline, which these guys were saying, hey, we’re going to buy up all these old railroad tracks. Yeah. Buy off all these railroad tracks and we’re going to.
Cool. Yeah, tech guys, right, they. Do the tech guys.
Put restaurants and apartments next to it and I’m going, yeah. But they did. I worked there four years, Glenn properties and but I I developed this skill in grad school because we were doing HUD projects. I learned how to do inspections. And so I was doing that on the side, continuing to do that. And it was just like the people I like the work. I was a, you know, my parents built a house in the new subdivision in Portland when I was a kid. And I used to run around and look at look at these houses and thought, wow, this is really neat watching this go up and and.
Yeah.
So I got to do what I would do for free anyway I got. Paid for it.
Yeah, I have to imagine just thinking outside out loud here. Like I remember any expection I’ve had. It’s been a very quiet person who comes and does their job, doesn’t want to talk to you. And you are quite the opposite. So I have to imagine going into People’s House meeting with them. They immediately kind of feel rapport and comfortable with you, which makes them feel better about the process, which makes them feel a burden of relief off their shoulders, which means you’re providing. A service for.
People. But I, you know, I I feel very strongly about that. It’s not about me. You know. Most inspectors want an hour or hour and a half on that property by themselves. Their client comes at the end and they give them the so-called summary. That’s not the right way to do it. I saw. I’ve. I’ve always believed that that. OK, this is about you, Sir. This is about you, ma’am. And you want to be there. Come be there the whole time. I’ll give you a flashlight and some coveralls and.
Yeah.
So sort of had a different attitude.
But that also probably makes repeat business easier. It makes referrals easier as opposed to you sitting back and and getting the leads to the community. You’re actively a part of this because people are referring you because one they enjoyed the process 2 like you said like.
Absolutely, yeah, yeah.
When I have my HVAC dot service, I followed the guy and like hey man, do you mind if I follow you around because I want. I don’t want to make those mistakes again. I want to see how to check if it’s the compressor or the fan. And I always ask cause I’ve learned it’s pretty weird and creepy to just follow something back. Hey man can. I follow you. So I asked, but those when you’re involved in a process like that one, you learn a little bit. Two, you feel more comfortable with three. The value is there because now you’re learning something you didn’t know before, and that’s of immense value.
Yeah. Well, and guess what? It’s somewhat selfish, because if so. Somebody has an inspection. They move into that house, their dishwasher doesn’t work. They go. Hey, man, you didn’t check my dishwasher? Well, yeah, I did. You were standing right behind me. You watched me open it and turn it on. And so there’s some self-interest there. But I also, I’ve always been different.
Yeah, yeah. Understand.
I’ve always wired kind of different. I said. OK, let’s make this professional. Yeah, I wore a tie. Yeah, I just read. I could write, I could talk. I got I I just befriended the right people. You know, I thought, OK, if I’m gonna ride this train, I’m gonna find a conductor and an engineer that know what they’re doing.
Interesting. Interesting. Interesting.
Yeah, I I did and.
So you ended up with 16 employees at at one point and the companies, how many houses were you? And let’s give some SQL.
Yeah.
I’m not sure your account everyone with a.
I did, I personally. I personally did 25,000 and I actually have going back in the 80s. Some of those early reports, and my firm did over 200, so it was hot. Where did the time go? Where? How did my kids and grandkids get grown up? And you know, it’s like it was so much fun.
I love it.
And in between inspections, what was I doing listening to 680 the fan?
There we go. We got our unsolicited drop. Alright, so I’m gonna ask you because now I’m intrigued. What was the craziest thing you’ve ever seen in the house? What was the one thing that called you the most? And if it’s too graphic, don’t say it. But what was the the one thing that you were that you remember this day? You’re like, OK, if this happens? To you run as fast as you can. What was that? One moment.
Well, I’ve got the Seminole moment. It was 1987. I had been a home inspector.
For two years. OK. I was where I was doing a townhouse and the tenant was there and he comes to me and he says. I smell smoke. I said what? I smell smoke and so I started freaking out, looking around, running downstairs and churning up the downstairs. The basements on fire. And this was before cell phones.
