Real estate agents from across Crye-Leike’s Chattanooga region gathered at the Chattanooga Golf and Country Club to help the company celebrate its sales success in 2011 and 35 years of business.
Since first opening its doors in Memphis in 1977, Crye-Leike has helped thousands of buyers and sellers with their real estate needs. The company’s Chattanooga realtors honored the milestone as they jumpstarted the new year of real estate sales at their regional 2012 Kick-Off meeting.
In the crystal ball segment of the program, Crye-Leike Co-founder and CEO Harold Crye offered his words of wisdom and discussed predictions for the 2012 housing market.
“The market is slowly stabilizing, and we expect sales to increase modestly as the economy gradually continues to recover,” said Mr. Crye. “We expect to see more renters become buyers as rents continue to rise and mortgage rates remain at a historic low for now. We do anticipate mortgage rates will also soon be on the rise.”
Crye-Leike’s overall sales were good in 2011, with agents companywide helping Crye-Leike reach a final figure of $3.8 billion in sales for the year with a total of 24,470 properties sold.
“We think the market is turning the corner and real estate sales will be on the upswing in 2012,” said Mr. Crye. “For the past three years, we’ve been holding steady along the $3 billion in sales mark, and expect to rise to $4 billion in sales for 2012. We feel like we’ve hit the bottom of the housing market, as we saw a surge in sales and were up in the fourth quarter last year.”
Crye-Leike’s Chattanooga market sales in 2011 totaled $327 million from 1,746 properties sold. The company is expecting its sales in the Chattanooga market to increase by five percent in 2012. Locally, Crye-Leike is currently home to 259 agents helping home buyers and sellers from eight different offices throughout the region.
At this year’s kick-off meeting, hundreds of Chattanooga agents attended the event and were awarded and applauded for their service and sales achievements in 2011. With existing-home sales finishing on an uptrend in December and rising for three consecutive months at the end of 2011, Crye-Leike’s agents are excited to see the market bouncing back slowly, officials said.
“We thank all of our agents for the terrific job they do of caring for our customers, of helping us build a great company reputation, and for sticking with us through these tough times,” said Mr. Crye. “We wish our agents a successful 2012 as we encourage everyone to keep believing in their dreams of homeownership.”
Managing Broker Vicki Trapp, Agent Kim Strang and Crye-Leike Co-founder and CEO Harold Crye.