Real Estate Rockstars 2022

WHEN IT’S TIME TO BUY A HOME – a first home, a new home, a cozy cottage to retire in, a lakeside cabin for long Wisconsin weekends with family and friends – it seems as though there are almost as many real estate agents, lenders, and professionals to guide you as there are homes to choose from. How do you find the right person, with the right personality, to help you on one of the most important adventures in life? A great real estate professional knows how to make

things easy for customers: They let people know who they are and exactly what they’re all about. Cue: REAL ESTATE ROCKSTARS! These Chippewa Valley personalities are ready to get to know you and help you take those crucial steps toward homeownership, and they’re going to start by letting you get to know them. Find out how long they’ve been in the business, what their style is, and what their values are before you even pick up a phone. How easy is that?

SPECIAL SECTION PRESENTED BY INDIVIDUAL PROFILES ARE PAID FOR BY THE PARTICIPATING REALTORS THEMSELVES.

BUYING A HOUSE ISN’T JUST ABOUT FINDING YOUR HOME, IT’S ABOUT BECOMING A PART OF A COMMUNITY. Property Shoppe Realty owners, Shannyn Pinkert and Anthony Jan icki, have brought that idea not only into their work as REALTORS®, but also their team environment as brokers.

With seven other agents on their team, Pinkert and Janicki are com mitted to the growth, culture, and community they foster at Property Shoppe.

Pinkert originally opened Prop erty Shoppe Realty in 2017, but says the most growth happened after Anthony joined her as a co-owner in 2020. Since then, Property Shoppe has grown from three agents to their now nine-agent team, and they’re not plan ning on slowing down.

There are many reasons for their steady growth, but a huge reason is the informative and supportive culture they have created around their office. In fact, Pinkert and Jan icki offer a very hands-on training program for new agents.

“One of the reasons for our growth is that we offer a mentorship piece that a lot of agents desire as they start their career in real estate,” Pinkert said. “Anthony and I will take new agents under our men torship for about six months where they will train and shadow us. This way they can get hands-on experi ence from working directly with us.”

Successes are always celebrated at Property Shoppe and there’s al

ways someone to turn to if you need advice. One of the firm’s newest agents, Casey Levrich, de cided to get her real estate license while working as a full-time social worker. Levrich had first-hand expe rience under their mentorship.

“I think Property Shoppe is so unique from any other brokerage,” Levrich said. “They just do things differently, they market modernly and they’re very community-based.”

Even experienced agents at the firm say they continue to learn new skills under the guidance of Pinkert and Janicki. Jenna Hazelton, who became a licensed realtor in 2018 and joined Property Shoppe in 2020, explains how she continues to learn

in different way. “We do a lot of educa tional training. Shannyn and Anthony are very good at what they do,” Hazelton said. “As my brokers, I’m constantly chasing them. They are who I want to be. It fits perfectly because you have to have people who match where you are, but you also need to have people in your life who are going to help you level up. And they help me level up.”

Since Property Shoppe Real ty is a local firm, they focus their office culture on giving back to the community as much as they can. The Property Shoppe Team is involved with the local Chamber of Commerce, the Chippewa Valley Home Builders Association, and the Realtor’s Association of Northwest ern Wisconsin. Throughout the year,

they do a variety of activities to stay active in the community including a “Spring Into Local” campaign to highlight local businesses on social media, a Family Fun Day at a local apple orchard, the annual CVHBA Home & Garden Show and numer ous parades around the Chippewa Valley.

“I love real estate, I love my job, and I love our office environment,” Pinkert said. “I want agents to come to the office to collaborate together, learn from each other’s experienc es and push each other to become stronger.”

As Property Shoppe continues to expand, their commitment to their team and the community will only increase. Their focus will remain true; to provide you with profes sional, honest, and responsible real estate services.

BRINGING YOU

TEAM CERNOHOUS, PART OF KELLER WILLIAMS REALTY DIVERSIFIED, HEAD LINES THEIR ABOUT US SITE WITH A QUOTE FROM MAYA ANGELOU : “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” Nick and Laura Cernohous, the dynamic powerhouse couple heading the team, bring this quote into their work as realtors every day.

