http://www.rexruff.com/realdeal/index.php The return of Team Trademark. en-us Copyright 2007, Rexruff.com In house http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss/ http://rexruff.com/realdeal/index.php?text=ep_1_10 In Brief About Trademark's expansion and the purchase and polishing of a building in downtown Charleston to use as a sort of retail realty location. 139 North Market Street Trademark purchases a historic building in downtown Charleston as the first step towards bigger, better and definitely broader company. The building is somewhat symbolic of Trademark's and Richard Davis' personal Manifest Destiny - the beginning of their quest to go coast to coast. Ginger say: "This is really important to Richard because it is kinda like his launching pad, you know. He's been building this prototype for 15 years and now its perfect. This is kind of like the first step out, the first step off the James Island is to Charleston and from here we go all over the country. So I think he's really excited. He's like been warming up for a marathon for 15 years and now he's ready to run." "It could be 5,028" Obstacle one in the new purchase was a major leak from the sky. Richard arrived to find much water splattered about the beautiful hard wood floors, and set about discovering the source of the leak. He explained knocking a hole in the ceiling to find the leak cost about 28 dollars, but fixing the ceiling could be 5,000. Probably quite a rough guestimate. "Normal people work during the day..." In addition to the ceiling drippage, there was much to accomplish in the usual impossibly short amount of time. The usual team players stepped up to the challenge, Carlos of Aponte Painting in a cool hat, worked from the crack of dawn to well into the next morning. Vance showed up to again get his hands dirty, and as per norm, there was Ginger in the thick of it all, lending her seemingly endless and diverse abilities. Vance say: "I'm living a dream, I really am." They clean up nice Building polished and gorgeous, the festivities and challenges were ready to begin. Ginger say: "this just means so much to Richard and I think everybody there was genuinely happy to know that, that we're seeing this man who is such a visionary accomplishing his goals and finding his dreams and that we're all actually able to help him with it and it's just a good feeling." Episode Ten shows the start At the end of the episode, the team walked to a theatre announcing "The Real Deal". So sort of makes more sense that they were also celebrating the show as part of their national expansion. As next week starts some reruns, and Richard's speaking engagement and book has been announced, it seems stage two of their conquest has begun. It seems to me the show might take on a very different turn with the new episodes. The stage seems to be set to focus more on the business of real estate generally, than merely house flipping. As the traffic to this site has increased every week, I'd say they've set the stage well, and have captured the interest of America. Trademark seems to have a host of pretty amazing people, and I for one, look forward to following what they do next. End Note: Kevin Molony Have noticed many inquiries about what ever happened to Kevin, who was great fun in some of the shows on that other network. Found this picture taken at John Davis' 40th B-day party. So it seems their friendship continues. 06.24.2007 http://rexruff.com/realdeal/index.php?text=ep_1_9 In Brief Gus revisited. A man Richard tried to help, was unable to uphold his part of the deal, so Richard had to take his losses and end the arrangement. "Right on the edge of being a sucker" In an episode on Richard's previous series, "Flip This House", they bought a house that came with someone in it, Gus. Rather than throw the guy out, Richard tried to make a "win-win" arrangement out of the situation. He fixed up the house, and allowed Gus to remain as a tenant. Unfortunately, Gus was never able to pay rent for over 12 months. Richard took partial blame for the mounting bills, as he had failed to follow up and keep closer tabs on Gus. When they did talk, it was decided that Gus would sign over a classic car to Richard as sort of deposit on future payment. The financial value of the car was less than the money owed, but Richard thought the sentimental value of it would encourage Gus to make good on his debts. For whatever reason, however, Gus was never able to make any kind of payment. In efforts to "look out for the boss", Ginger began and completed the eviction process, and Gus left the house as requested. Go Team! Though the house had been cleaned up and fixed a year or so earlier, Gus still left it in much need of repair. Initially, Ginger walked through and began a clean up process with Carlos, of Aponte Painting. Her duties called her elsewhere, and while she was away, Richard found out what she was up to. Though Richard had not known about the eviction, he knew it was the right thing to do, but did not want to make even more of a burden on Ginger for his "gut feel" to have tried to help Gus. So he stepped in to lead the beautification process, plotting with Carlos to have things done by the time Ginger returned from her other project. "It's your listing dude" Getting the house ready for sale went quite quickly and smoothly. They discovered a leak in the front yard, so Richard called on Vance to take of it. A handy man