So he failed this inspection, like the houses on fire. What do you?
Do he called fire department?
Ohh my goodness.
Fire department came by the time they came, flames were shooting through the roof. Half the IT was a townhouse, half the townhouse next to it was on fire.
Uh, it’s important for those three houses.
Well, I mean. A whole bunch of stuff, I mean. And so everybody’s pointing fingers like, OK, my house was not on fire before you got here. Dude, you come my house burns down.
Surprise. I’m Satan and it just kind of fire just comes.
It’s your, it’s. With me and I mean so that’s.
Your fault. I’m the house, Bob it just.
Comes with a long story, but you know, I was accused by whole bunch of people for doing multi inspection where actually the Townhouse Association had their electrical engineer come in. And I was the last man. In theory, I was doing something that anybody would have done, and in doing so, it did this that did this, that did this and triggered the dryer circuit that was improperly wired in the basement.
Yeah.
Like you say, no firewalls, no, you know, and so. It was.
Crazy and most people would run for the hills after that, so you stuck around. You built this amazing. Here you know.
So, so sorry to interrupt. When you said what is the one thing? Yeah, I got that.
Yeah, that’s it. I mean that’s why because it’s what do you do? You gotta keep going. But again, you know, this is the the point I’m trying to make, right. You just saw so many houses. You saw so many things. One of the things like repetition. Right. One of the reasons I do the show is I wanna get better at it. I wasn’t gonna be good at episode 1. Hopefully by 2-3 hundred. I’m good at it. And it becomes instinct. You’ve been 20,000 houses now. When you’re building your property out, you’ve seen everything. No one’s gonna pull the wool over your eyes. No builders gonna come in and tell you how to do it. You’ve seen it all, and I think you when you start exuding that confidence for a reason, some people have it because they’re just. And artists, it makes everyone around you work harder and do better. So talk about how we went from 1 cabin to six. Talk about the property.
Yeah, yeah. Well, people come and they look around and they look up at these huge beams and you know, nice design and they go, how do you figure this out? I said, well, 20,000 inspections and was taking notes. Everyone, they know what to do. Right. I especially know what not to do. Yeah, so it definitely.
You’re learning from other people’s mistakes. Most people learn from them. You’re learning from other people’s mistakes.
It it definitely. Yeah, let’s see. As a planner, we were, we were doing design and you know, planners are generalists. We did structural engineering and plumbing and but it was all a huge scale. Yeah. And so I just reduced that scale down to 1 little building at a time 1 little bathroom at a time.
Yeah.
Sure.
So it was a practice.
Yeah, it was repetition. Like I said, that’s amazing. So, so one of the things you said is anybody can look at this say they have this amazing property on the river and they like, I was a visionary and I saw this property and I knew I sat there and maybe I partook in some fun.
Yeah.
Yeah, right. Right.
Activities under a tree and I looked down and I saw it all just magically appeared. You say the opposite, that you were not a visionary. So talk a little bit about that because I think the realness of saying life takes a lot of luck. It takes a lot of putting yourself in a.
No way.
Going to be lucky. So talk about that because again, very easy to just like, oh man, I thought of this whole thing 30 years ago was destined to succeed. Talk about how you approach it, because then and then we’re gonna really talk about it and how people can find.
You and what kind of people are coming up to see you? Yeah. So, I mean, it’s there’s a saying here in the South and it goes something like sometimes I sit. And thinks and sometimes I just sit. And that’s kind of been my story. And I people ask me, OK, I wanna. I wanna buy a piece of land. I wanna do what you did. I wanna build a house. I say OK, first requirement is get a lawn chair. Sit down. Nobody around you. No book, no cell phone. Just sit and and it’ll come to you. And that’s been me. I’m slow, slow build, you know, like slow cooking, slow food, slow building. I’ve taken 30S has been 30 plus years in the making.
Yeah, yeah.
And I’m still doing stuff that my latest thing is the pickleball course, which I guess we’re going to talk.
Yeah, it’s cool.
