- 3 days ago
HousingWire’s acquisition of Keeping Current Matters (KCM) takes center stage in this episode as Tracey Velt sits down with KCM President David Childers to discuss what the deal means for agents, brokers and the future of real estate market intelligence. Childers shares the story behind KCM’s nearly 20-year mission of helping agents understand and communicate market trends, transforming complex housing data into practical, consumer-friendly insights that build confidence and trust.
The conversation explores why local market knowledge matters more than ever in today’s highly fragmented housing environment. While national headlines often dominate consumer perceptions, Childers explains that real estate remains intensely local, with some markets seeing price growth while others experience price declines. By combining HousingWire’s research, Altos market analytics, RealTrends performance insights, and KCM’s communication tools, agents will have greater access to actionable data that helps them explain market realities to buyers and sellers.
Childers also addresses some of the biggest misconceptions consumers have about today’s housing market, including expectations of a major home price correction. He explains why inventory shortages, homeowner equity positions, and locked-in low mortgage rates continue to support pricing in many markets, despite affordability challenges. The discussion highlights the growing need for agents to confidently explain changing market conditions, seller concessions, inventory trends, and shifting buyer expectations.
The episode concludes with a look ahead at the future of HousingWire Solutions and how the combined strengths of KCM, Altos, RealTrends, and HousingWire can help agents become more informed local experts. Childers emphasizes that the agents who consistently communicate accurate market information—and understand both national and local trends—will be best positioned to win trust, attract clients, and grow their businesses.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
HousingWire’s acquisition of KCM expands access to market intelligence, data, and agent resources.
Local market knowledge is more important than ever in today’s uneven housing market.
Inventory remains the key metric driving home prices and market conditions.
Many consumers still misunderstand why home prices have remained resilient.
Agents who can clearly explain market trends build greater trust with clients.
Seller concessions are becoming more common as buyers gain negotiating power.
Consistent market communication helps agents stand out and win more business.
The combined strengths of KCM, Altos, RealTrends, and HousingWire create new opportunities for agent growth and education.
Related to this episode:
David Childers' LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dechilders/
Keeping Current Matters
https://www.keepingcurrentmatters.com/overview/?kcm_utm_medium=cpc&kcm_utm_source=google&kcm_utm_term=keeping%20current%20matters&kcm_utm_campaign
The conversation explores why local market knowledge matters more than ever in today’s highly fragmented housing environment. While national headlines often dominate consumer perceptions, Childers explains that real estate remains intensely local, with some markets seeing price growth while others experience price declines. By combining HousingWire’s research, Altos market analytics, RealTrends performance insights, and KCM’s communication tools, agents will have greater access to actionable data that helps them explain market realities to buyers and sellers.
Childers also addresses some of the biggest misconceptions consumers have about today’s housing market, including expectations of a major home price correction. He explains why inventory shortages, homeowner equity positions, and locked-in low mortgage rates continue to support pricing in many markets, despite affordability challenges. The discussion highlights the growing need for agents to confidently explain changing market conditions, seller concessions, inventory trends, and shifting buyer expectations.
The episode concludes with a look ahead at the future of HousingWire Solutions and how the combined strengths of KCM, Altos, RealTrends, and HousingWire can help agents become more informed local experts. Childers emphasizes that the agents who consistently communicate accurate market information—and understand both national and local trends—will be best positioned to win trust, attract clients, and grow their businesses.
Here’s a glimpse of what you’ll learn:
HousingWire’s acquisition of KCM expands access to market intelligence, data, and agent resources.
Local market knowledge is more important than ever in today’s uneven housing market.
Inventory remains the key metric driving home prices and market conditions.
Many consumers still misunderstand why home prices have remained resilient.
Agents who can clearly explain market trends build greater trust with clients.
Seller concessions are becoming more common as buyers gain negotiating power.
Consistent market communication helps agents stand out and win more business.
The combined strengths of KCM, Altos, RealTrends, and HousingWire create new opportunities for agent growth and education.
