Pod Insights The Moneywise Guys 5/8/25 Breaking Barriers: The Impact of the Middle Eastern Chamber in Kern County's Business Landscape About this episode The Moneywise Radio Show and Podcast Thursday, May 8th BE MONEYWISE. Moneywise Wealth Management I "The Moneywise Guys" podcast call: 661-847-1000 text in anytime: 661-396-1000 website: www. MoneywiseGuys.com facebook: Moneywise_Wealth_Manageme instagram: MoneywiseWealthManagement Guest: Ali Douglas, General Manager of Motor City Lexus of Bakersfield & Member of the Middle Eastern Chamber of Commerce of Kern County website: http://meccke.org/ facebook: MiddleEasternChamber instagram: MiddleEasternChamber --Join the Middle Eastern Chamber of Commerce of Kern County-- Wednesday, May 14th - 5:30 pm (pst) Motor City Lexus of Bakersfield RSVP: 805-878-3861
Transcript 0:00 Speaker 00 From the Garo Ellis padded radio room off Stockdale Highway, here is Money Wise. Call or text into the show 24/7 at 396-1000.
0:39 Speaker 00 Here is Money Wise.
0:40 Speaker 01 Money, money, money, money.
0:46 Speaker 01 I like that laugh. And then we need to give an update today. We have a listener question on Garo, so we'll get to that. But before then, welcome to the Money Wise Show. We are live from the Garo Ellis padded room off Stockdale Highway on ESPN Bakersfield, 1230 AM, 101.1 FM, and always streaming at MoneyWiseGuys.com, where parking is always available, Stephen. You can call or text into the show 24 hours a day at 661-396-1000. That was 661-396-1000. I'm your host, Sam Yabia. We're here today with?
1:17 Speaker 00 I'm Stephen Nicholas.
1:19 Speaker 01 This is a first.
1:20 Speaker 00 Yes, sitting across from you.
1:22 Speaker 01 I know, we have a little hallway between us, but we can hear each other just fine.
1:25 Speaker 00 I usually only see the back of your head while I'm sitting in here, but...
1:29 Speaker 01 You didn't have to go there, Stephen.
1:31 Speaker 00 You know, you know. And speaking of, I know we have some questions and some stuff to go over, but we always have to start out with some headlines.
1:41 Speaker 01 That's right.
1:41 Speaker 00 And how about them Celtics?
1:43 Speaker 01 I know.
1:45 Speaker 00 Both of us, we agree, we're not Celtics fans or really Boston fans in general.
1:50 Speaker 01 I do not use the word hate, you know, that often. It's just for certain things. The Celtics is one of them.
1:57 Speaker 00 Yes, me too.
1:58 Speaker 01 I told you this story before. When I first came to the United States, I landed in Boston, but I've always been a Lakers fan. And one of the reasons I did not want to stay in Boston is because of the Celtics, so I moved out west. That's that's true story.
2:11 Speaker 00 Well, good choice.
2:12 Speaker 01 Yes, I'm happy. I've been happy.
2:14 Speaker 00 I grew up as a Bulls fan, so there was many years watching my Bulls and the Celtics. And I I know growing up watching Magic Johnson was one of my favorite players. So I remember the Celtics, Lakers, the the Bird, the Magic years. But then you go over into some football as a Dolphins fan. I cannot stand anything close to the Patriots. So it is nice to see the Celtics down two games.
2:36 Speaker 01 Yeah, it was it was it was good to see. It was good to see, and I'm happy. Well, let's dive into it.
2:42 Speaker 00 So so we wrapped up. Do you want to get into the headlines first?
2:45 Speaker 01 Yeah, I'll just talk a little bit about about the markets and and really about the effect of Federal Reserve Chairman decision to hold the rates. And I just was interested in seeing how the markets are going to react today. And they edged higher a little bit, which is which is good. Uh, I think the decision, I I stand by the decision, given where we are from a an inflation rate standpoint and and employment. Now, this policy of wait and see, I think is cautious because there's a lot of uncertainty around tariffs and the impact those tariffs will have on on on the economy. So the wait and see is is cautious and I support it. So we'll see how the long game uh uh plays out.
3:28 Speaker 01 President Trump did come out and and and talk about the Federal Reserve Chairman and his decision. And he said he calls him too slow, Jay Powell.
3:37 Speaker 00 Jay Powell.
3:38 Speaker 01 Too slow, Powell. Because he he's not reacting. He's he thinks that lowering the rates would be like jet fuel for the economy. But but, you know, we'll wait and see.
3:51 Speaker 00 No comment.
3:51 Speaker 01 No comment, no comment. Uh, we do have a listener question from yesterday that we did not get to. Uh, you want to start with that, Stephen?
3:59 Speaker 00 Yeah, and I let him know, so they they are listening. So it says, hey, guys, I forgot that you worked in banking. So can you break down how home loans have changed here in Kern County over the last 10 years compared to nowadays? Is it easier to get a bank loan or a home loan than it was 10 years ago? Because it feels like everyone could get loans then and much harder to find homes these days to buy. Have a blessed day, guys.
4:26 Speaker 01 Yeah, very good question and thank you for the question and hopefully you're listening to my answer and hopefully it satisfies you. So from 10 years ago, 2015, the median price for houses here in Bakersfield, Stephen, were around $200,000. Where today, the median price is around $375,000. That's an about 85% increase in the last, in the past decade. So the impact of that increase is twofold. First, the, the, it's okay to have appreciation in homes. However, if you don't have salaries and salaries appreciation to match that, it's going to become more difficult for, for people to afford a house.
