Episode 53: Denise Bibeau Is Leading with Heart in Ocala Real Estate

00:00:00:00 - 00:00:09:12
Nate Carver
We're talking with the Women's Council of Realtors president for Florida. I would love to introduce y'all to Denise

00:00:09:14 - 00:00:16:16
Nate Carver
out of Ocala, Florida. This is going to be exciting time. Lots going on in the New year.

00:00:16:18 - 00:00:36:00
Nate Carver
Hey, I'm Nate Carver and welcome to Between Two Doors.

00:00:36:02 - 00:00:38:01
Nate Carver
Hi, Denise. How are you doing?

00:00:38:03 - 00:00:41:15
Denise Bibeau
Good afternoon. Nate, I'm doing great. Thank you for having me.

00:00:41:17 - 00:01:02:08
Nate Carver
It's good to have you here. So let's let's jump into it and introduce the world to you. You've been you're in the Ocala area of Florida. You've been a real estate agent since 1995. For that? Longer than that. Shorter than that? Well, you've been in Ocala since 1995.

00:01:02:10 - 00:01:04:01
Denise Bibeau
Correct.

00:01:04:03 - 00:01:23:19
Nate Carver
This is live and move, record and go. And so, you correct me if I'm wrong, so it's quite all right. Okay. So you've been there since 1995? Yeah. Perfect. I'd like to know originally. What what brought you there? And then tell me. Tell me about home.

00:01:23:21 - 00:01:53:15
Denise Bibeau
Okay. Yes, we we moved to Ocala 1995. Actually. Still even live in the same house we moved into. The reason we came up here. Because way back when, and for those of you who are probably my age, would know the term Circuit City, which is a previous story that was around. I was a manager for Circuit City, and I got promoted to store manager, and the only opportunity at that time was the Gainesville store, because at that time Ocala didn't have a Circuit City.

00:01:53:17 - 00:02:15:20
Denise Bibeau
So I went to work at Gainesville and was up here for about shoot, I want to say eight weeks, ten weeks before we sold our house down in the Ellington area, and then we moved up here. So that's what brought us to Ocala, because my entire family actually lives in Dunedin, which is near Tampa. Area. So when we're up here, you know, about two hours away.

00:02:15:22 - 00:02:20:08
Denise Bibeau
So we've been here for 30 years. Last month.

00:02:20:10 - 00:02:22:21
Nate Carver
Nice. And it's pronounced Dunedin.

00:02:23:02 - 00:02:25:19
Denise Bibeau
Dunedin. Yes, yes. People say Dunedin.

00:02:25:19 - 00:02:54:08
Nate Carver
It's tentative. Yeah. That's the the quick giveaway that you're not from there. So I've been there. And that's exactly what I did and learned. Yeah. Wow. So your real estate career, 36 years combined. And, what what was the triggering thing? Where did you. Yeah, where did you what brought you into real estate?

00:02:54:10 - 00:03:14:24
Denise Bibeau
Okay. So I was in retail management for several years. And my last year, at that time I was working for Cracker Barrel. I was the manager for Cracker Barrel. And that Christmas I said, I don't want to work another Christmas. I'd worked, for 25 years and I said, I just don't want to, or 26 years, just don't want to work another Christmas.

00:03:15:01 - 00:03:33:03
Denise Bibeau
And I had a cousin who was in real estate up in Connecticut. Yeah. Previous district manager that I worked with was in real estate. And I told my husband, I said I don't want to do retail anymore. I want to do something different. So I spoke with them and made a decision. Took the class while I was still manager at Circuit City.

00:03:33:05 - 00:03:47:15
Denise Bibeau
Gave them, I noticed and went into real estate full time. I mean, I took the leap, but I made sure that, like all my ducks were in a row before I went. So God forbid I wasn't successful, I had something to fall back on. And it actually worked out very well for me.

00:03:47:17 - 00:03:55:11
Nate Carver
Nice. And you know, it's a side note Cracker Barrel I don't know how they did it but they're they're pancakes. They're crispy. Oh my gosh they're the best.

00:03:55:13 - 00:03:57:14
Denise Bibeau
Mom is French toast is my favorite.

00:03:57:16 - 00:03:58:24
Nate Carver
Oh there you go. Yeah.

00:03:59:01 - 00:04:08:23
Denise Bibeau
There's an old joke. When you joined Cracker Barrel as manager. They call it the 625, because within six months you gained 25 pounds. And it definitely happened. Thank God I was able to get most of it up.

00:04:09:04 - 00:04:09:19
Nate Carver
Unbelieve.

00:04:09:20 - 00:04:11:09
Denise Bibeau
Eating all the time.

00:04:11:11 - 00:04:33:05
Nate Carver
Yeah. Oh, man. Those pancakes. Okay. Back to. So you jump into real estate and your first year, you were, rookie of the year right out in the first 12 months? Yes. And, Wow. What do you what do you attribute that? That kind of success for or to?

00:04:33:06 - 00:04:49:10
Denise Bibeau
I attribute it to my sales background. You know, I say, you know, if I knew, then what I knew now. You know how different my my I mean, I was successful in sales, and I was my father was a salesman, and so I kind of took after him. And I was in commission sales for, for quite a long time.

00:04:49:10 - 00:05:08:24
Denise Bibeau
And real estate similar to that. And, you know, I, I worked on a team the first year because I didn't know anything about real estate. I knew about sales. And of course the team helped me grow and I just worked out. I was working seven days a week, 24 hours a day, just to get my name out there and come ten years later.

00:05:09:01 - 00:05:25:22
Denise Bibeau
You know, most of my business that I get a lot of it is referral business from the folks that I helped back in the day. So it was it was it's hard work. You have to be able to put the hours in work weekends, work nights. You know, I kind of joke that the reason why I got into real estate was to get from working weekends and.

