Pie Day: Our Way of Saying Thanks to Wilmington Clients

Host: So, Buddy, I gotta ask you about this one right off the bat, because I heard your team spends an entire day... making pies?

Buddy Blake: Yep. Every year about this time, that's exactly what we do. We make pies, box 'em up, and hand 'em out to folks around Wilmington who've trusted us over the years. No sales pitch attached. Just a pie and a thank you.

Host: I love that there's no catch to it. Like, no "oh by the way, if you know anyone looking to sell..." None of that?

Buddy Blake: None of that. And look, I get asked sometimes why a real estate team spends a whole day on something that doesn't show up on a sign-up sheet or a spreadsheet. The answer's pretty simple, honestly. People let us into one of the biggest decisions of their lives when they sell a home with us. That's not something you just move past and forget about.

Host: Right, it's not just a transaction to you.

Buddy Blake: It's not. And Pie Day is just how we remember that, you know? It's our way of saying it out loud once a year.

Host: Okay so take me back a little bit. How'd this whole thing even start?

Buddy Blake: So, I've sold real estate in this area since nineteen ninety-eight. In that time I've sat at a lot of kitchen tables, signed a lot of closing documents, shaken a lot of hands on front porches from Wilmington to Leland and beyond. And those relationships, they don't end when the sign comes down off the yard.

Host: That's a lot of kitchen tables over the years.

Buddy Blake: A lot of kitchen tables. And Pie Day kind of grew out of wanting a small, honest way to say thank you out loud once a year. It's not complicated. It's not fancy. It's pie, delivered by people who genuinely mean the thank you that comes with it.

Host: I think that says a lot actually, about how you approach the business overall. Is that fair to say?

Buddy Blake: Yeah, I think about trust a lot in this business. Selling a house is personal. It touches family, finances, memories, sometimes some pretty hard decisions about timing and price. My team works with sellers across southeastern North Carolina, and the thing I tell every one of them is the same thing I believe about Pie Day — show up, tell the truth, and treat people the way you'd want to be treated once the transaction is done.

Host: So it's the same mindset whether you're talking pie or you're talking price.

Buddy Blake: That's exactly it. That's the same approach we use when we sit down and talk about selling a home. No inflated promises, no pretty numbers that don't hold up. Just straight talk about what a home is actually worth, what it's gonna take to sell it, and what the real timeline looks like.

Host: I think a lot of people have gotten burned by the opposite of that, honestly. Somebody telling them what they want to hear instead of what's true.

Buddy Blake: Oh, all the time. And that's why we try to lead with honesty even when it's not the easiest answer. It builds something that lasts a lot longer than one listing.

Host: So let me ask you this — does the thank you stop at the closing table for most people in this business? Like, is that just kind of the natural finish line?

Buddy Blake: It'd be easy to treat a closing as the finish line, right? Sign the papers, hand over the keys, move on to the next file. I just don't see it that way. The people we've helped sell homes in Wilmington, Leland, Southport, and other communities across the coast — they're part of the reason this team still gets to do this work. A day like Pie Day keeps that front and center.

Host: That's a nice way to put it. So what if somebody's listening and they're curious about what's actually happening with homes in their area right now? Where do they even start?

Buddy Blake: Our Market Insights page is a good place to look. It's the same honest approach we try to bring to everything else, including a day like Pie Day.

Host: And what about someone who's maybe thinking about selling but hasn't made up their mind yet? Not ready to commit to anything, just trying to understand the process.

Buddy Blake: Yeah, take a look at our guide on what to consider before you list on the NC coast. It covers the kind of questions that are worth asking early, before you're in too deep to back out comfortably.

Host: And if they're just curious about a specific neighborhood, not even ready to think about selling yet?

Buddy Blake: We keep an eye on every neighborhood we work in through our communities page, so that's a good starting point too, even if you're just window shopping, so to speak.

Host: I love that there's no pressure built into any of this. So how do you want to wrap up this whole Pie Day conversation?

Buddy Blake: I don't really have a big lesson to wrap it up with, honestly. Pie Day's just one small way my team tries to live out something we believe — people come before transactions. If you've worked with us before, thank you. And if you haven't yet, and you're thinking about selling, give me a call or text at nine-one-zero, three-nine-five, one-thousand. We can talk through what it actually looks like, no pressure attached.

Host: I really love that, Buddy. Honestly, more businesses should think like this — just pie and a thank you, no strings. We'll link the full article in the show notes so folks can check out everything Buddy mentioned. Thanks so much for coming on and sharing this one.

Buddy Blake: Thanks for having me. And hey, if you see us handing out pies around Wilmington sometime, come say hi.