March 16, 2024 • 35 mins
Have you ever laughed your way through a tough time or used humor to lift others? I'm Kristen LaVanway, and on this episode of "Arizona Laughs and Listings," I sit down with the quick-witted Mike Bolland, a stand-up comedian with a heart as big as his punchlines. Mike Bolland is a congenital amputee, comedian and super cool dude. He's funny, he knows his way around a Home Depot, and he is an inspiration in the way he tackles life with one hand tied behind his back. He performs comedy all over the Valley also a regular at our favorite Downtown Mesa open mic at Jarrod's Coffee, Tea and Gallery.
Mike brings the house down sharing his journey through life with a limb difference, sprinkling in the comedy that's helped him disarm (ha!) the social awkwardness that comes up when living a life looking different than others. In his podcast, We're Not Stumped, Mike interviews other amputees, family members of amputees plus people in the prosthetic / support fields. These interviews are both fun and educational and nothing will be held back – no questions are off limits!
Mike talks about founding the Joe and Marie Bolland Helping Hands organization that empowers amputees and other people with limb differences to realize their boundless potential through transformative collaboration with their peers. They nurture a mindset of infinite possibilities, foster self-advocacy, and inspire our community to live a life without limitations.
Transforming a space into something uniquely yours is a theme that runs deep in this episode. A home is more than four walls and a '70s sunken living room, and we talk about the evolution of Mike's mancave/podcast studio and how he and his wife helped their daughter ditch the landlord and buy a fixer-upper townhome. We peel back the curtain on the emotional side of real estate that often gets overlooked.
Lastly, we tackle the nuts and bolts of the housing market—specifically, mortgage rates and the truth about waiting for the "right time" to buy. Spoiler alert: that time is more elusive than a straight answer from a politician. We navigate through different loan options and what influences rates, wrapping up with a heart-to-heart on why seizing the moment in real estate investment is so crucial. Plus, don't miss out as Mike gives you a sneak peek into his upcoming one-man show, "I'm Not Stumped" where he merges his comedy with his amazing journey navigating limb loss, cancer and a professional bowling career (!!?) into one unforgettable show.
For more about Joe and Marie Bolland's Helping Hands Organization, check out their website at https://joeandmariehelpinghands.org/.
Check out Mike's podcast, We're Not Stumped, at www.https://werenotstumped.com/.
You can visit Jarrod's Mic at Saturdays from 3-5pm (keep it clean for this one!) and Thursdays from 5-7pm (no holds barred on this one. Jarrod's is located at 154 W Main St, Mesa AZ 85201 in fabulous Downtown Mesa.
And me, Kristin LaVanway...I'm a Realtor with The Valley Solutions Team at Homesmart Elite. For all your real estate questions or to check out homes for sale, you can reach her at
Kristin@HereInPhoenix.com
www.HereInPhoenix.com
Thanks for tuning in!
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Kristin LaVanway (00:02):
Hello and welcome to Arizona laughs and
listings, the podcast where funand funny folks get together and
talk about real estate andcomedy to completely unrelated
topics.
That goes surprisingly welltogether.
I'm your host, kristen Levanway, a real estate agent here in
the Phoenix Metro area for 19years, as well as a local stand
(00:23):
up comedian.
My very first guest on thisvery first podcast is the very
funny and very handy Mr MikeBoland.
I'm so excited to have you hereand have you start my journey
with me is Mike Boland.
Mike is a good friend I'veknown for quite I don't know how
(00:45):
many years we've known eachother yeah, probably more than
we realize and he's a comedianfriend, but we also are in
Toastmasters together and he hasa wonderful nonprofit that I'd
love for you to tell us a littlebit about.
Mike Bolland (01:01):
Oh, I'd love to talk about that.
Thank you for having me on, bythe way, I really appreciate it.
Kristin LaVanway (01:04):
Oh, it's my pleasure, absolutely.
Mike Bolland (01:06):
So I was born without a hand.
I was born without my righthand and as I was growing up, I
really have to give it up to myparents and the great things
that they did for me, because mystory isn't one of boy.
You know what was me?
I have one hand.
My story is actually like, yeah, let's go, I got one hit, I
like it.
I mean, that's just my say.
That's why I get up on stageand make a fun myself, or I make
(01:26):
fun of two handed people,probably more than they should,
but that is what it is andthat's all because of my parents
.
So what I did and they'veunfortunately passed, but what I
did was start a nonprofit goingon two years ago now, called
the Joe Murray Boland helpinghands, and what we try to do is
help people in the limb loss andlimb difference community
adjust to life.
Not everyone was born like me.
(01:47):
Some it's accident, sometimesit's medical and a lot of times
there's issues beyond theprosthetic that need to be
addressed.
And that's what we're trying todo.
We're trying to be a resourcefor many things for mental
health, for, maybe, jobplacement, but certainly for
prosthetics to, and we'reputting people together as well
that maybe are like each other.
I've met other people that areborn without a right hand or
(02:09):
without a hand, just like me,and it's interesting the
conversations you can get into.
Some of these things you haveshared experiences.
Sometimes you don't, butgetting those people together
and having conversations is verycathartic for people and we're
here to help in any way we can.
Joe Murray Boland's helpinghandsorg is the website and, a
(02:29):
matter of fact, you didsomething for me with that
organization.
You were on the very firstcomedy for prosthetics comedy
show we had Right and I get JPs.
Absolutely so.
Thank you so much for doingthat.
I appreciate that.
Kristin LaVanway (02:42):
Yeah, that was a fun show.
Mike Bolland (02:44):
It was.
Kristin LaVanway (02:45):
That just goes to show you.
That's the thing about comedyis.
You know, people think of itonly as Netflix specials, but
the level that we're at which isnot Netflix, at least not yet,
and maybe not ever, I don't know.
But there's a lot you can do inyour communities just as far as
helping organizations, workingwith businesses and, of course,
(03:09):
networking with some reallyinteresting, creative people.
Mike Bolland (03:13):
Yes.
Kristin LaVanway (03:13):
I think the comedy community is a lot of fun
.
There's some really cool peoplethat I've met that I would
never have met in in any othercapacity.
Mike Bolland (03:22):
So I love it.
I love it.
Yeah, I do too.
I agree with you.
Kristin LaVanway (03:27):
So I'm going to try my little banner thing
here.
Let's see Okay, this is mygreat, I should put that on
first.
Oh nice.
It is our first podcast andwe're just I'm clunking through
this one, but doing great.
We're going to talk about ourfirst first moment, my first
year first.
So how did you get started incomedy?
Mike Bolland (03:52):
That goes back to 2016.
Actually, I should.
I'll even go back even further.
It's one of those bucket listitems I think most of us that
have actually done it have hadfor many years, and that's my
story.
I wanted to do this probablywhen I was in my 20s and, lo and
behold, not until my 50s that Itry it.
But the reason why I waited solong is because life didn't hit
me in the face like it did in2016, when I went through a
(04:14):
cancer battle.
And going through that cancerbattle, it was one of those
things that you realize lifeisn't guaranteed and, hey, I
think we all know that, we allsay that, we all, to a certain
extent, live it.
But when it's really somethingthat hits you in the face, well
then I think you start to takeaction, and that's what I did.
I wish I wouldn't wait so long.
So anyone that's listeningdon't make my mistake Start as
(04:35):
soon as you can.
But after the cancer scarecoming out through the other
side, I wanted to try comedy.
So I knew a common friend,laura Wheeler.
She worked at the sameorganization I was working at
and I approached her aboutgiving it a shot.
And she's not only a greatcomedian.
She's a great writer and agreat coach.
I mean, I can say so manythings about Laura and she
(04:56):
invited me to a class back inthe old comedy spot back in the
day in Scottsdale.
I remember walking up to thecomedy spot and one of the first
people I saw was Gavin Bloom,by the way, another fantastic,
another fantastic comedian.
He was talking about the greatpeople you can meet in comedy.
He's another one, you know.
But I also remember how scared Iwas just to even go to the
(05:19):
comedy class.
I was petrified, I didn't evenknow how to.
But I just remember walking in.
I was scared, you know what.
And but I'll tell you what.
It's been one of the funnestthings, as you said, because of
the people you meet and becauseof you know the challenge, and I
think it's a challenge everytime you get up there, right,
I'm scared.
Every time I get up, regardlessof what, regardless of how cool
(05:40):
I look, because I don't evenknow if I look cool.
But Even if I look confident,I'm probably inside going uh-oh,
you know what's gonna happenhere.
Kristin LaVanway (05:48):
But when you get funny, that you say that
because everybody says it,everybody's terrified and but I
mean, you don't look it whenyou're performing and people
have said that to me as well butinside we're dying and we're
like that.
Why did I do that?
Why am I doing this?
What am I crazy?
Mike Bolland (06:06):
What bucket did I want to fill?
I mean, it's like a way, butAfterwards it's great.
There's no better.
There's two feelings that I getout of it.
There's no better feeling whenyou're up there and you make
people laugh.
I don't think there's a betterfeeling.
