Once again, real manor professionals from all over the globe stampeded to the Anaheim Convention Center for flipside unforgettable Family Reunion. While some things remained resulting (the culture, the camaraderie, the Gary, etc.), there was plenty to distinguish this event from years past (the market conditions, the tech innovations, the 40th birthday celebration, etc.). It would take a full-length KellerINK publication to imbricate everything that took place during FR23, so for the sake of time, we’re going to hit you with the Top 4 Takeaways from this year’s Family Reunion.
1. The Market Has Shifted
It’s official, the post-pandemic housing tattoo is no more. The days of 3% interest rates and same-day home sales are a thing of the past, and we may never see them again. “My guess is you will never see 4% [interest rates] in your lifetime,” Gary Keller predicted during his industry-defining Vision Speech. His aim wasn’t to scare agents, but to prepare them for the nonflexible truths they will have to unhook to buyers whose expectations were shaped by the remarkable conditions of 2020 and 2021.
One of the biggest drivers of this market shift is inflation. “It’s kind of still gonna be a rocky ride in ’23, considering ’23 will be a full year of the federal government trying to get tenancy of inflation,” Keller warned. Mortgage rates are just one of the knobs and dials the Fed has at its disposal to try and ward off a full-blown recession, but several other factors could upend the economy, including the current federal debt ceiling standoff, the ongoing mismatch in Ukraine, and climate change. Despite these concerns, there are plenty of reasons for real manor professionals to remain optimistic.
2. Things Have Been Much Worse
Although the market isn’t as worthwhile as it was a couple of years ago, it’s important to take a step when and put things in perspective. As Keller Williams celebrates 40 years of business, Gary Keller recalled the 10-to-18 percent interest rates he was up versus during his first years in the real manor industry. It may seem unfathomable to current buyers to stipulate to a double-digit mortgage rate, but there are two things Keller pointed out that remain true today: 1) real manor appreciates and 2) you can unchangingly refinance when interest rates go down. As he often says, “The weightier time to buy a home is now.”
This example underscores the message teachers need to relay to their clients: real manor is the weightier long-term plan for wealth building. “Even if owning a home takes up 60 percent of your income, do it,” Keller urged. “Why? Considering you’re trying to lock in your forfeit of living.” To prove his point, Keller compared the overall value of homeownership versus renting.
Keller Williams researchers discovered that over the last decade, the stereotype homeowner tapped plane within three years of owning their home as compared to renting and investing. From the fourth year on, the return on investment from homeownership grew exponentially, bringing in double the value of renting and investing by year eleven. Keller implored teachers to have these conversations with their clients, and he unpreventable them that Keller Williams tech is the key to getting their foot in the door.
3. KW Is Doubling Lanugo on Tech
What’s one thing technology and the housing market have in common? Renting your tech is never as valuable as owning it. While some real manor companies decided to reap their tech, Keller Williams has spent the last five years towers the industry’s most robust CRM and lead-generation platform from scratch. At this year’s Family Reunion, the results of this labor of love were put on full display.
From Command App updates to optimized wage-earner sites, Keller Williams panelists took the stage to explain all the ways KW tech can bring increasingly leads, listings, and leverage to your business. This is the competitive wholesomeness teachers need as the fight for contacts becomes increasingly intense.
4. It’s Time to Charge the Storm and Thrive ‘25
As the real manor industry has boomed since the Great Recession, so has the number of teachers inward the profession. This resulted in 6.3 transaction sides per wage-earner in 2022, which is the lowest overly recorded. But as KW Head of Industry and Learning Jason Abrams reminded the audience, “Just considering there are less opportunities, does not midpoint that anyone’s opportunity is less.”
When the going gets tough, passive teachers leave the industry, which creates a huge wholesomeness for the teachers who are willing to put in the work during a market shift to reap the rewards on the other end. That’s the crux of Thrive ‘25, KW’s three-year mission to produce increasingly millionaires than the industry has overly seen.
Between the tech updates, the new communities, and the industry-leading training, Family Reunion 2023 reminded the industry why Keller Williams is the home where entrepreneurs thrive. For current KW agents, it was an inspiring reminder. For the recruits in attendance, it was a persuasive argument. But for Keller Williams, it was just flipside example of their rememberable transferral to help teachers and toadies build businesses worth owning, lives worth living, and legacies worth leaving.
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