Related to this episode:
David Childers' LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dechilders/
Keeping Current Matters
https://www.keepingcurrentmatters.com/overview/?kcm_utm_medium=cpc&kcm_utm_source=google&kcm_utm_term=keeping%20current%20matters&kcm_utm_campaign
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00you know the old saying know your numbers it's especially important when we talk about market
00:13numbers and housing wire has big news where we acquired keeping current matters and this podcast
00:20is with david childers he is the president of keeping current matters and we talk all about
00:26trends in the market the future of kcm with the housing wire solutions brand that it is moving
00:35under and all things data so enjoy the podcast so david welcome to the award-winning real trending
00:42podcast listen i'm excited about it congratulations on the award that's amazing thank you i appreciate
00:49it um it's been a number of years i've been doing this so it's always exciting when you
00:54uh get recognized for the work you do so yeah for sure for sure congratulations i'm excited to
01:00be on we've got some big news i know talk about that yeah so that is even bigger news than
01:07the
01:07podcast um so congratulations so why don't we talk a little bit about that first and um
01:15you know let the audience know exactly what is going on with um you know kcm and housing wire
01:21sure yeah yeah so you know this past uh week or i'm trying to get my dates correct you know
01:28official uh we joined as keeping current matters the the housing wire uh family couldn't be more
01:34excited and proud about that you know i was telling our team it's interesting um we already used housing
01:41wire data inside of our product always quote logan and you know different things that uh that housing
01:49wires producing so it's kind of a full circle moment where coming together i think for the future
01:55of um for for agents for what keeping current matters has always done it just gets stronger
02:02and creates a uh you know a better platform to help agents communicate what's happening in the market
02:08yeah and and so let's get into that a little bit deeper i want people um who may have heard
02:13of
02:13keeping current matters but don't know exactly what you do and what problems you solve so why don't you
02:21go into that a little and then maybe go into um the depth of what will be possible with the
02:28new um
02:29affiliation with housing wire yeah sure so i i think for us uh what let me back up and let
02:36me tell you
02:37the story of keeping current matters so i met um steve harney who was the founder gosh almost 20
02:43years ago he owned the largest real estate company kind of in long island and wanted to help agents
02:49understand what was happening in the market that was really his push you know and that was kind of
02:54pre-2008 heading like six seven into 2008 and um so started building a resource of subscription
03:03model back then before you know kind of subscriptions were a thing um where people could get almost a
03:10podcast of what was happening in the market what's going on with foreclosures and short sales and all
03:15sorts of different things and that has now you know almost 20 years later turned into a resource that
03:23gosh tens of thousands of agents use every single week to communicate to their buyers and sellers
03:30what uh you know what's happening in the market you we do that through videos and through social media
03:35posts we still do uh it's called the monthly market report which is what steve started with
03:40um and so all sorts of resources that help agents communicate to those that they want to do business
03:47with you know it's it's funny in our office we have a wall that says we believe every family should
03:52feel confident whether buying or selling a home and that's what you know has driven the work that we've done
03:56that's great um and so let's talk about kind of um local market intelligence um so why does local
04:04context matter so much in the market and how does this affiliation with housing lawyer help you achieve
04:12even deeper um insight into those local markets yeah i think the you know what's the you know the the
04:21the phrase always in real estate was location location location you know i think in in the content
04:26business and understanding real estate it's local local local right um i would even say right now it's
04:34even more important because we probably live in one of the most uh you know disparate different markets
04:42uh you know of our lifetime you know if you i looked at the top 50 markets in this country
04:49the
04:49other day you know half of them are up in price half of them are down in price you know
04:54so i think
04:55understanding local is critically important because of that you know it's a lot of that's due to to
05:01inventory and you know markets that saw a rise during covid dramatic rise during covid maybe you're seeing more
05:07uh you know flat pricing or slightly down pricing right now markets that are starved for inventory or growing
05:15so having a handle on the local market is critical i think there are two things that are important but
05:19that's
05:19critically important first is you know you have to understand the national real estate economy
05:25because every time a client or somebody we're working with turns on the news or listens to something
05:30they hear about what's happening nationally uh and then you need to be able to say okay right here where
05:34we're at
05:35in richmond virginia or dallas texas or wherever it is um this is what's happening in our market so that
05:42you really can give them the best advice and oh by the way there are a lot of people moving
05:46from market to
05:47market maybe one's operating a different way is anything changing um with keeping current matters
05:53in the near future for those of those who are already uh signed up for it well i wouldn't say
05:59changing
06:00in a way that we're going to change what we do um it's funny i i was at a meeting
06:04with mark and clayton
06:06earlier today talking about how we bring the best things that altos does you know mike and
06:12altos joined the housing wire family a couple years ago and i i think one of the things that will
06:18strengthen inside of kcm is access to local information and local reporting um easier ways to
