- PNC is proud to support "Business Forward," where community leaders discuss the issues confronting business in Central Illinois.

(cheerful music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues) - Welcome to "Business Forward."

I'm your host, Matt George.

Joining me tonight, Michael Maloof.

Michael is president of Jim Maloof REALTOR and many other things in this community.

We're gonna talk a lot today.

Also, my favorite title, he's one of the region's biggest cheerleaders.

Welcome, Michael.

- Thank you, Matt, good to be here.

- Good to be here, man.

I love it.

I love that you're here.

(Michael chuckling) You know, I had talked to you about a year ago, and I said, "I have to have you on."

And the reason why, and you said, "I don't know."

And I said, "No, the reason I need you on has nothing to do with your business or anything else.

It's what you do and your mentality that you have for the community and making it better."

That's my favorite topic on this show because it does equate to business, if you boil it, you know, when you talk about it, but let's start with you.

Talk about your family.

Your family has a very famous name in this town, and so how I always looked at it, 'cause I'm, people think I'm originally from here.

I've lived here 23 years.

I grew up in Danville, Illinois.

- [Michael] Ah.

- But I like to say this is my home.

And when I look at the name Maloof, I think of Jim Maloof.

- [Michael] Yeah, you bet.

- And I think of all of you, really, but isn't it a badge of honor to have that last name?

Do ever think of it like that?

- It is a badge of honor, and I'll tell you what: Dad was the cheerleading mayor three terms, and I think he did so much to make people feel positive about being a Peorian, (Matt chuckling) proud of being from Central Illinois, proud of our ethic, proud of our attachment to our family and our community.

And at the time, I didn't quite know, is that the right term for Dad?

Should he be called a cheerleader?

(Matt laughing) You know, cheerleaders in my growing up was somebody you wish you could have a date with.

- Right.

- But no, he was.

He never let you forget to be proud.

- But think about this: he passed the torch to you, and he did, and it's interesting because I talk about my dad all the time, love him.

He's 76 now, and sometimes, I catch myself 'cause I talk about him too much, and I don't think that ever gets old.

So you know, like, you have your own identity, but you know what, that was your dad, and the impact that he had, it can't ever get old.

- It doesn't.

I have to tell you a short story.

(Matt sniffing) We, at Saint Jude, on another one of our adventures, the Dad, Dad brought Saint Jude to Peoria several, several years ago.

It was back in the 1900s.

And since then, Saint Jude, the affiliate at OSF Hospital, has become such a major force in our pursuit to cure kids with cancer.

I mean, what?

(grunts) So my story.

So I ride with the motorcyclists down to Memphis as we collect money, and we take down about seven or $800,000 a year to the hospital and say, "Here, find a cure.

Find a cure.

- Right.

- Find a cure for cancer, including sickle cell anemia.

Find cures."

That's their, it's a research hospital.

Sitting next to me was a lady, when I went into the foyer, and she looked over at me, and she said, "Are you one of the motorcyclists?"

"Yes, I am."

(sniffs) "I have to, I just have to say thank you.

I'm here with my daughter.

She's so sick.

It just, her dad and I, we can think of nothing else, about curing our daughter."

She was about 12.

She was sitting about two seats away from us.

She looked over, and she said to me.

I didn't say anything.

She said, "I just wanna be a kid."

Now, think about the poignancy of a 12-year-old.

- Wow.

- With cancer, who people talk about, and they're worried, and then, about maybe she's gonna die.

She just wanted to be a kid.

So it gave me an understanding of what made Dad so contagiously.

- And impact.

- Impactful on, "We've got to find an answer to save kids.

For the kids' sake, for their parents' sake, for our community's sake."

- My daughter's 12, so- - Oh.

Speaking of 12-year-olds, yes.

- Right, so when you think of your own kids.

- Mm-hmm.

- And people do when they give, but what I, you know, being in nonprofit myself for many years, is what I always say, is people really, they give, but not everybody understands why they give.

- [Michael] Mm-hmm.

- What happened just there was that crucial moment.

