Our Speaker this week is Austin Jones, V.P. and CFO, North Kansas City Hospital & Meritas Health. His topic is: "Healthcare Finance Post Pandemic, Navigating Uncharted Territory."
Since October of 2021, Austin has served as the CFO of North Kansas City Hospital and Meritas Health, the largest health provider in the Northland. In this role, Austin oversees the hospitals strategic and operational focus related to Finance, Revenue Cycle, Supply Chain, Managed Care, and Investments. Austin began his career in public accounting with BKD and for the past 10 years has served as the CFO of several hospitals throughout Texas.
President Eric Bubb, bell-less but energetic as usual, welcomed all to the Club with the Camp for Kids. We stood for the Pledge of Allegiance followed by a prayer pf gratitude by Wade Freeman. One guest was introduced. The following Club Anniversaries were recognized: Carl DiCapo (46 years); Scott Holsman (3 years); and Taylor Jackson (1 year).
President Eric thanked the Downtown Committee members for serving as greeters. Three “Rotary After Hours” events were announced: August 17 at the Rock Island Bridge, September 9 at Brookridge Country Club following the Club golf championship match; and September 27 at the Kansas City Zoo where Club 13 will join all other KC-based Rotary Clubs. President Eric introduced the new Vocational Minute which will make its debut on August 4. This will feature an interview of a Club 13 member speaking about his or her vocation. A Friendship Exchange with the Monterrey, Mexico Rotarians is in the works, with our friends from the South visiting September 23-29 during the Monarch Butterfly Boxcar Relay stop on September 24 at Union Station. A group from Club 13 will visit Monterrey during the Boxcar Relay stop there on October 18, 2022. If anyone willing to host a visiting Rotarian or is interested in traveling to Monterrey in October, please contact Mandy and/or Eric. Volunteers are still needed for the Heartland Chamber Music Festival taking place between July 28 and August 7. The slots are normally a couple of hours, at most. We are again helping our friends at Westside CAN by volunteering for the Back to School Pep Rally on July 29 from 3:30 to 6:30. We have a healthy amount of volunteers but could use a couple more, if you are interested. Sign-ups for volunteer opportunities are available at the Club 13 website, at this Buzz Saw publication, or via e-mail from Mandy.
Our speaker, Shawn Muller, was introduced by his colleague, President Eric. Mr. Muller is the managing broker and a Vice President at ReeceNichols. Although young by some standards, Mr. Muller has seen a lot of real estate markets in his 21 years in the real estate business. The topic on everyone’s mind at the present moment is inflation and rising interest rates and how that will affect the market going forward. The “campfire talk” Muller is hearing centers on whether values will come off their highs of recent months, whether demand is down, whether foreclosures will accelerate, and whether rising interest rates coupled with potentially reducing fair market values will put recent buyers underwater. The recent data shows that sellers are still receiving an average premium of 3.3% above their asking prices while the average days a house is on the market has reduced 11% to 16 days. It will take a mere 1.3 months for the 10-12 thousand properties on the market to sell indicating it is still a fairly “hot” market. The average sale price is still up 12.3% to $4357K.. Mr. Muller pointed out that the recent robust market has taken place despite tightened credit markets following the 2009 recession. The average buyer’s credit rating is 751 which is much higher than the 699 rating in 2010, most homeowners are holding more equity in their homes, and the “short sale” (where sellers owe more than the sale price of their homes) are rare these days. Also, the adjustable rate mortgage is structured much differently than in the past and provides more protection for consumers against rising interest rates. The big question is how rising interest rates will affect home sales. The truth is that as rates increase, some buyers will not qualify for loans which has led to recent cancellation of 15% of the real estate contracts in existence. Also, as the market gets more balanced, Muller is seeing buyers gain the ability to actually conduct inspections, obtain appraisals, and renegotiate after title insurance exceptions are reported as preconditions to closing the sale of a home. When asked what sells a home, most in the crowd yelled out “location, location, location.” Our speaker indicated that “price, price, price” is the biggest weapon a seller has. Lower the price and there will be more interested buyers. Our speaker believes we won’t see an outright reversal of the market we have just experienced but does expect some “cooling off” as interest rates increase and the economy remains in flux.