Folks in the Valley may already know Nick and Laura from their array of involvement in the community; Laura taught at Chippewa Falls schools for 17 years, her last position was in special educa tion at Hillcrest before backing away this year to focus on Team Cernohous. Nick and Laura are active in numerous local organizations and boards including the Eau Claire and Chippewa Falls Chambers, the Chippewa Valley Homebuilder’s As sociation, BNI (Nick is Vice President of Tri-County Referrals Chapter). Nick is a member of the Northwestern Wisconsin MLS Board and St. Olaf’s Men’s Club too. (Plus, they’re known for dropping off homemade baked goods to clients over the holidays and grabbing lunch with them too – talk about Wisco hospitality.)

Prior to his real estate career, Nick’s work as a physical therapist at Sacred Heart Hospital and Midwest Physical Therapy showed him what

it can truly mean to connect with people, especially during stressful periods of life. “Working as a physi cal therapist for 17 years helped me learn how to help people who were in all kinds of situations or states of mind, and that has really helped me and transferred over into real estate,” Nick explained. “It’s not just showing the house or getting that accepted offer; it’s after all that, after closing; everything else we do to build that genuine trust and keep that relation ship going.”

While the duo have decades’ worth of experience and roots togeth er in the Valley, Laura was the first to move to Eau Claire in 1986, when she attended UW-Eau Claire. The Valley fit into Laura’s life just as she does with the community, and her recent shift from teaching to all-in with Team Cernohous is just another exemplification of that. She loved teaching because of the kids and

the community connections that are fostered in schools, and that type of relationship building is exactly why Laura is known as the people-person of the team.

“I love connecting with people. That’s really what my passion and role is,” Laura said. “I’ve always loved this side of it; going to showings, building relationships, and helping people find not just a house, but a home.”

With nearly two decades of real estate experience right here in the Valley, Nick earned his Wisconsin Real Estate Broker License in 2005, his reliable leadership is comple mented by Laura’s infectious ex citement for life, and the team has recently rounded off with its newest member, administrator, and marketing guru Emilee Pisarek.

Emilee joined the team more than a year ago thanks to a right-placeright-time alignment between her growing family and Nick and Laura’s

need for an administrator. Laura and Emilee knew each other already from working together in special education in the area, and with Emilee’s prior experience in Title Insurance back in Minnesota where she is from, Nick and Laura had Emilee in mind as a potential team member. The con nection and background experience made the decision simple!

In typical Team Cernohous fashion, the organic relationship that already existed between Laura and Emilee was fostered by the real estate team and has now grown into the stronger- than-ever Team Cernohous, sticking true to their motto: Let Our Team Bring You Home.

“We’ve formed this team with such different people, each bringing their own set of expertise to the table, and it works cohesively,” Laura and Nick agreed. “Our team truly brings you home.”

From the first inklings of begin ning the search for your home, look ing to put a house on the market, or from transaction start to finish, and all that comes thereafter, Team Cer nohous has been a go-to in the Valley for years. With this strong team, they are better equipped than ever to continue growing off of that commu nity trust, and bring you home.

Reach out to Team Cernohous today to set up an appointment and visit the team’s website for home own er tips and tricks, and more info.

HELPING HOMEBUYERS

TOP TIPS

Ottum knows from years of experience that buying a home can be a cause of anxiety. “For first-time homebuyers especially, it’s a stressful time, because it’s a large purchase,” he said. “It’s something you’re not prepared for.” To help put potential buyers’ minds at ease, Ottum offers these four tips:

FROM THE OUTSIDE, THE REAL ESTATE BUSINESS MAY SEEM TO BE ALL ABOUT HOUSES, NUMBERS, AND PAPERWORK. BUT THOSE AREN’T THE things that keep Ben Ottum in the industry. Ottum, a mortgage lender with Merchants Bank in Eau Claire, is quick to reply when asked what his favorite part of his job is: “The people,” he says.

“Ultimately, it’s all about helping people get a home,” Ottum says. “I just like helping people in general, being able to get their transaction done smoothly, and I take pride in getting things done on time and without hiccups.”

Ottum has spent about a dozen years as a mortgage lender, seven of them in the Chippe wa Valley. He began his current role in January, and he said there is great value in working with a community bank like Merchants.

Community banks offer flexibility, as a streamlined process for borrow ers, Ottum said. “There’s not as much to go through to get a decision,” he said, “where with some of the larger (banks) it may take a little more time and effort.”

Merchants entered the Eau Claire market in 2014 when it pur chased the former Alliance Bank branch at 2728 Mall Drive. While Merchants may be relatively new to the Chippewa Valley, the bank has deep roots in the Upper Midwest: It was founded in 1875 in Winona, Minnesota, and is still headquartered in downtown Winona.

