Episode 430 - A Year of Change: Bill Risser's 2025 Recap

You're listening to the Real Estate Sessions and I'm your host, Bill Risser. With nearly 25 years in the real estate business, I love to interview industry leaders, up and comers and really anyone with a story to tell.It's the stories that led my guests to a career in the real estate world that drives me in my 10th year and over 400 episodes of the podcast. And now I hope you enjoy the next journey. Hi everybody. Welcome to episode 430 of the Real Estate Sessions podcast.As always, thank you so much for tuning in and thank you so much for telling a friend. And I'll apologize in advance, there is not a whole lot of real estate in this episode, but it's a recap of 2025 and a more of a personal recap.I think a lot of stuff happened in 2025 that affected Cindy and I and a lot of you as well. And I thought that we would focus on that.When I went back and looked at the log 35 sessions posted in 2025, some of those new guests that were very exciting, very interesting, and some of them rewind sessions. You know, that's what I do when I need a little bit of time off. I'm able to kind of just replay some of my favorites and some of your favorites.But that was, you know, a light year because there's a lot of stuff going on in 2025. And I think that, you know, the 10th anniversary of my podcast, which was August of 2025, I announced that I was taking a break from schedule.Like every Tuesday I always posted something for 10 years. I needed a break. I wanted to devote more time to John Biorly as he was in his kind of final chapter.And also I wanted to continue the setup and the work that I'm doing on the die happy tour book. So what I'll share today or just really it's a monologue.I don't have a guest, but I wanted to just share some highlights, personal highlights for 2025. First of all, Kevin and Sarah tied the knot October 4th in Asheville, North Carolina. Really, it was super fun.They secured an incredible Airbnb in the hills north of Asheville. It was about a two mile drive up this kind of narrow road that was part asphalt. Then it switched to dirt and switchbacks included.There were about eight other homes on the way up that had their driveways connecting to this road.And nothing was worse than when the same F150 like mine four times we ran into each other and had to really kind of Maneuver in order to pass each other. It was quite exciting, especially driving that trail at night.I think I went up and down it about 10 times for the wedding and all the supplies and some other stuff. But the house at the top of the hill was fantastic. I mean, the scenery is something Cindy and I have never seen before like that for a wedding.The backdrop was amazing. So that was great. I mean, we had a wonderful time and then it wasn't over. In December, Horace and Seda, Sarah's parents, hosted a reception in Miami.This was for all the people that couldn't make it to the Asheville event because Sarah was born and raised in Miami. They live in Miami. There are about 75 people, some of them coming from as far away as San Diego, others from New York.I mean, we had a really good time. We had a. At the Bayshore Club, that's in Coconut Grove. If you don't know that area, it's just south of the city. Just fantastic.Kind of an old school money place that has developed into this really kind of chic area. So we had a great time there. And then in December, this also happened.Joe Rand, one of the coolest guys in real estate and mayor of the village of Nyack, just north of New York City, announced he's running for the state legislature in 2026. That is awesome. Way to go, Joe. Go get him.One other thing that happened in December was that my aunts Suzanne and Sandy came out from San Diego for the reception in Miami. And so Cindy and I decided to take them to Key west because they'd never been there before, you know, and the drive across the Keys is really cool.It's always the start of a great. So we had a great time at Irish Kevin's bar and with multiple Key lime pie shops, that's required if you go to Key West. And Kermit's was our winner.We really like what they're doing. We watched the sunset from Mallory Square. Another thing you gotta do.And then from there you kind of wander through the marina looking for a place to eat dinner. And of course we found a really cool spot there as well. But the next day I had scheduled a bike tour with Lloyd's Bike Tours.I did this tour about six years ago and I knew they'd like it. And like it is an understatement.Lloyd's been in the Keys since 1972, and his ability to share the stories of the area, the celebrities homes as we ride past, or really bad dad jokes he tells you that leaves you moaning. I Mean, all that stuff was just awesome.And then to wrap it all up at the end of this two and a half hour tour, we finished with a five person drum circle at a