By Andrew Knittle

Transcript Staff Writer

Keller Williams Realty of Norman is celebrating 10 years of operation in the city — a fact co-owner Jan Mulinix said is no guarantee in the real estate business.

“In a lot of places around the country, you drive around town one day and you see a real estate business. Drive around a week later, and they could be gone,” she said.

Today’s real estate market, coupled with the mortgage and lending crises, is making it hard for everybody involved in the business of selling homes.

Keller Williams of Norman is no exception.

“The first nine years we were open — that was the best time to sell a house,” Mulinix said. “The toughest period has been now, during the last year.”

But Mulinix doesn’t seem worried. Instead, along with new Team Leader Dru Lee, the company seems confident in its future.

“We’ve been profitable every year we’ve been open,” Mulinix said. “I don’t see that changing.”

One reason for the confidence stems from the culture at Keller Williams, Lee said.

“This training is never-ending,” Lee said. “There are 7,000 hours of online training available for our associates. You would have to watch 24 hours a day for 291 days to finish it all.”

On-site classes also are taught on a regular basis. The Austin-based company even has its own university, which is available to all associates.

Lee said there’s a reason for the “never-ending training.”

“I think the hardest thing for an agent is doing the basics and having the discipline to do them day in, day out,” Lee said. “With the things we offer, it really keeps them plugged in and ready to get after it.”

In fact, Lee claimed that new agents usually increase their productivity by 31 percent after they join Keller Williams.