October 2002 - Builder/Realtor Alliance

Marian Reitano, Co-Chair

Builder/Realtor® Alliance Committee

Tom Trigg, Co-Chair

Building better relationships between Builders & Realtors®

Wow! It must be BRAC meeting day! How can I tell?...The parking lot is full. Realtors® are rushing into the CBR building.

Back in January at the CBR Leadership Retreat, there were discussions about the anticipated size of this committee. One of the questions raised was what would we do if 100 or more people sign up for BRAC? Our feeling was that ‘bigger is better'. Well, 10 months later, the BRAC membership has exceeded 170 members strong and continues to grow!

The new rules for our CBR Million Dollar Club awards require committee service (which might be one reason BRAC membership is high). Great idea. Let's get fresh blood on board committees. Perhaps they'll want to be a Director some day.

We decided at the very first meeting that the meetings had to be fun and interesting. Trying to keep over 100 people attentive, per month, was the challenge. We surveyed committee members at the first meeting and have used everyone's input to develop the agenda for our meetings, programs and projects this year.

The meetings start at 10:15 a.m. with networking and food provided by a Builder sponsor. At 10:45 a.m., the meeting starts off with introductions, general business and BIA
announcements.

Each meeting includes a speaker, presentation or panel discussion. This year we've heard about legal issues, mold, the auditor's web site, the Parade of Homes, well & septic, new home security/technology and a builder panel discussion. Our remaining meetings will include a joint meeting with the BIA's Sales & Marketing Council in October, a Realtor® Panel in November and a Christmas luncheon in December.

Our Realtor® Panel in November should prove to be interesting. The panel will be real estate agents, selected by the BRAC Subcommittee, who specialize in new home sales. They will discuss how they sell new homes and also answer questions from the committee. Their presentation will be on how they develop relationships with builders and generate buyers specifically for new homes. This program has been developed to answer one of the questions asked early in the year by the committee — “how do some Realtors® sell so many new homes?”

After our program, we break into subcommittees to work on various projects. Our Research Subcommittee (chaired by Linda Neimann and Kathy Scanlon), is surveying builders to gather information.

Our Membership Subcommittee (chaired by Bud Savage and Connie Ulliman-Sherowski) is trying to get more builders to join the committee (and maybe CBR).
Our Forum Subcommittee (chaired by Dllona Shortle, Karen Claar and Jeff Blais) put together the builder panel and is working on our upcoming Realtor® panel.

Our BIA Subcommittee (chaired by Julie Hutt and Linda Winrod) discussed ways in which we could work more
closely with the BIA.

Our Builder/Realtor® Roundtable Subcommittee is planning our annual continuing education program scheduled for November 1. A popular event, the class this year will feature roundtable discussions on Production Builders/Design Building; Technology for the Future; Builder Contracts; and Creative Construction Techniques and Materials. Click here to register.

Shortly we will form another subcommittee to plan the annual Builders' Preview held in January each year. This Preview gives Realtors® the opportunity to network with new home salespeople and pick up the most current information on builder developments and what they plan for 2003.

Last but not least! We have fun in the process. Many years ago, someone said “If it's not fun, don't do it!” All work and no play makes no sense. Everybody needs to have fun once in a while!

We would like to thank all of our hardworking subcommittee chairs and members, not only for helping us to keep such a large group so productive, but also for helping keep it FUN! We continue to get new members every month and invite you to join us if you have an interest in selling new homes. Contact Tom at (740) 548-0313 or Marian at (614) 273-6485.