Issuu

Executive Times

July 2018

Let’s C e l e b r a t e Anniversaries Paress Huebner Swatika Swati Monica Duerwachter Gina Dingman Loye Blader Sarah Alexander Jodie Perzacki Dave Eyrise

2 Years 3 Years 6 Years 8 Years 8 Years 11 Years 17 Years 22 Years

Birthdays Jill Geracie Jeff Petak Peter Saulnier Colleen Prostek Mike Wallace Jim Geracie Gerrit Gronowski Randy Harris Paress Huebner Dionne Barnes Austin Cole Dave Delahunt Karl Fechner Kathy Pehowski Christopher Knight Jenna Stadler Monica Foster Barb Breitenfeldt Dana Keegan

July 1 July 3 July 5 July 8 July 9 July 12 July 12 July 12 July 12 July 13 July 17 July 17 July 19 July 20 July 26 July 26 July 27 July 29 July 30

ET July | 2

Realty Executives Wisconsin Regional Conference

With the summer months busy with buyers, sellers, and family priorities, we take a break from our monthly training modules and pick up again in the fall with our Realty Executives Wisconsin Regional Conference—and we are kicking this fall off with a BANG! This year’s Regional Conference is sure to be our best one yet, and I would strongly encourage you ALL to save the date right now for this powerful event on September 12th, 2018. We have a Rockstar lineup of presenters this year that we don’t want you to miss. Debbie De Grote is our keynote speaker, and her story is both unique and inspiring. She began her sales career in the real estate industry and sold her first home at the age of 18 while still in high school. From then on, Debbie continued to expand her skills and growth in the sales industry. Debbie’s personal production was consistently between 1215 units per month on average. During this time, Debbie was asked to coach and train other sales professionals to achieve their potential. After nearly two decades of frontline selling, Debbie became a full-time coach and business consultant. Since then she has coached some of the biggest names and largest companies not only in the real estate industry, but across a wide-range of industries including: title, mortgage, insurance, and nutraceuticals, among others. Debbie has a unique knack for inspiring and leading other people to the highest levels of success across multiple industries. Her sessions at this year’s conference will focus on the following: SESSION 1 – THE LISTING BOOTCAMP • The 5 most effective marketing strategies to attract listings on a limited budget, tight inventory and without cold-calling • Using key, need-to-know statistics with your product knowledge to stand out from other agents • TNT questions that will blow other agents out of the water and eliminate your fiercest competition • Where the top agents are finding their best opportunities SESSION 2 – BUILDING YOUR DATABASE AND TRIPLING YOUR REFERRALS • How to build your database with quality connections • The most effective systems for staying in-touch • Mastering the scripts you need for effective interactions

Continued on page 3

ET July | 3

Realty Executives Wisconsin Regional Conference Cont’d…

Not only will the morning be packed with incredible takeaways from Debbie’s sessions, but we will be joined by special guests from the Realty Executives International team including our new President, Patrick van den Bossche. Patrick is an incredible businessman with a heart for what’s best for our Sales Executives. He will be sharing the vision and direction for our brand and how you can maximize the power of the brand for YOUR business! We also have an amazing opportunity with Ideas that Evoke to learn more about our Regional Marketing Campaign. You will learn how you can be involved in this amazing project by leveraging social media and your online presence to grow your business. We will also have the privilege to hear stories from our Regional charitable organizations that we support with an amazing opportunity to give back. You are not going to want to miss this one! In addition to all of this, nestled in the Peck Welcome Center of the Milwaukee County Zoo, this event is the perfect setting for networking with your fellow Executives and industry specific vendors to enhance your business—all while you enjoy a delicious breakfast catered specifically for you. This is also the perfect event to invite agents that you feel would fit well here at Realty Executives; if they would like to join us for this special event to grow their business simply register them using the website below and we will take care of the rest. See you on September 12th! 8:00 am - Registration, breakfast & networking with vendors 8:30 am – Welcome 8:45 am – Main Session #1 9:45 am – Charitable Organization Features 10:00 am – Break & Networking with vendors 10:15 am – Ideas That Evoke Feature 10:45 am – Main Session #2 11:45 am – Closing Remarks

