Greetings! As many of you know, the RASCW and SCWMLS offices opened back up to our membership in June, and most excitingly, we started hosting live events again! The Membership Networking social at Liberty Station was a big success, and members of the Sauk Columbia Chapter had a blast at their Bags Tournament. Our upcoming Cindy Strange Memorial Golf Outing has already sold out, and we look forward to Bocce Ball, Forward Soccer, and many other amazing opportunities to connect for the remainder of 2021. Please keep an eye on upcoming newsletters as well as the RASCW.org calendar so we can see you again in person soon.

While it has been the case for years, the dramatic changes our members have faced and continue to face in this market highlight just how important our association is to our success. Whether it be technology tools, education, advocacy for home ownership, or legal advice, those that choose to take advantage can derive great benefits. I would like to highlight a couple of examples.

The limited supply of housing is a conversation happening locally as well as at a state and federal level. In Madison, 54.6% of renters are cost burdened, meaning they pay over 30% of their income towards housing. Just 20% of black households own their home. We need to do better, so when updates to zoning ordinances were proposed that would remove barriers to creating affordable options, RASCW jumped on the opportunity. In June, after an extensive campaign, an 11-9 vote in our favor made constructing new housing, particularly for low and middle income earners, easier.

Although we’ve not yet hosted classes in person this year, technology has given us the opportunity to see record attendance at virtual sessions. Classes on the economy, Unconscious Bias, Down Payment Assistance, Persuasion, etc. have made quite the impression on our members and are still available to watch on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCigJQzSWOj71EUMoSnBsgUQ

The Leadership Nominating Committee of the REALTORS® Association of South Central Wisconsin has announced the following nominees for the open REALTOR® seats on the RASCW Board of Directors. The new Directors will be elected in September to serve three-year terms beginning in January 2022.

Ben Oblizajek, Century 21 Affiliated, Broker-owner, Class I Firm (26+), Designee of Dan Kruse

Julie Klemm, Bunbury & Associates, REALTORS®, Non-owner from a Class I Firm (26+)

Laura Lahti, Badger Realty Team, Non-owner from a Class II Firm (<26)

The Leadership Nominating Committee was charged with selecting one nominee for each directorship to be filled on the Board. Additional Members meeting the criteria for the Director position to be filled may appear on the ballot if they agree to the time commitment involved and are supported by a petition signed by 25 or more Members (no more than 10 from their own company).

Petitions must be received at the RASCW office before August 15, 2021. Click here for the Petition and Time Commitment. If you have questions on the petition process, please contact Janine Smith, janine@wisre.com or 608-240-2800 ext 0206.

Ballots will be made available to all Members in good standing by September 1, 2021. If there are no contested directorship positions, ballots will not be made available and the Director Nominees shall be declared duly elected by the RASCW Board of Directors at their September business meeting.

Members serving on the Nominating Committee: Chair Jean Armendariz-Kerr, Michael Restaino, Megan Roth-Markham, Sommer Von Behren, Scott Walker, Tom Weber.

The Affordable Housing & Equal Opportunities Committee is excited to continue our support for the local organization Movin' Out by hosting this year's fundraising event, Kickin' It with Forward Madison (a Madison Forward soccer game), on Saturday, October 23 at 7:00pm at Breese Stevens Field in Madison. Movin' Out provides a range of safe, affordable, and community-integrated housing solutions to adults with disabilities and to families that include children with disabilities. They have helped over 1,600 families across Wisconsin become first-time home buyers or to rehab their homes for safety or accessibility modifications. They have also helped create more than 1,000 units of affordable rental housing throughout the state, with over 220 of those being supportive units.

We're looking for sponsors for this event! For more information about sponsorship levels and the sponsor application form, click here. All sponsorships are sold first come, first serve, so don't wait to sign up to be a part of this fun and impactful event!

Are you working with buyers who you think would benefit from learning more about the homebuying process? Click here to read about the Home Buyers Round Table (HBRT) 2021 Homebuyer Education Workshops, which provide attendees the opportunity to learn from industry experts about what they need to do to successfully navigate the Road to Home Ownership. These virtual workshops are being offered on Saturdays through the end of 2021 and cover the following topics:

The classes are free and qualify attendees for available Down Payment Assistance programs. Please reach out to HBRT with any questions, and refer buyers you feel might be interested in attending one of these workshops!

July is NAR Community Building month, and fitting of that theme, NAR's REALTORS® Are Good Neighbors program (running now until October 2021) recognizes NAR members' contributions to their communities and provides the opportunity to log volunteer hours for a chance to win $1,000 to give to a charity of your choice. Click here for more program information and to log your hours if you'd like to participate.

As a REALTOR^®, you have the ability to create up to 2,000 free records per month. Labels are available in popular formats and can be exported into a standard CSV file. 

To get started, visit narrpr.com. Choose “Commercial” from the left toggle switch. Then select Marketing from the top nav, and Prospecting for Commercial Clients. A wizard will show you how to use RPR maps to create, customize and save map areas, and then how to generate your targeted mailing list.

Please mark your calendar and follow us on social media, in the Newsletter, and on the RASCW website to stay up to date on these UPCOMING EVENTS*: