Reaction mode is when you wait for something to go wrong, you lose a match, then you fix your preparation, you blow a deal, then you tighten your systems, you get hurt. Then you start taking recovery seriously. [00:01:00] But elite performers, they don’t operate like that. They build habits and systems that protect performance before pressure hits.

I saw this with a professional tennis player. I’m blessed to coach. Incredible talent. Strong, explosive. Technically some, but early on he had a habit that a lot of competitors have. You’d wait until something went wrong in a mass before flipping the switch. Down a point. Now the urgency kicks in bad position.

Now the aggression shows up. So we talked about it. Why are you waiting for the problem before you bring up the intensity? Is something that I asked him. Champions don’t wait for diversity to wake them up. They bring the standard from the first whistle. When he started focusing on protecting his performance before the match even started preparation, mindset, pace, discipline, everything changed, matches slowed down, confidence went up.

And the scoreboard started taking care of itself. High performers don’t specialize in reacting to chaos. They specialize in preventing it. And today’s guest, my guy here. He was a longtime friend. Now, one of my kava buddies, Mr. Don Stewart, and he’s a man who understands responsibility at a level. Most people only read about Don Stewart or Stu, we’re gonna call ’em.

Spent more than [00:02:00] 25 years serving at the highest levels of the federal government operating environments where precision, discretion, and trust were not optional. They were mission critical. During this time in the United States Army, you held the top secret security clearance, meaning the stakes were always high.

And details mattered. Now, here’s what I love about my guy, Don. He took that same mindset for national security and applied it to something Most homeowners in South Florida desperately need protecting their homes when they’re not here. As the founder of Stewart’s Home Watch Solutions, Don brings a military grade of level of accountability to every property he overseas.

We’re talking about thorough inspections, discipline systems, and communication that keeps homeowners completely dialed in. Whether they’re across town, across the country, or out of country, because when you spent decades safeguarding sensitive operations, watching over a home isn’t just service. It’s a mission.

He’s a proud US Army veterans. We are good friends, except I believe probably December 12th of this year with the Army Navy game, and he’s graduated Armstrong Atlantic State University, and now serving homeowners right here in South Florida. My guy Stew is the kind of professional you want in your corner when your property matters.[00:03:00] 

Thanks for coming on, dude. Awesome. I know we’re usually enjoying a kava. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah. 

Coach Fergie: And relaxing. Talk about this. And you came in clutch this week, so really thank you for, coming on in, brother. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Oh, thanks for having me. 

Coach Fergie: We had to battle some rain. Here was nuts. You’ve handled, high level government responsibilities and na, national situation, but what’s actually more stressful, work, dealing in the government or a homeowner that says, oh my gosh, there’s a lizard.

Somebody toilet, whether they’re out of town, right? 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah. Unfortunately the lizard is the least of the problems. I, right? Your coaching nugget is exactly perfect for this. You don’t wait till there’s a problem, 

Coach Fergie: right? 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: You set up, you have systems in place, you have solutions, you have professionals, 

Coach Fergie: right?

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: You don’t wait for that problem to have because there’s so much more inexpensive. To prevent a problem than it’s to fix a problem, right? Same thing applies across careers, hiring people, protecting your home, protecting your assets. It applies everywhere, 

Coach Fergie: right? And you built that the career in the army with, in the federal government, where trust and discretion, accountability.

Non-negotiables. 

Right. So [00:04:00] how did that background help the way you shape, the way you run Stewart’s Home Solutions? 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: I think when I started researching this industry and I started looking into it, what I found was that most of the people outside of the big family office kind of homes, but the regular folks who had this kinda service, they were using a friend, a neighbor, their cousin Jimmy, somebody.

But there wasn’t, for a lot of people, there wasn’t a professional. Standard accredited way to do it. So I looked into that and of course there is an accredited system, the National Home Watch Association. I was 

Coach Fergie: gonna say that A lot of people 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: will 

Coach Fergie: say, I’m accredited. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Pinky 

Coach Fergie: Promise. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah.

There’s, there are a lot of less than legitimate people doing this. And there’s a lot of people who do it as a side hustle, which no disparagement of that. That’s great, have your side hustle. But the National Home Watch Association, they accredit people. You have to have a background check, you have to meet certain standards, you have to continuing education and so on.