SAVE THE DATE NOW and REGISTER TODAY!

www.REWisconsinRegion.com Written by Claire Zastrow Chief Operating Officer ClaireZastrow@RealtyExecutives.com|262.369.8959

July H a p p e n i n g s Fireworks

Local Events

Brookfield: July 4 – 9:15pm

Bastille Days July 12-July 15

Mitchell Park

Hartland: July 29 – 9:30pm

East Town, Milwaukee

Nixon Park

Festa Italiana July 20-July 22

Franklin: July 4 – 9:30pm

Henry W. Maier Festival Park

Glendale: July 4 – 9:15pm

Port Fish Day July 21

Lions Legend Park Lincoln Park

Port Washington

Cedarburg: July 4 – 9:30pm

Air & Water Show July 21-July 22

Cedar Creek Park

Germantown: July 4 – 9:30pm

Milwaukee Lakefront

Firemen's Park

East Troy: July 1 – At Dusk

East Troy Amusement Park

German Fest July 27-July 29

Henry W. Maier Festival Park

Milwaukee Lakefront: July 3 – 9:00pm

Veteran’s Park

To find your city’s firework schedule, visit this website: https://fireworksinwisconsin.com/by-city/

SAVE THE DATE:

2018 Regional Conference | September 12th | 8:00am – 12:00pm *Keynote Speaker: Debbie De Grote - Special Guests: RE-International President, Patrick van de Bossche and Ideas That Evoke*

2017 MARKET LEADER

BROKERAGE OF THE MONTH APRIL 2017

2016 EXTRAORDINARY BROKERAGE

ET July | 6

Laying the Foundation

Five Ways Housing Affordability Will Hopefully Improve Under New Laws One of the WRA’s top priorities during the 2017-18 legislative session was to make home and property ownership more affordable throughout Wisconsin. While there is no silver bullet to fix the housing affordability problem, lawmakers passed numerous legislative initiatives into law to help the problem. Background From southeast Wisconsin to the Fox Valley to Dane County to Eau Claire, housing is a growing economic development issue. Housing affordability is becoming a key issue for employers as they try to attract and retain workers. Communities with an adequate supply of housing that families can afford are finding it easier to attract workers than those communities with more expensive housing. Although not the only contributor to higher housing costs, local government regulation has a direct impact on housing affordability. One way in which local government regulation contributes to the housing affordability problem is by unnecessarily restricting the supply and imposing excessive fees on new housing construction. According to the National Association of Home Builders, government regulations add approximately 25 percent to the cost of a new home. As a result of local regulations and several other factors, the cost of housing continues to outpace the average wage increases throughout Wisconsin, which makes it more challenging for Wisconsin workers and families to own a home. Moreover, with states competing for a limited, skilled workforce, housing affordability for workers is becoming a more important consideration for businesses in deciding where to locate. Consider the following: • In a balanced real estate market, six months of housing inventory is the norm. Today, the statewide average is four months of inventory and is much worse in urban markets at 3.1 months. • Year-over-year inventory is down 17 percent compared to March 2017. • Prices increased 7 percent to a statewide median of $174,900, which is nearly three times the rate of inflation over the last year. • New home starts are considerably lagging pre-recession numbers. From 1999 to 2005, Wisconsin averaged 25,000 to 30,000 new home starts per year. From 2013 to 2016, the average dropped sharply to 7,000 to 8,500 per year. • With individuals living longer and millennials starting to purchase homes, the affordability problem will likely become worse. Housing affordability initiatives passed into law To help address the growing housing affordability issues in a comprehensive manner, the WRA worked with state lawmakers to pass legislation to address the following five goals:

Continued on Page 7

ET July | 7

1. Reduce the cost to own a home: One of the top priorities of the WRA was to reduce overall homeownership costs in Wisconsin. At the state level, one of the best ways to do this is by lowering property taxes. Over the last eight years, Wisconsin lawmakers have reduced property taxes by approximately $600 million and placed spending limits on local governments that can be raised only through public referendum. This last session, lawmakers reduced property taxes by an additional $90 million per year by eliminating the state portion of the property tax, which was used to fund the state forestry program. See 2017 Wis. Act 59. 2. Reduce the cost to build a home: New housing is getting more expensive due to, among other things, government regulation costs. To help reduce government regulation costs, lawmakers streamlined the approval process for residential development and reformed the development-related fees charged by local governments. Lawmakers closed loopholes in the impact fee law, which allowed local governments to impose excessive fees on new development that in turn passed onto homeowners in the form of increased housing costs. In addition, lawmakers removed obstacles to the development-approval process that allowed neighbors in opposition to new development to trigger supermajority voting requirements by elected officials for any zoning changes. This unnecessarily politicized the development-approval process, which already required all zoning changes to be consistent with the local comprehensive plan. See 2017 Wis. Act 243.

3. Provide financial incentives for local governments to approve higher-density and more affordable housing: Currently, state law places a limit on the tax levies of local government to keep property taxes low. Under a new law, an exception to the levy limits was created to provide an incentive for local governments to approve higher-density and more affordable housing. Under the exception, a local government can raise its levy by $1,000 for each new, single-family home built within the community if the home meets both of the following parameters:

Continued on Page 8

ET July | 8

Built on a quarter acre or smaller in a city or village, or a parcel of 1 acre or less in a town. Sold for no more than 80 percent of the median price of a new home within the city, village or town. While not huge, the $1,000-per-unit increase to the levy limit provides a small financial incentive to encourage municipalities to think of ways to reduce housing costs and promote higher densities. See 2017 Wis. Act 243. 4. Provide financial incentives for developers to build affordable housing: To further encourage developers to build affordable rental housing, Wisconsin lawmakers approved a new Wisconsin Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) program that provides $42 million in annual tax credits to finance apartments reserved for low-income renters. The program is administered through the Wisconsin Housing and Economic Development Authority (WHEDA) and creates a 4 percent state match to the 4 percent federal credit already offered through WHEDA. The program requires WHEDA, among other things, to give preference to developments located in municipalities with populations with less than 150,000. Currently, 43 percent of renters in working households are not able to find affordable housing in Wisconsin. The program is modeled after successful programs in other states such as Missouri, Georgia and Oklahoma. See 2017 Wis. Act 176. 5. Better educate state and local lawmakers about the impact of regulations on the cost of housing: Well-intentioned state and local lawmakers often pass regulations that unintentionally increase housing costs in a variety of ways, including building codes that increase the cost to build a new home or environmental regulations that make it difficult to develop new subdivisions. To help lawmakers better understand the impacts of both new and existing regulations on the cost of housing, a new law was passed to require state agencies promulgating new rules to analyze the impact of these rules on the cost, financing, sale, ownership and availability of housing. The analysis must be provided to state legislators who can better understand how a proposed rule may impact new housing and request changes to the proposed rule, if necessary. See 2017 Wis. Act 68. At the local level, another new law was passed to require cities and villages with a population of 10,0000 and above to conduct a self audit of development-approval processes, building codes and development-related fees and analyze the impact on the cost of housing. In addition, these municipalities are required to analyze existing inventory of vacant lots and market demand for new housing to better understand the need for an increased supply of developable land. Finally, local governments will have to identify ways to reduce housing costs by 20 percent within their community. See 2017 Wis. Act 243.

