2014 4th Quarter Newsletter - A President's Farewell

As the fireworks explode outside all around me,  I become profoundly aware that I am completing the last moments of my Presidential reign for the Fort Bend Chapter of WCR.  It has been a huge honor to have been able to serve and lead such an amazing group of individuals.  As I reflect on this last quarter of the year 2014, the Fort Bend Chapter has accomplished so much.

Our October Business Resource meeting brought HAR Training & Outreach Specialist Marilyn Maxwell to share the many business building  tools that we have available as part of our membership with HAR. We are so fortunate to be a part of such a supportive REALTOR Association.

Marilyn Maxwell - HAR Training & Outreach Specialist

The November Business Resource meeting is always a very special celebration of our Members as we recognize and award the chapter Entrepreneur of the Year, Member of the Year and Affiliate of the Year. This year's winners were certainly deserving of their respective honors! Congratulations to-

Angela Johnson (BHG Gary Greene Realtors) -2014 Entrepreneur of the Year

Barbara Marlin (BHG Gary Greene Realtors) - 2014 Member of the Year

Julia Hardy (Starkey Mortgage) - 2014 Affiliate of the Year

As a special addition to this already special meeting we had Jim "Mattress Mack" McIngvale inspire us with his stories of building a successful business.  He certainly has an amazing story to share! It was an honor having him join us.

Also in November the  National WCR and Realtor Conference was held in New Orleans, LA.  Christina Daw, Angela Johnson, Julia Hardy and Jo Ann Stevens represented the Fort Bend chapter at the National meeting.  The elections of the National WCR officers is held at this very important meeting and I am so proud to announce that our very own Jo Ann Stevens was elected as the 2015 WCR National Financial Secretary!  She worked several months this past year campaigning around to many of the WCR chapter meetings throughout the United States.  We are so proud of you Jo Ann!

Jo Ann Stevens - Immediately Following Election Win!!

Quick as a wink the December Installation Luncheon was here and although I was home sick with the flu, several members updated me throughout the meeting of all the excitement.  I wish I could have been there to personally congratulate the newly installed officers.  I am certain with so many talented ladies in charge in 2015 the Fort Bend Chapter of WCR is in capable hands.

Looks like a year filled with fun is on the horizon!

2015 Fort Bend Chapter Executive Officers

Over the past several years I have had the privilege to serve as the Treasurer, VP of Membership, and President-Elect and finally the President of this fantastic WCR chapter.  I have so many memories and special moments to take away from this amazing experience.  Although it has been great fun...it is a wonderful feeling to have the honor of being the newest Precious Past President!! See you all next year in my new role - I look forward to our bright future ahead!

2014 Fort Bend WCR - 3rd Quarter Newsletter - Busy, Busy, Busy!!

The Fort Bend Chapter of Women's Council of Realtors has been busy this summer with community projects and spreading the word about WCR! As the temperatures heated up so did our schedule of events.  We started out this quarter with a special meeting at Churrasco's in Sugar Land with our very own Fort Bend County Commissioner James Patterson.  He shared an immense amount of information on all the big things happening in our county.  The biggest being the completion of the Grand Parkway connecting Fort Bend from US 59 all the way to US 290. There is so much growth in our area with several of the fastest growing zip codes in the state!! It's a great time to be in the industry! We also had our annual backpack drive to support the kids at the Fort Bend County Women's Center. As usual our members were very generous, we had school supplies and backpacks overflowing and we were able to provide a great start for many children at the women's center.

As we rolled into August and prepared to get the kids back to school, we held our annual joint networking meeting with the Fort Bend HAR.  All our Fort Bend school districts brought us updates on their upcoming school year plans and changes. In attendance were representatives from Fort Bend ISD, Katy ISD, Lamar Consolidated ISD, and Stafford MSD.  We also had the opportunity to share the excitement of  Fort Bend WCR to more than 200 area Realtors that attended. The nominating committee was also busy this month preparing for interviews and setting the slate for the 2015 officers and our election in September.  Christina Daw (Better Homes and Gardens Gary Greene) the incoming 2015 President spent several days in Chicago representing our Chapter and attending the National Leadership training.  Get ready Fort Bend 2015 is sure to be a great year!!

