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Nancy Taylor Bubes on the building trust in relationships as a real estate agent ~
“Well, it’s a relationship business. . . When you really take the time to find the right house for the right family, they’re grateful. They love it, and you’ve got to be able to say, “I’m not sure that’s the right house for you.” You’ve got to be able to step in and … turn it down.”
Andy Ockershausen: This is Andy Ockershausen, and this is Our Town. Our third year, our third series of shows. We have done over 100. We have had so much response, and we’ve had the pleasure of having GEICO helping us underwrite this plan, and they’ve been just great. Now that we have great ideas, we are having royalty in our studio. I consider it royalty. This is royalty for Our Town. Nancy Taylor Bubes, the most important high-end real estate person and salesperson in Our Town, and as I say, Our Town covers a lot of area. We’re so happy to have Nancy, and to have her background be a part of Our Town, and as someone has quoted in Washingtonian, “She has a Rolodex rivaling that of any bigwig lobbyist in town.” She’s a big wig lobbyist. Nancy, welcome to Our Town.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Oh my gosh. I wish I had brought my tiara today.
Andy Ockershausen: You don’t need one.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: I’m really impressed. I’m really impressed with that introduction. I’d like to meet that person. Okay.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, and it’s a cliché a little bit, but we have to say it because Washingtonian feels that way, and I know Cathy Williams feels that way, but there’s so much more to you than just real estate, and that’s what I was so interested in, to find out your background. I always thought you were from Our Town, but you’re not. You were born in Fredericksburg.
Out of Virginia
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yes. Yes, Virginia, which is very different than Washington. We grew up thinking that Washington was another country, a place that you just didn’t go to. An hour away, but you didn’t go there.
Andy Ockershausen: No. Nancy, one of the things I’ve found out in all these years I’ve been in broadcasting and being a native, a third generation, that Washingtonians don’t mind crossing the river to go to Virginia, but Virginians do not like to cross the river.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: No. No, and I still have a lot of family in Virginia, and they just see me up here like, “You’re up there with all the crooks. I mean, how do you live up there?” It’s a very different perception.
Andy Ockershausen: It just works so well for Virginians, because they’re very happy. They consider that river as a barrier, and I guess it worked for them.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: They do. They do. Their memory runs long.
Andy Ockershausen: Being a Washingtonian, I consider you a Washingtonian now, even though you’re from Fredericksburg, you’ve seen this city explode. It must have been a great thing for you to look back in your perspective. You went to college in North Carolina, at Salem. I didn’t know that was a part of Wake Forest.
College
Nancy Taylor Bubes: It’s not. Actually, it’s the girls’ school over in the little Moravian Village called Old Salem. It’s a girls’ school.
Andy Ockershausen: It’s not connected to the university?
Nancy Taylor Bubes: No.
Andy Ockershausen: Two separate schools?
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Two separate schools. You just went over there for some entertainment.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, what in the world brought you to Our Town? Why would you leave a wonderful place like Fredericksburg to come to Washington?
Our Town – Land of Opportunity for an Art Major
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Well, because I kept thinking, I was an art major, so that’s a very marketable thing to be in, don’t you think, art?
Andy Ockershausen: Absolutely.
Government Freeze on Museums and Galleries
Nancy Taylor Bubes: I was thinking, “Okay, what am I going to do in Fredericksburg?” I actually came up during the Carter administration, and only to find out that there was a freeze with all the galleries and everything, so there was no job in a gallery or anything, which was sort of my ideal job at that point in time. That’s when I got a job as a salesperson at Neiman Marcus, just to pay the rent. Like, “Okay, nice store that opened. Okay.”
Sales at Newly Opened Neiman Marcus Pays the Rent
Andy Ockershausen: We love Neiman Marcus, because it’s across the street from our studios.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: We do.
Andy Ockershausen: Being at WMAL back then, I remember watching them build that. That’s one of the deepest things I’ve ever seen, that whole structure across the street.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Really?
Andy Ockershausen: And fabulous.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Fascinating. Yes, and when I think about 30-some years ago, 35, 40, it was just when the store was opening.
Andy Ockershausen: Oh, it was gorgeous.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: It was gorgeous.
Andy Ockershausen: In its day, it was state of the art. That whole building was the head of everything, Mazza Gallerie.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yeah, yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: Now, that store became … We used to have some good restaurants up town, like the Silver Fox. Probably you’re too young to remember that, but a lot of good restaurants. Then the city changed, and I know in your business, no matter what business you’re in, I think you’ve got to have good restaurants. The city needs it to sort of have a symbol of what we are.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: They do.
