Breaking Barriers: From Average to Extraordinary
"Breaking Barriers: From Average to Extraordinary" is the go-to podcast for real estate agents looking to elevate their game, overcome challenges, and achieve extraordinary success. Each episode dives deep into the stories of agents who have broken through barriers, sharing their personal journeys, strategies, and lessons learned. Whether you're a new agent or a seasoned professional, this podcast provides practical advice and inspiration to help you sell above the average and build a thriving career in real estate.
About the Host
Jorge N. DeLeon, President and Broker of a large real estate brokerage in California, brings more than three decades of expertise to the podcast. Leading a brokerage of over 1,300 agents across California, Jorge has guided numerous real estate professionals through the industry's challenges, empowering them to achieve exceptional success. Known for his calm, focused demeanor and dedication to growth and excellence, he serves as an inspiring mentor for agents striving to elevate their careers.
In January 2025, Jorge was honored as Broker of the Year by his local Association of REALTORS®, adding to a list of accolades that includes Man of the Year and Manager of the Year. His career has been shaped by mentorship from some of the most influential leaders in the real estate sector, both nationally and internationally, further cementing his reputation as a trailblazer in the industry.
Breaking Barriers: From Average to Extraordinary
Unmasking the Sewer Expert: From Navy Plumber to Business Owner
Ever wondered what separates average service providers from extraordinary ones? Ben Cohn, owner of From Sinks to Sewers, reveals the secrets to building trust and delivering value in this eye-opening conversation about real estate transactions and home inspections.
Ben's journey from Navy plumber to specialized sewer inspector began when he was unexpectedly released after 12½ years of military service. What could have been a career setback became his greatest opportunity. Starting with nothing but determination and a simple pitch—"I'm Ben, I'm a local plumber in your area. Hope you never need one of us, but in case you ever do, can I leave you my card"—he built a business based on transparency and expertise.
The conversation takes a fascinating turn when Ben reveals how common misconceptions about sewer inspections can cost homeowners thousands in unnecessary repairs. "When a plumber tells you you can't sell the home until you do this repair, that's false," he explains, debunking one of the most expensive myths in real estate transactions. His military background taught him to establish standards and push through challenges, qualities that have made him a trusted voice in the Ventura real estate community.
Perhaps most valuable for real estate professionals is Ben's insight on what truly distinguishes extraordinary agents: building a good team of trusted specialists rather than trying to control every aspect of a transaction. "If you're only about price, you will be dropped as soon as someone finds someone cheaper," he notes, highlighting how adding value through quality service creates lasting business relationships.
Whether you're a homeowner, real estate professional, or service provider, this conversation offers practical wisdom on navigating complex transactions with integrity. Subscribe now to hear more conversations with extraordinary professionals who are breaking barriers in their fields.
It is my absolute pleasure and privilege to have someone that is a fine member of our community.
Speaker 1:I have known this gentleman for several years now and I remember having, as part of my leadership at Coldwell Bankerer, in the financial plaza, I had Ben come and do a presentation over kind of an interesting business, something that is necessary due to some changes in city ordinances and so forth. Today we are with Breaking Barriers from Average to Extraordinary, and in this series of this podcast, what we do is we interview individuals that recognize or have, I think, figured out how to be able to make a difference and be a differentiator. Ben Cohn is a business owner. His business name is From Sinks to Sewers, which I found very interesting. That's a differentiator, you know, definitely a differentiator in the business, you know, not only from the name but also in the level of service. Today I'd like to ask Ben, we'd like to get to know Ben a little bit better by finding out what is it that Ben does? Where did he come from? What inspired him to be who he is? Welcome to the show.
Speaker 2:Hey, jorge, thank you very much for having me, you're welcome.
Speaker 1:So, ben, tell us a little bit about yourself and then we can talk a little bit more about how did you get into the Sinks to Sewers business. Well, I'll tell you. I think everything starts with a good origin.
Speaker 2:Well, I'll tell you, I think everything starts with a good origin story. So I'll tell you mine. I got kicked out the Navy and that's what happened.
Speaker 2:So I was in the Navy and did 12 1⁄2 years, and what happened was back in 2012,. President Obama had a military downsizing program and there were 3,000 sailors that were released and 10,000 Army soldiers that were released before their contract ended, and I was one of them. Now, I always had the dream of actually having my own plumbing business. I was a plumber in the Navy and so I always thought I was going to have my own business. So, basically, everything just got kick-started a little bit prematurely, and I mean this and I'm not sarcastic at all when I say this Getting kicked out of the Navy was the best thing to happen to me, and here's the reason why.
Speaker 2:So when I got kicked out, the way I started my business is I went door-to-door knocking and I targeted sort of neighborhoods, looked on Google Maps and I had this whole system on how that I figured out on just passing out my business cards, and I'm sure that most likely people in the real estate community are watching. So what I'm going to say is is that they know door knocking is hard and it's terrible, so what ends up happening is every day I would get door slammed in my face. Here's the whole pitch. Okay, hi, I'm Ben and I'm a plumber in your local neighborhood. Hope you never need one of us, but in case you ever do, can I leave you my card. That was it, okay.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:And doors all the time. I mean seriously, I mean I'm not, I'm not trying to minimize it, but after going through stuff in the military and you know, you go through all of this and then to think like, so, someone just slammed doors in your face and that like bothers you yeah, it actually does, it's. It's very hard, you know, because you know that you're nothing, you're doing nothing but just trying to say give me a call sometime if you have a problem, well, in any case. So this was 2012, okay, 2014. Of Ventura. The ordinance went into effect that said hey, if you sell your home in Ventura, you have to have a sewer inspection done and has to be submitted to the city. So what happened is is that, as I was passing out cards, what I always heard was you know, you seem like a nice guy, I'll take your card, but we've been using someone for the past five, ten years. We'll take your card. Okay, fine, great, thank you. So what happened? 2014, and that comes around. I had two years of doors getting constantly slammed in my face. So it was nothing for me now to open up the newspaper, go to the sunday edition and start calling every realtor, because if now, if they hang up on me, it's like, okay, I don't even care. You know, I mentally toughened up a little bit.
Speaker 2:The second thing that ended up happening was is that that ordinance put all the plumbers on equal footing. So your plumber that was there to change out your toilet or a faucet, or maybe fix your plumbing or something, did not know anything about sewer inspections. I was so fortunate that one of the mentors in my life his name was Mark Yochum. He taught me how to do sewer inspections, and then there was another plumber who's down in Los Angeles. His name is Rick Solomon. He also taught me, and these two individuals really helped me in my life in regards to plumbing. But the thing, though, was is that gave me the leg up. So I already had the van, I had a camera, I had a lot of what I needed, and, but now I was on equal footing. So now your plumber as a realtor, if you had a plumber who was changing out your toilets or whatever, he didn't know how to do sewer inspections. That's where I came in.
Speaker 1:So you became a commodity, pretty much because of changes in law, and you were at the right place at the right time yes, pretty much yes I'd like for us to go a little bit further back from 2012 um. You spent 11 years in the navy.