September rolled in fast and furious- the executive officers were busy all month long with state meetings, a visit from our National President, our big fundraiser, and state leadership training!! Beginning the very first weekend of the month, Angela Johnson, Christina Daw, Wendy Mottern, Julia Hardy, Jo Ann Stevens and myself attended the Texas TAR/WCR Conference in San Antonio, Tx. We attended several breakout sessions to help us lead our chapter more effectively. Fort Bend was there to represent- we were recognized in the large chapter category the membership retention award! What a great honor.  We also competed in the state WCR event "Bring it On" , and bring it on we did- BEST Skit award!!

On September 11, 2014 our chapter organized with  the other Houston area chapters and brought the National WCR President Jo Kenney to share with us a "National Perspective".  We had at least 150 local members and guests in attendance.  Fort Bend really showed their best at this event. 

 We also had our chapter elections at this meeting and I am proud to announce the 2015 Fort Bend WCR  Officers- Christina Daw (2015 President), Angela Johnson (2015 President Elect), Wendy Mottern (2015 VP of Membership), Dana Loper (2015 Treasurer), and Julia Hardy (2015 Secretary). Congratulations ladies! Our big event of the year finally came on September 25, we held our 2nd Annual Celebrity Waiter event at the Swinging Door in Richmond. We filled the dance hall with pirates, music and a booty full of fun!! We had great attendance and a very successful fundraiser for the Women's Center and our chapter. We had a cake auction, a raffle and wonderful music from the "Bayou Funk Experiment".  Check out this link and enjoy all the great photos taken by chapter member David Goldberg (Better Homes and Gardens Gary Greene). Click here to view WCR 9-25-14

If all this doesn't have your head spinning, the newly elected 2015 Fort Bend Chapter officers headed off to Hyatt Regency Lost Pines Resort and Spa for State Leadership Training. We still have many exciting events planned for the remainder of the year.  Don't miss our upcoming October meeting with Marilyn Maxwell from HAR (Oct 9), we have free MCE for our members (Oct 16).  Watch for your Whoozin.com invites and your email, our website and our facebook page for all upcoming events.  Be sure to take advantage of all the great benefits of your membership with WCR!! 

2014 Fort Bend WCR - 2nd Quarter Newsletter - We are flying through the calendar!!

The weather and the Fort Bend WCR is heating up with the summer months.  Real estate sales are keeping everyone on their toes and all the great activities with the Fort Bend WCR are too! We started out this quarter in April with our 2nd Annual Vendor Fair - We filled the ballroom with great vendors eager to share their goods and services with the Fort Bend real estate community.  It was great to see so many attend and the vendors were all so generous with information and door prizes. Our broker Sponsors for the vendor fair were Better Homes & Gardens Gary Greene, Lane Real Estate & RE/MAX Fine Properties - thanks to each of you for supporting our Vendor Fair.

May proved to be busy for several of us who attended the 2014 Realtor Party Convention in Washington D.C. May 15-18.  Christina Daw, Angela Johnson, Wendy Mottern, and Jo Ann Stevens all joined me as representatives of the Fort Bend Chapter.  We enjoyed immense networking opportunities with chapter members from all over the United States.  There were two intense days of education and information to soak up and of course we were able to see many of the amazing and spectacular monuments and historical places that our Nations Capital has to offer. 

**Bob & Elizabeth Dole met our Fort Bend Officers in Washington D.C.!!!**

The highlight of this trip is the recognition and awards dinner - all WCR Chapters that met or exceeded their business plans from the previous year are presented at this event.  The Fort Bend Chapter once again was recognized as a  large "GOLD" chapter !!  Another outstanding showing for our chapter!!

If all this wasn't exciting enough, we were pleased and honored to find out that our very own JoAnn Stevens is the 2015 slated candidate for National Financial Secretary for our WCR National Chapter - voting for this will take place when we attend the Realtor's Conference and Expo in New Orleans in November!! It's going to be a close election and we are excited to help her in this HUGE journey! As soon as we all returned from Washington D.C.  one of our members and officers Julia Hardy with Starkey Mortgage offered a wonderful MCE class absolutely FREE to our members! It was called "Selling & Financing New Construction" - the feedback was great, and everyone that attended felt the information was enormous and so valuable in today's market! 

