The word on the street is that Epic Systems has big plans to keep growing. We're hearing that Epic has plans to grow from roughly 11,000 employees right now to 20,000 employees by the year 2030. If these plans do materialize, Epic's growth trajectory will have a huge impact on our local real estate market for decades to come.

Our local housing supply is already low, with just over 1,000 single family homes being built annually in Dane County. With Epic's continued growth, the Epic employee base will be absorbing a huge portion of those thousand homes being built each year.

Which is one more reason why we believe Dane County will continue to be an ideal place to build wealth through real estate. Our county is already the fastest growing region in the state, and we see this trend continuing as more and more people move here for reputation, quality of life, and climate-related reasons.

Of course, as our region continues to grow, we'll be faced with an increasing responsibility to grow in sustainable ways. Protecting our land, water, and air quality will be paramount. Planning for public transportation and affordable housing will be essential. And building in ways that promote the long-term viability of our planet will be absolutely critical.

Our ability to shift from short-term thinking to long-term planning -- from a "culture of me" to a "culture of we" -- will determine our quality of life and our collective well-being in the years ahead.

The big question is, when will we choose to make this shift -- as a community, a state, and a country?