Issue 37

The official newsletter of HUNT Real Estate Corporation

October 2011

The Value of Good Customer Relations

A message from Peter F. Hunt, Chairman & CEO
Two issues ago of this newsletter I began a five-part series on why some agents just seem to do better than others even in challenging times. Last month I diverted to a topic that came up as a result of a radio interview with one of our communitys most prominent citizens. In this issue I will return to the promised discussion. As I mentioned in July, the conclusions I have drawn have come from meetings with individuals and groups of our own agents, and agents and owners of other companies. I am continuing those discussions in our branches, which may mean that my conclusions will be amended by new input. Recently at our East Aurora branch I had a chance to hear from a significant majority of our agents there. The themes were clear and consistent with what has been expressed to me elsewhere: market time is extending in some price ranges (higher); numbers of properties on the market seem to be growing in proportion to price (the higher the price, the more available and the longer it seems to take to find buyers); just putting deals together, even with willing buyers and sellers, is tougher as is the financing of those deals; accuracy in CMAs is a greater challenge reflecting softer prices in some areas and price ranges; and perhaps most difficult to deal withthe generally bad financial news all over the media is impacting public psychology and not in a good
Continued on inside cover

Century 21 Capital Realty Group Acquired by HUNT Real Estate ERA in Rochester
acquisition was a perfect play strategically to grow our market share and solidify our presence in the Rochester region." HUNT ERA | Columbus Division currently operates five branches strategically located throughout Rochester in Brighton-Pittsford, Greece, Perinton, Webster, and Canandaigua. HUNT ERA has plans to aggressively grow market share in the Western New York region and beyond, and because Century 21 Capital Realty Group has a strong presence in those geographic areas, this acquisition will expand HUNTs reach in the Rochester area. We are pleased to welcome this exciting new group, and we look forward to working with our new agents! Dick Baart Ralph Annucci Nancy Baart Tracy Bill Jerry Byrnes Joe Camar Bernadette Catlin David Elsperger Carol Gaelens Jeff Leusch Dick Lippa Rhonda McGonnell Georgi Musso Tod Myers Chris Olyer Paul Sausa Tom Scheuerman Samantha Smith Donna Sullivan Barbara Thomas Bonnie Timmons Rich Vogelzang

We are pleased to announce the acquisition of Rochester-based Century 21 Capital Realty Group. Century 21 Capital Realty Group was a franchise of Century 21 LLC, a real estate corporation comprised of approximately 7,700 independently owned and operated franchised broker offices worldwide. Century 21 Capital Realty Group operated both commercial and residential real estate brokerage divisions in Greece, NY and the Greater Rochester area. Richard Baart, formerly broker owner and manager of Century 21 Capital Realty Group, is a 30 year veteran in the Rochester real estate community and a well-known volunteer and philanthropist. Over the years, he has built a solid team of over 20 real estate sales professionals who specialize in both residential and commercial real estate, all of whom will transition to the HUNT ERA | Columbus Division Greece branch. The transition will add over 50 active listings to HUNT ERA | Columbus Division increasing our regional market share to almost 10% in sales volume. "In these tough economic times when many companies are struggling to maintain their business base, we remain optimistic and stay focused on opportunities to expand our sales force," said Peter Hunt. "The C-21

David Knox Our Socks Off!

A recap from The Business Leaders Meeting with David Knox!

Location, Location, Location!

HUNT ERA has teamed up with ListHub! Learn how this tool can help your business grow!