And then when you get off andyou reflect on what you've
accomplished Even if it's, itdoesn't matter at what level at
(06:28):
that point, it doesn't matterwhere it's a Netflix special
special or it's a Open mic youshould get off that stage and
feel proud of yourself fortaking the chance and getting up
there, because it will make youfeel good.
Kristin LaVanway (06:39):
Oh exactly, and then you just can't wait to
do again.
Go work on your bits, you knowit's, polish them up.
You know they need a new idea.
You're like all excited to workon it.
So yeah, it's a whole process.
Mike Bolland (06:52):
There's nothing better than getting that goofy
little idea while you're drivingdown the road.
Of course, we can't, you know,write it down.
Kristin LaVanway (06:59):
I write it while you're not crashing your
car.
Mike Bolland (07:01):
Well, that's your two-handed people, because you
could text and drive me.
I mean, I here's what I do.
I have an MP3 player that Iactually a recorder that I
actually will record on.
I know you can do it on thephone, but it's hard for me to
control my phone, so it's justgot I.
Kristin LaVanway (07:14):
Gotcha but if you don't record it at that
moment, turn remember later,forget it you never will gone.
Mike Bolland (07:21):
Yes, yep, I agree.
Kristin LaVanway (07:23):
All right, what about your first house?
Mike Bolland (07:27):
My first house was in 1994.
We bought it, my wife and I.
Actually, I would say that itclosed December is either
December 30th of 1994, and wemoved in January 1st I can't
remember exactly the date, butit was.
I can tell you exactly thehouse too.
It was on the corner of Cooperand Elliot.
(07:48):
There's only one house on thecorner of Cooper and Elliot,
it's on the South West corner ofCooper and Elliot, and it was
great.
I mean, especially at the timeyou talking about, you know, mid
90s, there was nothing on thatcorner.
Now it's, you know, a pretty,pretty big, pretty big corner.
But we moved out of that.
(08:08):
We lived there for seven years,but it was nothing better than
having that house and we hadboth of our kids there, sabrina
and Brianna, my wife Trish, andit was a great house for us.
And I really, you know, lookback and you know, think to
those times and sometimes, justlike everyone else, like owning
your first car, which I happento still own, my very first car
(08:30):
sometimes I look back to that.
Sometimes you look back and go,gosh, that was a great house,
we should never got rid of it.
Maybe I should have rented it,but it is what it is.
Kristin LaVanway (08:39):
It is, yeah.
How did it feel, though?
What do you think that it wasan easy process to buy that
first house?
Mike Bolland (08:46):
It wasn't easy for me for a variety of reasons.
I had never gone through theprocess before, so and my wife
and I were.
I don't know if things havechanged.
You're the expert here, but boythe the amount of Papers we had
to initial and sign, and read,and sign and read.
I mean, with one hand my handscramping up, I'm like, okay, you
know, just, yeah, give me anink pad and I'll just stop.
(09:06):
You know, do a stump print onit.
I mean, that's, that's kind ofthe way I was thinking.
But but we went through it.
And for another reason the whereI was working at the time, I
had to get off early from work.
If, whatever reason you know,sometimes these things happen my
manager didn't want to let meoff early.
So we're talking like I gotthere about 15 minutes before I
had to get there.
My wife's already waiting forme and we had to blast through
(09:27):
this paperwork.
And because of where I workedat the time, I wasn't even clean
.
I was working in the stores ohyeah, changing tires.
No, I won't say the company,but yeah, I was a mess.
So but it went through.
So mine was a little different,maybe a little harder, because
more of the complexities ofgetting Leaving my work, but
other than that it was fine.
Kristin LaVanway (09:48):
It sounds like something I've heard many times
.
Yes, of course, now they domobile notaries.
So that makes it easier.
Sometimes they can just come toyou, and that does help.
Mike Bolland (09:58):
Yes, back in 1994.
Kristin LaVanway (09:59):
I don't they didn't have a lot of this
electronic gizmo stuff we havenow no, it was like a Morse code
.
Mike Bolland (10:05):
I believe yeah or Machines.
Things have come a long waysince then and I don't know if
you know this, but we actuallydo own a second house now and
it's kind of a.
We have a cabin, you know, andwe call it a cabin.
It's really a house up inVernon, arizona, which is close
to Sholo, and the nice thingabout this house is it's
(10:27):
something that her dad, mywife's dad, built.
Her mom and dad, but they allthe family before I was part of
the picture all got together andreally kind of put their hands
and into building it and theybuilt it themselves and it's
really neat.
It's great place.
We own the plot that it's on,plus two additional plots up
there in Vernon.
(10:48):
And you know, unfortunately herdad passed away in 2000 and her
mom spent some time up there forthe next few years, I'd say,
and then after that her momdecided that she didn't want to
maintain the house any longer.
So she offered it up to both mywife's brother and sister and
they decided for whatever reasonit could have been, financial,
(11:10):
could have been they didn't wantto edit responsibility as a
voting in another house, but I,when my wife asked me, I said,
yeah, well, let's get that,whatever case, and it took a lot
for us to get it.
At that time we weren't asfinancially secure, but now we
own it outright and my girlshave grown up there.
We do a lot of quadriding, youknow we do make s'mores and play
games.
(11:31):
Really like it.
Kristin LaVanway (11:32):
That's nice, get out of the heat.
Mike Bolland (11:34):
Yes, absolutely, I'll probably go up there.
We're recording this in March.
I'm probably gonna go up therein a couple days.
Just make sure that it was goodafter the winter, because I
have to winterize and all that.
But love it, love it.
Kristin LaVanway (11:45):
That's amazing , that's.
That's very cool.
That's very lucky that you guysget to have that.
Mike Bolland (11:52):
It was definitely luck, it was definitely wasn't
skill, that's for sure.
Kristin LaVanway (11:58):
Skill overrated right.
Mike Bolland (11:59):
Yeah, I mean it's like juggling.
Well, I don't juggle, butanyway Well oh I had a juggler.
I don't know I could jugglelike this, but you know, I guess
to that I'll practice.
Kristin LaVanway (12:11):
All right.
The next segment are yourfavorite rooms.
So what's your favorite room ineither of your houses?
Mike Bolland (12:21):
In the house I'm in right now, and I wouldn't
have said this a Year and a halfago, but it is the room I'm in
right now.
Now we have an older house,built in the 70s, late 70s, and
so it has a sunk in front livingroom.
You know one of those.
Kristin LaVanway (12:35):
Oh yeah.
Mike Bolland (12:35):
Yeah, one of those sunk in and we pretty much
Passed by.
When we're entering the houseand just look at, oh, there it
is.
I mean I you get in thebackground.
I have some old radios andthings like that, but it was
more of a display purpose andnever spent time in here.
Now it's like my den.
(12:56):
I put up some barn doors whereI can close everything and I
this is where I record my we'renot stumped podcast.
And that's why it's so importantto me and I probably I
shouldn't even say probably Ispend more time in this room
right now than any other room inthe house, because if I'm not
discussing or having a guest onmy podcast, I'm editing the
(13:17):
podcast or doing other businessrelated things around, other
things I'm pursuing in my life.
So right now this is not onlythis is is my favorite room,
correct?
Kristin LaVanway (13:27):
Yes.
Mike Bolland (13:27):
Yeah, right now this is my favorite room and
then the house up north it'sjust the, the, the family room,
because it's it's about it's athousand square feet.
It's not a big house, but thekitchen and the family room are
kind of, you know, one or all inone, and it's just fun because
you know we'll play games inthere and make, make breakfast
(13:48):
in there and it's just a greatroom.
Kristin LaVanway (13:52):
Oh yeah, I'm sure there's so many good
memories that you're that youhave.
You know, just think about thattrip and that trip and that's
interesting.
You know people think abouthaving a big fancy house, but
that doesn't sound like it's abig fancy house.
Mike Bolland (14:09):
It's, it's a, I would say neither one of them,
but neither one of our housescurrently are.
It's one of those things that,while I was working in my career
, there was a decision that wecould have made to get a bigger
house.
But you know, this is just.
Everything is a personaldecision, right?
My wife and I made the decisionof hey, we've, we, we move.
One time with the girls myyoungest at the time was she
(14:30):
wasn't even three years old butthen my girls have grown up in
this house and they, they come.
My youngest was over earliertoday and she took a nap.
It's so comfortable for themhere that we don't want to get
away from this house.
There's so many memories forthem here that we're going to
continue to stay here, and youknow we're very much.
You know there's alwayssomething to do, though, right?
(14:52):
You know, yesterday I put in anew reverse osmosis system and
today, today, I'll be putting innew front faucet as well,
because you know these thingshappen.
But that's true.
Kristin LaVanway (15:02):
Especially if you have a house from the 70s.
Mike Bolland (15:04):
Absolutely, and we've done everything.
I'll tell you what we've tornthis place up.
I mean, you know we used to.
What do they call?
Was it a galley kitchen?
You know the kind where, like a, built like a horseshoe?
Kristin LaVanway (15:15):
I don't know, oh, right, right, yeah, yeah.
Mike Bolland (15:18):
Well, I tore that off and just made it, you know,
much bigger room.
And then we went to IKEA andput some new cabinets up and,
you know, just make it more ofour own.
