About Keith

Accomplishments:

Original Occupation- Residential Home Designer of Custom Homes

Licensed Realtor® for 10 years

Repeat #1 Individual Agent/ Top Producer/Multi-Million Dollar Producer

Top Listing Agent

Sold more than 30 homes per year for 8 years straight

Expert Marketing

Aerial Drone Video

Professional Interior Video

Floor Plan Tours

Full Color 11x17 Brochures inside AND at the Post

Professional Staging

Feature Signs to treat your home like a Model

Professional Photography

eBlast to over 1000 Area Agents

Utilization of Social Media

Network relationships with other top agents

Personal Service

Keith’s Bio

When Keith Howard of Keller Williams was seventeen years old he held a job like most of his friends did.  Instead of flipping burgers or bagging groceries, however, Keith was designing homes for his own design firm.  Having started his own company when he was just 16, Keith designed his first home the winter of his senior year and by the spring demand for his work was so great that he was designing one home per month.

“I learned not only how to design a home, but how to run a business,” he recalls.  “But I couldn’t have done it without an incredible teacher.”  That teacher was Allan Morton, a former Marine drill sergeant who made it a point to mentor his students.  “He ran his classroom like a mental boot camp, but we learned a great deal from him.”

By the time Keith graduated he was working with two developers, and with individuals who wanted to build homes on their own land.  “I would meet with the clients and they were obviously apprehensive,” he says.  “I was 17 and appeared even younger.  I built a reputation, and I was detail oriented.  So, my customers were getting a lot of attention that others didn’t include.”

“Designing homes was always my first love,” he says.  “In my real estate business that has translated into an ability to look at a property and tell not only whether it’s quality workmanship, but also what the potential is.”

One thing led to another and before long, his reputation had spread so much that a prominent company hired him to help them design an entire community.  It was perfect timing for Keith.  “The housing industry is cyclical so I found myself doing consulting during the down side of designing.  That started with homes, then neighborhoods and then cities.”

Eventually, Keith was designing high tech telecommunications systems for communities, including the fiber optic telecommunications for the 1996 Olympics, held in Atlanta.  “By that time I was working not only in North America, but in South America as well, and traveling all over the Western Hemisphere.”

“I was working for Fortune 500 companies, which was wonderful, but I wanted to know how I got so far away from what I originally was doing,” he recalls.  “So I walked away to come back to the real estate industry, because at the core of it, what really drives me is finding a home that works for my clients.”

As he sees it, he wasn’t giving up much.  “Real estate affords me the ability to do what I love and spent much more time with my family,” he says. 

Keith was an immediate success.  He was the top producer in the office his first month in the industry, a feat that had beating out nearly 200 other agents.  He also garnered the Rookie of the Year award, an incredible feat considering that he only worked for five months of that year.  “My motto is and always has been, ‘At your service,’” he says.  “Because I have been a consultant in the past, I maintain a professional attitude toward my work and toward my clients.  Building relationships and having a strong support team around you is important as well.”

Using a combination of technology and knowledge, Keith provides his clients with detailed search tools to help with the navigational aspects of the industry.  “Tools are tools,” he says.  They are not the answer in real estate or in any other industry.  But having them makes a somewhat confusing process more manageable.”   By marrying technology and service, Keith gives his clients the best of both worlds.  “Constant communication is imperative,” he says.  “But I also make it a point to communicate in the medium of choice of my clients.

As a consultant for many years, Keith has lived his life as a provider of excellent service.  His clients have come to count on and appreciate the difference.  “The first lesson that I learned in this business is that it’s not about me or what I like,” he shares.  “And the second lesson is that the level of competency within the industry leaves something to be desired.  It is essential that my clients have complete confidence in me and in what I am telling them.”

But that confidence extends far beyond the clients.  Keith is well aware that fostering good will in his relationships with his peers not only makes for a more pleasant professional life, but also helps his clients in the long run.  “We work with many different people throughout the course of a transaction,” he shares.  “And if other agents like working with you and they know that they can count on you, you are going to be able to negotiate a better deal for your clients.  When others don’t have trust in you, the situation can deteriorate very quickly.”

A skilled negotiator, Keith is a powerful ally at all of the right times..  “I love to mediate and mitigate,” he laughs.  “I mediate between the two parties and when there are obstacles, I mitigate to help push the process along.  Both parties have a goal, and it’s my job to get these two parties together and to manage the expectations of my clients in such a way as to minimize the drama.  I have been in the business long enough to know properties, and I know how to make things happen.”

His personal favorites, however, are first time homebuyers.  “That is my greatest joy,” he admits.  “There is something so special about turning over those keys.”  Working throughout Fairfax and Loudoun Counties, Keith serves clients with a broad range of needs and desires.  “I have clients who are just out of college as well as I have clients who are retirees and executives.  What I do is to make it a point to spend my energy on meeting their needs, rather than trying to appeal to a narrow area of specialization.  I love it all”

With experience in Fairfax and Loudoun Counties, Keith works extensively to help Buyers and Sellers meet their Real Estate goals.  “Nothing satisfies me more than seeing the smiles that come with a successful sale or purchase of a lifetime.”