Episode 36: Marcus Parson on Protecting Your Home from Costly Termite Damage & Pests in Birmingham, Alabama

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:22:21
Nate Carver
Hey, it's Nate Carver, your favorite mortgage guy. And what does pest and housing have to do with each other? We're about to find out as we go to Birmingham, Alabama. I want to introduce you to Marcus Parsons, who is the owner of Pest Detectives in Birmingham, Alabama.

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Nate Carver
Hey, I'm Nate Carver and welcome to Between Two Doors.

00:00:44:13 - 00:00:47:09
Nate Carver
Hey, Marcus. How are you doing, sir?

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Marcus Parson
Hey, I'm doing good about yourself.

00:00:49:13 - 00:01:25:02
Nate Carver
I'm doing great. And tequila. Allen is, back with us again. Between the three of us, we are going to unsought all this on this episode of Between Two Doors. All right, let's let's, let's jump right into it. Marcus, thank you for joining. I wanted to ask you, could you give us a quick snapshot of pest, of Parsons pest detectives and, what it is that you do where you serve and, and what inspired you to get into the pest business?

00:01:25:04 - 00:01:53:06
Marcus Parson
Just a quick snapshot. We are a, faith based business. Of course, pest control, we do things as an, termites, wd oes, which that's where it most likely the real estate and the pest control business will, you know, in the by. But, intertwine. I'm sorry. And, we also do General Pest. Making sure everything is covered is a different, different kind of roaches.

00:01:53:08 - 00:02:18:12
Marcus Parson
Different kind of. Yeah. We silverfish is mosquitoes. We also do bedbugs. Different things like that. So we've been in business, for around three years. We cover most of the Alabama area, mainly in Birmingham, and surrounding areas like Hoover, McCollum, Marlboro, in different places like that.

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Nate Carver
Nice. Tell me,

00:02:25:12 - 00:02:32:22
Nate Carver
All right. Into a, quick reminder to everybody tell us what you're doing and what's new in your life in the real estate world.

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Marcus Parson
Let me make last how we talk. We had just started our team in Florida. Since then, we've opened up a brokerage in Alabama, Birmingham, Alabama, as well as in Georgia. But, just to retrack, I am a real estate, broker, like I say in those two states, and I am an agent. With United Real Estate Gallery down in Florida.

00:02:57:14 - 00:03:22:02
Nate Carver
Nice growing, meaning awesome people making an impact in the areas that you're now expanding into. Right, I love it. Hey, Marcus, tell me something. When you first started the past detective, did you have a mentor, or did was there any personal experiences that led you this direction?

00:03:22:04 - 00:03:48:02
Marcus Parson
So just a rewind of how I got into pest control. So I used to travel and do music, so we actually, I did wedding bands, corporate gigs. We used to actually travel the music. Only thing about music is the income sprawl cost up and down, up and down. So I was looking for something steady and, one of my friend's father, he was a manager at Knott's Pest Control.

00:03:48:04 - 00:03:55:02
Marcus Parson
So he brought me in, you know, to give me a steady job and just having a business mindset that I do.

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Nate Carver
Yeah, I.

00:03:55:20 - 00:04:18:14
Marcus Parson
Was I had no idea that pest control makes has the income that has so has, you know, I was watching and learning and I start saying that, and it went off of my head. I said, hey, Marcus, you may want to try to get, you know, the licenses and stuff just to see where this can go. So, I talked to them, and I end up getting my certifications.

00:04:18:16 - 00:04:36:11
Marcus Parson
To actually start my own, my own operator, licenses and different things, and, got started in it and for, for the everything's been going good. So, really, I hate to say it, I slipped into it kind of.

00:04:36:12 - 00:04:53:15
Nate Carver
Right. I, I slipped into the lending world. It's not something I was dreaming about as a kid or anything. How did, Well, tell me, did you see in when you were doing the music? One. Are you still involved in music? What did did you sing or did you play an instrument?

00:04:53:17 - 00:05:03:00
Marcus Parson
So I think I have my whole I had a live band, so I still get calls to do that, you know. So I do it, but more as a side having that.

00:05:03:02 - 00:05:06:20
Nate Carver
Yeah. Baritone bass.