00:05:25:24 - 00:05:30:10
Denise Bibeau
Yeah. In retail. Well, let me tell you, that's not the case for the first couple years.

00:05:30:12 - 00:05:41:20
Nate Carver
Yeah. Yeah. You realtors and loan officer leader? Yes. We're the ones that work the evenings and weekends. They aren't the banker's hours, so.

00:05:41:22 - 00:05:43:24
Denise Bibeau
Absolutely.

00:05:44:01 - 00:05:51:17
Nate Carver
Wow. What would you tell, in 2016, Denise, if you could go back and tell her something on the years you've learned from.

00:05:51:23 - 00:06:15:16
Denise Bibeau
Oh, wow. You know, I was never to the point where I wanted to give up on anything. Because I knew I've always had that drive. I would have, you know, my volunteer leadership, which brings me to the state president of the Women's Council, Florida. I probably would have told my my self back then, you know, to really get involved, put yourself into the volunteer position, I got involved.

00:06:15:16 - 00:06:35:17
Denise Bibeau
It was a couple years later because I love my my goal. And even when I was a manager at in retail was I love to see people grow. And part of being in leadership in, in a leadership role is to watch people grow. So I would I would have loved to start my leadership journey sooner with, you know, Women's Council, Florida Realtors and things of that nature.

00:06:35:22 - 00:06:53:06
Denise Bibeau
But then I think back and say, you know what? I needed to get my feet wet and get my real estate career going. So, you know, probably what I told myself then is because you're not you're set in more sedentary than you were Cracker Barrel. You better have an exercise regimen.

00:06:53:08 - 00:07:07:11
Nate Carver
Yeah. Wow. Yeah. Well, tell me, tell me a little bit about Ocala. You know, some of the for someone listing has never been to Ocala. How would you describe it to me?

00:07:07:11 - 00:07:26:18
Denise Bibeau
And a lot of people over the years, it has changed dramatically. You know, at one point, Ocala was. I mean, we still have a ton of horse from the horse capital of the world. People don't realize that the county that I live in, Marion County, is the fifth largest or sixth largest county in the state of Florida. It's the size of Rhode Island, which I know isn't a big state, but that's a big county.

00:07:26:20 - 00:07:44:14
Denise Bibeau
Excuse me. And we currently have about 450,000 people in our county. So it's very well spread out because there's still a lot of land out there. You know, for someone who hasn't been here, if if you like the hustle and bustle of the big city like Tampa, Miami or Orlando, Ocala is not the place for you.

00:07:44:14 - 00:08:07:17
Denise Bibeau
But if you want the laid back kind of, you know, where where it's a lot of good old boy network, you know, hometown feeling. You got a lot of hometown restaurants. Ocala is the place to live. It is. It is getting a lot busier than it used to be. If you're a retiree, we have great retirement communities, great hospitals, great doctors, you know, in traffic compared to other places.

00:08:07:17 - 00:08:33:21
Denise Bibeau
Let me tell you, the traffic here is nothing. But people have lived here for a long time. They think the traffic's out of control. And the cost of living in the state of Florida, it's still one of the least expensive. And it is the safest place to be during the hurricane, because we are in the middle of the state and in 30 years I don't know of anyone whether they lived in manufactured home, a site built home that had, you know, the roof blown off or things that have happened on the coast during hurricane.

00:08:33:21 - 00:08:38:00
Denise Bibeau
So it's a very safe place to be during the hurricanes, which means insurance is cheaper.

00:08:38:02 - 00:08:39:23
Nate Carver
How far from the beach are you?

00:08:40:00 - 00:09:03:09
Denise Bibeau
So from Daytona, we're about 90 miles west and from like Crystal River in that area, we're about maybe 70 mile. I'm sorry, 90 miles. West. And then from Crystal River, that area about 70 miles. So we're like smack dab mill in the middle of the state. But I can get to Daytona Beach within an hour. And ten minutes.

00:09:03:11 - 00:09:12:14
Nate Carver
Wow. Yeah. All right, hang on a second. We're having a little technical difficulty over here.

00:09:12:16 - 00:09:15:02
Denise Bibeau
I mean.

00:09:15:04 - 00:09:37:04
Nate Carver
All right, we're back. We had a little technical difficulty there. Okay. So somebody's looking to to move into Ocala. What? What would you tell them? I mean, I guess their expectations, as a home homebuyer or. Yeah. What would they be? What might be new to them?

00:09:37:06 - 00:09:50:21
Denise Bibeau
Well, I think one of the things that we're going to see in Ocala that you don't see through the rest of the state, we actually have some hills. It's not completely flat like the rest of Florida is. And people that come here say, wow, this reminds me of like up north, like Pennsylvania or some of those places. Yeah.

00:09:50:23 - 00:10:16:00
Denise Bibeau
If you're into horses, like I said, where the world. You know, the horse capital of the world. We have a beautiful world equestrian center that is the largest in the world. People fly from all over the world to come and show their horses. And there's all kinds of events there and things of that nature. It's still a down home, down home feel, even though we're getting larger as a as a city, still reasonably priced to live here.

00:10:16:01 - 00:10:37:00
Denise Bibeau
It's not outrageous. Like I mentioned earlier, the insurance is a lot less expensive because we live in the middle of the state, and it's just it's a great place to live. We've got a lot of, you know, things that happen in our downtown Ocala area. It's just it's it's just a wonderful place to live. I mean, I'm thrilled that I moved here 30 years ago and really don't plan on going anywhere else anytime soon.

00:10:37:02 - 00:10:46:09
Nate Carver
Good. I don't know if I got cut off or not, so I definitely want to know. For me personally, the beach. How far is that from? Is Ocala from the beach? Closest drive.

00:10:46:11 - 00:11:12:13
Denise Bibeau
So from Daytona, it's about 80 miles. Takes about hour, 15 hour or 20 minutes. So it's not that far. You drive to the first and that's to go to the East Coast. To go to the West Coast is going to be about I'd say 90 minutes. Maybe if one would go over Crystal River or something of that nature, you know, if you wanted to go down to like Clearwater Beach, you're probably looking like 2.5 hours.