06:26share that with those that you're working with um and so no we're not doing anything uh right now but
06:32i think it will get stronger in the months uh to come and how we serve clients yeah i'm very
06:38very
06:39excited about that um and you've always been really strong at kind of translating national market trends
06:45into agent friendly messaging so the how does the housing wire integration help you make that
06:50more specific and more actionable well i think you know the the biggest challenge a lot of times we've
06:58had at keeping current matters is taking maybe this complex idea and breaking it down to how do we
07:05understand it what does this mean ultimately to agents um you know i think housing wire and certainly i
07:13would i would shout out to logan and all the great work that he does um i think our team
07:19is able to
07:20come alongside that and say okay how do we build um tools and resources and communication that shows
07:26people this is what's happening in the market um and and so i think the combination of all the things
07:33that housing wire brings the table from data to analysis to you know all the the uh the valuable
07:39pieces of content we can come alongside and say okay here's what that means to the ultimate you know
07:45buyer or seller yeah yeah logan is phenomenal i i he has helped me understand the economy in general
07:53better um just through through the way he presents the information he does it in a way that simplifies
08:01it for everyone um and kind of gets to the heart of what you need to know right now and
08:06i think that's
08:07what keeping current matters has also done um in the past and will continue to do it maybe even a
08:14deeper
08:14level moving forward and i want to talk a little bit about misconceptions that consumers might have
08:21about the market right now and how agents can use better data um to it to come up with language
08:30that
08:30helps them um helps them helps consumers understand what's going on um i think that's a great question
08:38you know i think probably one of the there's there are a couple of big misconceptions and i think it
08:44centers around prices of homes and will they come down you know most people that aren't in our business
08:52think well the price of a house down the street went up dramatically over the last five years and it
08:58did
08:58in just about every market the second thought sort of in that progression is there's no way that house
09:05is worth that and what goes up must come down you know and and i think that's very logical thinking
09:13if i wasn't in the business i would think the same thing but when you start to study what's happening
09:18in
09:18real estate the reason that prices rose so dramatically and i think everybody knows it in our business
09:25is because there aren't enough homes in this country for the number of people that have wanted to buy
09:29them oh by the way you you have an influx of capital into the system you have mortgage rates at
09:36a
09:36dramatically you know historically low point and people jumped in and bought and drove the price of
09:42homes up now here's what's interesting those you know very similar the rise in price was very similar to
09:472008. what's different today is 40 of the homes in this country are owned free and clear
09:54yeah there's there's almost 30 that have at least 50 equity um those that have a mortgage by and large
10:06have a wonderful rate on their home right they almost couldn't go out and rent an apartment for what their
10:14mortgage payment you know is and so when you look at those factors there are no forced sellers in this
10:22environment matter of fact it causes problems because people are like we'll stay we're gonna
10:26stay in our house forever right we're not going anywhere i think they will eventually do something
10:31at some point but anybody waiting around for this market to sort of fall in price or crash or whatever
10:39word you want to use um it probably doesn't understand those underlying dynamics and i think
10:45sometimes in our business we think well i know that you know clients certainly they should know that or
10:50i've said that before they should know that and by and large they don't um there are a lot of
10:55misconceptions in real estate that that people you know sort of have everybody has an opinion about
11:02real estate that is one thing that's for sure right whether you own a home you don't own a home
11:07whatever
11:07it is that they people have an opinion but but i think the pricing piece and the rise in price
11:13and is
11:13the market going to come down uh it's probably one of the misunderstood pieces yeah yeah and honestly um
11:20you know the real trends verified top agents and teams understand that and obviously understand um
11:28they we have more uh qualified agents and teams this year than last year in a tough market um and
11:36you know some of it is just mindset as well having the information that you need and not going into
11:42transactions assuming that nothing's going to be you know nothing's going to work or i'm not going to sell
11:50anything because the market's so bad um and and i think being armed with the market statistics that
11:56you need and the market information that you need helps you to become more confident as a real estate
12:01agent as well to to just go out there and sell no matter what the market is because the market
12:08doesn't matter i think this i think your point there is is accurate i think regardless of what you're
12:13you need to have access to this information yeah you need to be able to show people what's happening
12:17right now yeah absolutely um so rates inventory we talked about affordability buyer hesitation they're
12:24all part of kind of that current story um what is the market narrative you think agents need to be
12:30able to explain more clearly right now you know probably one of the biggest things that you see on
12:36facebook and you know their social platforms and on media platforms you know cnbc or whatever you
12:44know yes the number of people that have pulled their home off the market um and it's a dramatic
12:51it's at the almost the highest rate of what it was back when covid came on the scene right and
12:59everybody
12:59said hey look we're not gonna we don't want anybody coming in our home right back back then back in
