Ah nostalgia, drive-in movies, transistor radios, green stamps, Ford Mustangs…the list goes on and on. It’s so easy to get lost in the “good old days” that we can lose sight of the present. As the saying goes, time and tide wait for no man so, while it may be nice to look back and remember, we’ve got to move on.

Let’s face it, the heydays of the 1990s and early 2000s are gone. For homebuilders it’s time for forward thinking. Encouraging reports indicate that the downward spiral in hous-ing may have ended. The industry now seems to be bottoming out in some areas and on the road to recovery in others. And, since there’s only one way to go once you’ve hit bottom, this is the perfect time to regroup and reassess.

Rapidly aging baby boomers are itching to downsize but are hesitating because their homes have lost value. GenXers are inclined to sit tight for awhile as they’re pretty well established and raising their families. And, the Y Generation feels more comfortable with renting than buying. They all seem to be content to wait for some sustained, positive news before venturing out of their comfort zones. So, which generation should be your marketing target? All of them! Have you reviewed your building plans lately or are you still building those mini-mansions of the past decade? Retirees are looking for smaller, single story homes with limited main-

Tips for Hosekeeping & Safety ...................................2New Homes are Less Expensive to Maintain ...............3Smart Moves with a Smart Board ...............................3Know Your Warranty - Email Notices ..........................418.6 Million Reasons to Join the Incentive Program ...5How Are We Doing? ..................................................5Immigrants Can Have Substantial Impact on Housing Demand ......................................655+ Households are Nearly Everywhere ....................7RWC's Employees-of-the-Month ...............................7Builder Spotlight .......................................................8Strategies for Managing Risk & Limiting Liability .......9Meet Meggie ..........................................................10Say Hello ................................................................10Searching for an Answer? ........................................11

For Members of Residential Warranty Company, LLC

Published by Residential Warranty Company, LLC, 5300 Derry Street, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania 17111, (800) 247-1812, www.rwcwarranty.com, ©1997 Harrisburg, PA All rights reserved.

IN THIS ISSUE

Fall 2012

Continued on page 2

You're Invited toVisit RWC atthe FollowingTradeshows:

Louisville ManufacturedHousing Show

Louisville, KY • Jan 11-13

International Builders' ShowLas Vegas, NV • Jan. 22-24

Great Southwest Home ShowTulsa, OK • Feb 28 - Mar. 1

Builder MartTimonium, MD • Mar. 20

Tunica ShowTunica, MS • Mar. 27-29

National Congress & ExpoLas Vegas, NV • Apr. 16-18

Atlantic Builders ConventionAtlantic City, NJ • Apr. 10-12

In May, the RWC Sales Department bid farewell to its long-time Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software known as ACT and was introduced to a new program called Avidian Prophet, which inte-grates with Microsoft Outlook.

Prophet is designed for companies that want to be more organized, more efficient and close more deals.

New and Improved SoftwareBy Jody Lehman, Sales Department Administrative Assistant

Continued on page 3

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Keep work areas and adjacent walkways and stairs clean and orderly.

Don't Build on Memory Lane

Continued from front cover

tenance requirements. Growing families need homes that fit their active lifestyles with good flow and plenty of nooks and crannies for storage. Today’s first time homebuyers are techies looking for lots of bells and whistles for entertaining and built in support for all of their elec-tronics. And, they all need their dream homes to be affordable.

Are you making the right changes now to attract this new breed of homeowner? Have you resumed your marketing ef-forts and targeted their hot buttons? Tell baby boomers that while their homes may indeed be worth less today that there may be more economy in moving now rather than later. Introduce GenX-ers to a more modern and efficient home in which to build their family memo-ries. And remind Generation Y renters that buying now is an investment in their future.

So the moral of this story is get your own house in order before you build one for someone else. Revisit and, if need be, revise your plans, your mar-gins and your marketing strategy. Don’t build on Memory Lane because before you know it you’ll be waxing nostalgic over multi-plex theatres, MP3 players, cash back credit cards and hybrid cars! Have a great fall!

IT'S FAST…

IT'S GREEN...

IT’S A PIECE OF...

ONLINE MEMBERSHIP

RENEWAL

RWC is taking more steps towards making our renewal process easier & greener.

To get started, email us at Membership@rwcwarranty.com or call 800-247-1812 with your registration number and the email address of the person in your office who completes your renewal documents. The Evergreen Addendum is a prerequisite to using the online system.

We are excited to bring this service to you and look forward to your feedback. Thank you for your trust and loyalty.

Coming Soon… Online Membership Renewal through Warranty Express!

Tips for Job Site Safety and Housekeepinghttp://www.ccicomply.net/ourblog/safety-tips-guidelines/jobsite-housekeeping

Store needed materials neatly in a central location, away from walkways.

Always clean up spills immediately using appropriate procedures.

Coil hoses and cables when not in use.

Make it a habit to remove or bend over all nails protruding from scrap lumber to protect against puncture wounds.

Be sure that all combustible materials are dis-posed of properly to prevent the possibility of fires.

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New and Improved SoftwareContinued from cover

how to create and manage sales opportuni-ties in Outlook, tracking them from initial contact all the way through sale comple-tion and customer service retention. Or-ganization and efficiency are enhanced through features such as advanced filter-ing for opportunities, task-information sharing among team members, centralized reporting, an off-line mode for mobile us-ers, and — perhaps most useful — auto-mated scheduling for e-mail, tasks, and appointments.

The handy Sales Assistant, which provides a more comprehensive and powerful ver-sion of the Outlook calendar's reminder

function, lets us use templates to create e-mail, task, and appointment actions, ei-ther as reminders for the Account Execu-tive or to assign to other members of our team. We can specify the date we want the actions implemented. When Outlook is opened, the Sales Assistant will display the tasks of the day, which the rep can then edit, process, set to snooze, or sim-ply delete.

Overall, we expect Prophet to greatly enhance the Sales Department's daily ac-tivities helping to improve the company's bottom line.

It provides a CRM solution to build a sales process to improve customer ex-periences within a company and ignite revenue growth. Using Outlook as the interface for contact management, email campaigns & sales pipeline reporting, Prophet users can have a 360 degree view of prospect and customer activities. The purpose of this program is to allow our sales team to directly manage their con-tacts, email, and calendar in a centralized location.

Over the course of a two day training session, the Account Executives and the Sales Support team were instructed on

New Homes are Less Expensive to Maintain

One of the virtues of a newly constructed home is the savings that come from reduced energy and main-tenance expenses. Data from the 2009 American Housing Survey (AHS) offer proof. The AHS clas-sifies new construction as homes no more than four years old. For example, for routine maintenance expenses, 26% of all homeown-ers spent $100 or more a month on various upkeep costs. However, only 11% of owners of newly constructed homes spent this amount. In fact, 73% of new homeowners spent less than $25 a month on routine maintenance costs.

Similar findings are available for energy expenses. On a median per square foot basis, homeowners spent 78 cents per square foot per year on electricity. Owners of new homes spent 65 cents per square foot per year. For homes with piped gas, homeowners spent on average 53 cents per square foot per year. Owners of new homes spent 38 cents per square foot per year.

These data highlight that a new home offers savings over the life of ownership due to reduced operating costs. This is one of the many reasons that the current system of appraisals needs updating to reflect the flow of benefits that come from features in a new home.

(Source: NAHB - http://eyeonhousing.wordpress.com/2012/04/04/new-homes-are-less-expensive-to-maintain/)

A Smart Board is an interactive touch screen whiteboard that combines the simplicity of a whiteboard with the pow-er of a computer. It uses digital ink and replaces traditional whiteboard markers.

RWC recently aquired a Smart Board for the corporate office in Harrisburg, PA. What advantages might be gained by us-ing such technology?• “Lightbulbs” go on with visualization. • We absorb information more quickly

when it is presented visually.• Infinite notations can be made and

saved. The meeting is documented at a single source.

• The smart whiteboard can interact with the internet and network docu-ments.

• It facilitates group discussion and deci-sion-making “along the way.”

RWC is excited to take advantage of this new technology for meetings, training and delivering presentations.

Smart Moves with a Smart Board

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Know Your Warranty: Email NoticesRequested, to the recipient’s address shown on the Applica-tion For Warranty, or to whatever address the recipient may otherwise designate in writing. If you send your written no-tice by email to warranty.resolution@rwcwarranty.com, the written notice will not be considered received without a valid confirmation of receipt number. If you do not receive a con-firmation of receipt number within 48 hours of emailing your written notice, contact RWC by calling 717-561-4480 and request to speak with the Warranty Resolution Department’s Customer Service.

These revisions are also planned for the Standard Warranty series beginning with the 2013 edition to be done next year.

II.D.7 All notices required under this Limited Warranty must be in writing and sent by email or certified mail, return re-ceipt requested. If you send your written notice by email, your written notice must be sent to warranty.resolution@rwcwarranty.com. The written notice will not be considered received without a valid confirmation of receipt number. If you do not receive a confirmation of receipt number within 48 hours of emailing your written notice, contact RWC by calling 717-561-4480 and request to speak with the Warranty Resolution Department’s Customer Service. If sending your written notice by certified mail, return receipt requested, it must be postage prepaid, to the recipient’s address shown on the Application for Warranty form, or to whatever address the recipient may designate in writing.

IV.A.3 If a request for warranty performance to your Builder does not result in satisfactory action within a reasonable time, written notice must be given to RWC, Administrator, at warranty.resolution@rwcwarranty.com or forwarded by certified mail, re-turn receipt requested to 5300 Derry Street, Harrisburg, Pennsyl-vania 17111, Attn: Warranty Resolution Department. This notice should describe each item in reasonable detail.

IV.A.4 Please note that a written request for warranty per-formance must be emailed no later than thirty (30) days after

In the Customized State Warranty series, you will find this language in the following sections:

III.A. If a Defect occurs, you MUST notify the Warrantor in writing as provided below. This written request for war-ranty performance must be emailed to warranty.resolution@rwcwarranty.com or postmarked no later than thirty (30) days after the expiration of the Applicable Warranty Period. For ex-ample, if the item is one that is warranted by your Builder dur-ing the first year of coverage, a request for warranty performance must be emailed to warranty.resolution@rwcwarranty.com or postmarked no later than thirty (30) days after the end of the first year to be valid.

III.B.1 Written notice to the Administrator of a request for warranty performance must be emailed to warranty.resolution@rwcwarranty.com or must be sent by Certi-fied Mail, Return Receipt Requested, to: RWC Administrator, 5300 Derry Street, Harrisburg, PA 17111, Attention: Warranty Resolution Department.

III.B.2.c Your name, address, email address and telephone number (including home, cell and work numbers);

IV.H All notices required under this Limited Warranty must be in writing and emailed to warranty.resolution@rwcwarranty.com or sent by Certified Mail, Postage Prepaid, Return Receipt

RWC is in the process of updating all of our warranty books to include language regarding the use of email by a homeowner to initiate the warranty resolution process. Email will now be an accepted form of notice to the Warrantor provided the pro-cedures are followed by the homeowner.

Continued on page 8

"Email will now be an accepted form of notice to the Warrantor provided the

procedures are followed by the homeowner."

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Know Your Warranty: Email Noticestion are affiliated with RWC, HOME and MHWC.

If there is a warranted claim for which an indemnity is paid, funds from the Incen-tive account are used first. Remember that the account is funded by warranty fee dollars so if a claim happens, those dol-lars are used to pay the cost of the repair. The Incentive fund reduces the risk to the insurance company which backs the war-ranty; therefore, the cost of insurance is reduced. That savings in premium allows

Residential Warranty Company, LLC es-tablished the Incentive program in 1986 as a way to reward our members for their good claims experience, to increase loy-alty to the RWC family and to provide yet another reason to choose RWC over the rest of the competition. Since that date, RWC and affiliates have distrib-uted over $18.6 MILLION in Incentive distributions back to Incentive members. That’s 18.6 million thank you’s for a job well done!

The Incentive program works like this: Both the Builder Member and RWC con-tribute an initial participation fee to open an account. From that point forward, RWC re-directs a portion of the war-ranty fees paid by the Member into this account. The Incentive account accumu-lates these deposits over the first 5 years of Incentive membership.

If there are no or few warranty claims on homes enrolled by the Member, then distributions from the Incentive account are paid out over the next 5 years. In es-sence, the Member can receive back a substantial portion of the warranty fees paid, provided the Member’s claims ex-perience is good. To date, RWC, HOME and MHWC have rewarded Members for their claims experience to the tune of $18.6 million! This is excellent proof that some of the finest builders in the na-

18.6 Million Reasons to Join the Incentive Programfor the accumulation of warranty fee dol-lars in the Incentive Fund. But if a claim does occur, logically, it’s those same pre-mium dollars which are used first.

Other benefits of the Incentive program include:• The annual re-registration fee of $295 is

waived for Incentive Members, which saves an addition $1180 in years 2-5 of membership.

• The value of the Incentive distributions greatly reduces the effective cost of the warranty fee.

• The Member enjoys a locked-in enroll-ment rate under the standard program throughout the duration of their Incen-tive membership.

To qualify for the Incentive Program, a Member must enroll at least 20 homes per year or have an annual enrolled sales vol-ume of $2 million. A free computerized analysis illustrating how the Incentive Program can work for you is available upon request. For more information call your local Account Executive or our Sales Department at 800-247-1812 ext. 2149.

Joining the Incentive Program is the best way for our Members to maximize their dollars and reap the rewards of quality construction and customer satisfaction.

In Just the Last 6 Months, DIstrIbutIons totaLIng over

$419,000 Were DIsperseD to IncentIve MeMbers!

Your opinion matters to us! We would love to hear what you think of the Residential Recap. Please take a moment and call either your local Account Executive or our home office at 1-800-247-1812, ext. 2149 and share your opinion with us. If you have topics you would like to see us cover in the future, feel free to suggest them. Also, if for some reason, your com-pany gets multiple copies of this newsletter but you really only need one, let us know that as well and we will adjust our database. You can also view our newsletter online at http://www.rwcwarranty.com/pages/current_newsletter.htm.

How Are We Doing?

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Immigrants Can Have Substantial Impact on Housing Demand(Source: NAHB’s HousingEconomics.com)

A new research paper from NAHB Eco-nomics investigates how immigrants affect US housing demand. The study analyzes recent data from the Ameri-can Community Survey (ACS) that has detailed information on the country of origin, age, family status and housing choices of newly arrived immigrants. The data show that new immigrants are a young and diverse group of people. More than two thirds of them are under age 35. Close to 42 percent of newly arrived im-migrants come from Asia and another 40 percent come from Americas. European immigrants account for additional 10 per-cent of newly arrived immigrants, and the remaining 8 percent are accounted for by other regions.

The study finds that compared to the na-tive born population, immigrants are more likely to live with parents, other relatives or friends rather than establish their own

households. These tendencies are re-flected in immigrant headship rates that are lower across all age groups. How-ever, the longer immigrants stay in the United States the more likely they are to establish their own households. In case of European-born and other immigrants, their headship rates eventually exceed those of the native born population.

