MikeMooreMedia

Seth M. Woodall & Associates 09.16.24

Attorneys and Counselors at Law Seth Woodall, Matt Warman. Update on second shooting incident targeting Donald Trump, partisan politics. Latest on new Eden office to better serve clients, real estate services.
www.Woodall-Law.com

Duration:: 12m
Broadcast on:: 16 Sep 2024
Audio Format:: mp3

Mike Moore Media. This is Matt Worman here with Seth Whatall. Hey Seth. Hey Matt, good morning. How are you? Good morning. Doing well. Really today, I want to jump into the podcast. I know we always hit a variety of topics, but wanted to start this morning with some kind of breaking news that happened yesterday afternoon with President Trump. Yeah, so you know, there's been a second attempt at President Trump's life. That's kind of what's taken it with the mainstream media right now. And so in looking at what happened, you know, he's just out there playing golf in Mar-a-Lago and we've got a guy who actually is from Greensboro, North Carolina. I think he lives between Greensboro and Hawaii or has contacts to both and has some criminal record had been charged previously with possessing weapons of mass destruction. And you know, he was able to kind of breach the perimeter there at the golf course and almost got an opportunity to try to take President Trump's life. Sorry. I mean, it's a scary situation. We've seen now two assassination attempts on President Trump within the past three four months. You start to wonder what's the root cause behind this? We haven't seen this kind of animosity or political violence in a while. Well, I think partisan politics has led us to a new place in society that is kind of sad. You know, things have become so divisive. There's so much hatred between the parties. There's so much hatred between the supporters of each party. And that's not the way it was originally intended. It was intended to represent individuals in their capacity as our society and to have leaders who would make decisions based on those individual desires. And it became a two-party system. And now it is just so partisan. Here we are. And I think a lot of it, you know, unfortunately comes down to mainstream media in the way that they report the news. Right. I mean, well, you know, the news has become big business. And I think that's part of it, especially, again, like you said, with the mainstream media, you're seeing this idea where they're doing anything they can to drive clicks, to drive sales, to get eyeballs on issues. And unfortunately, it's gotten to a point where they're doing a disservice to Americans, where they are pitting each other, you know, the two groups, the two sides, the two parties against each other. And this is what the culmination of has been. I mean, it's attempt on people's lives. Well, you know, we almost lost President Trump. And whatever side of the aisle you're on, we should not be supporting or even want to entertain, don't want to entertain that we should try to go after a political opponent. You know, it's just a sad, sad day in our society. And to think that, you know, President Trump or any president or anybody is hated that bad that it's actually been too much. You said in the last three or four months, it's been two months since the original attempt on his life. And here we are. There's a second attempt. The guy got away from the scene. They did catch him out on I-95 going into Martin County. And I took him into custody there. So it'll be interesting to see what he's charged with. And it'll be interesting to see if he actually talks and gives up any information. Like I said, he, you know, he voted in the last election here in North Carolina. I think Reuters has indicated or has reported that he was, he has been in opposition to Joe Biden back in 2020. He was very vocal about that. And then recently against President Trump. So obviously, there's some mental health issues going on there. You don't just do things like this without mental health issues. But we'll just have to wait and see what the news reports this week. Right. We'll see a little bit more about the investigation. Like you said, this has a little bit of a hometown effect on us. It seems like he had resided between Ohio and or Hawaii in North Carolina. He had registered recently as an unaffiliated but voted in the Democratic Party primary. But yeah, I mean, again, it looks like there's some mental health issues and it'll be interesting to see what gets reported down the line. Sure thing. So it's interesting because the Department of Homeland Security, the Secret Service is saying that golf courses are one of the most difficult and challenging locations for them to set up a perimeter because it's just wide open space. And so they had said that golf courses are pretty much the most open spaces they'll allow a president to go. Now, I'm not sure how you tell the president they can't go somewhere, but evidently the Secret Service will not allow presidents to get into any more wide open locations than golf. But I think golf has been a big part of many presidents' hobbies over the years. And just where we're at in this world, and hopefully they will learn, I'll tell you this, I'll bet you that security will be ramped up around Marlago in the coming days. Right. Absolutely. Well, and we went to Marlago and we saw how wide open it can really be, even though that they're a Secret Service everywhere, it's still scary that there's opportunities for people to kind of break in like that. Well, it happened yesterday. So we'll just have to see what happens this week. Right. So next up, Matt, we just want to report on the new office. So we're back to business. Yeah. So currently right in the midst of a massive office renovation on Thompson Street, we had purchased five 15 Thompson Street from UNC Rockingham. It was a medical facility. And we've gone in, and when I say completely renovated the interior, it is a complete overhaul. You know, the building was very nice structure, nice bones, but it was set up as a medical facility, which means there were small exam rooms that just can't be utilized for us in our practice. So we have pretty much gutted the entire building and putting it back together. So we've got all the walls framed up. They're moving the electrical service today or this week. And so then we'll start sheet rock and put floors in. And so we're hoping to be ready to move in first of the year. Yeah. I mean, it's going to be a pretty incredible renovation. I mean, really, really cool. And I know we've talked about it in the past, but you know, the office we have right now has been wonderful. I mean, it has been, I think, kind of a stalwart of the community for a long time, but we've just outgrown. We've had people, you know, sitting, walking outside and having to wait outside for their appointment because we're so busy. And this is going to be incredible. I