00:11:12:15 - 00:11:17:16
Denise Bibeau
So it's it's still within a day's drive. Easily. We go to do to often.

00:11:17:18 - 00:11:19:01
Nate Carver
Make a day trip out of it.

00:11:19:01 - 00:11:20:01
Denise Bibeau
Yeah, absolutely.

00:11:20:05 - 00:11:27:07
Nate Carver
And a lot of places, just as many times I've been in that area just seeing all the and a lot of really great restaurants around there.

00:11:27:07 - 00:11:31:07
Denise Bibeau
Yes, a lot of local restaurants, which is nice, you know. Yeah. The chain got.

00:11:31:12 - 00:11:45:16
Nate Carver
You got a favorite local. I love when I travel, I try not to eat, at chain restaurants, you know, they're all great, but yeah, I really try to get the local flavor. What's your favorite in Ocala?

00:11:45:18 - 00:11:57:20
Denise Bibeau
I would say probably one of my favorites is Latino EMAs, which is a Spanish fusion restaurant. They've been around for a long time. In fact, they catered my one of my birthday parties. I'm not going to tell you what year it was.

00:11:57:22 - 00:12:03:00
Nate Carver
29. It was a big birthday. I don't celebrate my 29th birthday party.

00:12:03:00 - 00:12:27:19
Denise Bibeau
That's right, that's right. My in point. So they catered my my birthday and another really unique restaurant. When I have visitors come, especially when folks are buying a house because my office is located downtown. So you know, they can come to my office and we meet is called Ivy House. And it's kind of like an it's supposed to come back to like the 1920s, 30s, 40s, like a speakeasy theme, but really great food.

00:12:27:19 - 00:12:41:10
Denise Bibeau
In fact, when we had our state summit here back in October, that was a restaurant that we visited a few times and people were just in awe because it was just great food. And it's very inexpensive compared to, again, the big cities.

00:12:41:12 - 00:13:14:15
Nate Carver
Wow. I love it. So you mentioned it in, in our opening. And, let's talk about leadership in, in, in women in real estate. You're the president of the Women's Council. Realtors. Florida is the largest, and oldest, organization supporting, female, Realtors in Florida. And you're the president. Tell me, tell me. Yeah, I'm about that journey.

00:13:14:17 - 00:13:41:23
Denise Bibeau
So I got my license in 2016. And in 2017. You know, I was suggested by several people to join the council, the Women's Council, because it was a great place to network, great place to, you know, meet other leaders that had the same journey as you did also to to with our vendors, our partners, whether they were lenders, whether they were title, whether they were inspection, if you didn't know when you're starting in the business, those are the folks that help support us.

00:13:41:23 - 00:14:03:23
Denise Bibeau
So we would support them in, in in 2018, the current president, who I knew from my previous life, she was well, she was going to be president in 2018. So at the end of 2017, she asked if I wanted to be her president elect. And I was like, okay, not knowing much about it. And that was local president 2019.

00:14:04:00 - 00:14:32:06
Denise Bibeau
And then, of course, everybody knows what happened in 2021 with Covid. And then I, you know, so I was still involved, but I didn't go into any kind of leadership roles. And then in 2022, I became a district vice president. Then I was treasurer, then I was first vice president, then I was president elect. And technically, I've taken over my presidency, presidency November the 18th of this year for 2026, because we go from November to November.

00:14:32:08 - 00:15:06:11
Denise Bibeau
And now with the Women's Council set so national does their calendar. So right now I am currently president and we have 1350 60 members. Our goal though is we want to increase our membership like our national president is is wanting by 26%. So we're hoping to have about 1700 members by the end of next year. And I have a great leadership team, which consists of four other leaders in on the executive line and nine district vice presidents and 27 local network presidents.

00:15:06:13 - 00:15:10:04
Denise Bibeau
So we have a lot of great things planned for next year.

00:15:10:06 - 00:15:26:24
Nate Carver
Nice. I what would you tell realtors, about the Women's Council realtors that why why they need to be a part of it. It's something that they should do. Like their first year as a realtor.

00:15:27:01 - 00:15:51:06
Denise Bibeau
If you want the camaraderie, the networking, you want to learn from people that have been in the industry, it's a great place to go. The networking is phenomenal. Once you get into the council and you start to travel and go to the national events, whether you're going to DC every year or wherever, the national conferences, you're meeting leaders throughout the country, and it's a great way to get referrals.

00:15:51:08 - 00:16:08:05
Denise Bibeau
It's a great way to call somebody and say, hey, I have a question. Can you help me? It doesn't matter if they're in the same brokerage, if even if they're in the same state, it might be a real estate related question that you're just not sure what to do or you know how to go about it. So it's just a great way to continue if you're on a leadership journey.

00:16:08:05 - 00:16:30:13
Denise Bibeau
We have some great leadership training. You know, somebody who's new in the industry doesn't know anybody. And the only way you're successful in this industry is really getting to know people who can support you and you supporting them, because if you go on and you're just a man on an island by himself or a woman on an island by himself, you're not going to be very successful in the real estate industry.

00:16:30:15 - 00:16:37:01
Denise Bibeau
So you depend on these other leaders and partners to help you with your success, right?

00:16:37:03 - 00:16:50:07
Nate Carver
What, what is the Women's Council religious mean to to a homeowner that needs to sell their home or somebody that's looking to buy a home? What, from their perspective, what would that be?

00:16:50:09 - 00:17:23:11
Denise Bibeau
Well, when you're a leader in a volunteer organization, to me it shows them that it's just not about the real estate transaction. It's bigger than that. You know, you care about volunteering. There's no you don't get paid to be a leader in the Women's Council or any of these volunteer organizations. You're doing it because you have the passion, and you're doing it because you want to help grow, whether it's through education, which again, we offer a lot of education, which helps when you're working with a homeowner, buyer or seller that you know might have education that somebody else who's not involved doesn't have.

