 Welcome back folks. DOW. DOW is down 9, NASDAQ is up 92, S&Ps are up 10 and a half. Yesterday, folks, is George Seagal. George is a former weatherman and a reporter-turned-filmmaker known for his documentary of The Last House Standing. Oh man, I'm telling you. The Last House Standing explores the tragedies many in our country contend within the face of natural disasters regarding flooding, structural integrity, and questions and heat questions why better construction practices aren't employed to prevent such destruction from occurring. George is one of many awards, including the Miami Film Independent Film Festival. The website folks of which I have up is TheLastHouseStanding.org. George, welcome to TFNN. Hey, thanks for having me on. I appreciate it. This is a subject that all of us, whether they were in Florida, whether in Massachusetts, whether in California or whether, I guess the last storm George in the bottom line comes up in Florida and basically you think Louisiana is going to get killed and New Jersey and New York get killed, right? Yeah, and unfortunately what they saw there is people in the northeast watch the storm and they go, ah, the Gulf Coast is getting pounded again. And it ends up in their backyard and a lot of the areas that flooded up there never have flooded before. I mean, it was historical flooding. So most people didn't have flood insurance. So it's even worse than people around here that most of us have to have it. Yes, it certainly was. That last one was something else. So this is really cool, man. First, tell me, how did you get involved in this? How did you get to this point? Well, when I was in the news business, I used to have to cover these stories, either forecasting them as a weather forecaster or going out as a reporter, going out to the scene after a disaster and meeting people that had lost everything in floods or in tornadoes. And I just thought it was so sad when I got out into the real world away from TV News, I wanted to make a film about it. Yes. And when Hurricane Michael happened in 2018, that became the centerpiece for the film because that truly was in that area, the last house standing. And it's a metaphor for what you really want to strive for is having a house that actually has a chance to survive a disaster. If you notice, most of the houses around our area, if they're built to code, that's not going to withstand a category four or five hurricane. It's just going to maybe meet the code in your area, but it's not enough. It's not. And what George is talking about, folks, and I think many of it is that that last house standing. I remember that picture so well, George. OK, that is just the one we're talking about with the two guys had built the house that to withstand like 200 miles an hour, I think, right? And it was the only house standing. Yeah, I mean, they were smart guys and they knew that, OK, let's not build a code. Let's build to survive the worst thing that could happen here. Yes. And they got hit by the worst thing that could happen there. And they survived. And the people that had the older homes or the homes that were at lower elevation that didn't go as far into the sand as his house. Those houses didn't make it. Right. So what type, you know, and I understand, you know, you're doing this so people can get educated and, you know, bottom line. Everyone, you know, wants a house and wants a good house, right? So what, you know, we know that people build with stick, the people with people build with block. What do you think can be done in order to basically, you know, be the last house standing that, you know, you and me and the audience will have that house? Well, a lot more than is being done right now, because we still see a lot of houses going up that might have block on the first floor, wood on the second floor. Yes. And in Tampa and St. Pete through Pinellas County, all those areas. Those a lot. There's a lot of older homes that aren't built to withstand anything that would be a major disaster. Right. You really have to understand what the risk is specifically to where you are and what you want to do to address it. Unfortunately, I don't think many people take it seriously. Most of us think it's not going to happen to us, you know, and if it does, we'll be fine. And that's the whole point of the last house standing film, is you meet so many people that lost everything from various disasters and nobody really calculates that cost of what it's cost right after the after the disaster to get food and get your house fixed. Maybe you have to relocate. Maybe you lose your job. You have kids. You have to get them around places. You don't have transportation. I mean, there's so many things that you can't even put a price on that you really have to understand the risks. And when I moved to Tampa, the one thing I learned is most people don't understand the risk and most people don't take it that seriously. If they do, they're an outlier, but most people don't have generators. Most people don't really know how safe their house is. I would venture to say they know the safety features of their car better than the safety features of their house. And I think that's pretty sad. Yeah, there's no doubt about that. And, you know, what George is saying, folks, I'm sure this is right across the country. But in our area here, we have a lot of building that's going on. You got to I mean, it actually blows my mind. And, you know, it's interesting, George, I'm a G.C. I build a lot of houses and I and you'd love my houses, man. They're all blocked. They're all blocked there. Well, they're not to 160 miles an hour, but they're 140, but they are all blocked. I mean, I can show you, I just came from three of them. It just it just it was while having you on because I build a block on the bottom floor and on the top floor and ripping down the the, you know, the roofs, the whole the whole ball of wax. And it blows my mind when you see apartment buildings, there is so many apartment buildings across the country right now that are all stick, OK, because the new deal is that you can put sticks together and, you know, they that they are some of the strong steel. But the bottom line is that a good hurricane is going to take them out. So like as to the aspect of each city. What do you think? I mean, I know what we can do. I know what we should do. But the bottom line is it's really hard to turn around and change a code, right? That it is, you know, that you were saying, OK, forget the sticks, man, because you know what? You know, it blows my mind, George. And folks, it's not that much more expensive. Like I build a nineteen hundred twenty three front house, four forty one back house with two car garage. It's all blocks. So yeah, maybe it cost me the twenty five grand, but people will pay for it. Do you know what I'm saying? That's not that's not. And I show them the difference. I show them pictures of, OK, man, what? Well, what's under that stucco is either stick or block. Do you know what I'm saying? But I feel that as long as you show them and educate them, people will pay for that. You know, a lot of builders don't do that. And so you're an exception and you should be rewarded for that in your business. But most builders just build what they think you're going to buy. Right. And most people, if you told them it was twenty five grand more to have concrete on the second floor, they probably would think, now I want to go on a boat. I want to have a trip. I want to do all these things. Yeah. And they miscalculate the importance of having those things. And sure, you could build a strong house out of wood. I read the three little pigs. But that doesn't mean that you don't want to have the be the third pig and have the house that's definitely going to be around. And most people just after the fact, it's too late. Right. You have one chance to get it right. And we don't know. We don't understand truly what we're living in until there's a disaster. And then everybody looks around. Who do I blame? How did this happen? Yeah. Well, we need to demand more. You need to don't buy a house that's not built well. Don't fall into that and reward a builder who's not doing as good a job. And ultimately, I think the entire Gulf Coast should be building to the standards they do in South Florida, which is to I believe it's a hundred and seven miles. Yeah, it's 160, 170. Exactly. And it's really cool, folks. OK, you know, Florida has a lot of different things that you might like or not like. But the codes in South Florida are phenomenal. They're awesome. And because they've got hit so much, there's no doubt about it. You know, it's really cool that I love you doing. You're really getting people to understand this is the biggest investment in their life. You would you think they would think more about it. But what I've found in life, not because I'm in the financial business, too, it blows my mind that people save all their money. Then they just give it to a financial advisor. It's like, well, we hold it. You just worked it like it's almost like that in the housing business. Do you know what I mean? You work for your house. Well, you shouldn't understand what's in it, right? Well, the way they rate houses, prisons are actually safer than houses. My God. Listen, we're going to have you on again, man. I really appreciate the education. You have a great one, safe one. We look forward to having you on again, George. Thank you.