Transcript (Unedited)
Tom Heath
We have a live audience today.
Blair Lometti
I love it.
Tom Heath
We started this podcast of Housing for Good, because I've been in the mortgage business for 25 years, and I keep running into these real estate agents that have just exploded and transcended real estate and are just doing great things in our community.
Blair Lometti
I love it.
Tom Heath
And so I talked to Lisa, and she says, are we gonna start interviewing them? I'm like, well, who should we have on the show? And I was like, you gotta talk to Blair. I was like, Blair won't come on my show. She has her own show. Are you kidding? I love it.
Blair Lometti
I love everything you do. I love being around people who really care about the community first, and you have always done that. I remember the first time I saw you, you spoke at a Women's Council meeting and were talking about everything that was developing here and coming here. And I just -
Blair Lometti
Oh,
Blair Lometti
you were at that meeting. I was. It was so interesting to me to realize how important it is to know what your community's future is.
Tom Heath
Yeah. Well, that's why we started that project, was there was so much happening, and we weren't talking about it. We're talking about the here and now.
Blair Lometti
Yeah.
Tom Heath
And two or three years from now, that's gonna be completely different. And even, I mean, that was four or five years ago. Yeah. And two or three years from now it's gonna be completely different.
Blair Lometti
I mean, look how quick and how much we're growing. It's insane. And you were actually the first person that I learned about Caterpillar coming here. Yeah. That's me. Yeah.
Tom Heath
Breaking news. Breaking news. Breaking news. So how long have you been in real estate altogether?
Blair Lometti
So going, this will be going on to my fourth year. Oh my
Blair Lometti
gosh.
Blair Lometti
So I'm a solid three years.
Blair Lometti
Made rookie of the year right off the bat.
Blair Lometti
I did, I did do the, now it's rising star. Yeah. So usually when I have like a goal in mind, I'll just focus on it so much.
Tom Heath
I don't see that. No? I don't see that. I see you just being all over the place. Not really motivated or driven or anything like that. Just whatever happens, happens.
Blair Lometti
Yeah. Sometimes.
Tom Heath
What did you do before real estate?
Blair Lometti
Full -time mom. So, I mean, I dabbled. I never stood still. So I mean, I dabbled into, you know, workman's comp, payroll, ran a company for my dad. And I've always been a, couldn't sit still. Yeah. So, and then I was also a morning radio host before kids. You were, oh. I was. In Tucson? In San Luis Obispo. Really? 96 .1. It's a funny story. Give me your morning spiel. Oh gosh. Welcome to 96 .1. It was welcome to 96 .1. With a funny, okay, this is the funny story. I was cocktailing in Mr. Rick's in San Luis Obispo. I don't know if you've ever been there, but it's this little, you bar on a beach town. I'm going now. Yeah, it's so fun. And a little mermaid and martini. And I was sitting there and I was, you know, I asked this guy what his order was. And he like stopped me and looks at me. And he's like, I really like your voice. I'm just thinking, weirdo, you know, okay, whenever, maybe he'll give me a good tip. And he goes, give me a commercial in 30 seconds. And I'm just looking at this
Blair Lometti
guy thinking, what? Okay. So I think we had martinis two for two special. And so I'm like looking at this guy and I'm like, okay, welcome to Monday nights. You get two for two, you know, martinis and blah, blah, blah. I just did this whole commercial. And he looks at me, slips me this card and goes, I'm the president of clear channel. And we're looking, yeah, we're looking for a female voice to come on to the Eminem show. Be here tomorrow at eight 30. And I'm just going, me. Okay.
Tom Heath
How old are you at this time?
Blair Lometti
I was 21.
Tom Heath
Oh my gosh.
Blair Lometti
Yeah. So then I come on the show in the morning and they're doing all these like weird prank call things. And you know, everything's, you know, over the air. And I was like, okay. And they just pushed me. Yeah. They pushed me right in. And I was all of a sudden this host with these two guys. And then the next week, one of the main guys got this opportunity to be in Louisiana. And so all of a sudden then I was the main host. So after a week of radio experience, I was the female voice. So how long did you do that then? I did it for, gosh, I did it for about two years. Once. Yeah.
Tom Heath
So he did have a good tip for you. Come, come, come work for the radio.
Blair Lometti
He did. I mean, little did I know I was an intern. So the first year it wasn't.
Tom Heath
Oh, there's the cash there.
Blair Lometti
But then I started doing commercials and that's where I started getting money from. That was to selling airtime.