You’re accountable there. Whereas you’re not, if you’re just a independent operator. So what I wanted, like everything else I’ve done in my career, I wanted this to be done professionally. I want it to be done accredited. I [00:05:00] want there to be accountability, but I took an additional step. I also did what’s called certified Home Watch Professional, so I, my, I’m personally certified and that’s even more above and beyond.

Sure. The accreditation, there’s testing 

Coach Fergie: well into that, like I know you met with. A company here. A couple I believe. Yeah. That like really knows their stuff. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah. A to Z home watch here in Juneau Beach. They’re fantastic people. Art Doris, they have a great, they’ve been around a long time, they’ve been doing this a long time.

And the training that they provide through the National Home Watch Association it’s fantastic. They are the gold standard. But there is testing, there is continuing education, there is practical application that you have to go and do and you have to pass a pretty rigorous test to do this.

And I, to me that was very important because I didn’t want to go into this and just yeah. I’ll watch your home for you. No, I wanna be a certified professional. 

Coach Fergie: You did miss one question on that test though. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: I did. 

Coach Fergie: You, you admitted it to me. I 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: was furious. 

Coach Fergie: And you were so mad about that one question.

I’m like, 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: yeah, 

Coach Fergie: Stu, you killed it. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah, I missed one question and it was a multiple choice question that. 

Coach Fergie: You didn’t push, you didn’t circle C. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: [00:06:00] Right? I really thought it could have gone either way, but yeah, I was pretty upset. I did miss one question. 

Coach Fergie: A lot of people hear the term home, watch here, especially in South Florida, but don’t really know what it means for someone listening who owns a seasonal property in Florida and squat out there.

If you’re listening locally, you’ll know what we’re talking about. If you’re catching us on the podcast replay, like a lot of people flock down here for the winter. Yeah, and what they do is we summarize the homes here, right? We don’t winterize, we summarize them. But the people here that are listening, what problems are you actually preventing before they come into disasters?

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah, it’s water is one of the big ones. Whether it’s a leak or whether it’s water intrusion from a storm or a defect in the property or whatever. Water is a really big one. Pest rodents vandalism broken window. There’s all sorts of, but again, this is part of the professional system. We have a checklist, right?

We check everything, 

Coach Fergie: Right. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Every time. And we document everything. Every time there’s a visit, an inspection, you get a documented checklist of everything that’s been reviewed. If there’s any issues, hopefully they’re all very boring. You want a [00:07:00] boring report. 

Coach Fergie: Report, right? 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah. But it’s not just, cousin Jimmy stopped by.

It’s documented. So God forbid you have to deal with an insurance claim or a legal case you have from an accredited company. You have documented with photographs every time timestamped, it’s real. It’s not just my cousin thinks maybe it happened here. No. 

This is professional, this is real.

Coach Fergie: And down here we’re known for the infamous hurricanes, the humidity that we have, the storms. And properties that can sit empty for months at a time. So what are some of the most common issues you’ve seen develop in vacant homes? Like with your history ’cause I know with your work you wintered here.

Yeah. You, you come down here and live the laptop lifestyle, 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: right. 

Coach Fergie: Sometimes. But you have a what are some of them that you’re noticing? 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah. I think the biggest is water. The potential for mildew or mold. Mold and that sort of thing, whether it’s humidity in the place that’s not set because you don’t have someone checking every time, right?

Your ac, something happens to your ac, a power outage or some other problem. Suddenly your humidity’s through the [00:08:00] roof and you got a real problem, a very expensive radiation remediation problem. So one of the things that we do is we have this checklist that we provide. It’s on my website. You can just click it, take it for free.

Yeah. Don’t have to buy anything, just. Click and download it for free. And whether you hire us or someone else, this checklist helps you close up the home. And if you want, I the two things that really stick out to me there, there’s 20 things on here, but one is the ability to hire a professional home watch.

