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Transcript of Since 1911 - January 2012
Issue 39 The official newsletter of HUNT Real Estate Corporation January 2012
The new HUNTREALESTATE.COM!The new website launches!Have you checked it out yet?
Continued on inside cover
Congratulations to our Industry Leaders!Check out who the 2011 Agents & Teams of the year are!
AnticipatingMarket TrendsA message from Peter F. Hunt,Chairman & CEO
Over the last month, we
have celebrated our
100th� anniversary
within the context of
our Annual� Awards
and� Holiday� Cele-
brations in each of our
regions. Some�of �you
were�honored in various ways for their
accomplishments in what was a very
difficult market. In this issue, all of our top
honorees are again named and, as I did
personally, I will again offer my
congratulations and thanks for the superior
service provided to our clients. These living
examples of excellence are what make our
company what it is, the elite of the industry.
Also during our celebrations, I paid tribute
to Lou�Izzo and his contribution to our
firm over the last 23 years. Please see a
reprint of my comments in this issue of our
newsletter.
In our last issue, I relayed some things I
have learned in our Branches as I have
visited sales meetings in all of our regions.
I also relayed one important aspect of the
careers of our most successful agents: they
invest in their careers. This article will
explore the fourth reason some agents
simply do better than others: they�
anticipate�market�trends.
Over the years I have observed that if you
want to make something happen any given
day in real estate sales, you have a limited
number of market segment options to
Memories of the 2011 AnnualAwards & Holiday CelebrationA great time was had by all at our Annual
Awards Celebration events that took place in
Arizona on November 30th, Syracuse/Capital
District on December 8th and Buffalo/Rochester
on December 13th. These events are an
important part of the HUNT tradition, as they
allow us to recognize those who have achieved
award levels this past year and celebrate in
their successes.
This year’s events were especially important
ones, given that they mark the culmination of
our first 100 years of service. To honor this
unprecedented achievement, we produced a
tribute video that was unveiled at the Syracuse
and Buffalo regional events. For those who did
not get a chance to attend, our video can be
viewed on HUNT Real Estate’s youtube
page.
Peter Hunt gave an inspirational speech at
each event, and we recognized the agents
who worked hard this year and ‘beat the
odds’ in this challenging market. We shared
a toast to this year’s successes, to our 100
years of service and dedication, and to the
exciting opportunities we have ahead as we
enter a new century. The video asked the
question: “What makes HUNT so great?,”
and this year’s events provided the answer:
YOU!
Continued on last page
Welcome to: HUNT’s “On The House®” Rebate Program!A message from Barbara Hoy, Licensed Real Estate Salesperson, from the Lancaster Branch
Every business person needs a “jump start”
for their career. I, for one, needed help to
launch my new real estate venture. At the
time I started in the Real Estate business,
the market was very slow. Beatrice
Dunwoodie’s “On the House” presentation
in our HUNT Lancaster office sent a
message to me that helped push my Real
Estate career in gear. The On the House
clients that I have “cultivated” are a large
percentage of my sales. It’s such a painless,
easy “offer” to buyers and sellers, friends
and relatives. The repeat clients, as well as
the referrals, make the “On the House”
rebate program my safety net. My clients
are equally satisfied when they receive
excellent service and a rebate check in the
mail from HUNT REAL ESTATE!
I applaud Beatrice Dunwoodie. The
businesses that we have been involved with
are varied; her presentations are conducted in
a very professional manner, no matter who we
are dealing with or where we are
conducting the presentations they are
always extremely informative. Beatrice is very
compassionate about what she does; she has
helped to teach me how to reap the benefits
of the HUNT “On the House” rebate
program to its fullest by being persistent!
Barabara HoyLicensed Real Estate Salesperson
The 100 Club program is
winding down… are you
in the Club? Is your
Branch office? Did you
spend November and
December focused on
business-building activities,
while the rest of the agent population slows
down? If you’ve been doing open houses, or
getting your listing prices reduced, or
extending your listing contracts, then you’re
probably in the club!