5:08 Speaker 01 Especially when we have, like we stated yesterday, we have people coming in from outside of the area buying homes. A lot of the time, cash, because they sell their houses in LA area, Orange County, and some even people coming from Florida.
5:22 Speaker 01 Coming here, coming west. So it's making it a little bit difficult to afford a house. Now, from a banking and standpoint, yes, it was, it was not as easy. It's not about easy loan or getting, easy to get a loan. I don't think that's, that's, that's the case. I think the, the 2008 and before, banking was loose. Anybody could afford a house. You can even get 100% financing by having a 80% loan and then a line of credit for 20%. And you qualify. And that stated income type of loan is no longer available. Though there are some banks that are going back to that with some version of the pre 2008 type of financing.
6:06 Speaker 01 Now, I don't think the, the lending is more difficult. I think it's affordability that's difficult. For people that making, that are making even six figures, it's still very hard for them to qualify. Because a $100,000 salary today, with a median price, when I say median price, this is not your entry level home. That's probably the next step up. At 350, 375,000 dollars, your payment, you're looking at
6:37 Speaker 01 You know, twenty five to three thousand dollar payment. The banks look at a ratio before they approve you for a loan. And that's your income to debt ratio. That ratio needs to be in the forty five percent range. But when you make six figures, less taxes and less other things, it makes it a little bit difficult now to qualify for the loan. Now, coupled with the higher interest rate. No, ten years ago, our interest rates were in the low threes. Now we're talking about six to seven percent rate. So your interest expense on your house is doubled from just five years ago. Making it even more difficult to afford a house.
7:18 Speaker 00 Well, I mean, you broke that down yesterday when we were off the air. And usually the best, the best stuff you hear is off the air because we get into some deep conversations. But I, I bought my house eight, nine years ago and it was a little under two hundred. And now it's three fifty, three sixty. So I mean, I don't know if it was just the luck of the draw. It was good timing when we, we needed that home and, and Gero always taught us, you know, the best time to buy a home is when you can afford to buy a home. So, uh, just a follow up with this listener. I mean, it was also something you told me yesterday is it almost feels like the home prices are going up, but not the, the money.
7:58 Speaker 01 Income.
7:58 Speaker 00 The income.
7:59 Speaker 01 Yeah. The income is not following the trend of the houses here. The other, the, the other thing too is we have an inventory problem, not just in Kern County or Bakersfield, but throughout the United States. So you have to, you have to remember that between two thousand eight, when the financial crisis happened, up almost to two thousand fourteen, two thousand fifteen. I would say, I would argue that even up until two thousand sixteen, it was a lot difficult for developers to get loans and build houses. Because a lot of the banks were shrinking that part of their business.
8:28 Speaker 00 And I'm sure the pandemic didn't help after that.
8:30 Speaker 01 Correct, and which, which, that's almost a decade of low inventory and lack of construction. So we're just now catching up to that. That's what explains some of the lack of inventory that we, we see today.
8:43 Speaker 00 And you think the tariffs will hurt that on the, the prices of, you know, building?
8:48 Speaker 01 Potentially, especially for, because the wood, for instance. So if you remember during.
8:53 Speaker 00 The lumber and all that?
8:54 Speaker 01 The lumber prices went up all the way to like fifteen hundred bucks.
8:57 Speaker 00 That's insane.
8:58 Speaker 01 That's three times the amount that typically the builders pay. Right, so we don't have that today, but if the tariffs don't find some type of a consensus between especially in Canada, because we import a lot of that lumber from Canada, it will be, we will see that impact on the house, the prices of the homes, definitely.
9:17 Speaker 00 And probably the, the cost of, you know, the, the constructors building or bidding on these homes and, I mean, it's just gonna go up everywhere.
9:24 Speaker 01 Yeah, and the labor, and let's not forget the labor, because most of, most of the, the contractors or the builders or the jobs, we leaned a lot on immigrants. And now we, we have a little bit more stringent policies when, when it comes to immigration. So it's limiting our labor force when it comes to construction, right? And historically, what you saw is when oil slows down, you see those employees migrate towards construction and vice versa. Well, oil, oil in general, now the, the labor force there is as scarce as, you know, ever. So you don't see that migration between the two sectors anymore, right?
10:08 Speaker 01 Which is affecting our ability to find skilled workers to do construction, which is slowing down our ability to build houses.
10:16 Speaker 00 So everything is pretty much stacked?
10:18 Speaker 01 Yeah, and, and, and look, my, my buddy Bain's Bank works for Wells Fargo, sent me a list of how many permits we pooled in 2024 compared to 2023. In fact, it went down by about 11% in 2024, but in 2025, it's catching up.
10:31 Speaker 00 Okay.
10:31 Speaker 01 And you can see that, if you drive around, you'll see that a bunch of new construction is happening, right? Because it takes a little bit of time to prep the, the land and the lots before you actually go vertical on the construction.
10:44 Speaker 00 I'm seeing them everywhere, deeper Panama, it almost feels like they're building a whole nother town out here by, by, by Rosedale area.
10:51 Speaker 01 Yes, on, on 178 east, east side, too. It's seeing that growth, which. We have been needing.
10:58 Speaker 00 An all the way out to Tohone?
11:00 Speaker 01 Yes.
11:01 Speaker 00 Where they're building.
11:01 Speaker 01 Oh, yeah. Tohone is building a bunch of apartments there to accommodate a lot of the labor that's gonna be in the casino and beyond.
11:09 Speaker 00 So which is a positive thing when you look at it, right?
11:11 Speaker 01 It's just gonna take us some time to catch up to whatever inventory needs we've had throughout the years.
11:16 Speaker 00 So we had a follow up with the same listener. He said, so my $250,000 home is now close to 500.