turned salesman, Vance was up the task, as if he did it quickly, he would also get the listing. Was pretty cool watching Vance "dig in" and get his hands dirty between two sales calls. Yet another example of the "team player" attitude that seems to permeate Trademark. Who's the Snake? Vance like snakes. And a snake is yet another animal Richard does not like. Two episodes now where the Trademark team has dealt with snakes. A little symbolism there? Not to name names, but there are those initials, "A" and "E". Motivation I have more respect for Richard now, having seen where he was not able to help someone help themselves, than when seeing him initially tried to help Gus. Through the whole process, he still really tried to have some faith in Gus, as he said, "I'm not an investor in real estate, I'm an investor in people". I also much admired that throughout his dealings with Gus, he remained respectful and professional. I hope someday Gus finds a way to get his car back and repay Richard for what he tried to do. 05.13.2007 http://rexruff.com/realdeal/index.php?text=ep_1_8 In Brief Richard helps a buddy change his life and sell his house. "We want to flip Larry Henebery" Richard gets a call from his best friend in childhood, Larry, who is about to lose his house, and was looking for a way to leave drug use and bad habits behind. Richard explained that Larry had bought the house long ago, and it had increased in value over the years. The value of his house, made it easy for Larry to take a large loan with the intention to fix it up, but instead, blew the dough. By the time Richard got involved, Larry had already moved out of house and was staying with his girlfriend, and a raccoon. For someone who doesn't seem terribly fond of furry creatures, they sure seem to like Richard. Larry, with great fondness for animals, would become both trainer of and trained by dogs. Richard's plan was to break him out of this past bad habits and head to obedience school. Lasting Friendship Richard would take his buddy up to his uncle's house for training, while Ginger and the rest of the team worked on Larry's house. The plan was to add 20k for renovations, get the house sold, and split the profits with Larry. As well as get him cleaned up and ready to get back to right with his life. Hula Dude The house needed quite a bit of repairs, from raising the ceiling, to digging out dead things, to painting, backyard demolitions and landscaping. Ginger oversaw all these things with her usual efficiency. Her success and focus in her work was mirrored by Larry in his dog training. Larry seemed a different man when he returned from the dogs, and seemed to be on track for good changes. He's shown towards the end of the show, with longer hair, and seemed to be reflecting back aways on the impact of Trademark's help. Let's hope that means the new habits have remained in place. A Small Video Sample Something I noticed in this show was a clustering of Richard speak. "At the end of the day" was said a lot towards the end of the episode. Really made me wonder if it wasn't intentional; given Richard's college buds and drinking games. Click the little play button for a review: 05.13.2007 http://rexruff.com/realdeal/index.php?text=ep_1_7 In Brief Richard renovates the first property he ever bought. The Team Project The work this episode was on Richard's very first property. He hasn't visited in quite awhile, and the property was in much need of some cosmetic work. Richard said he felt like a "slumlord", but it seems he was far from that title given structurally everything was there and working. Well, until Richard decided to demolish some windows. The property had four condo units, three of which were occupied, so will be upgraded later, as tenants rotate out. They did, however, give the full exterior a great makeover. The property had once been home to Ginger in her intern days as well as John in his free spending of Richard's money days. After fixing it up, it would once again host a Trademark team member. Scene Stealing Painters Given the as per norm quick turnover, Ginger was forced to make some hasty decisions on material choices. For awhile, there was grave doubt in her pulling this one together. The biggest doubt came from loyal man Carlos of Aponte Painting. He pointed out the green stuff growing on the bricks, and the need to clean the bricks. After doing this, he felt the bricks looked really wonderful and it pained him to paint over them. But he did, and the result, given bad trim color, was so unimpressive, he and his team felt the need to resort to anonymity - turning their shirts and caps inside out, covering their trailer with a tarp, and Carlos taped over the name on his shirt. Fortunately, the touch ups, served to make things look much better. Carlos commented that sometimes, until it's done, you really can't be sure it's all going to come together well. Less Richard? Not sure if it's the black shirt, or because I was watched Trademark on "Flip This House" before this episode, but does Richard seem to be getting thinner each show? If so, good for you Richard, keep that healthy look up. More to Real Estate than Flipping Richard stated that flipping houses is only part of what he does. Holding onto properties and creating value was another. Besides this show having much of the feel of his original series, I was glad to hear more about real estate in general from him. Finances as well, really, as he pointed out building assets is more important than bigger salaries. 