And I enjoy doing that.
Even though I have one hand,I'd like to think I'm handy, you
know.
Yeah, I know, but I'll do.
I'm not licensed or anythinglike that.
(15:39):
I will do my own plumbing,which I really learned up north.
I learned how to plop, becauseif you have a busted pipe,
especially, you know, 20 yearsago in Vernon, I can't tell you
how long it'd be to try to getsomebody there to do it.
Like, all right, well, let'ssweat some pipes.
And now, of course, with the,the pecs and things and the
shark bites, and a little biteasier, but I'll still do
(16:00):
whatever it takes to fix a house.
So I love doing it.
I love, I love, I love homeimprovement, diy.
Kristin LaVanway (16:06):
It can be really satisfying.
It can be frustrating too, butI think when you can get those
projects done and, like you said, you make the house your own,
and that's interesting whenpeople are buying a home, you
know, I think sometimes youfocus on things that years later
you're not even going to thinktwice about because you've added
things to the home or you'veyou know.
(16:27):
It's just interesting whatbecomes important to you later
on.
I think it's an interestingaspect of real estate.
Mike Bolland (16:33):
We know I can relate to that because we help
my daughter get a townhouse or acondo.
The townhouse is to the ground,is that correct?
Kristin LaVanway (16:41):
Yeah, townhouse.
Usually they're two story patioarea.
Mike Bolland (16:45):
Okay, that's, that's exact.
So in 2019, actually beforesome of the pricing went crazy
and so we went and looked at abunch.
I got, to be honest, my wifeand my daughter looked more than
I did, but even when I wasavailable, because I was working
at the time but even when I wasavailable, I looked at quite a
bit.
But to me and this is just mewhen you look at a house, I
think you have to look at beyondwhat, especially like a load
(17:08):
bearing wall, hey, but the loadbearing obviously does not much
you can do, especially on a DIY.
Things can be done, but maybenot somebody like me.
But if you could look beyondthat, you could really see the
possibilities.
I mean, when we moved in, whenshe moved in, when she bought it
, she had a very early to mid80s kitchen and you know white
(17:28):
fixtures and the brown cabinets.
It just oh, and then a littlelittle porthole or a porthole is
not the correct term but shehad the like a breakfast bench
or whatever.
That looked into the kitchen,but it seemed like there was
only a foot of being able tolook in.
Kristin LaVanway (17:46):
Did it have the cabinets, that kind of hang?
Mike Bolland (17:48):
down.
Kristin LaVanway (17:48):
Yes, yes, yes, if you bump your head on it all
the time.
Mike Bolland (17:52):
Tore those out.
I tore those out and I tore outpart of the wall and expand.
I mean, it was just it's funbecause if you could look at
those things and go, well, okay,that's not in surmato, of
course you have to a littleblood, sweat and tears, as they
say, a lot of sweat equity, butit's worth it If you can do that
.
It's so worth it and I love it.
And immediately you know we gotthat house for, let's say,
(18:14):
about $10,000 less than theaverage was going on in that
townhouse.
But by the time we were donewith probably well, let's say,
we put 10,000 in and I'm sure ifI looked it up I can figure it
out.
But by the time we were doneand it was so modern she already
had 10 to 20,000 dollars ofequity in that house.
So it was just one of those andthen she loved it.
(18:35):
She's still there.
Kristin LaVanway (18:36):
Right.
Mike Bolland (18:37):
And it's her.
That's awesome.
Like you said, it's hers.
Kristin LaVanway (18:40):
Yeah, and it's her first house and you know,
unless she has a reason to move,she's got a place for however
long which is what people needto think about is, you know, in
2019, maybe that payment was alittle bit of a stretch for her
at that time, but if you look atrents back then compared to now
and her house payment, which isnow the same, yes.
(19:02):
It's the long game.
Mike Bolland (19:05):
And she was looking for apartments.
She was looking for two bedroomapartments to bring on a
roommate and I was like, hey, Ithink it might be worth looking
for, like a townhouse or a condoor whatever.
And then you know she's verysmart, she's got her master's,
she's.
Oh yeah, that makes sense.
It was just more my experienceas a person as opposed to her
(19:25):
knowledge, and you know she getsit Same thing, though.
So she moved in, got herroommate and the income from her
roommate actually paid hermortgage.
So, oh, wow, right there, andit was a good deal for her
roommate too.
Yeah, and her roommate got agreat deal too, because, to your
point, at the time rent was andit's probably still crazy, so
(19:48):
her roommate couldn't havegotten a better deal, and
obviously she couldn't haveeither.
And they end up being theirgreat friends and with the
college together.
So she's since moved out, she'sgot a boyfriend and they're
living it.
So now she's alone, now mydaughter's alone, but all good.
Kristin LaVanway (20:01):
Yeah, it is good.
It is good.
All right, we're going to moveon to the next segment, which I
like to call the real estaterundown.
So I, as I said before westarted, talked to real estate
agents all the time about this.
There's tons of videos andeverything about stats and
whatever, and I think mostpeople are bored by that.
(20:23):
So I want to give you a coupleof tidbits and also hear what
you've been hearing and justkind of see what we make of it
all.
So the big thing right now thateverybody's focused on is
interest rates.
So I watch a index called themortgage news daily index and it
(20:44):
has been hanging right aroundbetween, I'd say, 6.8 and 7.14
months.
It edged down last week.
It's back up to 6.92.
So when you get a mortgage loan, it might not be right there
because a lot of it depends onyour credit, your income, all
kinds of factors.
So your lender will give youthe rate, but it's just a way to
(21:08):
compare where rates are.
Everybody's waiting for ratesto come down, because then
houses are more affordable.
The FHA loan which a lot ofpeople use the FHA loan for
their first home is about a halfa percent less.
So if you've got an FHA loan,you would probably pay less in
interest.
And then the VA loan which ifyou have, if you've been in the
(21:30):
military and you can get that VAloan, it's a zero down really
great way to get that firsthouse for sure.
And that interest rate usuallyis around what FHA is.
It's the same, right now about6.42.
So I don't know if you've heard, what have you been hearing
about interest rates?
Mike Bolland (21:50):
I think I got to be honest.
I think this segment thatyou've come up with is brilliant
, because I am not in the realestate game.
I'm not looking for a house.
The last house we bought,helped my daughter buy, was four
and a half years ago three anda half years ago.
So you're going to get what Ihear, which is just you know,
like out in the ether who knows.
(22:14):
I heard that the rates werehigher.
I didn't know how high.
It was interesting.
Listening to you, I wasn't surehow high they were.
I did hear that they had goneup.
But here's another thing thatI've heard and I can't, like I
said, it's a great segmentbecause this is just like word
on the street.
This is just me.
I also think that what I hear,or what I'm feeling, is that
(22:35):
houses, they did peak and theymay have come down a little bit,
but maybe not as much as a lotof people thought they were.
So they've kind of maybestabilized to a certain extent.
But to your point earlier andthis is the biggest question, if
you can afford to get into ahouse, I'd always recommend
getting into a house instead ofwaiting for these things to come
(22:56):
down.
It's like waiting for yourpresents at Christmas.
You may not get exactly what youwant, but you can't make a bad.
In my opinion, you can't make abad choice or bad decisions by
moving forward and making aninvestment into you, your life
and your future by buying ahouse.
That's just always the way I'vealways thought.
Kristin LaVanway (23:16):
Yeah, I think that's a very good point.
I think people are waiting andthey're thinking that the house
prices are gonna come down.
I've heard that.
I've been hearing people saythat Since 2000.
Yeah, easily 13, 14.
You know the bottom of themarket was 2011 and once he
started going up a little bit, Iwas like, well, they're gonna
(23:37):
come down anytime now andthey're just not.
There's no, nothing right nowthat's gonna make home prices
come down.
They come up a little bit.
I think the average is probablyabout six percent, typically,
depending on what area you'relooking at and price range
you're in.
The average house is in Arizona.
(23:58):
Phoenix area has probably goneup about six percent since last
year.
So you have to decide if you'rewaiting.
You know if you could havebought a house last year but you
said, oh, I'll just wait.
Well, I don't know, was that agood move or not?
Mike Bolland (24:14):
I don't know.
I mean you're the professional,but I would say it probably
wasn't, and I always equate itto you.
Could look at anything, andeveryone looks at the bubble and
gets infactuated by that.
And it's the same thing ifyou're watching sports, that
you're watching Patrick Mahomesand go.
Well, everybody should be ableto play quarterback like that.
Well, no, that's not the way hegoes.
This is a special talent andBubbles aren't always gonna
(24:34):
happen, but they're probablygonna happen again.
And where do you want to be?
I mean it.
It Try to get.
This could be early for thenext bubble, you don't know.
So to expect it to just go down, that's that be hedging the
bets more than I wouldpersonally do.
But again, that's.
I already own a couple houses.
So that's just, man, I'm notlooking to move right.
Kristin LaVanway (24:54):
That's the nice thing is.
Once you get settled in, youknow, unless you're selling your
house, you don't really carewhat the whole bubble concept.
So I've I've seen this, thischart of home prices.
