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Atlanta Real Estate Truths Buyers & Sellers Need to Hear Right Now

By January 28, 2026Real Estate Pros Show

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Show Summary

In this episode of the Real Estate Pros podcast, host Michelle Kesil speaks with Kelly Willoughby, a realtor in Atlanta specializing in relocations, seniors, and veterans. Kelly shares her journey in real estate, the keys to her business growth, and her goals for the year. She discusses unique market strategies, working with investors, and overcoming obstacles in her career. Kelly also addresses common misconceptions in the market, offers advice for new agents, and shares her insights on the future of the real estate industry. The conversation highlights the importance of building relationships and providing valuable services to clients, especially seniors and veterans.

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    Investor Fuel Show Transcript:

    Kelly Willoughby (00:00)
    A misconception definitely to advise the same thing I just talked about and also the market what the market’s doing, right? ⁓ You know, some houses are selling quick and some are not because you have to have them ready. So if you want to sell your house fast price it right have it stage right do landscaping a lot of things go into play, right? So the misconception is the market’s going to crash. It’s not going to crash every year. The prices of homes go up 25%.

    So right now a median home used to be 300,000 in Atlanta or know, it’s for regular average home on the suburbs. Right now it’s 400,000. If you want a home, moving ready home that is a decent home, a decent neighborhood, we’re talking about 400,000 now, it’s not gonna crash. They thought last year’s gonna crash and I have buyers last year that waited. And it’s every year, it’s just gonna keep on going up, it’s not gonna crash.

    Michelle Kesil (02:25)
    Hey everybody, welcome to the Real Estate Pros podcast. I’m your host, Michelle Kesil. Today I’m joined by someone I’m looking forward to chatting with, Kelly Willoughby, who is a realtor in Atlanta, specializing in relocations, seniors, and veterans. So excited to have you here today, Kelly.

    Kelly Willoughby (02:45)
    Hello, hello everyone.

    Michelle Kesil (02:47)
    Yeah, thanks for being here. I think our listeners are going to take something away from your specialty in the Atlanta area. So let’s dive in.

    Kelly Willoughby (02:56)
    Absolutely, let’s go.

    Michelle Kesil (02:58)
    First off, for those who are not yet familiar with you and your work, can you share what your main focus is?

    Kelly Willoughby (03:05)
    Sure, I’m a local real estate agent here in North Metro Atlanta. So from a small town called Lilburn in the metro area and my sixth generation native. So I consider myself a local expert, right? ⁓ I know the area very well and I do represent my specialty is seniors relocations and veterans ⁓ because you know, that’s something that no matter what the economy is doing or those things are doing, they’re gonna always need help, right? So that’s.

    Pretty much what I do and also local community work, ⁓ charity events, so volunteering is a big thing that I do here and enjoy it very much.

    Michelle Kesil (03:43)
    Awesome. How did you start your career in real estate?

    Kelly Willoughby (03:48)
    Sure, I started in 2003 part-time, which is kind of funny. I ran daycares, I had three children at the time, and next door was Century 21. So I did it part-time from 2003 to 2011, and my children were small, and of course got out with the big, you know what happened back in the day with that, and it just wasn’t feasible to do that part-time with the economy and how real estate was at the time. So I got out and I got back in in 2022. My kids are all grown.

    and went back into the focus of ⁓ back into real estate and helping families. I love it.

    Michelle Kesil (04:25)
    Awesome. What are some of the main keys that you feel have made the biggest difference in allowing your business to be able to grow and to run smoothly?

    Kelly Willoughby (04:37)
    I think for me, lot of it is referral and social media. ⁓ We didn’t have social media back in the day, right? So having ⁓ my spirit of influence, I know a lot of people from what I do, but you can’t talk to everybody every day, right? So having the social media, which is how I found this program, which is Instagram, Facebook, and posting all the time, it turns to a snowball. People are watching what I’m doing. my gosh, I saw you on this. I saw you on that. I see you’re doing this. I see you’re doing that. So definitely having those platforms and social media.

    helps a lot for that.

    Michelle Kesil (05:59)
    Yeah, absolutely. And what do you feel has like allowed you to be able to grow and have success besides like your network?

    Kelly Willoughby (06:11)
    Sure, so getting involved in the community. ⁓ I meet a lot of veterans and seniors. I am involved in veteran programs. ⁓ I volunteer a lot at senior facilities. do a cruise in, so I have classic cars also. ⁓ And I do a cruise in at senior facilities. I do cruise ins at veterans for veterans events, for charities, and local festivals and parades. And I meet more people.

    that can be leads for me, right, and build relationships with. That’s the whole thing. It’s all about relationship building.

