#25 - IS YOUR HOME REALLY SECURE?

Dive into home security with Mike and Tim as they discuss some of the best ways to keep you safe!

Hosted by: Michael Dempsey & Tim Somerville 

Produced by: Hayden McNamee

Music by: Anthony Trim

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Mythbusters! Is your home secured? Like really? Corruption, cover-up, theft! You know where you have to go in New Brunswick though this summer? Where's that?

SPEAKER_04 0:19

Hi, I'm Tim Somerville. And I'm Michael Dempsey, and this is Off the Market with good old Team Somerville.

SPEAKER_00 0:24

This is episode 25. What? I know it's hard to believe that. I know. 25 weeks of listening to us.

SPEAKER_04 0:31

And here's too many more.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Okay, well, let's let's get right into it. I think we have a lot to discuss. I have a lot to cover. Yeah. We're excited. We're off the market, on the market. Flip the diet. Sorry. Flip the color. Offense, defense. Okay, that's right. What do you want to do first?

SPEAKER_04 0:44

Uh we'll start with on the market. Keep everybody informed. Okay. What's going on? You want me to first? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_00 0:49

Okay. So on the market. I want to know do you have any security on your home? Well, no. Is everyone? Nothing electronics. Do you have one of these? Huh? Do you have one of these on selling you right here? Yeah. Do you know the funny thing is when we go and we show properties? Yeah. Right? Where's the bat usually kept? At the door. Or right, at the door. So bad. So what ends up happening is you're sleeping. They break in, right? Now they have a bat, so that when you're in bed, they've got your bat. I mean, I think that again, I mean, it's to be in the bed, in between you and the spouse, you know, or at least close enough.

SPEAKER_04 1:24

I can't have the dogs in the mail.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Front door. Okay, here break in, take the bat. Now you've got an extra weapon. Anyway, so security. So what I want to talk about security is the fact that, of course, I mean, in our line of business, it's pretty important. Uh, one thing we will say is that many homes that are professionally secured, uh, the insurance is less. That's right. Right. So there are some costs to be professional, uh professionally uh secured, uh, being monitored, and of course, everything. And and and with the equipment, a lot of times there is a setup fee, a couple hundred dollars. Uh, a lot of times there's a contract, it's usually between three and five years. And a lot of times after that contract, the equipment then, of course, will just remain with a house. So if you are selling a home and you just had something installed professionally six months, one year ago, you have to make sure that somewhere you know that contract. Because if you're selling it saying it's included, guess what? Those people buying it may not want it. There could be fees having it removed. So just understand there's more than just having it in your home, especially if you're selling. So let's talk about some of the in-home security. Uh, your door cam. Most people have one now, which is great.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

Very far, do it.

SPEAKER_00 2:40

Yeah. Uh, of course. Um, we have motion. So you'll see that a lot of times in the corners of walls. We also see uh one that uh almost uh it what it does is it's for sound. So if somebody breaks the glass, it will determine that and and go off. Now, the innate thing is have you ever showed a home where the alarm has gone off? Yes, yes, and you know you wait in the house, you still show it, yeah, right? You show it, you're done, and about whatever, three minutes later, what happens? It goes off. Yeah, we finish showing it, we lock it up. Did you see anybody come?

SPEAKER_01 3:18

No.

SPEAKER_00 3:21

So, security, of course, is there for many reasons, and again, hopefully, we'll deter some of the concerns that, of course, the home sellers will have. I know um years ago that people were just putting stickers on their windows to make it look like they had security.

SPEAKER_04 3:40

This home protected by Baba Joe's.

SPEAKER_00 3:45

Well, good to know. Good to know. But one thing I will say is the fact that one of the most important parts about any security system is are you recording? So do you have cloud storage or do you have the cards? And the reason is because if you don't, you know, you may get something very quickly, but it would be nice for you to be recording the full absolutely you know, I mean, sure inside the video is uh not good when you need to uh show it to the uh the law enforcement. True, but you know, when you're writing an offer, make sure that if there's a security system, your realtor is making sure that it's included, and if not, that there's no damage to the walls or anywhere else when it's removed. Because a door cam, when you take it off the jam, it's gonna leave holes. So if they're like, Well, we're gonna take this, well, are you gonna repair the holes that are in the door jam? So make sure you take all of that into consideration if you're a seller or as a buyer. Now, do's and don'ts. We had one in Redhead that you know was well, actually, one out in uh Oak Point area. These two in particular, the security was on and people were showing the homes. And we would get calls, and these are not the only two, but we'll get calls many times. Oh, the person was in our house and was talking about this, that, everything else. You may have security and it is your house, but you still have to remember that you do not have the right to listen to private conversations, even within your home. So if you are going to be filming, it is with the concern that if something does happen, you can always go back. But please understand the level of privacy is still out there. Now, there are certain areas of your home that cannot be, you know, there's no security. Bathrooms, of course, is the main, right? So you have to watch again where certain things are. Um, what I will say is that in those two occasions, we asked our clients to please put out a letter that states, dear realtor and client, this home is being monitored with security surveillance, and that's all. We want the buyers to know that, hey, guess what? If you want to have a conversation about our house, just to be on the safe side, do it away from our house. If you're gonna say good or bad things about this house, we want you to know that, hey, theoretically, we have you on not only video, but probably audio as well.

SPEAKER_04 6:12

And you said away from the house. Yeah, there has been instance incidents where even talking in the driveway, you know, they have outside cameras. Yeah, it picks up audio.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Yeah. Now I do have one question. This is 2026. All the times I go on Facebook and people are shown, you know, as breaking into a house or a car or this or that. Do you ever notice that the footage looks like it's like from the Sasquatch from years ago? It's like, you know, you can barely see it. It's all pixelated. Yeah, 0.2 megapixels usually. So make sure if you do anything like that, yeah, pay a little bit more, get the quality, because the last thing you want is to be disappointed that you've gone that far. And yet, guess what? You still can't even recognize yourself or your mother or anybody as they come to the door.

SPEAKER_04 6:58

That's the message to all the thanks, too. I mean, you're watching like, oh YouTube video, like, you know, it got held up or something. And it's like, what am I looking at? I know meanwhile, we can zoom in and see like the craters of the moves.

SPEAKER_00 7:09

That's right. That's right. Does not make sense to me. Does not make sense to me. Okay, well, that that's my on the market.

SPEAKER_04 7:15

This this is very, very good. Yeah, okay. Good stuff. I do have a baseball bat, and uh, you know, um truthfully, yes. The last time I was away for a long period of time, I remember I was in uh Cambodia for uh the Chapter Trek. Yes, and I had actually left the baseball bat at the front door and told you know, Heidi, hey, it's there if you need it.

SPEAKER_00 7:34

Yeah, you know, but yeah, maybe you will move that closer. That's right. Uh I I just could never understand that, you know. You know, maybe put an axe there, right at the front door.

SPEAKER_01 7:43

Oh anyway. Don't do that. Don't do that, okay. Here we okay. You want to stay on the bargain? Uh, you you know what? Let's throw something at me. Throw something at you? Okay, I'm gonna switch it out.

SPEAKER_04 7:54

Okay, this is a huge controversy. I'm talking corruption, theft. Uh the the police are are in on it. Like, this is huge, okay. It's all over YouTube. This may be a surprise to Tim because he's a very busy guy. He's probably not watching YouTube. Uh huh. Um, but I'm gonna tell I'm gonna start off by saying Oh, wait, I watch off the market on you. That's right, me too. It shows you, or you're your yard. Oh, wait. Anywho, there is something called the world's largest Star Wars Lego collection. Okay. Okay, there's a collector. He's an older man. I think he uh I'll have to check he's 83-ish.

SPEAKER_02 8:31

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 8:31

He's taken three decades. He's collected literally the world's largest Star Wars collection. Police involved. Yes, yes. I knew. Oh, okay. So uh this older gentleman, you know, his his health is deteriorating, so his son decides, you know, it's time to put that collection for sale. Yes. Okay. Okay. So he wants the the the father, the grandfather should say, wants to give money to the grandchildren, right? So his son steps in to help and they they sign this contract with this company. Um, I don't think I'm gonna say the company's name, it's all over YouTube. Um, but they sign a company or sign with a company and they do a consignment. Okay. So here's our they literally have hundreds and hundreds of SKUs, and they say, here's our our item, sell them for us. Of course, the store gets a little bit of commission and we make money. Of course. In the contract, it's clearly states these items are still ours. You're doing us a great favor by uh showcasing them, yeah, uh getting them sold for us, and of course, taking your cut. Here's the problem, though. So the franchise owner decided, uh, well, actually, her husband got uh a role overseas. And so she contacted Corporate and said, Hey, just a heads up. In about four or five months, we are totally uprooting and moving overseas. My husband has a job. I wanted it to put it on the radar that I'm gonna be selling the franchise. Okay. Within 24 hours, and don't quote me on that, I think I'm pretty sure it's within 24 hours, head office showed up at the store and booted her out. No, yes, they booted her out and said, This is no longer your franchise. We have a hire, all that stuff. And she should totally caught off guard. And she says, Well, you know, we've got to do inventory. We have hundreds of SKUs that are on consistent, of course. And they say, Oh, well, it's it's it's okay. The consignment skews, we'll go over to the new franchise owner. Don't worry about it, it's all gonna work out, all that good stuff. And so she was she was literally rushed out this uh the door and they changed the locks right then and there, all caught on security footage. Wow, she has access to this footage. So, with this weird incident happening, she reaches out to the Lego owners and says, Hey, just want to let you know this is what happened. I'm no longer the franchise owner. There's a new guy in town, his name is blah, blah, blah. And uh, they're taking over the skews. So he didn't really feel comfortable with that. So he showed up and said, Hey, thanks for everything that you've done. Right. We'd like to take my items back. Of course. And they said, What items? No. Yes. $200,000 is what its estimated value is. And they said, We don't have your excuse, we don't know what you're talking about. So did she take it or he told it? No, they're literally still in the store. They're like literally in the store. So they said, We don't have it, we don't know what you're talking about. Wow. Absolutely. So this all started in 2023. And uh, sorry, I I'm so passionate about this story, I skipped on a lot of my notes. Yes. Um, so of course, uh, the owner wanted to take legal action. Of course. He consulted with a couple lawyers, so they said, Look, I'm gonna be honest with you, this is a $400 million company. By the time we drag it through court, you're gonna spend more money on my fees than what it's worth. Right. You you should just drop it. That was his lead. So then uh a couple uh small-time YouTubers picked up the story, decided, you know, to get the story out there, and uh they had the story up for a short term, and then this big company, again, you know, we're not gonna name drop, reached out to them and basically strong arms and let them take the video down and then you know, defamation and this is that and all that stuff. So they had to bury the story.

unknown 12:01

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 12:02

So the owner came across this other YouTuber with literally um millions and millions and millions of views of different things that he's done. He has taken down, like he's gone inside cults and things like that. He's done some weird stuff, but he heard the story and is like, yeah, we're here to help. God, so this is gonna be a movie.

SPEAKER_01 12:20

This is this is huge. This is gonna be a movie.

SPEAKER_04 12:22

So everything that I'm gonna share with you today is only part one. Oh my god. And part three is coming out soon. Like it's it's it's huge. So again, and I don't want to give it away all of it. I'm just gonna keep Tim informed of the craziest. So the YouTuber steps in, he says, Hey, I'm here to pick up the Legos for my friend. Okay, and they said, We don't know what you're talking about. Get the heck out of our store, you're trespassed for life. That's all they said was, Hey, I'm here to pick up my friend's Legos. They knew exactly what he was talking about. Of course. And uh they they had him trespass for life. So over the video, he comes up with different ideas of how to get these Legos back. Some of them involved uh technically stealing their logo in hopes that corporate will sue them for utilizing their logo because they don't have the funds to go to court. Wow, um, that didn't work out. Um, again, I don't want to give it all away because it's really good. Oh, yeah, it's a movie. It's a movie for sure. Uh they tried different loop uh legal loopholes. Um, anyways, when the story where the story left off in part two, uh the YouTuber is technically there's a warrant out for his arrest. No. Um, and basically, when I was talking about corruption, uh, so all these gentlemen, these higher-ups in this company are all pretty buddy buddy uh with the police officers in the small town of Utah. Of course. Because they all go to the same, I'll just say, Sunday service. Oh, you know, I don't want to drag religion in. But you know, they're all pretty close, tight-knit group. And so on camera, again, like I should say the YouTubers wear like spy glasses and this, like that. Everything is documented. There's so much lies, deception, corruption. Wow, you've got to check out this story again. Just YouTube, Lego Star Wars Collection. And I'm sure you'll you'll go down the rabbit hole like I did, and uh, yeah, I had to tell you about it. All your free time, check it out. Yeah, I know. Um it's just absolutely uh ludicrous.