I think to me that’s the most, obviously for me, it’s the most critical. Yeah. Absolutely. Sure. Whether it’s me or someone else. And I, and if you don’t want ours, I, and if you want to have some competing bids, I’m happy to put you in touch with Sure. Credited people. The other is that I think most people forget is you check with your insurance company to make sure they’re okay with you having an unoccupied property.

Coach Fergie: You’re that squad that is critical. What you just brought up, you stole one of my questions. Okay. But right now, the squad out there that it’s super important. 

That the insurance will cover it because if some reason you’re out of town. And Stuart hopped in there and [00:09:00] even if he didn’t leave the dorm locked or they say, oh, he was the last one there.

They could really come after you, right? 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah. Or if you don’t have home watch at all and you leave for six months and something happens, your insurance company may say, you weren’t monitoring the property, 

Coach Fergie: right? 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: So I’m not gonna take this claim. Ooh. So call the company, make sure they’re okay, whether you have home watch or not.

Coach Fergie: That’s huge, bro. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yes. Make sure like you, there may be a rider in your insurance policy you’re not aware of, 

Coach Fergie: okay? 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: So check with them. Make sure that it’s okay to have an unoccupied property for a period of time, 

Coach Fergie: right? 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: And if it’s not and you need home watch. We have documented photographs, documentation, and we can show that there was somebody there every week.

Or bimonthly, whatever your system is. 

Coach Fergie: Part of my whole thing that I really grew up with was real estate investing and like down here when I, it is way different down here from Michigan when it started. ’cause you mentioned about the water, 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: right. 

Coach Fergie: Also the toilets like I remember the first house that I had bought had been sitting for a minute and.

Minute, months. So it, it was a probate situation. Unfortunately, someone passed and the attorney said, Hey, check this house. And I lifted the [00:10:00] toilet. 

And there was no water in it, but there was rat droppings. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Right. 

Coach Fergie: They come up, I was told by people, they come up through, like in the pipes.

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah. 

Coach Fergie: Because that’s actually more common than what you think, 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: right. It is 

Coach Fergie: down here. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah. 

Coach Fergie: So how could you prevent something like that? 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: And that’s done by regular. Flushing. Regular running of the sink, having a 

Coach Fergie: home watch, 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: accredited home watch. Yeah. Accredited a professional. Having a professional do it.

Coach Fergie: Yeah. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: The p traps under the sink, keeping those water fluid in those that prevents that sort of insect Sure. And others and horrible smells. The gas smells absolutely. That can’t get rid of. So running the water, coming in, turning on the water, running all your sinks, running and flushing all the toilets.

Making sure everything is working. There are no leaks, but also keeping that flow going, 

Coach Fergie: right 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: every week or bimonthly, whatever your system. And then turning the water back off again. So when I’m gone. Even if something breaks, there’s not gonna be any break. 

Coach Fergie: And if there’s a, maybe a hurricane or something that kind of is gonna happen and you’re someone’s occupant or their house is under the Stewart’s Home Protection watch, right?

Do you help out with that? Are you [00:11:00] connected with panel installers? Stuff like that. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah. That’s a big thing. But I think one of the biggest things that you can do on that is know your system and your plan before you leave. 

If you, your HOA does your shutters. Like you don’t do ’em, but your HOA doesn’t.

Make sure you’re up to date with your HOA and what they’re gonna do. And that your home watch professional knows what that plan is. If you have metal. You’re gonna have somebody come out and install them. Make sure you, before you leave, make sure you have all the wing nuts. Yes. Make sure you have all the panels.

Yes. You don’t wanna find out when Home Depot is being destroyed by a thousand customers, that you’re out of wing nuts. 

Coach Fergie: Right. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: That’s the wrong time to do it. You wanna do all this before you leave us, like going through the checklist, working with your home life professional. Making sure you have a plan in place.

And if you want us to do it, let’s work that out ahead of time so we know where all your things are, what you want done. Some people shut their accordions before they leave. 

Coach Fergie: Sure. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: That’s fine, but just let us know what it is you wanna do and then we’ll test them. 

We’ll go through it, make sure they work, we’ll, WD 40 whatever need.