The Value of Good Customer Relations

...continued from cover
way. There was good news, too. Our agents in East Aurora value coming into the office and enjoy the energy of the team environment and the group learning that takes place there. They believe that touring our new listings is critical to working together successfully and knowing our inventory. These positive attitudes show which helps explain why this branch is doing well. In July I cited the first reason why some agents seem to do better than others: They are learners and are constantly seeking to improve their knowledge and skills. One of the positive byproducts of a commitment to professional development is good customer relations, which is the second reason why some agents seem to do better than others. How many customers have a poor initial experience with the real estate industry because of a random contact with an agent who simply didnt know what they were doing, or never called back a customer, or never responded to an electronic inquiry on a listing, or created such a poor impression at an Open House that the customer turned around and left, or who fumbled an in-bound phone inquiry on an individual listing? Even the best training will not adequately replace productive real-world experience. It is safe to say that our industry is perceived and received as poorly as it is at least in part because of sour first impressions of our agent population. While certainly not universal, given average agent productivity, there is a possibility, perhaps even a strong possibility, that a random customer experience will be a turnoffwhich we cannot afford in the market environment we now are experiencing. At HUNT, we take the first customer contact very seriously and refuse to risk creating a poor first impression. How? Back in 1990, we created the first-ever real estate industry customer service center, designed to build a positive first impression with customers responding by phone to any form of advertising. All calls are sourced and then electronically transferred to the appropriate agent. Data is collected on buyer response by media, time of day, day of week, etc. so that the company and individual agents can plan appropriate marketing designed for the highest potential rate of return. No other company offers anything like it. HUNT University provides Open House training, and HUNT Marketing and HUNT Technologies offer industry leading electronic lead generation and conversion systems to provide connection between the inquiring customer and the appropriate agent. All HUNT customers become members of The Realty Club, created in 1995 to provide a complete set of homeownership services. Your company is the only fully-integrated real estate and homeownership services organization (the company Vision), offering transactional assistance, mortgage products at the lowest rate guaranteed, title services, insurance services, and even home-building. All HUNT customers are surveyed to measure their expectations against actual services delivered. At HUNT we also consider cooperating brokers and agents as customers and always attempt to make their experience with us as positive as possible. Thats why we created ProShow as the simplest and easiest way to show a house. If our listings are the easiest to show, they will be shown more, insuring that we will derive the highest value possible for our clients. Many of our agents who are thriving in these challenging times are using all the tools available only to HUNT agents to build their reputation for exceptional customer service. I could list many examples, but one in particular comes to mind. Jenny Gerhart from our Lancaster branch originally came up with the My Team brochure idea, which I promptly co-opted to make available to all of our agents. Jenny wants her customers to know that she has a team working with her that ensures the highest quality, most complete service available. Jenny is committed to the best and most complete customer service, and her service delivery and success are testimony to the truth of her claims. Everyone in our organization has the same opportunity. Please take advantage of the opportunity that is uniquely yours as a HUNT agent.

Relocation Appreciation Program

A message from Mary Croglio Thank you and congratulations to the following branches and agents that closed outgoing referrals in the month of August. The total commission to the agents was $6,792. Brighton-Pittsford Esther Krakower Camillus David Manzano Carthage Kent Burto Greece Tracey Dedee HUNT Commercial Jane Munro KenTon Karen Loffredo Susan Meyers Liverpool Bob Joeckel Orchard Park Colleen Brunelle Perinton Eric Whitlock Relocation Beatrice Dunwoodie Webster Patrick Pellegrino Williamsville-Clarence Joel Calabrese Jennifer Maxian Cynthia Winnie Williamsville Village John & Joe Rubino Thank you to all the agents & branches for all your hard work!

Your Friend In Realty Express

Welcome to HUNT!

At HUNT, our agents are our most valuable assets, so we pursue every opportunity to attract and develop the right talent in our organization. We thank these fine professionals for choosing a career in real estate and us as their team. Fifteen years ago we commissioned a marketing consulting firm to do a series of focus groups with our customers, competitors customers, for sale by owner types, and our agents. We began with a hypothesis that our customers wanted options when it came to buying and selling their homes. Five options were created and presented at some point to the people in each of the focus groups. The outcomes, while not entirely surprising, were somewhat disheartening for those of us that believed that everyone should see all the value we bring to real estate transactions. What we learned was that customers had a very limited idea of what we did to earn our commissions. We also learned that they would see real value in enhanced services, if they could be easily communicated. Many would be willing to pay more for these services, while others would also be interested in paying a fee for a very limited set of services. Our solutions were the introduction of Seller Select, the first time in real estate history when a seller could select their level of service and commission and, upon the encouragement of our top agents the creation of Realty Express. At the time, many of our agents were suffering from loss of some customers to a group that billed themselves as a real estate marketing company (not a broker) who charged a fee up front and provided limited service. We were losing listings. Action was demanded by our agents. Some wanted the BNAR to put a stop to them. Others wanted a boycott of showing their listings. Still others saw the opportunity. The opportunity came in two forms: to go and list the homes that were only on a marketing agreement; and to create a competing, better system. Hence the birth of Realty Express, a fee-forservice broker offering listing services only. The target market is and always has been the committed do-it-yourself home seller, what we lovingly call FSBOs (fizz-bos). Over the last twelve years, Realty Express has gone about the business of offering a solution to the do-it-yourselfer providing a limited set of services for a fee up front. Clients of Realty Express can convert to full service through HUNT Real Estate ERA and receive a credit toward their commission of most of their payment. In the last year, many of the Realty Express clients converted to HUNT ERA listings. Still others were referred to Realty Express by our HUNT ERA agents, who received a fee for the referral. The Buyers that call on Realty Express listings are referred to HUNT ERA agents, many of whom have sold houses to these callers. Realty Express is a steadily growing resource for HUNT ERA agents and our core companies as well. Learn how Realty Express can be an asset to your career. Contact Gary Utech, COO, to learn how you can participate and increase your earning opportunities. Find a new friend in Realty Express! Please join us in extending a warm HUNT welcome to these individuals and wishing them much success in their careers with us!