Andy Ockershausen: You’ve seen the transformation, I’m sure.
Our Town is Exploding
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yeah, no. It’s amazing. Well, what I’m seeing right now is such an explosion in the city. A lot of areas that were taboo years ago are now changing night and day, like we were talking earlier, down where the stadium is.
Andy Ockershausen: Oh, it’s incredible.
H Street, U Street, 14th Street
Nancy Taylor Bubes: It’s just incredible.
Andy Ockershausen: I grew up in Washington, and the H Street corridor in Northeast was the pit. Now it’s become a very big thing in Our Town.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yes.
Andy Ockershausen: Just like U Street used to be the pits, now it’s big. Absolutely. In H Street, places we wouldn’t have thought of 50 years ago are big now.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: It is so, so amazing. I’ve found a little shift in rentals in the Georgetown market. You used to be able to put a rental out, and it would rent in a second. Now, that whole younger crowd is all over on 14th Street and H Street, which we’re missing some of the partiers, but it is amazing where the young people are generally and all the restaurants. Case in point, that’s where all the good restaurants are.
Andy Ockershausen: 14th Street. I drove up toward … One of our nieces, we were dropping her off at a restaurant on 14th Street, and I said, “I don’t know if it’s safe for her to be going there.” This was two or three years ago.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: I know.
Andy Ockershausen: It exploded, 14th Street.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: It is just amazing.
Andy Ockershausen: All the way up to the Car Barn.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: It is just amazing, and the amount of people that … Those streets, they look safe. There are so many young people on the streets.
Andy Ockershausen: Absolutely.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: It’s so incredible. They’re well-lit, it’s lively, it’s active, it’s young. That, to me, has been the most … I love to see cities getting rebuilt, and people coming back into the city is a very exciting thing.
Andy Ockershausen: I think it’s happening in Our Town, and it’s more than just those two corridors, like by the stadium, but how about the Navy Yard?
Stadium, Navy Yard, M Street
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Oh my god. I know.
Andy Ockershausen: The Navy Yard, M Street, nobody went there.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: It was this terrible neighborhood, but now it’s unbelievable, what’s happening.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yeah, no. That was the armpit of the city.
Andy Ockershausen: Oh, it was terrible.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: You just didn’t go down there, and to have the stadium down there now and the draw of that, it’s very, very exciting.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, somewhere years ago, Nancy, I read that one of the things that makes a city safe is not the police department, it’s the people that live there who participate in that city.
Community is Everything
Nancy Taylor Bubes: I agree.
Andy Ockershausen: That makes it safe for all of us.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yeah. I agree, and they always say that you can tell how popular a neighborhood has gotten by the cost of coffee, a cup of coffee.
Andy Ockershausen: I remember, was it Seinfeld that said … I saw him in a program. He said, “It’s not Starbucks, it’s four bucks.”
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yeah, right. Exactly.
Andy Ockershausen: That’s it. That’s what’s happened to our world.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: That’s right.
Andy Ockershausen: Four bucks.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: That’s right, that’s right.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, this has been a wonderful conversation, and we’re going to continue with Nancy Taylor Bubes and get into big parts of Our Town that’s called real estate. This is Andy Ockershausen, and we’ll be right back.
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Announcer: Our Town with Andy Ockershausen.
Andy Ockershausen: This is Andy Ockershausen, and we’re back on Our Town with Nancy Bubes. I’ll leave the Taylor out for this time.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Okay.
Andy Ockershausen: We’re talking about Our Town, and what she has been part of is this explosion of people and housing, and what’s happened in Georgetown, Kalorama, all the areas that you’ve served and maybe didn’t realize were going to be so big now, when you first came to town.
New Administration Moves In – Kalorama and Georgetown Get Busy
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Would have never, ever, ever guessed it. Even I remember many years where Washington was not an area where anyone wanted to live, and they really lived in the suburbs, and that was the old thing of where Democrats and Republicans … Actually, all Republicans were always in Virginia, and there are one or two neighborhoods where Democrats would move into town, but that’s what’s been very exciting about the Trump administration, is that his administration moved in town.
Andy Ockershausen: They’re spending money and buying houses.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: We love that.
Andy Ockershausen: They’re not renting, they’re buying.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: They’re buying, yeah. They really did invest. They came in and invested in our community.
