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We're chatting about the people, places, events, and flavors that make Johnson City, Tennessee a lovely place to live. An interview show hosted by Colin Johnson.
Proud member of the Maypop Media family of podcasts.
0:00:00 - (Colin Johnson): It is a. I would say beautiful, but it's kind of gray and kind of rainy, but it's not super cold, which is cool. And Christmas is around the corner, which is super cool. Anyway, you're probably not as excited about that, but you're maybe more excited to meet my new friend. Well, she's a longtime friend. We've been dealing with each other for years on different committees and boards and city stuff and just passing each other at the grocery store.
0:00:24 - (Colin Johnson): Laura Kelly, welcome to the podcast.
0:00:27 - (Laura Kelly): Well, thank you. It's about time you invited me here.
0:00:31 - (Colin Johnson): Right off the bat.
0:00:32 - (Laura Kelly): Just kidding.
0:00:33 - (Colin Johnson): Shot across the bow. Okay.
0:00:35 - (Laura Kelly): Glad to be here. Yep.
0:00:37 - (Colin Johnson): Well, we. We got your application years ago. We just didn't have anybody else to put on the podcast today. So we're glad you're here and looking forward to hearing about your role at Habitat for Humanity. Holston. Habitat for Humanity.
0:00:51 - (Laura Kelly): That's it.
0:00:52 - (Colin Johnson): So where is Holston? Why is it called Holston Habitat for Humanity?
0:00:57 - (Laura Kelly): What a good question. So we were founded. We're actually one of the first 100 affiliates across the United States.
0:01:04 - (Colin Johnson): That's cool.
0:01:04 - (Laura Kelly): So we have a pretty rich history with Habitat for Humanity and the Mothership. It was formed by some women who represented churches within the Holston Conference. So that's where we're going. That's the time.
0:01:18 - (Colin Johnson): There you go.
0:01:18 - (Laura Kelly): Yep.
0:01:19 - (Colin Johnson): I love it. I love it.
0:01:20 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:01:20 - (Colin Johnson): All right, John, city living. What is your favorite thing about living in Johnson City?
0:01:30 - (Laura Kelly): Favorite thing is probably small town feel with real quick proximity to the mountains.
0:01:39 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:01:40 - (Laura Kelly): That's a big quality of life we have.
0:01:43 - (Colin Johnson): A lot of people say they like the small town feel, but we have all the amenities of a big city pretty much, right?
0:01:48 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:01:49 - (Colin Johnson): We have a hospital or four or five of them. So we got a lot of those. We got a lot of good stuff. People ask about shopping, too. And we have shopping, we have shops.
0:01:57 - (Laura Kelly): We've had enough shops.
0:01:58 - (Colin Johnson): We got shops.
0:01:59 - (Laura Kelly): I grew up not far from New York City, and so I love to go home and visit friends and family up there. It's just too big for me. It's too much.
0:02:07 - (Colin Johnson): Where'd you grow up?
0:02:08 - (Laura Kelly): Was born in White Plains, lived in Lake Peekskill for some years, and then Bethel, Connecticut. So it was always 45 minutes to an hour outside of the city, which was really fun. And one thing I will say about the mall that I grew up next to in Danbury, Connecticut, that mall is like three quarters of a mile long.
0:02:25 - (Colin Johnson): Whoa.
0:02:26 - (Laura Kelly): It's an enormous mall. And so it's also really fun to see our Mall getting like another breath of life.
0:02:33 - (Colin Johnson): That's cool.
0:02:33 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:02:36 - (Colin Johnson): How big is our mall compared to that mall?
0:02:38 - (Laura Kelly): Not.
0:02:39 - (Colin Johnson): That was not a good face. Like, you feel like our mall is pretty small. Yeah, we got a small mall, but we do have a mall. I mean, it's pretty awesome.
0:02:46 - (Laura Kelly): We've got a lot of heart.
0:02:47 - (Colin Johnson): We got a lot off heart. Yes. Yes, we do. So you go home for the holidays? A little bit.
0:02:54 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:02:54 - (Colin Johnson): That'll be fun.
0:02:55 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:02:55 - (Colin Johnson): You guys go into the city at all like those, right this time?
0:02:59 - (Laura Kelly): We did last year. Yeah.
0:03:01 - (Colin Johnson): Cool.
0:03:02 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:03:03 - (Colin Johnson): All right, let's talk about Habitat for Humanity. What do you guys do? I know what you do, but tell our listeners what you do.
0:03:10 - (Laura Kelly): What do we do?
0:03:11 - (Colin Johnson): What do you do?
0:03:12 - (Laura Kelly): So our mission statement is to put God's love into action, to bring people together and build homes, communities, and hope.
0:03:18 - (Colin Johnson): Look at that.
0:03:20 - (Laura Kelly): So what that looks like in practice for this affiliate is our most well known program is the homeownership program. So we build new houses and our most famous volunteer being Jimmy Carter, really helped to get Habitat on the map nationwide and really globally. So we build new homes, and with those new homes, we also serve as the lender. So we build the home and then we service the zero percent interest mortgage.
0:03:48 - (Laura Kelly): And that's so powerful because offering a zero percent interest mortgage with this brand new, really well built house that is way above what code requires. It's a hand up.
0:04:00 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:04:01 - (Laura Kelly): It's a chance at equity for families who, especially in this market, just can't get a foot in 100%. They don't have the down payment, they don't have the credit score or the interest is prohibitive for whatever reason. Gosh, it's just hard for a family with resources to get a house, let alone somebody who is really working class, a paycheck away from trouble to have that shot at homeownership.
0:04:29 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, it is. It is hard. And it's getting harder. And interest rates going up didn't help. Right. So the no interest loan is amazing. Yeah, you guys aren't making a lot of money off that. And it doesn't sound like.
0:04:39 - (Laura Kelly): Nope. Yeah, but that's not the point.
0:04:41 - (Colin Johnson): I'm just kidding.
0:04:42 - (Laura Kelly): So we do new homes. We have a home repair program. So we do those programs across our service area, which is Carter, Sullivan and Washington counties, as well as Bristol, Virginia. We've just expanded to do Hurricane Helene relief after that storm. So now we also serve Unicoi County.
0:05:00 - (Colin Johnson): Nice.
0:05:01 - (Laura Kelly): So excited to welcome them into the Habitat family.
0:05:03 - (Colin Johnson): That's cool.
0:05:04 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:05:04 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. There's a lot of people that need a lot of help.
0:05:06 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:05:07 - (Colin Johnson): It's been cool to watch our region just pull together and.
0:05:09 - (Laura Kelly): Really, no kidding.
0:05:10 - (Colin Johnson): Not only just our region. I mean, I've got friends who are serving and they're meeting people from all over the country who are coming here. Just. Oh, what are you doing here? Well, I came to work two weeks.
0:05:21 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:05:22 - (Colin Johnson): Just to help. Like, it's just so cool. Our country is so cool.
0:05:25 - (Laura Kelly): It's touching.
0:05:27 - (Colin Johnson): All right, so tell me the difference between you guys and Appalachian Service Project. Because some people ask me that question and I say, well, Laura works at that one and somebody else works at asp.
0:05:39 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah. I'm really well suited to answer this question because I worked at ASP for eight years, so I get it.
0:05:44 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:05:46 - (Laura Kelly): So ASP's model is a Grace gift of a house. So when they build a house, there is no mortgage associated with it. So they are really well suited for emergency housing solutions to get people like in a disaster recovery circumstance or families who just aren't in a position to afford a mortgage, period, but can afford homeowners insurance and utilities. They're a great fit.
0:06:12 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:06:12 - (Laura Kelly): So what that looks like behind the scenes is while the family gets the keys, there's a series of basically deeds of trust or liens against the house. So as long as the family stays in the house, it's free.
0:06:23 - (Colin Johnson): Gotcha.