THE LONG VIEW

Because of his years in the business, Ottum has seen the ups and downs of the Valley real estate mar ket. After several years of near-record home sales and rising home values, the market has been shifting back toward buyers, he said. In recent months, homes have been staying on the market longer, and more open houses are being held.

“Buyers are getting a little bit more foothold than they had,” he said.

What does this mean in practical terms? For one, homebuyers can take a little more time while making deci

sions, Ottum said. When the housing market was at its hottest, many people were buying homes without stepping into them, which could lead to rushed decision-making. A cooling market gives homebuyers more time to think and more selection, he said.

Today’s market also gives buyers the opportunity to put more contin gencies on their offers, such as making a purchase subject to an inspection or to the sale of an existing home.

“Having those contingencies back helps protect the buyer against them not knowing what they don’t know,” Ottum said.

1. TRY TO RELAX. Specifically, don’t be anxious about sharing your financial information with a lender. While providing such details may make people feel vulnerable, ultimately giving this information to a financial institution helps protect borrowers.

2. APPLY FOR PRE-APPROVAL. These days, real estate agents often won’t show houses to potential buyers unless they’ve been pre-approved for a mortgage. Going through this process with a lender indicates you’re serious about making a purchase, and also lets real estate agents know the price range you can afford, Ottum said.

3. PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR COMFORT LEVEL. The amount of money you may be pre-approved to borrow may be more than you want to spend – and that’s OK. The pre-approved amount is cal culated based on industry standards, but you aren’t obligated to spend as much as you’re allowed to borrow.

4. USE A LOCAL LENDER. Lenders based in the community offer the best of both worlds: Like big national providers, community banks such as Merchants offer the convenience of applying on line. However, unlike the big players, community banks provide hands-on service when needed, guiding clients toward buying a home.

For Ottum, homebuyers are people, not statistics. “I don’t believe in the numbers game – solely being a number,” he said.

Merchants Bank is a Member FDIC and Equal Housing Lender. Loans are subject to credit approval.

TALKING ABOUT THE ROYAL DIFFERENCE WITH DAWN POLEN

cial services. They offer full-featured online and mobile banking solutions, investment and retirement options, financial education resources, and more. It’s no surprise that Royal has been a trusted go-to for home loans.

IF YOU LIVE IN THE CHIPPEWA VALLEY, YOU’RE FAMILIAR WITH SOME OF THE GREAT THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED HERE RECENTLY. We’ve seen updates at Phoenix Park and Irvine Park Zoo, a delicious food truck boom, and the vibrant spread of street art and murals across Eau Claire’s revital ized downtown area. But there’s also a great thing that’s been part of the Chippewa Valley for over 58 years

Royal Credit Union. Royal continues to show their commitment to the community where their story started. Even as Royal has more than 270,000 members across Wisconsin and Minnesota, their roots remain firmly planted here in the Chippewa Valley.

Teens often open their first accounts at Royal after landing their first job. People work with Royal to get a car loan when it’s time to buy their first vehicle or when they’re in need of a new one. People also come to Royal to get started with buying their first home or moving up to their dream home. Becoming a member of Royal Credit Union is as easy as setting up a savings account, and membership includes access to all of Royal’s accounts, loans, and services as well as their highly competitive rates.

Royal Credit Union has also grown to offer a broad range of finan

With locations in Eau Claire, Chippewa Falls, Altoona, Menom onie, and beyond, as well as a robust online presence, Royal is truly available for just about anyone in the Chippewa Valley. Locals can go to any Royal office to get the financial ad vice they need. A common time when people seek Royal’s financial advice is when they’re buying a home. Firsttime or seasoned homebuyers alike come to Royal’s team of mortgage experts.

Dawn Polen, a Royal mortgage loan officer in Menomonie, said that a personal touch in everything is what truly sets Royal apart.

Having grown up in Menomonie herself, Dawn has both seen and been part of Royal’s growth over the years and through it all, the personal connection has continued. “I really love my job,” Dawn shared. “It’s not in every job that you get to have a role in helping your community members achieve such a huge dream like buying a home. Being that person to talk to and create a connection is amazing, and it’s what a lot of people look for. That’s what Royal is here for.”

Dawn explained that some of the first conversations she has with folks who come to Royal looking to learn more about the mortgage and lending process are about credit and savings.

“I encourage people to gain a good understanding of their credit,” she said. “If it’s good, bad, or otherwise, we chat briefly about where they’re at and what their concerns may be with it.”