Andy Ockershausen: It’s been a great investment for people . . . happened in the markets and so forth.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: It really has. It’s lifted our market. It really has.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, Nancy, what do you feel is the next frontier in housing, or frontier in …? Well, people are moving continually. I know that, but anything special that you see as on the frontier that’s coming in on the futures?
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Well, I mean, it is a big move, and this is a move with families, even, to the downtown areas, which is very, very exciting to see that, because I think that helps the areas where you and I live, because if you start in town, then your next move as your family grows and as you get closer to schools, it overflows into areas like Georgetown, Wesley Heights, Spring Valley. I think it just keeps people in town. They want to be close to things, the grocery store, the dry cleaners, everything to walk out.
Andy Ockershausen: All the services.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: All the services, yeah.
13th and D NE
Andy Ockershausen: I see it in Northeast, particularly. I grew up at 13th and D Northeast, which at the time was not wonderful, but now I drive over there, and I see people with baby carriages, I see playgrounds and public schools. They’re playing ball out there. It’s just packed with people, and that was a shock to me. The old Car Barn’s gone.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: It’s just amazing, and that was to the benefit of my dear husband, who you know very well.
Andy Ockershausen: Oh, yeah.
Nancy’s Husband, Alan – A Washingtonian Businessman – Linens of the Week
Nancy Taylor Bubes: He is an old Washingtonian, which I am not, and his business was also in an area where I would be like, “Okay, I’m coming over. I’ve got navigation on.” But I was so turned around, I could not figure out where the plant ever was, and that’s another emerging neighborhood. So many times he would be driving around going, “Oh, I’ve got to show you what they’re doing over here,” and I’m like, “Where are we?”
Andy Ockershausen: That’s right. Where are we?
Nancy Taylor Bubes: All part of a city that’s becoming part of ours now. It’s amazing.
Andy Ockershausen: Lincoln Park.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Lincoln Park, yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: Lincoln Park, it’s incredible. Well, his business was at 9th and H, as I recall.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Off of Sherman. I mean, who knows where Sherman is?
Andy Ockershausen: Not anymore.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: I know. It’s like, “Yeah, really?”
Andy Ockershausen: Gone now, but that was such a big part of town, is Long Live Linen.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yes.
Andy Ockershausen: I used to kid him about, “White tablecloths are gone. You’ve got a dying business.” Guess what? I was wrong.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Thank goodness.
Andy Ockershausen: The whole town is . . . We’re doing white tablecloths.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Thank goodness. Yes.
Andy Ockershausen: Alan knows that, right?
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yes.
Andy Ockershausen: Make it easy for you to get the right people in town too, doesn’t it?
Nancy Taylor Bubes: That’s right. We still like the white tablecloths.
Andy Ockershausen: I know, isn’t it great?
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yes, yes.
Andy Ockershausen: I said, “They don’t even have napkins anymore, Alan.”
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yeah, he just ignored you and kept going.
Andy Ockershausen: No, he kept going, as the brothers did. They spent their time out at Woodmont playing golf, but Nancy, you do so many things in downtown, and you’ve connected so many people. What I loved in reading about you, and we did a lot of research on you, your repeat business has been fabulous.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Well …
Andy Ockershausen: You sell somebody a house and then get them to move into another one, and move them up.
Real Estate is a Relationship Business
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Well, it’s a relationship business.
Andy Ockershausen: Absolutely.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: It’s not a sales business. It’s a relationship, and we …
Andy Ockershausen: I love you saying that. I love that.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Well, it is. It really is, and these are big financial decisions, and I just feel like you’ve just got to find … When you really take the time to find the right house for the right family, they’re grateful. They love it, and you’ve got to be able to say, “I’m not sure that’s the right house for you.” You’ve got to be able to step in and …
Andy Ockershausen: To turn it down.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: To turn it down.
Andy Ockershausen: Absolutely, Nancy.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, that adds to your credibility, then, but I do love the fact that people have tried to move up, and they call on you to help them move up.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Well, we like that.
Andy Ockershausen: Absolutely.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: I say, “Buy small, buy often.”
Andy Ockershausen: Hey, I love that slogan.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yeah, right.
Andy Ockershausen: We grew up in the business in broadcasting, in television and radio, where relationship was everything. There’s ratings and there’s numbers, but if you have a relationship, you can help someone, and they can help you.
Janice Iacona Ockershausen: Yeah. Well, people want to do business with people they like. I think that’s the key.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yeah, they like and trust you.