As of mid-December, 64 dedicated HUNT
Real Estate ERA agents had qualified for the
Club. Are you one of the lucky ones? Find
out in January, but in the meantime… stay
busy, stay focused, and start the New Year
with Income!
choose from: 1) FSBO’s; 2) Expired
listings; 3) Your Center of Influence;
4) A “farm” area; 5) Corporate or
“Wholesale” opportunities (Relocation,
bank-owned properties, builder accounts);
or 6) Just “being there” (open houses, floor
time). Assuming very few agents have real
expertise across all of these segments, what
is your area of strength? Where do you
choose to concentrate your efforts for the
best return on your time invested?
Even within each segment, there are
various options. What is your area of
expertise? First-time buyers? Retirees?
Move-up buyers? What price range is most
active today? Which is least active and
why? But where do you go to understand
each of these market segments so that you
can then decide how best to use your time
to the greatest advantage?
Without high-quality data and analysis of
the market (market segments, price ranges,
neighborhoods, demographic groups,
industrial segments) it is very difficult to
adequately advise our clients and truly
represent� ourselves� as� “experts”.
But armed with this data, our analysis
becomes “expert” and we bring real value
to our clients and each transaction. Most
agents default to MLS data only and
generic measures such as sale price per square
foot when we are attempting to determine a
property’s value. Wouldn’t it be more
valuable to our clients and us if we could draw
accurate buyer profiles and then create
marketing proposals that are geared to those
potential buyers?
At HUNT Real Estate ERA we subscribe
exclusively to a� data� service� (“Trend-
graphix”) that allows us to analyze buyer
activity geographically in very finite slices of
the market. Conclusions can be drawn on
buyer behavior, likely buyer profiles and
activity within a buyer segment. Our unique
Customer Service Center and ProShow
system also contain data on active prospects
from which we can further refine our buyer
profiles. This allows our most successful
agents to focus their marketing and build a
business base.
Working with our highly-skilled Broker
Consultants to build a personal business plan
is another key building block for a profitable
professional career in real estate. All� the
tools�are�here. You can even take a HUNT
University�course�(209) to learn how to
utilize all available data.
Recently� at� our� Awards� and�Holiday
Celebration� in�our�Arizona�Region,� I
had�occasion�to�speak�privately�with
our� leading� agent� there,� Sharon
Bickford.� I asked her to share her secret
to her success, an annoying habit of mine.
She responded without hesitation with one
word: Focus. When I asked “on what?”,
she quickly told me about how she has be-
come the leading agent in her chosen com-
munity (her “farm”, although she did not
term it that way). She focuses almost all of
her marketing on those 2,600
households and knows all market data on
that community, actively promotes her
expertise and maintains a high degree
visibility. Through her access to and
analysis of market data, she is able to
accurately anticipate market trends, and
prepare and present marketing
presentations that focus on likely prospects
and potential buyers. Through her focus,
she is also building a “book of business”
that ultimately will be her long-term equity.
Well-done,� Sharon.� � You� are� an�
example�for�all�of �us.
As usual, your feedback is invited. Please
email me your comments, thoughts and/or
questions at [email protected].
Anticipating Market Trends ... continued from cover
Are you in the Club?
Shall I get a Droid or an iPhone? Part 2A message from Carlos Pegado, Chief Technology Officer
Give yourself a New Year’s Resolution that
you can live up to next year, taking your
career to the next level!
ERA Real Estate 2012 International Business Conference
A perfect place to start is by attending the
2012 ERA® International Business
Conference in New Orleans, March 14-17.
You will set the tone for the year, while having
a really great time!
Here are our Top Five reasons why you
should attend:
• You’ll make connections with brokers and
agents from across the world
• The certification classes alone can pay for
your registration cost
• You’ll walk away with at least three unique
ideas you can use throughout the year (can
you say, results?!)
• You’ll learn best practices in education
sessions from your peers
Last but not least… Next year is ERA’s 40th
anniversary and we’ll be celebrating in style!
To�register�for�IBC�2012,�and�to�learn
more�visit�ERAIBC2012.com.�
We hope to see you there!