Yeah. Whatever’s gonna needed. Yeah. Yeah. We’ll check everything. Love it. But that’s what you do before you leave. You don’t want to call me when you [00:12:00] heard, oh, there may be a hurricane coming to Florida. Can you like. Let’s work that out before you leave and give you that peace of mind so you don’t have to worry about it.

Coach Fergie: And also let the HOA know that they have an accredited 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: That’s right. 

Coach Fergie: Home watch as well. Because HOAs will be like, I don’t know you, you’re not on the list. Make sure that they’re on the list. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah. 

Coach Fergie: And squad, we’re going to throw it to, I’m blessed, my sponsor Steve Austin from Rise Mortgage to give you a little market update and we come back, we’re gonna have Stu kinda walk us through.

How and what he does during the inspections when you are gone. So Steve, take it away.

Steve Austin ‘Show Sponsor’: Thanks Scott. Happy Saturday everyone. This is Steve Austin with the Rise Mortgage Dynamic Team with your mortgage market tip of the week. We’re in a very interesting housing market right now, and the way you’re putting in offers is vital. The strongest offer isn’t always the highest price. It’s the cleanest terms and confidence you are presenting to the seller.

To learn how you can put in your strongest offer, give us a call at five six one two five zero. 6 0 4 4. That’s 5 6 1 2 5 0 6 0 4 4. That’s the tip for this week. This is Steve Austin, your branch [00:13:00] manager, N MLS 7 6 2 3 2 8. With the rise mortgage Dynamic team, NMLS 1 6 0 4 6 6 3 an equal housing lender. 

Joelm Malkin: Are you looking to finance your dream home vacation getaway or an investment property?

The Rise Mortgage Dynamic team and company is here to help Steve Austin and his team. They’re expert loan advisors, combine local knowledge with. Cutting edge technology to make your financing process efficient and seamless. Whether it’s your first home or your next investment, trust Steve Austin and the Rise Mortgage Dynamic team and company to guide you every step of the way.

Visit them today and experience the perfect blend of technology and personal touch. Steve Austin’s Rise Mortgage Dynamic team. Your local experts in residential financing. Call Steve today at (561) 352-9278. That’s 5 6 1 3 5 2 9 2 7 8 5 6 1 3 5 2 [00:14:00] 9 2 7 8 and MLS number 1 6 0 4 6 6 3.

Coach Fergie: Hey Steve, thanks so much. I know after our meeting this morning it is bouncing back a little bit on the market, even with all the turmoil and also I gotta give a shout out. Which I do usually do at the beginning of the show to the troops that are out there that’s doing the deed for this country, especially over overseas.

Thanks guys. Be safe. And gals two. Some people assume that home watch means. Someone just swings by to grab the mail. So walk us through what a perfectional property I guess you could call it an inspection when you go over there Sure. And making sure that it’s still working in what you have agreed on.

But walk us through what it looks like you, it’s their monthly time. That’s weird to say, it’s your time for you to go over there. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Right. 

Coach Fergie: What happens? 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah. First the difference between a home inspection where they get into every little detail of every little piece of your property.

That’s one thing. What we do is a visual inspection looking for obvious issues. We start with water. We start with making sure everything’s locked. We check every room, every ceiling, every baseboard. We’re looking for leaks. [00:15:00] We’re looking for intrusion, we’re looking for infestations, everything. And it’s the whole house.

It’s the interior, it’s the exterior, everything, 

Coach Fergie: right? 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: And all these things are documented, a checklist. But again, every customer is different. So when we sit down with you, we go over an individualized checklist. What does your home need? Show me everything. Show me your alarm. Show me your. Water system, show me your water heater, your hvac, all these things we go through with you.

We don’t just come into a home blind and try to figure it out. 

We wanna meet with you before you leave. We wanna know what your concerns are. Has something happened in the past that you’re really worried about? Because again, this is peace of mind, 

Coach Fergie: right? 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: And so I wanna make sure that you have the peace of mind that you need by telling me anything you want me to triple check.

I’ll do it 

Coach Fergie: right. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Anything you’re worried about. I’ll watch it. I’ll make sure in my report it says, Hey, remember you were concerned about it, 

Coach Fergie: right? Yeah, absolutely. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: This is handled. I checked it. Or your pool person you’re worried about. I spoke with them. This is handled right? You needed a vendor to come in.

