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Keller Williams Columbia
4400 St. Andrews Rd, Columbia, SC 29210
803-772-5858 office * 803-772-5802 fax
Terry Rainer - Team Leader/BIC

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Keller Williams Realty Bucks National Business Trends During the Toughest Real Estate Market on Record

Company celebrates 25 years as it outpaces market through its financial model

AUSTIN, TEXAS (January 27, 2009) — Bailout. Credit crunch. Foreclosure. Despite these words permeating the headlines and airwaves, there are companies out there moving forward – even in real estate. Keller Williams® Realty Inc., the fourth largest real estate company in North America, announced today that it outpaced the market in 2008, while remaining free of debt, and gave back more than $30 million in profits to its agents.

“Our strategy is no secret. We faithfully follow the sound financial model of leading with revenue – the same model our market centers follow,” said Mark Willis, CEO of Keller Williams Realty Inc. “As we watch companies throughout the country take on billions of dollars of debt, we are proud to say that our company has not one dollar of financing debt and we remain strong and financially sound. It is our joy to be able to give back to our agents during these times.”

Despite pervasive downward trends in the real estate industry, Keller Williams Realty continues to outperform the industry. For the first 11 months of 2008, existing home sales for the United States fell 17 percent when compared to the same period the year before.  By comparison, Keller Williams Realty is poised to outdo those numbers by 10 percentage points, and in addition, the company experienced a much smaller contraction in its agent base compared to the National Association of REALTORS®, who saw a 10 percent decline in membership.

“Keller Williams was founded 25 years ago during one of the toughest markets on record – when interest rates were higher than 18 percent. We continue to urge our agents to zero in on lead generation and reducing expenses so they can thrive during this market,” said Mary Tennant, president and COO of Keller Williams Realty Inc. “We admire our agents’ spirit, tenacity, and dedication to their businesses. They just keep powering forward.”

Throughout 2008 Keller Williams Realty launched new products and services specifically to boost its agents’ businesses, including two new books: Your First Home: The Proven Path to Home Ownership for first-time home buyers, and SHIFT: How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times. Both books are written by Gary Keller, co-founder and chairman of the board of Keller Williams Realty, who also authored national best sellers The Millionaire Real Estate Agent and The Millionaire Real Estate Investor.

Additionally, Keller, co-author Dave Jenks and trainer and coach Tony DiCello hit the road to teach the 12 tactics laid out in SHIFT, drawing more than 20,000 attendees in 29 cities.  The company also continued to provide agents support through Operation Heart to Heart 2, a training initiative designed to help agents and market centers deal with today’s market.

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SHIFT Tour Steels Real Estate Agents Against Tumultuous Market

Keller Williams Realty seminar attracts more than 19,000 attendees

 AUSTIN, TEXAS — December 23, 2008 — The SHIFT Tour, an instructive one-day seminar based on Gary Keller’s newest book, SHIFT: How Top Real Estate Agents Tackle Tough Times, wrapped in December after touching down in 29 cities across North America.  As the real estate industry face today’s increasingly bleak news of bailouts and the credit crunch, more than 19,600 came to hear Keller’s advice for building their business in a new market.  

 The book SHIFT, written by Gary Keller, co-founder and chairman of Keller Williams Realty, along with co-authors Dave Jenks and Jay Papasan, is drawn from the experiences of hundreds of top performing agents and outlines 12 proven tactics to jump-start a real estate business in tough times. Specifically written for this real estate market, the book stresses expense management and lead generation – tactics that can go overlooked during good times.

 "This is simply the most challenging real estate market on record," says Suman Olney, director of research for Keller Williams Realty. "Since the National Association of REALTORS® began tracking numbers on a national level in 1968, average home prices had gone up year over year for 39 straight years. Now, we're on pace for two consecutive years of national home price declines."

 “We are committed to supporting our associates at the highest level during this market,” said Keller. “As I toured the country I saw renewed energy in the faces of every real estate agent I met. I firmly believe that by adopting the tactics of SHIFT, agents can master this market and build a business that thrives during any market.”

 Despite the market conditions, agents are finding ways to refocus their business using the tactics of the book. “I attended the SHIFT tour in Charlotte and gained more knowledge in that one afternoon than I had in my previous four years in the business,” said Greg Worley, real estate agent in Columbia, South Carolina. “As an agent who is re-launching my career in the midst of these tough times, SHIFT has given me the tools, knowledge and confidence to get real and do it the right way. In addition to having the right mindset, the positive energy that surrounds my office is unbelievable.”

 A podcast based on the book is also now available on iTunes. The 8- part podcast features Keller, and co-author Dave Jenks discussing each of the 12 tactics outlined in the book.

 The authors of SHIFT are also the real estate experts behind national bestsellers The Millionaire Real Estate Agent and The Millionaire Real Estate Investor, which, as part of The Millionaire Real Estate Series, have sold more than 1 million copies worldwide. For information about SHIFT, visit www.millionairesystems.com.

About Keller Williams Realty Inc.:

Founded in 1983, Keller Williams Realty Inc. is the fourth-largest real estate franchise operation in North America, with more than 690 offices and 70,000 associates in the United States and Canada. The company, which began franchising in 1990, has an agent-centric culture that emphasizes access to leading-edge education and promotes an economic model that rewards associates as stakeholders and partners. For more information, visit Keller Williams Realty online at (www.kw.com).