Keller Williams Continues Growth in 2009

Welcome back!

Having just returned from Family Reunion in New Orleans, I felt it’s important to pass along this great news. Keller Williams Realty reported that, despite the battered economy, it closed out 2009 with increased profit, profit share and associate growth.

According to CEO Mark Willis, who delivered his annual State of the Company address to more than 8,500 convention attendees, the company gave back $32.2 million in profit share to its agents in 2009, up six percent year-over-year. Since the inception of the profit sharing program, the company has given back $270 million in earnings to its agents.

The gains were driven by an increase in agent productivity, with the number of contracts closed per agent increasing by 16 percent year-over-year. On average, the company has grown its business (as measured by the number of closed units) at an annual rate of 27 percent for the past 12 years.

The company also continued to grow by number of associates. While the National Association of REALTORS® (NAR) saw a seven percent decrease in its membership in 2009, Keller Williams Realty grew its associate base by three percent, ending the year with 76,879 associates across North America.

In addition to being named the third-largest real estate franchise in the United States by REAL Trends, the company received accolades throughout the year:

* Entrepreneur magazine, No. 1 ranked real estate franchise on the 31st Annual Franchise 500 list

* J.D. Power and Associates, highest in overall satisfaction ratings from home buyers among the largest full-service real estate firms for the second year in a row

* Inman News, President and COO Mary Tennant named one of the 100 Most Influential Leaders in Real Estate

* Swanepoel TRENDS Report survey, No. 1 Industry Trendsetter of 2009 and 2009 Most Recognizable Real Estate Franchise Brand

* REAL Trends 500, KW offices comprised more than a quarter of the entire list, and of the major brands represented in the report, was the only company to boast growth in both number of agents added to its ranks and in total transactions closed.

* RISMedia’s Power Broker Report, KW again had the largest majority of offices on the list – accounting for 35 percent of all the brokerages listed and was No. 1 in number of agents and total closed transactions.

Contact us to learn more about Keller Williams and a career in Atlanta real estate.

Atlanta Home Buyers – FHA Update

Atlanta Home Buyers – FHA Update

Atlanta home buyers have plenty of reasons to buy a great house today. There’s certainly plenty to choose from, prices (for the most part) are great and interest rates remain low (although trending upward).

Oh, and we can’t forget about the ability to qualify for $8,000 for first-time homebuyers or $6,500 for repeat homebuyers.

One more wrinkle has thrown in recently. Last week, the Federal Housing Administration (FHA) announced that they would be taking steps to reduce their risk in lending to home buyers.

Announced FHA Policy Changes:

1. Mortgage insurance premium (MIP) will be increased to build up capital reserves and bring back private lending. As private mortgage insurance (PMI) on conventional loans have increased, more buyers have used FHA loans as they were more affordable. The MIP will now be raised to 2.25% and the will request legislative authority to increase the maximum annual MIP that the FHA can charge.

2. Update the combination of FICO scores and down payments for new borrowers. New borrowers will now be required to have a minimum FICO score of 580 to qualify for FHA’s 3.5% down payment program. New borrowers with less than a 580 FICO score will be required to put down at least 10%. This allows the FHA to better balance its risk and continue to provide access for those borrowers who have historically performed well.

3. Reduce allowable seller concessions from 6% to 3%. The current level exposes the FHA to excess risk by creating incentives to inflate appraised value. This change will bring FHA into conformity with industry standards on seller concessions.

4. Increase enforcement on FHA lenders.  FHA has always been a good financing option if you less downpayment in hand and if your credit score was a bit lower than what some banks liked. Over the last few years, FHA has written almost 30% of the loans (up from 3% back in 2006) and has suffered from rising delinquencies.

The agency will now use these new measures to build its reserves and keep FHA-insured financing alive and well for homeowners. HUD Secretary wants borrowers to “have more skin in the game” as a way to reduce future defaults.

These measures are expected to take effect later this Spring and Summer. So in addition to the $8,000 tax credit, great prices, a good supply of homes to choose from and low interest rates, you can now add stricter and more expensive FHA financing looming as reasons to not delay your Atlanta home search.

If you would like some professional guidance for you Atlanta home search, don’t hesitate to contact us.