00:17:23:14 - 00:17:44:06
Denise Bibeau
You have more knowledge about other things that maybe you learned in your in your classes that you the, the, webinars or in-person classes that you were with the Women's Council. And it just I think it helps you as a individual not only to feel more confident when you're working with a buyer or seller, because we know how tough the market is.

00:17:44:06 - 00:18:04:11
Denise Bibeau
You know, a seller might talk to 5 or 6 agents. So what's going to separate you apart from those agents? And you have to have the confidence when you're talking to that buyer or seller and be able to display that you have the knowledge and you have a team of people behind you. And honestly, even if they're not in the same network, you have a team of people throughout the state to support you.

00:18:04:14 - 00:18:07:12
Denise Bibeau
And that's one of the things that I love about the Council.

00:18:07:14 - 00:18:38:22
Nate Carver
Nice. I can imagine that that network, let's say you have a listing, from a home buyer perspective, if you're a realtor has a network, I'm just thinking if I'm trying to sell an investment property or an investment property and you're realtor has a connection to a whole bunch of other realtors who know investors. Yep. That would be a great tool to be able to move that property or acquire property to.

00:18:39:02 - 00:19:01:09
Denise Bibeau
Absolutely. You have I mean, we have 1350 members, you know, not all of them are active constantly. Some of them are just members because they want to, you know, they like our education and they but you have those people that, you know, you can go to again, referrals. You know, I have someone just now that, you know, I listed one of they had a piece of land here in Ocala, actually Dunnellon.

00:19:01:11 - 00:19:19:05
Denise Bibeau
And it was an agent from down in Sarasota that said, you know, I've got this person who has land up there, you know, would you mind? And sure, you know, I was able that same with me. I just referred somebody who once had it was a buyer that was working with me originally, and they changed their area where they wanted to live and where they want to move 2 or 3 hours away.

00:19:19:07 - 00:19:40:05
Denise Bibeau
I don't know that area. So I reached out to my women's Council members. I said, who can help this customer of mine? And I referred them to somebody else that I know will take care of them. Yeah, that's where I think the key is, you know, you can depend on these people to make sure that they are taking care of your client as well as you were taking care of those theirs from.

00:19:40:07 - 00:20:01:23
Nate Carver
Right. I totally get that as a lender. There's a few, unique product. And I'm like, I actually know someone in the industry that might be an expert or is an expert. Yep. Yeah, totally. Get it. And vice versa. It happens to me too. So the people move all over the place. And so you never know. There's always there's that opportunity.

00:20:01:23 - 00:20:20:11
Nate Carver
And I love being able to have somebody in my on my short pocket be able to send. Yeah. My pocket will introduce make a nice introduction and an endorsement and say they're going to take care of, you know, they're going to get taken care of that. That's awesome. So Women's Council Realtors has does have an event coming up.

00:20:20:11 - 00:20:22:07
Nate Carver
You want to tell me a little bit about that?

00:20:22:09 - 00:20:46:07
Denise Bibeau
Yes, it's a big event. It's actually our installation in January, on January the 6th at the Hyatt Regency in Orlando. And this is when myself and my executive team get installed, as well as our district vice presidents. It's our annual installation. Even though we take office technically middle of November, we actually get installed in January. Every network does an installation on their schedule.

00:20:46:07 - 00:21:12:13
Denise Bibeau
Ours is always at our January Midwinter conference, and it's going to be a 70s theme because, you know, I'm a 70s child and it's just going to be a big event. We'll probably have 220, 230 people there. It's going to be, you know, the installation and then dancing. We're going to do awards, of course, will recognize all of our strategic partners, which I thank you very much, Nate, for being one of our partners for 2026.

00:21:12:15 - 00:21:13:05
Nate Carver
Absolutely.

00:21:13:10 - 00:21:35:02
Denise Bibeau
You will be recognized there and we our goal is to just have fun and let people who don't know what the council is about. When they come in, they see again the camaraderie and the the love in that room. That's the reason why a lot of people join, because they feel like it's a sisterhood. Even though we have men in the council, majority of our members are women.

00:21:35:02 - 00:21:56:07
Denise Bibeau
About 10% are men. But there's that sisterhood and it's going to be a great event. And that's on Tuesday on the sixth from 630 to 11. And then on Wednesdays are education all day. So whoever's there, we don't charge for education sessions. We have our national president coming in from California, which is a really big deal. And then our national treasures actually from Florida.

00:21:56:09 - 00:22:17:23
Denise Bibeau
She was our state president in 2023. And now she's our national treasurer. So we're just thrilled to have her there. And then of course, we have education all day, different sessions throughout the day. And it's just a great way. Again, we offer this education free. We're going to have a session on scripts with one of our members who's been in the industry.

00:22:17:23 - 00:22:38:16
Denise Bibeau
You may know her, Alexis Bolen. She's been in the industry for, I don't know, 50 years. And she's basically going to help our members and our guests. How do you how do you overcome objections from a buyer or seller? And she's got a new, slew of people from our star power group that will be there. So it's going to be a can't miss.

00:22:38:16 - 00:22:40:14
Denise Bibeau
It's going to be phenomenal I can't wait.

00:22:40:16 - 00:22:57:11
Nate Carver
Wow. Yeah. Well, well, you you are an expert in the real estate industry. In the the industry, for lack of a better word is has rewarded you. So I think that's exciting. I can't wait to be there to meet face to face. And so.

00:22:57:11 - 00:22:58:14
Denise Bibeau
Yes, actually, it's pretty.

00:22:58:14 - 00:22:59:21
Nate Carver
Awesome.