Even though you've had a front-row seat for many years, you've got your why.

- I got my why.

(Matt laughing) - [Matt] Well, that is so cool.

- And (sighs) the generosity of Peoria, not only with Saint Jude, but I think with many of our nonprofits, is just it's phenomenal.

- Yeah.

- We are a generous community.

- Very.

- And we should be proud of ourselves, among all the other reasons that we have.

And can we stop griping about taxes?

Well, maybe not, but if.

(Michael sighing) - (laughs) Right.

- Can we just talk about the good things, then?

- Right.

- Because it makes you happy to talk about good things.

- You know, someone came up to me, and they meant it as a compliment, and they came up to me, and they said.

This was about five, six years ago.

They said, "You've gotta be one of the best or the best fundraiser around."

And I said, "Not even close."

I said, "I'm gonna tell you something.

(Michael chuckling) When you look at Maloof's, Mike McCoy.

- [Michael] Mm-hmm, oh, yeah.

- Those are true fundraisers."

And they're not necessarily as much fundraisers because other people give money, but they're also organizers of process because if you think about, what's the most interesting about Saint Jude and how we raise money in the Peoria area, how you raise money, is it's a year-long process.

And if you use, if you think of the word, if you really take a deep dive into it, it's coordination, and the coordination is the most unique thing, I think, in raising this dollars that I think I've ever seen.

Because if you look at the big companies around, the big foundations or the big fundraising companies around the world, nonprofits, the successful ones are the ones that have the most strategy coordination and process in place, and Saint Jude has that.

So let's say you raise 10 million, and you take those dollars, and you take 'em to Saint Jude.

People sometimes think just cancer or kids' cancer, but it's deeper than that.

It's really mission.

It's really about changing lives, and that 12-year-old young lady, just a sweet story.

But you've had front line optics to the doctors, to the scientists, to the people who are actually curing it, so here's my question to you.

- Yes.

- Picture a time you were down there with your dad, when he was alive, and you got to go into the hospital, and then look at the rates of success 20 years ago, let's say, and now, how many things have been cured 20, 25 years later?

It's phenomenal.

- Mm-hmm.

- Like, do you think of it that way, or do you, when you're looking at raising these dollars?

Because you actually know in your heart where those dollars go, not just to a building, so to speak.

It was a long question.

I'm sorry, but.

- One of the genes that Dad left me was a pool of love, and I loved that little girl.

I loved the fact that maybe I was doing something to help her.

I love the fact that my children are healthy.

So I think it comes from that pool, and that's one of the words you see on Saint Jude tops, but when Dad started out, four out of five children with cancer died.

- [Matt] That's what I was getting at.

I didn't know that stat.

(Michael laughing) But that's what- - Four outta five.

- That's what I was getting at.

- Now, it's one out of five, but you have a lot more kids with cancer.

You know, a lot more kids are showing up, and it's global.

But, you know, I wanna say something else that's just surfaced that you probably know about.

Dad never talked about it.

Mom was never the same, but I had a brother that committed suicide.

(hands rubbing) Dad never talked about it.

He couldn't.

It was too heavy in his heart to talk about.

So UnityPoint has this initiative on youth mental health.

You talk about the good things that come out of our community, Matt.

Think about, think about an organization, UnityPoint, now Carle, now trying to raise $50 million to help, (sighs) to help families that don't have children that feel they have to commit suicide to end their woes.

- [Matt] Right.

- We know it happens too frequently, but it's just another thing to say, (fingers rubbing) "Hey, I'm from Peoria, Illinois.

- That's exactly right.

- You should be proud of me.

I'm doing good things."

- Think about, just to dovetail off that, think about this: you've got Keith Knepp, Dr. Knepp, and you've got Mike Unes and that group with that initiative, huge, and that plays into the nonprofit space heavily.

Schools, families in general.

You've got OSF right now looking at this cancer center that's coming.

- Mm-hmm, oh, yeah.

- And huge, one of the top 15 in the country, the whole country.

You've got Saint Jude, and you've got the children's hospital here.