In the United States there'sthis federal Tracking system
that looks okay, then I alreadyI'm just joking go ahead.
Mike Bolland (25:13):
if it's federal, that I don't believe it, it's a
joke.
Kristin LaVanway (25:15):
Oh, it's still , I know, but it's.
It tracks home prices from likethe 70s till present and it
kind of looks like this I don'tknow where's my hand.
Okay, there it is, there's me.
So it kind of goes up and thenit gets to that bubble part and
it goes like this and it goeslike this and then it goes like
this Once you average everythingout, that was such an anomaly
(25:38):
that hold that whole thing.
Mike Bolland (25:39):
Yes, yes, there's still a trend line there.
Right, there's still a trendline and the trend line is up.
It's exactly.
There could be peaks andvalleys, but it's exactly.
Kristin LaVanway (25:50):
Yeah, so you could wait, but I don't know
that's worth it or not.
The other thing I think isinteresting I'm gonna throw out
to you because I don't.
I think we're both in the sameboat.
I don't know about you, but Idon't own a million dollar house
and I don't think I ever will.
Well, if you live long enough,yeah, your house be worth Good
point but the luxury market isOut of control, like those,
(26:15):
houses are not only selling likecrazy, but they're going up in
price like crazy, which is soweird.
Yeah, you know, once you havemoney, you have money, I guess.
Mike Bolland (26:28):
I'll let you know that ever happens.
Kristin LaVanway (26:31):
Yeah, I'm with you there.
I'm happy in my little normalmiddle-class lifestyle.
But there's a one stat I sawthat homes over a million dollar
, or over ten million dollars.
The the month over month pricewent up 36.9%.
Like wow, that's just a crazystatistic.
(26:53):
Wow it's crazy.
So I don't know.
There's just a different world.
Yeah, we don't live in.
Mike Bolland (27:01):
No, I wouldn't even know where to begin on that
one, that's.
Thank you for sharing that stat, though that's a very
interesting statistic.
I'll have to get new friends.
Kristin LaVanway (27:08):
Maybe, or just get that Netflix special.
Mike Bolland (27:11):
Yes.
Yes, maybe then that's whatwe're working towards.
Kristin LaVanway (27:14):
I don't know.
Even if I had a Netflix special, I think I'd still want my
little house.
You know what I mean.
Mike Bolland (27:18):
Yes.
There's too many memories here,I agree.
Kristin LaVanway (27:22):
Yeah, it's true, it's what you put in the
house that makes it special.
Mike Bolland (27:27):
Mm-hmm, so I completely agree.
Kristin LaVanway (27:30):
Well, this was fun.
What's what's this?
My next segment here.
Oh, it didn't work.
Okay, there it goes.
What's coming up?
Yeah?
Mike Bolland (27:43):
I do have a show that well.
First of all, next week I'mgoing to be speaking at the
Hanger Clinic.
They have a amputee supportgroup limb loss support group
and they've asked me to speak onMarch 13th, so I'm really
excited about that.
I'm going to talk about thetriple A's of Lim loss and these
are things that I learned,maybe from personal experience,
(28:03):
but also from having the we'renot some podcast, and I'll go
over them real quick.
It's, the triple A's are alone,advocacy and attitude.
And basically, hey, you canfeel like you're alone as any
human can, and sometimes youfeel like you're alone because
you have limb loss, because Icould walk into a Cardinals game
and I'll be the only one therewith one hand, but that's okay,
(28:25):
there's nothing wrong with that.
Same with self-advocacy.
I personally don't wear aprosthetic and I've never had to
be my own advocate necessarilymaybe within the job market for
being a limb loss and being anadvocate.
But I did.
Through my cancer journey Ireally had to be loud and others
in my life had to be loud whenI wasn't able to be.
And then attitude.
(28:45):
I think attitude is just hey,you know what.
I have one hand, I like it.
It doesn't mean everyone thatis within the limb loss
community is going tonecessarily like their own
journey or like their ownsituation, but it's okay to like
yourself, no matter howphysically you are.
So those are the three thingsI'm going to be talking about
next week with the Hanger Clinic.
I'm very honored to do that.
(29:06):
And then in May I'm going tohave a show on May 11th and
actually you know we're makingthe announcement here.
I posted something to Facebookbut I haven't really made any.
I haven't talked to anybodyabout it but it's called.
It's a takeoff of the we're NotStump podcast called I'm Not
Stump and what it is isbasically the talk that I've
been giving very fortunate togive to corporations and things
(29:28):
like that just about my life andabout the great people that
have been part of my life that Ithink give me the attitude that
I'm able to have, and thatstarts with my mom and dad, for
that, without a doubt, currentlyyou know my wife, my kids, my
brother, my sister, my greatfriends.
You know there's so many peopleI know and then I've been
fortunate to do some interestingthings.
I played Danny in the Trial ofBilly Jack back in the day I was
(29:50):
on the Crow Bullers tour.
So it's just really one of thosethings that I bring everything
together and I hope the missionis to have people look a little
differently at people like me,or maybe look within themselves
and go you know what I'm okay,you know, it doesn't matter if
I'm a little bit different.
I can still achieve things andI can still look for that next
(30:11):
bucket list.
I didn't even get on stagemyself, so that, like I said,
it's going to be May 11th, aSaturday May 11th.
There's two shows one at two,one at four and tickets will
soon be available on theHerberger Theatre website.
It is not currently there yetbecause I'm still working on
some of the technicalities andmaking sure that I get them
everything they need, includingartwork and things like that.
(30:32):
So I'm really looking forwardto it.
Kristin LaVanway (30:34):
Yeah, that's at the Herberger.
Mike Bolland (30:36):
Yes.
Kristin LaVanway (30:37):
Wow.
Mike Bolland (30:38):
Yeah.
Kristin LaVanway (30:39):
That's awesome , that's like our.
Radio City Music Hall orsomething like our Phoenix.
I mean, that's a big time show.
Mike Bolland (30:49):
Well, it's in the Studio West, which is their
medium.
They have something called theCax Theatre which I think sits
between 75 and 100.
They have Stage West, the oneI'm going to be doing, which is
about 250 to 300.
And then they have, like, theirgrand ballroom and I apologize
to the Herberger Theatre.
I don't remember what their big, what their big theater is
called, but that sits like 700people.
(31:10):
That's not the one I'm in, I'min the medium-sized one, looking
to get the word out however Ican on that show and I'm sure
I'll be a bucket of nervesbefore that show, but I'm really
looking forward to it.
Yeah, I'm excited for you.
Kristin LaVanway (31:24):
I've seen your evolution of that presentation
and I think it's veryentertaining, for sure, and
surprising at some of theadventures you've had in your
life, I think Well, you knowwhat's interesting.
Mike Bolland (31:40):
Oh, Gwen, I'm sorry.
Kristin LaVanway (31:41):
Oh, it's just.
It is a good lesson to justlike we were saying at the
beginning don't wait to dothings that you want to do.
Just go out and do it and seewhat happens.
Mike Bolland (31:53):
Well, isn't that part of your story as well?
You had to get up on stage thefirst time.
Kristin LaVanway (31:58):
Oh yeah, well, I did.
Yeah, I come at it from thebecause I have an engineering
degree, so my joke is alwayswell, it's not rocket science.
I say that about everything.
It's not rocket science.
Mike Bolland (32:12):
What a great degree.
Kristin LaVanway (32:14):
That's my justification.
Mike Bolland (32:17):
That's a great degree, congratulations.
Kristin LaVanway (32:20):
Yeah, and that's why I sell real estate
now.
That's a long story in itself,but that's awesome.
What comedy shows coming up.
Mike Bolland (32:32):
I don't have any coming up.
The reason why is because I'mputting so much effort towards
this show that I'm making surethat I'm practicing everything,
Although I will say that I'llgive it away.
Probably the first seven to 10minutes of the show is my comedy
.
It's about looking at my lifeas a one-handed person, maybe
looking at two-handed people ina funny way.
Hopefully they won't getoffended.
(32:53):
I mean, we'll see how theythink.
So I am doing that, I ampracticing that.
Maybe I'll even show up on aThursday night and try that
first seven minutes, because wegot a yes the Thursday night.
Mike, that Kristen is so greatat MCing and actually Saturday.
Kristin LaVanway (33:07):
at the other At Jerry's Coffee Cheap Gallery,
our favorite little coffee shopin downtown Mesa.
Mike Bolland (33:11):
Place is great.
Hey, even if you don't want toget on stage.
It's always a great show,whether it's a Saturday or a
Thursday, and they have a lot ofthings going on.
I know you know a lot moreabout Jerry's than I do, but
I'll tell you what you want agreat cup of coffee, tea and
have a snack.
That place is fantastic.
Kristin LaVanway (33:28):
And it's always feeling good.
You just always feel good whenyou leave there, absolutely.
Mike Bolland (33:33):
The owners are so welcoming.
That place is fantastic, hiddengem in Mesa it is.
Kristin LaVanway (33:37):
And it's a great Mike, and if you ever want
to start comedy, it's a greatplace to start Come to that.
Saturday Mike, don't swear, ifyou come on Saturday, I keep it
clean.
