May/June 2016 Newsletter

The official newsletter of HUNT Real Estate Corporation

May/June 2016 | Issue 79

The New look of HUNTrealestate.com A Message from Peter F. Hunt

by Dan Mirsky, Director of Marketing

page 2

Career Development page 3

News Around the Regions page 7

Just like every property needs updating every once in awhile, we’ve been hard at work renovating our home at HUNTrealestate.com to modernize its features and increase its visibility and value to you and your customers. We’re thrilled to announce that our first phase of enhancements are now complete and launched! Here are just a few of the updates we’ve made: We Replaced the Electrical We have rewired the internal mechanics of our website by utilizing Responsive Design. This means that no matter what device you’re using to access HUNTrealestate.com (desktop computer, smartphone or tablet), visitors will have a consistent and seamless viewing experience.

Along with the release of our Responsive Design site, we are now directing all mobile website visitors to our main HUNTrealestate.com site. Previously, smartphones users were sent to our separate huntrealestate.mobi mobile site, powered by VoicePad. What you’ll notice with this change is that

you will likely receive more lead inquiry phone calls from LeadRouter, which will be generated whenever someone inquires about your listing on the HUNT website. If you get a call from (970) 660-5323 -- answer the phone...it’s a lead calling you! We highly recommend programming this number into your phone.

(NOTE: VoicePad will still be used for a yard sign inquiries via the HUNT Hotline.)

Newly Designed Property Details pages featuring larger property photos and more in-depth and useful community data, including: • School rankings • Community data • “What’s Nearby” with Yelp integration • Market Trends localized by the ZIP Code of the property you’re viewing We’ve completely retooled our Search Engine Optimization to make the HUNT website even more prominent on all

continued on page 6

A message from Peter F. Hunt Chairman & CEO

The Value of a Coach Recently I was asked who in my life, beyond my parents, was my “mentor” growing up and through college. Immediately, my memory took me back to organized sports and my coaches. I could even recall specific locker room chats verbatim. The advice and guidance I received help shape who I am and remains with me, even in today’s contexts. There were others involved in this discussion and each had similar stories involving sports coaches and/or teachers who said things or guided them in ways that significantly improved their performance.

Can you think of someone in your life who had such impact?

I have said many times that a main reason for this Company’s existence is to improve the productivity of everyone associated with us. As we were planning for this year’s Mid-Year Leadership Conference, we contemplated how we could better equip everyone on our Leadership Team to more effectively deliver on this reason for being. You may have noticed that on May 26th your Branch Director was gone for the entire day. I asked everyone to commit that day to an in-depth study of “coaching”. Guided by experts from ERA, Shannon Poser and Melody Bohrer, we studied the science and practice of “integrity coaching”. We are now engaged in eight weekly sessions during which we continue our study and share real live experiences so that everyone on our Team can truly help our people at all levels develop their full potential.

Some Agents are now working with coaches outside of our Company making a relatively large investment in this experience. I know that this investment encourages these Agents to derive as much as possible out of a regular coaching exchange. Because of the size of the investment, this opportunity has been limited to some of our top-performing Agents.

2

Through your Company’s investment in training and development of our Leaders, we are now able to offer a true and proven coaching system to ALL HUNT Agents. But this is not for everyone. If you are interested in achieving more in your professional career in real estate, please take the initiative and seek out your Branch Director as your coach. At the very least, you will learn about your what coaching really is, the “power of congruence”, the “service-profit chain”, and your and your Leader’s behavioral style.

So, what is the value of a Coach? The prestigious Harvard Business Review cites the following statistics about Agents or Employees who work with a coach: 1) they outperform their peers by 27%; 2) they apply more discretionary effort by 18%; 3) they are significantly more engaged by 25%; and they are less likely to leave their current position by 25%! Enough evidence of the value to you?

No other company in any Region we serve offers this service to its Agents--at no cost.

Please--stop in to see your Branch Director today and begin this career-changing experience.

