ATLANTA, GA, For Immediate Release – Keller Williams Realty, The Rawls Group is pleased to announce that Kelly Marsh has become a CDPE ( CERTIFIED DISTRESSED PROPERTY EXPERT ), one of the first in Georgia to hold this designation. After completing extensive training, Kelly Marsh is prepared to assist homeowners in foreclosure avoidance and short sales. Keller Williams Realty,The Rawls Group, holds the highest per capita of agents with this designation in Georgia.

Nationally, only 12 percent of short sales are approved. Among CDPE designated Realtors®, more than 80 percent of short sales are approved. According to the National Association of Realtors®, more than 45 percent of existing home sales in the fourth quarter of 2008 were foreclosures and short sales. In a short sale transaction, homeowners sell their property for less than the mortgage amount, but avoid the foreclosure process.

“This CDPE designation has been invaluable as I work with sellers and lenders on complicated short sales,” said Kelly Marsh. “It is so rewarding to be able to help sellers save their homes from foreclosure. The CDPE designation gives us the systems and solutions to get a higher percentage of these transactions to the closing table.”

The Distressed Property Institute, based in Boca Raton, Fl. and launched in January 2008, offers the Certified Distressed Property Expert (CDPE) designation after comprehensive on-site or online training on how to handle short sales. The institute was founded by dynamic real estate veteran Alex Charfen.

“It is through the help and support of agents like Kelly Marsh that homeowners in distress will find answers and relief,” Charfen said. “We are proud to be associated with such an outstanding organization and thrilled that so many Rawls Group agents earned the CDPE Designation. The homeowners in the greater Atlanta area now have an answer for the solutions they are seeking.”

The CDPE designation has been endorsed by many major U.S. brokerages. Numerous industry icons have also endorsed the CDPE, including Howard Brinton, founder of STAR POWER System; Bob Corcoran, founder of Corcoran Coaching and Consulting, Brian Buffini of Buffini and Company and David Knox, founder of Knox Productions.

Kelly Marsh has been with Keller Williams Realty since 2002 and is also Certified as an REOS (Real Estate Owned Specialist), which is the designation required to help banks sell foreclosed properties.