Similarly, the study finds that compared to the native population, immigrants are more likely to rent than own and move into multifamily units. However, as du-ration of their stay in the US increases, income rises and socio-economic sta-tus improves they are more likely to buy homes and move into single family houses. Europe- and Asia-born house-holds register the highest homeown-ership rates among all immigrants, reflecting their elevated socio-eco-nomic status in the US.

To predict future housing needs of immi-grants, the study further builds a model that takes into account age of newly ar-riving immigrants, region of their origin and length of stay in the United States. For purposes of illustration, the model is applied to the Census Bureau’s low-end 2010 projection of 1.2 million net immi-grants. If net immigration of 1.2 million persists for 10 years, new immigrants are projected to account for close to 3.4 mil-lion US households. They are estimated to occupy more than 2 million multifam-ily units and more than 1.2 million single family homes. More than 900 thousand of these new immigrant households are pro-jected to become home owners.

The full report may be viewed at: http://www.nahb.org/generic.aspx?sectionID=734&genericContentID=186289&channelID=311.

All Under the Same Hat!

To find out what the RWC Insurance Advantage can do for you, complete call us toll free at

800-247-1812 Ext. 2149

• New Home Warranties & General

Liability Insurance - Now from

ONE insurer.

nsurer rated “A-(Excellent)” by • I

A.M. Best.

ompetitive rates. • C

vailable exclusively to RWC & • A

Affiliates’ members.

Through membership with RWC...

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7

As more baby boomers approach retirement and the average age of the U.S. population increases, many businesses — including home builders — are showing increased interest in designing products that appeal to customers age 55 or older. According to NAHB’s long-term forecast, the share of households headed by someone age 55+ will grow every year through 2019, when the 55+ category will account for nearly 45 percent of all U.S. households. With a few exceptions, the age distribution doesn’t change drastically depending on location, so most places with a substantial number of households also have a substantial number that are age 55+. Looking at the incidence of 55+ households with data from the Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (ACS):• About 38 percent of U.S. households are headed by some age 55+.• In every state, the 55+ category accounts for over 30 percent of all households.• The 55+ household share is also over 30 percent in 97 percent of all counties.

In every state (excluding the District of Columbia), more than 70 percent of 55+ households are homeowners. If 55+ communities are those that offer either rec-reational or supportive services, 55+ development should be possible in every state where population density is sufficient to support new communities of a size that can provide such amenities — with the important caveat that the amenities need to be attractive enough to entice residents away from other housing options.

At the top end, there are 44 counties where the 55+category accounts for more than 60 percent of all households — and not exclusively counties with extremely small populations. For developers trying to locate 55+ markets that are excep-tional in some sense, the 5 counties in Florida that have both a 55+ household share above 60% and more than 38,000 total households form a distinct category.

55+ Households Are Nearly Everwhere(Source: NAHB’s HousingEconomics.com)

May 2012: JoDy LehMan (Administrative Assistant for RWC’s Sales Department). Jody was been with the company for 21 years. She assists the VP of Sales and other Account Executives with travel ar-rangements, reviews expense reports, maintains HBA memberships across the country, handles corporate holiday candy gift giving every year, trade show arrangements and displays and adminis-ters the USHP programs. Additionally, she assists the Marketing Department by filling in-house supply orders/requests, monitors stock levels and updates the in-ventory database regularly. Jody is also a member of the RWC Social Committee, which holds events throughout the year to encourage camaraderie, fun and opportu-nity to employees. JuLy 2012: John Murphy (Mail Room Coordinator for all the en-tities that operate from the corporate of-fice in Harrisburg, PA). John has been with the company for 23+ years and is a jack of all trades. He manages the de-livery and posting of mail coming in and going out, including packages and other types of mail. John stays up-to-date with the current postal and shipping rates of various carriers utilized by the company. He weighs and prepares mail carefully to keep expenses under control. In addition, he assists with bulk mailings, in order to take advantage of the best rates and con-trol unnecessary spending. On the clerical side, he performs daily file retrievals for the entire staff and runs errands of practi-cally every kind, ranging from daily bank runs or mail pickups at the local post of-fice to transporting corporate vehicles for regular servicing.