Keller Williams Named Most Recognizable Brand of 2009

Exciting news for the Atlanta real estate market. The 2010 Swanepoel TRENDS Report details the Top 20 largest real estate brands based on agent count as of December 2009.

In addition, RealSure, the publishers of the Swanepoel TRENDS Report and the Swanepoel SOCIAL MEDIA Report launched a nationwide online survey on December 3rd to determine the “Most Recognizable Franchise Brand in Real Estate.”

According to this survey, the Top 10 real estate franchises, most recognized by the real estate industry as quality national brands are:

1. Keller Williams Realty
2. Coldwell Banker Real Estate
3. RE/MAX International
4. Century 21 Real Estate
5. Prudential Real Estate
6. Sotheby’s International Realty
7. EXIT Realty
8. ERA Real Estate
9. Weichert Real Estate Affiliates
10. Better Homes & Gardens Real Estate

The brands that made it to the Top 5 were to be expected and are also the five largest real estate franchises in the country. The Top 5 also comfortably attracted more votes than the second five on the list, strongly pointing to the industry’s own internal belief that these are the top five brands that agents would like to work for.

Keller Williams Realty’s surprising #1 ranking was most likely due to the strong, above average online and social media presence of their agents and the fact that during 2009 KW surpassed RE/MAX in agent count according to a widely published REAL Trends survey. Click here to read the article in it’s entirety.

Contact us today to learn about the benefits of working with Keller Williams Realty for all of your Atlanta real estate needs.

Atlanta Top City to Retire in 2009

Forbes magazine recently did a study to determine the best cities to retire in 2009. To form the list, Forbes looked at the country’s 40 largest metropolitan statistical areas and applied seven metrics. The Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta metropolitan area came in at #1. Atlanta is the financial and industrial center of the South and is home to more and more international businesses, such as Delta, Home Depot and Coca-Cola.

1 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, GA

2 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX

3 Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, FL

4 Houston-Sugar Land-Baytown, TX

5 St. Louis, MO-IL

5 Austin-Round Rock, TX

7 Las Vegas-Paradise, NV

8 Phoenix-Mesa-Scottsdale, AZ

9 Kansas City, MO-KS

10 San Antonio, TX

Which to Buy – Short Sale or Foreclosure?

Whether this will be your first home, you’re a move-up homebuyer looking to take advantage of the market or an investor wanting to profit from the current Atlanta real estate market, you will likely come across numerous short sales and foreclosures. Which is the best option for you and which one should you target?

Before we jump into that, let’s quickly explain the difference. Short sales are also commonly referred to as pre-foreclosure homes. These are homes where the current homeowner is behind on the mortgage payments and is attempting to sell the property for less than they owe on it in an attempt to avoid foreclosure. A short sale is considered an alternative to foreclosure and is generally considered less harmful to the seller’s credit, job security, etc. At a certain point, if the bank is not getting paid, they will foreclose on the property. These then go to auction at the county courthouse steps, but most of them don’t sell at auction. Rather the bank pulls them back and re-markets them as foreclosures or REO properties.

So now the question is as a buyer, what is better? Foreclosures or short sales?

And the answer of course it that it depends upon you and the specific property.

In a short sale scenario, the bank is not party to the agreement, but the agreement is contingent upon the bank agreeing that they’re not getting all of their money.  A short sale can often take 2-3 months for the bank to respond as many homes have  a couple banks involved, not to mentione mortgage insurance companies and private investors. Whereas with foreclosures, the bank owns them outright and generally wants to sell them quickly and get them off their books.

So I’m sure you’ve gathered from above, if you’re looking to purchase in a short timeframe, foreclosures would be a better fit. The flip side to that is that foreclosures tend to attract more attention as buyers feel they’re getting a good deal and will wrap it up quickly. With a short sale, you can often get just as good of a deal, but you will need to be patient. Often being willing to out wait a buyer who is ahead of you initially.

In short, both short sale and foreclosure properties present good opportunities. Whether you are a move-up homebuyer, an investor or a first-time homeowner, keep your options open. You never know what you will find or how good of a deal you will get until you look.

If you would like assistance in finding great deals in Atlanta foreclosures and short sales, be sure to contact our team. We have area specialists throughout metro Atlanta that can help identify the best deals for you.

Next Page »