Tom Heath
Okay.
Blair Lometti
So sales have, has always been in my blood.
Tom Heath
So then quickly, how did you get from there to Tucson? Like, what's that story?
Blair Lometti
My husband. What are those husbands? They're always. Robbie. Yeah, yeah, Robbie. So we, my husband and I have known each other since preschool, which is crazy. We did not date. We did not, you know, like even really like each other. It was more of that. Our families all knew each other and they would always bring our names up to each other. So after college, when I was doing the radio thing, I was living my whole, you know, fun life. And my dad would look at me and said, okay, it's time for you to grow up. You need to move home and get a real job. And I'm like, I have five jobs.
Tom Heath
I was. And four interns and a waitress.
Blair Lometti
Exactly, I was a waitress. I was a dog groomer. I was on the morning show. I mean, bartending. I have always been just someone who works. Don't like to really be told no and I don't want to depend on anybody. So I was working from like 4 a .m. to 2 a .m. So I would literally only sleep between these jobs. It was a lot. So when I moved home, I walked into this produce company and I see my husband, not husband, but my soon -to -be husband sitting there and he was gonna be my interviewee and, or interviewer. And I'm like, oh, I got this in the bag. I got this in the bag. So I started working for his produce company and kind of just was like, yep, I think I'm gonna marry this guy and did. And then he moved me to Nogales. So I went from California to Nogales and Rio Rico. We lived in Rio Rico and I was just in shock because I didn't know where I was. And I always try to make everything. Why am I here? What is it that I'm supposed to be doing? Not only do I want to support my husband and be a
Blair Lometti
good wife, but I knew there was something more for me too. So I would just go out and kind of meet everybody, even though I didn't know Spanish very well, I tried. And just started realizing I love the community. And then after that, we moved to, kind of kept getting closer, Quebec, then Sao Rita and -
Tom Heath
Did you learn Spanish?
Blair Lometti
I took four years of Spanish so I can understand it, but I mean, I'm not even going to attempt to really speak it.
Tom Heath
Understood, yeah. People ask after living in Arizona for so long, do you speak Spanish? I'm like, you know what, I should. Yeah. I should. Like every year I'm thinking, oh, I should learn how to speak Spanish. But now it's been like 30 years, I'm like, I don't think I'm going to learn to speak Spanish.
Blair Lometti
I know, I even do the app too, that just every day we're kind of learning new words.
Tom Heath
Oh, I should probably even start that.
Blair Lometti
It's just kind of fun just to try to be able to pick up, especially being here and having so many clients that are Spanish speaking. So I just think it's important to make sure that you are just an easy access, availability for people of every difference.
Tom Heath
So you get into real estate and you struggle for a while because you're really shy, introverted, you don't like to talk to people. And you don't set goals, you're not motivated. So you struggle and then somehow eke out rising star award for your first year and go on to just tremendous sales.
Blair Lometti
Oh, thank you.
Tom Heath
From a real estate perspective, I mean, there's no doubt. I mean, you've just been four years, that's really impressive.
Blair Lometti
Technically, August is my third solid year. So I'll be going into my fourth year, but I've -
Blair Lometti
But you started in a COVID year.
Blair Lometti
I did. I started and got my licensed full, like right before COVID happened. And during COVID, David, my best friend and I were like six weeks, take this test, let's go. There was never a doubt in my mind that this wasn't going to be a good career. If I could just figure out how to pass the test.
Tom Heath
And that was - Details.
Blair Lometti
It was, that was just this little detail that I had to struggle with.
Tom Heath
Well, apparently you did.
Blair Lometti
Yeah.
Tom Heath
But then when I first met you, it had nothing to do with real estate. It was about like, immediately you start generating money and it's not even, like it takes a lot of real estate agents years to sort of start thinking about, well, how do I give back? But it was almost instant for you. Like you got some money, like I've got to give back. And you started doing this annual event and making, tell us.
Blair Lometti
So real estate wasn't necessarily about how am I going to make income or anything like that? I'm really blessed and fortunate that my husband does well and takes care of us. So before I got this, you know, real estate license, I had, I started this kind of mom group of, hey, let's get together, let's lunch, let's get, you know, let's find a common cause and raise money for it. Well, when COVID happened, you know, all the events got shut down. So I was trying to find a way of a career that I would love that would immediately help me give back. So it really wasn't like going into real estate to have this great career and -
Tom Heath
Screwed up.