Career Development

by Bob Scholz, Director of Training

In an effort to always update and grow, HUNT ERA has now enhanced it’s partnership with David Knox productions. We have, and continue to be, the training company! That reputation has just taken a leap forward.

The professional real estate practitioner today, like the consumer, has changed. Agents want to fit training into their tight schedules. The national and even local trend has been toward on-line and on-demand training. HUNT ERA has been working on this need for several years and is now in a position to help our agents learn while they earn!

The success of the company’s I CAN training webinars has taught us a few things and created the seed for the next level of training at HUNT ERA. We have launched a new platform for on-line and on-demand video training through our partnership with David Knox. You are aware that as a HUNT ERA professional, you have access to over 400 David Knox videos through Agent Achieve. Now you can access the HUNT ERA library of videos through the Knox platform.

As of this writing, we are revising and uploading the HUNT ERA training series. This on-line video library will be searchable and, like the David Knox videos, include all related materials and worksheets.

The Titles will include HREC so our agents can simply search for HREC if they want a list of all our materials and videos.

In addition, Career Development is working with David Knox in developing a startup and accountability program that will assist new agents in starting their career here at HUNT ERA. We are not only on the cutting edge but have moved training to the next level with the establishment of the new on-line and on-demand video training.

3

Agents of the Month Buffalo

February

March

Akron Amherst Buffalo Metropolitan East Aurora Hamburg KenTon Lancaster Lewiston Lockport Orchard Park West Seneca Wheatfield Williamsville-Clarence Williamsville Village

Marge Tuerk Kelly Poulos Susan Foster Rosa McCabe Melissa Weidner Kelly Limina Bill Severyn Cyndi Van Dusen Chari Himmelsbach Anna Marie Falkner Jason Jurek Jennifer Schreckengost Jim Hoffman Enas Latif

Cheyanne Seelau Judy Jack Lewis Ellen Daly Todd Aichinger Timothy Domanski Karen Loffredo (Prezioso) Jenny Gerhardt Cyndi Van Dusen Dianne Shaw Ryan Daley Dennis Dargavel Mark Lemke Amy Mayfield Bonnie Clement

Richard Testa Sandi Van Camp Dick Lippa John Denniston Vince LoCastro

Larry Magguilli Sandi Van Camp Rich Orczyk John Denniston Vince LoCastro

Rochester Brighton-Pittsford Canandaigua Greece Perinton Webster

Central & Northern NY/Carthage Watertown Camillus Cazenovia Chittenango Clinton DeWitt Liverpool Manlius Oneida Watertown Cicero

Dave Manzano Sr. Jill Benson Stephen Laureti Mindy Bradley & Jim Lenahan CNY Key Team Robert Joeckel Judy Winslow Mary Pat Adams Doris Olin MariRae Dopke

Jeanine Volpe Theresa Billy Robert Freunscht Chip Hodgkins Autumn Starr The Gaulin Team Jeanette Denney Shirley Litz/Deborah Manning Shane Tibbitts

Donna Martin Chris Maddalone Jen Ball Sandy Evans

Ray Henderson Dan Lesage Jen Ball Sandy Evans

Ken Mayer Bill Drevyanko

Mary Montague Natasha Tomlinson

Capital District Saratoga Springs Loudonville Glens Falls Slingerlands

Arizona Tempe Scottsdale

4

Buffalo

April

May

Akron Amherst Buffalo Metropolitan East Aurora Hamburg KenTon Lancaster Lewiston Lockport Orchard Park West Seneca Wheatfield Williamsville-Clarence Williamsville Village

Cheyanne Seelau Paul Marsh The Rob Blake Team Erik Jensen Millie Blasz Achtyl Kim Nemeth Jeanine Kacala Barb Kivi Lou Faery Ryan Daley Janice Mroz Mark Lemke Michael Burke Enas Latif

Joe Matusek Judy Lewis Will Abels Steve Starke Mark Bostaph Mark Brylinski Ed & Ann Dunning Heather Gouthro Patricia Kennedy Geralyn Bonilla Cynthia Stachowski Jennifer Schreckengost Sharon Frisicaro Joe Matusek