Dawn also shared that the loan process can seem complicated for borrowers at any point in their lives,

since things are always changing in the market and there are nuances with everything. But, as she pointed out, it’s what Royal is there for. “I’ve lived in Menomonie my whole life so I’m very knowledgeable about the town and the surrounding areas,” she explained. “With regard to loans, it’s new to so many people, but I do it every day.”

“I want people to know it’s really okay to ask questions, and I do my best to answer in language that makes sense. I want people to walk out feeling knowledgeable and like a bit of weight is lifted from their shoulders.”

With careful attention to comfort, honesty, and personal connections, Dawn – and the whole Royal crew get to know the ins and outs of the financial side of real estate and are here to offer their expertise during each step. “It’s not all sunshine and rainbows all the time,” says Dawn, “but that’s why we’re here - to talk about the big and little things right from the get-go.”

Discover the Royal Credit Union difference at any of their local offices or at rcu.org. You can also keep up with Royal on Facebook (@likeRCU) or call 800-341-9911 to get directed and connected to the services you need.

THE HEART IN REAL ESTATE

built on honesty, “Real Estate is about listening, hearing what matters to people, and keeping their best interests at the forefront; that’s what I would want, so that’s what I try to give.”

THE LEAVES ARE TILTING INTO THEIR AUTUMNAL COLOR PALETTE, marking the turn of seasons in our slice of Wisconsin, and Edina Realty’s Dan Yoder is ready to walk into the next season right alongside you. Whether it be giving you a custom Green Bay Packers and Wisconsin Badgers schedule or sitting down to chat about your wants and needs for a future home, Dana and her team are ready for every season.

“It’s all about life’s seasons and walking with people through them and the transitions that come with each one,” Dana said. “Our homes are the hub of our busy lives.”

“Buying or selling a property is one of the largest financial transactions a person will make; no matter how many times we may do it, it’s a huge decision. My belief is it’s super im portant to give clients all the knowledge as possible by having a current pulse on the market so they can make informed decisions and that’s the benefit of having a real estate agent that you fully trust.”

And trust her, many clients have. With ‘Thank You’ cards lining her desk, Dana has been shoul der-to-shoulder with folks in the Chippewa Valley venturing into the real estate market. From residential to commercial real estate, reloca tions from out-of-state or longtime Valley members ready for a new space, along with folks looking for a new property to build a business, Dana offers the kind of partnership people search for in real estate: one

Having lived in several states across the country, Dana found her way back to the Chippewa Valley over a decade ago to be closer to family. She loves midwest living. “There’s so much to offer here,” she said. “There’s lake life; walking and biking trails; summer fun; winter activities; country living; city life; there’s everything. It’s a great place to call ‘home.’”

An expert in homes, Dana earned the number two spot for Best Individual Real Estate Agent in the 2022 Best of the Chippewa Valley poll, but when asked about it she said the award really belongs to others: the people in the Valley.

“My clients deserve the real ‘Best Of’ award because I gen uinely get to work with some of the best people in Wisconsin on a daily basis,” she said. “They’re the cream of the crop. I feel hon ored and blessed to work with the people I do.”

Dana notes that her success is not a solo venture. “I am grateful to hang my license with one of the finest firms in the region, where I get the support and encourage ment of our Managing Broker, Mary Jo Bowe, and all the knowl edge and resources that comes with being part of the Edina Realty family.” Dana’s Transaction Coordi nator Theresa Lewandowski, is who Dana refers to as ‘the one who helps keep it all together.’ “Theresa works hand in hand with me together with all my clients and I wouldn’t want to do this without her!”

Dana is excited about the growth of her team this year with Courtney Kneifl, who she calls “a tremendous addition.” She is incredibly compe tent and genuine with clients, al

ways having their best interests at heart. I’m thrilled to have her ambition and energy for our clients and community.”

Courtney calls Dana her mentor, and said being part of the team has already helped her professionally grow tremendously. “It’s exciting helping people reach their goals when they thought it wasn’t going to be possible.”

Together, the squad has worked

with an array of clients with all types of needs in the area. Dana and Courtney both believe strongly in giving back to their community, too. A portion of every commission goes to the Edina Foundation which sup ports local charities and non-profit organizations benefiting the needs of our community.

If you’re in the market to step into your next season, Dana Yoder and her team are ready to walk alongside you, all the way to closing and beyond.