But I don’t know, it’s just just one thing and it’s time. One step at a time. Don’t. I didn’t have this master plan. Which people go well. You you got a masters in planning and you don’t. You don’t have a master plan? Yeah. No, I did not. I just.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah.
Yeah, I think most passion projects. The more time you invest in them, the better they come out and it’s hard to say. You’re passion about something that you’re rushing through, right? Passion implies that it’s something that you take that extra time because of the love for it. So I think whenever you talk about putting passion something someone like, Oh yeah, I wanted done a year and a half. Like, did you really have passion for? It or are you looking for to make a quick buck and there’s a big difference. OK, good, good.
Point. I think passion and being in it for the money are mutually exclusive and they were for me, this was never about the money.
No, no, I will say that if you are passionate for something and you do it the right way, it will lead to money. But you cannot look at those as as running forces running.
Adjacent to each other. You know this. I’ve never. Ever. Decided that OK, this is how I’m gonna make a fortune. I just. It’s like I keep saying it 1 foot every day. One thing. Every day and I’m a kind of a freak. I’m a Lister. I you know, if if nothing’s like in my ear, I go, OK, what am I missing? What am I? What do I need? Who do I need to call? And. I don’t know slow, slow and yeah, listen, listen and just just. Don’t be so agitated and active, and yeah, and just just watch.
Yeah, it’s it’s hard these days. I mean we’ve, we’ve built a, we built a world and an economy and capitalism where everyone’s looking for the next thing and they want instant gratification. No one wants to put the time into anything anymore. I mean, if you think about back in the day, the best bourbons were 20 year age. Now they’re putting it in science labs and trying to speed these processes up like the good stuff are gonna survive for a reason. You look at lab grown diamonds.
It is.
I mean the the diamond I. And look, I understand the argument of these are blood diamonds all this, blah, blah, blah blah blah. But let’s talk. These have been made by pressure for for millions of years. You gonna try to make it a lab and think it’s gonna have the same value. Things just don’t work that way. And I. Hope that people are more aware to that fact of the time that is put into something. Everyone looks at it well. What have you done for me? The best sales people are not paid because of what they do in a year. They paid what I’ve done for the past 30 years that put them.
In the position to do that. So I really hope it changes well. The other thing early on in the 90s, I think late late 90s, early aughts. Is. I took my family back out to Portland. My mother was getting old and and I said, mom, what do you want to do? She said. I want to go to Mount Hood and so I don’t know if you’ve heard of Timberline Lodge, but it. Was built in the depression. It’s.
I’ve been to the top of. I’ve been up to the top. Of Mount Hood. I don’t know about the lot.
So we took mom, kids, grandkids to Timberline Lodge and stayed there while I was building my first big house. And I’m looking around going man, these dudes are good. Yeah. And so I came back from there sort of changed some things in a significant way and that.
I believe it.
Inspired. You know the the the overall feel and design rustic got it my you know now it’s modern rustic. I built my first couple of you know mid century modern, yeah, cabins and people like it. It’s, you know I say it’s.
And that and. That’s a great point. When we talk about design, right? Like just because something is coming into trend, it doesn’t mean it’s gonna stay. Ben doesn’t mean and you might catch it. You started doing this 20-30 years ago. It might come back by the time you get around. And though I think those trends have been speed up in social media because everyone wants the next big thing in capitalism to speed it up. But I mean, how many times have you heard like Wallpapers making a comeback? What do you mean? Wallpapers making like all you hear all these things. So I think that’s a really important fact. And I will say I have been to bend.
Right.
I had a buddy who lived there. We flew in. I mean, it’s when I went, it was still like a they they they put you in a runway and they just dropped you off. There was like 2 runways, tiny airport. I could only. Imagine Meg then.
What it was no one was going to bend. Nobody even knew was there three. You know, I grew up kind of poor and, you know, son of a. Grandson of a sheep rancher, he died of Rocky Mountain, spotted fever and depression, and so my my parents were pretty conservative, but they would do one thing. They would either go to Mount Hood or they would go to bend. They would drop us two boys at swimming pool. My mom and dad played golf all.