Rich Testa Sandi Van Camp Richard Orczyk Patricia Claus Vince LoCastro

Esther Krakower Sandi VanCamp Rich Orczyk John Denniston Vince LoCastro

Rochester Brighton-Pittsford Canandaigua Greece Perinton Webster

Central & Northern NY/Carthage Watertown Camillus Cazenovia Chittenango Clinton DeWitt Liverpool Manlius Oneida Watertown Cicero

Joy Bush Thomas Tait Julie Kielbasa Mindy Bradley and Jim Lenahan CNY Key Team Autumn Starr Gaulin Team Sharon Kimball Jill Rosette Kay (Kathi) Carapella

Beth Losty Thomas Tait Robert Freunscht, Virgina Mann Jean Hill Barb Frank Judy Winslow Mary Pat Adams Jill Rosette Shane Tibbitts

Erin Miller Ken Champagne Jen Ball Sandy Evans

Judy Vigor Denise Karabin Jen Ball Sandy Evans

MaryMontague Barbra Larkin

Mary Montague Natasha Tomlinson

Capital District Saratoga Springs Loudonville Glens Falls Slingerlands

Arizona Tempe Scottsdale

5

The New look of HUNTrealestate.com cont.

by Dan Mirsky, Director of Marketing the major search engines. This means those looking for local real estate companies, listings and neighborhood information will find HUNT at or near the top of the search results - which will ultimately drive even more traffic and leads to you and your listings.

Put on a Fresh Coat of Paint

We Did a Bit of Spring Cleaning We’ve organized and revised a number of our pages under the Services menu, such as our Buying and Selling pages. This makes our site easier for our customers to navigate to find exactly what they’re looking for.

Take a look at our updated homepage and you’ll see a rotation of community imagery from all over New York State. We’ll be refreshing these images regularly.

For those of you in our Arizona offices, you now have your own HUNT Real Estate site with Arizona specific imagery, listings and local information. It can be found at HUNTrealestateAZ.com.

We will be making updates to other pages across our site in the coming weeks, including the incorporation of videos across our site. Stay tuned for more details to come!

We hope you enjoy these exciting changes to the HUNT website...and this is only the beginning, as we plan to continually enhance and update our home to make it the only place buyers and sellers turn to for all of their real estate and homeownership needs.

Program the following numbers into your phone: Your Regional HUNT Hotline Number LeadRouter # -- (970) 660-5323 HUNT Lead Response Team # -- (716) 880-1511

If you get a call from one of these #’s, answer your phone…

It’s a LEAD calling you!

6

News Around the Regions Arizona

Arizona proudly announces the grand opening of its new satellite branch Cave Creek and welcomes to the team MariaElena Rizzo and Thomas Fulton of the Fulton-Rizzo Team. Welcome to HUNT!

Buffalo/ Niagara

West Seneca had an amazing turn out for our second year completing our Habitat for Humanity Day!! The great thing was that we were able to go back to the same house we started with last year and finish it. We spent the day finishing up the landscaping in the front and rear yard. We might be biased but it has the best curb appeal on the street!

From: Greg Maher, Chief Financial Officer I am very proud and happy to report that Alain Levesque, Corporate Accounting Administrator for HUNT Real Estate Corporation has earned his Master of Business Administration from NIAGARA UNIVERSITY, with a proficiency in Accounting in early May. He earned this additional degree all the while doing a great job for HUNT during the day. He then dedicated his nights and weekends studying and working hard to achieve his MBA and also to graduate at or near the top of his class! Please join me in congratulating Alain on a job well done!

7

News Around the Regions cont.

Buffalo/ Niagara

Dennetta Stikkel, an agent from our Hamburg branch held an open house every day for an entire month in April.

