Housing market

Toni Hopper

DUNCAN — Realtors in Stephens County may not know whether to laugh or cry. Mostly though, they are laughing. And, enjoying their careers.

While home sales appear to be on the rise this year, it also means more work.

Michelle Kennedy, a Realtor-associate, describes the market as “God sent.”

The recent boom in the market here has them begging for more homes, she said. They’re also discovering they have to work harder because of the quick turnover of homes.

But that’s OK for Realtors like Michelle Kennedy and Carol Wanzor. Kennedy is a multi-million dollar producer who has followed in her mother’s footsteps. She, and her mother, Gayle Selby, work through Kay’s Real Estate. Selby has more than 22 years’ experience and Kennedy has been in the business for almost three years. Kennedy said she first noticed the upward trend in home sales in Duncan about a year ago. Her mother had cautioned her to put some savings away in the fall, normally a sluggish time for real estate sales. It was the opposite, she said. The home sale frenzy began and hasn’t let up, she said.

“It’s almost like a boomerang,” Kennedy said. “Like a newly married couple ready for their first home, or people getting transferred out, or in, for their jobs.”

She’s seeing an influx of Halliburton employees and California newcomers.

Wanzor only recently re-entered the real estate field after renewing her license through college courses. She’s with ReMax and credits the staff there for her early success in such a competitive world.

The market is so volatile that many homes are selling within three to seven days. That’s where a Realtor would be wise to work smarter, they said.



Changing strides

Everyone’s heard of the “timing is right” phrase. And for Wanzor, the words couldn’t ring more true.

Wanzor, who has had a real estate license for 25 years, never really took advantage of it until recently.

For the past eight years, she served as director of United Way of Stephens County. She reached a turning point and resigned her position and decided that it was time to pursue her interest in real estate.

“I’ve always been interested to do real estate ... and I once received wise advice that it is not a job for someone with family,” she said.

Wanzor felt her tenure as United Way director gave her some solid contacts in the community and she also looked at her financial situation.

“There are costs involved. It’s essentially starting up a new business. I felt I could take some risks — financially.”

She reactivated her real estate license with college courses, re-entered the industry and now her new career is keeping her busier than she ever imagined.

“I’ve been really busy. I will say, the ReMax office people have been a big part of my success too. They are helping with contacts,” Wanzor said.

She believes the real estate market in Oklahoma, specifically Duncan and Stephens County, is literally booming.

“This market right now requires more work. There’s a misconception we’re making money hand over fist, but to do that — say you take someone out and show them four or five houses, maybe they buy one or not, in a traditional market. But now, we have new customers (daily),” she said. “In this market, you can throw out last week’s work because most of those houses are sold.”

More simply put — during a slow seller’s period, a Realtor has time to become familiar with a buyer or a home. Not so these days. And that’s the upside for Realtors like Wanzor and Kennedy.

Wanzor said she’s noticed buyers are really looking at a wide variety of options right now.

“There’s 100 percent financing for first-time buyers, bond money floating around and the general feeling is that prices are going up,” Wanzor said.

“And, if you can get 100 percent financing, you don’t have to put your life savings down and you can get it as cheap as rent.”

Wanzor also noted that buyers are factoring the cost of fuel into their decisions on location of potential homes to view.

“It’s fairly new to the decision-making process. You have to throw in this whole mix, the price of gas as it continues to rise.”

Both Wanzor and Kennedy said it’s too early to know if BRAC will have an impact on cities like Duncan and Marlow.

“I don’t know that we’ve really seen a lot of effects from that. We do have a lot of interest from people in Lawton looking to relocate,” Wanzor said.

“People’s life situations are changing. A lot of families are looking for first time homes,” Wanzor said.

Tracy McCord, partnered with her husband, Jimmy, builds new homes for the market both here and in Lawton.

She also said she’s not sure that BRAC is the reason for Stephens County’s real estate spurt, but she is noticing the effect of that in Lawton.

That’s not to say it won’t happen.

“I don’t think we’ve even seen the beginning of this — like with BRAC,” Kennedy said.

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