Day that is.
Awesome. And we.
We love that that is awesome and Ben is my. What I enjoyed is like beer heaven, craft beer, heaven bend OR right on the river there. Just everywhere you go from the table and even even I went it was 10 years ago. But it is, you know, it’s a very different place than Georgia. Let’s leave it at that.
It is now. It is now.
So OK, so Blue Ridge. So Blue Ridge. I again, when I moved here 10 years ago is one of the first places I went. And as a Yankee, it was so odd. And the reason it was odd is because you expect these southern small towns to be so southern and almost backwards feeling as a New Yorker. But Blue Ridge was quite the opposite. You walked in, and it was like. There was. They were gay flags. It was just the weirdest little microcosm of everything. So talk about. How much you’ve seen?
Blue Ridge change not initially what you’re talking about happened after 96. What happened in 96 in blue?
Ridge Olympics, I’m assuming.
Exactly. The canoe and the world champion Canoe kayak championships were on the Ocoee River, which a lot of people don’t know. The Ocoee River and the Toccoa River are the same water. It changes from the Toccoa in Georgia to the Ocoee in Tennessee.
Way to get confusing.
Yeah, so that happened. Guy named Bo Chance. Who’s?
A friend. Did you know that when you started building that deadline is?
Of mine.
Going to be there.
Yeah. Oh, yeah. OK. Yeah. Got a bow chance. Started buying up downtown Blue Ridge and renovating had vision. He he made a big impact. It was a dry county that changed in. The. Night. You hope so.
When did when did like harvest on main and when did that whole strip start coming? Into prominence, OK.
Late late 90s. Yeah, and that there’s some great design downtown. There was a big fire this past summer, last spring and fortunately didn’t wipe out the whole town, but it did take a.
- Really.
Pretty big section of land that’s now being redeveloped and now Blue Ridge is plenty of money. It used to be Atlanta used to be Atlanta money and now they say it was New York, California money coming in and buying up. You know, there’s old to go Farm which is 300 lots a great.
Yeah, especially on the the the lake.
18 hole golf course. There’s all kinds of wedding.
And and to leave New York City to find even that in the mountains in New York, you’re going 3 hours, four hours. At this point, it’s so developed everywhere. Like the mountains, Windham and Hunter. The ski mountains. They’re being bought out completely into country clubs like they don’t even want people there anymore. So I understand people are like and even like if you go down to Big Bear and stuff like that in California, they’re so overpopulated. Blue Ridge is still pretty small town.
It it is and I have been involved. I was a founder of the Blue Ridge Lodging Association and our goal is to keep it that way. We don’t want to be sorry, Helen. We don’t want to be Helen. We don’t want to be Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge. We want to be Blue Ridge. And what what’s different about Blue Ridge versus Ellijay and Blairsville?
Feels like. Yeah.
Yeah.
It’s really a Town Center, you know, you can park and walk and get fudge. Yeah, and a craft beer. There’s tons of wineries, there’s good restaurants. I mean, you can spend easily 100 bucks a person for.
Dinner easily. I remember. So we were in Blue Ridge. It was probably 8/6 8:00 PM. I don’t remember. Exactly. But we had gone to this shop and we’re like, why is nobody in this place? OK? And it turned out he had closed an hour earlier but just didn’t close his back door. So we’re walking through. So we’re not. And he, like, looks a little. Killed. And he’s like, hey, you guys don’t have a drink and he pulls out a bottle of whiskey and we sit with this complete stranger in his store telling stories. He talks about the curation of the store. It was it was crazy. But most places you go, like you said, Helen, it’s all corporations that own these shops that are pertaining to be local. But this dude just had accumulated all this stuff over years and was just selling. And it was such a it was, again was. I was in Georgia for like 2 weeks when I went up there. It was the craziest thing. Yankees thoughts of Georgia is just odd to begin with. And what I saw I was so blown away by we ate at harvest on main. Probably spent a good hunt. Dollars each drink till the night ended like it was just an awesome experience and went hiking in the morning.