0:06:24 - (Laura Kelly): Habitat. We have a zero percent interest mortgage. And when we originate that mortgage, it is no more than 30% of their household income. So let's say we build a house and it appraises for 250,000 and Amy goes to buy it, but she can actually only afford about 200,000 over 30 years. The then she will have a $200,000 mortgage at 0% interest, and then we will do a silent second forgivable mortgage, which is that same thing. It's a lien against the house. And as long as she lives there, for every payment that she makes on her first mortgage on that 200,000, she earns a payment of the 50,000 subsidy.
0:07:02 - (Laura Kelly): So that's like double duty of building equity. Yeah, I know. I'm not earning that much equity on a monthly basis with no interest.
0:07:09 - (Colin Johnson): If you run out the amortization schedule about 10 years in, you start. Start putting some money away. But a lot of it's interest early on. Yeah, that's why there's a lot of banks out there.
0:07:19 - (Laura Kelly): That's why there's a lot of banks.
0:07:20 - (Colin Johnson): Banks do well on the interest deal. But it is the seventh wonder of the world, compounding interest. So it's kind of cool. Okay, so what, let's say, how much did you build that 250 house for? Like. Cause you guys got a lot of volunteers, a lot of material donated, that kind of thing.
0:07:38 - (Laura Kelly): The biggest variable right now is land cost and development, so we can control everything else, but something we have really struggled with since COVID and since this huge market shift is just the cost of land. So what we aim for is between land cost and all in construction, about 175 per house.
0:07:59 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:08:00 - (Laura Kelly): We've gone over 200. We just closed on one that was about 155,000. So it really varies.
0:08:07 - (Colin Johnson): That's crazy.
0:08:08 - (Laura Kelly): And having donated property is a game changer, which you have helped facilitate.
0:08:13 - (Colin Johnson): We did. We had a client that wanted to donate to a great cause, and I said, I know somebody who would love to do that. And the house there, I drive by it all the time. It's beautiful.
0:08:22 - (Laura Kelly): It looks so good. It looks great. Yeah.
0:08:25 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. So thank you for doing that.
0:08:27 - (Laura Kelly): Well, thank you for facilitating that transaction, because that's a huge, huge benefit. And every time we get a parcel donated or even excavation labor, materials, any of that stuff donated, it just means we get to serve more families.
0:08:40 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. It's just super cool. Yeah, super cool. How long has Habitat been rolling around here?
0:08:46 - (Laura Kelly): We are in our 39th year. In a couple weeks. Couple weeks we hit 40. What? Which is huge. So we've been around for a long, long time.
0:08:56 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. And I don't think you're even our 40. So what does that have?
0:08:59 - (Laura Kelly): No.
0:08:59 - (Colin Johnson): Did you start really early?
0:09:00 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah, I'm just very mature.
0:09:01 - (Colin Johnson): You are. And then talking about development, you guys have a new neighborhood coming up, right?
0:09:07 - (Laura Kelly): Yes. Yeah. Yeah, we're excited about that. So over our almost 40 years, we've served. I want to say the Number is about 375 families right now between new homes and home repairs.
0:09:19 - (Colin Johnson): That's awesome.
0:09:20 - (Laura Kelly): So in our 40th year, we'll serve our 400th family. And hopefully beyond that.
0:09:24 - (Colin Johnson): How cool is that?
0:09:25 - (Laura Kelly): Which is incredible.
0:09:26 - (Colin Johnson): 400 houses.
0:09:27 - (Laura Kelly): So what Holston Habitat has been very good at over the years is urban infill.
0:09:32 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:09:33 - (Laura Kelly): So taking a 50 by 150 lot, or just a lot in between other properties and building a house on it. And that's a real strategy for us, building our. Our base of affordable housing across the tri Cities especially. So in our past, we've. We've done one or two other neighborhoods, but we've never done a neighborhood from the ground up. Where we are building out the road infrastructure as well. So that's exciting for us. A little daunting, but mostly exciting.
0:10:02 - (Colin Johnson): Well, we know some people that do paving. I think you could probably talk to Grant. He'd help you out a little bit and hope so. And then Bright Ridge would probably help out with the underground utilities and atmos on the gas a little bit.
0:10:13 - (Laura Kelly): It's a good project to be a part of, so I think some people will step up to the paint.
0:10:16 - (Colin Johnson): I think you'll get a lot of help.
0:10:17 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:10:17 - (Colin Johnson): Because our area just loves to help you. And I'm impressed that you got this done, because I drove by that park vacant lot that the city mode for 30 years, and I drove by it for 10 because Carly and I used to live. We're on 9th Avenue. And yeah, we cut through there all the time. And I was like, this is just unused land. We should build something on it. Like, I was part of the house. I think we were on the community housing development board at that point. And I was just like, why aren't we doing something here? And they're like, it's all locked up. But you being a little driver, figuring it out.
0:10:48 - (Laura Kelly): Chief squeaky wheel over here wondering.
0:10:51 - (Colin Johnson): Involved. I love it. The city got involved, and so good job getting that.
0:10:55 - (Laura Kelly): Well, it's a great example of public private partnerships because the city had this asset. They had three acres.
0:11:02 - (Colin Johnson): Yep.
0:11:03 - (Laura Kelly): The county contributed $300,000 towards the development of the project. So with those two things combined, that's the kind of thing that makes it possible to build affordable housing.
0:11:13 - (Colin Johnson): Sure.
0:11:13 - (Laura Kelly): Because nobody's building affordable starter homes right now. Nonprofits will do it because it's our mission.
0:11:18 - (Colin Johnson): I mean, DLR Horton's doing a good job putting a product out there that's somewhat affordable, but it's still 250, 300.
0:11:24 - (Laura Kelly): Right. So still, for our lower income working families, we still have to figure out how do we meet the need even below that. So it just was a real great example of coming together, everybody chipping in what they had, and now we get something beautiful. So we'll have 12 homes around a culdesac and a small public park that we will build out and then convey that back to the city so that they can maintain it in their master parks and rec plan and they'll do a great job.
0:11:50 - (Laura Kelly): And then we don't have to do an hoa, which we love.
0:11:53 - (Colin Johnson): That is good.
0:11:54 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:11:54 - (Colin Johnson): When do you feel like that's going to get started and completed?
0:11:58 - (Laura Kelly): So we've had our preliminary plat approved by the planning commission. And so we're just finalizing our construction drawing. So given the weather and time of year, we'll probably break ground May or June.
0:12:09 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:12:11 - (Laura Kelly): I'd love to be raising walls by October, November. I'll see what happens. So we'll do five houses in our first phase of construction, and then we'll build out our second phase shortly thereafter. So probably dedicate the first round of houses. I want to say spring of 2026.
0:12:30 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:12:31 - (Laura Kelly): So there will be plenty of opportunities for the community to get involved, to swing a hammer. But I'm really excited because we've already got the families selected.
0:12:39 - (Colin Johnson): Well, that's what I was getting ready to ask next is like, how do the families get to choose one of these houses? Or how do you choose the families that get a house?
0:12:46 - (Laura Kelly): So over the last year, we've switched up the way that we qualify and or really advertise our program. So because we're a lender and we want to be accurate with how people qualify, what we've done in the past is people apply when we open up for applications, and we always have a tremendous volume of applicants for a pretty limited amount of spots. So again, I want to say in this last round, we had about 130, 140 applicants for six spots.
0:13:19 - (Colin Johnson): How many for six months?
0:13:20 - (Laura Kelly): 130.
0:13:22 - (Colin Johnson): That's a lot.
0:13:23 - (Laura Kelly): Well, and that's just completed applications. We distributed almost 400.
0:13:27 - (Colin Johnson): Holy cow.