Continuing where I left off on my last
article, where we examined Ease of Use, let’s
now look at:
Communications
Android�4.0: Android in-
tegrates natively with ALL
of Google’s services. That
means it speaks fluent
Gmail, Google Contacts,
Google Calendar, Google Docs, Google
Maps, Google Search, Google+, Google
Voice and so on. If you are invested in
Google’s services as a consumer (and who
isn’t), or Google Apps as a business (which
we are) Android destroys iOS with respect
to Google integration. Android also supports
Exchange and POP3/IMAP4 email, and
can import the contacts, calendar and email
info from those systems. Android’s Gmail far
outclasses the iOS email application when it
comes to supporting features, such as folders,
labels, archiving and so on.
iOS� 5: The Apple iOS 5 supports Ex-
change, Gmail and most POP3/IMAP4
email systems. It too will integrate contacts,
email, and calendar info via Exchange. If
you’re a Google services user, however, the
integration requires workarounds. For exam-
ple, though I use Gmail, I have it setup as an
Exchange account on my iOS devices in
order to sync email, calendar and contacts.
Although serviceable, it doesn’t offer the
wide array of controls that are available via
Android 4.0.
Social�Tools
Android 4.0: Android leapfrogged iOS early
on with respect to social skills. By using its own
bridge interface and taking advantage of the
connectors offered by Facebook and Twitter,
it has built social networking into the platform
itself. Facebook integration is extremely strong
with Android. By integrating features and
functions of Facebook throughout the operat-
ing system, Android makes it a breeze to con-
nect to and share with social networks.
iOS 5: Apple did add some
respectable and appreciated
support for Twitter into iOS
5, but it still falls short. It is
possible to share pictures,
websites, and other content to
Twitter without first launching the Twitter
app, but that’s about it. For iOS 5 device users,
3rd-party applications are necessary to com-
plete a social networking picture. Facebook
and Twitter are great apps, but they do not
offer the degree and level of integration to so-
cial networking that is commonly found in
Androids.
Conclusion
Both the latest versions of Android and Apple
include compelling new features that are sure
to help sell Android smartphones and iPhones
in the coming months.
Is one operating system a clear winner? Well,
they each have their distinct advantages, but
ultimately it boils down to how you intend to
use the phone. Users of Android phones
have far fewer apps to choose from. The
most recent iteration of iOS 5 drew positive
reviews for its new voice-recognition soft-
ware, faster processing speed and improved
picture-taking ability.
When it comes to the phone business, there
is no doubt that Apple vs Google makes a
great headline. After all, who doesn’t like
the battle of giants? But in reality it is Apple
AND Google versus the others. BlackBerry
is already a casualty and although Microsoft
is attempting a valiant comeback with the
new generation of Windows Mobile
phones, I am afraid that it is a case of too
little, too late.
For nearly a century the phones have been
a single-function device. You used them to
make phone calls. In the beginning, an op-
erator connected us. Then came automa-
tion. We got the rotary dial and then the
keypad. The design changed, the back-end
switching technology changed. Even the
economics of the service changed. New fea-
tures were added - voice mail, for example.
What didn’t change: functionality. Phones
just made phone calls.
A century later we had a certain idea of a
phone imprinted in our head.
Then came Steve Jobs who showed us the
iPhone - and the idea of phones changed.
Until next month.
HUNT ERA proudly recognizes our Industry Leaders
2011 Agents, Teams and offices of the Year
Congratulations to all of our Award Winners!
Buffalo/Niagara Region
BARBARA BAKER BONNIE CLEMENT GEORGE CORREA
JIM HOFFMAN JOE TRIFILOAMY MAYFIELD
JOEL CALABRESE& JUDY RALABATE
SHARON FRISICARO& STEVE FRISICARO
STEPHANIE DJABALLAH& TIMOTHY DOMANSKI
Rochester Region
JOHN DENNISTON RICH ORCZYK SANDI VAN CAMP
Syracuse Region
JOAN RAYO ADAMS MARY PAT ADAMS ANN BAUM ANN HOTCHKISS MARGARET KARIM
DAVE MANZANO JUDY WINSLOW
MEGHAN DABULEWICZ& SARAH COLLINS
AUTUMN STARR& JEAN NICHOLAS
Arizona Region
SHARON BICKFORD MARY MONTAGUE
Capital Region
JENNIFER BALL FELICIA CERVERA ANTHONY GUCCIARDO
* Agents are listed in alphabetical order, not in order of rank.