I was there. They came in At this time they did this project. Here’s some pictures [00:16:00] of the final product. 

Coach Fergie: Okay so you do have, that’s one of my questions. So if they’re gonna, in the summertime when they’re up north. And they wanna say install a new paver. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Right. 

Coach Fergie: In this, so you guys will, obviously there are incurred costs sometimes, which there should be because you’re spending more time, but would you Not from a general contractor.

So you don’t wanna be over there every day, Hey, we’re paying this home watch guy, but he’s also gonna make sure that people are there. You guys will handle the completion, make sure in the reporting back, 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: right? Okay. 

Coach Fergie: So 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: we can let people into your home that you. Approve. 

Coach Fergie: Okay. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: We can let contractors enter other vendors into your home if you approve.

Coach Fergie: Okay. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: And we’ll have that in writing. Everything’s, there’s no question. We’ll let them in. We’ll monitor. I’m not gonna stand over and like you said, stand over their shoulder and watch how they do it. I’m not contractor, 

Coach Fergie: right? 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: But I’ll make sure when the work is done, I will meet with the vendor, they’ll show me their work.

I’ll document it. I’ll send it all up to you. If you have any questions, we can make sure they’re done. And then we’ll make sure the home’s locked up safe, right? 

Coach Fergie: I love that. I’m gonna go a little bit in your military service and how it [00:17:00] kind of pertains to the trustworthiness. I know I’d let you into my house.

I’ve known you for a few years, but also when people meet Stew, everyone loves Stew. It’s just the thing, right? You spent decades, in, in environments where, accountability is everything, which I mentioned earlier. So what systems have you built into Stewart’s home Watch solutions, so homeowners know their property is actually being monitored and not just checked off, though you an answered a little bit.

Before, but like the communication. I wanna talk a little bit more and have the squad out there that’s listening, know the communication that they’re gonna get from you. Because when you and I talked the other day, you’re like, communication is key. It’s it’s everything. So tell us a little bit about that.

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah. It’s having the documented system you know what, I’m gonna be checking every time and you’re gonna get this checklist back and telling you exactly what’s happening, you’re gonna get pictures of the home. 

And if there is a problem, I’m gonna call you and tell you this is a problem, this is how I think we can solve the problem.

These are some vendors, some trusted vendors, and a lot of times in the checklist, I’ll go over with the homeowner before they leave, they’ll give me vendors that they love and trust. 

Coach Fergie: Okay. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: So I can call [00:18:00] them first. Nice. It’s not like I’m just gonna pick somebody outta the phone book. If they have people that work that do their HVAC work or do their plumbing, I’ll call them.

Coach Fergie: Okay. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: And say, Mr. And Mrs. Smith have a this issue. They’d like you to come out and give him a quote. I’ll meet with them, I’ll give them, everything is done with approval. 

Coach Fergie: Right. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: I don’t just wing it unless it’s an emergency situation. Sure. You have a busted pipe. I need to get somebody there right now. I can’t get ahold of you.

You 

Coach Fergie: gotta rock. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah. We have a system in place before they leave 

Coach Fergie: right 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: to where I can do that for them. And then follow up and make sure there’s constant communication with them so they know exactly what it’s, again, going back to peace of mind. 

Coach Fergie: Sure. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: You don’t want to be stressing about these things.

Yeah. When you’re at your other home. 

Coach Fergie: No. Even when I, I coach athletes, the separations and the preparation. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah. 

Coach Fergie: You know what I’m saying? It’s like the people that have second houses, they’ve obviously did something in good in life. And they know about that kinda stuff with preparing.

But it’s good to have somebody there that’s reminding them as well. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah. And you can’t. Wing it, right? You can’t just come in and say what should I do? What should I look at? You can’t wing it. You have to have that checklist in place, 

Coach Fergie: [00:19:00] right? 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: You have to have that training in place. You have to have already met with the homeowner to know what their particular needs are, 

Coach Fergie: right?

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: So all that’s done in place. And then the, that weekly or bimonthly communication with them so they know everything’s fine. 

Coach Fergie: And the first time you like second homeowners that, they’re making that trek up north. They just bought it. They’ve closed, with us and. They’re heading up north.