But there’s a consensus among the business leaders, those in the tourism industry. Let’s keep it small town. Yeah, let’s keep the small town vibe. There was Hampton Inn. I got nothing against Hampton Inn, but they have a hotel now. It’s a little bit. The opinion of the locals is varied about that and tourism also is. I mean, I’m in the tourism business and we contribute $40 million in lodging taxes and.
Bringing in. Wrong crowd.
Yeah.
It’s a. It’s a. It’s a balancing act, right? I know I haven’t been there, but I know in hell and they just open that Big Valhalla, that mega resort that they open up there, that’s right outside it. And I imagine it’s a boon to the economy. But I also imagine you’re changing the dynamic of the city. I mean, if everyone from that resort wanted to come in town.
You know you.
Be full, right? Every parking lot would be full. You lose a lot of that charm and I think there’s something to be said about staying at a lodge versus staying at a freaking Hampton Inn. Yeah, right. There’s.
Something about it? Well, you know, it changed things a lot. Is this thing called COVID?
Yeah, might have.
Because I looked at our numbers going back to like 2015 and they were sort of. Creeping up up, up, up, then 20. 21 came along and all of a sudden there’s this big blip in revenue saying the next year and I’m going what? And then it’s come back.
Down. Yeah, that was the pent up demand. It was catching up the pent up demand.
A little bit. But you know you couldn’t come to the office. Maybe you could, but.
We did, we did every day, never missed a single day. Of work believe. It or not, apparently, radio is an essential service cause of EMP’s from the 1970s, and David Dickey had a letter from Homeland Security saying I was essential. So I came to work every single day. I’m I’m pretty I’m I’m so grateful for that fact. This company wouldn’t be what it is today had that not.
Well. Happened, but keep going. But anyway so. You know, people couldn’t go to their office. A lot of people couldn’t. You you being the exception. Kids couldn’t go to school. So what they do, they book a cabin for a week and.
Yeah, it’s crazy. Right, like and there’s just amongst friends and family so that everyone’s comfortable around. Each other. Yeah, unless it’s.
Well, this was this is post COVID this. You know, Governor Kemp. Thank you. Governor opened this state May 1. close it down April 1 and we’re in all the lodging providers. We’re on a conference call every day going. What’s going to happen, you know May 1 open open the state back up to tourism we’re going.
Yeah. Yeah. Wow, yeah.
Woohoo. Yeah, rock’n’roll and. I mean it’s good and bad. That’s it’s people thought it was easy, you know, they saw me and other my friends and they thought, oh, I’m going to buy it. I’m going to buy a rental cabin and I’m going to stay there 4 weeks a year and OPM, other people’s money are going to pay the mortgage. And you know, what’s not to love? Well, you know, 10 people.
Yeah.
Yeah.
Do that and it gets a little crowded and it’s still a little crowded. Yeah. Anybody. Anybody in the business will tell.
Yeah.
Now.
You that right now.
Yeah. So before we close this segment, talk about how to find, you talk about the kind of people, what what they should look for rentals, what what the best places, what the best way.
To use the property are. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I can only talk about us and we are really different. Like I said, I’ve been different my whole life. I’m really different now. And in the lodging a business because we. Nobody else has what we. Yeah, I mean, don’t go far on the golf course is downstream on the other side, they got a lot. They got a big hunk of river, we have a quarter mile, it’s ecoa. And so we can sleep 50 people comfortably, not futons, not cots. 50 people in comfortable beds, 25,000 square feet. So we don’t do you know.
Cool.
I’m friends with folks that manage 100 and 5300 cabins. That’s not me. Yeah, I don’t want to never want to. I want to have groups like.
Yeah.
680 the van come and have a meeting in our property and play pickleball and basketball and swim and fish and go out to dinner. Have catering so.
Love it. Love it.
Leave their freaking phones at home, huh? Leave their freaking phones at home. Be one. With nature, we need it. We need it.