00:22:59:23 - 00:23:05:14
Denise Bibeau
We're going to I'm going to put you on a side note. We're going to ask you to be an escort to escort some of our past presidents in.

00:23:05:16 - 00:23:11:02
Nate Carver
Oh my goodness, I've got a tuxedo and I will pack that in. I mean, you.

00:23:11:02 - 00:23:17:17
Denise Bibeau
Don't need to wear a tie. I mean, you can wear something 70s, but. Yeah, we're. I was going to ask you that. So since we're here live, I'm asking you.

00:23:17:19 - 00:23:48:21
Nate Carver
Yes, I, I'm going to wear tuxedo and I will look to see if I can find, like a 70s style tie or something. I don't know, outfit part. I'm going to dress. I know you want that. That's awesome. That's that's great. Nice. All right. So let's now I'm gonna links to that to the, the event so that anybody finds this and is watching or listening and you're a real estate agent and you'd like to go, I'll have or get introduced to the Women's Council.

00:23:48:21 - 00:24:15:20
Nate Carver
Realtors for Florida links down below. Yep. And then so let's shift gears, to real estate. For people that are looking for a real estate agent in the Ocala area, tell me, is there is a moment where is a woman in a transaction? Or you think this is why I do what I do?

00:24:15:22 - 00:24:44:07
Denise Bibeau
Absolutely. When probably the biggest joy and reward that I get is when that first time home born homeowner is able to buy their house they've been renting, and now they're able to say, this is mine. I just had a transaction. I don't know, probably six months ago. And they were first time homebuyers. And when we sat in the closing with the title agent, the joy on their face and the wife kept saying, I can't believe we're buying a house.

00:24:44:07 - 00:25:00:18
Denise Bibeau
I can't believe we're going to have our own house. I, you know, they have children. They have 3 or 4 children. And they were just when we went and did like a walk through, they came into the house and kids were like, oh my God, we have a backyard. And oh my God, that's my room. And so that to me is such a it's so rewarding.

00:25:00:20 - 00:25:18:10
Denise Bibeau
And then on the other hand, when you have someone who, unfortunately, maybe a spouse passed away and they're going to be moving in with their children and you're there to to support them and to help them do the transaction. Because again, it's about people. It's not about money. And if you're in the business for money, you're not going to be successful, you know, anyway.

00:25:18:10 - 00:25:45:23
Denise Bibeau
You're going to get referrals. And it's because you have to give yourself to these people. They need to know that you are there for them. You know, whether you make, you know, whatever the amount of money you're making, it's not about that. And these folks I was telling you about, I mean, they were so tight on money that we had to figure out a way to get them into this house and in whether it's, you know, you have to take some of your money to give to them whatever to make them, you know, make it possible for them to purchase this home.

00:25:46:00 - 00:26:05:03
Denise Bibeau
And another instance I had, I had a seller, and the buyer was a woman who was living in a women's shelter for two years because she had left. She had been abused in the past and the the other agent, and this was not a very expensive house at the time. It was maybe $120,000. That's when you could buy a house for that much.

00:26:05:03 - 00:26:20:12
Denise Bibeau
You know you can't do that anymore. And the woman that was helping her said, you know, I've sold million dollar homes in this to see this woman get into this house who had been living in a shelter for two years and now has a place to call her own, was probably the most heartwarming thing that I've ever seen.

00:26:20:14 - 00:26:33:18
Denise Bibeau
And I agree, it's just it's, when you have when you and also when you, when, when that buyer or seller says to you, thank you. We couldn't have done this without you. That that to me is probably the most rewarding.

00:26:33:20 - 00:26:51:23
Nate Carver
Yeah, that I get, as a, as a lender, whenever I make that first conversation with a potential buyer, or a home buyer, they're in the market and they, they look, they, I know they think of me as the bank that got some negative.

00:26:52:00 - 00:26:52:19
Denise Bibeau
Yeah.

00:26:52:21 - 00:27:13:01
Nate Carver
Publications there. Or, you know, at best, they write off existing on the numbers and documents, guys. Oh my gosh, how many documents do I gotta send this to? And, but I don't start there. I start with, tell me your why I want to hear their dream. I want to hear their goal. And that's, you know, that's where that's where I build.

00:27:13:03 - 00:27:41:10
Nate Carver
That's where I build, that's where I start their contract or their loan application is with their wife. And, you know, if they're not. Now, I've got a mission that's. Absolutely. Yeah. And, you know, in, in the if you're staying in the, you know, the referral space where, you know, your past clients, customers or. Yep, bringing people they know to you because they like you and they trust you.

00:27:41:12 - 00:28:04:24
Nate Carver
That's a wonderful place to be. Absolutely. Yeah. That is, you know, as a in our side of it, of that equation, that kind of endorsement is, is gold. It's just it's amazing. Gift for you. I love it. Next 12 months, let's say, someone's got a home that they're thinking about selling. What do you recommend their timeline?

00:28:05:00 - 00:28:13:09
Nate Carver
Like? How should they have to be approached that, I don't know, because I know it's just like we don't snap our fingers and sell a house.

00:28:13:11 - 00:28:39:16
Denise Bibeau
Watch out. And I don't have a crystal ball either. The market is definitely changed. Yeah. You know, the folks that that bought when the rates were two and a half, 3% are not selling because they can't get rate to that amount. The people that sold that that time were very fortunate. However, the market has shifted and it's now becoming it was definitely a seller's market for several years.

00:28:39:18 - 00:29:02:19
Denise Bibeau
It's now a little bit of even. It may be going towards the buyers, mainly because there's so much new construction, especially in my area. So you have pre-owned sales competing against new sale, new home sales. I would say the biggest thing, number one, be patient, know that your timeline isn't going to be two weeks. It's probably going to be more like, you know, I think the average right now in Ocala is close to 60 days.