Office of the Year
WILLIAMSVILLE FAYETTEVILLE
Region at-a-glance:
Avg�Sale�Price:�$146,000
Sale�Side�Units:�2219
Listings�Sold:�2315
Recent�News:�Buffalo region agents and
staff collected an incredible four carloads
of items for the Buffalo News Neediest
Campaign this year, and the local Food
Bank has picked up all the canned food
and dry goods
collected by our
ever-char i table
team. Great job, all!
The Buffalo region leadership team
congratulates the KenTon Branch for
being awarded the Most Improved
Office, and Williamsville Village for
being Office of the Year and Customer
Support Center for being the
Administrative Employee of the Year.
Region at-a-glance:
Avg�Sale�Price:��$197,532
Sale�Side�Units:�200
Listings�Sold:�191
The Capital region leadership team
congratulates Anthony Gucciardo for
being awarded Top Agent in both
Closed Units and GCI for branch and
company wide!
Region at-a-glance:
Avg�Sale�Price:��$160,000
Sale�Side�Units:�687
Listings�Sold:�709
Recent� News:� Each year, the Perinton
branch supports local food cupboards by col-
lecting and delivering non-perishable food
items. This on-going proj-
ect has provided
hundreds of pounds of
food over the years.
Notice the picture in the
collection box “window!”
The Rochester region leadership team
congratulates John Denniston for being
awarded Top Agent in Closed Units and
CGI.
Region at-a-glance:
Avg�Sale�Price:��$192,540
Sale�Side�Units:�179
Listings�Sold:�164
The Phoenix region lead-
ership team congratu-
lates Ken Mayer for being
awarded the Vision Mas-
tery Award, and Sharon
Bickford for being Top
Agent in both Closed
Units & GCI.
News Around Our Regions
Arizona
Buffalo/Niagara
Capital District
Rochester
Syracuse
Region at-a-glance:
Avg�Sale�Price:��$157,000
Sale�Side�Units:�1112
Listings�Sold:�1103
Recent� News:� The Dewitt and Fayet-
teville offices are merging to form one
“Super Branch,” housed in the existing
Dewitt branch location at 6849 East Gene-
see St. The intent of the merger is to estab-
lish a “model” for the present and future of
HUNT Real Estate, and to further position
us as the destination broker for leading
industry professionals in our marketplace.
This Super Branch has the highest GCI and
largest per agent productivity levels in the
marketplace, and is led by Tim Cassavaw,
Broker Consultant.
The Syracuse region leadership team
congratulates the Manlius Branch for
being awarded Most Improved Office,
Fayetteville for Office of the Year, Jackie
Carr for being awarded Branch
Employee of the Year, Dave Manzano
for Top Agent in Closed Units & GCI,
and Meghan Dabulewicz and Sarah
Collins for Top Team in Closed Units &
GCI. Congratulations!
Thank you to everyone for the well wishes on theWilliamsville Village being named office of the year. I wasso surprised that in my speech I failed to thank one person– Gary Kenline, my "lifeline", my mentor, colleague andmost of all my Friend. I don't think I would have been ableto have accomplished this without his support. So Gary,thank you so much for always being there for me.