Mike Bolland (33:47):
That Mike is perfect to start at.
Actually, I wish that wasavailable to me when I was
starting.
It's that good.
Kristin LaVanway (33:54):
It really is.
It's really good.
Well, this was great.
I mean my first podcast, woo.
So I really appreciate it andtell people really quick how
they can watch your podcast.
We're not stumped.
Mike Bolland (34:09):
Yeah, the podcast URL is we're not stumpedcom and
basically what it is.
I interview other people in thelimb loss community, but I also
expand to family members,because there has to be a
caregiver in some of thesesituations, plus people in the
industry who make prosthetics.
So it's quite a bit there andit's available in all the major
platforms, whether it be Appleor Spotify, youtube it's on all
(34:34):
of those platforms.
Thank you for allowing me toplug that.
Kristin LaVanway (34:39):
For sure, for sure.
Well, that's it.
Thank you so much, and we'llsign off.
I need a good ending for mypodcast.
I'll think about what that'sgoing to be, for right now I'm
just going to be seeing nexttime.
Mike Bolland (34:54):
Thank you so much for helping me out.
Kristin LaVanway (34:56):
I really appreciate it.
My thanks once again to MikeBullen for joining me today on
the podcast.
It's great to have you, mike.
Be sure to check out hisnonprofit at
joanmariehelpinghandsorg and hispodcast at we'renotstumpedcom.
And until I see you again, goout and have some laughs, buy a
house and kind of work on thatending.
Hello and welcome to Arizona laughs and
listings, the podcast where funand funny folks get together and
talk about real estate andcomedy to completely unrelated
topics.
That goes surprisingly welltogether.
I'm your host, kristen Levanway, a real estate agent here in
the Phoenix Metro area for 19years, as well as a local stand
(00:23):
up comedian.
My very first guest on thisvery first podcast is the very
funny and very handy Mr MikeBoland.
I'm so excited to have you hereand have you start my journey
with me is Mike Boland.
Mike is a good friend I'veknown for quite I don't know how
(00:45):
many years we've known eachother yeah, probably more than
we realize and he's a comedianfriend, but we also are in
Toastmasters together and he hasa wonderful nonprofit that I'd
love for you to tell us a littlebit about.
Mike Bolland (01:01):
Oh, I'd love to talk about that.
Thank you for having me on, bythe way, I really appreciate it.
Kristin LaVanway (01:04):
Oh, it's my pleasure, absolutely.
Mike Bolland (01:06):
So I was born without a hand.
I was born without my righthand and as I was growing up, I
really have to give it up to myparents and the great things
that they did for me, because mystory isn't one of boy.
You know what was me?
I have one hand.
My story is actually like, yeah, let's go, I got one hit, I
like it.
I mean, that's just my say.
That's why I get up on stageand make a fun myself, or I make
(01:26):
fun of two handed people,probably more than they should,
but that is what it is andthat's all because of my parents
.
So what I did and they'veunfortunately passed, but what I
did was start a nonprofit goingon two years ago now, called
the Joe Murray Boland helpinghands, and what we try to do is
help people in the limb loss andlimb difference community
adjust to life.
Not everyone was born like me.
(01:47):
Some it's accident, sometimesit's medical and a lot of times
there's issues beyond theprosthetic that need to be
addressed.
And that's what we're trying todo.
We're trying to be a resourcefor many things for mental
health, for, maybe, jobplacement, but certainly for
prosthetics to, and we'reputting people together as well
that maybe are like each other.
I've met other people that areborn without a right hand or
(02:09):
without a hand, just like me,and it's interesting the
conversations you can get into.
Some of these things you haveshared experiences.
Sometimes you don't, butgetting those people together
and having conversations is verycathartic for people and we're
here to help in any way we can.
Joe Murray Boland's helpinghandsorg is the website and, a
(02:29):
matter of fact, you didsomething for me with that
organization.
You were on the very firstcomedy for prosthetics comedy
show we had Right and I get JPs.
Absolutely so.
Thank you so much for doingthat.
I appreciate that.
Kristin LaVanway (02:42):
Yeah, that was a fun show.
Mike Bolland (02:44):
It was.
Kristin LaVanway (02:45):
That just goes to show you.
That's the thing about comedyis.
You know, people think of itonly as Netflix specials, but
the level that we're at which isnot Netflix, at least not yet,
and maybe not ever, I don't know.
But there's a lot you can do inyour communities just as far as
helping organizations, workingwith businesses and, of course,
(03:09):
networking with some reallyinteresting, creative people.
Mike Bolland (03:13):
Yes.
Kristin LaVanway (03:13):
I think the comedy community is a lot of fun
.
There's some really cool peoplethat I've met that I would
never have met in in any othercapacity.
Mike Bolland (03:22):
So I love it.
I love it.
Yeah, I do too.
I agree with you.
Kristin LaVanway (03:27):
So I'm going to try my little banner thing
here.
Let's see Okay, this is mygreat, I should put that on
first.
Oh nice.
It is our first podcast andwe're just I'm clunking through
this one, but doing great.
We're going to talk about ourfirst first moment, my first
year first.
So how did you get started incomedy?
Mike Bolland (03:52):
That goes back to 2016.
Actually, I should.
I'll even go back even further.
It's one of those bucket listitems I think most of us that
have actually done it have hadfor many years, and that's my
story.
I wanted to do this probablywhen I was in my 20s and, lo and
behold, not until my 50s that Itry it.
But the reason why I waited solong is because life didn't hit
me in the face like it did in2016, when I went through a
(04:14):
cancer battle.
And going through that cancerbattle, it was one of those
things that you realize lifeisn't guaranteed and, hey, I
think we all know that, we allsay that, we all, to a certain
extent, live it.
But when it's really somethingthat hits you in the face, well
then I think you start to takeaction, and that's what I did.
I wish I wouldn't wait so long.
So anyone that's listeningdon't make my mistake Start as
(04:35):
soon as you can.
But after the cancer scarecoming out through the other
side, I wanted to try comedy.
So I knew a common friend,laura Wheeler.
She worked at the sameorganization I was working at
and I approached her aboutgiving it a shot.
And she's not only a greatcomedian.
She's a great writer and agreat coach.
I mean, I can say so manythings about Laura and she
(04:56):
invited me to a class back inthe old comedy spot back in the
day in Scottsdale.
I remember walking up to thecomedy spot and one of the first
people I saw was Gavin Bloom,by the way, another fantastic,
another fantastic comedian.
He was talking about the greatpeople you can meet in comedy.
He's another one, you know.
But I also remember how scared Iwas just to even go to the
(05:19):
comedy class.
I was petrified, I didn't evenknow how to.
But I just remember walking in.
I was scared, you know what.
And but I'll tell you what.
It's been one of the funnestthings, as you said, because of
the people you meet and becauseof you know the challenge, and I
think it's a challenge everytime you get up there, right,
I'm scared.
Every time I get up, regardlessof what, regardless of how cool
(05:40):
I look, because I don't evenknow if I look cool.
But Even if I look confident,I'm probably inside going uh-oh,
you know what's gonna happenhere.
Kristin LaVanway (05:48):
But when you get funny, that you say that
because everybody says it,everybody's terrified and but I
mean, you don't look it whenyou're performing and people
have said that to me as well butinside we're dying and we're
like that.
Why did I do that?
Why am I doing this?
What am I crazy?
Mike Bolland (06:06):
What bucket did I want to fill?
I mean, it's like a way, butAfterwards it's great.
There's no better.
There's two feelings that I getout of it.
There's no better feeling whenyou're up there and you make
people laugh.
I don't think there's a betterfeeling.
And then when you get off andyou reflect on what you've
accomplished Even if it's, itdoesn't matter at what level at
(06:28):
that point, it doesn't matterwhere it's a Netflix special
special or it's a Open mic youshould get off that stage and
feel proud of yourself fortaking the chance and getting up
there, because it will make youfeel good.
Kristin LaVanway (06:39):
Oh exactly, and then you just can't wait to
do again.
Go work on your bits, you knowit's, polish them up.
You know they need a new idea.
You're like all excited to workon it.
So yeah, it's a whole process.
Mike Bolland (06:52):
There's nothing better than getting that goofy
little idea while you're drivingdown the road.
Of course, we can't, you know,write it down.
Kristin LaVanway (06:59):
I write it while you're not crashing your
car.
Mike Bolland (07:01):
Well, that's your two-handed people, because you
could text and drive me.
I mean, I here's what I do.
I have an MP3 player that Iactually a recorder that I
actually will record on.
I know you can do it on thephone, but it's hard for me to
control my phone, so it's justgot I.
Kristin LaVanway (07:14):
Gotcha but if you don't record it at that
moment, turn remember later,forget it you never will gone.
Mike Bolland (07:21):
Yes, yep, I agree.
Kristin LaVanway (07:23):
All right, what about your first house?
Mike Bolland (07:27):
My first house was in 1994.
We bought it, my wife and I.
Actually, I would say that itclosed December is either
December 30th of 1994, and wemoved in January 1st I can't
remember exactly the date, butit was.
I can tell you exactly thehouse too.
It was on the corner of Cooperand Elliot.