Blair Lometti
Yeah. Now you have a great career. Yeah, I mean, you know, it was going into it with the intention of how to help. Not only help people, you know, buy and sell and guide them through the real estate process, which I love, but giving back to this community, making sure it goes to somewhere that's in need for locals. And that was my biggest passion. And it kind of just started developing from there. And, you know, just every time someone, you know, buys and sells 10 % of my commission, I say 10 % of my commission, but it's always ends up being whatever God tells me to give them. But yeah, and then we had our happy mommy hour, which is my nonprofit. And we did a huge event for actually -
Tom Heath
You started the nonprofits. This is your nonprofit. Yes.
Blair Lometti
So everything is tied together. So you've got my happy mommy hour, which is my nonprofit. And then I call myself the happy mommy realtor. It's kind of goes in hand in hand. And so, yeah, I started the nonprofit and I do get people who reach out to me quite a bit, whether they're, you know, they've lost their wife, the mother of their children to, you know, cancer, and just struggling on how to pay their bills. I've had people reach out to me about a child who's lost and, you know, funeral expenses, a lot of medical bills, maybe just some things as groceries or Christmas gifts, but it was just trying to come up with the resources to help these people. And you need financial ability to be able to help everybody. Can't just, you know, pray and hope good dreams. You've got to have action. So yeah, they definitely tied hand in hand, but I did find out last year, a good friend of mine, and she's also an amazing real estate agent. And she just got hit with a, you know, just a huge medical issue.
Blair Lometti
She ended up having a tumor that was wrapped around her IBC cord. It was just awful. I mean, to the point where she had, before her surgery had to say goodbye to her kids because she didn't know if she was going to wake up. And we decided to do this great Christmas event for her. It was called this, you know, Miracle at the Mercado. And we raised $25 ,000 on a Thursday night in December, right before Christmas. That's just what we have here. People here love our community and they love to give. It's something I see constantly.
Tom Heath
They do, but it also takes someone with energy and a drive to coalesce that. So we have a great community, don't get me wrong, but without someone's leadership or stewardship, that those things don't happen. So that's tremendous.
Blair Lometti
Thank you. I appreciate that.
Tom Heath
Well, we appreciate that you do this in the community, but then you have this group, you help individuals, you help moms, families, everything else. Then you say, you know what? Now I'm going to help the nonprofits that are helping all these people. So we can't not talk about Blair It Out.
Blair Lometti
Oh, okay, Blair It Out. I actually came up with the name Blair It Out. It's so funny. It's in my memories, 20, I was, oh gosh, I'm aging myself, 20 years ago. And, or I'd say 18 years ago, and kind of in my radio days. And I said something like on my page, get ready, something's coming, and then I have Blair It Out. I did not know what it was going to be. Think 18 years later, ooh, let's do a podcast. And I totally conned my best friend into doing it. He was supposed to be a guest host. And I told him, hey.
Tom Heath
Did you tell him, I really like your voice. Give me a commercial in 30 seconds. I did. Show up here at 8 .30, and you're an intern.
Blair Lometti
And you're an intern, because you don't get paid. Yeah, I totally did. I conned him in, and David is the opposite of me. More reserved, a little more shy. I mean, you won't really know it after you talk to him for 20 minutes. But he is a lot more of my, or the same, but very opposite. And so we were there, we just clicked. And we both kind of looked at each other and thought, yeah, this is going somewhere. And then we started getting one nonprofit, local nonprofit after the other. And what the stories that they're telling. And especially in the world we live in right now, where there is so much uncertainty, and we're in the real estate business. A lot of people are struggling. How do I afford these things? There's just so many questions out there. And I wanted to be the source of the source. Kind of like in real estate, right? You want to be the source of the source. And what a better way to get the nonprofits on and tell their story. Because you may know of, hey, my passion is helping
Blair Lometti
animals. Or my passion is helping children in need. Like, you name a passion, we have it. But sometimes you don't know where that source is. You don't know what they actually do, or why they decided to start what they started. So to get these amazing humans, in the chair, and tell you the beginnings of the why, or the struggle they went through, to see the triumph of where they're at now. It's just, it's inspiring.
Tom Heath
It's inspiring. Like goosebumps. When people, when someone's willing to share their story with you. Because I've had that podcast done for a while, in that someone takes their time to come in, they share their story, and they're candid and honest, and just, it's like, it's hard to explain. It's like an adrenaline rush, that you get to be the one that they tell it to.
Blair Lometti
Oh yeah, and it's a privilege, that you are, they feel safe around you. And that you're not gonna take their story, and try to capitalize on it, or make it in a negative way.