After an interesting presentation by our speaker, President Eric read a quote from Oprah Winfrey, “I will forever believe that a home is a great investment. Why? Because you can’t live in a stock certificate. You can’t live in a mutual fund.” The meeting ended after saying the “Four Way Test” together. Some made their way back to their great investment while others made their way back to work to pay for that great investment!
Join us on August 17th to tour the Rock Island Bridge from 5-6 pm with Mike Zeller, CEO of Flying Truss Trust. He will explain the development of American’s first Destination Bridge and provide drinks for the tour. We will access the bridge from the MO side behind the Hy-Vee Arena (previously known as Kemper Arena). Near the bridge and on American Royal Drive there will be a gravel parking lot open for our use.
After the tour join us for drinks and food in the Stockyard District. The location will be announced soon. Click here to register.
Six Club 13 Rotarians rambled to North Kansas City to join the NKC Rotary Club for lunch on Friday, July 22nd. President Eric Bubb, Jan Armstrong, Sally Bibb, Christy Chester, Peter Ho and Marc Horner were warmly welcomed by NKC Club President Valerie Anderson and President Elec Chris Stackhorn. President Eric “won” the raffle and was slightly teased by the group. President Valerie gave an overview of the long list of club projects which was very impressive for the small size of the club. This was followed by a panel of Rotarians who gave an interesting program on the public services of NKC. It was a very enjoyable lunch and all Rotarians are encouraged to join the Ramblin’ Rotarians on future club visits.
Did you read this month in our Rotary International Magazine about Rotary support for Ukraine? Now you can join in this opportunity to support Ukraine to remain an independent country from Russia. “Sunflowers for Ukraine” began in Kansas City by a homestay host with Global Ties KC who wanted to help the victims of the war-torn disaster of the Ukrainian Homeland. Aligning with the US Ukrainian Foundation and Rotary Kyiv International you can contribute, knowing every dime will go directly to the needs of the people. Rotary Clubs all over Ukraine network to help with evacuation, medical needs, orphan support, and housing in areas of most need for its vulnerable citizens.
Many artists have responded to action by creating over 40 images of Sunflowers that will be on display for auction at Meadowbrook Club House in Prairie Village from July 9-August 5. “Sunflowers for Ukraine” will conclude with an event there on August 5 from 5:30-7:00 pm. The auction will close at the conclusion of the event. Click here to view a PDF version of the flyer with links to the event and auction!
The theme this year for the Boy Scout Rotary session was Halloweentown Rotary. We had a special guest stop by to help with crafts and trick or treating!
The Rotary 13 Satellite Club will meet on Tuesday, July 26, in the meeting room at Tower Tavern, 401 East 31st Street, KCMO, at 5:30 PM. There will be a discussion on upcoming service projects and social events.
SAVE THE DATE
The Monarch Butterfly Boxcar Relay event will be in Kansas City at Union Station on Saturday, September 24th!
Join us on August 17th to tour the Rock Island Bridge from 5-6 pm with Mike Zeller, CEO of Flying Truss Trust. He will explain the development of American’s first Destination Bridge and provide drinks for the tour. We will access the bridge from the MO side behind the Hy-Vee Arena (previously known as Kemper Arena). Near the bridge and on American Royal Drive there will be a gravel parking lot open for our use.
Did you read this month in our Rotary International Magazine about Rotary support for Ukraine? Now you can join in this opportunity to support Ukraine to remain an independent country from Russia. “Sunflowers for Ukraine” began in Kansas City by a homestay host with Global Ties KC who wanted to help the victims of the war-torn disaster of the Ukrainian Homeland. Aligning with the US Ukrainian Foundation and Rotary Kyiv International you can contribute, knowing every dime will go directly to the needs of the people. Rotary Clubs all over Ukraine network to help with evacuation, medical needs, orphan support, and housing in areas of most need for its vulnerable citizens.
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