(07:48):
There's only one house on thecorner of Cooper and Elliot,
it's on the South West corner ofCooper and Elliot, and it was
great.
I mean, especially at the timeyou talking about, you know, mid
90s, there was nothing on thatcorner.
Now it's, you know, a pretty,pretty big, pretty big corner.
But we moved out of that.
(08:08):
We lived there for seven years,but it was nothing better than
having that house and we hadboth of our kids there, sabrina
and Brianna, my wife Trish, andit was a great house for us.
And I really, you know, lookback and you know, think to
those times and sometimes, justlike everyone else, like owning
your first car, which I happento still own, my very first car
(08:30):
sometimes I look back to that.
Sometimes you look back and go,gosh, that was a great house,
we should never got rid of it.
Maybe I should have rented it,but it is what it is.
Kristin LaVanway (08:39):
It is, yeah.
How did it feel, though?
What do you think that it wasan easy process to buy that
first house?
Mike Bolland (08:46):
It wasn't easy for me for a variety of reasons.
I had never gone through theprocess before, so and my wife
and I were.
I don't know if things havechanged.
You're the expert here, but boythe the amount of Papers we had
to initial and sign, and read,and sign and read.
I mean, with one hand my handscramping up, I'm like, okay, you
know, just, yeah, give me anink pad and I'll just stop.
(09:06):
You know, do a stump print onit.
I mean, that's, that's kind ofthe way I was thinking.
But but we went through it.
And for another reason the whereI was working at the time, I
had to get off early from work.
If, whatever reason you know,sometimes these things happen my
manager didn't want to let meoff early.
So we're talking like I gotthere about 15 minutes before I
had to get there.
My wife's already waiting forme and we had to blast through
(09:27):
this paperwork.
And because of where I workedat the time, I wasn't even clean
.
I was working in the stores ohyeah, changing tires.
No, I won't say the company,but yeah, I was a mess.
So but it went through.
So mine was a little different,maybe a little harder, because
more of the complexities ofgetting Leaving my work, but
other than that it was fine.
Kristin LaVanway (09:48):
It sounds like something I've heard many times
.
Yes, of course, now they domobile notaries.
So that makes it easier.
Sometimes they can just come toyou, and that does help.
Mike Bolland (09:58):
Yes, back in 1994.
Kristin LaVanway (09:59):
I don't they didn't have a lot of this
electronic gizmo stuff we havenow no, it was like a Morse code
.
Mike Bolland (10:05):
I believe yeah or Machines.
Things have come a long waysince then and I don't know if
you know this, but we actuallydo own a second house now and
it's kind of a.
We have a cabin, you know, andwe call it a cabin.
It's really a house up inVernon, arizona, which is close
to Sholo, and the nice thingabout this house is it's
(10:27):
something that her dad, mywife's dad, built.
Her mom and dad, but they allthe family before I was part of
the picture all got together andreally kind of put their hands
and into building it and theybuilt it themselves and it's
really neat.
It's great place.
We own the plot that it's on,plus two additional plots up
there in Vernon.
(10:48):
And you know, unfortunately herdad passed away in 2000 and her
mom spent some time up there forthe next few years, I'd say,
and then after that her momdecided that she didn't want to
maintain the house any longer.
So she offered it up to both mywife's brother and sister and
they decided for whatever reasonit could have been, financial,
(11:10):
could have been they didn't wantto edit responsibility as a
voting in another house, but I,when my wife asked me, I said,
yeah, well, let's get that,whatever case, and it took a lot
for us to get it.
At that time we weren't asfinancially secure, but now we
own it outright and my girlshave grown up there.
We do a lot of quadriding, youknow we do make s'mores and play
games.
(11:31):
Really like it.
Kristin LaVanway (11:32):
That's nice, get out of the heat.
Mike Bolland (11:34):
Yes, absolutely, I'll probably go up there.
We're recording this in March.
I'm probably gonna go up therein a couple days.
Just make sure that it was goodafter the winter, because I
have to winterize and all that.
But love it, love it.
Kristin LaVanway (11:45):
That's amazing , that's.
That's very cool.
That's very lucky that you guysget to have that.
Mike Bolland (11:52):
It was definitely luck, it was definitely wasn't
skill, that's for sure.
Kristin LaVanway (11:58):
Skill overrated right.
Mike Bolland (11:59):
Yeah, I mean it's like juggling.
Well, I don't juggle, butanyway Well oh I had a juggler.
I don't know I could jugglelike this, but you know, I guess
to that I'll practice.
Kristin LaVanway (12:11):
All right.
The next segment are yourfavorite rooms.
So what's your favorite room ineither of your houses?
Mike Bolland (12:21):
In the house I'm in right now, and I wouldn't
have said this a Year and a halfago, but it is the room I'm in
right now.
Now we have an older house,built in the 70s, late 70s, and
so it has a sunk in front livingroom.
You know one of those.
Kristin LaVanway (12:35):
Oh yeah.
Mike Bolland (12:35):
Yeah, one of those sunk in and we pretty much
Passed by.
When we're entering the houseand just look at, oh, there it
is.
I mean I you get in thebackground.
I have some old radios andthings like that, but it was
more of a display purpose andnever spent time in here.
Now it's like my den.
(12:56):
I put up some barn doors whereI can close everything and I
this is where I record my we'renot stumped podcast.
And that's why it's so importantto me and I probably I
shouldn't even say probably Ispend more time in this room
right now than any other room inthe house, because if I'm not
discussing or having a guest onmy podcast, I'm editing the
(13:17):
podcast or doing other businessrelated things around, other
things I'm pursuing in my life.
So right now this is not onlythis is is my favorite room,
correct?
Kristin LaVanway (13:27):
Yes.
Mike Bolland (13:27):
Yeah, right now this is my favorite room and
then the house up north it'sjust the, the, the family room,
because it's it's about it's athousand square feet.
It's not a big house, but thekitchen and the family room are
kind of, you know, one or all inone, and it's just fun because
you know we'll play games inthere and make, make breakfast
(13:48):
in there and it's just a greatroom.
Kristin LaVanway (13:52):
Oh yeah, I'm sure there's so many good
memories that you're that youhave.
You know, just think about thattrip and that trip and that's
interesting.
You know people think abouthaving a big fancy house, but
that doesn't sound like it's abig fancy house.
Mike Bolland (14:09):
It's, it's a, I would say neither one of them,
but neither one of our housescurrently are.
It's one of those things that,while I was working in my career
, there was a decision that wecould have made to get a bigger
house.
But you know, this is just.
Everything is a personaldecision, right?
My wife and I made the decisionof hey, we've, we, we move.
One time with the girls myyoungest at the time was she
(14:30):
wasn't even three years old butthen my girls have grown up in
this house and they, they come.
My youngest was over earliertoday and she took a nap.
It's so comfortable for themhere that we don't want to get
away from this house.
There's so many memories forthem here that we're going to
continue to stay here, and youknow we're very much.
You know there's alwayssomething to do, though, right?
(14:52):
You know, yesterday I put in anew reverse osmosis system and
today, today, I'll be putting innew front faucet as well,
because you know these thingshappen.
But that's true.
Kristin LaVanway (15:02):
Especially if you have a house from the 70s.
Mike Bolland (15:04):
Absolutely, and we've done everything.
I'll tell you what we've tornthis place up.
I mean, you know we used to.
What do they call?
Was it a galley kitchen?
You know the kind where, like a, built like a horseshoe?
Kristin LaVanway (15:15):
I don't know, oh, right, right, yeah, yeah.
Mike Bolland (15:18):
Well, I tore that off and just made it, you know,
much bigger room.
And then we went to IKEA andput some new cabinets up and,
you know, just make it more ofour own.
And I enjoy doing that.
Even though I have one hand,I'd like to think I'm handy, you
know.
Yeah, I know, but I'll do.
I'm not licensed or anythinglike that.
(15:39):
I will do my own plumbing,which I really learned up north.
I learned how to plop, becauseif you have a busted pipe,
especially, you know, 20 yearsago in Vernon, I can't tell you
how long it'd be to try to getsomebody there to do it.
Like, all right, well, let'ssweat some pipes.
And now, of course, with the,the pecs and things and the
shark bites, and a little biteasier, but I'll still do
(16:00):
whatever it takes to fix a house.
So I love doing it.
I love, I love, I love homeimprovement, diy.
Kristin LaVanway (16:06):
It can be really satisfying.
It can be frustrating too, butI think when you can get those
projects done and, like you said, you make the house your own,
and that's interesting whenpeople are buying a home, you
know, I think sometimes youfocus on things that years later
you're not even going to thinktwice about because you've added
things to the home or you'veyou know.
(16:27):
It's just interesting whatbecomes important to you later
on.
I think it's an interestingaspect of real estate.
Mike Bolland (16:33):
We know I can relate to that because we help
my daughter get a townhouse or acondo.
The townhouse is to the ground,is that correct?
Kristin LaVanway (16:41):
Yeah, townhouse.
Usually they're two story patioarea.
Mike Bolland (16:45):
Okay, that's, that's exact.