00:29:02:19 - 00:29:21:05
Denise Bibeau
If not longer. And, you know, the bottom line is price is going to determine if your house is going to sell or not. You know, you could have all these upgrades that you paid $100,000 for. But if somebody else is going to see that value in your house, just like they say when you get a swimming pool, if you buy a pool for resale value, you're not buying it for the right reason.

00:29:21:05 - 00:29:35:23
Denise Bibeau
You're buying it for you to enjoy it. And if you get the money back at the end of the year, great. But if you don't, you enjoyed it all those years. So, you know, I have some folks right now that were thinking of selling and, you know, we're, you know, pretty much into the holiday season at this point.

00:29:36:00 - 00:29:52:23
Denise Bibeau
So my suggestion is, if you're looking to sell right now, I'd wait until after the first of the year personally, just because I think right now it's it's it, you know, unless you have a you have to get out of the house and, you know, you're willing to, you know, take a little bit of a loss on your house at this time.

00:29:53:00 - 00:30:16:04
Denise Bibeau
It's going to be a tough market this time of year. However, the rate the Fed's just cut rates today and you probably know better than I do. And you know the the what we're hearing is that from our, Lawrence Yun who is our economist for Nar, that there's a good chance that rates might get into the sixes next year and stay there.

00:30:16:06 - 00:30:34:09
Denise Bibeau
And he doesn't anticipate them going staying between five and a half and 6%. He says the he that he doesn't think we'll ever see the 3% again. I kind of agree with him. I think that was a anomaly. So I think people want to get used to that. And when you think about it, that's not that expensive to buy a house.

00:30:34:09 - 00:30:53:20
Denise Bibeau
When we bought this house in 95, I think our rate was seven and a quarter grand. The house was a lot less expensive, but then so would your income. So everything is relevant to the timing. So, but I would say if you want to sell, you know, you need to. My suggestion always is interview more than one agent, talk to that agent.

00:30:53:22 - 00:31:14:08
Denise Bibeau
And I tell people that all the time, you know, and I always say I would like to interview for the job because it is a job and you have to see do you gel with that person because you may not gel at all and you don't, and that's not the person you want representing you. If you gel and you feel like, hey, this person has my best needs, it, you know, at heart, then that's the person you want to hire now.

00:31:14:11 - 00:31:30:18
Nate Carver
All right. We're about out of time. Can I run a lightning round of questions for you? Sure. All right, so we are in the rebate restaurant. Let me ask this. Coffee or sweet tea? I know we're in the South.

00:31:30:20 - 00:31:36:01
Denise Bibeau
So coffee. But as we flavored coffee with flavored creamer and flavored sirup.

00:31:36:03 - 00:31:38:08
Nate Carver
Do you have a favorite flavor or or.

00:31:38:10 - 00:31:39:07
Denise Bibeau
Vanilla vanilla.

00:31:39:07 - 00:31:40:06
Nate Carver
Smell? Okay.

00:31:40:06 - 00:31:45:02
Denise Bibeau
What they call it my favorite coffee is right now, especially this time of year. Cinnamon Sugar cookie.

00:31:45:04 - 00:32:09:05
Nate Carver
Yeah. Yeah. This time of year, I have my guilty pleasure that I look for or two to every year at this time. Every year. And is that is that peppermint mocha? Okay, over at Starbucks or anywhere I can work on my. Yes. Now, if, if Ocala, had a postcard scene, what would be in that picture?

00:32:09:07 - 00:32:10:16
Denise Bibeau
A horse.

00:32:10:18 - 00:32:11:22
Nate Carver
Works. Yeah. And that was.

00:32:11:22 - 00:32:17:10
Denise Bibeau
Kind of, a horse, probably the Silver Springs, which were famous for the Brass Bottom boats.

00:32:17:10 - 00:32:18:02
Nate Carver
Yeah.

00:32:18:03 - 00:32:25:14
Denise Bibeau
And they're, Because every time you see something, that's usually what's in there. And then probably the downtown square, because it's been there a long time. Those are the two.

00:32:25:14 - 00:32:27:17
Nate Carver
Silver Springs where the monkeys are.

00:32:27:22 - 00:32:39:18
Denise Bibeau
Yep. And they're still there. And there are just quite a few of them. And if you go kayaking, you will probably see them. You do should not feed them because they are aggressive and you'll see out of yours.

00:32:39:20 - 00:32:44:14
Nate Carver
Do you want to tell the story of how those monkeys got there? Because monkeys aren't native to North America?

00:32:44:16 - 00:33:02:05
Denise Bibeau
No, from my understanding, is that they were brought on for a, for a movie. This is what I understand. Yeah, put on the little island. And I guess they didn't realize that they could swim and multiply. And all these years later, I think it was a Tarzan movie that they were in.

00:33:02:05 - 00:33:02:24
Nate Carver
Yeah.

00:33:03:01 - 00:33:06:20
Denise Bibeau
And all these years later, they're, Yeah, they're taken over.

00:33:06:22 - 00:33:09:00
Nate Carver
Yeah. After the splash, you can still.

00:33:09:00 - 00:33:21:23
Denise Bibeau
Go in the glass bottom boats and you can see the 20, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea was filmed there, and they've got the monuments under. It's it's something I recommend everybody that comes to Ocala because they go and it's. Yeah, it's beautiful.

00:33:21:23 - 00:33:28:01
Nate Carver
That water is just, it is crystal clear to however deep it is. Yeah.

00:33:28:03 - 00:33:41:23
Denise Bibeau
It's one of the beautiful springs. We have several springs and that. So there would be a picture of the Silver Springs, any kind of the springs, because we have several in Ocala that are water 77 degrees or 72 degrees year round. And it's crystal all right.

00:33:42:00 - 00:33:57:11
Nate Carver
Yeah. Yeah, I did that as a kid. And, our family went there. We were Disneyworld. We we had a what was a good time van, and we packed it for family. And, gosh, we had a we had a good time. And.