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Marcus Parson
I can sing anything. Really.

00:05:08:07 - 00:05:26:14
Nate Carver
Yeah. Okay. You got this background music. Nice, nice. And I, we might break out of some gospel here in a little bit. Yeah. All right. Interesting. So. Well, how did you two. I'm curious how you two met or got connected with each other.

00:05:26:16 - 00:05:34:19
Marcus Parson
Okay. Tell you where it is. It's going to blow your mind. What you want to tell me? Tell? Yeah, I got it. I got this rock.

00:05:34:19 - 00:05:39:07
Nate Carver
Scissor, this one. It's,

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Marcus Parson
This is my little big brother, okay? Right. Yeah. So, he started, like, three years in this, and I. I'm going on almost four in real estate.

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Nate Carver
Right?

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Marcus Parson
The plan was, hey, everybody, grab some part of real estate, some type of form. We can be connected to help each other grow. Yeah, that's really how we started, you know, hooked up. We started doing some events together as well here in Birmingham in some take, you know, I feel taken off. Got to another level with the trying to be community engagement.

00:06:13:09 - 00:06:23:10
Marcus Parson
You know as as much as possible. I think I, you know, I talk to you about that as well, you know, just being a part of the community. So we start to have, different types of events.

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Nate Carver
Nice. All right, I love it. Okay, so being, Now, Marcus, were you military? Did you have a military background or.

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Marcus Parson
No.

00:06:37:17 - 00:07:09:23
Nate Carver
No, I don't I guess I got a bad note here. All right. Welcome to live, Brook. Work. So, tell me, I would be interested to know what kinds of things that you've run across in the past. Detective industry, I don't know. Shocking. Crazy. Oh, my gosh, you won't believe it. What I saw today, tell me a little bit about that, because I want to I want to go into.

00:07:09:23 - 00:07:28:19
Nate Carver
Eventually I'll get to where this meets with real estate. But tell me I'm just, being from the South. If you told me. Well, I open up the door and there was an alligator, I would not be surprised. You know, personally, I would not be surprised. I would believe it. So I'm interested in what you've seen.

00:07:28:21 - 00:07:54:17
Marcus Parson
I've seen it all. We're talking the biggest spiders that you can see. You walking around is one the size of your hand. Same you. I've actually, mice, rats. There's different things. I, I had one customer. She was having a major mice problem, and I didn't know. You know, once you get that, you're looking at the situation, trying to see what's going on.

00:07:54:19 - 00:08:13:07
Marcus Parson
And she was telling me about it, and I took a mouse. Sticky pad out, and I set it down just to see where I can see it. And we talked for maybe 10s. I turned around and two mice on there. I said, yeah, you you have an infestation. Okay. So different things like that. Even dealing with termites.

00:08:13:09 - 00:08:27:00
Marcus Parson
I had one customer when I was at Knox. They was have a termites problem. And I walked onto their porch and it literally caved in. When I walked, I, walked on a porch from the wood house so that.

00:08:27:02 - 00:08:33:10
Nate Carver
Oh, my goodness. You all right?

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Nate Carver
No trips to the hospital?

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Marcus Parson
Oh, no, I was okay. But you see some crazy things.

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Nate Carver
You never have you ever run across a three story over just west of Dallas, Texas? Maybe two years ago, there was an alert. Put out that somebody pet Cobra had gotten loose, and you're like, those aren't native to the, the Western Hemisphere for that, you know, let alone Texas or or Florida or Alabama. But have you, have you run across anything that was, you know, we had to go back home and look it up and be like, I don't know what that was.

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Marcus Parson
Yeah. Like I said, you see it all I had, they have bait boxes, what we call. And we'll put against the house.

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Nate Carver
Yeah.

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Marcus Parson
You pop those open to put poison in or to keep the mouse at.

00:09:29:12 - 00:09:37:02
Marcus Parson
Pop one open. It was, family of possums living in there. So you see crazy stuff all the time. I've seen snakes all the time.

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Nate Carver
So. Yeah.

00:09:38:06 - 00:09:42:01
Marcus Parson
You just. It's just no telling what you're going to see.