0:13:28 - (Laura Kelly): So then we've got a lot of families who just didn't make it to the finish line for whatever reason, but have a demonstrated need. So we know that there's more than 130 households that need it. Nevertheless, what we used to do is just they would apply, we would determine. We've got kind of a matrix that helps us figure out who and how we qualify based on a need score. So their income, where they live now, is it dilapidated? Is it unsafe? Is it unaffordable?
0:13:53 - (Laura Kelly): Growing family need another room, all of those things. Their ability to pay and how strong and secure is their income. All those things. And then we just kind of say, okay, we're going to build two. Two bedrooms and a five bedroom and a four bedroom this time in this circumstance because we had this parcel because we knew we're building out a neighborhood and we want to do four. Two bedrooms and three. Four bedrooms. We just advertised in this first cycle, we're gonna do two. Two bedrooms, two, three bedrooms, one four bedroom.
0:14:23 - (Laura Kelly): And then we're building another house in Kingsport this year.
0:14:25 - (Colin Johnson): So that's cool.
0:14:26 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah. So, so thrilled for these families. My gosh, they're incredible. And that's the thing that I just am really passionate about with Habitat and in this line of work is just the advocacy and the education to our community that we have such good and hard working people in Johnson City at all walks of life. And the families that come through our program are like the hardest working people. I know 100% because they're making it work against all odds. I mean, you've got single parents trying to navigate their savings and buying kids birthday presents on a limited income and babysitters and full time jobs and they're just making it work.
0:15:08 - (Laura Kelly): So the families here, they're diverse. We've got kids. I just know it's going to be a real sweet start to the project.
0:15:15 - (Colin Johnson): That's super cool. It's got to be so rewarding when you hand the keys over to these folks. And I'm sure there are a lot of tears and it's just really cool to be able to bless somebody with a house.
0:15:24 - (Laura Kelly): So everybody deserves a shot.
0:15:26 - (Colin Johnson): That's probably what gets you out of bed every day.
0:15:28 - (Laura Kelly): It is, it is. Yeah. I feel really fortunate.
0:15:30 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. Tell me about your team over there. How many people are working? What all do you guys do?
0:15:34 - (Laura Kelly): So I mentioned earlier our programs. We've got the construction, so the home repair, new homes. We've got the lending side, so we are the loan originator. But then we've got restores. So we've got a restore in Johnson City, one in Kingsport. So with the that retail component. Yeah, that's about 20, 25 employees because a lot of part time and one.
0:15:55 - (Colin Johnson): Place I've been to the restore. Carly and I went there looking for some construction stuff just on a project we were working on. And it's pretty cool. It's big. Yeah, we've got a lot going on over there.
0:16:05 - (Laura Kelly): Between both stores We've got about 40,000 square feet of retail space. So with those employees, we are about 35 employees.
0:16:14 - (Colin Johnson): What kind of stuff? Like listeners I know we all have items that we're not using at our house that we would probably love to donate to a good cause. We just don't know how to do it, where to do it. Tell us more about where to drop those off and what you guys take.
0:16:28 - (Laura Kelly): Sure. So our two locations, one is in Johnson City and Kimberly Court, which is a series of warehouses up behind the Walmart on Browns Mill.
0:16:37 - (Colin Johnson): Yep.
0:16:37 - (Laura Kelly): We've got one in downtown Kingsport on Main Street. So we accept new and gently used items. So all kinds of things. Housewares, furniture, appliances, sporting goods, construction materials. So one of the most profitable donations that somebody can make to Habitat is. Well, our top three are furniture, appliances, and cabinets.
0:17:05 - (Colin Johnson): Gotcha. Yeah.
0:17:06 - (Laura Kelly): If somebody is doing a home DIY renovation, I beg you to not take a sledgehammer to your cabinets.
0:17:13 - (Colin Johnson): But Chip and JoJo do it on the TV all the time.
0:17:16 - (Laura Kelly): I know.
0:17:16 - (Colin Johnson): You're like, you're killing it.
0:17:17 - (Laura Kelly): Change the channel.
0:17:18 - (Colin Johnson): There you go.
0:17:19 - (Laura Kelly): Change them. Change the world.
0:17:20 - (Colin Johnson): And bring your cabinets to.
0:17:22 - (Laura Kelly): Exactly. Well. And I just. I love.
0:17:24 - (Colin Johnson): They're a whole lot easier to move around, too, when they're square boxes out there.
0:17:27 - (Laura Kelly): That's right.
0:17:27 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:17:28 - (Laura Kelly): So I love sharing this with people because if. If you're just a little more considerate with your remodels, if you gently remove those items, whether it's your microwave or a vanity, call us. We'll come pick it up for free. Get it out of your hair. So it saves. Whether you're just an individual or a home builder and renovator, it saves from going to the dump. So it saves dump fees. And I swear, cabinets sell within 24 hours.
0:17:55 - (Laura Kelly): And it's a huge fundraiser every time. Every time. So all kinds of things. If you've got it, we can probably take it. With few exceptions.
0:18:03 - (Colin Johnson): Clothes. Do you guys take clothes?
0:18:04 - (Laura Kelly): We do take clothes at Johnson City. That's somewhat new. We're. We're selective because we don't allocate a ton of space to it. And there's other stores, other thrift stores around here that do that part really well.
0:18:14 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. So. Okay.
0:18:16 - (Laura Kelly): But that's. I mean, the restore part of your.
0:18:18 - (Colin Johnson): Revenue comes out of the restore.
0:18:20 - (Laura Kelly): I was just about to say. So it's about 50% of our annual revenue comes from our restore.
0:18:25 - (Colin Johnson): What's your annual budget?
0:18:26 - (Laura Kelly): About 3.5 million.
0:18:28 - (Colin Johnson): So you're making a million and a half off the Riv. Wow, that's awesome.
0:18:33 - (Laura Kelly): That's one thing I wanted to share today. So we are almost at 1.6 for this calendar year.
0:18:39 - (Colin Johnson): How cool is that? Great. That's awesome.
0:18:42 - (Laura Kelly): Well, and part of what I love about that model is it's a place to accept those items. Save it from the landfill. So we've got kind of a formula that Habitat International created. We have saved 992 tons of material from going to the landfill by recycling it and reselling it at the restore.
0:19:06 - (Colin Johnson): Isn't that amazing?
0:19:07 - (Laura Kelly): So that's huge.
0:19:08 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:19:08 - (Laura Kelly): Love giving things a second chance.
0:19:10 - (Colin Johnson): The city should pay you because they haven't had to fill up and make a new landfill yet.
0:19:14 - (Laura Kelly): I would love for you to tell them that.
0:19:16 - (Colin Johnson): I think I will. I'll beat that drum. Yeah. You should just pay Habitat because they're taking all this stuff that would go to the landfill.
0:19:23 - (Laura Kelly): So we're saving stuff from going to the landfill. It is a huge fundraiser for us and then for donors. What I love about it is all that revenue. It pays our overhead.
0:19:33 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:19:34 - (Laura Kelly): So that's covering salaries and insurance and pens and paper and rent. So that when we have volunteers and sponsors and donors and grants coming in, that's really paying for the construction materials.
0:19:47 - (Colin Johnson): That's pretty cool.
0:19:48 - (Laura Kelly): The donors can feel really good that their money is directly impacting a family.
0:19:51 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, I think it's. It's nice to know that, because a lot of times it can get up, you know, administrative fees and whatever. You got a lot of extra that kind of like, okay, great. I donated some money, and maybe, yeah, 20 of that hundred dollars went into the house or what?
0:20:08 - (Laura Kelly): I mean, it's probably the cost of doing business. You're always gonna have to pay for overhead. Yeah. But we do have a unique model where, you know, you really do get to impact a family directly.
0:20:18 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. That's cool.
0:20:19 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:20:21 - (Colin Johnson): I love. Yeah, I love housing and Carly, and I love that we get to be a part of helping people get houses. It's just over and over, so much fun. And I'm excited that you're making as much money as you are at the renew.