Andy Ockershausen: Absolutely.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: That’s really the key, and I know a lot of new people will come and say, “Oh god, what can I do to go in your path and everything?” It’s just really … It’s person by person. It’s just years of blending on relationships and building on that.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, I’m certain all of your successes have not been positive, you’ve had some negative success. I don’t call them negative, but you’ve had negatives when you turn somebody down.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Oh, yeah, or when you get fired.
Andy Ockershausen: That’s the ultimate negative.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: I know, really. They didn’t like me? Oh my god.
Andy Ockershausen: Right.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: No, they’re always … Thank goodness for the negatives, because by those, we kind of learn and . . .
Andy Ockershausen: You learn from your mistakes.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: You really do.
Andy Ockershausen: You really, really do.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Where you came up short, and that wouldn’t be life if we didn’t have a little bit of both.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, I remember when you had an office down, not in the lobby of the hotel, but in one of the walkways into the Four Seasons.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Oh, yes. Yes. Yes.
Andy Ockershausen: I’m trying to think of the Charlie … I forget. The guy’s name was Charlie. You had a lot of associates there I knew. We’re talking 30, 40 years ago now, when you first started in the business.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: But you don’t have an office in that part of town anymore, do you?
A Good Start at Dale Denton in Southeast
Nancy Taylor Bubes: No, I’m about four blocks away from that in Georgetown, but I always say I started with Dale Denton.
Andy Ockershausen: In Northeast, I mean Southeast. I knew Mario Camero. Is that name …
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Oh my god. I will tell you, that Capitol Hill office was a legend, so when he started Georgetown, I was so excited that day when he hired me, and I thought, “Oh my god, I got my first job,” in sales, when he realized anyone could get into sales any day of the week. But I remember for years, I had that one office I shared with Dale’s wife, Jill Denton, at the time. Dale sold, and then someone else bought us, and then someone else bought us, and I was in that same office, I think for three or four different companies.
Andy Ockershausen: Pennsylvania Avenue.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Until I moved right over to the Four Seasons.
Andy Ockershausen: That’s a long way, from Denton’s to the Four Seasons.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: I know. I think for 20 … Until I moved to my current company, Washington Fine Properties, I never switched firms, because I was always acquired. Companies were sold, and you’re acquired by someone else. Just fascinating. I just changed my business cards.
Andy Ockershausen: Yeah. I did a lot of work with those guys. Many years ago, unfortunately, I bought a lot of property in Northeast, which we figured is going to be the next big, 12th Street, 13th Street.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yeah, you just didn’t hold it long enough – 30 years.
Andy Ockershausen: No, we gave up.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yeah, right. Right.
Andy Ockershausen: Dale Denton and his people, and that’s how I remember Mario, they were always helpful, but the office was a hoot all the time. It was party time.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: The best. The best.
Andy Ockershausen: Everybody was happy, and they were effective, correct? They sold.
Dale Denton – All About the Community
Nancy Taylor Bubes: They really were, and I’ll never forget, they had this race on Capitol Hill that they sponsored, and I thought, “Wow, that is so great. I want to do that one day, or sponsor something like that.” Dale also captured the very community aspect of a real estate …
Andy Ockershausen: They were deeply into the community, right.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: They really were, and every one of those agents over there knew every block, knew every person who lived over there, and they had a stronghold on that community.
Andy Ockershausen: They really did a great job.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yeah, they did.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, you were part of that, Nancy, obviously. You grew up with them, to a certain extent.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: Then as you went into your own business, but you were still friends with them, you all worked together from time to time, I’m sure.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: There’s a lot of camaraderie in your business. There has to be.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Well, it is a little bit. It’s a little bit of you eat what you kill.
Janice Iacona Ockershausen: Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: Wow.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: You know?
Andy Ockershausen: . . . love that.
Bubes, Super-Agent at Washington Fine Properties
Nancy Taylor Bubes: You build great friendships with agents. I’m, for the first time in 30 years, with a company where I can say I’m really friends with agents, because you kind of worked with them, but …
Andy Ockershausen: Yes.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: You always kind of looked over your shoulder.
Andy Ockershausen: Obviously, you have great relationships with banks or lenders, correct? To help people with …
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Well, the trail of money helps, yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: You’ve got to have the dough.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Right, exactly.
Andy Ockershausen: The banks have really stepped up, and they realize that this is a good place to invest, right? To buy houses?
Nancy Taylor Bubes: I think so. I think so. It’s still … It’s a different world today, to get a loan. It’s still not easy.