So that’s what we do to go a house, to go a like the river house.com. You can see it. All right there 4 plans. And so we’re we’re different, we will rent a cabin but. Year from now, somebody wants to come. For four days. We can accommodate that, and I just. I just like it it. It’s what I do. I’m passionate about. It was never, never really a business. I mean, it wasn’t. It wasn’t, but. Just having fun.
Good. I I absolutely love to hear it. We’re gonna come back after this break, and I’m gonna completely throw you off with a segment that I’m making up as we’re talking, which is gonna be good. So you’ve been listening to the marketing man an extra 106 three and we will be right back.
Bring it. Bring it, man.
All right. So we’re going to do this segment called what I would do if I could, and it’s going to be. Taco is wonderful, but I’m giving you. $5,000,000 to build a new property and where you want to build it and what you would do differently, what the design would look like, who you would go. After take your. Time with it. So and and I and I think one of the things to think about is like a little future proof because everyone says a vineyard, but every ******* on Earth has a vineyard. Now, no one wants the wine.
Well.
Is being just. Stored in shelves cause the the demand is far, far, far less than the supply. So think about it and. I think let’s.
Well, yes, yes and no. And I do know some vent ventors and they buy grapes from they buy grape juice from. California, there’s not enough grape juice in Georgia for all the wineries. Fun fact.
Well, I’m just a little bit of a I guess, snob, because I’m not particularly fan of any American wine.
But that’s just me anyway I like. I like good wine myself, but where is?
Yeah. There we go. We can talk about.
I found this old map the other day of the Oregon coast and I stuck it on my wall.
There you go.
Would it be there? I mean, I don’t. I don’t know, I.
The coast of Oregon is a hell. Of a place to do it and I think.
The cold there. Though and in February it’s, you know, the same amount of rain falls in in Portland as in Atlanta. It’s just. You know, four months out of the year, it’s missed. Yeah. Land. It’s like 4-4 inches in an hour.
Yeah. Yeah. So does 285 knows that it flooded yesterday? Alright, we’re gonna rock the last one. You ready, bud? All right, I think we covered everything. Let’s have fun with this one. All right, let’s do it. Welcome back to the marketing madman on Extra 106 three. Nick Constantino here with Greg Spencer of Toccoa House properties. And what we’re going to do is we’re going to play another hypothetical game here. So let’s get back to our Zen place. So we’re in the mounds. We’re relaxing. You’re on your chair, and I’m going to give you. I was going to say 5, let’s say $10 million, and I’m going. To say I want you to build. Your dream. Property and I want it to be something that is meaningful to the community and to the people who seek to be tourists there. OK, I want you to tell me how you would start, where you would build it, what you would put into the design process, who the customer is. And we’re going to have kind of a fake marketing conversation as to how.
We would attract people to said property. Well, I’m super conflicted.
Because. You know, I’m a northwest guy. Oregon Ducks, Washington Huskies. But when I came to Atlanta, like I said earlier, our previous segment, man, it was cool. I was 24. It wasn’t. It didn’t meet. It didn’t check all the boxes. Sure, when I found Blue Ridge and I was, I was working. I was making good money running a home inspection firm in Atlanta. But I could spend whatever amount of time I wanted in Blue Ridge more and more and more and more. Blue Ridge became my home. And so. That I ever think about leaving, that’s a tough one. And if I did, where would I go?
I and I do want to say one thing. So I grew up in New York City and like my parents, lived in Long Island and the hour and a half that takes get to Blue Ridge is what most people commute in New York every day. Yeah. So like, we’re we’re a little spoiled in the sense here that, like, you’re taking an hour and a half. That’s what it takes to get up there. That is what a lot of people in this country take for LA. You’re taking an hour have to commute 10 miles in LA. So Blue Ridge is an extension of Atlanta and it is somewhere you can escape for a long weekend, which makes it home. I mean, we don’t have to say like it’s a resort that’s five hours away. That’s what people love about the mountains. I’m a beach guy first and foremost. But five hours and an hour and a half are very different times to drive, so hopefully I bought you some time so you can get your conflict. Out and pick.
Where we’re building this thing? Well, they let me just to give you the other side of it is you know, I’ve always loved the mountains of Oregon and Washington. Yeah, I went to. I went to college and grad school, Eastern Washington.