13:04yeah march of 2020 and i think the reason for that the agents need to understand is there's a
13:11disconnect between buyers and sellers right now buyers are ready for some deals and sellers are like
13:17well we want to sell it for again what the home down the street just sold for yeah um and
13:23i think being
13:24able to to to articulate to a seller why homes are being pulled off the market i mean their homes
13:31are
13:31staying on the market longer uh you know i i read a fascinating staff that um i think it's almost
13:3870 percent of transactions right now sellers are paying closing costs again that their concessions
13:45being added back so the market is changing and uh and people need to be able to show uh those
13:51that
13:52they're working with the facts of that yeah even in charlotte my son and his wife just bought a house
13:58and um they were shocked when they didn't have multiple offers on that house because of the
14:05neighborhood it was in and that and then they got quite a few concessions from the seller as well
14:10because i think the seller was surprised as well um and it's a hot charlotte's pretty hot market
14:16so you might have been a fluke i don't know but um they were really happy with with what they
14:23got the
14:24seller was happy everybody was happy so yeah so yeah excuse me that's the shift in the market right
14:31now these buyers are out there looking and they're ready to go sellers are like hey we want to get
14:37prices like we we've seen and uh you know if if the house is not in great shape and a
14:44good place then
14:45may not be a multiple offer scenario yeah definitely um so for brokers um brokerages or team leaders
14:53perspective i mean how can kcm um create consistency in how agents talk about the market yeah that's a
15:01great question i think every every broker every team leader wants agents in the market that are
15:10articulate uh to what's going on right and so you know i i oftentimes and people have told me this
15:18that some of the things that we do um keeping current matters almost for a broker are like a
15:26sales meeting in a box right you you could take the tool literally and go hey here's what we're
15:30going to talk about this week or this month in our sales meeting here's what's happening in real
15:35estate and so i think it does a couple of things one it brings the topics that are most important
15:40to
15:41buyers and sellers front of mind two it gives the leader some ways to show it visually you know
15:46the slides and graphics that we produce and three it can give the team sort of a sense of confidence
15:54to step into a situation and say hey i know what i'm talking about this is what's going on this
15:59is
15:59you know what i see happening out in the market whether it be for mortgage rates or inventory or
16:04prices or whatever the topic is um it's where i see most people being confused right now kind of
16:10going i'm not sure what i'm gonna say yeah i think it's a great retention tool for brokers and team
16:15leaders who want their agents to be more productive um it gives them a tool to help them to help
16:22them do
16:22that as well so so yeah um so housing wire now has kcm altos real trends and they're all under
16:29our
16:29housing wire solutions so when you think of all those assets together um what becomes possible that
16:37wasn't possible before well it's a great question you know and and i think the just even the story of
16:42real trends right now i feel like i see it everywhere you know on people posting things and
16:47um i think really for altos and for kcm there's this sort of one-two punch of market information
16:55and reports right that's going to become true inside of this new relationship and i think for for real
17:03trends i i think figuring out a way to um you know sort of show the top teams and agents
17:10in this country
17:11this is how you can confidently communicate the market you know it's what the opportunity is
17:16yeah absolutely um so looking ahead what would you love kcm to become over the next few years
17:28you know i i think every agent in this country wants to be the knowledgeable expert in the market
17:36right everybody wants to be that things get in the way there are a lot of things that um you
17:42know
17:43in the business you have to do beyond studying the market right i think that's but everybody wants to do
17:50it so i think creating a platform that makes it easier for agents to understand it um to visualize
17:58it meaning for their their clients and say i don't mean like a giant graphic that it takes you five
18:03hours to understand yeah um but but understand it visualize it and then talk about it so the more
18:10things that we can do that make it easier for agents to do that i think everybody wins all right
18:16i've
18:16got a lightning round for you so first thing that comes to mind um one market set every agent should
18:23be watching right now easy that's inventory so you show me a market where inventory is growing it'll
18:29have an effect on price it's flatter down show me a market where inventory is starved and you'll see
18:34you'll see prices up dramatically absolutely um national data or local data which wins the appointment
18:41i think local data wins the appointment best use of ai for agents right now wow say what's happening in
18:49my market right now that's great um and the last one is most underrated skill for agents this year
18:55most underrated skill i don't know if this is a skill or not but it's consistency yeah absolutely
19:03yeah most most people that share content share a piece or two and they're like well i did that but
19:08i'm not going to do it but consistency i think is the skill that wins in the market yeah i
19:12know that
19:13i decided i was going to be more active on linkedin and so i'm trying to post every single
19:19day something that is happening in the industry so for those of you listening look me up on linkedin
19:25and interact with my posts please go follow tracy in the award-winning real trending that's right
19:33well david thanks so much for joining the real trending podcast it is always a pleasure i'm sure you
19:38be on many more times in the next year or so so we could talk market stats and trends and
19:46and what's
19:46going on so congratulations and welcome to the housing wire family yeah absolutely
Comments