Speaker 2:You said 12 and a half 12 and a half years in the.
Speaker 1:Navy Before that. Where were you raised? What led you to get into the Navy? What was that about?
Speaker 2:I was burnt out. I was doing commercial air conditioning. I did it for almost two years and just constantly travel, working 80-hour weeks. And one day me and my dad were doing Habitat for Humanity and my dad was in the military and this guy is telling me like, oh yeah, guy, and my dad was in the military. And this guy's telling me like, oh yeah, you could do air conditioning in the military. And I'm like I had no idea. And so he's telling me about it. And he saw my dad and I looked it up. It was called a CB and that's what we have right here at the base. And so what ends up happening is that I signed up and that's what I did and that's what I did Excellent.
Speaker 1:So tell us a little bit about your experience in the military. You mentioned a little bit about it, but it seems like you know. You have people that tell you what to do. It has to be done in a certain way. How did that help shape you into being the fine business owner and service provider that you are?
Speaker 2:owner and service provider that you are. What it helped me do was to establish standards and not waver from them. Is that sometimes things suck and you just got to embrace it and you can't just go ahead and throw your hands up and give it to somebody else. You actually have to power through. And you have to push through. And also is because one of the things is that and a lot of what I say it doesn't come from Ben Cohn, it really does come from other people who have influenced my life and one of the things is that once you get past a person's personality, anything can be accomplished, and the military is a huge example of this.
Speaker 2:We all come from different walks of life, different aspects, different religions, and we're all here to get a job done. Okay, how do we get past that? How do we get beyond the fact that you're from New York and this person's from Texas? So we're all in the Navy, Navy Seabee, let's get the job done. And that's how I try to think about things is that when I'm working with somebody, I say, okay, we might have, we may not see something eye to eye, but at the end of the day, your success is my success, and I really firmly believe that that's the most important thing, I think, and it cannot and that will never happen as long as I'm the priority. The client has to be the priority.
Speaker 1:Great, I appreciate that. So it seems to me that your line of business can be very lonely. You're working with your equipment.
Speaker 2:You're working with Putting a lot on me here.
Speaker 1:Yeah, something that you're looking at yourself. And then it is my observation sometimes us real estate practitioners with our personalities can be somewhat of, I don't know how to put it. It can be where you have to deal with all the different personalities of different real estate agents and your job is to provide an inspection. How have you learned to manage through the different personality types, the different where someone may have a different priority? That is not necessarily your objective, and your objective is providing an accurate report to give clients a better understanding of the condition of what you're inspecting.
Speaker 2:To minimize my contact with the realtor and the buyer and or with everybody, and so the reason why I do that is because I really do like to think of myself as someone who focuses on the evidence. So I'm not going to think on well, this is what I hear about a person, or this person has this or that. I want to know what is the sewer line condition? Okay, so if I'm in there and I'm only focused on the sewer, then that's what I'm looking at and that's what I can come back and talk to the client about. Afterwards we can have the conversation, I can get to know you, but before that I need to focus on the sewer line. The other thing is that I get distracted fairly easily.
Speaker 1:All right, so that explains it, the distraction part huh.
Speaker 2:Well, okay, I'll tell you. Okay, I'll tell you.
Speaker 1:Well, you're telling us, I'll tell us and I'll tell Amber. Yeah, I'll tell us and I'll tell.
Speaker 2:Amber, yeah, so I have ADD Okay, and my business helps. It fits me okay. But because of that, if I have too many conversations, I go off in left field and I start pondering the mysteries of life. Okay, that's just how my mind works. I've been struggling with this ever since I was a little kid. I was diagnosed as a little kid, but it's made it very difficult sometimes in certain social settings to come in and actually have a conversation. That's why I don't go to a lot of the social meetings, because it's like I'm going into overload. There are too many things for me to focus on and think about, and so that's why I prefer to say what is my role. Okay, my swim lane is to provide the sewer inspection. My swim lane is not to be liked. It is not to be ben's the priority or, you know, let's have the party because ben's here. I think that my goal and reason why I do this is to help manage expectations and sewer lines.
Speaker 1:So you have recognized something about you and you've adjusted accordingly. Yes sir, and not only have you adjusted accordingly, but you've leveraged that to make it not what other people may consider something that might hurt you, but something that will benefit you.
Speaker 2:To a degree. Yeah, yes, yes sir.
Speaker 1:So I met you through something that must have been very painful for you, which is, you know, pre-caravan meetings and social settings and so forth. What has been your secret? To be able to engage with individuals that would otherwise not necessarily recognize that they need to have a connection with you, to provide a service, to get a transaction closed?
Speaker 2:Wow, that's a really tough question and I don't have an answer for that. And the reason why is because I am the entire business right.
Speaker 2:I don't have a marketing team or anything like that. Marketing person would definitely be able to answer that question better. I think what I have learned is number one I had to become more secure with who I am, my own limitations and in life, and I just have to try to try to maximize what I do. Well, it's the 8020 rule. It's like what is the 20% that I'm really really good at, Okay, and the 80% of everything that I'm not so good at, I'll leave it behind. And so sometimes, if you, if you've ever read a caption on my Instagram, I'll go off and I'll say, yeah, this caption sucks because I'm a plumber Okay.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to spend three hours doing this because, at the end of the day, those three hours that I spend doing that, what I'm not doing is I'm not providing a high quality sewer inspection to somebody. So I have to really focus on my core of why am I actually here? And then I have to be comfortable with my limitations and I have to say, look, I'm not gonna be the biggest company in Ventura and I'm okay with that, I'm perfectly fine with that. I don't wanna be. I just wanna be able to say I trust you. I could look at you and I could say I trust you, jorge, and I would like for you to look at me and say, ben, I trust you and, ultimately, and I trust you enough to refer you to my clients. That, I think, is what and I think that has bled through and shown in other ways. It's just my feeling when I talk to realtors about it.
Speaker 1:Right. So you know, speaking about trust, as real estate professionals we are discouraged from endorsing one service provider over others unless we've had personal experience with them. So I can attest that that's the way that I feel confident. I had a scenario where a situation where someone that I had actually used for a specific service related to real estate actually let us down, a client down. So I stopped having to refer them, so I had to go out there and do an inspection with somebody else or use them for something. So I can personally say, hey, this is the individual. So because you actually have provided a service to a family member in a transaction, I feel confident to say hey.
Speaker 1:Even though the city of Oxnard, city of Thousand Oaks, city of Camarillo does not require by ordinance a private sewer lateral inspection, I think it's a good idea for you to have one done because even if you buy a home warranty, the home warranty will only cover the footprint of the home. They won't cover any stoppages or anything that, any flaw in a and your sewer line. That is outside of that. And after you closed escrow, three or four years later and you discover that something was wrong with that sewer line, you know, historically it's too late to go back to the seller for that. So tell us a little bit about what you do. What is your philosophy as to providing a good quality service even though you don't have a lot of competition out there? What drives that?
