Marian Epps had just returned from a board meeting for the National Association of Realtors. She also serves on the board for the Tennessee Association of Realtors and she is president of the Knoxville Area Association of Realtors for 2022.
Why is this Realty Executives broker so involved?
“I work full-time and try to stay well-rounded,” she said in an interview. “I volunteered to be involved.” Epps was in Leadership Knoxville in 2021. She has volunteered locally with Childhelp and the Bijou Theatre.
Epps said the KAAR presidency is made easy by a professional staff and stellar board. Shannon Foster-Boline, also of Realty Executives Associates, was president in 2021, and Ryan Levenson is president-elect for 2023.
“Real estate inventory is a big issue now with so many people wanting to buy,” she said, adding, “We must be mindful of affordable housing – matching housing costs to wages.”
Also, “If you’ve bought or sold a home over the past year or so, you know how crazy the market has been – double-digit price appreciation, record low inventory, homes selling for thousands above list price, the impact of the ongoing pandemic,” she wrote in a recent column for knox.biz.
And just when the pandemic-induced housing market frenzy was finally ending, the threat of rising mortgage interest rates kicked in, she said.
“Ultimately, the future of Knoxville’s housing market hinges on many factors, with new construction, domestic migration and mortgage rates primary among them.”
What is “domestic migration?”
A recent NAR report found that nearly 10,000 people moved to the Knoxville area during 2020 – which amounts to more than 25 people per day. That trend accelerated in 2021, ranking Knoxville among the top 15 metropolitan areas for net growth.
KAAR estimates between 4,000 and 5,000 people moved to Knox County last year.
Marian Epps is uniquely positioned to lead area Realtors in this turbulent time. A Knoxville native, she is part of Realty Executives Associates Ebenezer, in West Knox County. She holds an alphabet list of designations from the Graduate Realtors Institute (GRI) – ABR, GRI, RENE, RRC, SRES and C2EX. Contact her at 865-368-6953 or eppsrealtor@gmail.com.