Yeah.
I love that too. You know, snow on the ground, 22 feet of snow, all all winter. I guess if I had to leave, let’s let’s, let’s leave. Yep. Let’s say. OK, you’re Blue Ridge has closed down and you’re out of business and you got to leave the state.
Would.
I guess I would go to the West of the of the mountain range of Oregon. Love it, sort of Beachy West side of Mount.
Love it. Hood good wind up there.
Yeah, we used. To play baseball nap in Willamette Valley. And they that’s like the world’s. Just Pinos and, you know, we’re just baseball fields, so anyway, OK, we’re going to the West side of Mount Hood and buying a.
Love it.
So I love it.
50 acre property.
- Are we talking on the beach? Are we talking a?
No, not on the beach. The beach is like, I don’t know anybody that’s ever been to the Oregon coast in July, it’s about 50° and so it’s.
Couple miles from the. OK.
Hold so up a little higher with better views bigger than, I mean 17 acres is is good Hong Kong than Toccoa, but it’s not 100 acres. Yeah, not buy 100 acres great views and do what I I’ve done but more intentional, more purposeful more. Directed. I mean, I’m no spring chicken. I used to say I was in the fourth quarter. Now I say I’m in. Overtime. But so I think I’ve got a plan for that. Development. I didn’t develop this to go a house properties not not with a massive.
Sure, but what about style of the houses? Would be the similar? Would you do something different?
Similar but modern. I mean, people don’t like, well, not everybody but the 2000s and 1990s design in Blue Ridge is not very open. It’s a lot of wood. People like mixed. Materials. Yeah. So it’d be it’d be that be. Or watch Yellowstone. Yeah, it’d be Yellowstone and I.
OK, but you. Get beat up in grass field. So we’re just kind of transporting him, but.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And I get ripped to be.
I got it.
My manager. There you go and.
You chase all those cattle away if you need.
To I mean, so we have disc golf at to go house properties. We don’t have golf and you know be nice to have a decent golf course, even a putting kind of thing.
But.
Cool.
So I mean, I don’t know, golf, swimming, paddling, love it. Pickleball got to play pickleball love it, and we haven’t talked about that, but I’ve had been total knee replacement a year ago and my basketball career was was over. But I love to play pickleball and it keeps me very fit and I don’t, you know, I don’t need.
The knee. Yeah, that’s great. Do you think pickleball is? I don’t want to say the word fad, but I’ve already seen some things like where these leagues have already merged 6 times over, and some of these facilities they’re making already going out of business, cause everyone jumped on the hype train built way too much. Do you see it as a fad or do you see?
Anymore. So.
Something that’s going to continue onward in the lexicon.
I see it’s something that will continue on because there’s a lot of folks like me that. We just can’t do a slam dunk anymore, or even tell, you know, even tennis. I played a lot of tennis.
Yeah. Yeah. Tennis. Viva manies. Also you moving around a lot.
But I just, you know, the body body breaks down, but I can play pickleball four days a week for 2 1/2 three hours a day. It’s social. And so that’s what we’re pushing. I want to have tournaments on school house properties where people can come and play. We got 23 bedrooms.
Cool. Just the idea.
You know, book a weekend, we’re having a tournament. It’s cool. 680 the fan. Go bowl tournament so I don’t know. I sort of got off topic but that the the thing about where would you go, what would you build? What would you design makes my head spin? Yeah. Because like I said, I just.
That’s OK.
You know, I advise people that are going to build on a vacant piece of land. Just sit there. Yeah. Sit there and look at it. It’ll come to you. Don’t don’t stress.
Love it.
Love it.
About it, it’ll come to you. If you wanted to. If you’re gonna sit there and just fight yourself, you’re never gonna do it. What I would do is I think that golf is too stuffy and it’s starting down the path of being less stuffy. I want an outdoor. Under the Lights, 9 hole golf course with a stage in the front of it where bands can come in play and then there’s speakers all through the course, so you can hear the bands play as you go and play nighttime. Mouth I you would need Rangers because you have to keep the pace up, because now that I’ve started really playing golf, nothing worse than some *** in front of you. Taking too long to play. But I think there is a huge demand for 9:00 PM golf till 1130 golf and I think it would be as big as top golf at all these places. And I think you can design a course that would be able to do that and it could be an hour from here and people would still go.