Speaker 2:Well, I have a ton of competition. Every single plumber is my competition and I just have a different business model because I think and this is what has hurt me and it's also helped me because I don't do the repairs. So I've had realtors who I've asked directly. I've said why have you stopped using my service? And I've been told directly look, you're a great guy. However, we want to call one person for the inspection and do the repairs. Okay, and that's their business model. I can't tell them that their business model is wrong.
Speaker 2:And I have other realtors who wanted. You know, they want that separation. So now, when you ask what is my philosophy, it just comes down to what would I tell family members and I don't think that it should be any different if I'm on the buying or the selling side. It's what do I tell my mom If this was my mom? What would I tell my mom right now? And that's all it is. And so sometimes there's a lot of things that have to weigh into that, but ultimately, I think that's really served me the best, that one simple thing.
Speaker 1:Great. So we are in Breaking Barriers from Average to Extraordinary. This is a podcast and a blog that has been designed to help real estate agents do a self-analysis as to what we can do better in order to attract more clients. Our guest today is Ben Cohn, from Sinks to Sewers. Our guest today is Ben Cohn, from Sinks to Sewers. And I'm going to take the next step. And you're in the business of providing news Sometimes it's good news, sometimes it's bad news how?
Speaker 2:do you deliver bad news? Bad news does not get better with time. I'm not there to go ahead and scare anybody, but ultimately and this has been a very common factor in the realtors that continue to use me even after I give them the bad news is that they know how to negotiate. They know how to okay, this is not what we expected and we're going to pivot and give us a little bit of time. We don't have an answer yet, but we're going to come up with a plan and they do and give us a little bit of time. We don't have an answer yet, but we're going to come up with a plan and they do. I firmly believe and this is I'm not trying to like confront your audience, but I think it's just a fact that, or I think it's my opinion that deals do not fall out because of bad news. They fall out of failure to negotiate. That's why they fall out.
Speaker 1:So you're not married to the news, right? You're just delivering a message as to what was found?
Speaker 2:That's it.
Speaker 1:And I think that there's something for us to learn about that that sometimes people are so scared of having to deliver the news because of what the individuals are going to respond to that. I'm going to give you an example. A client had their own pest inspection, wood destroying pest inspection, even though the seller had provided a clearance. And I said you know, we trust but we verify. So you know, here's somebody that I think that you should call to have your own inspection. You will pay for the inspection, which I believe in paying for a service, because sometimes free comes with a tail end. In my experience, the individual actually did the inspection and it came back with close to six you know a little bit over $6,000 worth of damage that needed to be repaired, inclusive of active infestation. So I did not get married to the you know I was not married to the report. I just had to say, hey, this is going to be a surprise to your client, but there's active infestation. The buyer is requesting that the property be fumigated and that the wood that is damaged to be replaced and primed and painted. That was the request.
Speaker 1:According to the buyer's request, the seller was offended. And the seller was offended because how dare you doubt that I had a house with no termites? And I said well, it's not that we doubted you, it's just that the service provider that does inspections they're human too. They could have missed something. I don't have a judgment, so please help me. Ben, how have you managed the blowback? Let's call it a blowback I'm sorry if that's a plumbing term, sorry if that's a plumbing term. A blowback in where someone does not like what you had that your report had to say.
Speaker 2:I have to separate them from their home, because oftentimes the person's identity is within the home. That's why we why do we do what we do? It's often because of family, and when we want to protect our family. I'm going somewhere with this, I think.
Speaker 1:I am.
Speaker 2:When we want to protect our family, we have to give them shelter. That's the home. That's why a home is so important to us, and part of our identity, especially as men, is to provide. So we put all of our work in here, and so when I hear this story, I don't hear someone saying like how dare you give me a termite inspection and say this is bad? It's, how dare you question that I didn't provide well for my family? That's the way I feel about this. So what I try to do is I just try to separate.
Speaker 2:This has nothing to do with you at all, it's not a reflection on you, and if I were to inspect every single home on the street, there's a possibility I could see something similar, and that has helped. The other thing is, unfortunately, this is kind of a true story, or it's kind of, but it's not that bad. Okay, don't be too concerned. But the other analogy that I try to explain to people is that the wife she says, ah, go to the go to the doctor, go to the doctor, and you're like I don't need to go to the doctor, I feel fine. Finally, you go to the doctor and the doctor is like looking at the results and it's like hey, guy, you gotta stop smoking you've been talking to my wife, huh yeah you gotta stop smoking and you gotta start eating better and going on walks, otherwise you're going downhill quick.
Speaker 2:But I felt fine, right. Unfortunately, a lot of people that story it personally resonates with people, but it also helps them understand that the reason why I found something it was just because it was a more thorough test. Then, simply, what most people say is I flushed the toilet, everything went down.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so I would like for us to switch gears here. On average, how many different agents do you interact with on a maybe weekly basis, monthly basis, yearly basis?
Speaker 2:I probably have 10 to 15 real estate transactions that I interact with per week. However, because I do so much repeat business, out of that, I might meet like maybe two or three new faces a week.
Speaker 1:I would probably say Because they happen to be on the other side of the transaction.
Speaker 2:Because they heard about me through someone else.
Speaker 1:Okay, Because mostly the responsibility of doing a super lateral inspection in Ventura falls on the seller's side right.
Speaker 1:As part of it. It's not a buyer inspection, but in areas outside of Ventura, where it's required, it falls on the buyers to order that inspection. So in those interactions, what have you? Well, let's make it more generic, not necessarily your clients, right, because I don't want to isolate anybody or make somebody feel more special than others or feel like, hey, ben doesn't appreciate me. Let's talk in generalities. In your observation, what sets an agent apart? And I'm not talking about the one that is the most prolific, but as far as being an extraordinary agent, and the qualifier is not the one that does the most volume, I'm talking about from your observation, what is it that sets apart? And this is with the intent, and sorry that I'm kind of going through the salad bowl of words I would like for you to kind of help us understand what we, as real estate agents, could be doing better or striving to improve on in order to provide an excellent level of service. And your observation what are the, the characteristics? And maybe one agent doesn't have all of them.
Speaker 2:I would like to see what you have noticed I would say that to build a good team around you and to trust that team now and to, that's so important. When I see realtors, the ones that we, we just don't gel, what we just don't gel very well together, are the ones who have to control everything. You don't talk to the client, I talk to the client. You don't talk to the other side, I talk to the other side. Those are the ones that there's very, very few of them that I see that do that and they have some volume to them, but I see a lot more of them do that.