11:24 Speaker 00 Can they continue to go up in price? I mean, geez, it feels like it's close to the ceiling in value. What do you guys think?
11:33 Speaker 01 Um, hard for me to predict.
11:35 Speaker 00 Yeah, but with all the extra construction, you think it'll kind of level off when there is more homes?
11:40 Speaker 01 Yeah, so what you see, what you need to compare your house to is the cost of construction today. So if you're, how much would it cost you to build that house, that same house today, same materials, same design, same everything? And if, if you say, hey, my cost today is, you know, 350, 400,000 dollars, so you still have some, some room to get to that value. So I'm, I'm seeing we're reaching a little bit of that ceiling. So I'll be cautious now. Going out and refinancing, buying toys, leaning on my line of credit. This is the time to just maybe hunker down and see what happens, especially with higher interest rates. Yes.
12:21 Speaker 01 Yeah, you want to be careful with, you know, buy now, pay later. We talked about it yesterday. This is the time for us to be a little bit cautious.
12:30 Speaker 00 And then our, our last one says, can you guys please share an update for Gero? Hope he and his family are doing well this year. Great human being.
12:39 Speaker 01 I cannot agree more. I, I miss Gero. Our own Chris Pelster gave us an update. He went and watched some, some, well, there was no sports over the weekend. So I think they watched. Love it or flip it or flip it or love it.
12:54 Speaker 00 Something like that.
12:55 Speaker 01 And, and he had fun with Gero. He showed him pictures of his new granddaughter.
13:03 Speaker 01 We miss Gero a lot.
13:04 Speaker 00 Yes.
13:04 Speaker 01 He's doing okay. Uh, according to Chris, he's stable. Uh, we're gonna have a little barbecue for the employees next week for Cinco de Mayo, and we're hoping to see him here actually at Money Wise. That'll be great if he can join us.
13:18 Speaker 00 Yes, and we'll pass on that, love. You know, Gero is a big part of Money Wise and will always be a big part of Money Wise. He's the, one of the main reasons I'm here and, uh, you know, Gero is always with us and we appreciate all the love and prayers. Um, and we'll continue to, uh, you know, share updates, but just keep them, keep them in your prayers and your thoughts and that's as, as far as we can. You know, Gero's a, a strong cowboy.
13:42 Speaker 01 That's right.
13:42 Speaker 00 He'll fight through it and we all know he'll be back. So, uh, we appreciate all the love and support and, uh, feel free, you can call or text in anytime during the show or 24 hours a day at 661-842 or 396-1000.
13:57 Speaker 01 1,000.
13:57 Speaker 00 See, I'm getting back into the morning sports show. Um, but yeah, we, uh, have a big guest coming up. I'm, I'm looking forward to this for the last week or so. Uh, Ali Douglas, the GM over at Motor City. And, uh, take a break and we'll be right back. Don't forget, Money Wise is more than a radio show. We're an independently owned, local wealth management firm with 60-plus years of collective experience. Our financial advisors are here to help you, Kern County. Together, let's be smart, be safe, be money wise.
14:35 Speaker 01 Hey Stephen, how did you know this is the stage song for Ali?
14:39 Speaker 02 Is this?
14:39 Speaker 01 Yeah, that's how he walks.
14:42 Speaker 01 When we introduce him, that's how, that's what we do, that's what we use.
14:45 Speaker 00 Oh, that's crazy.
14:47 Speaker 01 We're back, we're back. The Money Wise Show. I'm, uh, your host, Sam Yabiau with, uh, Stephen and, uh, our guest, Ali Douglas, General Manager at Motor City Lexus. We're very excited to have Ali today. We're gonna talk about a couple of subjects. The first one is the Middle Eastern Chamber of Commerce, newly minted, and, uh, hopefully, uh, we'll get our IRS papers soon and we're legal, but it's not stopping us from having our first event anyways.
15:15 Speaker 02 No, we're not. We're going through with it.
15:17 Speaker 01 The first event is next Wednesday.
15:19 Speaker 02 May 14th.
15:20 Speaker 01 May 14th.
15:21 Speaker 02 At Motor City Lexus, 5101 Gasoline Alley Drive.
15:26 Speaker 02 And without a doubt, we are looking forward for this, very much so. There was a lot of time and effort that went into putting this together, including yours and your help.
15:36 Speaker 01 Yeah, I'm very excited. Thank you. Yeah, I'm very excited. We have what I believe is a good board, well-mixed board.
15:42 Speaker 02 Yes.
15:42 Speaker 01 Not all over the Arab world, from North Africa all the way to
15:47 Speaker 02 Very true.
15:48 Speaker 01 Middle East.
15:49 Speaker 02 Yes.
15:49 Speaker 01 And I'm very excited. So a lot of people are asking questions and I'm excited because a lot of people are actually responding and wanting to attend the event.
15:56 Speaker 02 Yes.
15:57 Speaker 01 So I came in late, I joined the board late, but you've been working on this for a couple of years.
16:03 Speaker 02 That's correct.
16:04 Speaker 01 With my show. What inspired you, you and my and the others, to think about starting a Middle Eastern Chamber of Commerce?
16:12 Speaker 02 First and foremost, I want to start by thanking you for having me on your show and Money Wise. Obviously, amazing company, amazing reputation, great people. And without a doubt, I'm very grateful to be here today to be part of this. And we started about a year and a half ago, roughly, a little over maybe, putting the idea for a Chamber of Commerce in town, simply because of, there's thirty-three countries, as you very well know, Middle Easterns. From North Africa all the way to the Middle East and Iraq and Iran, and you can include some other countries also in that equation. And I believe, you know, having grown up in Jordan and seen the
16:58 Speaker 02 Chamber, if you will, it wouldn't be called Middle Eastern Chamber there, but the Chamber of Commerce. And the services they offer, since we are a minority here in town, the idea of the Chamber was to, as you know, it's basically, there is no profit.