Over the next several years, the WRA will be monitoring the impact of this legislation to determine whether it has helped address the affordability housing problem. Article written by: Tom Larson [Senior Vice President of Legal an Public Affairs for the WRA] for Real Estate Magazine

Tip of the Month PrimeAgent Training Videos Wondering how to use the valuable systems and tools in PrimeAgent, but missed attending our PrimeAgent training last month? Don't worry, there is a full video library within your PrimeAgent that has 'how to' videos for each tool within the system! Simply click the Training tab at the top and select Training Center to access this library of videos. Learn how to: • Send a Broadcast • Subscribe your contacts to a pre-made email Campaign and custom eNewsletter • Utilize the CRM to the fullest • Use the marketing materials in the Marketing Library • Seamlessly use the Listing Automation tool that feeds directly from your MLS • Customize your agent website to be all about YOU and the areas you serve • Utilize the OnDemand Mobile system

Follow, Like & Share our Marketing Campaign to build YOUR business

@REWisconsin

@realty_executives_Wisconsin Realty Executives Wisconsin

Welcome to our New ! Please Welcome: Haley Burlage to the Brookfield Office. Haley can be reached at (262) 470.1472 or HaleyBurlage@RealtyExecutives.com Meghan Neville to the Cedarburg Office. Meghan can be reached at (414) 349.7971 or MeghanNeville@RealtyExecutives.com Garrett Sylvester to the Cedarburg Office. Garrett can be reached at (414) 331.7971 or GarrettSylvester@RealtyExecutives.com Eve Bilden to the Brookfield Office. Eve can be reached at (262) 894.6664 or EveBilden@RealtyExecutives.com Nicole Johnson to the Cedarburg Office. Nicole can be reached at (920) 912.1654 or NicoleJohnson@RealtyExecutives.com Megan Raymond to the Hartland Office. Megan can be reached at (414) 793.9393 MeganRaymond@RealtyExecutives.com

Do you know someone who would make a great Executive? Let our Professional Development Team know! MakeYourMove@RealtyExecutives.com

ET July | 11

Attend YOUR Regional Conference! On September 12th you will have the opportunity to attend your Regional Conference, and you do not want to miss this year’s event! We will feature Debbie DeGrote as our Keynote Speaker, and she is exceptional! Debbie has so much to offer from her experience as a Top Producing Realtor, Team Leader, Dynamic Coach, and Masterful Trainer. Many of our Sales Executives have already benefitted from Debbie’s training, and she will come prepared with a special morning of training carefully designed for YOU! In addition, our Regional Marketing Firm, “Ideas That Evoke” will have a special offer for our Sales Executives that includes a powerful Social Media presence that is affordable and custom-designed to enhance YOUR name and brand. In addition, the President of Realty Executives International, Patrick van den Bossche, will also be in attendance. He plans to provide some recent updates that will benefit YOUR business, too. These are all compelling reasons to attend, not to mention the opportunity to enjoy a delicious breakfast and spend time with your friends in the business. This year, we encourage you to bring someone with you. Our Regional Conference is the perfect venue to share your Realty Executives brand with friends who are interested in joining our company.

Here’s how to register and bring a friend with you: www.REWisconsinRegion.com. Simply complete the registration form and we’ll see you and a friend on September 12th! 100% Yours, Dale

ET July | 12

INTEGRITY

INSIGHTS

What are some of your favorite closing gifts to give clients? “Home buying can be an exciting and emotional time in a person's life. I

like to give a closing gift that can be kept and cherished for years to come as a reminder. Some people hang pictures on their walls of important milestones—engagement, marriage, birth of a child etc. Buying a home is a big milestone too, so until closing day photo sessions become a thing and people start hanging pictures of their house on their walls I will give them something to remember it.” Teri Hayes Eleven20 Team Franklin Office

“I try to read the buyer a bit. Sometimes I will go with a dinner gift certificate to Mr. B’s; other times I will give them a candy basket from Candy Bouquet in Wauwatosa. It really depends on the personality and preference of the buyer.” Bill Lent Mortgage Lender First Bank Financial Centre