RWC Congratulates Employees-

of-the-Month

RWC, HOME and MHWC Account Executives from across the country visited the corporate office in Harrisburg, PA, for a 2-day sales meeting. Pictured (left to right) are Jody Lehman, Susan Duncan, Linda Hepler, John Felbaum, Jana Watts, Lynn Nelson-Probst, Tifanee McCall, Agnes Brennan and Kevin Gwyn.

2012 Sales Meeting

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Know Your Warranty: Email NoticesContinued from page 4

the expiration of the applicable war-ranty period or sent to RWC by certi-fied mail, return receipt requested and postmarked no later than thirty (30) days after the expiration of the appli-cable warranty period. For example, if the item is one which is warranted by your Builder during your second year of coverage, a request for war-ranty performance must be emailed or mailed to RWC and postmarked no later than thirty (30) days after the end of the second year to be valid.

IV.B If a Defect related to a warrant-ed MSD occurs in Years 3 through 10 of this Limited Warranty, you must notify the Administrator to review the item within a reasonable time af-

ter the situation arises. All such notices must be presented in writing to RWC, Administrator, at warranty.resolution@rwcwarranty.com or forwarded by cer-tified mail, return receipt requested to RWC, Administrator, 5300 Derry Street, Harrisburg, PA 17111, Attn: Warranty Resolution Department. Any such notice should describe the condi-tion of the MSD in reasonable detail. Requests for warranty performance emailed or postmarked more than thirty (30) days after the expiration of the term of this Limited Warranty will not be honored.

IV.C.1.c Your name, address, email ad-dress and telephone number (including home, cell and work numbers).

Construction excellence and a powerful commitment to providing affordable homes define the business model of American Dream Properties of Edison, New Jersey according to Company President, Mark Roshanski. The firm specializes in build-ing quality constructed, affordable homes in transit-friendly, desirable areas of central New Jersey and has been a force in driving the rehabilitation of many communities. The company has built over 5,500 homes rang-ing from single and multi-family to multi-use and redevelopment projects. Product diversity is emphasized in order to accom-modate as much of the market as possible.

American Dream Properties considers the post-closing period and beyond as im-portant as the actual construction process and they fully appreciate the power of a strong personal recommendation. This viewpoint drives their commitment to customer satisfaction.

A smashing success to the firm’s impressive portfolio was the creation of Downtown Plaza in Edison. It was the first major pri-vate investment in the area’s historic Clara Barton section and combined retail space with luxury townhomes. Builder/Architect Magazine has featured American Dream Properties twice, once in 2007 and again in 2011. American Builders Quarterly fea-tured the Builder’s story in 2008.

American Dream Properties chose RWC as their warranty provider for two reasons that we actually hear quite often. It’s sim-ple to enroll homes and we provide “great customer service.” RWC is pleased to have American Dream Properties as a member and congratulates them on all their hard work and achievements.

American Dream Properties

ESIDENTIAL

ARRANTY

OMPANYLLC ®

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Know Your Warranty: Email Notices

These difficult economic times have forced builders to focus much of their attention and energy on developing new products and finding ways to deliver those products at prices that are both at-tractive to consumers and profitable for builders. While these endeavors are im-portant ones, it is equally important that builders continue to focus on keeping whatever profits they can generate by managing their risks and limiting their potential liability. Homeowner claims for defective construction can eat away profit in the form of repeated customer service and punch list work, prolonged disputes with customers, payments to disgruntled homeowners, and attorney fees. Here are some suggestions for lim-iting that exposure.