You've got Illinois CancerCare (Michael chuckling) with some of the top oncologists in the world.

- Yep.

- Dr. Veeder.

When I think of a Dr. Veeder, I don't know if you could ever find a better doctor.

And so when you look at this area, and you think about, 10, 15 years ago, we were caterpillar, and we were this, and we were that.

Now, it's coming to this head of we are becoming the health area of the whole state of Illinois, and that includes Chicago and everything else, and so when you have Saint Louis a couple hours away, Chicago a couple hours away, Indianapolis a few hours away, which, they're good at what they do too, but you also have the option in the middle in Peoria.

- Now, think about the words that you said earlier about how things are coordinated.

You just had Shane Needham in here.

Bio med.

- Right.

- Discovering ways to make medicine more effective.

Now, Shane Needham came here, and he's with the Bradley Entrepreneur Center up on Main Street.

Started this big.

Now, he's getting this big.

Now, there are more medical inventions because bio med has to be a part of our growth plan as well.

- Exactly.

- Not only the treatment, but the research.

Well, I just throw that in there.

- And it's right on, and if you think about too, it just shows when you start putting the pieces together, and you look at Bradley and the importance of Bradley and the Turner Center and- - Oh, my goodness.

- Turner Center and everything.

And then you look at the new companies coming in.

Dr. Needham with Veloxity Labs was just telling me he has people moving to Peoria from Canada, Saint Louis, Philadelphia, and that's something that in the, one of the 50 committees that you're a part of in this town that we've talked about and CEO council and everything else, is how do we take that net migration, let's say, out of Chicago and have those people come to Peoria, Illinois?

And I remember you saying something once, and I think we'll use this as the transition into this nexus.

I remember you saying something once, and it was really interesting, and you said, "Think about this: when you drive into Chicago, as an example, the first, the coolest thing you see is the skyline, but the second best skyline, or biggest skyline, I guess, is, and for us, it's the first, is when you come in from Bloomington, off at 74, and especially at night, when the lights are on, and you see Peoria, Illinois."

Do you remember saying that?

(Michael grunting) And I'll never forget it, and I said, "Do you know what, I'm gonna tell my kids that the next time we drive that way because they need to understand the value of where we live."

- Mm-hmm.

- It's pretty cool stuff.

- Pretty cool stuff, and (throat clearing) talking about driving, and I give tours.

People ask me to give tours about, "I wanna sell Peoria."

Now, obviously, I'm in the real estate business, but that's not what I'm selling.

What I'm selling there is why you want to live here.

People are surprised that we have hills, a beautiful river, (Matt laughing) all these parks.

Oh, the bike trail.

Oh, you can kayak in the river.

Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.

- A museum.

- I mean, before you know it, somebody said, "Oh, wow, this is a good town."

Joshua Gunn, from the, you know Josh.

- The Chamber, yeah.

- A good example.

When he came to Peoria for an interview, he wasn't for sure that, (groans) "Peoria, you know, I'm from Durham.

You know, I."

(laughs) - Yeah, "I'm from the."

Something, yeah.

- You know, "And what's Peoria got to offer me?"

And by the end of the day, he had called his wife and said, "Hey, honey, we should probably give Peoria another look."

So it's one at a time is how we're attracting people to Peoria, Matt.

- I use Brian Ray as a great example.

- Oh, bet, you bet.

(throat clearing) - Jim Hefti, 20 years ago at ATS, I remember when Jim came, and I met him before he'd even moved here.

And we were sitting with him and Chuck Weaver and a couple others, and he said, "This is where I wanna be," Jim and Lisa.

And then you look at probably now seven years ago or so, and Brian Ray is from Ohio.

- Mm-hmm.

- And he comes in with PNC, and, you know, PNC's nationwide.

He could go anywhere.

He's a smart man.

He comes in, and he says, "Oh, wow, I'm not only going to come into Peoria and love Peoria, I'm gonna promote it like no other."

And if you talk to Brian Ray today as an example, you'd think he's from here.

- Mm-hmm.

- And we were talking before the show about we need, I said, "We need 100 more of you."

