The new year is an invaluable time to reinvent yourself, your podcast . . . and even your home. And that’s precisely what our February Podcaster of the Month has undertaken. The Your Valuable Home podcast has been a trusted resource for homeowners and real estate investors for over a decade. Hosted by experienced, inquisitive interviewer and producer Ron Melk, the show combines home improvement best practices with homeowner horror stories and interviews with experts on everything from resilient home construction to emerging energy sources, (solar, wind, hydrogen, nuclear) to saving 1,000,000 acres of protective salt marsh.
Now, with veteran cohost Kevin Kennedy departing to devote more time to his business, Melk is ready and set for a healthy rebranding. With a strong focus on helping listeners build wealth through real estate and make the most of their communities, Your Valuable Home is excited to announce its refresh.
The podcast’s unique approach includes weekly horror stories that serve as cautionary tales, helping listeners avoid common home improvement pitfalls. Once a month, the show features the “Bad Guy Bulletin” in partnership with the Bucks County PA District Attorney’s Office and Bucks County Consumer Protection Weights and Measures, addressing scams targeting homeowners.
“We rounded out 2024 with the Top 5 of ‘24 in terms of plays/downloads and the inspiring, spectacular story of the rejuvenation of a historic Philadelphia mansion – a two-part podcast for the last week of January and first week of February 2025,” Melk said. “This kicks off a new year of our trademark content.”
Check out our Q&A with Melk!
The horror stories are one of the most intriguing aspects of Your Valuable Home. What are some of the most common horror stories you hear in housing and what are a few quick tips to avoid them?
We do a Horror Story a week. They’re not difficult to identify. With little to no regulation in the home improvement space, nearly every homeowner who has ever worked with a “contractor” has a horror story. In some cases, the stories involve shoddy work because of a lack of knowledge/expertise. In other cases, they’re the result of fraudulent behavior.
The most egregious Horror Stories involve contractors demanding much more up-front money than allowed by law, inferior construction, walking off a job never to return.
Simple tips on how to avoid Horror Stories:
- Never select a contractor at random. Get reliable references from relatives/friends about a project that is similar to the one you have in mind.
- Ask to visit a project the contractor did five or more years ago.
- Verify the length of time the contractor claims to have been in business by checking the date the contractor was licensed or registered in your state.
- Check with your local township for disquieting reports on the contractor.
- Never advance more money – especially not cash – than the law allows.
- Demand a description of the work, verification of adequate liability insurance, and have the contractor document the cost and the schedule in a detailed, written estimate.
The third week of every month, the Horror Story segment becomes the Bad Guy Bulletin. Marc Furber from the Bucks County, P.A., D.A.’s office and/or Mike Bannon from Bucks County Consumer Protection, Weights and Measures join the podcast to report on in-person, telephone and digital scams and shakedowns intended to get homeowners – most often seniors – to part with their hard-earned money. In the past, Kevin and I both uncovered Horror Stories, and he and I often contributed leads for the Bad Guy Bulletin.
Going forward, we’re going to develop a relationship with a respected high-volume contractor(s) or distributor(s) to address home improvement best practices and Horror Stories. Marc Furber and Mike Bannon will continue to contribute to the Bad Guy Bulletin.
BTW, we never mention names.
Your podcast is celebrating an impressive 12 years of offering valuable insights to homeowners and real estate investors. Can you review for us the branding refresh, and how do you envision it enhancing your connection with your audience in 2025?
The branding refresh will involve a totally new opening (new music, new scripting that highlights the reasons why Your Valuable Home has enjoyed an 11-year run and counting and a broad collection of quick, pointed testimonials from subject experts, many of whom have been interviewed by me in the show’s ½-hour Featured segment, as well as testimonials from listeners (males and females from diverse geographies).
The refresh will emphasize our mission: to empower our listeners (largely homeowners and residential real estate investors) with knowledge that enhances their lives, helps them build wealth with real estate and make the most of their communities. Your Valuable Home has a “don’t do it yourself” philosophy about home improvement, and we believe in buying and holding to build wealth.
We’ll support the refresh with publicity and social media activity (to include mention of the Blubrry Podcaster of the Month Feature, etc., etc.).
Incidentally, subject experts are chosen for our Featured segment largely on the basis of…
- The relevance of their topic to the Your Valuable Home audience.
- How many plays/downloads a previous show(s) containing their interview(s) received.
With Kevin focusing on his home improvement business, how has stepping into the dual role of producer and host reshaped how you approach the show’s content and interviews?
