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 phunt@huntrealestate.com.

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

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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)