00:09:42:03 - 00:10:08:17
Nate Carver
And so, into tequila, you may want to ask a little bit about this, is when it, when you intersect with real estate, people that are looking to buy a home or sell their home, oftentimes as a lender, like there's a zone if you're in this zone, termites guaranteed. You got to get a termite inspection.

00:10:08:19 - 00:10:23:09
Nate Carver
What are you doing to help homeowners or what can you do to help homeowners mitigate that risk, protect their property, from termites specifically. But and then and I guess other pests as well.

00:10:23:11 - 00:10:45:13
Marcus Parson
So basically, you know, for me, it starts, by me doing it a while, you know, you start to pick up on some things like termites or, beetles because beetles, have been a problem, you know, and you being a lender is certain loans that, you know, that wdl has to be taken care of. So I was feel love and I, I immediately start looking at the deck and things like that.

00:10:45:13 - 00:10:58:22
Marcus Parson
Or if there's one side you start looking at that stuff because I know it's going to come back on those and inspection reports. Right. And then I'm going to and try to educate my buyers and let them know, hey, this is going to be have to be taken care of before we even can close.

00:10:58:24 - 00:10:59:09
Nate Carver
Yeah.

00:10:59:14 - 00:11:21:18
Marcus Parson
Home as well. And then, you know, you be the lender. You know that as well. So I just try to educate them on the things that I do know. The state is that my realtor scope. But golf my experience of, hey, you know, this is going to have to be taken care of or when you're negotiating, letting those things be known, like, hey, you know, what the other what the other agent, hey, we're not going to be the clubs unless it's taken care of.

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Marcus Parson
So, you know, you you come in contact with a few. I'll say definitely. Out here.

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Nate Carver
So wood, is it wood destructive organisms or wood deteriorating organisms? I don't remember what the deal that.

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Marcus Parson
Were destroying organisms.

00:11:40:01 - 00:12:09:16
Nate Carver
Wood destroying organisms. So on the lending side, there's products to help future homeowners address those issues, because sometimes the seller can't fix it. You know, they're still on the the distressed property and they're financially distressed. But there are products, that can help get homeowners into that home. With the renovation all wrapped up into that loan as well.

00:12:09:16 - 00:12:13:20
Nate Carver
So there's always a way it's, you know, it's a fabulous or there's always a way.

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Marcus Parson
There's always a way.

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Nate Carver
I would personally prefer that they not have to deal with those problems at all together. So, Marcus, what what can homeowners do or future homeowners do to protect their asset?

00:12:30:09 - 00:13:06:03
Marcus Parson
A lot of people just from, you know, talking to tequila, a lot of people don't think about the termite protection system, which can be a system or a liquid barrier. So just to educate people on that, that only last ten years. So if someone got a house built in 2000 or later and had that system built and you're buying in 2025, you may want to ask, hey, when the last time if you do have several station, when the last time where they changed, or when was the last time a liquid barrier treatment was done around this house?

00:13:06:05 - 00:13:24:21
Marcus Parson
Just to let you just to get a scope of what's going on, just to protect your asset. If it's been a while, you may want to. Hey, before I buy, can you go ahead and get that service done? That way you don't have a 1500 or $2000 bill coming here right after you move in to protect your house.

00:13:24:23 - 00:13:31:09
Nate Carver
How far? How far outside of Birmingham do you service?

00:13:31:11 - 00:13:38:11
Marcus Parson
So we go pretty far. I think the farthest I went, with. I've actually had a service in mobile that I've done.

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Nate Carver
Oh, okay.

00:13:39:23 - 00:13:44:04
Marcus Parson
So we my license, it actually covers the entire state of Alabama.

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Nate Carver
Right. Okay.

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Marcus Parson
We're planning on locating different offices, you know, once we get everything established fully down here, we want to try to, go to Huntsville because it's an up and coming area. And then, you know, different places in Alabama just to have stations.

00:14:01:15 - 00:14:20:10
Nate Carver
So if someone or when someone needs your services, is it is it, is it like a subscription base, like you set up, visits with them? Quarterly or annually or how how do you do that with with what you're doing?