With any career as an independent contractor the start up is the hardest part. In real estate it's finding clients and expanding your sphere of influence. This can be a daunting task when you have little experience and are competing with a large amount of seasoned agents. After attending a seminar by David Know at the Albright Knox Gallery I left feeling inspired by a story he told about an agent Bob Wolfe. This agent moved to California where he had no COI, had an open house every day for a year and sold $30 million in real estate. I knew it wasn't possible for me to have one every day but even months later I found myself telling this story at a dinner party. Finally I decided I couldn't do a year but I could do a month. April had no holidays and exactly 30 days and so the 30 day open was officially on its way. Bob Wolfe called me. He is the agent from the story David Knox told us who did the year of open houses in California. I told him many people thought I was crazy for doing this and this was his response (which I found very motivating), “Let them think you're crazy. Only you are in control of your own success".

Dedicating 2 hours a day for 30 days isn't as out of the box as it sounds. That's 60 hours which some people work in 1 week. My goal from this was to stand apart from my competition and put my name out there. Also to gain more knowledge of what works and doesn't work in open houses. Varying different times and days and keeping track of the clientele was the key to making this a success. There's no reason open houses need to be on set days or set times. If you're having showings during the day, chances are you will get clients at an open house as well. At the end of the 30 days I made some money and picked up quite a few clients but most importantly I learned more in 30 days than I have in a year. The advice and knowledge I gained from my fellow agents as well as David Knox and Bob Wolfe has made this experience worth every minute and I don't plan on stopping anytime soon. See you at my next open house!

8

News Around the Regions cont.

Buffalo/ Niagara

While attending our Metropolitan Branch's Summer Celebration, I had a conversation with a newer member of our Leadership team about the upcoming Corporate Challenge. I shared how anxious I was, as just a few years ago I would have never believed I would be a participant. Many of you know that my personal journey began for mental wellness. The physical strength and stamina is truly an added bonus. However, up to this point not one of my personal accomplishments came close to running three and a half miles. And, at the time of this conversation (two days before the event), I still had not been able to make it past the three mile point while training at home. She listened intently as I went on and on about how much this would mean to me, all the while she herself had several “real” marathons under her belt. Before leaving, she encouraged me and gave me hope.

The crowd was unbelievable at Delaware Park and shortly after the start, I stopped paying attention to my surroundings. As expected, the fatigue turned extreme at about two and a half miles. When I made it past the blue and while number three I began to question if I would make it. Suddenly, I heard a voice shout “Sarah!” To my left was Susan Ballard, who already crossed the finish line, came back to look for me and run the last half mile together. She remembered how much that finish line meant to me and somehow knew I would need that last little “push.”

I have known Susan for less than a year. What she did for me that evening is a memory that I will cherish forever. It is sometimes the smallest pieces of kindness, support and care that go the longest way. This, HUNT Real Estate, is who we are. Susan, from the bottom of my heart, thank you. You gave me one more reason to say “ I love this company.”

Sarah Klaiber Business Development Manager

9

News Around the Regions cont.

Rochester

We have a New Addition to the Rochester Management Team! Charles “Chip” Murphy has joined HUNT Leadership and is the new steward of the Greece Office as well as our Hornell/Alfred Offices. Chip in his own words: "I am thrilled with the opportunity to apply my passion and strategic sales experience to this leadership role within HUNT, further contributing to their established, client-focused reputation in the Rochester and Southern Tier regions,” said Murphy. “With their abundance of innovative tools and training systems unlike those of any other real estate company, I'm confident that our agents are positioned to be the most successful professionals in the industry. I look forward to building upon the strong foundation of HUNT while we expand our footprint and continue to provide quality service to our customers and clients." Welcome Aboard Chip!

The Color Run! A group of agents and family members ran a 5K for cancer on May 21st. Jim Sauer of the Brighton-Pittsford office labeled the team Sauer Power! All agents made it to the finish line (some were pretty sore the next day) and a great time was had by all!

The Rochester Region is focusing their efforts to facilitate additional social and charitable activities in the local community. Agents will be Building a House with Habitat for Humanity on July 14th and 21st! Spots filled up fast for the event. As a result, we scheduled 2 days and have 4 teams signed up. We look forward to scheduling many other activities throughout the summer!