Speaker 2:In the first couple of years it's almost like they paid all this money for that one big realtor to give them all this information and then they just yeah, they just kind of went by the wayside because they were so controlling, they just throttled their own success. If you go through and you read realtors reviews, so many of them are tied into who they recommended. Oh, this person came out and this person that caused a huge mess or didn't tell us, and the realtor is the one who recommended it. Well, that business that did the bad job didn't get the bad review, the realtor did.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:So you got to have a good team. And the second thing is you got to trust that team. Otherwise you may say like I'm doing the right thing by having this good person here, but if you don't trust them, it's, it's an absolutely falsehood. The second thing is you have to get away from price. This is because whenever I get a call, my very first thing, very first question whenever I meet someone new how much do you charge? 375. Oh, whoa, why you charge 375? You know that's kind of steep. Yeah, no one asks. So what's involved with all this? And what I always find surprising is is that the people who have that gut check reaction are this how would? How do you, if you're a realtor and you have that gut check reaction to what affiliate charges for their service, what are you actually providing? Are you only about a price? Because if you're only about a price, you will be dropped as soon as someone finds someone cheaper.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:And that is just something that's been very common. So the realtors that use me because of price and price only, I think they're really missing their mark or they use any service provider. I think that the best way for success is to have a team around you that you trust fully, and but that's a very hard thing to do because you have to understand your own limitations Right.
Speaker 1:I'd like for us to go back to something that is part of the core thing that you had to do in order to start your business, and I think that there's something for us to learn. Let's go back to the days of door knocking for you and can you repeat what was your, your, your line, what was your?
Speaker 2:pitch. Yeah, your pitch. I'm Ben. I'm a local plumber in your area. I hope you never need one of us, but in case you ever do, can I leave you a card?
Speaker 1:So if I were to now use that? Hi, my name is Jorge. I'm a local realtor. I hope that you never use one, but if you ever need one, here's my business card.
Speaker 2:Do you think that it would have the same effect? No, why not? So the reason why is because not everyone buys or sells for good reasons and unfortunately it is just part of the real estate business. Sometimes I, unfortunately I meet a lot of people who are selling because thing, because of life events. It's, but it's real. That's why I always say, whenever I meet someone, I don't say like, oh, I'm doing great. I say about the same, oh, okay.
Speaker 2:Because and I'm still trying to figure this out but it's because I've met people and I'll tell them like hey, how you doing? I'll be like I'm doing great, well, that's good for you, because I'm getting this and I'm getting that. I just lost my husband, I'm getting kicked out, and and it's like they instantly went into a comparison mindset and it just automatically shut them down Because they heard I was having a great day. And the same thing has happened to me. I've had a bad day. Everyone has bad days, right, we're all human and someone tells me how great they're doing and I'm not, and so I say, look, I'm not here to compare myself with anyone, I'm only here to worry about myself. So I'm not going to say, I'm not going to state this expectation of I'm having a great day or the other one. The other person isn't. So that's something that I've just just that's my little mental check so, about the same, there's a differentiator there, you know.
Speaker 1:So there's a lot of things that you do that are different, that set you apart from other individuals. You seem, yeah, you come across as a very authentic individual. What I see is what I get. I'm not going to be blindsided uh with, with, with you, and I think those are quality, uh characteristics of you that I think that a real estate agent should embrace, right, sometimes I think that there's a lot of pressure for real estate agents to fake it till they make it. It's something that I don't like, but I know that there's a lot of pressure on real estate agents to have this persona of success, persona of being reliable, and there's a lot of things that we can do differently to be able to portray the honest truth about what we do in business. You know, we're just there to help people navigate the the challenges of a real estate transaction let me share this story with you.
Speaker 2:This is something that my I think what the role of a realtor. The role of a realtor is to manage emotions. Okay, there. And because that is so difficult, because during this time the emotion level is, it's a swing, right. So let me tell you my own personal story.
Speaker 2:When I bought my house, when I bought my house, my realtor, he um, we saw the house. He was like ben, what do you think? And I was was like yeah, it's good and we should, you know. But yeah, I saw some things. You know we should really go ahead and negotiate. He goes, okay, yeah, so what are you thinking? And I was like, oh, it's probably we should ask for this price. And he goes okay, yeah, we can do that, but let me, let me offer this to you. Okay, so he pulls, did that. It drops your price by this much a month.
Speaker 2:And I thought I want to say it was like $50 a month, okay. And so he was like but you're going to save all this money, but over, but that's only for the life of the loan per month. This is how much you really save per month. And he was like so let me ask you this question Every time you drive by this house, let's say you don't get the offer accepted. And every single time you drive by this house, you're gonna look at that house and say, man, thank goodness, I saved myself $50 a month by not getting into that contract.
Speaker 2:And he was like, come on, that's stupid. Of course I'm not going to say that. And so he was like so what do you think it would be better? And I was like, oh, let's just give them what they want, right? And he was like, all right, now, look, some people might say that that was like a Jedi mind trick or that was a. My emotions were manipulated. What I feel is is that and I'm, and I'm seriously thankful for that is that he let me. He kept my eye focused on the target and that was getting in the house. And we still live in the house and I'm still happy. And I mean, really, I really think about this a lot, because he kept me from like thinking about all those little problems the house had and say, okay, yeah, we could do it, but you may not get the house. The main thing was to get in the house and years later, it's been proven to be one of the best things. I never would have had that if that realtor was not able to check my emotion level.
Speaker 2:And that's what I really needed at the time.
Speaker 1:So he did not, and I'm glad that you clarified that it was not a manipulation, but it helped you deal with your decision making process, and I believe that that is something that is core of a real estate agent. That successful real estate agent is going to help someone make the decision that they otherwise would not be able to make alone. Because we're really good as humans to find flaws in everything, because we have a very difficult time making a decision. I think it's a self-preservation, in a way to protect ourselves, because how often do we criticize the individual that says, yeah, let's go ahead and do it, I just want to get ourselves.
Speaker 1:Because how often do we criticize the individual that says, yeah, let's go ahead and do it, I just want to get it. It doesn't matter, I just want to get in there and like whoa, whoa, whoa slow it down.
Speaker 1:Because we're so fearful that they're going to go out there and make a bad decision because it might be a reflection, a negative reflection on us. Thank you, you taught me, and hopefully anybody that is listening to this show, something of value as to how to be able to help somebody make that decision moving forward. I recently posted I just posted an HOA versus no HOA. Not all HOAs are good, not all HOAs are bad, but in those HOAs that are very well managed, the HOA fees on a monthly basis are pretty reasonable. But in a neighborhood where there's one with an HOA and one without an HOA, there's a huge difference, inclusive of the value of the homes and maybe even a lower turnover rate. Very similar to that individual.
Speaker 1:I'm not taking any credit, but I had to help that individual say hey, yeah, it has an HOA, yes, there are rules, but in this specific HOA it's obvious that the HOA has done a phenomenal job of keeping the neighborhood looking in great shape and it's not alone. So he's still pondering should I jump in or not? And he's like that's your decision alone, but I have to learn how to integrate your realtor's line. He's like hey, when you drive by, when you didn't get it. Are you going to be worried? They're like, oh goodness.
Speaker 2:Right, and one of the things is, though, when we're, we have something that is going to play such an emotional factor in our lifestyle, but at the same time, it's also very tangible, so we have real tangible things. How much is the house going to cost? What's going to be the drive like? When I'm doing the drive, do I have the sun in my eyes?