0:20:34 - (Laura Kelly): Me, too.
0:20:35 - (Colin Johnson): And I'm excited that all the people listening are start bringing their stuff there, especially all their cabinets that they didn't smash up.
0:20:41 - (Laura Kelly): Well, one thing I wanted to share is this year because we've just noticed some fluctuations in sales. We've had some killer years, and then this year, it's just. It's been a little slower at the Johnson City store especially, so we've gotten some creative, and we've started to sell some product that we have purchased.
0:20:58 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:20:59 - (Laura Kelly): So we now sell rugs. We sell recycled paint in a lot of different colors, and I've used it myself. It goes on really, really well. We even sell chalkboard paint. So if you've got a fun DIY project, come on in.
0:21:12 - (Colin Johnson): I don't even want to know how you recycle paint. Like, you pull it off the wall and melt it back down and put it in a can.
0:21:17 - (Laura Kelly): I'm going to let somebody else smarter than me figure that part out.
0:21:19 - (Colin Johnson): But I think we probably. It's all the mix matches and colors, and they throw it back in A big vat and change it up. That's pretty cool.
0:21:27 - (Laura Kelly): And we've got scratch and dent appliances, so deeper discounts.
0:21:31 - (Colin Johnson): That's what we were looking for. We were looking for a rental. I think we needed a range and.
0:21:36 - (Laura Kelly): So, yeah, so we're having fun with that stuff, offering different products, hopefully reaching different customers and giving them what they need.
0:21:44 - (Colin Johnson): Well, I will spread the word to all my realtor buddies out there. There's about a hundred or no, there's not a hundred. There's like 1200 of us now, probably 1600 somewhere in there that anytime people are moving, they're always getting rid of stuff.
0:21:56 - (Laura Kelly): Exactly.
0:21:57 - (Colin Johnson): Instead of getting rid of it in the trash can, give it to a great cause.
0:22:00 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:22:02 - (Colin Johnson): You're also on the planning commission at the city. Tell me about how that's going.
0:22:06 - (Laura Kelly): So I joined in July. So still feeling pretty new here.
0:22:10 - (Colin Johnson): Is my buddy Brett May still on there?
0:22:12 - (Laura Kelly): No, he rolled off.
0:22:14 - (Colin Johnson): Too bad.
0:22:15 - (Laura Kelly): But we've got some really strong members on the planning commission just with a good breadth of experience. And I appreciate the focus of the commission and really of the city as a whole right now is focusing on this Horizon 2045 plan. So it's a growth management plan, identifying parts of the city kind of nodes areas that are appropriate for certain types of development. So where do we really want to attract commercial development?
0:22:44 - (Laura Kelly): Where do we want to protect neighborhood integrity? Where do we want to be more curious and proactive about bringing in multifamily and quadplexes and building density versus where do we want to kind of protect the larger tracks and keep agricultural properties intact? The market's going to do what the market's going to do. But I think it means a lot for the city to actively plan for those things because it allows us to be more strategic when we're inviting people to build affordable housing, to build workforce housing, to build multi use facilities that can be coffee shop and apartments and retail and I mean all that matters.
0:23:24 - (Laura Kelly): So we're in the tail end of that plan and I believe the hope is to have it finalized this spring.
0:23:31 - (Colin Johnson): That's good. Yeah. And everybody asked me like what are they doing for infrastructure? And I said they're, we're. They're working on. Well, yeah, because we're getting a ton of development and you know, we got a lot of two little rain, two lane little roads around that were just country roads now the cities absorb the country, you know, and we're now, oh, there's two little less little two lane roads now.
0:23:51 - (Colin Johnson): Big artery in Johnson City and We're backed up and nobody's happy about it.
0:23:55 - (Laura Kelly): I think, I think we're going to have to wrestle with the traffic. For those of us who've been here for a little while and who have really felt this palpable shift with our population growth, some of this is our own perception and our own comfort with traffic so our roads can handle the amount of people that we've got. We just have to be okay with sitting through a red light when more than one cycle, that's hard.
0:24:21 - (Colin Johnson): What is the deal?
0:24:23 - (Laura Kelly): I know, and that's an unpopular opinion.
0:24:26 - (Colin Johnson): But that's just because you grew up near New York. So we're like, you know what, we need to get through these lights because we got places to go. Even though everybody says we move super slow, but we don't, we're super fast.
0:24:36 - (Laura Kelly): I hate to break it to you, this is not white knuckle driving around here. This is pretty. This is pretty good so far.
0:24:42 - (Colin Johnson): People with some knuckles showing them off occasionally. So yeah, okay.
0:24:47 - (Laura Kelly): But I think, you know, the city is, is really trying to be proactive with how do we prepare, how do we set ourselves up for success and how do we protect some of the parts of Johnson City that just have this beautiful culture that we don't want to see it get washed out.
0:25:01 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, I need to make sure I sit down with you guys for the housing authority because we want to grow. We're going to need to grow as our population grows. We still have a lot of folks that need affordable housing or subsidized housing. And so, yeah, we need to make sure we've got pockets built out for where can we grab up some land and put a development or three in the next 10 to 20 years?
0:25:20 - (Laura Kelly): Well, I'm excited about talking about mixed income housing and I hope that we can all be a part of that conversation together because there's so much research that shows that it's better for public health when we have mixed income. If we can get over this whole not on my backyard thing and remember the humans that just need a roof.
0:25:42 - (Colin Johnson): Right.
0:25:42 - (Laura Kelly): Then I think we're all going to be in a better position.
0:25:45 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, Yeah, I agree. 100 and looking at it too, because I know we talk about food deserts, right? Like certain areas that don't have a grocery store or convenience market close by to where folks can get things they need to eat. And so we need to make sure we're planning that. There's a lot to go into planning. So. Horizon Ton 2045 I'm excited to hear more about it and.
0:26:06 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:26:07 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, that's pretty cool.
0:26:08 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah. I'm learning a lot, that's for sure.
0:26:10 - (Colin Johnson): How long is the. The stint on the planning commission?
0:26:13 - (Laura Kelly): They're three year terms. You can do two in a row, then you got to roll off, so.
0:26:17 - (Colin Johnson): Okay. All right, well, that's enough about housing, probably. Let's jump. Jump ship a little bit. What do you and your significant other like to do for fun here in town?
0:26:33 - (Laura Kelly): We spend a lot of time outside.
0:26:35 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:26:36 - (Laura Kelly): So we definitely utilize our parks, whether it's downtown and Founders and King Commons or going over to Wingdeer.
0:26:43 - (Colin Johnson): Do you have dogs or you have dogs?
0:26:45 - (Laura Kelly): No, we don't. We have a cat. Our lives are a little too unpredictable for, like, the regularity of a dog schedule.
0:26:50 - (Colin Johnson): Dogs are. We have two of them. And Carly and I are frequently running home to feed dogs or she takes. Took them to the vet yesterday, and I felt bad, like she's had her hands full. So, yeah, dogs are a little bit more. So I like that. I get the cat thing.
0:27:04 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah. So we spend a lot of time in our parks. We attend a lot of the downtown events and festivals throughout the year. I think I've been so impressed with the way that that has grown, especially over the last 10 years.
0:27:17 - (Colin Johnson): Isn't it amazing?
0:27:18 - (Laura Kelly): It's incredible.
0:27:19 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:27:19 - (Laura Kelly): And I love how Meet the Mountains moved out to Wingdeer.
0:27:22 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, that's pretty cool.
0:27:23 - (Laura Kelly): It's such a good fit.
0:27:24 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. It was almost a. A perfect blessing with the whole Walnut street project kicking them out of. Yeah, it was kind of cool.
0:27:33 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah. So, yeah, we have the benefit of living in the tree streets.
0:27:36 - (Colin Johnson): Ah.
0:27:37 - (Laura Kelly): So we bought a house in 2019, November, just before everything changed.