• Employ proper construction practices. This may seem like an elementary point, but contractors who are building new de-signs in unfamiliar locations or who are desperate for sales are more likely to fall short in this regard. Proper education for workers, regular inspection by builder representatives, and professional over-sight from engineers and attorneys, for example, as needed, can limit builders’ exposure to homeowner claims and to other risks like OSHA fines and penalties.

Strategies for Managing Risk and Limiting LiabilityBy Richard B. Swartz, Corporate Counsel

• Watch for and avoid subcontractor problems. Your contract is with your cus-tomer. If a subcontractor’s work harms your customer, that customer will look to you to make it right. Use capable sub-contractors and inspect their work so that you know you are getting what you pay for. Make certain your subcontractors are insured and consider being named as an additional insured on their liability insur-ance policies.

• Service your customer. As we so often hear in lending and home building adver-tisements, the purchase of a newly built home is almost always the largest transac-tion your customer will make in his life, and he will likely spend ten or twenty or thirty years paying for it. Consequently, your customer will expect you to address any reasonable post-settlement concerns he has about your product. Prompt and courteous communication with home buyers after the sale and faithful attention to those concerns that are properly your responsibility will not only create a posi-tive buzz about you as a builder, but will also reduce the chances that a homeowner will sue you.

• Avoid the problematic customer. Some customers are simply not worth the

trouble. They will often demonstrate this early in the relationship, before the contract is signed, by making impos-sible demands on your time, asking for incredible reductions in price, or com-plaining about other builders they have seen or other businesses with whom they have had disputes. While some such demands and complaints may be legitimate, it is important to recognize the customer who will never be happy. That kind of customer limits your ability to make profit on a house, often retains a lawyer to sue you and should be avoided whenever possible.

• Shift the risk. Make sure you have ad-equate insurance to protect you against liability risks and take full advantage of your associates’ insurance policies by being named an additional insured whenever appropriate. Purchase a war-ranty product to provide to your home buyers to shift some of the risk for con-struction defects onto a third party.

• Don’t be afraid to settle homeowner cases. If sued or threatened with suit im-mediately ask your attorney for an assess-ment of the chances of success and an estimate of what it will cost to get to that result. Too often clients complain that

"...it is equally important that builders continue to focus on keeping whatever profits they can generate by managing their risks and limiting their potential liability."

Continued on page 12

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RWC’s Market-ing Department welcomed a new member to our staff in August, Meggie Bedford. Meggie is a recent graduate of Mans-field University and was hired as one of our Graph-

ic Designers. While most of her job en-tails working on the warranty books and documents that you as Members need, she also fulfills your supply requests for marketing materials. Whenever you need brochures, sample warranty books or model home materials, feel free to call her at 800-247-1812, Ext 2105.

As you hopefully already know, ap-proved Members in any one of RWC’s programs are entitled to use a wide array of FREE marketing materials to promote the choice you made in offering an in-sured warranty to your buyers.

In addition to calling Meggie at our 800#, supplies can be ordered online or by mail:

Online: Supplies can be ordered on-line through Warranty Express at www.rwcwarranty.com. Call us if you still need a password to login.

By Mail: Order forms are found in pub-lication RWC 542: Marketing Essentials.

Obviously well-built homes often sell themselves. But, Showing prospective buyers exactly what the differences are in your homes certainly can’t hurt! Give Meggie a call and find out what we have to offer to help you improve your bottom line.

Meet Meggie Say Hello

Whether you know it or not, if you have ever called RWC, you are already familiar with the Customer Service Department. When your call is first received, you are greeted by a welcoming and reassuring voice that helpfully guides you to the ap-propriate destination. The friendly voice who helped you find your way is a member of the RWC Customer Service Department.

Meet the group that greets you when you place a call to our corporate office (left to right): • Dana: Research Administrator (1994) • Joelle: Enrollments Administrator (1994) • Rickey: Enrollments Administrator (2000) • Melanie: Front Desk Receptionist (2000)These four ladies have 60 years of experience combined at RWC.