So in 2019, actually beforesome of the pricing went crazy
and so we went and looked at abunch.
I got, to be honest, my wifeand my daughter looked more than
I did, but even when I wasavailable, because I was working
at the time but even when I wasavailable, I looked at quite a
bit.
But to me and this is just mewhen you look at a house, I
think you have to look at beyondwhat, especially like a load
(17:08):
bearing wall, hey, but the loadbearing obviously does not much
you can do, especially on a DIY.
Things can be done, but maybenot somebody like me.
But if you could look beyondthat, you could really see the
possibilities.
I mean, when we moved in, whenshe moved in, when she bought it
, she had a very early to mid80s kitchen and you know white
(17:28):
fixtures and the brown cabinets.
It just oh, and then a littlelittle porthole or a porthole is
not the correct term but shehad the like a breakfast bench
or whatever.
That looked into the kitchen,but it seemed like there was
only a foot of being able tolook in.
Kristin LaVanway (17:46):
Did it have the cabinets, that kind of hang?
Mike Bolland (17:48):
down.
Kristin LaVanway (17:48):
Yes, yes, yes, if you bump your head on it all
the time.
Mike Bolland (17:52):
Tore those out.
I tore those out and I tore outpart of the wall and expand.
I mean, it was just it's funbecause if you could look at
those things and go, well, okay,that's not in surmato, of
course you have to a littleblood, sweat and tears, as they
say, a lot of sweat equity, butit's worth it If you can do that
.
It's so worth it and I love it.
And immediately you know we gotthat house for, let's say,
(18:14):
about $10,000 less than theaverage was going on in that
townhouse.
But by the time we were donewith probably well, let's say,
we put 10,000 in and I'm sure ifI looked it up I can figure it
out.
But by the time we were doneand it was so modern she already
had 10 to 20,000 dollars ofequity in that house.
So it was just one of those andthen she loved it.
(18:35):
She's still there.
Kristin LaVanway (18:36):
Right.
Mike Bolland (18:37):
And it's her.
That's awesome.
Like you said, it's hers.
Kristin LaVanway (18:40):
Yeah, and it's her first house and you know,
unless she has a reason to move,she's got a place for however
long which is what people needto think about is, you know, in
2019, maybe that payment was alittle bit of a stretch for her
at that time, but if you look atrents back then compared to now
and her house payment, which isnow the same, yes.
(19:02):
It's the long game.
Mike Bolland (19:05):
And she was looking for apartments.
She was looking for two bedroomapartments to bring on a
roommate and I was like, hey, Ithink it might be worth looking
for, like a townhouse or a condoor whatever.
And then you know she's verysmart, she's got her master's,
she's.
Oh yeah, that makes sense.
It was just more my experienceas a person as opposed to her
(19:25):
knowledge, and you know she getsit Same thing, though.
So she moved in, got herroommate and the income from her
roommate actually paid hermortgage.
So, oh, wow, right there, andit was a good deal for her
roommate too.
Yeah, and her roommate got agreat deal too, because, to your
point, at the time rent was andit's probably still crazy, so
(19:48):
her roommate couldn't havegotten a better deal, and
obviously she couldn't haveeither.
And they end up being theirgreat friends and with the
college together.
So she's since moved out, she'sgot a boyfriend and they're
living it.
So now she's alone, now mydaughter's alone, but all good.
Kristin LaVanway (20:01):
Yeah, it is good.
It is good.
All right, we're going to moveon to the next segment, which I
like to call the real estaterundown.
So I, as I said before westarted, talked to real estate
agents all the time about this.
There's tons of videos andeverything about stats and
whatever, and I think mostpeople are bored by that.
(20:23):
So I want to give you a coupleof tidbits and also hear what
you've been hearing and justkind of see what we make of it
all.
So the big thing right now thateverybody's focused on is
interest rates.
So I watch a index called themortgage news daily index and it
(20:44):
has been hanging right aroundbetween, I'd say, 6.8 and 7.14
months.
It edged down last week.
It's back up to 6.92.
So when you get a mortgage loan, it might not be right there
because a lot of it depends onyour credit, your income, all
kinds of factors.
So your lender will give youthe rate, but it's just a way to
(21:08):
compare where rates are.
Everybody's waiting for ratesto come down, because then
houses are more affordable.
The FHA loan which a lot ofpeople use the FHA loan for
their first home is about a halfa percent less.
So if you've got an FHA loan,you would probably pay less in
interest.
And then the VA loan which ifyou have, if you've been in the
(21:30):
military and you can get that VAloan, it's a zero down really
great way to get that firsthouse for sure.
And that interest rate usuallyis around what FHA is.
It's the same, right now about6.42.
So I don't know if you've heard, what have you been hearing
about interest rates?
Mike Bolland (21:50):
I think I got to be honest.
I think this segment thatyou've come up with is brilliant
, because I am not in the realestate game.
I'm not looking for a house.
The last house we bought,helped my daughter buy, was four
and a half years ago three anda half years ago.
So you're going to get what Ihear, which is just you know,
like out in the ether who knows.
(22:14):
I heard that the rates werehigher.
I didn't know how high.
It was interesting.
Listening to you, I wasn't surehow high they were.
I did hear that they had goneup.
But here's another thing thatI've heard and I can't, like I
said, it's a great segmentbecause this is just like word
on the street.
This is just me.
I also think that what I hear,or what I'm feeling, is that
(22:35):
houses, they did peak and theymay have come down a little bit,
but maybe not as much as a lotof people thought they were.
So they've kind of maybestabilized to a certain extent.
But to your point earlier andthis is the biggest question, if
you can afford to get into ahouse, I'd always recommend
getting into a house instead ofwaiting for these things to come
(22:56):
down.
It's like waiting for yourpresents at Christmas.
You may not get exactly what youwant, but you can't make a bad.
In my opinion, you can't make abad choice or bad decisions by
moving forward and making aninvestment into you, your life
and your future by buying ahouse.
That's just always the way I'vealways thought.
Kristin LaVanway (23:16):
Yeah, I think that's a very good point.
I think people are waiting andthey're thinking that the house
prices are gonna come down.
I've heard that.
I've been hearing people saythat Since 2000.
Yeah, easily 13, 14.
You know the bottom of themarket was 2011 and once he
started going up a little bit, Iwas like, well, they're gonna
(23:37):
come down anytime now andthey're just not.
There's no, nothing right nowthat's gonna make home prices
come down.
They come up a little bit.
I think the average is probablyabout six percent, typically,
depending on what area you'relooking at and price range
you're in.
The average house is in Arizona.
(23:58):
Phoenix area has probably goneup about six percent since last
year.
So you have to decide if you'rewaiting.
You know if you could havebought a house last year but you
said, oh, I'll just wait.
Well, I don't know, was that agood move or not?
Mike Bolland (24:14):
I don't know.
I mean you're the professional,but I would say it probably
wasn't, and I always equate itto you.
Could look at anything, andeveryone looks at the bubble and
gets infactuated by that.
And it's the same thing ifyou're watching sports, that
you're watching Patrick Mahomesand go.
Well, everybody should be ableto play quarterback like that.
Well, no, that's not the way hegoes.
This is a special talent andBubbles aren't always gonna
(24:34):
happen, but they're probablygonna happen again.
And where do you want to be?
I mean it.
It Try to get.
This could be early for thenext bubble, you don't know.
So to expect it to just go down, that's that be hedging the
bets more than I wouldpersonally do.
But again, that's.
I already own a couple houses.
So that's just, man, I'm notlooking to move right.
Kristin LaVanway (24:54):
That's the nice thing is.
Once you get settled in, youknow, unless you're selling your
house, you don't really carewhat the whole bubble concept.
So I've I've seen this, thischart of home prices.
In the United States there'sthis federal Tracking system
that looks okay, then I alreadyI'm just joking go ahead.
Mike Bolland (25:13):
if it's federal, that I don't believe it, it's a
joke.
Kristin LaVanway (25:15):
Oh, it's still , I know, but it's.
It tracks home prices from likethe 70s till present and it
kind of looks like this I don'tknow where's my hand.
Okay, there it is, there's me.
So it kind of goes up and thenit gets to that bubble part and
it goes like this and it goeslike this and then it goes like
this Once you average everythingout, that was such an anomaly
(25:38):
that hold that whole thing.
Mike Bolland (25:39):
Yes, yes, there's still a trend line there.
Right, there's still a trendline and the trend line is up.
It's exactly.
There could be peaks andvalleys, but it's exactly.
Kristin LaVanway (25:50):
Yeah, so you could wait, but I don't know
that's worth it or not.
The other thing I think isinteresting I'm gonna throw out
to you because I don't.
I think we're both in the sameboat.
I don't know about you, but Idon't own a million dollar house
and I don't think I ever will.
Well, if you live long enough,yeah, your house be worth Good
point but the luxury market isOut of control, like those,
(26:15):
houses are not only selling likecrazy, but they're going up in
price like crazy, which is soweird.
Yeah, you know, once you havemoney, you have money, I guess.
Mike Bolland (26:28):
I'll let you know that ever happens.
Kristin LaVanway (26:31):
Yeah, I'm with you there.