17:13 Speaker 01 Yeah.
17:13 Speaker 02 It's a nonprofit, it's just services to get people together. And there's been a lot of movement recently to Bakersfield by Middle Easterns, whether it's Syrians, Jordanians, Palestinians.
17:27 Speaker 01 Israelis.
17:28 Speaker 02 Israelis.
17:29 Speaker 01 We have Shai from Smitten who's here.
17:31 Speaker 02 Yes, absolutely. And to start somewhere where most people want to belong.
17:38 Speaker 02 And what I mean by it, sometimes there's a language barrier when you're starting a business, what to do. And I believe the Chamber will offer those services of every derivative of every business that you can put a name of a business in front of it. With Middle Eastern speakers and/or people that would be willing from the Chamber to help a family or a relocated family to Kern County to start a business. What do I need? How do I start? Where do I grow? That type of a questionnaire, unfortunately, if also there's a barrier with the language, we offer those services to our, you know, Arab speakers and, you know, Persian speakers and
18:23 Speaker 02 I think it's a wonderful thing to get the community together and it makes a difference having, you know, the services provided. And the very first event will be the mixer to get people together. You have a very decent size population here in town. Dating back to probably the 60s or the late 50s, if you will, of Middle Easterns that moved to Kern County. The most hospitable county, if I may add, greatest people.
18:50 Speaker 01 Yes, I would second that.
18:52 Speaker 02 And the face of the earth for me. I haven't lived here for 24 years now. So I believe this is the very first step for a larger to come population of Middle Easterns in Kern County, that they have access to the Chamber and services of the Chamber.
19:10 Speaker 01 So, just a follow-up question. Now, the Chamber is, it's called the Middle Eastern Chamber of Commerce, but anybody is welcome. You don't have to be a Middle Eastern or from Morocco or Jordan to join. You can be a local business.
19:25 Speaker 02 Yes.
19:25 Speaker 01 And we want you to join.
19:27 Speaker 02 It will be an honor to have everyone and everyone. We did not tag the Middle Eastern Chamber of Commerce as mixer to only Middle Eastern. We wanted to invite the community. And if they want to join, they're more than welcome to. It's an honor and a pleasure to have them part of the chamber. And there are many chambers in town. At the same time that the
19:51 Speaker 02 the flavor of the Middle Eastern chamber is really to shed light also on our culture.
19:55 Speaker 01 That's right.
19:56 Speaker 02 Where we come from, our language. There are, you know, over three hundred and fifty million Arab speakers. Add another probably fifty million Persian speakers, if you will, between, you know, those countries.
20:08 Speaker 01 Yeah, yeah.
20:09 Speaker 02 And, and, and far east, if you will.
20:11 Speaker 01 And, and I think bridging, bridging or creating that bridge between, you know, the Middle Eastern culture and, and the US, American culture.
20:20 Speaker 02 Yes.
20:21 Speaker 01 I think is overdue, in my opinion, especially in Kern County. Because having been in banking, commercial banking here locally.
20:27 Speaker 02 Yes.
20:28 Speaker 01 I've done business with everybody.
20:30 Speaker 02 Agreed.
20:31 Speaker 01 But a lot of the time, there's no mixing.
20:34 Speaker 02 Yes.
20:35 Speaker 01 Right? And that's where I think this chamber, this new chamber comes in.
20:39 Speaker 02 Yes.
20:39 Speaker 01 To bridge that gap.
20:40 Speaker 02 Yes, very much so. And just to give you an example, you know, from the country Jordan born as a Palestinian. The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. Date back, you know, almost fourteen thousand years as the oldest town in the world, Jericho. Morocco's kingdom, descendant of the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him. And then to get to know, for people to ask these questions, you know, the world is too small today.
21:05 Speaker 01 That's right.
21:05 Speaker 02 And we do business, to your point of having been in banking and commercial banking all, all, over all these years. And for me, the car business or the auto industry, if you will. I've dealt with every walk of life from different cultures and I'm always intrigued. You know, the, the Arabic language. Twelve million four hundred thousand words in our language and we want to explain, you know, who we are, what we are. Not every Arab is a Muslim, not every Muslim is an Arab.
21:32 Speaker 01 And I think we're an apolitical show here at Money Wise.
21:36 Speaker 02 Yes.
21:37 Speaker 01 But I think you're touching on a very good point because the chamber is planned is to be apolitical, a-religious, everybody's welcome.
21:44 Speaker 02 One hundred percent.
21:45 Speaker 01 As long as you're a good person.
21:46 Speaker 02 That's one hundred percent true.
21:47 Speaker 01 If you're a good person, we're gonna welcome you and we're gonna help and we're gonna help you mix with other people, know about our people, we'll introduce our cultures to you.
21:56 Speaker 02 Yep.
21:56 Speaker 01 As long as you're a good person.
21:57 Speaker 02 Simple.
21:58 Speaker 01 That's simple.
21:59 Speaker 02 Yes.
21:59 Speaker 01 Right?
22:00 Speaker 02 Yes.
22:00 Speaker 01 And to your point, a lot of the people sometimes mix being Arab and Muslim.
22:04 Speaker 02 Yes.
22:05 Speaker 01 But some of my best friends are Arab Catholic. By the way, a new pope was elected today.
22:11 Speaker 02 Yes.
22:11 Speaker 01 An American and a lot of my American, uh, you, Arab Catholics are very happy and very excited.