00:14:20:12 - 00:14:39:02
Marcus Parson
So usually, we have all of them. So we have one time treatment. We also have a subscription based treatment. So we'll come in, look around that. You know what we see. Just to tell you what we think, you need. Now, I do have to let some people call for one time treatment, but I do have to let them know.

00:14:39:04 - 00:15:00:13
Marcus Parson
And this for all homeowners, just because you don't see, you don't mean they're not there. So you when you start seeing them, that's when you really have a problem, really have problems. But they're there, you know, especially the suburban homes, everything. Yeah. So, we always tell them, hey, we got the one time treatment, but you may just want to get all, like, a quarterly plan.

00:15:00:13 - 00:15:10:23
Marcus Parson
You're not saying anything. Every Dreamworks will come out, you know, treat for all different bowls, which that chemical lasts for three months. And just give your at home protection.

00:15:11:00 - 00:15:37:16
Nate Carver
Nice. Like it? So tell me. Okay, so in in doing my preparation to meet with you, Marcus, I looked at some. I was looking at some home inspection videos, and this guy went underneath into the crawlspace and in the back, you see, it's a cat. I'll call it a cat, a large cat. It was like cougar.

00:15:37:16 - 00:15:53:14
Nate Carver
Cat sized cat, big one little wooden little house cat. And it's just it was massive silos. So I guess that's why I was curious is whatever critters you've run into hopefully was never anything like that. But,

00:15:53:16 - 00:16:04:16
Marcus Parson
I would call and sometimes and like FaceTime and he'll have these, this mask on with these breathing things and have like a little white suit line and look at this spray thing and I'm like, oh my God.

00:16:04:17 - 00:16:06:24
Nate Carver
Like, yeah.

00:16:07:04 - 00:16:14:02
Marcus Parson
It's like something off of what, one of those movie where they had to contaminate a decontaminate. Everything he has on those suits.

00:16:14:02 - 00:16:27:14
Nate Carver
So, yeah. So, do you want to talk about cost? Is that is that is there a range there or there? I would I guess everything's going to be subject to.

00:16:27:14 - 00:16:39:00
Marcus Parson
No. Yeah. You know, square footage. It depends on what, service you have or what you're looking for. So I guess we're keeping it a real estate. We'll talk about, like, health.

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Nate Carver
Yeah.

00:16:39:19 - 00:16:58:24
Marcus Parson
It just really depends on what you have to do. Because some houses have crawl spaces. And I mean, with you looking around, a lot of people look around and think the house is good, but once you get into the crawl space, you that's where you will find your issues. And we all is not just talking about termites.

00:16:59:01 - 00:17:17:01
Marcus Parson
There's wood, strong organisms. So there's deal with your beetles. The different fungus is dry. The wet wood fungus is, termites. All that stuff could come, and you don't want to buy the home. And then later on, you're dealing with a whole issue where that flow floor has to be replaced.

00:17:17:03 - 00:17:25:11
Nate Carver
Right? Are you doing or do you know that you've done loans or inspections for VA loans?

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Marcus Parson
And they usually they'll send you a paper, that you have and they actually say VA loan. There's people that you're dealing with that.

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Nate Carver
Yeah. There's trick question.

00:17:38:17 - 00:18:05:06
Nate Carver
And that would be me sending that that letter out. Yeah. I know, a lot of myths over that. But I'll tell you what I always say is, you know, as a homeowner, getting your team put together, your pest inspection, your pest detective, would be one of those people you would definitely want on your team. Great real estate agent, great lender, insurance person.

00:18:05:06 - 00:18:27:24
Nate Carver
There's a whole bunch that that goes around. And all of this is really to protect the homeowner's best interest. In my opinion. And, tell me this, I'm curious, is is how or would how would anybody, when they need your services? Marcus, how would they best get Ahold of you?

00:18:28:01 - 00:18:51:12
Marcus Parson
So you can give us a call, which would be (200) 520-0208 one eight. Or you can go on the website. Parson Pierce, detective.com. Is the contact form out there? Any social media? We look at our details to check those, even if you is right on our page. Hey, I have the issue. Somebody is going to respond immediately, like, hey, what's going up?

00:18:51:14 - 00:18:53:05
Marcus Parson
Can we help?

