About Keller Willliams Realty

Founded in 1983, Keller Williams Realty Inc. is an international real estate company with more than over 600 offices located across the U.S. and Canada. The company began franchising in 1991, and following years of phenomenal growth and success, became the fourth-largest U.S. residential real estate firm in North America in 2006. The company has succeeded by treating its associates as partners and shares its knowledge, policy control, and company profits on a system-wide basis.

Structured for Success
The interdependent business model of Keller Williams Realty supports real estate agents and brokers working as a team to maximize results for our buyers and sellers.

Why Use a KW Associate?
Because Keller Williams Realty Atlanta/Smyrna/Vinings/Douglasville has grown from the ground up within Smyrna, our agents have unparalleled knowledge of our local real estate market and a deep appreciation for our community. Buying or selling a home does not have to be a stressful process - let us be your guide and solution.

Our Difference:

Knowledge

Powerful curriculum through Keller Williams University keeps our associates ahead of trends, tools and advancements in the real estate industry.

Teamwork

Unlike other real estate companies, Keller Williams Realty was designed to reward agents for working together, to serve our clients better.

Reliability

Keller Williams Realty was founded on principles of trust and honesty, emphasizing the  importance of having the integrity to do the right thing and always putting our clients needs first and foremost..

Speed

Leading-edge technology solutions accelerate our associates efficiency and productivity. 

The Beginning

Founded in 1983 in Austin, Texas, the company had a total of 32 agents that year who closed $28 million in volume. Keller Williams' first agent, Gary Gentry, wrote the first offer – for $55,000. After an auspicious start, the young company was soon reeling from the loss of seven of its top 10 producers to a competitor and was struggling in a tough Texas economy.

“It was a difficult time,” Gentry reflects. “But in retrospect it was a godsend, because if you learn how to survive and thrive in hard times, then when things change, you are going to do exceptionally well and you’ve been hardened and strengthened through the process. With the kind of training support that Gary [Keller] and Joe [Williams] gave us, we were constantly learning how to adapt to a different market. On a daily basis, we would discuss what the market was doing and what we needed to do to grow our businesses. A lot of our policy and culture was developed during this time.

In 1986, Keller convened the first Associate Leadership Council (ALC) to reinvent Keller Williams from a traditional real estate company into one that would disrupt the industry. He shared his vision to create a new type of real estate company, where a world-class culture focused on the prosperity and well-being of its people would become an environment no agent or team ever wanted or needed to leave.

The ALC's subsequent sessions were the basis of the company's core belief system, the WI4C2TS. They also developed the profit share program, which treats associates who help the company grow as true business partners.

While the company didn't initially benefit from much name recognition or a national presence, Keller knew that by focusing on how the company could attract and retain top industry talent, everything would eventually fall into place.

“Gary Keller and our early leaders had a powerful vision for the kind of company we want to be,” Davis says. “The culture they created continues to permeate everything we do. And by building on that platform of training and technology, we’ve been able to develop systems and models and tools to help everyone achieve more.”

Keller and his colleagues were so focused on helping agents succeed, that in 2002 they brought a team of mega agents together for a mastermind session and raised the question, “What would it take to net a million dollars in personal income?” The brainstorming session resulted in models that would later serve as the basis for Keller’s first book, The Millionaire Real Estate Agent. 

That book, which quickly became a national bestseller and today has sold more than 1 million copies, was the first of its kind to lay out economic, lead generation, budget and organizational models for, but not limited to, real estate agents. It gave Keller Williams a unique and powerful voice in the industry and became a catalyst for the company’s growth.

By 2006, through the leadership of executives like Mo Anderson and Mary Tennant, Keller Williams was the fifth-largest real estate franchise in the United States. Even during the Great Recession, profits grew as agents dug into their businesses and databases. By 2009, the company had moved past Prudential and RE/MAX to become third largest. In 2011, Keller Williams surpassed Century 21 as the number 2 real estate franchise in the country.

Within striking distance of taking the top spot, Keller Williams faced a critical transition. That year, the company's agent count actually declined to roughly 75,000. Now that KW had matured into one of the most formidable sales forces in the industry, it was time to institute more formal systems, accountability, and leadership to ensure that the company's success was predictable and sustainable.