Meeting Report from April 10, 2001

Meeting

Rotary Wheel

Report

April 10, 2001
By ANTHONY FOX

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     President C. Don Steger called the meeting to order at 12:40 p.m. Harry Daugherty welcomed guests and visiting Rotarians. John Rogers delivered the Health and Happiness report. Special mention was made of Pete Larson recovering slowly from stroke and William Rikard recovering from surgery. Both are doing pretty well. Jonn entertained us with his golf prayer.
     President Don led the pledge of allegiance. Richard Early led "She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain" accompanied by Thomas Moore on the piano. Anthony Fox delivered the invocation.
     Donald Haack reminded us to let the Rotary office know if we are mailing our Paul Harris pledges to Illinois, so that they can be properly credited to the Charlotte Rotary.
     Herb Harriss introduced the Club's newest member, Richard L. Campbell, from Greensboro, N.C. He is with Sockwell and Associates.
     President Steger reminded us of an informational meeting next Tuesday for new Rotary candidates.
     President Don then introduced the head table which included Ricky Brown, Roy Currie, Anthony Fox, Dan Cottingham, Catherine Browning, Martin Waters, and Theresa Evans.
     President Don then called on Theresa Evans to introduce our guest speaker, Dan Cottingham. She relayed that Dan is a great gardener, avid golfer, and twenty-five-year veteran of the real estate industry. Dan is partner and co-founder of Cottingham Chalk and Associates, along with John Chalk. They have experienced tremendous success in this field, specializing in buyer representation while other firms have focused on sellers. They were named Realtor of the Year in 1986 by Transglobe. Dan was presented the Realtor of the Year by the local association in 1992.
     Dan stated that the number one question that people ask him is "Where does all of this money come from for people to buy these big houses?" He explained that he did not know. Charlotte has had an incredible run and Dan believes that we are on the edge of another big run in real estate. He told of his vision in 1983. He stated that he was the only person in America at that time who believed that we would either have zero rate of growth or single digit interest rates. His prediction was published in the Charlotte Observer and he was ridiculed. He was right. He explained that he believes this next run is another vision that he can see clearly. The number one reason for the next run is the transfer of wealth to occur in our country. Children who were born after 1965 will have parents who will be looking to transfer their wealth. This transfer of wealth is unprecedented in our history. His second reason is that real estate will heighten as an investment over stocks. More people are diversifying their portfolios to include real estate. The number three reason and probably one of the most exciting is that people are buying second homes. This market is exploding. Dan explained that people making $30,000 to $3 million a year who had been saving to put their children into private schools and colleges now have that extra income to dispose of as their children have gone to school. These are the people buying second homes. When you include all this in the formula, there is no question that we are on the front edge of a tremendous run.
     As recently as the fourth quarter of last year the market was down both nationally and locally. In the first quarter of this year the market has rebounded beautifully. He quoted the Business Section which he believes sums it up to perfection. "We have a business slow-down but the consumer has not yet decided that they are going to participate in this slow-down."
     Dan stated that there has been a tremendous decline in interest rates which helps the buyer to buy more home than ever before. The real estate business is definitely an interest-rate-sensitive business.
     His favorite subject is the mistakes the consumers make. The number one mistake is that the seller asks too much and gets too little. The number two mistake is that buyers have a tendency to pay too much.
     Dan continued his presentation by telling the members about his company. He stated that when the partnership was 3 years old, they interviewed 207 sales associates and hired 7. Because of the focus on quality, the productivity skyrocketed.
     Dan discussed several real estate hot spots: The Point, which could slow down due to traffic; South End area which could slow down due to crime; and Myers Park, Dilworth, and Eastover, which will not slow down. He suggested that the best buy near South Park is Old Foxcroft. The trends are becoming more sophisticated in real estate. You have to pay more attention to the area than square footage. He mentioned several concerns: tear down are going to continue; homes are being built smaller; condo sales are going to be fantastic. When Dan opened the floor to questions, someone asked when this run was going to start. Dan assured us it has already started.
     President Don thanked Dan. The meeting was adjourned.

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2001 Rotarian of the Year

C. REX WELTON

C. REX WELTON

Our 2001 Rotarian of the Year is C. Rex Welton. A man who exemplifies Rotary's motto of "Service Above Self," Rex has been responsible for sponsoring numerous new Rotarians in the past two years.

A Charlotte native and the son of past president and former Rotarian of the Year Dave Welton, Rex joined our Club in 1970. His son Martin has followed his father and grandfather in membership.

Rex is past president of The Parnell-Martin Companies, Inc., a wholesale distributor of plumbing supplies. The corporate headquarters are located in Charlotte with fifteen branches throughout the Southeast—Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Florida. He is a principal in Carolina Income Management Group, which is developing Mor-rison Plantation on Lake Norman. This development includes retail, medical and various residential sites. You will also find Rex involved in personal and corporate incentive golf and sport tours through Welton Sports Tours, Inc.

Rex is currently serving as Chairman of the Presbyterian Hospital Foundation and spends much of his time in volunteer work with the Buddy Kemp Caring House and the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. He is an elder of Carmel Presbyterian Church and sits on the Board of Visitors for Charlotte Country Day School and Board of Overseers for the Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center, Rex is deeply involved in the Dowd YMCA and helping to bring a new Y to the Lake Norman/ Mooresville area.

Upon graduation from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he married Linda Martin. They have four children: Rex, Jr., Delia, Martin and Anna who have provided them with seven grandchildren: Ellen, Daniel, Jr., Maggie, "the triplets"—William, Myers and Thomas— and brand new Martin, Jr., born April 11.

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