00:18:53:07 - 00:19:05:18
Nate Carver
All right. And, Parsons Beck detectives.com. I'll get all those links added to this. To clear up. You got any questions you want to throw out there towards the end?

00:19:05:20 - 00:19:27:21
Marcus Parson
No. Like I say, we I really like what you stated that, you know, you try to build a team for your client, right? You want to be able to provide them with just a white glove service and being able to have a circle of people that you can call on to help is the best thing. You know, if you get to your head, you're the head, you're ahead of the game.

00:19:27:22 - 00:19:34:17
Marcus Parson
If you have that, if you have your team together, and especially when you have a good team like that. Yeah.

00:19:34:19 - 00:19:43:17
Nate Carver
Yeah. Marcus. Tell me. Tell me something. Outside of pest detectives. What, what do you love? What do you love doing?

00:19:43:19 - 00:19:59:01
Marcus Parson
Right now? Well, you know, of course, we stay to music. Yeah. But right now, I'm into my kids. I mean, right now, maybe baseball practice, football practice. So, you know, other than that, we're just spending time with my boy.

00:19:59:03 - 00:20:01:17
Nate Carver
Nice. Well, what's their age range?

00:20:01:19 - 00:20:02:20
Marcus Parson
Three and five.

00:20:03:01 - 00:20:18:06
Nate Carver
Three and five. Oh, you got a long sporting career ahead of you. Good for you. Are you raising them? Are you raising them to to a specific team, fan base, or are you going to let them choose?

00:20:18:08 - 00:20:34:00
Marcus Parson
Well, we're, divide it out to buy a house or a college. You have Alabama and our. Oh, yeah, Baltimore Ravens, but we're big Ravens fan. So he walks around, say, Lamar Jackson.

00:20:34:02 - 00:21:00:00
Nate Carver
I get it, I get it. So, growing up Pensacola, you know, you're the fan base in Pensacola is Auburn and LSU. But of course, none of those are Florida State. I mean, that's not Florida State, none of those Florida teams. That's what I'm trying to say. And, so our house is divided as well. So we managed you good.

00:21:00:00 - 00:21:09:12
Nate Carver
Well, this was this was a lot of fun. Marcus, was there anything that I should have asked you? That I didn't.

00:21:09:14 - 00:21:37:13
Marcus Parson
I can't think of much. I only thing I would say is, I know the, like you said, dealing with real estate and, pay attention to where you moving. You know, suburban areas, understand what it comes with, with, you know, past. And so tyranny of termites. And like the main thing that I have noticed over the years is nobody pays attention to the upkeep of the termite systems, so nobody really has.

00:21:37:13 - 00:21:54:14
Marcus Parson
But I get there and I'm like, hey, when was your termite stations put in? And and the questions, the answer's always the same I don't yeah. And now as well, that could have been prevented, you know, because termite damage can get expensive.

00:21:54:16 - 00:22:25:04
Nate Carver
It's quick too, isn't it? I mean, how, the, the destruction that a swarm can cause. One swarms are no joke, as you know, down in the south. When they come through, you're like, what in the world is that anyway? No joke. Tequila. Tell me, where do people get it? They are interested in talking about real estate in the Birmingham area and or Jacksonville, Florida.

00:22:25:04 - 00:22:30:00
Nate Carver
But you know, the Birmingham area where how could they best get a hold of you?

00:22:30:02 - 00:22:44:13
Marcus Parson
They can always call (205) 222-2743 for all social media Facebook, TikTok, Instagram. They're all the same. It's an RCR group for all three.

00:22:44:15 - 00:23:08:03
Nate Carver
All right. There you go. All right everybody. That's that's going to wrap it up for this edition of between two Doors. And as always, if you, need any mortgage lending advice or a clear mortgage plan built out, please reach out to me as well. Pest detectives Parsons pest attacks in Birmingham, Alabama, and now Tukwila.

00:23:08:03 - 00:23:24:24
Nate Carver
Allen is a real estate agent broker in Birmingham. As well. I encourage you to reach out to them for any of your real estate and or pest, addressing needs. And that will be a wrap for today. Thank you guys for meeting with me.

00:23:25:01 - 00:23:31:21
Marcus Parson
Thank you so much.

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