So when someone leaves Florida and the home’s unattended and being watched over by you, what are the most important things they should do before locking the door? Gimme something that, that you might not even be a part of that you might remind them to do that, stewards doesn’t, oversee.

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah. There, there are a ton. Going back to the checklist on my. Go to that and 

Coach Fergie: which is gonna be in the show notes right below the slide. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah. And it’s free. You just, there’s a button on the main page. You don’t have to hunt for it. 

Coach Fergie: Right. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: I’ll put that up there and you can, 

Coach Fergie: Aubrey made sure it pops right up, I think.

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Exactly 

Coach Fergie: right. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah. 

Coach Fergie: So way to go, Aubrey. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah. 

Coach Fergie: Awesome. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: She’s amazing. And so go through that and then communicate with your home watch professional about all these things. But you think about things that [00:20:00] you may not, you may have something in the freezer. Or you may have some food. Get rid of the food refrigerator.

Take out your trash. 

Coach Fergie: Yeah. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Make sure things are shut off. Have a, like one of the things we ask them is we, our preference is for the main water source to be turned off. And we’ll turn it on when we do our checks. 

Coach Fergie: Sure. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: And then we’ll turn it off again. The last thing we do before we leave. 

Coach Fergie: Gotcha. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Lights are off.

Doors locked. Water’s turned off, 

Coach Fergie: right. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Every time. Okay. That’s non-negotiable. 

Coach Fergie: Secured up. Yep. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Unless the homeowner says, no, I want my water left on all season. Okay. 

Coach Fergie: Yeah. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: We’ll do that. But I’m gonna come in and be checking that all the time. But that’s again, a customer preference.

That’s something they wanna do. I think it’s better to have it turned off making sure humidity. You have to have your AC set at a certain level so that you keep your humidity in the right way. 

Coach Fergie: Mold’s huge here. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah. Yeah. If you’re, again, that’s another reason not to leave your home unoccupied for months at a time.

Because your HVAC goes out. 

Coach Fergie: Right. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Power search, whatever it is. Your humidity’s way up here, and then you have a real problem. 

Coach Fergie: And what is your protocol? If something was to go unfortunately south, like something [00:21:00] that a tree fell on the house or that you’re watching, like how does that go? Because obviously communication is stellar, but like how, if you’re to walk through like a disaster situation like that how would that go?

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah. As soon as it’s safe to assess the property, we do that. 

Coach Fergie: Okay. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: We go out, we communicate with the homeowner, here’s what’s happened. I’m gonna go investigate. Investigate we write up a report. If it’s like immediate, urgent danger, there’s a broken power license, right? That’s a little different. But if it’s broken branches or there’s a window broken, things like that, we assess it.

We call the homeowner, explain what the situation is. If we have pre-approved vendors in place with them, we say we’re gonna call one, two, and three. We get that in place, we get them out there, we make sure the work is done and we document that the work is done. 

Coach Fergie: Full communication 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: and let the homeowners know.

Coach Fergie: Love it. And 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: that’s our protocol. That’s Home Watch association protocol. 

Coach Fergie: Absolutely. And squad, again, make sure you. You can go over to, it’ll be time to Shine today.com/stews, or STEW. And you’ll see the the [00:22:00] Home Watch solutions checklist there as well. Stewart’s Home Watch Solutions checklist.

There. I’ll go take a look at it there. It’s just gonna go to your website, if that’s okay. We’re just gonna forward it right through, but, there’s more people that are starting to buy 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah. 

Coach Fergie: The second homes down there and split their time. So how do you see the need for what you’re doing exploiting, because again, 10,000 people a day are turning 65 in the United States.

You know that. That’s crazy. And a lot of ’em, fortunately and unfortunately migrate here, for a lot of it. But we’re putting like 600, 800,000 people into the state, a year. Just from the boomers that are retiring. How do you see it with coming through the home watch?

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah. 

Coach Fergie: Like in. In it picking up and being even a more need for it. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah. I think there’s three sort of big areas. One is, the people you talk about, they’re, whether it’s second homes or they just wanna move down here and they wanna be able to travel and whatever it is. I think that’s really important.