John MitchellBroker Consultant - Williamsville Village
Recognizing our Top Sales Agents of the Month
October 2011 November 2011
Buffalo/Niagara
Amherst / Kim JerzewskiEast Aurora / Bill LarsonHamburg / Judy OcchinoKenTon / Kelly LiminaLancaster / Jeanine KacalaLewiston / Annie SmithLockport / Pat KennedyMetropolitan / Ellen DalyOrchard Park / Colleen BrunelleWest Seneca / Cynthia StachowskiWheatfield / Joanne ParisiWilliamsville-Clarence / Sharon FrisicaroWilliamsville Village / Joe Trifilo
Rochester
Brighton-Pittsford / Vernita FullwoodCanandaigua / Sandi Van CampGreece / Rich BattistiPerinton / John DennistonWebster / Jeff Pastorella
Syracuse / Carthage-Watertown
Cazenovia / Chary GriffinChittenango / Russ WaldronCicero / Donna FellowsDeWitt / Jane MaloneyFayetteville / Chip Hodgkins & Tom O’HaraLiverpool / Bob JoeckelManlius / Liz & Dan GaulinOneida / Amanda Reinfelds
Buffalo/Niagara
Amherst / Judy Jack LewisEast Aurora / Jim CaffertyHamburg / Lou Ann SpauldingKenTon / Kim NemethLancaster / Ann & Ed DunningLewiston / Barb KiviLockport / Patricia KennedyMetropolitan / Ellen DalyOrchard Park / Colleen BrunelleWest Seneca / Janice MrozWheatfield / Andrea RuzzineWilliamsville-Clarence / Michelle WinerWilliamsville Village / Beth Stablewski
Rochester
Brighton-Pittsford / Mabel ChuCanandaigua / Sandi Van CampGreece / Molly NolanPerinton / John DennistonWebster / Jeff Pastorella
Syracuse / Carthage-Watertown
Camillus / Dave Manzano Sr.Cazenovia / Merilyn GlassCicero / Bruce TibbitsFayetteville / Tom O'HaraLiverpool / Brian MacGormanManlius / Margaret KarimOneida / Jeanette DenneyCarthage-Watertown / Erin Meyer
The new website is here! The new website
is here! Have you taken a look yet? Your
clients will be, so you should really make
the time to explore the new
huntrealestate.com.
Designed with your customers in mind, our
new website allows them a more detailed
and information-packed community
search, and more ways to reach out to you
for help.
With all the new site’s rich content and search
functions, and the chance to search all
available properties, there is NO reason for
buyers and sellers to visit any other real estate
website. And, with the HUNT family of
services like mortgage, title, insurance and the
Realty Club, there is NO other company
better suited to meet their needs!
To help make huntrealestate.com THE
online destination for real estate information,
we need your help. Make sure our site’s URL
is on all your marketing pieces, your business
cards and your email signature. More
customers today begin their searches online,
before contacting an agent, and if they do not
know how to find us, they won’t find you!
The all new HUNTREALESTATE.COM is here!
Google Maps
Market Snapshot
Welcome to HUNT!
The Scottsdale Branch wel-
comes experienced agent
Blair Ballin and his group to
the team. Blair has over 10
years experience in the home buying and
selling process. Welcome Blair!
The Camillus Branch wel-
comes Donna Barclay to
HUNT. Donna Barclay is an
experienced agent specializ-
ing in new construction, and first time
homebuyers. Welcome Donna!
We would also like to recognize the
following newly licensed agents from across
the company:
Gordon Bandelian, Fredrica Brister and
Brenda Ward in Amherst; Sean Hagan in
Cazenovia; Amber Brooks, Kadra
D’Agostino, and Patricia Terranova in
Lancaster; Tessa Lynch in KenTon;
Stanley Jarzabek in Orchard Park; Robert
Wagner in Lockport; Carmella Campbell
from the Met; Jill Brewer, Robert Donley,
Anthony Dossey, Nathan Gossage, and
Eric Nicks in Scottsdale.
HUNT Real Estate ERA is
excited to announce the
appointment of Dick Baart
to the position of Broker
Consultant in our Greece branch. Dick
Baart is formerly broker owner and
manager of Century 21 Capital Realty
Group that transitioned over with his team
in October. Congratulations, Dick, on this
new opportunity!
A little less than 23 years ago, I got a call at
my office from an old friend who was, at the
time, a vice president at the Goldome Bank.
She started by saying what I already
knew—that many people at the bank were
losing their jobs as the bank was being
seized by the Feds, and her job was to help
as many as possible find something new.