Andy Ockershausen: No.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: I tell people, banks are not in business to lend money. They’re in business to make money.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: That’s right.
Andy Ockershausen: If they can’t make money, they ain’t going to be a lender.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: That’s right. That’s right, and we did not have a big … During the change in the market, we did not have a big foreclosure problem here in our area.
Andy Ockershausen: Not as much as the country had, not as bad.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yeah, exactly. Again, we’re in this bubble here in the Washington area.
Andy Ockershausen: We’re so fortunate. Our Town is somewhat recession-proof.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: We all feel it because of other things, but it’s been a great, great 30 years for you, has it not?
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Oh my god, I feel extremely blessed with this, because I really started from nothing.
Andy Ockershausen: Correct. Wait a minute. Neiman Marcus was not a bad start.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: I got a great wardrobe. I think sales experience at Neiman Marcus is a great way to start any career.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, you’ve got a lot of advice in your teachings of what to help people getting started. We’re going to take a break here and come back and talk to Nancy Bubes. I’m leaving the Taylor out, but she is the queen of Our Town, real estate. This is Andy Ockershausen. This is Our Town.
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Announcer: You’re listening to Our Town with Andy Ockershausen, brought to you by Best Mark Communications.
Andy Ockershausen: This is Andy Ockershausen. This is Our Town, and we’re talking … Mrs. Bubes. I don’t know why I say that, but I say it. I imagine nobody ever called you Mrs. Bubes before.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: I would get scared, yes. I really feel like I’m looking my age.
Andy Ockershausen: Nancy, you are definitely a huge part of Our Town, and we appreciate so much what you have done and what you give to Our Town. Something that you talked about just in your memories and in memoirs of what you’re doing, you give back to Our Town. You just don’t take. You’re involved in a lot of organizations when you give, and more than money, you give your thought and your ideas, which sometimes could be better than money.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yeah, that’s right.
Andy Ockershausen: But you’re involved in the community.
Nancy Taylor Bubes Believes “The harder we work, the luckier we get.”
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Well, the community’s been very good to me, and so I really feel I owe it back to the community, and to me, it’s the most rewarding part of my business. It really is. I feel fortunate to have had some success.
Andy Ockershausen: Wait a minute. Tremendous success.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Always say, “The harder we work, the luckier we get,” but any rate …
Andy Ockershausen: There’s a lot to that.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: It’s a lot to that, but I’ve stuck with it for many years, always thought it was a great business to raise a family in, because I had flexibility, and it’s just been all around, but the community aspect is really one of the things I feel strongly about.
Andy Ockershausen: It’s personally rewarding, but it’s also great as a business person, which you are, because you’ve given to the city, and you get back in so many ways. I grew up in an area where I belonged to everything. In fact, it cost me a marriage, because I was too involved in too many things, and things change, but the fact is that I was the beneficiary of everything I gave. I gave them my time.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: I went to one last night, and I took Janice, to give her an idea of something we’re doing with Leadership Greater Washington.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Oh, yes.
Andy Ockershausen: I’m sure you’ve heard of them.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yes.
Andy Ockershausen: They asked me, because I was one of the founders, to give them advice, and I said, “I don’t think you’ve got enough people in the room with money.”
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Right.
Andy Ockershausen: “Let’s readdress that and get a meeting with people with money.”
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Let’s get down to brass tacks here, yes.
Andy Ockershausen: Nancy, you’ve got to get to givers. We enjoy so much being part of Our Town and watching you in Our Town. One of the things you have brought to Georgetown is a great sense of community, and what you have done with your home. Your Halloween show is one of the great attractions in Our Town. If I were you, I’d set up a stand and charge.
Halloween Fun in Georgetown
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Oh my god. Well, you know how that started? Remember Rose’s on Wisconsin Avenue?
Andy Ockershausen: Yes.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: The Rose’s right there? That was closing, and I remember thinking, “Oh, it’s closing.” My kids were young, and I was going to be having a little Halloween party for them, so I go in and I start buying all the little gear, and I decorated a little bit more that year. Then it just … A little bit more, a little bit more.
Andy Ockershausen: Were you in the same house? The one that … You lived somewhere before that house.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: I used to live literally a block away in Georgetown.
Andy Ockershausen: Yeah, I remember that.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: It was a nice little lane where all the neighbors were really close, and then I moved onto this corner, and I thought, “Oh my god.”
Andy Ockershausen: Huge house.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Oh, yeah.