That’s sort of bread and butter. 

Brian Mudd: Sure. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: I think probate is one that’s really growing. Yes. You have more and more probate fights, extended fights. You wanna maintain, the executor wants to maintain the value of that asset. Absolutely. You don’t want it [00:23:00] just sitting and dropping and again. A probate attorney or you as real estate, you don’t wanna be going and checking on a property or a vacant commercial property all day, every day, right?

You wanna be servicing your clients and getting new ones, right? You wanna focus on your core mission, but at the same time, you don’t want to let the asset devalue. 

Coach Fergie: Sure. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: So home watch is something we, we do commercial properties where we can go check on ’em, make sure, again, no intrusions, no break-ins, no vandalism, no water, no whatever.

We can do that. But I think probate’s the second one. And then commercial property is the third. The growth of industry down here and changing it 

Coach Fergie: is 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: starting 

Coach Fergie: to pop up. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Yeah. You 

Coach Fergie: see all these new companies popping up like they’re here now. 

You 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: know, and, but you have commercial properties changing hands or you have a commercial property that has a vacant, one vacant piece of their property.

Sure. And they just want someone to go check on it. And that frees them up to service their clients and to get new clients. They don’t need to spend time. Doing that, but at the same time, they wanna make sure it’s protected. They wanna make sure the value of that asset for their, whether it’s an executor.

A property [00:24:00] manager, whatever it is, they wanna maintain that asset value. 

Coach Fergie: Right. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Without spending, all day, every day. Checking on their properties when they can be servicing clients. 

Coach Fergie: And I can tell you firsthand squad, you’re in really good hands with Stu. I gotta ask you one of my canned questions here.

Yeah. So how does, because you’re, you rank high, that you test high probably in protection and squat if you ever meet him, he’s a pretty form old looking dude. Army guy, big guy. But like, how do you want your dash remembered? That little line in between your incarnation date and your expiration date.

Your life date and death date. Hopefully it’s way down the line, right? ’cause people need you on this earth, but how do you want her to be remembrance too? 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: That’s tough. The obvious one that everybody wants, want a good father, a good family member, a good mentor. I think that’s all very important.

Coach Fergie: Absolutely. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: I was thinking the other day, a guy who I hired about 20 years ago and mentored and trained, came to me and he said, you remember when you told me back in 2008, isn’t 

Coach Fergie: that the best? Yes. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: My heart tripled in inside. 

Coach Fergie: Yes, dude. Yes. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: And I said, yeah, I remember that. And he said, I use that all the time.

Yeah. And so for me. All the, people I’ve mentored over the years or trained over the years, or worked with over the years. Yeah. [00:25:00] If I made them feel better, 

Coach Fergie: yeah. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Perform better, or turn around and mentor someone else. Yeah. With good advice. That’d be a hell of a way to be remembered. Yeah, 

Coach Fergie: I like 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: that a lot.

Coach Fergie: And the more you mentor, the more immortal you become. Yeah. It’s everybody wants to be remembered a little bit. And it’s just like you’re out there planting trees, no one’s gonna sit in the shade of, that’s the best feeling man. Yeah. That’s awesome. And so they can reach you at 5 6 1 9 7 0 0 7 1 3.

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: That’s it. 

Coach Fergie: Alright. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: Again, we don’t have a call center. You’re probably gonna get me, 

Coach Fergie: or one of my, I was gonna say that you’re gonna get Stu or somebody that’s gonna be able to answer your questions there on the spot against 5 6, 1. 9 7 0 0 7 1 3 5 6 1 9 7 0 0 7 1 3. 

Don ‘Stew’ Stewart: It’s Stewarts home watch.com.

Coach Fergie: Stewarts home watch.com. Yeah. Again, Stewarts home watch.com. Go get the checklist today. I think they just have to put the email and then that’s it, and it’ll be downloaded right there on the spot. It’s all free. So thanks for coming in, Stu. Thanks for having me. Appreciate you. Thanks Stu, my producer, Brian Mud.Thank you for. All the troops that are out there doing their job and go have a great weekend South Florida. Absolutely love your [00:26:00] guys.