0:27:42 - (Colin Johnson): Jesus, I don't think you did.
0:27:46 - (Laura Kelly): Yep.
0:27:47 - (Colin Johnson): All right, podcast over.
0:27:50 - (Laura Kelly): No, that's a funny story. I was on the porch of my best friend and now neighbor, and she was telling me that her neighbor at the time was getting ready to move. They were 75 and just accepted a pastoral position.
0:28:03 - (Colin Johnson): Nice.
0:28:03 - (Laura Kelly): So she pulled in a moment later in front of the house. I followed her to her front door, and I said, what you gonna do with the house? And a week later, we were under contract.
0:28:10 - (Colin Johnson): Look at that.
0:28:10 - (Laura Kelly): I know. Right place, right time.
0:28:12 - (Colin Johnson): That's right. The Lord had a plan for you.
0:28:14 - (Laura Kelly): That's it.
0:28:15 - (Colin Johnson): That's cool. So we walk a lot.
0:28:16 - (Laura Kelly): We walk a lot to downtown.
0:28:18 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:28:19 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:28:19 - (Colin Johnson): For our listeners who don't know what the Tree Streets district is, it's right between Etsu and downtown Johnson City, and it's named after trees like Maple Pine, locust, walnut, there's a bunch of them. And it's just an adorable little place with Southside elementary right in the middle. Carly and I took Christian and Cameron there for a while and just a special place. So yeah, you're in a good spot. It's a great neighborhood and oddly, well, you all were ahead of the curve for property values.
0:28:45 - (Colin Johnson): It was nuts there for a while. Like you'd like, oh well, this house over here and I'm going to just say in north or south, Johnson City is only like $100 a foot. You go over to you all and it was going to be like 150 or 175 a foot. And now everything's like 175 to 250 a foot. So it's crazy.
0:29:03 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:29:03 - (Colin Johnson): So good job. Now you're probably like 300 a foot over there. I don't look, I looked at numbers lately.
0:29:08 - (Laura Kelly): We got lucky with a double lot too. So that feels like an extra win gift. Yeah.
0:29:14 - (Colin Johnson): Probably need to give that lot to Habitat. I would think that's something to think about there. What was your first job you ever did?
0:29:22 - (Laura Kelly): My first job? What a good question. I was a bagger at a grocery store.
0:29:33 - (Colin Johnson): Nice.
0:29:33 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:29:35 - (Colin Johnson): That's cool. Were you one of those professional baggers? Did you go on tv, like on the contest, like throwing the eggs and the chicken and the weird objects that you got to get in there and bag it. Right.
0:29:45 - (Laura Kelly): You know, I listened to the training and I, I think I did a pretty good job. But it blows my mind even to this day how wasteful we are with bags and how little that we actually put in them. I would always really try to maximize each bag.
0:30:00 - (Colin Johnson): Well, and it was a paper bag we didn't even have. Well, maybe.
0:30:03 - (Laura Kelly): Well, we did back then, but. And so I'm old.
0:30:07 - (Colin Johnson): We didn't have plastic when I was kid going to the grocery store. Right.
0:30:11 - (Laura Kelly): And yeah, at this point I was in Connecticut with that job and now in Connecticut you've gotta pay for bags. You know, get em at checkout.
0:30:18 - (Colin Johnson): I was talking to a lady yesterday in Washington state and she said they have to pay faster.
0:30:22 - (Laura Kelly): I wish they would do that.
0:30:23 - (Colin Johnson): I agree. You'd use less bags. Yeah, for sure.
0:30:26 - (Laura Kelly): Or just take the Aldi approach.
0:30:28 - (Colin Johnson): Take the Aldi approach. Bring your own bags.
0:30:30 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:30:30 - (Colin Johnson): Or go back to paper.
0:30:32 - (Laura Kelly): Right.
0:30:32 - (Colin Johnson): I like paper bags.
0:30:33 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah, we always use paper.
0:30:34 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:30:35 - (Laura Kelly): So I was bagger. I was a hostess and a waitress for a long time.
0:30:39 - (Colin Johnson): That's cool.
0:30:40 - (Laura Kelly): Paid my way through college.
0:30:41 - (Colin Johnson): Where'd you go to school.
0:30:42 - (Laura Kelly): Went to UMass Amherst.
0:30:45 - (Colin Johnson): Fancy. Where did you get your degree?
0:30:48 - (Laura Kelly): My degree is in Social Thought and Political Economy with a minor in Spanish, which is really just another way to say poli sci. I studied a lot of political theory.
0:30:58 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:30:59 - (Laura Kelly): But what was neat about the time when I was in college studying political theory is when Occupy Wall street was happening. So we would go down and just watch and witness and kind of just talk through what does it mean to be an activist and what are all the political systems at play? And so it was a neat time, I think, to be studying that.
0:31:17 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. That is interesting.
0:31:19 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:31:19 - (Colin Johnson): And then how did you make your way to Johnson City? Was it straight from Amherst to here?
0:31:24 - (Laura Kelly): Two days later.
0:31:25 - (Colin Johnson): Wow.
0:31:25 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:31:26 - (Colin Johnson): You just knew you were coming here?
0:31:28 - (Laura Kelly): Yep. I was ready.
0:31:29 - (Colin Johnson): What was your first job here?
0:31:31 - (Laura Kelly): I came down to work full time for Appalachia Service project.
0:31:34 - (Colin Johnson): Nice.
0:31:34 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah. So I was kind of an ASP kid. I volunteered in my youth group as a kid.
0:31:39 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:31:39 - (Laura Kelly): And then throughout my summers at UMass, I came down and worked on summer staff in Appalachia and just totally fell in love with the area.
0:31:47 - (Colin Johnson): Now, did your church get you involved or your parents get you involved?
0:31:50 - (Laura Kelly): Both.
0:31:50 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:31:51 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah. My father volunteered and led a group. My sister and my brother both went. A lot of my friends went. So it was definitely a part of kind of my high school and church experience growing up.
0:32:03 - (Colin Johnson): That's super cool.
0:32:04 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah. So I thought I would move down here, be here for one or two or three years, go out west somewhere, just like live this big fat adventure. And then I just realized how important housing was to me and. And how passionate I was about it. And so really fell in love with working at asp And I met a boy. We fell in love.
0:32:26 - (Colin Johnson): So c'est la vie.
0:32:27 - (Laura Kelly): Here I am.
0:32:28 - (Colin Johnson): Those guys, they'll mess you up. They'll mess you up. I definitely messed up Carlin.
0:32:32 - (Laura Kelly): But when I moved here, you know, downtown was really just starting to get renovated.
0:32:36 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, right. You were.
0:32:38 - (Laura Kelly): You're right on the stone warehouses and concrete. And so it was just as Founders park.
0:32:43 - (Colin Johnson): Nothing after 5 o'clock going on down here.
0:32:46 - (Laura Kelly): Not a whole lot.
0:32:47 - (Colin Johnson): Yep.
0:32:47 - (Laura Kelly): I remember when Johnson City Brewing Company opened up 10 years ago. And we are lamp lighters number 58 and 59.
0:32:54 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, nice.
0:32:55 - (Laura Kelly): And it was like a big deal.
0:32:57 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:32:57 - (Laura Kelly): Big stuff happening.
0:32:59 - (Colin Johnson): It is. We had a brewery on the corner.
0:33:00 - (Laura Kelly): Yep.
0:33:01 - (Colin Johnson): The whole place is going to hell in a handbasket is what. Either that or we were. We were turning the corner. We're going to be a big time.
0:33:06 - (Laura Kelly): System you know, I was so young and I was so poor and I was babysitting for the Lathams, the owners of Johnson City Brewing. I was babysitting for their baby girls and they would pay me in growlers of beer. And it just.
0:33:18 - (Colin Johnson): Awesome.