mean, but part of that with that is we are looking to expand the practice that we are going to need to fill some space. Yeah. So we are looking to expand. And we, like you said, Matt, we've got, and we've got girls that staff members that are having to share offices. Every day I go out to get clients out of the lobby. And we've got, we got clients that are waiting out of the parking lot because we just don't have the room for them. So it's kind of a, you know, it makes you feel good that we have that kind of business. But at the same time, we want everybody to be comfortable and be able to get inside. So this move is really much needed. We need more staff now. We can't house them. So we're going to be given an opportunity to become more organized, more efficient, and do a better job with this new office. Right. I mean, not to toot our own horn, but to some degree, it's a testament to the success. But again, part of this is going to be the next challenge. And the next challenge is really expanding the practice, finding areas in which we can start growing our business. And like you said, being more efficient, understanding how when you grow, how you can make that business run the same is when you're able kind of oversee and be a small mom and pop shop. But one of the areas that we really are looking to grow in, and we currently do, is real estate. So I mean, really kind of all facets, whether you're buying a home, selling a home, landlord, tenant issues. This is something that we, I personally really enjoy this area of the law, and that I know you've been helping people for a long time. Yeah. So we've been doing real estate. When I came into the practice back in 2006, Marty Melvin and Jimmy Walker, who became my partners later, had a pretty substantial real estate business. Marty did a ton of real estate closings. And so I was able to just kind of work my way in through the years. And we, you know, I think we do five, six hundred closings a year, probably on average, you know, back when things really were booming in the early 2000s, because of COVID, you know, we got up closer to 800 to 1000. So we have done significant, significant real estate closings. And you know, it's, it's really one of the more pleasant things. Normally, when we sit down at a closing table, it's, it's not adverse parties. It's everybody's happy, someone's selling a home so they can move to another location or they're upsizing because their family's growing. So they're happy to be selling the house because it's a new chapter in their life. The buyers are typically happy. You know, it's a new chapter in their life. They're excited to get in their new home. So most of the time is very pleasant. So we're, we're trying to streamline our processes now. We're trying to, you know, communication is the biggest issue with any law practice. And that's our biggest challenge is being able to communicate. We have hundreds of calls a day on top of emails and walk-ins and, you know, just trying to make sure that we're able to communicate effectively and let everybody know, you know, what's going on with their closing. But we're, we're looking at some new software. We've got new individuals and, you know, Matt's really stepped up and he's, he's helping with the business expansion, the models that we're using. So I'm excited. Yeah, definitely. And like you said, by the time you get to that closing table and you're signing those last documents right before you get to the keys, everyone's happy. But, you know, there's a big part of it where, you know, they say moving is one of the most stressful things you can do in your life. And that's where communication is really key for us. We want to make sure people know that we are there for them along with their real estate agents who, in this community, do a wonderful job walking people through this, you know, this whole process. But it is stressful. And we want to be there for you and make you understand that, hey, as we get through each part of the process. So like if you're buying, we're going to be doing a title examination. We're getting the documents prepared and ready. And when we get to that closing, we want to make sure that everyone knows exactly what they're signing, exactly what's expected of them, what's expected of their lender, and make them feel comfortable because it is a big part of your life. It's a big milestone moment. And people are nervous. Yeah, so I agree 100%. And so we're excited to try to put our new methodology into practice when we get over to Thompson Street. So just a few short months. And I think we're going to become even more efficient than we have been. Right. So in, if you are a buyer, you are a seller, reach out to our office, love for you to speak to our real estate team. And me specifically over in Eden, and I know we do it over in our Madison office, that another part of the real estate is, you know, landlord, tenant type issues, whether you are a renter and you're facing an issue with your landlord or vice versa, you're a landlord, and you have an issue with your tenant that may need legal help. Please feel free to call over to our Eden office. As for Matt, love to sit down with you and walk you through the process because again, those are stressful situations. And those are situations that really need to be handled by the law and in the process. Yeah, so everybody just needs to keep in mind. You know, we do have offices in Eden at 640 fact drive there in Eden. We've got myself, Seth, what all we've got, Matt woman, we have Tim Dugan, and we have Jimmy Walker there. So we have multiple attorneys there. We have even more staff. I can't remember. We probably have eight or nine girls there that work that are sports staff and they're all excellent, excellent employees, excellent to the community and excellent at what they do. So we've got a fully staffed office there in Eden and we pretty much handle everything from small speeding tickets to the most serious complicated business transactions that one could think of in this area. So we kind of run the full gamut there in Eden. Also have an office in Madison on Murphy Street. We've got Ben Tucker. It was his practice for approximately 40 years. I bought him out in 2021. He's remained there working full time. So we've got Ben Tucker. We've got Sam Viscuso when we have Hannah Gailband. And between the three of those individuals, they pretty much handle any kind of transactional law in court that would be necessary here in Rockingham County. So keep them in mind moving forward. If you live on the western side of the county and need anything, we certainly offer a full service law practice there with a great staff and great attorneys just like we do in Eden. Yep. Well, thank you so much guys. Your support means a lot and thank you Mike for having us on. Until next time. Until next time. [BLANK_AUDIO]