Nicholas Berst / Lancaster Kimberly Canoy / Hamburg Ashley Cleary / Amherst Arthur Cooper / Saratoga Springs Jeffrey Crannell / Oneida Susan Dillon / Perinton Iftikhar Farooqui / Loudonville MariaLisa Giglia-Remington / Amherst Cheri Horan / Cicero Syed Hussnain / Loudonville Kellie Kieley / Loudonville Julie LaMastra / Williamsville Village Malcolm Lane / Canandaigua Joseph Lops / Williamsville-Clarence William Lynch / Chittenango Scott Molanare / Cicero Terri Perl / East Aurora Geneiva Ann Radomski / Fayetteville Justin Reitz / Wheatfield Colette Rosati / Scottsdale Paul Rubino / Williamsville Village Andrea Ruzzine / Lockport Nicholas Sofos / Scottsdale Lynne Smith / Lancaster Michael Swanson / Scottsdale Thomas Tait / Cazenovia Gary TraMontana / Webster

David Knox Our Socks Off !

time when it matters most. David Knox delivered an empowering and entertaining - talk about the challenges we face in todays real estate marketplace, and gave us all a tremendous amount of information and strategies to help us see it through. There is no denying that the economic situation today presents increasing challenges for all of us, and especially for the buyers and sellers we serve. David Knoxs tools help us better service our clients and successfully guide them towards achieving their goals even in a challenging market. HUNT Real Estate ERAs exclusive relationship with David Knox Productions brings his hundreds of on-demand videos, DVDs and training materials to all of our agents and managers at no cost! All you need to do is log on to HUNTUniversity.com and click on the David Knox logo in the upper right hand corner of the page. For those who may have missed this recent Speaker Series event, you should consider watching Knoxs new video series, Pricing Listings in a Changing Market, available exclusively through HUNTUniversity.com. Taking a mere 27 minutes to view this timely series of three videos will give you the knowledge you need to price listings right for todays market, and have them SELL instead of SIT!

Hundreds of our dedicated HUNT real estate professionals were empowered by renowned speaker, David Knox, at our recent 100th Anniversary Celebration Speaker Series event. Events took place in Buffalo, Syracuse and Rochester, and between 40-50% of our agents attended! This is a fantastic statement about your commitment to the business, and your interest in furthering your education at a

HUNT Real Estate ERA agent named Congratulations to the following Most Talented Realtor in NYS best branch performers for August!
Not only has he been a top producing real estate broker for over 30 years, but he has been playing drums in bands & performing live for 50 years! Henry Mancini before impressing the audience with one of his signature drum solos. The judges awarded him first place. Hanlon has led his own band, Dave Hanlons Cookbook, for the last 29 years. He has won numerous awards over the years and is the recipient of the Syracuse SAMMY Hall of Fame Award. Hanlon has played drums on over 30 CDs and continues to perform in Central New York at several live shows throughout the year. David Hanlon, a Licensed Associate Real Estate Broker with HUNT Real Estate ERAs DeWitt branch, was recently named New York States Most Talented Realtor in a competition held by the New York State Association of REALTORS at the Turning Stone Resort and Casino in Verona, New York. Realtors from across the state submitted applications to take part in the competition which showcased a variety of talents. This was Hanlons first year entering the show where he played drums to Peter Gun by Congratulations to the following branches on their August performance against plan as measured by written company dollar. These branches are ranked in order from the top as a percentage over plan. Awesome job in August! 1. Carthage/Evans Mills (Syracuse) 2. Oneida (Syracuse) 3. Manlius (Syracuse) 4. Lewiston (Buffalo/Niagara) 5. Liverpool (Syracuse) 6. Williamsville Village (Buffalo/Niagara) 7. KenTon (Buffalo/Niagara)