0:33:19 - (Laura Kelly): I just have such fond memories really of first moving to Johnson City and it's just been really neat to watch. I kind of feel like I've been living and a part of this development.
0:33:28 - (Colin Johnson): That's super cool. Yeah, I think we've been blessed to be able to be right in the middle of the growth, you know, and there are a lot of people are like, we don't like the growth because of the traffic or the people and blah, blah, blah, blah. But I think we're doing great. I think the growth is good. We're getting a lot of great people moving here and a lot of synergy of ideas. And so I'm hoping a lot of the people who are listening and moving here want to jump in, help out, be a part of the community, not just kind of sit back and just, you know, be consumers of it all. I think we work well because we, we all volunteer and give.
0:34:02 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:34:03 - (Colin Johnson): Love our area and just love helping each other.
0:34:05 - (Laura Kelly): So there's a lot of good people, a lot of good people and a lot of good things happen.
0:34:09 - (Colin Johnson): I feel like the Lord's calling a lot of people here who don't know him, whether they know it or not, to get to know him and to serve others and to. Yeah, I think that's a big part of the problem. A lot of people are just takers and they're looking at themselves and just, you know, they're sad because they're not giving their lives away. I think we truly find joy when we give our lives away.
0:34:30 - (Laura Kelly): Absolutely.
0:34:31 - (Colin Johnson): Just like Jesus did. So let's talk about. So AFP is doing really well. Right. And it's a faith based company. And then you guys. Faith based. Right. Are there any other kind of bigger faith based building like corporationy organizations out there that are, that are doing well? Because I think there's a reason that you guys are doing so well and helping so many people. You know, it's just kind of cool how the Lord works it all out?
0:34:58 - (Laura Kelly): Well, I think both of our models invite participation and when a community member feels like they have an interest and the ability to really be a part of the solution.
0:35:13 - (Colin Johnson): Sure.
0:35:14 - (Laura Kelly): I mean, volunteering is so personally satisfying. It makes all of us feel good.
0:35:18 - (Colin Johnson): It does. You feel great.
0:35:19 - (Laura Kelly): And then if you choose to donate, then you get to see this family that you're helping, you get to help build their house and then you help fund their house. So then you think, I gave a kid a bedroom and that is so tangible.
0:35:31 - (Colin Johnson): Oh my God.
0:35:32 - (Laura Kelly): So I think the model, I mean, it just lends itself, I think, to being successful because it's all about storytelling. And if we can just tell the story of who we're impacting and why are we doing this work, it's because everybody is a child of God and everybody gets a chance at having a safe place to live. That's it.
0:35:50 - (Colin Johnson): I mean, yeah, if you don't have a safe place to put your head down and you're. It's just so stressful. I'm sure I've been so blessed all my life not to go to sleep like a baby because I don't worry about, you know, the threats out there. You know, maybe some, but not too much. I don't think it's. Our area is super safe and luckily I had a great home and I feel that's part of the reason I feel so passionate about providing good housing and safe housing for poor people.
0:36:16 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah, we've got, I think, a really strong area in terms of our churches living out their faith too. I think that's, that's part of the success of a faith based organization here is that you've really got some churches walking the walk and willing to spend the time and spend the money to make a. Make change.
0:36:39 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, that's pretty cool.
0:36:41 - (Laura Kelly): So thankful for that.
0:36:42 - (Colin Johnson): Amen. We'll just pray more churches keep coming and getting going and that's it. More and more funding. Who are some people who've been super influential to you on your, in your journey so far? Do you want to give a little shout out to.
0:37:01 - (Laura Kelly): In my journey, you think with Habitat.
0:37:04 - (Colin Johnson): In your career, The Laura Kelly saga.
0:37:07 - (Laura Kelly): The Laura Kelly saga. You know, I'll say some coworkers of mine at ASP really influenced me. Both of my former bosses, Melissa Miller, who's now the CEO at asp, I just thought she was a really fantastic leader and she was a good friend. And she and Walter Crouch, they really, they were good to work for because they were human. And they also pushed you pretty hard and showed me grace when I needed it. So thankful for their leadership and the way that it shaped me as a leader.
0:37:47 - (Colin Johnson): Well, that's what I was going to say. I mean, like, you're running a pretty big organization and where did you get those leadership skills? So that, that answered that osmosis.
0:37:55 - (Laura Kelly): I think a lot of it.
0:37:57 - (Colin Johnson): Caught. More caught than taught. Yeah.
0:38:01 - (Laura Kelly): I'm thankful for family, even though they're long distance. I mean, I've got wonderful father, sister, brother, but especially my sister and dad have been super supportive. I've got a great partner, Brad, who's always been super supportive of my work in terms of maybe inspiring my career trajectory. I mean, stepping into Habitat, there are so many resources and so many people that kind of opened my eyes being a part of a greater global network, a network working in 70 countries and tackling housing in so many different forms. It just has meant that over the last four years of my time with Habitat, I've been exposed to really brilliant people across the country doing super innovative work.
0:38:48 - (Laura Kelly): And so some of the staff, full time staff at Habitat International, who've really invited me to participate in a deeper way to get more curious about advocacy and policy and like, how do you really create change in meaningful ways? It's grassroots and it's tough, but man, you can really go places.
0:39:07 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:39:08 - (Laura Kelly): So some, some other leaders across Tennessee, friends Tony Gibbons and Kelly Schultz and some others are just good friends, great mentors, and really killer at their jobs.
0:39:20 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. Where do you see yourself in five years from now?
0:39:26 - (Laura Kelly): Mm. Well, by then we will have finished our neighborhood here in Johnson City.
0:39:34 - (Colin Johnson): We've been at 500 homes by then.
0:39:36 - (Laura Kelly): Hopefully we will be starting some multifamily development by that point. So we've purchased a property with the intent of doing quads or triplexes on that lot.
0:39:51 - (Colin Johnson): And, you know, will there be condoed out or are you going to lease them out or how are you going to do that?
0:39:54 - (Laura Kelly): Condos.
0:39:55 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:39:55 - (Laura Kelly): Yep.
0:39:56 - (Colin Johnson): Nice.
0:39:58 - (Laura Kelly): And I'm, I've learned especially over the last year and a half or so, I'm. I'm really interested in planning, I'm interested in policy and advocacy. So I'm just trying to pay attention to that curiosity because I think in East Tennessee right now, we've just. We're kind of on the precipice, you know, with our, with our growth and people being so attracted in our area and investing. What do we want this region to look like?
0:40:25 - (Colin Johnson): Right. What do we want known by. Yeah.
0:40:27 - (Laura Kelly): And we have this opportunity to shape it right now, to protect it, to shape it, to prepare. So I don't know where that will take me, but I'm paying a lot of attention right now to national trends and trying to figure out what can I bring to the table. And so we'll see what God has in store.
0:40:44 - (Colin Johnson): That's cool.
0:40:45 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:40:45 - (Colin Johnson): I love it. Yeah. You're allowing the Lord to lead you in that. And what kind of advice would you give to someone who's maybe thinking about pursuing a career, such as getting into Habitat for Humanity?
0:41:01 - (Laura Kelly): So I think. Oh, man. Part of the beauty of working in nonprofit is you really get to see the impact of your work. So if you've got a heart for a cause, go for it. Listen to that whisper in your heart and follow it. And I would say nonprofit, it's a lot of grassroots work, and I think it's a lot like being an entrepreneur where you've got a lot of your mind all the time, kind of thinking through and problem solving and working on something.
0:41:42 - (Laura Kelly): So I would say for. For somebody, you know, be open to opportunities. Say yes, as much as you can.
0:41:48 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:41:48 - (Laura Kelly): And meet as many people as you can.
0:41:51 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. And go volunteer, get alongside. Build some houses, you know, travel. Go see some different operations. Probably would be a good. And I 70 countries. I'm just blown away by that.