Tom Heath
Right, it's their story.
Blair Lometti
It's their story, and we're very good at, we always ask, hey, is there anything off the table? Sometimes people are like, please let's not talk about this, let's talk about this. So I'm just there to kind of guide
Blair Lometti
them.
Tom Heath
So you just record that separately, so you can blackmail them?
Blair Lometti
Pretty much.
Tom Heath
Okay, good, good, good, good. That's podcasting 101, is the hot mic.
Blair Lometti
Right, and then I give them my real estate card, and I'm like, if you don't use it.
Tom Heath
If you don't use it. That's a whole new business model right there.
Blair Lometti
Exactly, for sure.
Tom Heath
I could run a realty, just being black, blackmail realty.
Blair Lometti
Everyone's gonna be like, yeah, that's what I heard.
Tom Heath
I'm giving her a five star review, because I have to, I literally have to.
Blair Lometti
Did you imagine that in the reviews? I have to give her five stars, she is amazing, wink, wink.
Tom Heath
So you treat them with respect, do you?
Blair Lometti
Oh yeah.
Tom Heath
And it's about them telling their story.
Blair Lometti
Yeah, I mean, I think that's what's hard, right? Being in this chair, and you're interviewing people, is where are your places to speak and ask questions, and then also the gift of listening. How amazing it is when you just ask a simple question, like, how'd you get here? What's your why? And being able to sit back and really just listen to what their story is. Not making it your story, but really just listening to their story and how it's played out, and to see these, because there's always these, these ups, up and downs, and for them to keep climbing up to the top, and now helping so many other people.
Tom Heath
But then you're also asking very good questions, because they're coming at it from a place of knowledge, because they know who they are and what they're doing. You're presenting the perspective of those of us that aren't familiar with their cause, and getting them to kind of go further down that path and really connect with the people in the community. So I think that's a really good way to do that.
Blair Lometti
I mean, the honor is all mine. Just having people who have just created something out of something, I would say creating beauty out of something that could be ugly.
Tom Heath
Yeah.
Blair Lometti
It's just, it's the ultimate get.
Tom Heath
And there's so many times when I just wanna curl up in a ball, because I'm just having a rough day, and those people that have had so much more challenges, they not only do not curl up in a ball, but they turn around and help other people, you know, go through, and it's just amazing to me.
Blair Lometti
You're not seeing them crawl up in a ball and get out, right? I think, to be fair, we've all hit that bottom. And maybe you're not aware of it at that time, or maybe you're in the ball at that moment, but then when you see other people, you know, claw their way out, and it's just, it's contagious in a way.
Tom Heath
Very contagious. Yeah. And it just stops that immediate sort of, you know, woe is me sort of feeling.
Blair Lometti
I've always hated it when people get mad about people sharing their giving. It's, a lot of people are like, don't post that, or that's attention seeking. To me, I'm the opposite. I'm like, share, share, share, share. Obviously there's some things that were, you know, don't film somebody who's vulnerable, you know, there's those things that I'm like, hey, you know, it's not, not everything needs to be posted for a share or a like, but when you put that out there of your excitement to help and give and saying, hey, this nonprofit's doing this, or I want to just make somebody's day, will you do the same? I love that. It's so contagious. And I think people need to not be so worried about what the little minds think. I think, go bigger, go and help.
Tom Heath
I gave, I was giving blood, and at the end, when I'm eating my Nutter Butters, they give you a little sticker that says, I donated.
Blair Lometti
Yeah.
Tom Heath
And I remember, and there's this gentleman, fairly senior gentleman, and he hands me the sticker and I was like, oh, that's okay, I don't need the sticker. And he looks at me, goes, oh, you misunderstand. This isn't for you. This is for everybody else that needs to know they need to give blood. So you're not bragging.
Blair Lometti
Exactly.
Tom Heath
You're advertising for us.
Blair Lometti
Yeah, I think there's this weird line, right? Of being humble, but then also being obedient. And I think we can sometimes mix the two. So I remember when I first got into this business, right? I mean, I got my real estate license and was immediately, hey, let's do this to give. Let's do this to give. And I would get feedback. Oh, you're just doing that for a sale. You're just, you're doing that for attention. I don't care either way. My goal is to help. And if you wanna ridicule me for that, then don't use me. But if you know me and you know my heart, this is just who I am. And people will see the difference of, are you just doing this to brag and get it out there? But at the end of the day, if you're helping, I don't care.
Tom Heath
Yeah.