22:19 Speaker 02 Yes.
22:19 Speaker 01 Especially because they live here in America today.
22:21 Speaker 02 Yes, that's a great point. So that, and not to make it about a religion to the point of the fact, you know, the early Orthodox Christians were Arab speakers, you know, during the time of Jesus.
22:32 Speaker 01 That's right.
22:32 Speaker 02 And they still do today, whether it's Greek Orthodoxy, Latin, Roman Catholic.
22:37 Speaker 01 Egyptian, Egyptian Gothic, yes.
22:39 Speaker 02 Absolutely. So that's part of why I think it's important, if you will, to have this gathering. And consider it the very first one as a gathering of a very hospitable culture, a very much rooted.
22:54 Speaker 01 In our DNA.
22:56 Speaker 02 Culture.
22:56 Speaker 01 Yes.
22:56 Speaker 02 That we proudly share with our American friends that don't know about the Middle Eastern Chamber. But also it's to, um, for the newcomers and/or for the local customers, you know, somebody, taxes, attorney, um, uh, money management, if you will, banking.
23:14 Speaker 01 Banking, banking. A lot of the challenges I've, I saw with, especially with Middle Eastern business owners and in fact, small business owners in general.
23:22 Speaker 02 Yes.
23:23 Speaker 01 And this is a service that we will be providing. It's held, holding the hand of somebody that's starting.
23:28 Speaker 02 Yes.
23:29 Speaker 01 Or even somebody that's been in business for quite some time, but they remained small, but now they wanna take that, that leap.
23:34 Speaker 02 Yes.
23:35 Speaker 01 We can, between my experience and people on the board and people that we're gonna have eventually on the board, we wanna add to the board.
23:42 Speaker 02 True.
23:42 Speaker 01 We're gonna have plenty of experience to help.
23:44 Speaker 02 Yes.
23:44 Speaker 01 These people. And that's, I think, one of the missions I'm very excited about.
23:48 Speaker 02 I'm very excited also as well to to your point, it really is some people that have been in business for a very long time that did not have a place to turn to and sometimes I think it's more out of embarrassment.
24:01 Speaker 01 Yes.
24:01 Speaker 02 Um, I'm unable to understand or speak or sometimes even colloquialisms.
24:08 Speaker 01 Yeah.
24:08 Speaker 02 You know, to try to understand and you know, we're there to hold the hand, if you will, free of charge services.
24:14 Speaker 01 That's right.
24:14 Speaker 02 And just to ma- make sure that the mixer, you know, there is no charge to attend.
24:19 Speaker 01 And that's by design too.
24:20 Speaker 02 Yes.
24:21 Speaker 01 Because we want to welcome as many people as possible. Now, Ali has been gracious and Lexus Motor City Lexus has been gracious to extend not just the facilities, but also sponsor the food and some of the drinks. Employees are helping with the setup and take down of of the tables and everything. So we're very, very grateful. So please, please, before we go into our break, please, uh, if you have time, stop by, stop by with Motor City Lexus, visit us next Wednesday, the fourteenth, between the hours of six and eight. We're gonna have some Middle Eastern food, some, we're gonna have some tea, Middle Eastern tea.
24:56 Speaker 02 Will be an honor to accommodate that also, yes.
24:58 Speaker 01 Definitely some coffees, right? Some baklava.
25:00 Speaker 02 Yes, so we, we have Panini kebab is um, one of the um, sponsors, if you will.
25:09 Speaker 02 The gentleman that owns Taco Bros, Sam, as you very well know, he's sending uh, beef sliders we're gonna try, um, Mr. Nabil Masood, um, N- Nabil Mansour, I'm sorry, um, will be.
25:23 Speaker 01 Oh, he's gonna get you for that.
25:24 Speaker 02 I'm sorry.
25:26 Speaker 01 I'm thinking, I'm thinking. If he's listening, he's gonna text Steven right now.
25:31 Speaker 02 Well, yeah, we, we do have a couple of questions, so before we get into any more of this, we'll take a short break, uh, feel free to text in, uh, six, six, one, three, nine, six, one thousand, we'll take this quick break and be right back.
25:57 Speaker 01 We're back Stephen Money Wise Show. Sammy Abiyawi here with Stephen and Ali Douglas, manager, general manager at Motor City Lexus. Very, very grateful to have you and honored to have you on today to talk about the Middle Eastern Chamber of Commerce.
26:15 Speaker 02 Yes, sir.
26:15 Speaker 01 So we have a couple of questions that came.
26:18 Speaker 00 You want it?
26:20 Speaker 01 Yeah, please, go ahead.
26:21 Speaker 00 I've got a couple of ones. So we'll go to the first one. Says great pull here in Sammy and Ali on the radio. Look at us now. I have a close family friend that just came to Kern County in the last 90 days and have a few questions. How does the chamber help other community members overcome cultural or language barriers in business operations? And my last question is, do you have a website that I can share with some friends?
26:48 Speaker 01 So the first part of the question is, how does the chamber help other community members overcome cultural, language barriers in business operations? Very good question.
26:58 Speaker 02 I think when we started out the conversation about why the chamber is necessary because of the questions or because of questions like that. It is almost in every sector of business in this town, in this county, you find a Middle Eastern nowadays. From 24 years ago to today, the county grew so much so.
27:19 Speaker 01 That's right.
27:20 Speaker 02 And with it came Middle Easterns from every background. And I believe we start somewhere. If it's a real estate, we have one. If it's a mortgage, we have one. If it's a banker, we have one. If it's a car guy, we have one.
27:35 Speaker 01 That's right. If it's food.
27:38 Speaker 02 Restaurants.
27:39 Speaker 01 Yes.
