Mark Willis, CEO, announced today during his state of the company address that Keller Williams is ranked highest by J.D. Powers and Associates for highest overall satisfaction among home buyers for two years in a row! This is proof positive that Keller Williams continues to outperform the industry.œKeller Williams is rising to No.1! The longer the downturn lasts, the stronger Keller Williams emerges. Year to date, NAR™s membership has dropped by about 10 percent, while Keller Williams agent count has incresed by 2 percent, said Willis.Why is it Keller Williams continues to power ahead in gaining its œunfair share of the market? States Willis, œUnified training, unified leaders, a unified culture, and a unified economic model.

Math smiles on move-up buyers  

A dismal real estate market can be a good time to purchase a bigger house  

 By Mike Stuckey

Senior news editormsnbc.com  

BOTHELL, Wash. – After two years of married life in a 680-square-foot, one-bedroom Seattle condo, Lori and Chris Kirsten were ready to spread out in a real house with room for a home theater and a yard where the Labrador retriever they had always wanted could roam.The Kirstens prepared to list their condo for sale and go house-hunting, banking on equity in the unit, which Lori had brought in 2003 for $130,000, to help with the transition to a larger place. Seattle™s hot real estate market had pushed the condo™s value to $215,000 or more at its peak in 2007.But their home search lost some steam when their agent told them Western Washington real estate prices, although not in the freefall experienced elsewhere, had still declined to the point that their unit might now fetch $25,000 or $30,000 less than two years ago. When they saw condos comparable to theirs selling for as little as $170,000, œI thought, ˜I just can™t do it,™ Lori recalled.Their mood brightened when they began shopping in the spacious neighborhoods of this suburb northeast of Seattle and found a 3,000-square-foot, four-bedroom split-level on a half-acre of towering fir trees that they wound up buying for $425,000. That™s $86,000 less than the $511,000 peak value placed on the home by real estate Web site Zillow.com, $64,000 below the original asking price of $489,000 and even well below the final asking price of $438,000.A buyer™s market¨The Kirstens ” Lori, 36, is a physical therapist and Chris, 33, is a Microsoft manager ” are among therelatively small number of home buyers across the nation who are taking advantage of the record drop in real estate prices and historically low interest rates sparked by the mortgage meltdown and foreclosure crisis to move up into bigger or fancier digs.It™s a trend that many in the languid real estate industry would like to encourage.œObviously, if you™re selling for less than you could have gotten two years ago, you™re disappointed, but you really need to look at your bottom line, said Walt Molony of the National Association of Realtors. œIf you™re trying to trade up, whatever you™re going to trade up to is going to sell at a discount, too. You need to look at your net.  œDo the math, said agent Mark Zawideh, who has been selling homes in the suburbs west of Detroit, where prices have declined 18 percent in the last year alone. œIf you™re in a $200,000 house(the median price in the area) and you lost 18 percent, that means you lost $36,000, Zawideh said. œBut if you™re moving up and buying a $500,000 house, that person just took a $90,000 loss, so you can see you™re making 54,000.œIf you didn™t sell at the peak, be happy, Zawideh said. œDon™t look back and be sorry. The fact that you™ve waited ends up being a great decision. A lot of people get excited when they sitat your bottom line, said Walt Molony of the National Association of Realtors. œIf you™re trying to trade up, whatever you™re going to trade up to is going to sell at a discount, too. You need to look at your net.  œDo the math, said agent Mark Zawideh, who has been selling homes in the suburbs west of Detroit, where prices have declined 18 percent in the last year alone. œIf you™re in a $200,000 house (the median price in the area) and you lost 18 percent, that means you lost $36,000, Zawideh said. œBut if you™re moving up and buying a $500,000 house, that person just took a $90,000 loss, so you can see you™re making 54,000.

œIf you didn™t sell at the peak, be happy, Zawideh said. œDon™t look back and be sorry. The fact that you™ve waited ends up being a great decision. A lot of people get excited when they sit down and do the math.

Meanwhile, the five-year hybrid adjustable rate bumped up to 4.93 percent from 4.92 percent, and the one-year ARM rose to 4.83 percent from 4.75 percent.

Source: San Diego Union-Tribune (04/10/09)

Rates are still great! Thinking of buying….now is the time!!!

Obama, who spoke Thursday at a White House event, pointed to historically low interest rates and estimated that if 7 million to 9 million homeowners refinance, they will save $1,600 to $2,000 a year.

“That is money in their pocket,” Obama said. “We are at a time where people can really take advantage of this, and what we want to do is to send a message that if you are having problems with your mortgage “ and even if you’re not, and you just want to save some money “ you can go to makinghomeaffordable.gov.”

Source: The Wall Street Journal, John D. McKinnon (04/09/2009)

If you are interested in learning more about a career in real estate with Keller Williams please contact  Alice Brentano  at 913-271-4916 or abrentano@kw.com.