Blair Lometti
I don't care if you're doing it to try to get more clients or if you're doing it because that's what's really big in your heart. Either way, you're helping somebody.
Tom Heath
I like that idea of contagious and how that feels like. We get caught up in a vacuum sometimes and then other people aren't. They get caught up in their own vacuum. So you're breaking that down and you're blaring it out.
Blair Lometti
I'm blaring it out.
Tom Heath
Okay, I tied that all in together. Our producer behind the screens here, Lisa, is crying. This is so emotional.
Blair Lometti
I know, because I know it's so true. She's so good. Can I tell my story? Can I tell my story? One day we're stuffing bags or something at TAR and I'm telling her how my niece has cancer. And I'm just like devastated. She's pregnant and they just found this huge tumor. And just talk. She's my friend and it was just talk and we were just having a conversation. And then a couple of weeks later, she calls me up and she says, I have a check for you. And I'm like, oh, what for? Are you sponsoring something at TAR? And she goes, no, it's for your niece. She says, I got one of my clients to, I told one of my clients your story and she decided to make that her charity. So I have a check for your niece. So I love Blair.
Blair Lometti
Well, I love you. And honestly, thanks to my clients all have the same heart and I just give them the list. Now doing Blair It Out, I'm getting a bigger list. But my goal also too, is to give back to as many individuals as possible. That's why I created my nonprofit to help be able to do that. But there's just so much, I've been through hard times. I've been through where I was on the ground in a ball. I thought there was no way out. I thought I wasn't worth saving. I thought I wasn't worth anybody coming to my rescue. There was a lot of decisions that were made in those low times that I know if somebody would have just reached out to me and helped me, I probably would have done a lot of things different. So when I hear people at the lowest, or it just feels the world is caving in, it just give that little bit of hope. It changes things. It makes our minds are so powerful. So if you all of a sudden have going to this dark spot and you feel loved and supported, you get filled with this light
Blair Lometti
and motivation to keep you going. And then you help others once you've gotten out of it because you remember that feeling of feeling hopeless and somebody being your hope. It's just, it's what I think can make you keep going.
Tom Heath
That's absolutely phenomenal.
Blair Lometti
Thank you.
Tom Heath
Thank you. How do people find you? Are they blared out?
Blair Lometti
Oh my gosh, this is one thing I do need help with guys. I'm like all over the place just because of real estate, the nonprofit. So I am trying to get different websites for different things. But yeah, if you want to listen to the podcast, it's Blared Out. You can find it on Apple, Spotify, Buzzsprout, our YouTube channel, YouTube channel, which I think I get like 30 views. I'm still figuring that out. 30 views, fancy. I was so excited. I'm like, Ooh, look at that. It's a hundred views, a hundred downloads. I was so excited because it does, it takes time. And yeah, so I'd say YouTube, podcast, I'm all over all the social medias. Under your name or under? So happy mommy hour is a big one. So happy mommy hour is on Instagram. Happy mommy realtor is on Instagram. And so is Blared Out. My TikTok is happy mommy hour. And you can always find me on Facebook at Blair Lamedi Mathias. I mean, I just need to find somebody who's going to kind of like help guide me, but you know what? We all have our
Blair Lometti
weaknesses and that one's mine.
Tom Heath
Good heavens. Well, you can probably have a chance to talk to Blair in the 13 or 14 minutes a day. She's not doing something else, but can reach out to me. And you're still doing real estate too, right?
Blair Lometti
I mean, I love it. It is, I mean, I for now, the first like feeling what clients are feeling and cause I did buy an investment last year, but now we are wanting to move and everyone knows how hot the Oro Valley market is. It's insane. Every, some people are, Hey, my house is sitting for some odd reason. Some of these houses just fly. And now it's like trying to find one cause even us realtors can lose an offer to cash too.
Tom Heath
Well, I'm glad you're still doing real estate. I appreciate all that you're doing within the community, not just on a large scale, but on the individual basis as well. And I hope you hear this enough, but you're doing amazing things. And thank you.
Blair Lometti
Thank you. Thank you so much. That's all I can ask for.
Tom Heath
And this show today was produced, a special show produced by Lisa. It was making sure everything is on track. And if you want to learn more, just stay in tune for Housing for Good. We'll have a website up soon and interview just amazing people doing wonderful things in our community. And it's all powered and fueled by your trust and faith in them as real estate agents. So let's, let's keep it going.
Blair Lometti
Yeah. Thank you. Thank you for having me.