With June being "National Safety Month", we decided to  bring safety information to our members.  We were honored to have three very knowledgeable and handsome local Fort Bend Firefighters and Policeman to speak with us.  State Trooper Dana Debiaw with the TX DPS gave us several tips on how to stay safe while selling and showing homes.  We also had Mark Kitson and David Kaiser share ways to avoid fires for ourselves at home and for our listings-especially those vacant ones!  Our spotlight Broker Office of the month was Keller Williams Southwest.

 Mark Kitson & David Kaiser - Missouri City/Willowfork Fire Department

State Trooper Dana Debiaw & Angela Johnson

As we approach the busiest time of the year in Real Estate - the Fort Bend WCR continues to offer the best education and information available.  Coming up for our July 10th meeting we will be meeting at Churrasco's with our speaker and special guest Commissioner James Patterson.  He will be updating us on all things Fort Bend County - You won't want to miss this great luncheon.  And PLEASE remember to bring your backpacks and school supplies we will be collecting those items for the Fort Bend Women's Center. See you July 10th!!

2014 Fort Bend WCR - 1st Quarter Newsletter

It's hard to believe that the first quarter of 2014 has come and gone so quickly.  The Fort Bend Chapter of Women's Council of Realtors has been busy with education, travel and an amazing schedule of Business Resource meetings.  We started out the year with a panel of super producing Real Estate Teams from 3 different firms in the Sugar Land area to share their "secrets" and "business finesse" about Team Building & Branding, we had very large attendance and all agreed they wanted to hear more from our panel.  Thanks goes out to Nancy Benevides of Benevides & Associates,  Susan Greer with the Susan Greer Group of BHG Gary Greene Realtors, and Kimbra Valachovic with Keller Williams Southwest for sharing their expertise and knowledge. Our January Spotlight office was RE/MAX Fine Properties - Broker/Owners Minesh and Nimesh Patel attended with several of their agents.  Before January came to a close Julia Hardy held a 3 HR MCE class absolutely FREE to our members - "Three Ways to Build your Business"- we all learned some new ways to generate business with open houses, buyer seminars, and house warming parties. Part of the class also included a food tasting with tantalizing tidbits from a local catering chef!! Talk about value for your membership!!!

February proved to be a very busy month for the chapter and its officers.  We had a fantastic presentation about Appraisals brought to us by Mike Brubaker with Brubaker & Associates. He shared the many challenges that arise in today's active market and how we the REALTOR can assist the appraiser with potential inconsistancies in comparibles and values. Our February Spotlight office was United Real Estate - Office manager Dianne Moore had many of her agents attend with her.   The second weekend of the month myself, Christina Daw, Angela Johnson, Wendy Mottern and JoAnn Stevens attended the Winter TAR/WCR meetings in Austin, TX.  We attended classes with our State officers and Governors to help prepare us for the BIG changes that have been made with our reporting proceedures to National WCR.  The highlight of the weekend is the TREPAC/WCR Celebrity Waiter event to encourage all in attendance to make their investments in TREPAC.  The theme this year was "Totally 80's" - we all had a great time dressing in our best 80's regalia and listening to the tunes many of us remember from our high school days!! TREPAC Houston raised over $7,000!! It was a very successful and tremendously fun event. The "Icing on the Cake" for the weekend was our very own member JoAnn Stevens was awarded "Member of the Year" by the Texas Chapter of Women's Council of Realtors.  She was so surprised when her husband, daughter, son-in-law and grandaughter were standing in the ballroom!  It was an exciting and very emotional moment.  We are so proud of you JoAnn!!

Our March luncheon meeting was a much anticipated visit from a national company called "Business Success Training", Chuck Douglas a business strategy trainer brought a riveting presentation to us at our luncheon meeting.

We have so many things coming up in April - You won't want to miss a thing! Coming up on April 4th is our always exciting "It's 5 O'Clock Somewhere", it will be at the Redneck Country Club!! And on April 10th our second Annual Vendor Fair will be at Sweetwater C.C. and it is guaranteed to be packed with information and goodies again! We look forward to seeing you at all our upcoming events next quarter.  Watch your whoozin invites and our Facebook page for all upcoming events!