05.13.2007 http://rexruff.com/realdeal/index.php?text=ep_1_6 In Brief Trademark renovates a house for one of their own at cost. Team dynamics are tested. The Team Project Trademark's IT Coordinator, George, deals with the purchase of his first home, and the demands of company growth on his one man department. When he began, the company was small, but its quick growth, left him feeling greatly overwhelmed. It created a difficult situation, as common in all start-ups, where success and growth can either press an individual to learn and grow with it, or be replaced by people with a more experienced skill set. It seemed Richard wanted to push George to evolve into a new role, rather than hand off to someone else. Lead by Example When things looked rocky for George, and he seemed to think he was on the way out, Richard instead, invested in him. At cost, Richard and team renovated a home for George as a way to show their support for him and illustrate what a team, by delegating tasks, could do. Small Steps George's house was quickly renovated serving to impress him deeply in seeing how much could be accomplished by asking for help. Additionally, it served as giving back to George who had fielded so many complaints and difficulties with the company's growing technical needs. And then there is Ginger Ginger was again a mighty interesting and entertaining element to the renovations and the show in general. Her seemingly endless lists of abilities grew yet again as she became dog rescuer, leadership example, good friend and cleaning lady. Her willingness and ability to jump in to help where ever needed is really amazing. Even as she was frustrated with George about the tech problems, she still worked very hard to make his house right. Her ability to delegate work and manage so many players is quite impressive, and I hope even though the subject manner is different, George can learn from her management skills to build his own team instead of trying to take it all on himself. The Master Plan Richard mentioned his plans for growth of Trademark more explicitly in this episode. Additionally, their web site now has a section about finding partners nationwide. One of the toughest things in a start-up is finding the right people with stellar qualifications and a passion to work hard to create something exceptional. Over the past few episodes, the show had been striking me as a lot about PR for Trademark. This one could easily have been titled "Be all you can be" in its pretty pronounced PR schtick. Yet at the same time, I can respect it. If you got it, flaunt it. 05.13.2007 http://rexruff.com/realdeal/index.php?text=ep_1_5 In Brief: Trademark takes the lead in the renovation of a concession stand for a high school football stadium, with the aid of the community and students. The High School: Trademark is contacted in regards to fixing up an aging and bug infested high school concession stand. As per norm, they have little time to accomplish it. "Let's flip a concession stand". The task not only maxed out Trademark's contribution, but required the help and donations of their subcontractors as well as the school's community and students. Boosting the Boosters: Trademark met with the Boosters who usually ran the concession stand. They made a list of requirements as well as dreams to make the best possible improvements. With the input and direction from the Boosters, Trademark would fit it into a budget and orchestrate the makeover. Teems of Teams: Dan stepped in first to clean the place and demolish rotted shelving. He enlisted the assistance of the baseball team. Later, to move kitchen equipment, Richard hijacked the football team. The students athletes were fast and efficient in their assistance, and were a big help in getting things ready in time for the game. Dueling Johns: John Davis was initially called in to assist with the kitchen set-up and purchasing of equipment. His budget was huge. Needing to work out something else, Ginger went to see old pal John Keener of the Crab House. Trademark had helped him with his restaurant in a show on that other network. John came in and got the costs of things way down, and was far more experienced in running a kitchen. He worked with the Boosters and helped them make things even more efficient. Ginger had a few hilarious quotes this show. In regards to one John replacing the other, she said, "we kinda forgot to tell John Davis that we were doing that". Kinda forgot? Later, when things got a little tense towards the end, she explained, "people get mad and things get said that maybe shouldn't". Maybe kinda. Ginger sure did seem to get an awful lot done in this project. She really must have meant business as she attended in low heeled boots instead of her trademark stilettos. Her haggling with all the contractors for donates was quite impressive. Not to mention all the tasks she did throughout the project. Go Ginger! Wet Richard: Ginger best task was at the end though, after yet another successful renovation. It's hard to see exactly, but it looks like Vance was her partner in crime for this. It's amazing how many people Richard seems to know. The amount of things he manages to accomplish seems to be proof of the teamwork ethic he professes. There is just no other way he could possibly have time to be into so many things. 