SPEAKER_00 14:16

Well, and you know, and here's the hard part what seems to be simple, right? Thank you for saying that seems to be simple is not, and at the end of the day, to think that somebody can take advantage or a company can take advantage of somebody like that, 80 something years old collection like that.

SPEAKER_04 14:33

Yeah, boy, and they've gone back and forth. They said, Yeah, we have the collection, come pick it up. A couple months later, they say, No, we don't have it. It's it's a crazy story. Okay, check it out on your own time.

SPEAKER_00 14:43

Okay, look forward to yeah, speaking to you afterwards and so yeah, go from there.

SPEAKER_04 14:47

So let's get back on topic. Yeah, let's go for it. That's what we do. Yeah, let's do it. You do that. Today I thought I'd have some fun and uh we do some myth busters. Um, yeah, I think I just you know had two copyrights there.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 14:58

Busters and Ghostbusters. But hey, we're gonna have some fun. I'm gonna throw some topics at you and we'll kind of discuss it. Okay. So myth number one buying a home has forced millions of people into bad financial decisions.

SPEAKER_01 15:10

Ooh, okay. Well, that's a myth.

SPEAKER_04 15:12

Absolutely. They say that it's it's a hole that they you throw your money into and there's no value.

SPEAKER_00 15:18

Highest investment you can ever make is your home or in real estate, but it has to be done right. I'm not saying that there have been poor decisions made, but when done well, people have definitely been quite successful with it.

SPEAKER_04 15:33

Absolutely. It is a great equity builder. Oh my goodness. You know, and I'm not gonna be wrong with some other investments that could probably go up faster. Yeah, you're gonna get equity out of your home.

SPEAKER_02 15:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 15:43

So myth number two is the bank will gladly lend you enough money to ruin your life.

SPEAKER_00 15:49

Well, I would say that at one point they were probably giving more than they should have. But in Canada, we have what's called your GDS and TDS ratios, they have to be within a percentage. They also have a stress test that they now put in. So at the end of the day, I'd still say that's a myth. I'd say that I'd say that don't get me wrong, with interest rates where they are. You know, you're walking down a path that most of the information is right there. It's not like it's hidden. Now, what we don't know is if you get a five-year mortgage, what it's going to be in five years. But there are things in place that allow us to feel comfortable that our days of having interest rates of 20%, 21%, yeah, they probably will never come again.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

1980s, by the way.

SPEAKER_00 16:35

Right. And you know what, even then, homes still sold. Absolutely. But anyway.

SPEAKER_04 16:39

You brought up the stress test and what that is. Is today's rate, let's say today's rate is four and a half. Yeah. It's it's a little bit lower in some institutions. They're gonna test you for six and a half.

SPEAKER_02 16:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:48

You know, they're gonna have that two percent buffer. They're also going to take in consideration your utilities. Do you have any other current, you know, car loans? Uh, maybe it's student loan you're still getting rid of, all that is factored in before they even print out your pre-approval. I agree. Um, so the fact that you know, the myth that banks start to get you, no. No. Um, a realtor is a salesperson and not an advisor.

SPEAKER_00 17:11

Well, I will tell you that uh we've been psychiatrists, yes, we have been parents, we have been this, we have been that. Uh I don't care. Yes, exactly. No, just kidding. We are a salesperson, uh, and we do advise on markets, you know, statistics as well as so forth. So I'd say I'm sorry, I think I'm an advisor as well.

SPEAKER_04 17:31

I I agree. Um, I wrote down, you know, first of all, that's hurtful.

