Listen in as Donna Ferrao explains to us why a good home warranty is a great idea. Why Home Tech stands out from the others. You want a trusted company that has been around for 40 years. Listen in and learn more.
Office: 800-800-8356 EXT. 208
Cell: 239-565-2818
http://dferrao@home-tech.com
To learn more:
https://barefootbungalowrealty.com/
Barefoot Bungalow Realty & Property Management
9200 Bonita Beach Rd SE, Suite 100
Bonita Springs, FL 34135
(239) 350-5535
Listen in as Donna Ferrao explains to us why a good home warranty is a great idea. Why Home Tech stands out from the others. You want a trusted company that has been around for 40 years. Listen in and learn more.
Office: 800-800-8356 EXT. 208
Cell: 239-565-2818
http://dferrao@home-tech.com
To learn more:
https://barefootbungalowrealty.com/
Barefoot Bungalow Realty & Property Management
9200 Bonita Beach Rd SE, Suite 100
Bonita Springs, FL 34135
(239) 350-5535
Welcome to the live your best life barefoot podcast with your host, Mary Mouritsen and the team at Barefoot Bungalow Realty. So
Speaker 2:I'm so excited for our guest today. We have Donna Ferreo with Home Tech Warranties. Hi, Donna. How are
Speaker 3:You? Good morning, ladies. I'm doing great. How are you? We're
Speaker 4:Great. Really good. It's good to have you on, it's good to talk to you.
Speaker 3:Good to talk to you too.
Speaker 4:So tell us a little bit about Home Tech.
Speaker 3:So I'm so happy to be working for this company. We are local to Southwest Florida and we have been for 40 years. We're celebrating this year 40 years, which is great. We work a v ery differently to some of the national home warranties that some, some people are used to. We, because we're local, we hire only local employees and we are an employee owned company. When we do our service agreement. We actually have the technicians working here at Home Tech, and many of them are employee owners. So when you have your home insured with us for the appliances and the air conditioning, when you call us, you're actually calling here to our office. Not someplace far, far away. We, act u ally dispatch a technician right from our office and, on a ir conditioning and refrigerators, we'll, we're gonna send someone on the same day to do a repair, and that includes weekends and holidays because we know everything breaks Sunday night at eight o'clock
Speaker 4:every time. Exactly. Well, I was excited to have you on our podcast because I think a lot of our, community, and I know I was guilty of this lumps, all of the, home warranties in the same bundle and you guys are so very different. You've illustrated a couple of those ways that you're different with being locally based being employee o wned. And I wanna highlight that one component that you, o f y our o wn employees, which is a huge difference.
:Can you share a little bit about why that is different?
Speaker 3:Okay. So, I'm a 20 year resident to Florida and I have seen, and experience my own issues with trying to reputable subcontractors to do work in my own home. So because we're employee owned all of our employees that work here, they have a little more skin in the game. They're gonna go a little further, a little extra mile, and it makes a huge difference. Most of the national companies, they don't have their own technicians. They work on a subcontractor basis. So sometimes it might take one or two days for them to assign a subcontractor to make it to your home. And in July and August, when your air conditioner is broken, one or two days is, is not acceptable.
Speaker 4:Yeah. It makes a huge difference in your life. Yeah. You have to go live with mom for a while or something. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Or a hotel yeah.
Speaker 4:Or even your oven goes out the day before Thanksgiving.
Speaker 3:What do you do every time? Every time. Every time.
Speaker 4:Yep. Yep. Well, I want a little backed up a little bit and tell us about yourself and what brought you to home tech?
Speaker 3:So, I'm originally from new Orleans, a real true Cajun person, not just t he spice you put on chicken.
Speaker 4:Awesome.
Speaker 3:I lived in Boston for eight winters and, that was enough and I couldn't, I needed the warm weather again i n my soul. So my husband and I moved here 20 years ago. And, w e a re so happy to live here. I've pretty much been in sales most of my career. And, I knew the owner of Home Tech a nd I tried to get in here for two years and finally the opportunity came up and I was so excited because I just l ove the employee ownership model. It's, it's so different than any other type of situation that I've worked in. People just care a little more. I t it's, it's really interesting to see that
Speaker 4:I'd say have their own skin in the game. Yes. You know?
Speaker 3:Yeah. Yeah. It's, it's very different culture. Everyone just cares a little more.