0:42:02 - (Laura Kelly): I know.
0:42:02 - (Colin Johnson): That's awesome.
0:42:03 - (Laura Kelly): It's amazing. And I think, you know, the networking piece is so critical because you never know who's going to feel really passionate about the cause that you're passionate about.
0:42:13 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:42:14 - (Laura Kelly): So in my case, with Habitat or with ASP or any other housing nonprofit, somebody in your life knows somebody who's been housing insecure.
0:42:24 - (Colin Johnson): Right.
0:42:24 - (Laura Kelly): Who was evicted, who had too many kids sleeping in a bedroom because they couldn't afford something bigger, who had a grandparent raising a grandkid. You know, somebody's been impacted by their housing situation. So if you're talking about food insecurity, talk about it, because somebody has gone hungry one time or somebody struggled to read and really needed that mentor. So, I mean, I feel really fortunate to be in the role that I'm in and to have had the journey that I've had.
0:42:52 - (Laura Kelly): And a lot of it has to do with just putting myself out there and meeting people and talking about it and just. I'm always trying to surround myself with people who are smarter than me.
0:43:02 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:43:03 - (Laura Kelly): If I'm doing my job well, it's because I am not the smartest one in the room.
0:43:07 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, agreed. Agreed. It's always good to just.
0:43:10 - (Laura Kelly): Which is why I joined a city board when I was 22 and so green. I don't think they read the application. I don't think that they looked at my birth date when they said, yep, Laura should be on this committee.
0:43:23 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:43:24 - (Laura Kelly): Because I was so green. But I was so eager to learn.
0:43:27 - (Colin Johnson): Hey. I didn't know for the first year or two, I didn't know. I still. I'm still like, cdbg. What? You know, and Toto and. Yeah, like, we're still figuring it out.
0:43:36 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:43:36 - (Colin Johnson): So it's fine. It'll be good. But jump on a board. Get involved.
0:43:40 - (Laura Kelly): Get out there.
0:43:41 - (Colin Johnson): Get out there.
0:43:42 - (Laura Kelly): Talk to people.
0:43:42 - (Colin Johnson): Get your hands dirty. All right. What have I not asked you? You're like, oh, I wish I could have shared this. Anything we didn't cover, we.
0:43:55 - (Laura Kelly): Well, I think 2025. Isn't it hard to believe that it's 2025? Yeah, I feel like it was just. Y.
0:44:01 - (Colin Johnson): Just did goal planning for next year and yeah, it's. It's pretty exciting.
0:44:05 - (Laura Kelly): I think it's going to be a really good year.
0:44:07 - (Colin Johnson): I'm excited. Like, there are a million 1.6 million homeowners that didn't buy. So typically there's like 5 million and change transactions across the country. And this past year was like 3.4. So, like, there are one and a half million people that haven't moved yet because they're waiting on interest rates to go down. They're holding on their house. They're afraid to do this or that. So I'm hoping that loosens up this year. And I don't want 1.5 million people to move here, but I'm excited for who is going to come because we're just continuing to grow and so. And we're growing our little team and getting bigger and helping more people. It's just so much fun. And I'm excited about the housing authority next year. We got a lot going on, so.
0:44:50 - (Laura Kelly): We got some big plans.
0:44:51 - (Colin Johnson): We got big plans. So I'm excited to collaborate with you guys in the city and really. And AFP and like, let's just, I think, work really good together on building some great affordable housing.
0:45:01 - (Laura Kelly): Yep.
0:45:02 - (Colin Johnson): Going to be exciting.
0:45:03 - (Laura Kelly): Think we got the right people in the right place at the right time.
0:45:05 - (Colin Johnson): And the right resources. All right, speed round. You and Brad going to get a pizza. Where are you going?
0:45:12 - (Laura Kelly): Oh, I would have said Main Street. Oh, so sad.
0:45:18 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:45:19 - (Laura Kelly): I know. Okay, so if it's not Main street, then it's Smoky Mountain Bakery up in Roan Mountain.
0:45:23 - (Colin Johnson): That is a good spot.
0:45:24 - (Laura Kelly): It is killer pizza.
0:45:26 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:45:26 - (Laura Kelly): And if it's Johnson City, it's IPP Italian Pizza Pub.
0:45:29 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, we need to go there. Carly. I.
0:45:32 - (Laura Kelly): It's the closest thing to New York style pizza in Johnson City.
0:45:35 - (Colin Johnson): I need to tell my buddy Jared Yanis, because he's from Boston. Boston. And he's Always like he and his wife. Ah.
0:45:42 - (Laura Kelly): And Scratch just reopened, too, so that's another good one. Another good love scratch.
0:45:46 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:45:46 - (Laura Kelly): Love a trust pizza.
0:45:47 - (Colin Johnson): Yep. You just trust them and they make your pizza for you. And it's interesting sometimes, but it's still good.
0:45:54 - (Laura Kelly): So good.
0:45:54 - (Colin Johnson): Just got to be brave. All right. Where are you guys going to go to get a hamburger?
0:46:00 - (Laura Kelly): Timber.
0:46:00 - (Colin Johnson): Timber. Timber Burger. We just had Nathan on here the other day, and I didn't realize he's no longer part of Timber.
0:46:07 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah, he's starting something new and exciting.
0:46:09 - (Colin Johnson): I know. Right beside it. So he's going to kind of be close.
0:46:11 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:46:12 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:46:12 - (Laura Kelly): Timber burger, so good. Chicken sandwich, also super good.
0:46:18 - (Colin Johnson): Ooh. Okay, well, this may answer this question. What's your favorite restaurant to hit for a. For, like, date night?
0:46:25 - (Laura Kelly): Hmm. We love Timber. We love Juniper.
0:46:32 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:46:33 - (Laura Kelly): I love a Gourmet & Co. Lunch.
0:46:36 - (Colin Johnson): We go there every Friday. It's our standing date.
0:46:39 - (Laura Kelly): Yep. And I love Red Miz.
0:46:41 - (Colin Johnson): Yes.
0:46:42 - (Laura Kelly): We go there quite a bit. Love the owners.
0:46:44 - (Colin Johnson): Have you had their burger?
0:46:46 - (Laura Kelly): Actually, no.
0:46:47 - (Colin Johnson): So it's a burger patty on top, and then on top is the gyro. Gyro. However you say that meat spiraled like lamb meat on top with some feta cheese and this red sauce that they make. And the thing just, like, falls apart in your hand. But it's so good.
0:47:02 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah. Red Miz. Really good. Kind of Mediterranean Turkish food.
0:47:07 - (Colin Johnson): Hummus is fantastic. Oh, it's good.
0:47:09 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:47:10 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:47:10 - (Laura Kelly): Those are our spot.
0:47:11 - (Colin Johnson): What's your favorite brewery in town?
0:47:15 - (Laura Kelly): I'll always feel just a real heart connection to Johnson City Brewing because I just love those guys and I love the creativity.
0:47:22 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:47:23 - (Laura Kelly): I will say I've been impressed, really, with how Yeehaw has really developed some good beer over the last couple years.
0:47:32 - (Colin Johnson): I've enjoyed their beer ever since they opened. I think it's been great.
0:47:35 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:47:36 - (Colin Johnson): But, yeah, they are getting some. Some new stuff that's getting interesting for sure.
0:47:39 - (Laura Kelly): I think JCBC will always have a little piece of my heart, though.
0:47:42 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. Yeah. We got burgers. Oh. Like ice cream dessert. Where are you gonna go for ice cream? Or slash dessert? And you got a sweet tooth, people.
0:47:53 - (Laura Kelly): We do have a sweet tooth. We don't go out for dessert much. But you know, what we did the other night, you know, we're in the Tree street, so we're really close to the Carnegie.
0:48:05 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:48:05 - (Laura Kelly): We went over to Wellington's.