27:40 Speaker 02 Right. Attorneys. So this is where I think it's necessary because you see the growth of Kern County and the projection of the growth is going to be. I think the last five years, maybe six percent or the last four years, six percent, sixty-two thousand people after Covid, and the majority of them came, you know, from other towns and possibly international to invest here in the town, in the agriculture industry, in the medical industry, in the banking industry, in the car industry. And I believe you have to start somewhere. And if you heard me earlier, you say, everybody wants to belong. This is the part that I say, where do I start? I now know, you know, at least one of my coworkers moved here from Sacramento because
28:21 Speaker 02 of an embedded video in Facebook of myself advertising for Motor City Lexus in the Arabic language. He decided to relocate to Kern County. He stopped as a very first stop for a job was with Ali.
28:33 Speaker 01 Nice.
28:34 Speaker 02 And I said, how did you hear about us? He said, I saw you on Facebook. I'm in the car business in Sacramento. I wanted to come in and try to a job here in Kern County. And that's how we got him to work for Motor City Lexus.
28:44 Speaker 01 Wow.
28:45 Speaker 02 So as you see, it's imperative that we have a connection, number one, with our own Middle Eastern speakers or Arab speakers, if you will, from a Middle Eastern country. And second, obviously, the comfort in knowing that there are resources for you when you want to come in is important for me, you know. I believe that to be the case.
29:10 Speaker 01 Definitely. And my last question, do you have a website that I can share with some friends?
29:14 Speaker 02 Yes, we do have a website and I will share it with you to have it on a
29:19 Speaker 01 On the podcast, because this is being recorded, so we will have the podcast and Stephen will put the podcast everywhere.
29:24 Speaker 02 Okay.
29:25 Speaker 01 A podcast could be listened to, so it will be part of that, right, Stephen?
29:29 Speaker 02 Yep.
29:30 Speaker 01 Okay.
29:31 Speaker 02 And of course, Facebook, Middle Eastern Chamber of Commerce of Kern County is there.
29:33 Speaker 01 Instagram, I think we have Instagram page as well.
29:36 Speaker 02 Yes, absolutely.
29:37 Speaker 00 TikTok?
29:38 Speaker 02 Not yet.
29:39 Speaker 01 I don't think we're there yet.
29:40 Speaker 02 We're not there yet.
29:41 Speaker 01 We're playing for the future. It might be banned, Stephen.
29:47 Speaker 02 I also before I went to I forget unfortunately my last conversation earlier before the commercial was to thank Mr. Nabil Mansour and the people of the Blue Fig, obviously Khalid, Samir, they're donating the baklava and we will ask about the tea as well for the Middle Eastern tea with thyme or with mint, we'll do the mint.
30:08 Speaker 01 With mint, man, come on.
30:09 Speaker 02 Time is good, sage is good, but we'll do one with the mint.
30:12 Speaker 01 Yeah.
30:13 Speaker 02 And.
30:13 Speaker 01 And somebody else, I mean, we leaned on Sam Judah and his family and Samco to donate the wine and he did gracefully, he did. So thank you, Samco and the Judah family.
30:25 Speaker 02 Yes, he was very kind earlier. Today, he dropped off the cases at the dealership and I think that's part of the fact that you see the community coming together also. They're almost, you know, the same excitement as the members, the president may.
30:40 Speaker 01 And yes, we will have wine, folks.
30:42 Speaker 02 So you can come in and enjoy that. It's an honor to have everyone. We're looking forward for sure.
30:50 Speaker 01 Definitely, definitely. I'm so happy to have you here today. Very, very good answers from you. We have a couple more questions, Stephen.
30:56 Speaker 00 The next one says, does your chamber plan to collaborate with local government? And it's very exciting and hope to hear more soon.
31:03 Speaker 02 So I'll start out with, we are part of the county, the city of Bakersfield and a lot of the surrounding towns here in part of the Kern County, if you will, shafted Delano to Hatchby. Any help from any government entity, we're happy to help. I'm sure, you know, the board and all the members are already kind of in that mindset, but also I want to acknowledge the Chamber of Commerce with Janelle Kapara, my dear friend, with the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, Jay Tamzy, a good, very good friend, also the Black Chamber of Commerce also as well. And recently, we hosted the Asian Chamber of Commerce and it was definitely a great opportunity in every way, shape and form to also get to
31:48 Speaker 02 know that part as well of Kern County.
31:50 Speaker 01 And we're collaborating a lot with them. There's a lot of collaboration going on between the Middle Eastern Chamber of Commerce, the Asian Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Chamber of Commerce of Bakersfield, as well as the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and others.
32:01 Speaker 02 I must add to this statement that in. Having to search for a place for the Middle Eastern Chamber, we found, we found the hospitality and the kindness of the other chambers and having to hold our hand, so to speak, to put this together is absolutely phenomenal.
32:20 Speaker 01 Yeah, it's been, it's been great, especially the Greater Chamber of Commerce, who offered us even a space in their, in their office to host us until we find a, a nice office for us.
32:32 Speaker 02 And that speaks the kindness of this county and this city, in my opinion, in having to open their doors, their hearts, their homes for people like us to come in and do business. And we would love to reciprocate to our, also our, our friends and, and family.
32:47 Speaker 01 And that's one of the reasons I choose to be here in Kern County, in Bakersfield. A lot of people say, hey, why Bakersfield? They grew up five minutes away from the water in, in Morocco, the beach. Why Bakersfield? Well, the people, the people of Bakersfield accepted me, you know, as, as an immigrant, as an Arab. I've gone to college here, got my MBA here, started as an intern at a local bank here, grew up within the system, built a bunch of relationships with great people here, so I'm grateful.