Speaker 2:Things like that right, but we also have an emotional attachment To me. The Realttor helps keep that emotion level down, and so then that way we could focus on this. Now I'm only giving this from my perspective because I understand it could be something on the flip side. There are some people, you know I have quite a few people that I know from alaska they would absolutely abhor anything about an hoa because they're they would live in the land ofA, because they're they would live in the land of freedom. Right, they're like we live in the.
Speaker 1:We don't want how does that neighborhood look?
Speaker 2:but they're happy because that's their mentality that's why they moved to Alaska, right so there's all kinds of different people, all kinds of different business models.
Speaker 2:I have to just say what is, who am I? And I need to go ahead and find people that are like minded, that will appreciate what I offer to them. I'm never going, no matter how good I cook, it's never going to help if I keep going to vegetarian conventions and I keep giving people my, you know, my, my char, siu, you know, or my, you know, barbecue pork or something right. That's never going to happen. I gotta say where's my crowd, who's my people you know, or barbecue pork or something right. That's never going to happen. I got to say where's my crowd, who's my people.
Speaker 1:You know what's my hive and I really think that's important, so I have to do a better job of remembering you as someone that provides plumbing services, not just private sewer lateral inspections, the PSLs right. So what's that?
Speaker 2:Tell me go ahead.
Speaker 1:So the name of your business, from sinks to sewers, is very unique. I love the name. It reminds me that I have not done a good job to associate it with other services that you provide. Tell us a little bit about what else do you provide.
Speaker 2:I don't provide plumbing anymore actually.
Speaker 1:Oh actually.
Speaker 2:So yeah, my entire failure is that I don't like to talk about myself, believe it or not. I don't really like to say, okay, this is everything that I do. I just do the job and I go and I just give a brief summary, but I don't say, hey, in addition to this, I'm also doing this, this and this, give a brief summary, but I don't say hey, in addition to this, I'm also doing this, this and this. And I meet that with a lot of people. This morning I talked to a realtor and I've known the guy for probably about eight years now and I had no idea he did property management Until this morning. He scheduled inspection because the tenant is buying the home right, think about that one. They've lived in the home all this time.
Speaker 1:Now they're going to buy the home, they should know what's wrong with the sewer lane right no, it's not that but they've been paying.
Speaker 2:It's like why? Why rent if you could? You know, everyone has financial constraints. But I'm saying, if you're not financially constrained, you're. You're paying someone else's mortgage at the end of the day. But here's the point this guy I've known him eight years never knew he did property management. You've known me since 2000. I think I probably want to say 2015, at least.
Speaker 1:Right when you started pretty much.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so 2014, 2015 with this and, yeah, 10 years, and you still think I do plumbing. Everybody does this, and the reason why is because I don't advertise. I had a realtor. They call me all the time Ben, how much do you cost to hydrojet the sewer line? They call me all the time Ben, how much do you cost to hydrojet the sewer line? $375. How much is it? If there's a sewer inspection involved with that? It's $375 extra. No, it's all the same price, it's all included. So wait a second For $375, you do the sewer inspection and you do the hydrojetting. Yes, how do I not know this? And I was like I don't know. I do this all the time on your inspections. I just don't advertise that. That's my problem. I don't tell people like what I do. Well, that's why we have marketing types, right, that's why the entire marketing industry exists. So for me, that's my failure.
Speaker 1:I got to work on so, so let's talk about that okay although you have another thought, I didn't let you finish, go ahead so but really quick.
Speaker 2:So my plumbing services that you asked is that I do drain cleaning, I do utility location and I do sewer and I do drain inspections okay, those are very key things because I I would like to know where the sewer line is, just in case I wanted to build something on there or sure, yeah, I did one for um apartment complex and I located the sewer line because they were a little bit unsure and they thought that there were two sewer lines that went to the city which would have incurred like a lot of cost, and I found that there was only one sewer line and then I was able to locate it, so that because they want to add on to it and I was able to do it, and then also I'm formally trained in utility location so I've gone through all the same education to find underground utilities as the people from SoCal Gas and Edison everything they were sitting next to me in the classroom- and you're much more accessible and maybe even more affordable than those.
Speaker 2:When you take me on face level, how much do you charge for a sewer inspection? It's $375,000. But here's where and this is the different business model what a lot of plumbers will do. They offer a low price with the sewer inspection because that's a lead-in to additional services. So it's $250,000, $150,000 for a sewer inspection.
Speaker 2:Hey Jorge, I hate to tell you this. You got roots in your sewer line, but we could clean them out. But it's going to be an extra $500 to $1,000, right? So now, that $150 value that you thought you were getting to your client, it's not. And then you're going to have to say, okay, well, look, we haven't bought the house yet. Who's paying for it? Are we paying for it? Are we paying for it? We don't even know if this is going to happen yet, or is the seller is going to pay for it and they're going, we're moving out. Why on earth would we pay for it? And then, on top of that and this is where it really hurts both realtors what are we actually negotiating on? Are we negotiating on roots in the sewer line, or are we negotiating on roots coming in through a big, giant hole in the pipe? We don't know, and so that's why I did away with all that and I say look, 375, I clean the pipe, I inspect the pipe. You know what you're actually negotiating and I think that's what's important. Excellent, you know. Let me just tell you this really quick. I just want to share a quick story. You could edit this later.
Speaker 2:But okay, from sinks to sewers, my dad is the one who came up with the name. But okay, from sinks to sewers, my dad is the one who came up with the name and he does computers, so it skips a generation. And so sinks to sewers. And I buy a lot of tools out of europe. And one time I didn't get some tools and they say and uh, I get a call and it says sinks to sewers.
Speaker 2:And I'm looking at my phone, I'm going going oh man, this is like someone stole my like stole my something, right? I pick up sweetest lady on the other end and she was saying that, hey, we got a box of tools. We don't know what they are, we did some investigating on the internet and we think they belong to you. So she sends them to me, all right, so DHL sent them. Instead of sending it from sinks to sewers, they sent it to sinks to sewers. Now here's the kicker with all this right. So sinks to sewers, ann arbor michigan. Oh okay, I'm from sinks to sewers and I live on ann arbor avenue oh how does the universe work like that?
Speaker 2:that is insane, right, and I've never talked to those people since then. I looked them up. It's a mom and pop. It seems like a family-run plumbing company. But even to this day I will sometimes get calls from Michigan for people who are like, hey, we want this done and we saw your video on YouTube and I was like I don't think it's me, you want, here's the other company you got to look them up, so the name.