00:33:57:11 - 00:33:58:06
Denise Bibeau
Then,

00:33:58:08 - 00:34:02:23
Nate Carver
Yeah. Right. For you, beach day or horse day?

00:34:03:00 - 00:34:22:12
Denise Bibeau
I'm not. You can tell by the color of my skin. I am is fair. I used to call it retail pail. I am not a beach fan at all, so actually I would probably say mountains. Yeah yeah yeah or I yeah I would a beach is not we go to Daytona just you know but I am not a beach person.

00:34:22:14 - 00:34:35:17
Nate Carver
Yeah that's that's funny. Everybody everybody I know that has lives in Florida grew up in Florida. You ask him where they're going on vacation. It's the mountains. Absolutely it is. They either go, you know, they spend a little bit.

00:34:35:17 - 00:34:36:22
Denise Bibeau
North Carolina, Georgia.

00:34:37:01 - 00:34:47:02
Nate Carver
Yeah, yeah, yeah. And, you know, that's a short drive. They'll, they'll drop bigger bucks and go to Colorado or Alaska.

00:34:47:08 - 00:34:52:11
Denise Bibeau
I haven't been out. I've been to Alaska, but I haven't been out to Colorado or Utah any that they're on my bucket list.

00:34:52:13 - 00:34:57:24
Nate Carver
Yeah. You know you gotta you know, it's it's we have.

00:34:57:24 - 00:35:19:10
Denise Bibeau
A we have you know, it's funny is we have, we have a, a subdivision or an area called the Rolling Hills. And last week I went to one of my local installations, and it was over in the Claremont area. And there's a place near there called Howey in the Hills. One of our our my from president elect Catherine, who's from Tampa, said, I didn't realize there were that many hills over here, so.

00:35:19:10 - 00:35:26:12
Denise Bibeau
Well, you know, there's a place called Howey in the hills. And the hills to us is nothing compared to if you come from the north.

00:35:26:14 - 00:35:28:01
Nate Carver
But yeah, largest flat.

00:35:28:01 - 00:35:29:16
Denise Bibeau
So to us, those are pretty big hills.

00:35:29:18 - 00:35:39:14
Nate Carver
Yeah. I actually think I've been to the largest or the highest elevation in Florida. Can't square I think I have,

00:35:39:16 - 00:35:44:07
Denise Bibeau
I'm thinking it's like the Claremont area or somewhere over there. If I'm correct, we're pretty high.

00:35:44:09 - 00:36:04:03
Nate Carver
Yeah. All the name escapes me. That's how memorable that was to me. But, I like mountains, too, so. Yeah. I bet if, Well, some cooler. Neat that most people might not know about you, that might surprise them.

00:36:04:05 - 00:36:10:15
Denise Bibeau
Oh, but most people know that I love to go to the casino. Gambling and the slots.

00:36:10:17 - 00:36:15:16
Nate Carver
Right there on black boy. Slots. Not. Yeah. You play slot. Yeah.

00:36:15:16 - 00:36:33:08
Denise Bibeau
I love playing the slots. I love to read. I love to garden. You know, that's kind of my outdoor from outside. It's the gardening more than anything else. You know, in the process of I actually my cactuses my Christmas, Thanksgiving I'm not even sure which of which I try to figure that out, which is kind of exciting.

00:36:33:09 - 00:36:42:21
Denise Bibeau
And, you know, that old joke, you know, where, you know, you always see cartoons about and we don't need any more plants. And then there's the woman with, oh, that's me, you know.

00:36:42:23 - 00:36:47:09
Nate Carver
Yeah, I drop, I drop a lot of money every year on gardens.

00:36:47:11 - 00:36:52:17
Denise Bibeau
But, I mean, I just love plants indoor and outdoor and I. Yeah, I'm getting more and more of a green thumb.

00:36:52:19 - 00:37:11:23
Nate Carver
Anything particular you like to grow? Like your favorite thing? That for me, it's tomatoes. There's a million varieties of them, and I do it every year. And I find something new that I haven't tried to grow. I was curious if there's, like this at one point, you're like, this is it. This is the thing I look forward to growing.

00:37:12:00 - 00:37:34:01
Denise Bibeau
Well, yeah. As far as vegetables, we did tomatoes in that, for 2 or 3 years in a row. And like this, by the third year, like everything had. We can never make it because we eat by worms. And so we stopped doing that, you know, I have a donkey ear plant and I propagate it. So I have, like, a million donkey ear plants, and it's like a big leaf and it gets little babies on it, and I'm giving them away to people.

00:37:34:06 - 00:37:34:20
Nate Carver
Oh, yeah.

00:37:34:20 - 00:37:50:14
Denise Bibeau
Probably what I love the most is the the Christmas cactus. And Thanksgiving and Easter, especially when they bloom. Right now I have one that's blooming like a light orange. One's a white and the other one, you can see the the buds are coming up and they're going to be like a red. I love that because this time of year when they bloom, they love the cold.

00:37:50:14 - 00:37:54:02
Denise Bibeau
They love the dark. Yeah. And I like I look forward to that.

00:37:54:04 - 00:38:08:19
Nate Carver
Wow. You've been trying to do pineapples and, I feel I just little too far work. And so if there's a freeze or it gets a little tickle, we'll not move them in and they are dead, and then.

00:38:08:19 - 00:38:09:16
Denise Bibeau
They take a long time.

00:38:09:22 - 00:38:15:18
Nate Carver
They do. They take three years. I have gotten to two in in point eight years.

00:38:15:18 - 00:38:16:19
Denise Bibeau
Oh, no.

00:38:16:21 - 00:38:44:21
Nate Carver
Healing. And, I'm like, I'm going to have to move deep south just to do this because I'm not or get a greenhouse. Greenhouse? Yeah. Which I haven't done. And every year I should do the greenhouse. Okay. Wow. All right. Last question. If you weren't doing real estate, helping people find homes and sell homes, what do you think you'd be doing?