33:19 Speaker 02 As I am, as am I also as well, I truly echo the same sentiment when you talk about the county and its people. Um, you can have the beach, but not, not immediate.
33:29 Speaker 01 That's right.
33:31 Speaker 02 Couple of hours, you can go have it, but I do, actually when I leave Bakersfield, I, I long for Bakersfield. If that makes sense, you know, I have spent more time here. I have spent more time here than in, in my birthplace, right? So I'm part of the culture, ingrained in the society. I love the people here and, and there is something here that is.
33:54 Speaker 01 This is a very giving community. I've been to, I've been to charity events here. I've been to charity events in LA, San Francisco, Orange County. This is a very giving community.
34:07 Speaker 02 I attest, I attest.
34:09 Speaker 01 And, and, and to, to every segment of the population.
34:13 Speaker 02 Yes.
34:13 Speaker 01 It's amazing when you go to events and you, you, you call somebody, it's like, hey, I need your help. I'm doing this and then.
34:22 Speaker 02 Yes.
34:23 Speaker 01 Even if it's five dollars, sometimes I welcome it.
34:26 Speaker 02 Yes.
34:26 Speaker 01 And, and this community has been awesome.
34:28 Speaker 02 I agree, and I attest to that statement, and I'm very grateful to have been part of it to all these years past.
34:33 Speaker 01 Yeah. Stephen, we have one more.
34:35 Speaker 00 Well, before we get to that, because that kind of goes back into your, your event next week. So we'll take our final break. We'll come back after this and we'll kind of pump up the, the event next week and see how, how people can, you know, be a part or donate or anything, um, right here on the Money Wise Guys, ESPN Bakersfield, 1230 AM, 101.1 FM. If you're a business owner who provides a retirement plan for your employees, contact Money Wise Wealth Management to see if you're maximizing your options and minimizing your liabilities. Money Wise 401K plans are customized to you and your company's needs. 661-847-1000. That's 661-847-1000.
35:24 Speaker 00 Oh, man, we're gonna have cameras in the next studio, so watch it.
35:27 Speaker 01 Oh, I can't wait, man. You know, you put some music and you just bring the twenties out of me. The, the, what's the name of that club that was on Rosedale?
35:36 Speaker 00 Oh, man.
35:37 Speaker 02 Which one?
35:37 Speaker 01 The one, the one half, half and half. It was, it was hip hop one half and.
35:42 Speaker 00 That was the one behind.
35:43 Speaker 02 Rock and rodeo.
35:43 Speaker 01 Rock and rodeo.
35:44 Speaker 02 Rock and rodeo.
35:46 Speaker 00 Wow.
35:46 Speaker 01 Your boy Sammy was there on Thursday nights.
35:48 Speaker 00 You probably see Michelle, too. Well, we're back to the Money Wise Show. I'm Stephen. That was Sammy, and we've, uh, we've had Ally Douglas in here joining us, and I have a last question for you, Ally. This one says, uh, sorry, I missed the last part of the interview. Uh, there is an event tonight, and can we get tickets online? Thank you, guys. It's, uh, it's great to hear.
36:11 Speaker 01 Well, go ahead, Ali.
36:12 Speaker 02 The event is next Wednesday.
36:13 Speaker 00 So you got time.
36:14 Speaker 02 May fourteenth at Motor City Lexus, fifty one oh one gasoline alley drive in the Autobahn.
36:21 Speaker 01 And there is no charge for to attend the event, just just just just come in. Is there a way for them to just to go and put their name ahead so we can know the headcount?
36:32 Speaker 02 Yes, for the registration, it's on Facebook. It is one of the events near you. So if you can search for, if you're living in current county and you wanna look for events, I believe it's one of the settings on Facebook where you see the just type type.
36:47 Speaker 01 Just helps us out with the headcount for food purposes, drinks.
36:50 Speaker 00 In the podcast notes, I'll have the the Facebook with the registration. So you guys can just go up there. You don't have to pull over and write down everything. We got you in the in the notes.
36:59 Speaker 01 It'll be, look at you, Steve, and all techie and stuff.
37:01 Speaker 00 Just trying to help. I know how people drive in this town.
37:07 Speaker 01 So, Ali, thank you very much for being with us today. I wanna I wanna thank you for all the information you've given us today, not just about the the chamber, but other thing, the community. You've been you've been a staple in this community.
37:19 Speaker 02 Thank you.
37:19 Speaker 01 You you you've helped a lot of people, you're friends with a lot of people, and and you're the go to guy when it comes to to cars. And I wanna talk, if we have a couple of minutes, I wanna talk about cars.
37:29 Speaker 02 Of course.
37:30 Speaker 01 So, a lot of people are are talking about tariffs, and the impact of tariffs on the on the pricing.
37:36 Speaker 02 Yep.
37:37 Speaker 01 Are you are you, what are you seeing? What's what's what's gonna happen?
37:40 Speaker 02 So, i- if you may remember, the tariff talk started probably January seventh or January eighth, if you will.
37:51 Speaker 02 We haven't seen the immediate effect yet. There was a ninety day hold. It started April first, I believe. And there are some uncertainties right now as far as what the prices are going to look like. We don't have a actual methodology of what it's gonna look like. I believe there are countries coming to the table in in the last couple of days and the next couple of days. I saw between India and I think Japan and South Korea is coming to the table also as well. As of right now, we're facing that at Lexus or in general Motor City Lexus.
38:29 Speaker 02 Little less inventory available. We have about sixty-three to sixty-seven percent of our inventory is actually sold or pre-sold. If there are tariffs to come, as you very well know, it's mainly on outside US-built vehicles. Toyota and Lexus invested a massive amount. I believe the total plants in the US are over thirteen plants.