The dual role is nothing new. I’ve been producer and co-host for roughly 10 years. It’s an exciting time; an opportunity to emphasize what I believe are the reasons up to 90% or more of our listeners stick with Your Valuable Home podcasts through 75% or more of each release. All of our content is guided by analyzing the data generated by Blubrry.com and listener feedback.
BTW, we will periodically be adding an 8- to 10-minute interview with Caroline Blazovsky, America’s nationally recognized Healthy Home Expert.
Your episodes balance practical home improvement advice with the horror story segment. How do you select the stories to feature?
Beginning in 2025, the first segment of each podcast Home Improvement Best Practices) will be populated with interviews with dealers and contractors. At least once a quarter, this segment will consist of a 15-minute interview with a ProVia product expert. Also, the Featured segment, which is a differentiator for Your Valuable Home, will continue to include subject matter experts in real estate, energy, architecture, insurance, residential investment properties, land conservation, etc., etc. Many of these will be experts with whom I’ve developed relationships over a period of years.
Do you reach out to your guests or do they come to you . . . or both?
It works both ways. For the Home Improvement Replay, Kevin would largely reach out to his customers. I hope to expand on that to include high-volume contractors and re-position the Replay segment as being more about home improvement best practices. In terms of the weekly Featured segment, I personally have done roughly 500 one-half-hour interviews with subject experts. I’ve come to know them well and vice versa. They are eager to participate and return year after year.
The weekly show starts with testimonials from individuals who have benefited from listening to Your Valuable Home and acted on the advice. How were you able to cultivate those testimonials?
Your Valuable Home has been very fortunate in obtaining testimonials from listeners as well as from subject matter experts. In fact, we’ve obtained 20+ so far for the brand refresh – so many that I’m considering show openings that alternate.
Real estate trends have shifted dramatically in the past few years. How are you addressing the challenges of rising interest rates, housing shortages, and sustainability in your upcoming episodes?
This is a question that could warrant a lengthy answer. I’ll keep it brief. We stay on top of the U.S. real estate market with an annual Real Estate RoundUp (reports from realtors in 10 to 12 key markets around the country and an expert in residential investing). We also report on market studies undertaken by the National Association of Realtors and an internationally renowned researcher, Wendall Cox. Wendall has identified restrictive land use practices as a key contributor to the high cost and tight availability of housing in the U.S. and other developed countries. We’re one of a few media outlets that talk about restrictive land use as one of the reasons for the high cost of residential real estate.
Your Valuable Home also advocates for more resilient construction methods to mitigate damage from natural disasters. The cost of rebuilding the same old way keeps pushing up the cost of homeowner’s insurance, which, in turn, increases the overall cost of owning a home.
You’ve mentioned plans for a surprise segment in 2025. Without giving too much away, can you share what inspired this new addition and how it will align with your mission of helping homeowners and investors build wealth?
We will be adding an 8- to 10-minute interview with Caroline Blazovsky, America’s nationally recognized Healthy Home Expert, to a number of episodes to be determined by sponsorship support.
The addition of Caroline was inspired by her knowledge, our friendship and her popularity. Her segment won’t necessarily help our listeners build wealth, but it will help them stay healthy. Family health is a topic that interests our listeners. We recently did a Featured interview on Medicare Advantage which scored near a record number of plays/downloads.
Partnering with renowned subject experts has been a hallmark of Your Valuable Home. What has been the most memorable or surprising expert insight shared on the podcast, and how did it resonate with your audience?
There have been many. For example, The Danger in Dead Trees with a well-known arborist and municipal attorney, How America Will Power Itself Going Forward (wind, solar, hydrogen, nuclear) with subject experts from the U.S., DOE. The Hurricane-proof House with a well-known architect, the massive effort to preserve 1 million acres of U.S. Atlantic Coast Salt Marsh with a subject expert from the PEW nonprofit, etc., etc. According to numbers of plays/downloads, all of these featured interviews and more have resonated well with our listeners.
Your sponsor, ProVia®, and an association with blubrry.com and subject experts have been instrumental in your podcast’s growth.
How have these collaborations shaped the success and quality of Your Valuable Home?
ProVia® provides the fuel and some of the content that keeps Your Valuable Home rolling in a positive direction. Their products and people are without a doubt exceptional. Blubrry provides the distribution and metrics we need to guide the Your Valuable Home content offering. Their responsiveness is refreshing. Finally, we greatly value our relationships with the Bucks County, PA DA’s office, Bucks County Consumer Protection Weights and Measures and subject experts in many disciplines from across the country.