    Michelle Kesil (06:45)
    Yeah, absolutely. Relationships are everything in this space.

    Kelly Willoughby (06:49)
    Yes.

    Michelle Kesil (06:52)
    What are you most focused on solving or scaling to this year?

    Kelly Willoughby (06:58)
    Sure, everybody should be focused on their goals. So I have done a business plan. And my goal this year is definitely to increase my business. ⁓ But doing that by doing more ⁓ YouTube influencing, giving more pertinent information from my area, becoming an area expert, building my YouTube channel, ⁓ and building my online presence as far as Google Business page, the actual YouTube, and so on. And just building.

    that relationship and meeting more people.

    Michelle Kesil (07:32)
    Yeah, what about when it comes to like your market and the real estate, any goals you have there?

    Kelly Willoughby (07:40)
    It’s an increasing business for sure as anybody’s goal, but just to get out there. I’m working a lot right now as I start the year with my already people who know, love and trust me my sphere of influence reaching out to them and making sure that they don’t need anything from me, letting them know if they need you know if someone they know needs help that I’m here for them. If you know somebody moving relocating having a child any of those things I’m here to help and just being recognized as that area expert.

    Michelle Kesil (08:12)
    Absolutely. Are there any specific strategies that you focus on or find most helpful?

    Kelly Willoughby (08:19)
    I think everybody knows an agent, right? Everybody has a brother, sister, mother. So one thing I do when I have someone I think, you know, that I meet and I know, I ask, you know, do you have a sister or anybody you would recommend as your agent, right? If you needed some advice or information that way I can figure out who would actually need me and who wouldn’t, right? I’m here for everybody. It doesn’t matter for advice. I call myself an advisor, not a salesman. I hate the word salesman. I’m definitely an advisor. So, um,

    Another thing that I do that people can differentiate me from another agent is they call me I got a guy. So by working in the communities and networking, I meet a lot of small businesses. So somebody would call me saying, hey, I need an air conditioned guy. Hey, I need a plumber. And I have two referrals per industry from meeting people that are local business owners and small business owners. They can call and get some great personal service. I think that helps a lot too.

    Michelle Kesil (09:17)
    Yeah, definitely. And when it comes to like your market, is there anything in particular that’s like unique to it for the housing?

    Kelly Willoughby (09:27)
    I think by having, so I do from luxury to seniors to lots to anything. I don’t really particularly say, hey, I’m not going to do something, right? As far as residential. So I think having the specialty and the knowledge of the probate designation, the foreclosure source designation, the luxury, the luxury, all those things that I have helps with navigating, helping anybody.

    and give them the best advice that I can.

    Michelle Kesil (10:35)
    Awesome. And tell me about your work with investors.

    Kelly Willoughby (10:40)
    Sure, so a lot of times, ⁓ once you’ve done one or two deals, you get that phone call coming, hey, do you have anything off market that we can work with? ⁓ And right now, with investors in particularly, it’s good because they’ve learned the facts that people, know, my time’s worth something, right? So in the past, it was like, okay, if it’s not on the market, then you won’t pay me, right? But people navigate now to work out deals and to be able to pay for my services.

    And I find rare properties that are going on the market before they are listed and working with seniors, veterans, people with families, they’ve been in the house for years, right? And they need some work. They need clean out help. Working with them, that’s particularly, it’s great for my seniors because they’re not gonna be so stressed out about, it’s in the market, okay, we have a seller or okay, I have to clean all these things out before I leave. So I have estate planners, all those people, junk people that will come and help.

    With that process, the investor is happy because they get the house. Some of these investors even clean up the house for you. And that’s been one of the best things with investors is they’ll come through, they’ll meet my seniors and use local investors only who live in our area, right? And that helps the comfort and ease. You’re not coming from China and trying to do a property here. I use only local investors that I know, love and trust also ⁓ that will make that deal, make them feel comfortable and help them with the timeframe.

    help them know they don’t have to stress. It’s very stressful, very, very stressful. And worry about cleaning up some things that are just really left over. If the families that have their mom die, dad die, and they don’t know what the heck to do with everything, estate planners. So the team that I have working with them and the actual investors themselves, it’s a great circle and it works out good.

    Michelle Kesil (12:33)
    Yeah, amazing. I love that. What are some of the biggest obstacles that you’ve overcome in your real estate career?

    Kelly Willoughby (12:44)
    ⁓ obstacles is definitely trying to advise people. You always say I can list your house or I can sell your house, right? ⁓ and being that advisor that says, you know, you may think your house is worth this, but I’m showing you right here. I tried to show them actual comp sales in the last 30 days and give them a real idea of what their home is worth. And he just sometimes just don’t want to hear it.