05.13.2007 http://rexruff.com/realdeal/index.php?text=ep_1_4 Latest Episode: A War hero's Welcome Home: In Brief: Team Trademark helps a war hero, Carl Cannon, fix up and sell his house. Having lost his wife, he needed dough to help pay for a nursing home. While away his house had been broken into and ransacked, leaving Team Trademark only a week to get it ready to sell, and for a ceremony honoring Mr. Cannon. Make a Difference A friend of Richard's approached him about a house that needed to be sold for a war hero, Carl Cannon. The profits were not big, and the risk was high. The house was in a run down area, making sales and profit possibilities thin. However, given the character of Mr. Cannon and his military service, Richard and Team Trademark took on the challenge hoping to find a way to make it a win-win. Entering the less than desirable neighboorhood, Richard explained that someone would have to take the first step to turn things around, "the bigger the risk, the bigger the reward, and I like being a pioneer". That's Nasty: Their resolve was definitely tested upon taking their walk through the home. While Mr. Cannon had been away, someone had broken in and thrashed the place. The clean up efforts were more than they originally bargained for, and as usual, their time to accomplish the goal, was very short. Nonetheless, they forged ahead, mapping out the plans to polish and repair the home for sale. The plan was to keep overall costs down but still make as many good cosmetic changes as possible. Dan in Charge Dan, with a few projects under his belt now, was assigned the task to coordinate the construction. Besides the incredibly tight timeline, Dan faced another challenge: two hats. He was still doing some work in sales. His time divided, he was unable to always supervise. Bush Pull: A truck was used to pull out bushes around the house. Though it looked awfully efficient, it did not end so practically. The truck's transmission got shredded and it left the place on a flatbed. Maybe Dan needed to top Richard's swimming pool acid toss. Come on Bubba: The project went about as close to the wire as it possibly could have. It was looking quite scary for Dan for a bit, especially when Richard and Ginger described their take on the situation. Referring to Dan, Richard said, "my foot might not be able to fit up his ass because Ginger's stiletto is going to already be up there". However, in the end, once again, teamwork prevailed, with many members getting their hands dirty: Ginger hit the power tools, Richard soiled his fingertips, Dan hugged porcelain and even Vance jumped in by doing a little painting. Full Circle: This show ended with Richard following up with the new home owner. Down to the last detail, beauty. The end of this episode left me smiling, and I thought, "now it's like they are really back". In previous shows, there was a level of introducing new fans to the scene. With this show, however, the soul and team spirit of Trademark took the lead. Last show, Dawn said Trademark was unique, this episode, showed it. There are rare times when a company can choose to work for more than big wads of dough, and there times when a group of people can find a way to respect each other and make amazing things happen. Though certainly, there are always tough times and mistakes, there are also times to shine, and it's extremely rewarding to see the rare perfect moments captured and shared. 05.13.2007 http://rexruff.com/realdeal/index.php?text=ep_1_3 In Brief: Episode three changed gears siginificantly, focusing on Trademark's skills as a sales marketing team. The trick this time was not to flip a single house, but sell 300 units in a condo community. Rather than fast construction and house rehab, this episode focused on a 30 day marketing blitz and huge coordination. Dawn Returns!: Dawn, a fierce presence in past shows on that other network, returned in this episode, burdened with an incredibly daunting task. As the Project Work Coordinator, in this instance, it meant coordinating the entire Trademark Team and 300 units to the never before achieved goal of selling 50 million in one day. As promised, in this episode, there was a big diversion from the themes of the past. There was also the chance to see many familiar faces from previous shows. Could call this one the Turbo Team Trademark, as more than ever, the depth and breadth of their little company that could, was illustrated. Shine Job: While Dawn coordinated the marketing blitz, Richard, Ginger and Dan went to work to soup up one of the condos and drastically improve its appeal. The goal here was not only to sell it first, but provide an example of a owned home as opposed to a rented home. After Ginger and Richard went through and made decisions about the upgrades, it was once again on Dan to oversee the action. And once again, he did a great job. Dawn in Action: Dawn did not seem to have too good of time on her vacation. Unfortunately, her vacation came at about the worst time ever, and she ended up cutting it mighty short. Amazing she even tried really with that kind of deal going on. She returned and dealt with some vague lawyer stuff, which was magically settled off camera. Once can only imagine what might have gone on to get past that hurdle. Probably definitely not suitable even for cable guidelines. Miss Battlesstar Galactica as much as me? I bet Dawn and Richard had their own dogfight with cylon lawyers. Perhaps it went something like her scolding of Vance for tardiness. I found this one an awfully interesting and exciting episode. Very intriguing to see other aspects of what Trademark is all about, and nice to see a "flip" show, expand its boundaries a bit. Also enjoyed seeing familiar faces, and hope to see more of the other folks. 