preserve right on the water. They let Lloyd keep his gear there so he can show up. And we were just the four of us on this tour, sometimes as many as 10 or 12.But it was just a wonderful way to really see Key west instead of just jumping on the train that drives through all the streets. And the trip really wasn't over yet, right? We had to drive back to Miami. So we're going back across the Keys.So I asked Suzanne to choose a restaurant on the Keys. You know, we'd be crossing over on the way back. And she chose a place called Porky's Barbecue on Marathon Key.We get there, we have the last table that's right on the marina, a table for four. So, you know, we're about six feet above the water, but you can look down at the water and you see all the boats and everything's cool.And Suzanne all of a sudden says, I just think I an alligator. And we're like, well, it's possible in salt water.But Cindy and I took a look and we could see that telltale fluke mark, that half circle that manatees leave when their fluke is moving them through the water. And so we said, no, that's a manatee, Suzanne. Which made her even more excited. She'd never seen a manatee before.And to make it better, it comes swimming right up to our table. Now it's about six feet below us. And then it rolls over on its back. Little tiny flippers are there. And it starts drinking water out of a spigot.And the server comes over and goes, yep, this is where get their fresh water. It's something we help them with or whatever. And so Suzanne's just going crazy. And then she says, what's back over there?I see one big one, but there's a real little one. And the server said right away, well, that little one wasn't there yesterday. So I'm going to assume that was born in the last 24 hours.So now, not only is she seeing manatees for the first time, but she gets to see a baby manatee that's only about three feet long. And it was just unbelievable.So as we get back on Highway 1 to get back to Miami to get them to the airport, she proclaimed this day to be the best day of her life, thanks to Lloyd and the manatee family. So there you go. Finally, 2025 marked the official end of the Die Happy Tour.John passed away in the late morning on November 13th with his sister Lisa by his side. This was a little over two years from the beginning of the Die Happy Tour.He was able to travel the country for about 15 months, seeing old friends, new friends and his hometown of Rome one more time. January 2025 signaled the end of travels. He was just not strong enough to continue.I ended up scheduling four trips from St. Pete to Phoenix to fulfill the promise I made to him to get him on the golf course even if he could not play. The four rounds were spread out from February of 25 to June of 25.Western Skies Agila twice, and the grand finale was TPC Scottsdale, home of the Waste Management Open. The foursome was me, John, his son Paul, and a longtime friend, Vernon.In the early rounds, John would walk much of course, and roll a putt for the player farthest from the hole. But by the time we got to TPC in June, John was struggling with walking and needed most of the time in the cart.One memory for me occurred on the par 3 number 12 at TPC. Bunkers on the left, water on the right. The pin was on the right side of the green. With the water in play, I hit my shot to about a foot.Now, over the last 15 years, I had witnessed John's first, second and third holes in one as my ball slowly rolled in the direction of the pin. I thought he may be there to witness a hole in one for me, but it was not to be. It was so close. But that day would be my last visit to see John.We talked on the phone, we messaged on Facebook, and as he became weaker, his friend Teresa would help me chat with him when he was in his bed. My next journey with John will be finishing the book, and many of the people that knew John will all be getting copies.Finally, I'm not a believer of influence and wishes granted from friends or loved ones that have passed, but some of you may John knew my wish to shoot 75 one more time and to get my handicap back into single digits. We talked about rounds of golf all the time.When Cindy and I headed to Florida on Sunday, December 7, 24 days after John passed, at roughly the same time in the late morning that John passed, I made a par putt on my final hole at Westchase and I shot 74 and my index dropped to 9.3. Come on John, that wasn't you, was it? I didn't think so. Thanks so much for listening to the 2025 wrap up. I'll get more regular in 2026, I promise.Get more Real Estate Sessions episodes out to you. Thank you so much for tuning in again and see you next year. Cheers. Thank you for listening to the Real Estate Sessions.Please head over to ratethispodcast.com resessions to leave a review a rating and subscribe to the Real Estate Sessions podcast at your favorite podcast listening Apple.