He was sales agent of the year in 2010, in the HUNT DeWitt office.

Dear David, Congratulations to you from your friends at HUNT ERA!

Memories of the 2011 United Way Golf & Wine Outing

HUNT Real Estate Corporation and HUNT Mortgage are pleased to report that the 2011 United Way Golf Outing and Wine Tour held on September 22nd was another great success! With the help and generosity of our golfers and wine tour participants, the event raised over $14,000 to benefit the United Way. This years winning foursome from the golf tournament was John Rubino, Joe Rubino, John Mitchell and Kevin Myszka from the Williamsville Village branch. The men's long drive contest was won by Patrick Stanchak, Business Development Manager from our Lewiston, Lockport and Wheatfield branches. The womens longest drive was won by Lisa Faeth from our Perinton branch, and Closest to the Pin for mens and womens was won by John Rubino and Lou Ann Spaulding of our Hamburg branch. By all accounts, the day's festivities, which included the golf tournament, wine tour, Chinese Auction, Live Auction, lunch and dinner, were enjoyed by all. HUNT Real Estate Corp. and the United Way would like to thank everyone who came out to support the event as well as our corporate sponsors: The Buffalo News, Copier Fax Business Technologies Inc., Fidelity National Title, LVBW Accountants, RBC Wealth Management, ERA Franchise Systems, The PCA Group, and Underberg & Kessler, LLP. Check out the fun-tivities in living color BELOW!

Recognizing our Top Sales Agents of the Month

July 2011
Buffalo/Niagara
Amherst / Kelly Poulos East Aurora / Rosa McCabe Hamburg / Patty Manns KenTon / Larry Beanan Lancaster / Donnalea Nykiel/Marcie Kolb Lewiston / Barb Kivi Lockport / Cheyanne Seelau Metropolitan / Ellen Daly Orchard Park / Geralyn Bonilla West Seneca / Cynthia Stachowski Wheatfield / Kelly Ryan Williamsville-Clarence / Sharon Frisicaro Williamsville Village / Bonnie Clement

August 2011
Syracuse / Carthage-Watertown
Camillus / Crocker Team Cazenovia / Chary Griffin Chittenango / Dyan Thompson Cicero / Tibbits-Agati Team DeWitt / Ann Mullin Fayetteville / Hodgkins/O'Hara Team Liverpool / Starr Nicholas Team Manlius / Margaret Karim Oneida / Mary Pat Adams Carthage-Watertown / Stephanie Akin

Buffalo/Niagara
Amherst / Mike McDonough East Aurora / Christye Peterson Hamburg / Judy Occhino KenTon / Marsha McCarthy Lancaster / Sandy Hockwater Lewiston / Barb Kivi Lockport / Patricia Kennedy Metropolitan / Tim Ranallo Orchard Park / David Nathan West Seneca / Pete Scarcello Wheatfield / Cheryl Polasik Williamsville-Clarence / Amy Mayfield Williamsville Village / Bonnie Clement

Syracuse / Carthage-Watertown
Camillus / Crocker Team Cazenovia / Nancy Proctor Chittenango / Sandy Leibl Cicero / Terry Quigg DeWitt / Dianne Fecteau Fayetteville / Judy Winslow Liverpool / CNY Key Team Manlius / Patti Mathews Oneida / Linda Ebby Carthage-Watertown / Erin Meyer

Capital District
Loudonville / Anthony Gucciardo S. Glens Falls / Jennifer Ball Saratoga Springs / Dan Britten

Capital District
Loudonville / Anthony Gucciardo S. Glens Falls / Jennifer Ball Saratoga Springs / Dan Britten

Rochester
Brighton-Pittsford / Chris Carretta Canandaigua / Sandi Van Camp Greece / Kay Carpenter Perinton / John Denniston Webster / David Riedel

Rochester
Brighton-Pittsford / Chris Caretta Canandaigua / Sandi Van Camp Greece / Frank Cimino Perinton / John Denniston Webster / Doug DeMar

Phoenix AZ
Tempe / Brigitte Mueller and Al Rivera Scottsdale / Susan Raymond

Location, Location, Location!