We haven’t even talked about music.
Let’s do some music.
I started playing guitar when I was 12, played in a high school band. That was the second best guitar player in my high school band, so they had. They made me play bass and that I wasn’t happy about that so.
There you go.
Quit the band, played acoustic in college and stuff, but I still.
Who are the? Who are your? Who are your musical influences? Then.
Everybody in the Americana genre, I I could go on and on and on. I mean, I like, but I like zydeco, you know, and so many side. I managed the Blues and BBQ Fest and music on that in the stage and somebody said.
Please name some. OK, cool. Does that close with the big slide like the shutter looking?
Yeah, accordion and you know somebody said well, this is a Blues Festival. Why? Why you got some zydeco guy and Zico is the original Blues Cajun. So who who are my influences? I mean a lot of those California Jackson Browne cool.
Things. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah, Cajun.
Go.
Like John Prine, I really could go on and on because I’m eclectic. I listen to music a lot. I watch YouTube videos almost every day and I was never a great musician. But I love it. And So what I do in Blue Ridge is I give back because I do a lot of.
Good for you.
Produce music shows. That’s great. Also volunteerism. We haven’t talked about that either. I’m on the board for Snacking backpack. We fed over a million kids in the last 10 years. Freedom for Fido, we we get dogs off chains and build fences. So, you know, at this point.
But.
I I sold my my inspection business. I didn’t mention that 2019.
Yeah.
Never looked back. People thought I I would but never looked back. I made good money and don’t you know I’m doing this to go house. Then I can’t say just for fun because I don’t have, you know, I’m not Bill Gates or Warren Buffett.
Yeah.
Yeah, but you’re enjoying it.
I’m enjoying it.
You’re doing a lot of different things that keep you busy, keep you young that you’re enjoying, and it sounds like everyone’s digging the vibe and you’re impacting a lot. You’re you’re impacting a lot of people.
Rigging the bug. Yeah, you know what people like is that when I’m riding around on my Kawasaki meal, doing some cleaning, the pool or whatever, and I see them checking in. I’ll pull in and say how you doing? Who are you? I’m Greg. Oh, you’re the one that I’ve been talking to you. Hey, good to see you. Anything I can do? You got the code you need need to figure.
Yeah, but that’s exactly like the inspecting business, right? They’re not expecting it to be that kind of kind of thing. And once you, once you look, one thing I will say right now, people’s expectations are so freaking low like we’re in a world right now where no one is trying to be the best. They’re trying to be better than the other people, and that’s despicable. So when you can exceed people’s expectations and it sounds like you, what you’ve humbly been trying.
Yeah.
No.
To do is exceed the expectations of what people have by being more vocal, being out there trying to care about them, not making about the money following passion. And I think that is incredibly commendable. Again, I commend you. Give one more shout out how people found to call a house before we wrap up.
Well, they can call me Google Greg Spencer, Blue Ridge or Tacoma House, Blue Ridge, and Boom, I pop up myself.
Make sure you ask him his favorite zydeco band.
My. My cell phones on the website I do have a 24 year old operations manager who happens to be my grandson and he’s awesome. Got used to stay up all night 13 playing video games and we thought what a loser you know and now he’s like this amazing kid.
And crazy how that smart crazy how that works. Probably because he had a good influence. On him from you.
But people don’t think they think I’m like the maintenance guy, and I don’t think I’m like both feet planted and they go well. How many of these cabins do you own? All.
Whole thing. Whole thing, baby. Well, that’s as. Good of a way.
And you’re here.
Talking to me, that’s as good of a way to end it as anything. So, Greg, thank you, Bud. You’ve been listening to making man an extra. 1063 and we will catch you next week.
You’re great, Nick did that.