    So I do go ahead and list it, right? And it doesn’t say in the market and it’s just people just listening and just trusting what I’m saying, right? And that’s really hard to do. You can think, of course your home is worth X amount to you, but if someone is showing you the actual facts to sell it properly, to take down all the personal items and navigating through that as far as sellers too is hard. But for you to the market, you gotta really do a lot of things to stay at home, right?

    And that does mean taking down personal items. So you really ready for this or you not? And sometimes they’re ready, sometimes they’re not. Buyers as well. Hey, I’m a buyer. I’m gonna go look for houses and I wanna buy this house today, but I don’t even have a lender yet. I try to advise them, go ahead and get the lender. When you’re thinking about buying a house, go ahead and get that lender, talk to somebody. And I have local family operated brokers that will listen and not just say, hey, fill application out. They’ll give you advice, they’ll tell you what to do, and you can be ready to buy the home.

    under contract that you’re fully approved. So just giving that advice and when people listen is kind of the hardest thing that I navigate all the time.

    Michelle Kesil (14:14)
    Yeah, absolutely I can imagine that. What are some common misconceptions that you advise clients through?

    Kelly Willoughby (14:16)
    Yeah.

    A misconception definitely to advise the same thing I just talked about and also the market what the market’s doing, right? ⁓ You know, some houses are selling quick and some are not because you have to have them ready. So if you want to sell your house fast price it right have it stage right do landscaping a lot of things go into play, right? So the misconception is the market’s going to crash. It’s not going to crash every year. The prices of homes go up 25%.

    So right now a median home used to be 300,000 in Atlanta or know, it’s for regular average home on the suburbs. Right now it’s 400,000. If you want a home, moving ready home

    that is a decent home, a decent neighborhood, we’re talking about 400,000 now, it’s not gonna crash. They thought last year’s gonna crash and I have buyers last year that waited. And it’s every year, it’s just gonna keep on going up, it’s not gonna crash.

    Michelle Kesil (16:02)
    Yeah, why do you think people think that?

    Kelly Willoughby (16:05)
    I think that because they’re just misinformed. ⁓ Scared tactics for everything, right? So there’s tax about the economy, there’s their taxes about home sales, and you just really need factual information. And that’s just the hardest part about social media, there’s pros and cons, right? And one con is just there’s so much false information out there. When someone does post real factual information, here is the statistics, this is from, and proper areas, so the National Association of Realtors.

    the joint association of realtors in your local area. You need to follow those and listen to those and not just the hype.

    Michelle Kesil (16:44)
    Yeah, definitely. That’s important to do your research.

    Kelly Willoughby (16:47)
    Yes, do your research 100%.

    Michelle Kesil (16:51)
    Yeah. What are some tips you have maybe for those just starting out in real estate?

    Kelly Willoughby (16:58)
    Sure, for an agent just starting out in real estate, some people think, my gosh, I don’t know anybody, I’m not going to make anything. And that’s not true. So don’t be a silent agent. Get involved. Always, and a good association, which I’m a part of a great association, the local board director of our area. We have 5,400 agents in our association. But finding association that is not in competition, that you can talk to a mentor or leader.

    and they can advise you, get a mentor, get a coach. I recommend definitely coaching. ⁓ There’s coaching that’s expensive, there’s coaching you get just from finding a local person like myself, I do that a lot to local people, for advisement ⁓ about what you need to do to navigate. if you’re new, doesn’t mean you need to tell everybody. Don’t be quiet. Put on Facebook, social media, I’m a local agent, yay. This is your business to talk about. There’s nothing wrong with it as long as it stays positive and good.

    and informative, you’ll be fine.

    Michelle Kesil (17:58)
    Yeah, absolutely. And what kind of coaching support do you offer?

    Kelly Willoughby (18:02)
    Mine is just advice, right? So I’m not a coach. I don’t claim myself as a coach. My thing is if somebody needs some help, I would advise them through it. And if I don’t know about it, I’ll send it to somebody who does.

    I don’t try to make myself an expert or something I’m not an expert on. So if they ask about financing, here’s my lender. If they ask about coaching, here’s a coach. You know what saying? Like different things, I’ll advise them for different things I’m not an expert on. I’m an expert on real estate, but I’m not an expert on everything else. So I got a guy, like I said. Yes.

    Michelle Kesil (18:37)
    Right? Makes sense.

    What do you kind of foresee for this coming year in the real estate industry?