38:54 Speaker 01 Oh, wow.
38:55 Speaker 02 To make Toyota Lexus in the US.
38:57 Speaker 01 I did not know that it was that big of a number.
39:00 Speaker 02 Absolutely, and it's it's massive as far as the build for certain models. I I see, I think, maybe a future with Lexus to maybe reallocate some of the plans to build Lexus more than Toyota. We currently have a plant in Indiana and also in Kentucky. The TX latest model from Lexus as a brand-new model is built in Indiana.
39:24 Speaker 01 Is that the SUV?
39:25 Speaker 02 It's a seven-passenger SUV.
39:27 Speaker 01 That's the one I want to buy for my wife.
39:28 Speaker 02 It'll be an honor to have you. Just we'll put the order in.
39:30 Speaker 01 I showed it to her. She's like, oh, yeah, I want this one.
39:32 Speaker 02 No problem.
39:33 Speaker 01 Especially when she doesn't make the payments, I do.
39:38 Speaker 01 But we're very excited. I really like that one, and eventually, once we we finish with the lease, we'll.
39:43 Speaker 02 It'll be an honor to have you. It's a great vehicle, Lexus.
39:46 Speaker 01 It looks, it looks.
39:47 Speaker 02 Did a great job with it.
39:48 Speaker 01 Yeah, it looks nice.
39:49 Speaker 02 And the ES is built in Kentucky, which also has been around since, I believe, nineteen ninety-three, ninety-four. So, or ninety-three, actually. So, we're hoping for more to come, but as of right now, I would tell you, it's just uncertain.
40:08 Speaker 02 If it is a fact or not a fact yet, I think after July first, we may get a better perspective.
40:14 Speaker 01 Okay.
40:16 Speaker 02 I don't think you want to jump the gun as a consumer, and, you know, basically, if there is an urgency to get a car, whether there are tariffs and there aren't tariffs, you need to go get a car, no problem. There's plenty of inventory on the Motor City GMC Buick lot. There's, you know, we we've taken orders, we are taking orders currently for what's incoming as far as the inventory. So for the most part Lexus has committed to three hundred and fifty thousand units for the United States market for the twenty twenty five year. And the allocation system works based on your region, zip code, et cetera. And we have been also during the difficult times like covid, we never marked up a car. We never overcharged for.
40:57 Speaker 01 Yeah, it's one of the best services. Like when I used to have a Lexus, I'll go there, drop off my car, pick up a car to drive.
41:04 Speaker 02 Yes.
41:04 Speaker 01 And my car is washed, it's clean inside and out. It's just, plus you walk in and you get greeted with coffee, water, drinks.
41:11 Speaker 02 Yes.
41:11 Speaker 01 High, high level service.
41:13 Speaker 02 Thank you.
41:13 Speaker 01 And, and it's, it's, it's nice.
41:15 Speaker 02 And just to add a little bit more to the statement I made earlier, if there are tariffs on certain models, what happens, the used car market will now take a little bit more value on the current car that you're driving. So it, the offset is going to be if you're trading a car in, if it was worth twenty grand, now it's worth twenty three grand, twenty four grand. If the car goes up by five to seven thousand dollars, the difference is probably the two to three thousand dollars.
41:41 Speaker 01 So I think it's important to, to remember what you said, which is a very good advice.
41:45 Speaker 02 Thank you.
41:45 Speaker 01 If you don't need the car right now, just, just, just wait.
41:48 Speaker 02 Yes.
41:48 Speaker 01 If you, if, don't, don't have the tariffs make the decision for you.
41:52 Speaker 02 Yes.
41:52 Speaker 01 Just wait. Unless you really need the car, you have a broken one or something happened to your car, that's when you make the decision to go and jump on, on, on the purchase. But if you don't have that.
42:02 Speaker 02 Yes.
42:02 Speaker 01 Just wait.
42:03 Speaker 02 Yes.
42:03 Speaker 01 Wait and see.
42:04 Speaker 02 Yes.
42:04 Speaker 01 Like the Federal Reserve is doing. Wait and see.
42:06 Speaker 02 Well, and we tend to kind of worry about something before it happens, which gives us anxiety, gives us lots of sleepless nights, if you will. There's a lot of.
42:17 Speaker 01 And we don't have control of it.
42:18 Speaker 02 You don't have control.
42:19 Speaker 01 Right? We don't have, if, why, why have anxiety on, on, about something you don't have control of?
42:23 Speaker 02 I agree.
42:24 Speaker 01 Ali, I want to thank you for, for coming in today.
42:27 Speaker 02 It's an honor.
42:27 Speaker 01 Great, great insights on both the Chamber of Commerce as well as the car business. We want to have you back here to talk about cars.
42:33 Speaker 02 Yes.
42:33 Speaker 01 In ninety days after the tariffs hit, if they hit. And if they don't hit, we still want you back.
42:38 Speaker 00 Of course. Well, we appreciate your time, Ali, and we'll pump up the event. Look up our, the Money Wise Guys podcast in the show notes. All the info you need will be right there. And we're wrapping up the week because we will be out tomorrow. But enjoy your weekend. Happy Mother's Day to all your mothers.
42:54 Speaker 01 That's right.
42:55 Speaker 00 And we'll see you on Monday. Be smart, be safe.
42:58 Speaker 01 Be money wise.
42:59 Speaker 02 Thank you.
43:03 Speaker 03 Securities offered through LPL Financial, member FINRA/SIPC. Investment advisory services offered through LPL Financial. LPL Financial and MoneyWise Wealth Management are independently owned and operated.
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