ON THE LEVEL: Maren Brisson-Kuester: New CRRA president talks technology and the housing market — and curling up with a good set of listings

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Maren Brisson-Kuester describes herself as a worker bee.

She volunteered for over a decade at the Charlotte Regional Realtors Association before recently being named its 2015 president. The 35-year-old juggles a hectic schedule: She is a broker with Cottingham Chalk Hayes Realtors, the mother of two young boys, and president of the CRRA subsidiary, Carolina Multiple Listing Services Inc.

Most nights, the Charlotte native says, she can be found curled up reviewing home-listing sheets.

Brisson-Kuester says a long history of engineering and construction management within her family – as well as a love of houses and interaction with others – prompted her interest in real estate.

She met her future husband, Shaw, whose family had been in real estate for more than 40 years, a month before the two of them decided to attend the Mingle School of Real Estate. Equipped with a license, she then went on to work for Bissell-Hayes.

Brisson-Kuester is the youngest person to serve as president of the CRRA, a nonprofit trade and lobbying organization.

In an interview with The Mecklenburg Times, Brisson-Keuster describes her life and important issues for the CRRA this year. In addition, she describes her views on Charlotte’s path emerging from the housing crisis and the future of the local market.

What is a typical day like? An interview from time to time. I like to try to attend committee meetings when I can, or meetings with groups, boards or associations. We have executive meetings on various days. My other days are spent listing and selling properties. I’m a full-time broker and am doing that as much as anything else. And two or three days a week I sit in a carpool waiting for my oldest son and then we run our sports circuit in the afternoons. It’s a whole lot of everything put together.

What are some issues you’d like to tackle this year? We’ve got the whole redevelopment of our association property here. That’s a continuing process that we have going on. What really matters to me most this year is that we, as members and brokers, truly understand our intrinsic value so we can directly and positively communicate it to the public. One of our initiatives at the association this year is to remind the consumer of the value of using a Realtor. Marketing and communication committees are coming up with a plan for that.

How do you think the changes in technology will affect the industry? I don’t view technology as a problem, a challenge or a hindrance to our industry. I use it to harness it. I think potentially some practicing brokers feel a bit threatened by technology, but I think some of the things that we are doing for our local members, such as our recent tech open house, going over all of the new technology platforms that we have for our members and getting everybody engaged in the new era of how to do business, is going to assuage those fears.

I do feel you must have people in a service industry, it can’t ever be technology. We are not a sales industry; we are in a service-providing position. There has to be a person there – whether you digest the technology and data or handle vendors, person-to-person and relationship management or negotiations. You’ll never be able to negotiate over a computer.  But, I love the new technology. I love to be able to pull up a house and get all the information.

How would you describe the change in dynamics in the residential real estate market in Charlotte since the housing crisis began in 2008? Although we were impacted, of course, we were also blessed. Our market did not crash nearly as much as others in the downturn. I firmly believe it’s because we are conservative – not socially, but fiscally. We’re conservative in every sense, from city spending to how we inflate our market values here. Yes, we have pockets that had double-digit appreciation, but those were the ones that were hardest hit. On average, if you stay at 4 to 5 percent annual market appreciation, you are exactly where you want to be – conservative, steady growth. We are there now. We took a huge hit, we got hurt, our unemployment levels were high. But they are going down now, consumer spending is rising again, values in properties are starting to increase and sellers are gaining more confidence. We’re starting to see normalized and sustainable market appreciation rates again.

We’re in a healthy market curve that we think will continue at least into 2015 and probably beyond. Even with interest rates going up, that’s not going to really dampen the market. It’s steady, conservative, healthy and sustainable growth. I wouldn’t pick anywhere else to be right now.

Does Charlotte stand out regarding trends in real estate? We haven’t seen some crazy increase in investor statistics that we’ve tracked. I don’t see anything other than we are one of the only markets in the country still showing positive appreciation month over month. That’s significant, and because we have a healthy job market here and, in my opinion, Charlotte is one of the best places to live and people want to be here. The city is only going to continue to economically grow.

Is low inventory driving housing prices up? Yes, but I don’t believe it’s by that much. That’s because the market does not set price tags, appraisals do, i.e., historical-sales data. You can only re-inflate your numbers so quickly and that’s part of the process that’s healthy – checks and balances. You have to appraise the home in order to get a mortgage. Even if you are paying cash, you should have an appraisal. So prices can only go so high if the process is allowed to work correctly.

Is now a good time to purchase a house in Charlotte, or would you wait? Would last year have been better? Now is the best time to buy, as was last year and tomorrow. Values are only going to go up for the foreseeable future and the dollar is going to get more expensive to borrow. The correct answer is to buy when you find the correct home for you and your personal situation. If it’s appropriate for you and you can afford it, now is a good time to consider buying because things are only going to trend upward.

With home prices appreciating and wage growth stagnant, will average people find it more difficult to buy a house? People don’t have to come up with a 20 percent down payment. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s announcement was huge. President Obama’s announcement was great. I think we’re doing more than ever to reach out to the starting point. I think every household that wants to own a home deserves to do so. And, with our median housing price well below $200,000, our affordability factor here is still extremely low.

What do you think of President Obama’s proposal to lower insurance premiums on FHA mortgages? I think it’s great. I think responsible homeowners deserve to have access to funds and to mortgages to buy their homes. If you want a home and will be responsible with it, you deserve it and should have it. I think it will directly impact every marketplace in this country, Charlotte as well.  That also applies to anyone who would refinance their FHA mortgage. I think that’s great too.

The average savings from this program would be about $900 per year for each borrower. If that amount is going to make the difference for someone being able to get a mortgage, is that person  going to be able to make the payments? $900 can be a lot of money to a lot of different people. It’s not a small amount of money to me. But what I can say, in my personal opinion, is that reduced mortgage insurance premiums are not about getting qualified. It’s about being charged a little too much for something each month. I am certainly not going to complain if a monthly payment of mine is lowered by $50. To me, it’s a factor in our day-to-day cost of living. I don’t view it as getting people on the fringes approved. That’s not my personal take on it.

What advice would you have for financing regulators and housing officials from the state and local level? I like meeting and taking the younger voice to them because I think it’s sometimes hard to see what’s going on when you’re not in the trenches. I find a unique and unifying theme in Charlotte in that we truly care about our city. We are one of the most giving environments I’ve come across. I think it’s extremely important for our politicians to know and appreciate that when they make policies. To me, it doesn’t matter to me which side of the fence you sit on. I want to know how you will be fiscally responsible with our dollars and how you will care for our people. I like to talk about our Housing Opportunity Foundation, what we do here and how I think they could get more involved in rebuilding our city. I’d like to tell them that they need to listen and pay attention to those of us starting out and who are going to build the economy of this nation.

Any advice you have for someone seeking to buy a home? Take your time. Make sure it fits. Find a good Realtor and have fun with him or her. Listen to your gut because it will never mislead you.