    Kelly Willoughby (18:45)
    Sure, like I said, I’m involved in our local association, being the front lines is why I do that. And we’re seeing a great spring and summer. We’re seeing interest rates coming down, which is always great. ⁓ Seeing more homes, more inventory, I’m just gonna come up for the spring and summer. But the Metro Atlanta area is definitely booming. I always tell my buyers, you’re not just buying a home, so focus on the sales price, focus on the area and the neighborhoods and your investment.

    So ⁓ everything’s looking good from an area. There’s areas that that’s why you need an agent that knows the area, not just anybody, right? You want to find an agent that can navigate through the neighborhood, besides the tracks. There’s different areas you want to invest in. You’re not just buying a house. So knowing those neighborhoods to invest in, knowing those areas ⁓ and just find your best place to put your investment in. Buying a house is not buying a house, it’s buying an investment.

    Michelle Kesil (19:45)
    Yeah, absolutely. And you mentioned your specialty is like the seniors and the veterans. Can you expand on that?

    Kelly Willoughby (19:52)
    Sure. So for seniors and veterans, I love working with them. Obviously, veterans sometimes they just don’t know the benefits they get. I they start their country. There’s a lot of benefits and programs for them, including we also have a lot with our police, fire, military. So we have different programs for them also. But I just love helping them because they just don’t. There’s so many things that come into play. And for seniors, it’s so stressful. They’re leaving their lifetime home.

    They have a ⁓ big house that they have and they don’t know what to do. They’re gonna have to change their scenery, downsize, and most of them don’t like changes, right? So navigating through that process, helping the families, normally it’s a daughter or a son trying to help that parent and it’s very stressful and very mental, right? And just navigating the process, having those people ready for them, veterans knowing what programs they have available for them.

    A lot of them are even renting right now. Why rent? When you rent, you’re just giving, you’re paying for someone else’s mortgage or investment. So I’ve helped a lot of veterans get that home, which, whether it’s small amount or a huge amount, that is really the best one for everybody. Just getting that thank you from them. That means more to me than any amount of money could ever give me.

    Michelle Kesil (21:14)
    Yeah, absolutely. Sounds very rewarding.

    Kelly Willoughby (21:17)
    It is.

    Michelle Kesil (21:20)
    Yeah. Is there anything that you are looking forward as far as opportunities for this year?

    Kelly Willoughby (21:28)
    Sure, just the opportunity that if someone needs, you know, I have my, name of my company is KJW estate services. The services mean that it doesn’t mean I’m just going to buy and sell your home or whatever. It means that I’m going to offer advice, offer services you might need. And sometimes I don’t even buy or sell a house. I just give advice, offer someone else’s service that can help you. So that’s kind of what, you know, what I offer and not just being that real estate agent. More relationships.

    getting in contact with people.

    Michelle Kesil (22:02)
    Yeah, definitely. It sounds like you’re very relationship oriented, which is important.

    Kelly Willoughby (22:07)
    Yes, definitely.

    Michelle Kesil (22:11)
    Are there any other tips you have for building relationships?

    Kelly Willoughby (22:16)
    Sure, mean, the number one tip is listening, right? Not making it about you, making it about that person, getting to know them before you start talking about yourself, hearing what their needs are, or even just asking about them and finding out more. Just do question and answers and letting them run the show and find out more about them before you just, you know, making it about yourself.

    Michelle Kesil (22:44)
    Yeah, definitely. I love that. Thanks for sharing your perspective.

    Kelly Willoughby (22:48)
    Yes, absolutely.

    Michelle Kesil (22:50)
    So before we wrap up here, if somebody wants to reach out, connect, learn more, where can people find you and connect with you?

    Kelly Willoughby (22:58)
    sure you can find me on social media or online so Kelly Willoughby and if you look for me on online Kelly Willoughby Realtor there is other actors and actresses as I found out my name so Kelly Willoughby Realtor and that just pulls up everything about me on the internet but also on Facebook ⁓ Kelly Willoughby Realtor also and KJW real estate services ⁓ and my website is KW real estate services no J KW

    real estate services for my website, but I do have TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube channels.

    Michelle Kesil (23:36)
    Perfect. Appreciate your time, your story, your perspective. Thanks for being here.

    Kelly Willoughby (23:41)
    Sure, and I’ll go ahead and tell my phone number if you’re local in the North Metro Atlanta area. Phone number is 678-724-1955. I’m here for for anything from services to buying or selling or just advice. I’m here.

    Michelle Kesil (23:43)
    Go ahead.

    Awesome. Thank you, Kelly.

    Kelly Willoughby (23:59)
    Absolutely.

    Michelle Kesil (24:01)
    And for the listeners tuning in, you got value, make sure you’ve subscribed. We’ve got more conversations with operators like Kelly who are building real businesses, and we’ll see you on the next episode.

     

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