SPEAKER_01 17:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:36

Um, everybody on our team, we're homeowners. That's right. You know, we've we've bought homes, we've sold homes personally. That's right. Uh, we know the ins and outs of all the headaches that that come with it. And uh when it comes to your investments, your uh multifamily investments and things like that. Uh Tim has done that before. Still doing still doing it. Uh we can help you run the numbers, we can show you what a five, a 10-year forecast looks like. Correct. I mean, so I'd say every day we're we're advising you know what's most graphic. Yeah, we get questions like, you know, like what kind of internet can I get and all that. So it's like, well, could have Googled it, but I'll do it for you.

SPEAKER_00 18:11

If your realtor is not advising you of where the market is and and of course strategies, then then you may want to re-evaluate that as well.

SPEAKER_04 18:19

There's a small myth that people still think you need 20% down payment.

SPEAKER_00 18:22

Uh no, no. And people will always say, Well, I'm a first-time homebuyer. So, well, first-time home buyer, there are programs out there, but it has no bearing on what your percentage of buying a home is. Anybody, whether or not it's your first or your eighth home, can get into another home with 5% down, so long as it's going to be your primary residence, or they've changed that a little bit, you can actually have two primary residences because locations sometimes you may live in the country and work in the city. So having a condo in the city is still a primary residence, even though you have your main one in the country, and you can do that with 5% down as well.

SPEAKER_04 18:58

Absolutely. You can have two primary residents in the province of New Brunswick. That's right. We'll teach all about go on. Uh a goodwell. And you know, this is no offense to our inspector friends, but a home inspection catches everything. It tells you everything you need to know about that house.

SPEAKER_00 19:14

Oh, big myth. Big myth. Um, you know, what you have to remember is that people are human, they may or may not catch everything, and we've seen some major items missed, but at the end of the day, it's the comfort you have with the home. And and if you're relying on the inspector to determine whether or not you're going to buy that home, understand that a home's a living, breathing thing. There are probably going to be concerns that even if the vendor was or was not aware of it, are definitely going to come up within a short period of time of owning a home.

SPEAKER_04 19:45

Absolutely. And you you we know that in the last 20 years we've had weird uh lighting issues. Oh, yes, you know, like never even heard of it before. So how can anyone predict now? But also go and say, you know, technological advances have come through where inspectors now can use infrared, they can, you know, uh through the walls. They can, you know, back in the day, yeah, they couldn't see through walls. They're not gonna rip walls down. Check your work. They they weren't Superman. No, no, I wish, right? But I mean, they they have a very uh extensive checklist that they'll they'll go through the home and you know sit down with you and go through it as well.

SPEAKER_00 20:19

And make sure you know their qualifications. You'd be surprised with some inspectors. Again, you just want to make sure that you know that they they know their stuff. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 20:27

Are they um what's the word for if are they insured? Oh, yes, something very important. If they miss something, yeah, very important. So uh, you know, a $200 home inspection is probably not as glamorous as you think. That's right. And obviously, it's not number two. Most no, I mean it's that's right.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

You know, she one if you hear about it, you're like, that's a good deal. No, if it's not between five and seven hundred dollars on a single family home, they stop. I'd be surprised. Yeah, I'd be a piece of charge. Well, it should go for me.

SPEAKER_04 20:53

Well, um give me one more or two. I'll give you one more. One more. It says that pricing your home high gives you more room to negotiate.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

See, now we believe that the pricing strategy is so important in today's market. Why? Because although the inventory is still somewhat tight, we know that if you're not pricing your home right, we won't be getting the right interest in your home, which means you will not get the right buyer. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 21:16

Absolutely. And I've seen some price reductions come through in the last couple of months where you know $50,000 price.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

That's huge. I know. But you may have lost your buyer because the buyers that would have been interested in your home when it first came out now see that you are on the market for a period of time and may think something's wrong with your home.

SPEAKER_02 21:34

Absolutely. Every day. Okay. So that's uh our fun little myth uh myth busting.