I'm happy in my little normalmiddle-class lifestyle.
But there's a one stat I sawthat homes over a million dollar
, or over ten million dollars.
The the month over month pricewent up 36.9%.
Like wow, that's just a crazystatistic.
(26:53):
Wow it's crazy.
So I don't know.
There's just a different world.
Yeah, we don't live in.
Mike Bolland (27:01):
No, I wouldn't even know where to begin on that
one, that's.
Thank you for sharing that stat, though that's a very
interesting statistic.
I'll have to get new friends.
Kristin LaVanway (27:08):
Maybe, or just get that Netflix special.
Mike Bolland (27:11):
Yes.
Yes, maybe then that's whatwe're working towards.
Kristin LaVanway (27:14):
I don't know.
Even if I had a Netflix special, I think I'd still want my
little house.
You know what I mean.
Mike Bolland (27:18):
Yes.
There's too many memories here,I agree.
Kristin LaVanway (27:22):
Yeah, it's true, it's what you put in the
house that makes it special.
Mike Bolland (27:27):
Mm-hmm, so I completely agree.
Kristin LaVanway (27:30):
Well, this was fun.
What's what's this?
My next segment here.
Oh, it didn't work.
Okay, there it goes.
What's coming up?
Yeah?
Mike Bolland (27:43):
I do have a show that well.
First of all, next week I'mgoing to be speaking at the
Hanger Clinic.
They have a amputee supportgroup limb loss support group
and they've asked me to speak onMarch 13th, so I'm really
excited about that.
I'm going to talk about thetriple A's of Lim loss and these
are things that I learned,maybe from personal experience,
(28:03):
but also from having the we'renot some podcast, and I'll go
over them real quick.
It's, the triple A's are alone,advocacy and attitude.
And basically, hey, you canfeel like you're alone as any
human can, and sometimes youfeel like you're alone because
you have limb loss, because Icould walk into a Cardinals game
and I'll be the only one therewith one hand, but that's okay,
(28:25):
there's nothing wrong with that.
Same with self-advocacy.
I personally don't wear aprosthetic and I've never had to
be my own advocate necessarilymaybe within the job market for
being a limb loss and being anadvocate.
But I did.
Through my cancer journey Ireally had to be loud and others
in my life had to be loud whenI wasn't able to be.
And then attitude.
(28:45):
I think attitude is just hey,you know what.
I have one hand, I like it.
It doesn't mean everyone thatis within the limb loss
community is going tonecessarily like their own
journey or like their ownsituation, but it's okay to like
yourself, no matter howphysically you are.
So those are the three thingsI'm going to be talking about
next week with the Hanger Clinic.
I'm very honored to do that.
(29:06):
And then in May I'm going tohave a show on May 11th and
actually you know we're makingthe announcement here.
I posted something to Facebookbut I haven't really made any.
I haven't talked to anybodyabout it but it's called.
It's a takeoff of the we're NotStump podcast called I'm Not
Stump and what it is isbasically the talk that I've
been giving very fortunate togive to corporations and things
(29:28):
like that just about my life andabout the great people that
have been part of my life that Ithink give me the attitude that
I'm able to have, and thatstarts with my mom and dad, for
that, without a doubt, currentlyyou know my wife, my kids, my
brother, my sister, my greatfriends.
You know there's so many peopleI know and then I've been
fortunate to do some interestingthings.
I played Danny in the Trial ofBilly Jack back in the day I was
(29:50):
on the Crow Bullers tour.
So it's just really one of thosethings that I bring everything
together and I hope the missionis to have people look a little
differently at people like me,or maybe look within themselves
and go you know what I'm okay,you know, it doesn't matter if
I'm a little bit different.
I can still achieve things andI can still look for that next
(30:11):
bucket list.
I didn't even get on stagemyself, so that, like I said,
it's going to be May 11th, aSaturday May 11th.
There's two shows one at two,one at four and tickets will
soon be available on theHerberger Theatre website.
It is not currently there yetbecause I'm still working on
some of the technicalities andmaking sure that I get them
everything they need, includingartwork and things like that.
(30:32):
So I'm really looking forwardto it.
Kristin LaVanway (30:34):
Yeah, that's at the Herberger.
Mike Bolland (30:36):
Yes.
Kristin LaVanway (30:37):
Wow.
Mike Bolland (30:38):
Yeah.
Kristin LaVanway (30:39):
That's awesome , that's like our.
Radio City Music Hall orsomething like our Phoenix.
I mean, that's a big time show.
Mike Bolland (30:49):
Well, it's in the Studio West, which is their
medium.
They have something called theCax Theatre which I think sits
between 75 and 100.
They have Stage West, the oneI'm going to be doing, which is
about 250 to 300.
And then they have, like, theirgrand ballroom and I apologize
to the Herberger Theatre.
I don't remember what their big, what their big theater is
called, but that sits like 700people.
(31:10):
That's not the one I'm in, I'min the medium-sized one, looking
to get the word out however Ican on that show and I'm sure
I'll be a bucket of nervesbefore that show, but I'm really
looking forward to it.
Yeah, I'm excited for you.
Kristin LaVanway (31:24):
I've seen your evolution of that presentation
and I think it's veryentertaining, for sure, and
surprising at some of theadventures you've had in your
life, I think Well, you knowwhat's interesting.
Mike Bolland (31:40):
Oh, Gwen, I'm sorry.
Kristin LaVanway (31:41):
Oh, it's just.
It is a good lesson to justlike we were saying at the
beginning don't wait to dothings that you want to do.
Just go out and do it and seewhat happens.
Mike Bolland (31:53):
Well, isn't that part of your story as well?
You had to get up on stage thefirst time.
Kristin LaVanway (31:58):
Oh yeah, well, I did.
Yeah, I come at it from thebecause I have an engineering
degree, so my joke is alwayswell, it's not rocket science.
I say that about everything.
It's not rocket science.
Mike Bolland (32:12):
What a great degree.
Kristin LaVanway (32:14):
That's my justification.
Mike Bolland (32:17):
That's a great degree, congratulations.
Kristin LaVanway (32:20):
Yeah, and that's why I sell real estate
now.
That's a long story in itself,but that's awesome.
What comedy shows coming up.
Mike Bolland (32:32):
I don't have any coming up.
The reason why is because I'mputting so much effort towards
this show that I'm making surethat I'm practicing everything,
Although I will say that I'llgive it away.
Probably the first seven to 10minutes of the show is my comedy
.
It's about looking at my lifeas a one-handed person, maybe
looking at two-handed people ina funny way.
Hopefully they won't getoffended.
(32:53):
I mean, we'll see how theythink.
So I am doing that, I ampracticing that.
Maybe I'll even show up on aThursday night and try that
first seven minutes, because wegot a yes the Thursday night.
Mike, that Kristen is so greatat MCing and actually Saturday.
Kristin LaVanway (33:07):
at the other At Jerry's Coffee Cheap Gallery,
our favorite little coffee shopin downtown Mesa.
Mike Bolland (33:11):
Place is great.
Hey, even if you don't want toget on stage.
It's always a great show,whether it's a Saturday or a
Thursday, and they have a lot ofthings going on.
I know you know a lot moreabout Jerry's than I do, but
I'll tell you what you want agreat cup of coffee, tea and
have a snack.
That place is fantastic.
Kristin LaVanway (33:28):
And it's always feeling good.
You just always feel good whenyou leave there, absolutely.
Mike Bolland (33:33):
The owners are so welcoming.
That place is fantastic, hiddengem in Mesa it is.
Kristin LaVanway (33:37):
And it's a great Mike, and if you ever want
to start comedy, it's a greatplace to start Come to that.
Saturday Mike, don't swear, ifyou come on Saturday, I keep it
clean.
Mike Bolland (33:47):
That Mike is perfect to start at.
Actually, I wish that wasavailable to me when I was
starting.
It's that good.
Kristin LaVanway (33:54):
It really is.
It's really good.
Well, this was great.
I mean my first podcast, woo.
So I really appreciate it andtell people really quick how
they can watch your podcast.
We're not stumped.
Mike Bolland (34:09):
Yeah, the podcast URL is we're not stumpedcom and
basically what it is.
I interview other people in thelimb loss community, but I also
expand to family members,because there has to be a
caregiver in some of thesesituations, plus people in the
industry who make prosthetics.
So it's quite a bit there andit's available in all the major
platforms, whether it be Appleor Spotify, youtube it's on all
(34:34):
of those platforms.
Thank you for allowing me toplug that.
Kristin LaVanway (34:39):
For sure, for sure.
Well, that's it.
Thank you so much, and we'llsign off.
I need a good ending for mypodcast.
I'll think about what that'sgoing to be, for right now I'm
just going to be seeing nexttime.
Mike Bolland (34:54):
Thank you so much for helping me out.
Kristin LaVanway (34:56):
I really appreciate it.
My thanks once again to MikeBullen for joining me today on
the podcast.
It's great to have you, mike.
Be sure to check out hisnonprofit at
joanmariehelpinghandsorg and hispodcast at we'renotstumpedcom.
And until I see you again, goout and have some laughs, buy a
house and kind of work on thatending.
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