Happy Summer! I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful weather.

The past month has brought us challenges in our communities and our market. We received record rain fall in many areas and many counties have been declared a disaster area. Our listings, our members, and our businesses may have sustained damage, but our spirits have not. It is phenomenal to see how our communities have come together to help others through this tough time. I am honored to be a part of an organization that has members that will help out any way they can. My prayers and thoughts go out to all the victims in our area and throughout the Midwest.

I have been talking to quite a few REALTORS® about their business this year. There are some REALTORS® that are still trying to adjust to the ever changing market. There are many others that are ever changing with this market. I believe that this is the key difference in making yourself successful. An agent in my office came up with the following saying: "PEOPLE ARE BUYING HOMES. The harder I work, the more people I talk to, the more homes I'll sell." Thanks to Pam Hickey for sharing that with me. I am a true believer in this saying and following through with that advice every day.

I would like to thank the members that attended our Membership Meeting on June 26th. We approved the proposed changes to the RASCW Constitution. We approved the following: We added the following counties to our Association: Iowa, Grant, Lafayette, Crawford, and Richland; changed the Affiliate term to three years from two; changed the make up of the Board of Directors to include two Directors from outside of Dane County and approved electronic voting for our Association. Our meeting also featured Joe Rosner, a crime prevention and self defense expert. His program helped to educate us on how to be safer while showing properties, hosting open houses and in our every day business. He also did a demonstration of simple techniques to how to thwart off a possible attacker. I know I learned valuable information from him.

Please mark your calendar for the Mallards Benefit on Tuesday, July 29th. I hope to see you there. As always, please feel free to contact me at 608.834.4724.

Have a fabulous month!

Paula Schmelzer