Three of the four ladies also work in the Enrollments Department to not only answer the call but to assist you with any enrollment questions without being transferred. Improving the efficiency of our customer service process is always a motive so get-ting your questions answered without the need to transfer you is our goal. Excellent customer service is our number one priority.

By Sandra Sweigert, Enrollments ManagerBy Sue Palkovic, VP of Marketing

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Agnes Brennan AR, CO, GA, IL, KS, KY, LA, MA, MI, MN, MO, ND, NE, OH, OK, RI, SD, TN800-247-1812 x2171 agnes.brennan@rwcwarranty.com

John Felbaum AZ, CA, NM, NV, OR, UT, WA 702-340-7233 john.felbaum@rwcwarranty.com

Kevin Gwyn DE, MD, NC, VA , Washington DC 410-552-3933 kevin.gwyn@rwcwarranty.com

Linda Hepler TX 800-683-6833 linda.hepler@homeoftexas.com

Tifanee McCall Central & Western PA 800-247-1812 x2132 tifanee.mccall@mhwconline.com

Jana Watts AL, CT, FL, IA, ID, IN, ME, MS, MT, NH, NJ, NY, Eastern PA, SC, VT, WI, WV, WY 908-638-0473 jana.watts@rwcwarranty.com

All Manufacturers and MHWC Builder/Dealers:Tifanee McCall Nationwide 800-247-1812 x2132 tifanee.mccall@mhwconline.com

CLIP

AN

D S

AVE

AS

A R

EFER

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GU

IDE

Who is My Account Executive?

Questions on the Warranty Program? Call 800-247-1812 or Email Us:

Enrollments (RWC & MHWC) Building Systems Enrollments Dana, x2212 dana.myers@rwcwarranty.com Enrollments (HOME)Rickey, x2188 rickey.shatto@rwcwarranty.com

PBW, RSW, Remodeling & Garages, Warranty Express Sandra, x2107sandra.sweigert@rwcwarranty.com Membership/Renewal Questions Stacy, x2186stacy.nice@rwcwarranty.com

Membership/New Application Status Donna, x2148donna.foose@rwcwarranty.com

Warranty ResolutionAnn, x2200ann.cooper@rwcwarranty.com

FREE Marketing Materials Meggie, x2105meggie-bedford@rwcwarranty.com

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Strategies for Managing Risk and Limiting LiabilityContinued from page 9

fighting a lawsuit has cost them more than settling it earlier would have. Some battles must be fought, but not all of them. Pick the ones you want to fight and have at it. For each of the others, make a good business decision and solve the problem on the most cost effective basis possible.

• Manage your attorney fees. Lawyers are struggling with the same economy you are. If a lawyer has quoted you a cer-tain rate, you should not hesitate to ne-gotiate with her to see if she will take the case for less. Insist that a fee agreement be prepared in writing for signature by you and your lawyer. Encourage the law-yer to assign less complicated work to less expensive members of the firm like associates, paralegals and clerks. Finally, obtain an estimate of the cost of defend-

ties for adversaries to sit down together and work with a neutral third party to re-solve disputes. These alternative dispute resolution options are less combative and less expensive, and when employed early, can result in significant savings in attorney fees and costs for all parties in-volved in the dispute.

For a builder to succeed in any economic conditions, he must accept some risk of loss and exposure to liability. It is good business sense to implement strategies to limit those risks and exposures, espe-cially when money is tight and so many builders are conducting business in new ways. The strategies listed here can help builders reduce their exposure to risk and liability and thus help them keep as much of their hard earned profit as possible.

ing the case up front. This provides you with information necessary to determine whether you should settle the case, helps with budgeting, and serves as a cap on fees by at least requiring a persuasive ex-planation from your attorney if the cost of defending the case exceeds what was estimated.

• Consider alternative and early dis-pute resolution options. Arbitration is often less expensive than a full blown jury trial. Mediations offer opportuni-