SPEAKER_00 21:39

Well, let me finish with off the market. Absolutely. Okay, that was awesome. Take it away. Okay, so um, you know, in New Brunswick, where's the place to visit in the summertime? There's quite a few. Yeah, St. Andrews. So I would say St. Andrews. So with St. Andrews again, just want to mention that St. Andrews has a bunch of festivals, which is great. They have the By the Sea Festival. I'm actually going this week. And it's a beer festival there and should be fun. Well, I'll be staying at one of the inns there. Um, there's a Fundy Pirate Fest, there's a paddle fest, there's a Sea Dragon uh boat festival, uh Christmas by the sea festival, uh, there's a food and wine festival. What I want you to know though is that St. Andrews has so much to offer. And if you did not want to travel south, this is almost like your little Cape Cod of New Brunswick. I mean, the shopping in the summertime is great. Katy's Cove is one of my favorite places. Uh Katie's Cove, it's warm salt water, it's a public beach. It's free to get in, right? It's a great spot. Bring a little picnic, do whatever you need. The golfing, it's seashells. Oh my goodness, when the tide is out, I mean, the things you can find, the starfish and the shells and so forth, it's phenomenal. Um, Huntsman Marine, great place for the kids. They have a small little touch pool there that they can go in and touch different things, the sea cucumbers and everything else. So it's pretty cool. Ministers Island. Ministers Island, again, you have to wait till the tide is out. You drive across the seabed, you go up, and you have to come back within a period of time. Yeah. So you shot it. You've got it. I mean, it to me with the festivals, the restaurants, the beaches, the ocean, uh, the shopping, the whale watching, um, and then to stay. I mean, yeah, you've got the Algonquin. And and the Algonquin is one thing. You've got inns, you've got Airbnbs, you can camp, bring your trailer, bring a tent. Um, so much right there. And yes, you are right close to the border, but it's just the weather usually is pretty decent down there. Yes, you get some fog and the ocean breeze. Um, but it's just it's great. You can leave in the morning, have a great day with the family, you know, um, stay if you want. Um, have you ever had uh your family down there and so forth?

SPEAKER_04 23:57

Absolutely. Could be talking about like the uh the the marine uh the marina. Yeah, sorry, not the marina, the um the Huntsville Marine. Yes, yes, yeah. Yeah, we've gone down several times. Yes. Our daughter a little older now, but I'm sure you've taken air girls down many times.

SPEAKER_00 24:09

Yeah. Yeah, it's gorgeous down there. Oh my goodness. And one thing I will say is that um when you look at places like that, the funny thing is is that look at the license plates. You will be surprised when you look at how many that are not from New Brunswick that can appreciate and have heard of St. Andrews, right? Now it's funny because St. Andrews can be spelled both ways, S T period, or S A I N T. And it's funny, we have many places like that. It's like, what do you mean? Which one is it? Is it the S T or the S A I N T? Same spot, but you can spell it however you want.

SPEAKER_04 24:42

I will stand out on a mountain and say that we do not say S T John. We do not, because that's that's Newfoundland to us.

SPEAKER_00 24:50

Oh my goodness. Well, and some of the restaurants, and I'll give a shout out to the Ross Mount. The Ross Mount, the people that own it do a phenomenal job. Everything is is is just phenomenal there. And so we have uh, of course, high-end, we have uh mid-range, we have takeouts down there, but again, it's just such a place to bring family.

SPEAKER_04 25:11

It is when you're down on Main Street and Water Street in that area, it just kind of reminds you of like you know, I would say like old Sussex. Right, you know, yeah, just that main drag, and you've got the Mel and Pop shops. Yeah, it's just it's just great.

SPEAKER_00 25:22

Oh, I I agree 100%. And the great thing about it is again, is is on any budget, like honestly, go down and walk the beach. And if you want, grab takeout. If you want to spend a little bit more, there are some high-end restaurants and and so forth that you can choose. Same with souvenirs, they have a Christmas shop down there, and then they also have, of course, places you can buy art to everything. So, like I said, just a little bit for everybody there. Definitely should be on your uh you know, itinerary to do at some point this summer, if not multiple times this summer. And other than that, like I said, that's uh that's my two cents on St. Andrews, and hopefully you guys check it out.

SPEAKER_04 26:01

Yes, well, uh really love St. Andrews by the oh yes, and uh we definitely at least go down once a year just to check it out. Yeah, um again, great topics today. I really hope you enjoyed that. Uh from all of us here at Team Somerville, I'm Michael and I'm Tim, and this is being off the market with Team Somerville.