Speaker 4:That's amazing. It is amazing. So tell us about what tips you might have. Our listeners are that are listening right now. I know that most of us own homes and have things that we might be able to do preventatively or, beyond obviously we should get a home warranty, but beyond that, what are some tips you have that would help our homeowners in, th eir h ome life situation of preparing for these emergencies or avoiding'e m?
Speaker 3:So the most important thing, or the most important feature in our homes in Florida is the air conditioning. It's the, it's the biggest ticket item. And you wanna make sure that it runs as long as it can. The life expectancy is, you know, 8, 9, 10, 12, maybe years, in Florida because it runs almost 365 days a year,
Speaker 4:That's we, we really do use it almost year round. Yeah,
Speaker 3:I know. So a lot of people who move here from o ut o f states i n, i n colder climates, they, maybe up north their AC might live 20 years b ecause it's not being operated as long as that it is here. So the most important thing is to make sure those filters get, r eplaced monthly, a nd have the annual cleaning check done because it is Florida and, you know, mold and things grow into the lines and that can back up, a nd it needs to be cleaned, super, super are su p er im portant.
Speaker 4:So cleaning and filters, I have a little tip on the filter. Every time I make my mortgage payment, I change my filter.
Speaker 3:That's a great one.
Speaker 4:That's a really good tip. Yeah. Yeah. So that I make, that's a great one. That's how I make sure I get it done. Cuz those would keep months roll around quicker than you think they do. Yeah. That
Speaker 3:I'm down really yucky.
Speaker 4:Yes. Yes. Especially in the summer when it's running 24 7.
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Absolutely.
Speaker 2:That's a great tip. Hey, so Donna, do you have any good tips for personal? Like what you like to do here in Southwest Florida,
Speaker 3:Be outside as much as possible. There's so many beautiful places that you just need to get out and see, especially now in the, in the winter when the weather is just glorious,
Speaker 2:What's your favorite place to go?
Speaker 3:Probably the beach.
Speaker 2:I do say that that's everybody's favorite place here in Southwest Florida. The
Speaker 3:Beach. Yeah. I, you know, I really love the Naples botanical gardens. That is really a beautiful place to walk in the morning and you can bring your dog in morning on Sunday.
Speaker 4:Oh, that is a good tip. Only on Sundays.
Speaker 3:Sunday morning is the only day you can bring a dog.
Speaker 4:That's a great tip. That is a really good tip. Yeah.
Speaker 3:Yeah. And downtown Fort Myers is very dog friendly as well. You can, walk your dog around. There's a lot of, the restaurants have outdoor seating that you can bring your pet, which is great.
Speaker 4:very good. That is great. Okay. And then I'd like you to leave us. Do you have a favorite story? Home t ech story?
Speaker 3:My favorite. My favorite home tech story is the story that happens a lot. I wish that I would've put the home tech on my home when I spoke to you last month because my sub zero stopped working today.
Speaker 4:Mm-hmm y ep. That's probably a c ommon one for you.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it, it is. You know, and I mean, personally my, my refrigerator, the ice maker broke, it was not two years old and the ice maker repair was$550. Wow. Ouch.
Speaker 4:That's a big ouch. Yes. So how do people get ahold of you to get pricing for these warranties home warranties?
Speaker 3:So they can call me at home tech or right on my cell phone,(239) 565-2818 text call, whatever makes you happy.
Speaker 4:And we've priced out a few homes and you're really quick. So all, all they need to do is get you their address and you have a quote really quickly and absolutely take care. Good care of'em. That's really nice. Well thank you Donna, for coming on. We really appreciate it. And we appreciate you having, having you as part of our trusted vendors,
Speaker 3:Looking forward to a great new year with you girls.
Speaker 4:Definitely. Exactly. And as always, if any of you, our listeners have somebody or something you'd like us to talk about out, let us know you can reach us on our website, BarefootBungalowHomes.com or on Facebook at Barefoot Bungalow Homes. Or you can call us(239) 350-5535. Thank you so much for listening today and as always remember to Live Your Best Life Barefoot.
:Thank you for listening to the Live Your Best Life Barefoot podcast, sponsored b y Barefoot Bungalow Realty to learn more about Barefoot Bungalow Realty, go t o www.barefootbungalowrealty.com or call 239-350-5535.