Did I have any jobs to fill? I said I need a
recruiter. She said she had just the right
person. A couple days later, an overweight
smoker who looked many years older than
he was showed up at my office. In spite of
my not-so-good first impression, as we
talked I saw more and more in this guy –
someone I could work with. That was Lou
Izzo’s first day with us. Every morning we
would meet and kick names around, discuss
the previous day’s successes and failures and
otherwise stay focused on maintaining the
growth momentum that I had started in a
bit of recruiting frenzy a few years earlier
through some fairly outrageous stunts. I
could not manage the flow alone. So Lou
and I massaged each lead, agreed on our
calls, did some together and otherwise
focused on one thing – growth. We will
stuffing our training program – which was
only one course at the time – something else
that needed management for its growth. So
Lou took that on as well, first sharing the
responsibility with me and then handling it
on his own. As an aside, Lou was
transforming himself – he quit smoking, lost
a lot of weight, began exercising regularly,
became almost a vegetarian, started and
raised his family. We continued our daily
dialogue, constantly throwing ideas around
and just running with others. I was busy
trying to build various other elements of
our business as well; Relocation in
particular. I started dragging Lou to
conferences including relo meetings. He
grasped on to that, too, and soon I threw
that in his lap as well. As he would take on
something new, he would seek out
candidates to fill his shoes so that he could
devote the energy necessary to complete the
next project. One year we even
created our annual theme as “a
project mentality” because that was
how we operated together – cook
something up; turn it into a
project; and get it done. I would
listen to my father’s words which
still ring in my ears having to do
with keeping the competition off balance.
And that’s what we did. So I would throw
these ideas at Lou and he would grab the ball
and run. His successes opened new doors for
him along the way, sometimes not even here.
He took his recruiting show on the road for
other companies. The structure for a
relocation department which we built became
a model for others and he took that message
out to an audience thirsty to learn more. Our
adventure into management development also
was something others wanted to hear about.
One such speaking engagement even landed
him a job offer, which ultimately got me to
think about moving Lou into the highest
position in our Residential Brokerage – a
position title that no one outside of our family
had ever held – President. Today Lou faces
what we hope will be the resolution of a
challenge he has faced for a period of years –
a health challenge. There is good somewhere
in almost everything and as Lou faced the
current and what we believe to be the last
phase of his health challenge, a new door
opened for him that perfectly suits a passion
that has been developing in him for some
time – the passion to help people at a very
tough time, the final phase of life. You all
know by now that Lou is on medical leave as
he completes his return to 100% health.
Upon completion, which we hope will be a
couple three months, he will begin his new
role as a senior administrator with Hospice
Buffalo.
I recount that story because in many ways it is
a story of our company’s history that has been
repeated many times in various ways. People
from all backgrounds and with all different
stories somehow arrive on our doorstep. They
are stricken by our industry, excel in some
niche element of our world, rise to the highest
level here and sometimes jump off into
something new.
We offer Lou our thanks, congratulations and
best wishes for the next chapter in his life and
business career.
A Tribute to Lou IzzoA message from Peter F. Hunt, Chairman & CEO
For more information on this vendor
and to search all of the services
available through The Realty Club,
visit us at huntrealestate.com.
Follow us and join the conversation!
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“Bob, I am going to do a little brown-nosing right
now...I followed 3 of your suggestions from the
competitive edge training and incorporated them into
my listing presentation last night. Guess what? I
got the listing! I used the customer service buyer
report, I used the pro-show report, I also used the
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For�information�on�upcoming�work-
shops� in� your� area� or� online,� visit�
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growing� your� business� and� skills�
tomorrow!
Catherine�PetersLicensed Real Estate Salesperson
Broker Consultant Brighton-Pittsford
Congratulations to the Customer Support
Center & ProShow Team on being awarded
Administrative Employee of the Year!
Please join us in congratulating the
following people who make all our lives
easier and more efficient:
Vicky Baran, Lori Castine, Sandy
Cornwell, Linda Drews, Jessica Falkner,
Mary Giza, Kathleen Hunt, Gail John, Jim
Congratulations Customer Support Center!
Jones, Connor Lloyd, Sue Menno,
Kenny Oquendo, Kelly Schifferle,
Elena Velichko and Dawn Voit.
“Hello Sandy and everyone at Pro Show. I am so glad
you all got a standing ovation. You deserve more than
that . You all were very hard at making our lives easier.
Its such a tough market and we need all the help we
can get. You all have such wonderful professional
phone skills. No one has what we have. Thanks again,
Happy Holidays & Happy New Year!”
Rosa�McCabeLicensed Real Estate Associate BrokerEast Aurora Branch
Memories of the 2011 Annual Awards & Holiday Celebration (Continued from front cover)