Our Charitable Organizations

At Realty Executives Wisconsin Region, we believe community support and outreach is incredibly important. We actively support the following charitable organizations and each one is connected personally with a member of the Realty Executives Wisconsin Brand. We make it easy for our Executives to support these charities by allowing them to make donations directly from their closing checks. Outside of financial contributions, our leadership team and Executives also donate their time and energy to work events associated with these charities. • Before 16 is a 501 (c)3 nonprofit foundation built to care for orphans. • They strive to get children hosted by a family who is either considering adoption or will advocate for adoption. • Their hope is that the hosting process can provide the avenue to find a loving family for each child. They are dedicated to rescuing as many orphans as possible before they turn 16 are out the system. Learn more at www.Before16.org

• JR’s Pups-N-Stuff began with one goal in mind: to save animals from lifethreatening situations. • It was built by a network of foster parents in the Milwaukee area. • It is “a little rescue with a big heart.” Learn more at www.JRPupsNStuff.org

• SALS offers freedom with accountability for men and women who are serious about their sobriety. • They provide non-institutional sober living with a unique balance of independence and structure. • They are committed to providing safe, comfortable, and modern Recovery Houses for all. Learn more at www.SALShouses.org

• Habitat for Humanity builds and renovate homes for families in need of sustainable housing. • Mission: Bringing people together in homes, communities, and home. • “We envision a world where everyone has a decent place to live.” Learn more at www.Habitat.org

• Lindsay’s Voice was created as a way to celebrate the life of Lindsay (Wenzel) Lopez, a 32 year old wife and mother, who lost her 14-month battle against Leukemia on 11/22/10. • Mission: Raising awareness for Leukemia, Lymphomas, and blood Cancers, along with raising funds to support patient services and ongoing local research. • “Until there’s a day that nobody has to hear the words, ‘it’s Cancer,’ we continue to fight.” Learn more at www.TreesOfHopeWI.org

• Unite 4 Peyton was created to give hope to Spinal Muscular Atrophy [SMA] families. They want to help children and families maintain a quality of life, even with out a cure for now. • They strive to make a difference in the lives of those diagnosed with SMA. • SMA is a motor neuron disease where the motor neurons affect the voluntary muscles used for activities such as crawling, walking, head and neck control, and swallowing. It is a relatively common “rare” disorder—approximately 1 in 6000 babies born are affected, and about 1 in 40 people are genetic carriers. Learn more at www.Unite4Peyton.com

ET July | 14

A word from your c o a c h ...

Adam Zastrow | Performance Coach | AdamZastrow@RealtyExecutives.com | 608.498.0994

The Dangers of Unintentional Living Can you imagine a world where people are unintentional with their lives? A world where you don’t aspire to grow or learn or dream? Can you imagine living in a place where your time is dictated by television schedules and your dreams inspired by social media showing a fake reality? It sounds ludicrous, but it is true – we are trained to live uninspired, unintentional lives dictated by messages to become some person we are arbitrarily told to be. This world – our world – often creates unintended outcomes because there is not enough intentional living. Don’t believe me? Here’s an example… What has been the outcome of us being bombarded with messages encouraging us to eat certain “fun” foods like sodas, desserts, juices, candy, etc.? The answer: Diabetes. Health issues. Limitations on life. The unintentional over-consumption of sugars produces large amounts of diabetes in our society, not to mention a myriad of other ailments and illnesses. However, developing an intentional plan to eat in moderation dramatically lowers the chances of this disease, along with many other side effects. This intentional plan gives us energy, vitality, and longevity to do and become what and who we want. Case after case and story after story reveal unintended consequences and the pain that comes from lives lived without intentional focus. It is time to reverse unintentional living—to stop and think about the consequences that naturally follow. The outcomes are as devastating as they are predictable: uninspired lives, useless affairs, neglected children, untrained employees, and impotent companies. On the other hand, if you take the time to live your own life with intentionality and meaning, you will begin leading your business better and your family with excitement. The outcomes will show up in your organization’s fruitfulness and in your family dynamics, as you are increasingly able to give them the very best of who you are and what you have to offer. This kind of change creates an abundance of life, compassion, hard work, energy, and focus that you can invest in your teams and your children to help them become the best versions of themselves while they follow your example. Some of us need wake up calls similar to when a doctor or dentist challenges us to change our ways. Perhaps, in a small way, this blog will do that for you. Maybe, just maybe, you will stop and ponder ways in which you can live intentionally towards a purpose that is bigger than the binging the next big television series.