0:48:06 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:48:07 - (Laura Kelly): We got a dessert and a drink and a deck of cards, and we hung out in their kind of living room area between the fireplace.
0:48:14 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:48:15 - (Laura Kelly): Oh, my gosh. It's so fun and swanky. Yeah. I love that place. So that was fun. I really enjoyed that.
0:48:22 - (Colin Johnson): That's a great one. That's a great tip for our listeners. They make. They have a bourbon selection that's out of this world.
0:48:27 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:48:27 - (Colin Johnson): It's probably the best. One of the best. I mean, there's some good ones too. Like, label has an unbelievable bourbon selection. So. Right in there. But anyway, they make a mean old fashioned at the Wellington.
0:48:37 - (Laura Kelly): Yes.
0:48:37 - (Colin Johnson): It's so good.
0:48:38 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:48:39 - (Colin Johnson): So good. Okay, well, what is your favorite holiday? Sl. Christmas tradition?
0:48:45 - (Laura Kelly): H. Favorite Christmas tradition. We play a lot of games.
0:48:54 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:48:55 - (Laura Kelly): We don't have a ton of traditions around Christmas. I mean, we would always watch the cartoon version of the Grinch.
0:49:01 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:49:02 - (Laura Kelly): Get up and do stockings. We do a family run. Always run a 5k together.
0:49:08 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:49:09 - (Laura Kelly): Play games. I would say we have actually more traditions around Thanksgiving.
0:49:12 - (Colin Johnson): Yep.
0:49:13 - (Laura Kelly): Which we would eat as a big family. Whatever. 25, 30 people. Supper was at 6:00. You'd go kind of comatose. Everybody disappears for like an hour or two. You start getting back together, start drinking a little red wine, getting a little energized. Then we would all go out. This is an outside of Albany, New York. So we would go to a total dive bar called My Place.
0:49:35 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:49:36 - (Laura Kelly): At like 10:30 or 11 that night and get pitchers and wings and shut that place down. And shut her down.
0:49:41 - (Colin Johnson): That's awesome.
0:49:42 - (Laura Kelly): No, it doesn't make any sense to have chicken wings at midnight after Thanksgiving. But it's just what we did.
0:49:49 - (Colin Johnson): Chicken wings are fantastic. I can eat them anytime.
0:49:51 - (Laura Kelly): I think at a place called My Place.
0:49:53 - (Colin Johnson): I mean, come on, it's gotta be good.
0:49:54 - (Laura Kelly): It's like Cheers.
0:49:55 - (Colin Johnson): Everybody knows you go. Yeah, you gotta. You gotta go. How can our listeners connect with you online and donate millions of dollars to Habitat for Me?
0:50:05 - (Laura Kelly): I only accept Ben Franklin's.
0:50:06 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:50:07 - (Laura Kelly): No, just kidding.
0:50:07 - (Colin Johnson): Benjamin's.
0:50:09 - (Laura Kelly): You can visit our website, which is Holsten. Habitat.org shows all of our programs and then an easy donate button on the top right hand corner.
0:50:17 - (Colin Johnson): Perfect.
0:50:18 - (Laura Kelly): Easy ways to volunteer. You can see what we've got going on every day of the week.
0:50:22 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:50:22 - (Laura Kelly): And then we've got social media, you know, Facebook, Instagram. I think we're getting TikTok. So am I hip now? Or.
0:50:29 - (Colin Johnson): Or you're just.
0:50:29 - (Laura Kelly): Maybe I'm like way beyond the curve.
0:50:31 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. Because I think they're going to cancel it. I think so. America, shut that down.
0:50:35 - (Laura Kelly): Yep.
0:50:36 - (Colin Johnson): All right, what's the, the last question? What gets you fired? Up.
0:50:40 - (Laura Kelly): Fired up. Friday.
0:50:41 - (Colin Johnson): Let's go. Fired up Friday time. But it's Tuesday. But this comes out on Friday, so.
0:50:46 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah, I'm really competitive.
0:50:49 - (Colin Johnson): Oh, I like this. Me too.
0:50:52 - (Laura Kelly): So anytime I can get. I'll tell you what gets me fired up.
0:50:56 - (Colin Johnson): Here we go.
0:50:56 - (Laura Kelly): This is such a specific thing. Once a year at a friend's house, they've got a slip and slide party. I didn't know that it was my calling, really, to do slip and slides and do it well.
0:51:09 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:51:10 - (Laura Kelly): That gets me fired up. Okay. That's personally and just fun.
0:51:13 - (Colin Johnson): That's awesome. Now, is it like one of these, like, they got big sheets of plastic and they're coming down a huge hill and you're really. Okay. And how do you compete in a slip and slide? I don't understand.
0:51:23 - (Laura Kelly): Just speed. It's like a relay.
0:51:25 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:51:25 - (Laura Kelly): You got a team and you're.
0:51:26 - (Colin Johnson): So you're running them out. Okay.
0:51:28 - (Laura Kelly): Yeah.
0:51:29 - (Colin Johnson): Okay, Interesting.
0:51:30 - (Laura Kelly): So that's super random. But generally speaking, what gets me fired up? I mean, I love the work that I do. I love community building. Teamwork.
0:51:39 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:51:39 - (Laura Kelly): Setting a goal and hitting it.
0:51:42 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah.
0:51:43 - (Laura Kelly): I'm an enneagram3.
0:51:45 - (Colin Johnson): Okay.
0:51:45 - (Laura Kelly): So for anybody who pays attention to Enneagram, like, I'm pretty action oriented. I'm trying to get some stuff done.
0:51:52 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah. I think I'm a 3:2. I like getting it done. I like getting it done. Okay. Well, thank you for being on the podcast. Thanks for coming. Just messing with you early on. I am super excited you're here. I'm super excited. We're friends. I'm looking forward to collaborating with you in 2025 and beyond. Thank you for all you're doing for our city and our folks who can't afford housing. It's just awesome. So you're.
0:52:14 - (Laura Kelly): Thanks for having me here.
0:52:15 - (Colin Johnson): You're a great, great community partner. And we're just super excited. Thank you.
0:52:20 - (Laura Kelly): Well, you are, too. Thanks for all that you do to raise awareness to all these cool organizations and neat people doing important things. So I appreciate you.
0:52:28 - (Colin Johnson): Happy to do it. Love it. Love getting to connect with people and I love sharing all the stories that you guys have with our listeners. And so it's fun. And, yeah, I'm excited that we actually keep the podcast going. And Mitch is excited, too, because he's back there producing it.
0:52:41 - (Laura Kelly): And thanks, Mitch.
0:52:43 - (Colin Johnson): Hopefully in 2025, we get some shoe. Super big contract, like Joe Rogan or something. I don't know. We'd have to have commercials, though, so I don't know.
0:52:50 - (Laura Kelly): Mitch, you're manifesting it. Big things happening.
0:52:53 - (Colin Johnson): It's going to go. It's going to blow up.
0:52:54 - (Laura Kelly): City living, they're going to be huge.
0:52:56 - (Colin Johnson): Yeah, huge. Huge. It's going to be huge. Maybe have Kingsport and Bristol Living coming online. We'll see. It's going to be massive.
0:53:02 - (Laura Kelly): It's going to be big time.
0:53:03 - (Colin Johnson): Big time. Yeah. Yeah. I need. Yeah. Well, until next time, I'm Colin Johnson with the Colin and Crowley Group. If you want to move here and be Laura and Brad's best new neighbor, I'd love to help you do that. If you want to invest in real estate, we handle a ton of property management. We handle a lot of HOAs. So anytime you set these hoas up that you don't like, give them to us. We'll manage them for you.
0:53:25 - (Colin Johnson): And yeah, we just love helping people build wealth through real estate. And we love people, we love connecting with them, we love giving them big hugs. So just come, just come get a hug if you want and have a great day and a merry Christmas.