A message from Bob Scholz, Corporate Training Manager reporting. Now HUNT ERA has added even more tools to help you report to your seller and validate your value proposition to your clients. HUNT ERA has now partnered with ListHub as a registered broker. ListHub provides reporting tools so that you can share the number of times someone views your listing on over 100 Web sites and search engines. There are actually over 900 places or Channels where your listing may appear when you take into account the sub-syndication of your listings. HUNT ERA has provided this distribution, reporting and marketing system to all HUNT ERA agents. All the agent needs to do is sign up for a ListHub account. When you, as a HUNT ERA professional, combine this Internet Activity Reporting with the Listing Activity Report in OneRealPro, you uniquely provide more information to your seller than any other real estate agent. Your seller will know about every showing on their property, every phone call that has come in, every Open House and the feedback from every buyer who sees their property. The client will be able to review every task you have performed to market and expose their property. No other company offers more information and reporting to their sellers than HUNT ERA. If you would like to learn how you can set up your account at ListHub.com and begin offering this expanded reporting to your sellers, see your Broker Consultant for the link to the recorded online course or attend one of the live HUNT ERA ListHub training sessions in your area. If you would like to learn more about using the Listing Activity Report go to HUNTUniversity.com.

We have all heard the old adage Location, location, location! Location is important but todays sellers are saying Reports, reports, reports! Sellers more than ever before want to know what is going on with their property. They want to know what is being done to market and expose their home and what you, the agent, are doing to Get my home sold! The Listing Activity Report is a unique tool that allows you to be on the cutting edge of

Compliments to the HUNT Mortgage Team

A message from Tracey Dedee at the Webster Branch I wanted to take a minute to let you know about the wonderful experience I had with HUNT Mortgage recently. Earlier this year a past client of mine referred me to a single mom of two children, one being disabled. The mom had some challenges to getting qualified initially and worked with Nancy Frate to get everything in line in order to buy. I found a house for this client, only to have it fall apart at the closing table when the seller failed to make the repairs outlined in the contract. My client was absolutely devastated as there was very limited inventory in her price range and in the school district she needed in order to assist with her son's special needs. She feared she would never be able to buy a house of her own. Within hours of the first offer falling apart, Nancy re-qualified the buyer for a slightly higher amount and we wrote an offer on another, better suited, property that just went on the market. Now, today, only 16 days after the first deal died, my buyer received the clear to close on her future home and will be closing next week. There is NO DOUBT in my mind that had it not been for Nancy Frate, Kelly Alaimo, the underwriter and support staff at HUNT Mortgage, this would have never come together for this buyer. As a side note, since writing the first offer, this buyer referred me to another buyer and that transaction closed flawlessly with HUNT Mortgage a little over a week ago and I have two very satisfied life-long customers. So, HUNT Mortgage, thank you for Always Being There for me, in All Ways!

The Hamburg Annual Moondance Ride

A message from Lisa Avery, Broker Consultant

On a beautiful July evening the sales associates from the Hamburg and West Seneca offices treated themselves to a fabulous sail on the Moondance Catamaran. The weather was perfect, the wind was strong and everyone had a great time. It was a wonderful way for us to enjoy fellowship with our fellow sales associates at HUNT. Activities like this are always a great time and combining offices just makes it better!

Stop Unwanted Solicitation Before it Starts

A message from Linda Mallia, President of HUNT Mortgage their credit report pulled. Companies may contact a buyer by phone or mail, or perhaps both, in order to solicit our customers with unwanted offers. Fortunately, there is a way to help prevent our customers from experiencing these very frustrating and unwanted solicitations. You can advise your customers on how to opt out from receiving solicitations that arise from having credit pulled by a mortgage lender. Interested individuals can call 1-800-567-8688, or visit www.optoutprescreen.com to prevent themselves from being contacted by solicitors. The process takes 5 days for a name to be taken off the list, and they will be kept off for 5 years. For best results, customers should be advised to complete the removal process six (6) days before having your credit pulled for a mortgage pre-qualification or application.