To live intentionally is to lead intentionally. If you’re interested in learning more about how your intentionality affects your leadership and your influence, I’m happy to schedule a meeting to discuss. Quoted from GiANT Worldwide

Compliance Corner Catch-Up Are you in the know? Updated RECR and Vacant Land Disclosure

Over the course of the last decade, there have been many changes to seller disclosure reports used in Wisconsin real estate practice: the residential Real Estate Condition Report (RECR) and the Vacant Land Disclosure Report (VLDR). The RECR was updated with random abandon, creating voluminous disclosures unrelated to one another as well as a haphazard layout that created confusion for sellers attempting to complete the form. In addition, the VLDR was modified in 2012 and shared some of the mismatched layout of the RECR and featured disclosure statements that often were not completely related. Needless to say, both reports needed new disclosures and some consistency to one another. And so, the WRA proposed legislation during the 2017-18 legislative session that aimed to update these two reports. With the passage of 2017 Wis. Act 338 earlier this year, the RECR and VLDR reports have both enjoyed a much-needed upgrade. This article provides some frequently asked questions about the updated forms, as well as a brief summary of the modifications. When are the new forms required? July 1, 2018. Will the WRA still offer more than one RECR? No. Previously, the WRA created a two-page RECR and a three-page RECR. The three-page form included supplemental explanation information for the seller. The law now includes such explanations and, thus, the WRA created only one RECR.

Did the law change who needs to complete the forms? No. Wis. Stat. ยง 709.01 requires a residential seller to complete a ยง 709.03 RECR, whether the transaction is licensee-assisted or For Sale By Owner (FSBO). Sellers who transfer residential real estate generally transfer property that contains one to four dwelling units, including condominium units, timeshare property or living quarters in a commercial property. The law continues to exempt the following individuals from being required to complete the RECR or VLDR: Personal representatives, trustees, conservators and other fiduciaries appointed by or subject to supervision by the court, but only if those persons have never occupied the property. Note: this does not include powers of attorney. Real estate that has not been inhabited, for example, new construction. Transfers exempt from the real estate transfer fee, such as between spouses, foreclosures or probate transfers. Note: this exemption does not include REO sales of foreclosed properties. To read the rest of the article, visit https://www.wra.org/WREM/June18/RECR/

Article courtesy of Cori Lamont, Director of Corporate and Regulatory Affairs for the WRA.

Looking for Help Designated Realtors Pam Burki | East Troy (262) 203.1812 John Behrens | Hartland (262) 391.8116

Stephanie Sosa | Franklin (414) 235.5777 Adam Poehlman | North Shore (262) 618.2565 Career Development Becky Wilde | Recruiting (262) 369.8915 BeckyWilde@RealtyExecutives.com Adam Zastrow | Performance Coach (608) 498.0994 AdamZastrow@RealtyExecutives.com Business Planning Dale Schaechterle Dale@RealtyExecutives.com

Accounting Dana Keegan (262) 618.2575 DanaKeegan@RealtyExecutives.com

Locate Us Brookfield 13005 W. Bluemound Road Brookfield, WI 53005 P: (262) 783.7080

Franklin 9130 W. Loomis Road, Ste 1000 Franklin, WI 53132 P: (414) 235.5777

Cedarburg W61N306 Washington Avenue, Ste 203 Cedarburg, WI 53012 P: (262) 377.6099

Germantown N112W15568 Mequon Road Germantown, WI 53022 P: (262) 250.0995

East Troy 2887 Main Street East Troy, WI 53120 P: (262) 642.3363

Hartland 810 Cardinal Lane Hartland, WI 53029 P: (262) 369.8900

North Shore 4655 N. Port Washington Road, Ste 300 Glendale, WI 53212 P: (414) 906.4500

Where Home and Happy Meet â„¢