10

News Around the Regions cont.

Central & Northern NY

Old Forge Office Grand Opening On June 2nd, HUNT celebrated the grand opening of the newest addition to the CNY Region, our Old Forge office at 2979 State Route 28. Formerly Rivet Realty, this office is located right in the main shopping district.

Even a little rain did not dampen the event, as it was attended by Peter Hunt, local officials, media, and business owners.

The grand opening was beautifully catered by Thendara Golf Club. Looking for a vacation home? Have a client that is? Next time you are visiting the heart of the Adirondacks, come visit our new office in Old Forge!

Relay for Life HUNT Camillus branch agent Sara Bostick organized a HUNT ERA Team for the American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life for Solvay, Geddes and Westvale on June 11th. The Relay for Life is an all-night event, raising money to help fight cancer, support and celebrate cancer survivors and those currently fighting the disease, as well as to commemorate those friends and family members who have lost their battle with the disease. The HUNT team raised $1,061 from private donations, playing Pie Face at the event, and hosting a frozen t-shirt contest. The Relay itself raised almost $50,000.

Bostick says, “I fully intend to participate next year and hope to increase our company participation, as well as the total dollars raised… I found Relay for Life to be a fun and meaningful way to deal with an illness that has affected so many people we all know and love.”

11

News Around the Regions cont.

Central & Northern NY

2016 Parade of Homes Eight beautiful homes were showcased at CNY’s 2016 Parade of Homes, which featured models from our HUNT ERA builders, Sciuga Custom Homes and Harrington Homes. The event ran from June 4-19 and was located at Crane Brook in Manlius. Sciuga’s featured their model, The Edmonton, and Harrington Homes featured model was The Sophia. Though brisk, the REALTOR morning was wellattended by HUNT agents and a light breakfast was provided. Some of the décor trends noted at the event were a return to rustic touches, and palettes of bold teals and purples.

Rescue Mission Ride & Run 2016 For the second year in a row, HUNT had a team participate in the Rescue Mission Ride & Run for the Rescue on June 25th at Long Branch Park in Liverpool. Ride and Run for the Rescue is a fun family friendly event. You can run, ride or walk… or do it all. Choose from a 2 mile family fun ride, 10 mile, 20 mile, 40 mile and 62 mile bike ride, or a 5K run. All proceeds from Ride and Run for the Rescue go to ending hunger in CNY. Look for event photos and team donation total in our August newsletter!

Jeanine Volpe from our Camillus Branch received an outstanding testimonial from Karca at Worthington. "Not being from the area and being first time buyers we had a hard time deciding on a budget and neighborhood. Luckily we had the best realtor :) Jeanine is extremely supportive, personable, understanding, and helpful. She always created time and availability for us, responded swiftly and managed to arrange viewings even on a very short notice. She is very knowledgeable about the process and helped us in all the steps. I will definitely continue working with her, and would highly recommend her."

12

News Around the Regions cont.

Capital Region

We're very pleased to announce that Mary Spinelli has joined HUNT Real Estate ERA as branch director of our soon-to-be opened branch office in Hudson New York. Mary's responsibilities will include setting up the office, recruiting agents and hiring support staff and will report to Dave Evans, Regional Manager of the Capital and Central New York regions of our company.

Mary comes to HUNT with more than twenty years of residential real estate management and training experience having served as branch manager of the Saratoga Springs NY and East Greenbush NY offices of Coldwell Banker Prime Properties and most recently as branch manager of the Stone Ridge NY office of Coldwell Banker Village Green. She has expertise in real estate training having served as Director of Career Development for two years with Coldwell Banker Prime Properties.

Please join with us as we celebrate Mary's arrival at HUNT and welcome her to our team! You can reach Mary at: 518-894-4435.