Speaker 1:When I first started it. I love it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was supposed to be from the sink to the sewer and since then I stopped doing all plumbing but you have a phenomenal story there because, um, you've, you've gone the extra mile to say, hey, this is who you need, versus, uh, not the right guy. Click, and you know, when I first started in the business, people would call in asking for someone and it's like, oh, they don't work here anymore. Well, can you help me? And we knew where they went. And the office policy was like you don't tell them where they went. Well, I'm like, why not, because you want them to come and use you? It's like, yeah, but they didn't call for us. So you embody that philosophy that I have, is you go the extra mile I've actually spent? My wife will tell you I'll go in a rabbit hole looking for individuals just to be able to help them. The story that I have is my last name, deleon is associated with a spirit out there.
Speaker 1:It's the DeLeon Tequila, not related. The De Leon Tequila name is based out of the region where it was actually where it's made. But I received a phone call from someone saying, hey, I want to buy 12 cases of tequila. I can't get a hold of them. I can't get a hold of you guys. And I said, well, how'd you find me? He's like. Well, I figured that with your last name, you should know something about tequila, something with that name.
Speaker 1:I actually put them together, um, and I actually I ended up getting a bonus from them a commission for putting no way yeah, yeah, it was actually pretty neat, but you know, this is what 15, 20 years ago, uh, but it I was rewarded for putting somebody together, and then now the reward of putting people together is just the satisfaction that I helped someone without getting something in return right so thank you for sharing that story water seeks its own level.
Speaker 2:Uh, one of the people I used to listen to a lot was gary v, and he tells this story. Are you familiar with gary v?
Speaker 2:no he's one of these social media business types and, um, he's kind of fallen a little bit. But the thing, though, was he told this great story where he had a client and the client was a big sports fan. So what he did, what the client was and what Gary V's business was, he started in the wine business, selling wine at huge amounts, okay, and so he gets like this. He was like this guy's going to like like this gift. I'm just getting it to him because he's gonna like it. He got like an autographed sports jersey, I think, an autographed ball I want to say it was basketball, not sure sends it to the guy, and the guy comes back, and he was like hey, what are you like, what are you doing? And he goes oh, this is what I actually do. And he was like oh, you saw one? Hey, hit me up with a couple bottles of this.
Speaker 2:And the guy ended up ordering like a huge amount. It turned out to be, I mean, like we're talking about 1000s upon 1000s of dollars for wine, right, but the thing is, when you give someone to something and you expect nothing in return, sometimes the universe works out and it really does come back to you, and sometimes it didn't and you get nothing in return. But that's why I tell myself I did it just to be nice, I didn't for myself, I didn't do it to get something back so there's, that's what the word is, altruism, but in your and you refer to it as uh, water seeks its own level it's also a plumbing.
Speaker 1:It also fits for diagnosing plumbing issues it, it's a plumbing, pun right, yeah, good I'm glad that you shared that with us. Ben, I admire your voice. I admire what you do in your videos. Can you give us an example of you're describing what you're seeing on a video of a private sewer lateral inspection?
Speaker 2:What I think is the big takeaway for anyone who's getting a sewer inspection is that. Number one, it needs to be online and you need to be able to get the video, not a cell phone recording of the video. So in other words, if you're getting the video and the and the plumber says, hey, pull out your cell phone and just like, look at the screen. That's wrong. It needs to be an online link. Nowadays, sewer cameras to record it is so easy. All you have to do is press a button. I think something a realtor can do very specifically please be writing this down is to have your own thumb drive, because sometimes plumbers will say, oh well, we don't have it. You got to record this or that. Go, buy yourself a $9 thumb drive, plug it in, okay, and then when they're done, you could just take it and you have it. It just comes off as a regular mp4 file. Thing is also, it should be narrated and it should be moving somewhat slow. So one of the big key things that if someone is giving you a sewer inspection and they're moving the camera quickly while telling you there's a problem there, that itself is the problem. That's how you recognize the scam, because they don't want you to see things as they really are. The thing about the sewer cameras is that they're able to stay in focus even though something is very close. When I open the access point for a sewer inspection, sometimes grass falls in and I've seen it. I could do it. This is that you can get that blade of grass in there and put the sewer camera right up there to it and it will look just huge and gigantic and you could say there are roots in the sewer line, there's nothing in the sewer line and that's a huge reason. Why is that? You have to go off of someone that you trust? If you go on my Instagram account and you look, I have a woman who a realtor, who was with the trust. There was a trust. She was the hey, you're the realtor tag. You're it, you set all this up. She calls a local plumbing company. They say, hey, the pipe is broken. And they and she goes well, I asked around and someone said I should get you to for a second opinion. I come out there, there's no broken pipe whatsoever. I'm like going, when am I going to find this broken pipe? And so I call her over and you know I mentioned before about being alone. You know, do my inspections by myself. I call her over and I'm like hey, can you like watch me do this inspection? And I just just go hand over hand, meaning that I push the camera as fast as I can. I never hit a broken section, nothing.
Speaker 2:And it was $30,000 repair. That's what they were offering right Now, and so this was able to prove to her. Now here's the thing that was 30,000. So that made her stop and pause. What if it was $? Thing that was 30,000. So that made her stop and pause. What if it was $5,000? Most, most realtors would be like okay, $5,000 worth of repairs, write it off in the credit. Okay, just give them a credit for it, we'll be done with it. Right, and that's often what I see is how, like, do you actually have to do these sewer lines or do a sewer line repair, or is it just an upsell? Once again, it's a different business model. No one does inspections and make money when they're only doing them for like $100, $200. That's why I charge $375. That's what I have to charge to live in California. I can't apologize for that.
Speaker 1:Well, that's the value of your service, though.
Speaker 2:Right. So I don't reduce price, I add value. That's what I really try to do. Luckily, I have a lot of people who I really trust over myself, because myself tells me, ben, you got to lower the price. And I listen to those other people and they're saying, no, bad, add value. Okay, you never lower price, you add value. Bad, add value, okay, you never lower price, you add value. And if someone can't find the value on what you're doing, are you saying it enough? Is the value actually there? Okay, let me go back to what are you looking at for the inspection? Right? I already talked about having it narrated, having a thumb drive. The other thing that I think is extremely important this is that number one you make sure that is the location of the sewer line at where we say we are.
Speaker 2:So a sewer inspection that starts and stops in the pipe, don't trust it wait, explain that to me so I can understand better when you have the sewer inspection and it starts you're if you're in a pipe, and then the sewer inspection is over and the sewer inspector says all right, we're here and we're going to stop the inspection, and you end it. And how do you actually know that that's your sewer line?
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:That is real. That actually does happen. Thankfully, most of this comes out of Los Angeles, and I'm not trying to paint every bad picture, but it seems that anytime someone is a really shady plumber, that gives us all a bad name. Not every single shady plumber works in Los Angeles, but it seems like every shady plumber that's around you know that's where they're coming out of, so you want to make sure. When the camera comes out, are we showing the landscape? Do we see all of this? Can we verify that's where we were?
Speaker 1:inspecting. So that is a very interesting thing. I'm glad that you're sharing that, because, well, why is that relevant? That's why it's relevant, because it just shows accountability and you know, to demonstrate that it's an authentic inspection.