Janice Iacona Ockershausen: Nancy, I don’t want to jinx it, but how do you keep people from taking all your stuff? Do you nail them down?
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Can I just tell you? It’s a process. I’ve already got … My stager, who I’ve had for 15 years, comes in with friends and helps me set it all up, and then you have a contractor come in and tie it all down, and it’s a process. My kids now, who are all in college, are. . .
Andy Ockershausen: Your kids are grown, of course.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yeah, and they’re like, “Mom, really? I mean, we’re all grown up now. Don’t you think you are …”
Janice Iacona Ockershausen: Oh, it’s so much fun, though, and there’s so much activity on that corner, and your house is just magnificent, but to see all that …
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Alan loves it, you can tell.
Janice Iacona Ockershausen: All the fun you have, and you in your witch’s hat.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yes.
Janice Iacona Ockershausen: . . . make an occasion, yeah.
1200 Candy Bars is the Limit
Nancy Taylor Bubes: I cut it off at 1200 candy bars, okay?
Janice Iacona Ockershausen: Wow.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: When 1200 have come to my house that night, that’s it. I’m shutting the door at 7:30.
Janice Iacona Ockershausen: Wow.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: But it’s amazing.
Andy Ockershausen: You’ve got to do that.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Oh, it’s amazing.
Andy Ockershausen: You’d be there 24/7.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: It’s the funnest night.
Andy Ockershausen: Bringing that to Georgetown is proof of your giving back, and you give so much, and it pays back great dividends for you. Here we are talking about it, right?
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yeah, really.
Andy Ockershausen: Which mean everybody’s talking about it.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Really, I love that.
Andy Ockershausen: Isn’t that great?
Nancy Taylor Bubes: I know.
Andy Ockershausen: We just appreciate Georgetown. When I grew up, it’s hard to believe Georgetown was not very desirable at one time.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yeah.
Andy Ockershausen: Right after WW2, but it has become the place to live in Washington, because of people like you.
Georgetown is a Community
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Well, we’re fortunate that it’s a community that lives there. It’s not like different parts of London, where people invest and they don’t live there.
Andy Ockershausen: They participate.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: A lot of people . . .they are involved in the community, and we all live on top of each other, so we might as well embrace it.
Andy Ockershausen: Well, I began my real tight experience with Bud Doggett and what he believed in Georgetown, and everything that he cared about, and I saw that I love what is happening to Our Town, and what’s happening to Georgetown. What’s up, Jannie?
Janice Iacona Ockershausen: Well, we want to make sure that Nancy, because I’m sure people are going to be interested in hearing from you or talking to you, if you’d give your website and your telephone number.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Oh, I love that.
Andy Ockershausen: Yeah, do that.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Call Nancy, 202 …
Andy Ockershausen: Give it. Come on, Nance.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Hey, 202-256-2164.
Andy Ockershausen: That’s for anywhere in Our Town, but particularly in the good parts.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: In the good …
Andy Ockershausen: Anyway, there’s no more bad parts that I remember.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: No, it’s not.
Andy Ockershausen: It’s happened so wonderfully.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: It’s not. It’s just really amazing.
Andy Ockershausen: Nancy, this has been a great experience for us, and thank you so much.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: I’ve loved it.
Andy Ockershausen: You’re so effervescent, and that pays off, but the show is so good because of you, and you made Our Town something special. Thank you, and you know I love Alan, and thank for him what he’s done. He’s a great guy.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: I’m very lucky.
Andy Ockershausen: I used that line. I thought one of those ugly statues you have out in your house at Halloween was Maury Povich.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Yeah, really. Exactly. Maury’s my stand-in.
Andy Ockershausen: He’s like another one of your children.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: That’s right.
Andy Ockershausen: Sure. This has been Our Town, Andy Ockershausen and Nancy Taylor Bubes. Thank you.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Thank you.
Andy Ockershausen: Keep knocking them dead in Our Town.
Nancy Taylor Bubes: Oh gosh, thank you. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it.
Announcer: You’ve been listening to Our Town Season Three, presented by GEICO, our hometown favorite, with your host, Andy Ockershausen. New Our Town episodes are released each Tuesday and Thursday. Drop us a line with your comments or suggestions. See us on Facebook, or visit our website at ourtowndc.com. Our special thanks to Ken Hunter, our technical director, and WMAL Radio in Washington, D.C. for hosting our podcast, and thanks to GEICO. 15 minutes can save you 15% or more on car insurance.
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