Mentioned the John L. Scott agents twice, but forgot to mention that Donna Jones has also joined our market center.  Donna is a long-time broker here in Southern Oregon, specializing in ranch/horse properties.

We’re proud to welcome Ron Galbreath and Patty Davis who have come over to us from John L. Scott Southern Oregon!  Ron was their #2 agent, and Patty #6!

In the last 2 days we’ve added three new agents!  Welcome to Ron Galbraith, Patty Davis, and Lorraine Arnold!  And we’re not done yet!

In the month of June, our market center brought on 6 top Re/Max agents (in addition to one that came on board a couple of months before).  Brian Luzny, Ellie George, Amy Alvarez, Cheryl Faria, Patrick Havens, Don Dixon, and Cynthia Naumes were among the top agents at their former Re/Max office, as well as among the top agents in the Rogue Valley Association of Realtors.  They hit the ground running, and have been a boom to our market center’s business, as well as just being a whole lot of fun!

Stacey Boals, CEO/Team Leader for Keller Williams Realty Southern Oregon will be travelling to Washington, DC the week of May 11th to attend the National Association of Realtors’ Mid-Year Legislative Conference.  It will be a jam-packed week of classes, forums, training, committee meetings, and legislative Hill visits.  Topics include affordable housing, land use and property rights, economic summits, leadership, issues mobilization, taxation, PACs, business trends, risk reduction, MLS policies, regional caucuses, etc.  She’ll be meeting with Oregon Congressman Greg Walden, and Senators Jefrf Merkley and Ron Wyden.

Keller Williams Southern Oregon is proud to announce that for Red Day we’ll be launching our office as the new drop-off site for “My Sister’s Closet”, a non-profit organization that collects and donates “gently used” professional and business clothing to those who are referred to us through various agencies, Rogue Community College, etc., who are completing business training and can’t afford the apparel for interviews, entry into the work-force, etc.

Keller Williams Southern Oregon was the ONLY real estate entry in last Saturday’s Pear Blossom parade, and boy did we have fun!  Our agents and their children gave out over 500 balloons, massive amounts of candy … and we didn’t forget the Fido’s as we were also passing out doggie bisquits!  And again, prior to the festivities we hosted the Pear Blossom Court, as well as local dignitaries such as Representatives Sal Esquivel and Dennis Richardson.  The weather was perfect, and according to the judges (who just happened to be friends of Team Leader Stacey Boals), we won the “Unofficial Award of Most Significantly Altered Folical Tinting” …

Keller Williams Southern Oregon as a plethora of classes, panels, training, etc. coming up in the next month.  March 31st is a class on Mobile and Internet Applications.  Masterminds forum every Wednesday at 4.  Our much-awaited Short Sale Forum is Thursday April 2nd at 2:00 at the Medford Library.   The Keller Winners will be participating in the Rogue Valley Association of Realtors charity Bowling Tournament on Friday April 3rd.  There will be a class on “Growing Your Profit Share Tree” on Saturday, April 4th at 11 a.m.  Top Producer will be Monday April 6th from 1-3.  Etc. etc. etc.

Keller Williams Southern Oregon will be putting on a short-sale panel on April 2nd at 2:00 at the Medford Public Library.  Short-sales are becoming a predominent part of our market, and our panel will consist of the top short-sale specialists in Southern Oregon, including agents, lenders, and title companies.  We’re also very pleased to have a special panel member, Erick Harpole from Keller Williams Eugene/Springfield, who has done over 130 short sales in the past couple of years, including 60 in 2008 in Oregon and Nevada.  We have to SHIFT with the market, and need to be proficient in REO’s and short-sales!

A recent article on Market Watch, a part of The Wall Street Journal Digital Network, gave several reasons why now is a great time to buy a home, and quoted Jay Papasan, vice president of publishing and executive editor, Keller Williams Realty. Papasan urged buyers and their agents to “ask for price reductions, improvements, closing costs – whatever – the seller, whose goal is to get a contract, is very likely to work with you.”  He added that “when the market starts improving, your negotiating power starts to diminish,” meaning that buyers need to move before inventory gets smaller and the market ticks up.  And existing home sales were up 6.5% in December of 2008. His book, Your First Home is a reliable resource for consumers for the “Five Reasons to Buy a Home This Year,” which include better affordability, large inventory, builder discounts, low mortgage rates and the current $7,500 federal tax credit for first-time home buyers. 

Staying on top of a fast-growing market is just one of the many reasons to use Keller Williams Southern Oregon as your real estate brokerage of choice!