05.05.2007 http://rexruff.com/realdeal/index.php?text=ep_1_2 In Brief: Episode two saw Ginger at the reins with a brand new partner in crime, Dan. Together, in Richard's absence, they needed to ready a house in the usual ungodly short amount of time. The house had a very stinky basement apartment, local crews had to be selected, and new life had to be added to an otherwise lifeless corner lot. Let Ginger Have Some: It seemed to me the first episode was a bit more focused on the project than the people. This episode seemed a bit weighted on the people, and definitely, a prominate theme was teamwork. The two episodes together seem to balance each other well, both separately and together providing a good introduction to Team Trademark. I found this second one more engrossing, and enjoyed the various shades of teamwork the episode explored, starting with the beginning of a flip - selection, and the many faces behind the choices. In my experience whenever boss man runs off at the mouth about teamwork, or "being a team player" it comes off as banal corporate fodder. And even if the samples showed in this episode are all about ratings and sales fodder, the specific examples are still noteworthy. The second example of teamwork I saw was the passing of authority to Ginger. It's one thing to tell some one to take the lead, but another thing entirely to tell some one to take the lead while boss man is absent. A lesson in true delegation, I hope others might learn from. Adding an additional challenge for Ginger was the introduction of Dan Tollens as Construction Coordinator, his first time in this role. They seemed to work together awfully well, both even bringing their mutts to the site, and equally saddened by the animals that has been left in the gross stench of the basement apartment. College World Series: Yet another reflection of teamwork came from Richard's Father's Day trip to the World Series. Little better symbol of teamwork than baseball, and as Richard said in the show, he was free to go since his team was working hard. His trip touched on other kinds of teamwork as well - contributing to the family team, as well as the family's larger group of friends. As reflected in earlier shows, at that other channel, Richard doesn't seem too miserly at all in his sharing his good fortune with others. You Go Dan!: Dan really shined toward the end of the episode, jumping in to do some work himself, as we've seen Ginger and Richard do many times before. His efforts served to energize all working on the site, illustrating yet another aspect of teamwork - encouragement and support. At the end of the first episode, I was just happy to see them back. After seeing this latest one, and the new dimensions added, I'm much looking forward to what else Team Trademark might have in store. I liked the quote from Ginger about everyone there being the ones who studied for five minutes before a test and got the highest grades. Combined with Richard's words last episode about needing "intestinal fortitude", the upcoming shows ought to be mighty interesting for this armchair flipper. 04.28.2007 http://www.rexruff.com/realdeal/index.php?text=ep_1_1 They're baaaaaaaaack! Richard and Ginger return after way too long of hiatus. Cheers to The Learning Channel for bringing them back! Reminds me of an old promo for the TV show Taxi, I believe it went something like, "Same show, better channel". In the case of "The Real Deal" however, I'd say we get both a "better show and better channel". The first episode did a great job of introducing the team, and getting right to the core of it - crappy house with much potential. Hmmm....did Ginger just change her last name to Investments to eliminate any confusion regarding her expertise? In Brief: In this first show, trademark took on a house with icky stuff behind and below it. Water damage has caused mold, and floors needed to be replaced and the initial cause had to be repaired. This was the main reason they house had not sold and they picked it up. The icky behind is another story. The Pool It's amazing the new levels of "ewwwww" they find in these houses. This pool, which Ginger described as "pea soup", looked more like a bad science experiment than recreational diversion. And kinda made me wonder exactly where Ginger gets her pea soup. But the real hero in this episode as far as I could tell was Super Pool Man, who did end up taking a few mouth fulls of this delicacy. He needed to drain some water to repair a part, so said he'd take one for the team. We already knew the ending Probably not much of a spoiler if I mention the end result was a success, at least for the first show. I'm guessing there will be surprises ahead. The show did not disappoint in any way and seeing the team in action again was like the return of a buddy. Maybe it was the lengthy absence, but the show seemed much faster paced. Seemed very focused on the project at hand, and not so much on the people involved. Makes sense for an introductory show though, and still provided both entertainment and education. I am so glad they are back, and wish them the best of success on TLC! 04.20.2007