Save The Date! 2011 Annual Holiday and Award Celebration

Save the date for the 2011 Annual Holiday and Award Celebration! Dates are listed below, so mark your calendars! Syracuse/Watertown/Capital Region Thursday, December 8th Genesee Grande Hotel 1060 East Genesee Street Syracuse, NY 13210 2-4pm - Award Ceremony 4-6pm - Cocktail Reception Buffalo/Rochester Region Tuesday, December 13th Buffalo Niagara Marriott 1340 Millersport Hwy Amherst, NY 14221 2-4pm - Award Ceremony 4-6pm - Cocktail Reception

Frequently after we have pre-qualified a potential buyer, they begin to receive unsolicited offers from various lenders for mortgage financing. Understandably, these potential buyers are extremely upset and believe that we may have sold or shared their information with other lenders and vendors. Nothing could be further from the truth. While it is upsetting, it is unfortunately perfectly legal under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Credit bureaus are permitted to send offers to those individuals who have recently had

From the desk of...

Welcome aboard to the over 20 agents and Associate Brokers of the former C-21 Capital Realty team in Greece NY, along with former Broker Owner Richard (Dick) Baart. Our existing HUNT team in Greece has been excellent hosts and hostesses, led by our Broker Consultant, Catherine Peters, our Regional Business Development Manager, Jeanne Olson, and our Administrative Assistant, Margaret Newton. I am delighted to officially announce you all as part of our growing Rochester team, and with the support of HUNT Marketing and Career Development we are WORKING to make the transition smooth, seamless and productive! As we continue to celebrate our 100th anniversary year, I have received many positive comments and compliments regarding the series of speaking engagements we hosted with David Knox, which all led to many price adjustments as we position our

A message from Louis A. Izzo, Jr., President - Residential Brokerage inventory for "sale". Additionally, we have our annual Leadership Conference approaching soon and that is an annual reminder that business planning should be well underway between our Broker Consultants and agents. If you have not reviewed your plan for 2012 and beyond as of yet, the time is now to make an appointment and begin planning your goals for 2012. In addition, our Career Development department offers a series of tools designed for just that purpose. Contact Bob Scholz or Laurie Omans for more information. We are here to help! In the next month, watch for a new offering through Career Development known as The Mastery Program. This one-of-a-kind offering will only be available at HUNT ERA in 2012, and is being written and coordinated with the finest trainers/speakers and motivators in the real estate industry. It will be action packed and intense and is guaranteed to get you producing at record levels if youre willing to "commit!" I have also recently begun to visit every HUNT branch (not an easy task anymore!) and will be visiting with all of our folks as we prepare for next year in what promises to be another challenging year for the residential real estate industry. Inventory levels industry wide in all of our markets have dropped significantly and although turnover (the rate at which our homes sell) is faster than planned, the inventory needs to grow even more to get to more desired sales levels. Our goal remains to provide you with the finest tools, services and leadership to be more than competitive everywhere we operate. Our entire Leadership Team is here for you and we are totally committed to your success. As we turn the corner in our 2012 fiscal year (Nov 1,) I am Always there for you!"

Customer Service Compliments

HUNT Real Estate Corporation would like to share with you the kind words that are being said about our world-class Customer Service team. Maureen Flavin from the Amherst/Clarence Realty USA office complimented Customer Service on their polite and professional manners compared to Centralized Showings. Kelly Poulos from the Amherst branch thanks Customer Service for everything they do. I would not be able to do all that I do, without all of your help! Thank you so very much! Joann Parisi from the Wheatfield branch called for assistance on a few appointments and listing changes. She was very grateful for our Always There For You attitude. Donald Moore from the Liverpool branch, was very enthusiastic when he called into ProShow. He said Everyone at ProShow is absolutely the best. He also stated he has not previously encountered anyone who provides the service that we do. Thank you, to our entire team for your hard work and dedicationkeep it up!

Featured Realty Club Vendors

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