HUNT Mortgage

by Linda Mallia, President of HUNT Mortgage HUD Revises FHA Underwriting Guidelines Last September, HUD implemented some very tough guidelines for the underwriting of student loans. Very often student loans were structured without a fixed repayment scheduled. This change meant lenders were forced to use a minimum payment of 2% of the balance as the payment. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have only required 1% of the balance to be used. The recent HUD announcement brings FHA underwriting in line with conventional lending underwriting guidelines by also adopting the 1% guideline.

The new guidelines go into effect July 1, 2016.

These changes were part of Mortgagee letter 2016-08 and it basically states: All student loans

must be factored regardless of payment type of status of payments. In plain language that means lenders must count deferred student loans into the qualifying ratios.

The letter goes on to state lenders must use the greater of 1% of the student loan balance or the monthly payment as reported on the credit report.

A lower payment can be used only if it is documented on the credit report and fully amortizes the loan over the actual term of the loan.

Lowering the requirement from 2% to 1% may sound insignificant. However, the average student loan is now $24,800 and factoring in $248 as a minimum payment, rather than $496 can have a significant impact on a borrower’s ability to qualify for the home they desire.

13

Relocation

by Mary Croglio, Director of Relocation I heard a speaker at the America’s Mobility Conference in May, Jonathan Perelman, VP of Agency Strategy and Industry Development at BuzzFeed. His message was “Content is king but distribution is queen and she wears the pants.”

As we know our communication style and delivery is constantly changing. Just think about how television has changed over time from 3 channels that went off the air at midnight to hundreds of options that are available 24/7 . Today, 1 Billion people per day connect on Facebook, people own 6 billion connected devices such as cell phones and ipads and to put this into perspective, in comparison people own 5 billion toothbrushes. We own more connected devices than tooth-

brushes! Why are we so connected? We share to form a community and to build a brand.

As we try to sell our services we need to make sure first we believe in what we are selling, it needs to be meaningful to our audience, it needs to be true to the moment and true to the mission.

As Jonathan Perelman said that day, “Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication”. We need to communicate our shared story, our content as he described. We are the distribution vessel. Each agent and employee is an integral element. How strong could we be if we had over 1200 employees and agents sharing our 105 year story in each of our communities? People make decisions based on a combination of trust, emotion and logic. Each time we have an opportunity to meet with a potential client we need to use the foundation of this company to illustrate that story. Advertisements come and go but a story lives will lives on.

Welcome to HUNT! We would like to welcome the following newly licensed agents from across the company: Gulab Shahani - Dewitt Linda Lerch - Dewitt Theodore Smith - East Aurora Brian Leach - Hamburg

Angela Popovich - Lancaster Alyssa Karcher - Lancaster Michael O’Connor - Lockport Stacey Kelso-O’Connor - Manlius Sandra Wagner - Oneida Ariana Grisanti - Orchard Park Nicholas Weaver - Williamsville Village Linda Schoelles - Wheatfield Thomas Schepperly - Wheatfield Jennifer Harvey - Wheatfield Jeanne Moran - West Seneca Edin Asipi - KenTon Terri Budek - Amherst Megan Gallagher - Scottsdale Shawn Ryan - Amherst Nickolas Malamas - Williamsville Clarence Ann Scherrer - Williamsville Clarence

Arianna Nasca - West Seneca Gary Tramontana - Greece Larry Lavacque - Scottsdale Yujia Wang - Brighton/Pittsford Raquel Schiro - Lewiston Viktoria Gabriel - Manlius Thomas Willson - Chittenango Cameron DeMar - Webster Christopher Atkinson - Amherst Mary Lawrence - Brighton/Pittsford Patricia Sutliff - KenTon Amy Bennett - Camillus

We would also like to welcome the following experienced agents from across the company: Ashley Foss - Glens Falls Kristina Fish - Glens Falls Rebekah Dash - Lockport James Foley - Old Forge David Brown - Saratoga Springs Thomas Fulton - Scottsdale Kris Boudreau - Scottsdale

Mariaelena Rizzo - Scottsdale

Mary Spinelli - Slingerlands Christopher Brownsey - Amherst Lloyd Newell - Loudonville Kurt Felgemacher - Amherst Larry Salvato - Greece