Speaker 2:Right. And then the other thing I would add is there's a big push by home inspectors to have inspections, to do sewer inspections. And so number one I'm saying this because I am biased, because it does affect me, but here's the reality of it this is that they don't know what they're doing, and the reason why is because on a sewer inspection, the cameras are very poor quality in comparison to your phone. So the only way to actually know if you're right or wrong is to see something on camera and then dig it up and put it in your hands. That's how you actually know. I mean, for home inspectors, they call it in your hands. That's how you actually know. I'm in many sewers for sewer, for home inspectors, they call it a sewer scope. So I'm in quite a few sewer scope forums, pages, groups, and there's so many things that they're going like hey, is this a problem? This looks like a problem. It's like no, that's the way pipe is supposed to look.
Speaker 2:And I'm just thinking to myself myself how many problems are these people creating and complicating transactions by saying, yeah, there looks like this is a problem. It's like no, that's actually the pipe do you actually like? I got it on my phone right now. I'll show you after this, where someone said what kind of pipe is this? They just bought a sewer inspection or bought a sewer camera and and they're like what kind of pipe is? This and it's just like plain as day what it is. You got to have someone you could trust.
Speaker 1:Okay, now I'm going to lean in on your professional, authentic, professional, honest opinion and by the way I love the fact that you drink cold coffee, Ventura has the PSL, which is required for anything once every 10 years and only for residential homes single family.
Speaker 1:So please clarify that. And the reason why I need you to clarify that is there's properties that are not included in that, which would be homes that are within a homeowners association. But what would you recommend that someone do? I mean like, for example, I would still recommend that someone perform a sewer inspection, a sewer line inspection, within the structure of a condo, for example, or a townhome, even though the seller is excluded from submitting that to the city of Ventura. I know it's a lot to unpack, but first of all, clarify what is required.
Speaker 2:So what is required is that for a single family home they have to have a sewer inspection done. And so what is exempt? Hoas, puds, are exempt from all of this. Now the second thing is the entire sewer line doesn't have to be inspected to meet compliance with the City of Ventura's PSL ordinance. What is required is that the closest connection to the city sewer has to be inspected. So, as an example, let's say you have an HOA. I've done a lot of them. Hoas are required every 10 years. Commercial every 10 years.
Speaker 1:The HOA itself.
Speaker 2:The HOA itself and it's not dependent on a sale, or it's just everyone was supposed to come into compliance. They haven't. So as an HOA, if there's a access point by, let's say, the sidewalk, I don't have to inspect the entire complex. I have to inspect from that access point by the sidewalk to the middle of the street. So sometimes I'll have a HOA I consider pretty big, I don't you know. It would take me like 20 minutes at least to walk around from one end to the other end. Okay, it's that big and all I'm inspecting is maybe 30 feet of pipe. So what that means is that if you're in a transaction within that HOA, this does not provide any protection to you and it doesn't take away anything. It's the fact that the HOA meets compliance with the city's PSL ordinance. It doesn't affect you at all. And I think what's wrong that realtors will say is the HOA. They had a PSL inspection done, they're good. So that implies that you're buying this individual unit and you're also good. It's not.
Speaker 1:Thank you for clarifying that.
Speaker 2:So absolutely. And then the other thing is whenever I'm on the buying side, what I do is I do a building drain and sewer lateral inspection, and the reason why that's important is because that's the correct terminology. So if you call me for a sewer lateral inspection, that is the pipe that's from the outside of the building to the city connection. The building drain is the pipe underneath the building. Okay, now let's say that the building drain or the sewer lateral is completely fine. The pipe under the building is rotted out, it's cast iron, it's bad or whatever the reason is. Let's say you have a backup and all you called me for was a sewer lateral inspection. What I would say is I would come out and I'd be like Jorge, what I did was correct.
Speaker 2:You called for a sewer lateral inspection and that's what I did. I inspected from the outside access point. It's called a cleanup. I inspected from the outside access point to the city sewer. That's not the issue. The issue is underneath of the house. And your question is well, why didn't you catch that? Because you didn't ask for that. You asked me for the sewer lateral inspection Because I work around realtors. I understand what they want. I try to so if they're representing the buyer they want to know, tell us everything, try to help us out completely, and that means that we're going to inspect the building drain and sewer, lateral inspection so I, I this is such a beautiful conversation because I want to know how I can do better it.
Speaker 1:It seems to me and I don't want to make any assumptions here that when you get the phone call from the buyer, you understand that they're looking for pretty much the whole house inspection, right?
Speaker 2:yes, and that's why that's still. That's the same price, it's just the same service. It's just that I try to go off of the needs of the client. Excellent, so if you're selling the house, you're just trying to come into compliance with the city, that's it. As the buyer, you want something more involved. You just want to say what are my expectations, moving forward, of the home?
Speaker 2:And so the other thing is, I would really and this is something that I feel is important and this is specific to Ventura is that when you get a contract and you're the listing agent and you're accepting offers and I'm not exactly sure where it's written in the contract or how it's written offers and I'm not exactly sure where it's written in the contract or how it's written, but there will be something of a checkbox involved that, or the seller will provide a PSL inspection, private sewer lateral inspection with the checkbox, and I would say never, ever accept an offer like that. And's the reason why tell us with that checkbox that they're referring to is the checkbox of no observed deficiencies, which means that the sewer line is perfect. Very few sewer lines are. If you're let me back this up if you're in a home that's like 2000s right, that's 25 years ago, right right.
Speaker 1:It's crazy to say it, but 25 years ago, right? Thank you for making me feel old, yeah.
Speaker 2:But at the same point, though, that means that's a perfect sewer line, and this is one of the things that I think realtors have really pressed on. Plumbers is. When I talk about that negotiation they accepted a contract that said this, and I've personally seen this is that they say we can't sell the home or we're not going to get, we're out of contract, unless we get this deficiency fixed. Meaning are you? Am I explaining this Right?
Speaker 1:right. So what would you recommend instead? What should we be doing? Should we not request it from the seller and just do it as a buyer's inspection process?
Speaker 2:request it from the seller and just do it as a buyer's inspection process. I think that what the listing agent should be doing is saying something to the effect of well, tell me how to say this correctly. If you're the listing agent, how do you say we're going to do the inspection and we're going to negotiate on the findings?
Speaker 1:And you're the listing agent to the seller.
Speaker 2:Yeah, or to the buyer.
Speaker 1:To the buyer. Well, as a buyer's agent the buyer is I want you to be aware of the condition of the home, to see if it's desirable or not.
Speaker 2:Well, what I'm referring to specifically is is that when a agent representing the buyer says we want that checkbox, what that does is that forces the listing agent to do a repair, even if it's not needed. Because there's a difference between having a deficiency, having a problem or an issue and that actually causing an issue in the home. There's a lot of sewer lines that I inspect that have certain issues but realistically they've been there for 50 years. They haven't caused a backup in the home. Why would I come in there and recommend this repair?
