�ʹ��app International Hosts the 2019 Broker/Owner Symposium in Kansas City

Alysia Heun — Mon, 25 Mar 2019 17:01:01 +0000

The 2019 Broker/Owner Symposium was filled with education, discussion and valuable feedback from our attendees. The two-day conference, held at the Fontaine Hotel in downtown Kansas City, was hosted by �ʹ��app International and the Regional Directors of the Mid-America Region, Steve and Nancy Summers. While recapping the event, the Summers’ said, “�ʹ��app International delivered meaningful content, ideas, great takeaway and positive energy.”

Day one of the event welcomed �ʹ��app International President, Patrick van den Bossche, who discussed the state of the company. He was followed by national speaker, trainer and recruiting coach, Judy LaDeur, who provided great insight on how to grow and maintain your office through recruiting and retention strategies. The attendees were also given the opportunity to network with their fellow �ʹ��app broker/owners during recruiting workshops hosted by LaDeur and throughout an all-attendee dinner, where they could compare strategies of how their agents were finding success. �ʹ��app aims to focus on the individuals’ success within the brand and providing tools to the broker/owners that they can bring back to their team.

“Agent Centric is a different philosophy for the industry, lots of companies preach it while agents struggle but �ʹ��app has based their future on the success of the agent first,” said Mark Sudduth of �ʹ��app Sudduth Realty. “I was impressed with the quality of tools and services �ʹ��app has developed for the agent and Broker. An agent can literally join �ʹ��app and for free have every tool they need to start a successful life time career.”

The next day, �ʹ��app International opened the meeting with presentations on lead generation, marketing, concierge and training. Broker/Owner Doris Salinas-Sanchez of �ʹ��app of Eagle Pass discussed her newly created for real estate professionals and shared her 90-day action planner to help real estate agents and brokers manage their business efficiently and help them stay focused on personal and professional goals. In addition to the presentations, a number of best practices were shared in various round table discussions with the Broker/Owners. Group discussions included current competitive challenges, agent compensation plans, working with teams, success stories and new ideas.

Managing Broker/Owner Jana Pinc from �ʹ��app Midwest said about the event, “I especially enjoyed listening to other successful Broker/Owners who shared with us what works for them to make their offices grow and flourish. I’ve already started implementing many of the things I learned – such as the EXEC University agent training, the CE Shop and will share it with our Executives at our upcoming office meeting. Steve and Nancy Summers and the �ʹ��app International staff did an outstanding job. I am truly proud to be a Broker/Owner of an office that is a part of �ʹ��app.”

Pinc added, “I can’t recall an event like the Broker/Owner Symposium where I came back more pumped up and excited about all I learned. The content was beyond awesome! From Judy LaDeur’s recruiting presentation to all the new products available through �ʹ��app International such as PrimeAgent’s new recruiting materials… Everything, and I mean everything, was of great value!”

We encourage you to look out for future meetings so you get the most value out of what our network has to give you!

The post �ʹ��app International Hosts the 2019 Broker/Owner Symposium in Kansas City appeared first on Blog | �ʹ��app.

A Tale of Two States: Phoenix a Hot Market for Nebraskans

Alysia Heun — Wed, 06 Mar 2019 23:17:18 +0000

When Fremont native Bart Mruz settled down in Phoenix, Arizona, he didn’t expect that so many of his fellow Nebraskans would follow.

Mruz is a real estate agent in Phoenix for the brokerage �ʹ��app. As part of his job, he specializes in helping people from his home state to buy and sell property in his adopted state.

And the market is hot, Mruz said. On average, he sees 20 to 25 purchases per month from the eastern Nebraska area. He knows about 30 people from Fremont that have purchased property there.

“I call it a tale of two states,” he said. “You’d be shocked, especially on Cornhusker game days, how many people are down here at the bars. There’s a huge presence.”

The trend is so palpable, that in 2014, he started marketing his properties back here in Nebraska. He comes back frequently to meet with people and work on marketing, and his brokerage cooperates with several here in town, referring business back and forth.

It’s not just Nebraska, either. Mruz sees a growing market from other Midwestern states, too, particularly in Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois.

There’s a number of reasons why midwesterners, and Nebraskans in particular, are drawn to Phoenix, Mruz says. The weather is a big part of it.

“This time of year, you can just look out your window [in Nebraska] the last couple days and figure out why,” Mruz said.

But also, the Phoenix area offers affordable options, compared to the surrounding areas of other popular cities to settle in, like San Diego or Los Angeles or Las Vegas. And it’s only a few hours from those cities. And the housing taxes are “about a third to a half” of what they are back in Nebraska, Mruz said.

Phoenix also offers a growing city with a vibrant downtown and more than 200 golf courses. Hiking and other outdoor activity is popular.

“Now that the city has grown and we have an active downtown and the median age keeps getting younger and younger here, the city is really cool,” Mruz said. “I mean it’s evolved and it’s grown and it’s dynamic. It’s got a vibe.”

For Nebraskans, one of the most popular areas is the city of Scottsdale, not far from Phoenix. Mruz describes it as a dynamic neighborhood.

“It’s gorgeous,” he said.

Mruz sells properties for both part-time and full-time living, and he’s seeing an explosion in second-home ownership in the area, where people are buying properties outside of their primary home. He notes that the Nebraska crowd gets younger and younger every year. More are buying properties condominiums and townhomes, as well as zero-lot properties — like a single-family home on a small lot with a small yard.

“In the last, I would say, five to 10 years especially, it’s just exploded,” he said. “You’ve got people buying second or third properties down here.”

When Mruz moved to Phoenix, he didn’t quite expect to see so many of his fellow Nebraskans there.

He grew up in Fremont, the son of a local builder, and had an interest in houses and construction from an early age. As a kid, he’d go with his dad on Saturdays to building sites to help out. He’d spend his time in class doodling floor plans.

Mruz went to school for journalism and was originally planning to pursue a writing career. One Friday afternoon in September 2001, he was meeting with an executive at ABC about the possibility of writing for the Drew Carey Show. But the following day was September 11. The studios went on lockdown and Mruz became leery of big city life. So he decided to stay in Phoenix and pursue real estate.

“Gradually, I started bumping into people that I knew back in Omaha, and then I started watching, and it kind of snowballed every year,” Mruz said.

Mruz enjoys getting the opportunity to work with people from his home state.

“It’s fun to work with your native people, so to speak,” he said.

Originally published in

The post A Tale of Two States: Phoenix a Hot Market for Nebraskans appeared first on Blog | �ʹ��app.

broker – Blog | �ʹ�����app

�ʹ�����app International Hosts the 2019 Broker/Owner Symposium in Kansas City

A Tale of Two States: Phoenix a Hot Market for Nebraskans

broker – Blog | �ʹ��app

�ʹ��app International Hosts the 2019 Broker/Owner Symposium in Kansas City