Brian Ray is one of those 100, and Shane Needham is one of those 100.

- Yeah.

- And so I think if we just keep collecting other businesses and other people, and I say it: "Bring 'em in.

Show 'em what we've got, and show 'em that Central Illinois, Peoria, Illinois, is the place to be."

That's what I love about it.

- I think the Chamber is working on a program also with Joshua's lead that when we need people who can talk about the history.

You know, right up to the north, on North Jefferson Street, you've got where the French landed when they came down the river from the Great Lakes.

So it goes back that far.

Then you've got Fort Crevecoeur, and then you've got how it happens, and then you've got what the glaciers did to form this beautiful formation here.

And then you've got, you know, our legacy of going back to the early 1900s, when every fifth bottle of booze in the world was made here.

And- - The Ag Lab.

- (laughs) Not to mention the Ag Lab.

(Matt laughing) What do you have, 200 PhDs there?

- Right!

- Which, you know, you have a, (clears throat) you have a new company in town that used some of the technology, I'm sure, that came from the Ag Lab because with that fiber technology that you have on Galena Road.

- (laughing) Yeah.

- Your polo shirt may be made out of something to do with corn in Central Illinois.

So oh my gosh, be proud.

- [Matt] Be proud is a good point, so let's- - Not with hubris, with humility, but be proud.

- Yeah, and, you know, (sighs) if you think about it, what your dad, he had a lotta love in his heart, but he had a lot of sympathy and empathy on every topic, not just Saint Jude.

I think that's what made him special, is because he could talk about a building and make you fall in love with the building.

(Michael laughing) He was that type of guy.

- Yeah.

- And I think that's what is our job as taking care of our community.

I truly believe this.

I think it's everybody's job to take care of their community and have that sympathy and empathy and know that we need to take care of each other in our communities, and that means everybody.

- Does indeed.

- All right.

- Good.

(sniffs, coughs) - You're a REALTOR.

- I am.

- So I always like talking about what we just talked about, but right now, you're seeing interest rates rising all the time, and I think for the average person, they just think, "Oh, well, I just can't buy a house now because now, it was 3% here.

Now, it's 6%," or whatever.

How do you educate people in your business to say, "We still have an opportunity to get into this home"?

Or, you know, "We can still fulfill."

Because you're making dreams come true.

Home ownership is one of the biggest milestones in someone's life, if you think about it.

- I am a REALTOR, but do you know, my real business is people.

- [Matt] Right.

- People ask me about selling houses and buildings.

Yes, but my real business is people, to finding out what it is they're looking for, understanding their needs.

So being a REALTOR today is probably about 40% psychologist and 60% businessperson, but a phenomenon.

I go down, I have coffee downtown at least once a week, and I sit in a coffee shop.

We have two really great coffee shops, more coming.

And I listen to the young people, and I find reasons to ask them, and I'm finding that the millennials, often criticized, more frequently understood, are thinking about a home, thinking about maybe moving to the Uplands, or, you know, not getting too far from the urban center, thinking about condos that are being done in Downtown Peoria.

So the point is, there's a desire within a person to have their home, their yard, their dog, their kids going to school, that you can say, "Oh, oh, the interest rates are too high."

Or you can say, "You know, I don't know if it's gonna go down or not, but I think we can find a way to make this work.

Let's move on to the next part of our life."

So it's a combination.

- Yeah, that's interesting.

- Of those, yes, thank you.

- I have always thought, you know, when I was younger, "Man, when I get me," 'cause I was renting an apartment.

I was like, (whooshes) "Soon as I can get my home, I can start my family."

That's how I, it's, I don't know if that's old-school thinking, but that's how I kinda thought!

(Michael laughing) And to have that peace and that ownership's important.

So how many employees do you have?

- I have 165 sales associates and about 20 employees.

- Okay, yeah, 165 sales associates.

So really, they're running under the umbrella of Jim Maloof REALTORS.

They're running their own business, so to speak.

- [Michael] Independent contractors.

That's correct.

- And how do you evaluate?