Speaker 1:Right. So, yes, you are very, absolutely right that you're putting your seller at risk of being bound to doing something we can reuse. We can use the example of when a buyer's agent requests through their contract uh, section one and section two of the termite, so they asked for a termite clearance, wait, wait, hold on. No, that's the buyer responsibility to investigate, not the seller's responsibility to investigate. Right, right.
Speaker 2:The other thing is that I would say, when you say what is the difference between average and extraordinary?
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:I really think that it comes down to training. That's a big part, and one of the things that I've seen is that with some real estate brokerages is that their training is minimal. They put their hands over the eyes. We didn't see nothing, we didn't hear nothing, let's move on to the next transaction. The smaller boutique brokerages don't do this. In my opinion.
Speaker 2:The ones that I've seen are much more involved. They're saying Ben, you have this class P inspections, come over here and talk to us. The bigger brokerages are like nope, you're not talking to our agents. I've had brokers pull me like, grab me, pull me into the office and say you will never, ever, tell one of our agents that they do not have to do a sewer line repair If there is an issue. If I mean, this is real and I'll tell this broke and I won't mention that person's name, but I'll say so if there's the slightest issue and it's not going to affect anything and the plumber is recommending it just because he's going to make 1000s upon 1000s, you're still saying that I shouldn't like tell the realtor that they don't have to do the repair and the person says yes, you will not tell our clients that they do not have to do a repair and to me that is insane because you're using somebody else's money.
Speaker 1:The objective is to be able to get both parties to agree and get to the ultimate, which is to close a transaction, sometimes real estate agents get—.
Speaker 2:Let me clarify that because I see how it might become misinterpreted. Plumbers will say here in Ventura you can't sell the home unless you get this repair done.
Speaker 1:And that's not the answer.
Speaker 2:And that's not true. That is an outright lie.
Speaker 1:That is completely false the buyer can live with it if they want to, depending on the severity of it right it's yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:There are some things where the city will come in and they'll, physically, they'll, send you a red letter and they'll say you have to do this because you're in violation that's different.
Speaker 2:That is so rare and it happens and I've seen it happen, but it's so rare it's not something to really be concerned over. But when a plumber is telling you you can't sell the home until you do this repair, that's false right. And so when I'm saying no, you don't actually do the repair, you don't have to do the repair to sell the home, and the broker pulls me in and says you can't tell this to our clients so and it comes down to the training.
Speaker 1:Right, so thank you for clarifying that as well. I've learned several things, ben, I want to thank you, for I don't want this to be the last time. Hopefully, you feel welcomed again.
Speaker 1:Because you know, mi Casa es su Casa and this is, you know, the De Leon Studios here in Oxnard. My objective with this is to encourage agents to do better. For those that want to become better, I find you to be one of those members of our community that is always seeking to do better and by your example, in your example, you've taught me a lot about how to actually be better. Um, for example, setting the expectation that when ben is doing his inspection, we stay away because you're focused on that and then you'll give us an update right, especially because you're recording. Um, I never like to tell buyer don't show up to the inspection. I like to tell them you're welcome to show up to the inspection. But I'd like to tell them you're welcome to show up to the inspection, but don't interrupt the professional from doing what they're doing, because otherwise they might be sidetracked. But you're welcome to ask questions in the past. What can I do or what can our community do better as a real estate community so you can actually provide a better service?
Speaker 2:I think training I really believe training and take advantage of the association's classes the real estate expert negotiation class I've taken it myself. I think it's outstanding. The Realtor Association really tries to put their best foot forward in giving you training, but in this one aspect of sewer inspections, with the nuts and the bolts of it, that is where it's difficult and the burden is not entirely on the real estate community. The burden is on the city, and the reason why is because the city won't update their website. On their website it still says January 21st 2014, staff working draft. How do you have the official? This is what we're doing? And it says draft on there and they will not answer.
Speaker 2:Gina Dorrington and Robert Barreto are in charge of this and I've had the conversations with both of them. I've asked them to clarify this. They will not do it. They will not do it. They will not do it in writing, because they say once we put in writing, we get lawyers involved. The burden also lies on them, but the city sometimes forgets that they work for the citizens of Ventura. They work for the citizens, citizens of Ventura. They work for the citizens and us as citizens, need to go and talk to them, especially the association that has some representation needs to say look, if you guys are going to put this ordinance on us, that's fine, but you need to manage it. And if you're not going to manage it, if you're not going to answer an email in writing, then you need to do away with it. Even though this benefits me, I would be happy if the PSO ordinance went away, and I seriously mean that, because if you're not going to enforce an ordinance, don't have it on its citizens. It's not fair, it's not right.
Speaker 1:So as a realtor community, we typically are against point of sale burdens of a transaction. That might slow a transaction or make it bad. This is an example perhaps, that it's well-intended but it's flawed in its execution, so hopefully somebody will listen to this and make a change to that. Any closing words? I mean, you gave me some phenomenal closing words, but is there anything that is on your chest that you would like to share, that you think that will benefit the audience?
Speaker 2:In specific to real estate, because that could go a lot of different ways, right.
Speaker 1:I want you to tease the next episode that we haven't even planned for.
Speaker 2:Remodels, and I would say that the the big. There can be a huge unknown possibility when you're going to edit this out. So let me go ahead and just start over again. Would you buy a new car or would you buy a very old car with a fresh paint job? Not necessarily so why would you do the same thing with a house?
Speaker 1:good example so trust but verify absolutely so.
Speaker 2:When that house you walk in and everything is brand new and it's a 1951 house and everything is brand new in the home why would you trust that?
Speaker 1:yeah, excellent. Thank you so much. Ben appreciate your time no, thank you. I learned so much hopefully, uh, the audience will learn again. This is Again. This is breaking barriers from average to extraordinary. Ben Cohn is the owner of Sinks to Sewers. He's been doing this since 2012. Went from door knocking 10.
Speaker 2:10. I started business 2010. 2010.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Door knocking Was able to overcome those challenges. Challenges you were at the right place at the right time. You shifted from doing plumbing repairs to doing sewer inspections and a specialty not just from the closest point of to the public sewer line, but you offer the service of a whole house and as a buyer you should consider doing the home inspection for the whole house, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Because you want to know what the condition is and then as to review. There's no law that says that the house has to be repaired. It's just that the buyer needs to be made aware of those. Obviously, there is a requirement for the city of Ventura of a broken line to be repaired prior to them clearing it right.
Speaker 2:But when you say a broken line, that's an actual plumbing definition. Our governing body per se, the standard we have to meet, is called NASCO and the term broken is actually within there, excellent. So if it was cracked, sometimes people say it's a crack sewer line. That's not the same thing as broken, but to a layman we'll still refer to it the same. So there is some nuance within that language matters, where I mean words matter in all aspects of life fantastic, we'll leave it at that.
Speaker 2:Thank you. Alright, I gave you a lot of editing to do?
Speaker 1:Nope, I like Lots of editing. I sent my stuff out wrong, no oh.
Speaker 2:Doing it again.