00:38:44:23 - 00:39:09:19
Denise Bibeau
I would love to be work with injured turtles. Be it because, I mean, I had turtles, little turtles. Unfortunately, I don't know if parks got them. Whatever. We're trying to redo that to get a better pond, you know, to get get the yellow bellied sliders. Yeah. I watched those shows where the turtles are in the ocean and something happens, whether an animal got them or they got stuck in the plastic, whatever.

00:39:09:19 - 00:39:12:13
Denise Bibeau
And then they rehabbed them. I would love to do that.

00:39:12:15 - 00:39:13:00
Nate Carver
Oh, yeah.

00:39:13:03 - 00:39:30:14
Denise Bibeau
It's so rewarding. Anything to do with animals, you know, that that that have to go to those kind of places to, you know, live or to get you know, help because they're injured or what have you. I would I would love to do that. That would probably be what I would do if I was in real estate.

00:39:30:16 - 00:39:37:12
Nate Carver
Gotcha. You got the, the gopher tortoise in your area?

00:39:37:14 - 00:39:54:16
Denise Bibeau
Yeah. Not in my yard, but in the neighborhood that they are. In order to get those moved, you have to have you have to have the, I believe the Florida wildlife has to come in and remove those. And if you get caught removing them, you could be fined tremendously. And it costs a lot of money to remove those.

00:39:54:16 - 00:40:02:24
Denise Bibeau
So a lot of these investors that buy land and then they find there's a gopher, they have a lot to go through to get rid of those because they are the species.

00:40:03:01 - 00:40:14:04
Nate Carver
Yeah. They seen them though. Yeah. They're kino or keystone species. So I had some land family land up in, by Crestview.

00:40:14:09 - 00:40:14:18
Denise Bibeau
Okay.

00:40:14:19 - 00:40:45:22
Nate Carver
Yep, yep. And like, it's 100 acres is out. It's the yellow River. The way it's shaped, it's pretty little isolated. And as a kid, so these tortoises are from. People don't know. These are on an endangered or threatened list. And, there's at least 90 different other species that live in the tunnels that they dig. And if without those tunnels, those species would be severely like they'd be wiped out.

00:40:46:00 - 00:41:05:21
Nate Carver
Yeah, yeah. So never stick your hand in a hole in the ground. One, though, Because one of the things that lives in there is rattlesnakes. I'll go there. Unless, anyway, I could be, Or the tourist. It'll be, As a kid, I used to rescue them. Like we would drive down interstate and you'd see them.

00:41:05:22 - 00:41:20:05
Nate Carver
Yep. Crossing the interstate. Interstate ten. And I'd pick them up and they'd be little. Sometimes it'd be big. I grab them and, take them out to the farm and set them on that land. And they're not there to this day. They live. They live a very long time.

00:41:20:11 - 00:41:35:00
Denise Bibeau
Absolutely. People don't realize that about turtles. I've. I've picked them up, like when I'm out in Disneyland again with a little bit of hills, and they're in the middle of the road. I've picked them up and put them aside. The only one we had one. The only turtle I will not come near to touch is a snapping turtle, and we had one in our yard and it was.

00:41:35:00 - 00:41:45:15
Denise Bibeau
Yeah, dies. And you could be I mean, you could be on the back and it'll reach. So we let it go. We I don't know where it ended up, but I was not going near that because I didn't want to back in.

00:41:45:17 - 00:42:04:24
Nate Carver
And so I don't know if I just told them myself of Florida, but whatever it is, what it is, I've saved turtles or tortoises. That they tell me, can someone, if they're looking to, buy or sell a home in the local area, how could they best get a hold of you?

00:42:05:01 - 00:42:40:04
Denise Bibeau
Well, they can go onto my website, which is Denise B that remax.com, or they can look, look. I also have Denise Bobo which is my spelling of my name BBA you.com or the way you pronounce my name bbo.com. So it could be Denise B Baucom or my correct spelling. And the reason why my email is Denise b e b o a gmail.com is because I have a lot of vowels in my name, and a lot of people cannot pronounce my name.

00:42:40:07 - 00:42:58:01
Denise Bibeau
It's almost become a running joke. Because it's it. People slander it. It does not, you know, that slander it. They they discredit because they can't say it. So, and I understand that it's a French name is my husband's name. Easy to say when you get too many vowels. It gets confusing for people.

00:42:58:03 - 00:43:16:20
Nate Carver
Yeah. Which is a lot of street signs in Florida. I don't know why they did that to us, but we do. Right. But the links, I'll link that up down below. But you may wants to see, reach out to you. They'll be able to find you and, and.

00:43:16:20 - 00:43:24:05
Denise Bibeau
You can also go in to WCR dawg and put State of Florida. And there'll be my message and my picture will be there as well.

00:43:24:07 - 00:43:34:17
Nate Carver
Yeah. Yeah. Perfect. I'll get that in there too. All right. Thank you. Denise. You anything I should ask you that I didn't know?

00:43:34:17 - 00:43:55:15
Denise Bibeau
I mean, I'm looking forward to seeing you on the sixth and, you know, getting to meet you. And I love the the podcast. And I think it's going to be a great addition to our state because I don't know many people that do podcasts, and this is a first for me. So I think it's a great opportunity for other realtors to get with you and to do this.

00:43:55:15 - 00:43:58:00
Denise Bibeau
And I love that you're doing this.

00:43:58:02 - 00:44:20:00
Nate Carver
I appreciate that. That's gonna wrap up this episode, between two doors. I'm your your favorite host, Nate Conover. And, Denise, thank you, for being with me today. Even with the electrical technical issue on my end, I appreciate that. And, we'll see you all again soon. Thank you, thank you.

00:44:20:00 - 00:44:30:01
Denise Bibeau
Bye bye.

00:44:30:03 - 00:44:32:02
Unknown