Do you do it by sales?

Or how do you evaluate whether someone, I don't wanna say, is worthy of the brand 'cause that's not a good way of putting it, but it's how I think of it.

Like, you want the best people representing your name.

- Mm-hmm.

- So how do you evaluate that?

Do you do it by sales or?

- It starts out with how do they fit into the culture?

- [Matt] Okay.

- We do have a culture that is, just like everything we've been talking about, we're good people.

We're honest people, but we're also factual.

We also have to be knowledgeable, so part of the evaluation process, do these people come to training?

Do they know what they're talking about and how they interact?

What kind of responses do I get from their clients?

Do they get letters of recommendation?

You know, it's, the test is, are they getting testimonials from their clientele?

Now, if you get nothing, and you might have to say, "This business may not be for you," because it is a tough business.

I never, I don't feel I have to go there.

I feel there's enough synergy within the organization to know I'm here.

- I got you.

- I have to do something.

I have to be a part of this.

- When someone, when you hear on TV or hear stats about inventory, does inventory just mean houses for sale, to put it pretty simply?

- Yeah.

- And so in a time like this, with interest rates, is inventory higher or lower during a time like this?

- Well, inventory right now is probably the lowest that we've seen in a decade.

- Okay.

- We have now come back to a multiple-offer situation when houses come on the market.

- [Matt] Okay.

- Walking through a multiple-offer situation without making everybody mad at everybody else, very touchy business, and we talk about that a lot.

But it's just a phenomenon.

People stay in their houses longer.

People are getting used to the new interest rates.

People are, we just have such a demand.

(Matt snickering) I would say my demand for a house is that big, and my inventory is (laughing) about that big.

- Okay.

- That give you a pretty good graphic?

(Michael laughing) - It's a pretty good problem to have, though, but at the same time, when you're trying to recruit people too, I guess you're trying to figure out how to.

You know, I know Bloomington's going through the same.

- Sure.

- The same issue, and maybe everybody is right now.

Maybe it's just that time, but, you know, I think about that a lot, and I think we're gonna talk to Michael Freilinger too about how do you expand other spaces and condos and different things like that to be able to maybe open up the inventory?

- Mm-hmm, well, he's the right guy to talk to, I'll tell you that, because the instigation of the good things he's happening downtown is phenomenal.

So he would say when you have a market like this, prices will rise.

Well, prices will rise, but Peoria is, on a national basis of communities our size, about the cheapest in the nation.

So maybe we've, you know, maybe it's okay.

It's okay that you're gonna have to spend a little more for a house.

It's okay.

That's the market.

You know, Adam Smith had a lot to say about the invisible hand when you took your economics class, but that's what's happening out there.

- So, but yeah, and so I think people gripe about property taxes, and people gripe about interest rates going up, but if you can get into a home at a good price, it somewhat evens out, and I think that goes to the importance of what's around you, the things to do that we talked about earlier, and that way of life green space, and all those important things with your family.

Like, we have Louisville Slugger here, as an example, and I'm telling you, like, my son plays ball.

The closest place to us is Indianapolis that has a place that cool.

- Well, also, younger people like urban.

Our challenge in Peoria right now, houses will take care of themselves.

- Okay.

- We need to take care (hand thumping) of urban living space that's attractive that's not only apartments, but condos and river views.

- Okay.

- And a pharmacy down here.

- Oh, true, yeah.

- You know, so.

Your next guest is gonna give you some real insight into what- - Well, I can't wait to continue this conversation.

Thank you so much for coming on.

- You bet.

- Because I love talking to you.

I love your passion.

- Thank you.

Feeling's mutual.

- And I think everybody loves your dad, so- (Michael laughing) - Everyone must be, "All right, Dad, see you."

(Matt laughing) (Michael laughing) - Well, thank you again.

- Thanks, Matt.

- Michael Maloof.

I'm Matt George.

And this is another episode of "Business Forward."

(epic music) (epic music continues) (epic music continues) (upbeat music) - Thank you for tuning in to "Business Forward," brought to you by PNC.

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