With an increase in sales volume, properties sold and revenues in 2025, Ruhl&Ruhl Realtors celebrated its strong performance and that of its team at the company’s annual awards event.
More than 300 agents, staff and business partners gathered Friday, Jan. 30, at the Quad Cities Waterfront Convention Center as Ruhl&Ruhl’s top leadership honored 215 award winners for their achievements last year.
Ruhl&Ruhl President Chris Beason, the fifth generation leader in the family-owned business, told the crowd that “2025 was a reminder that this business isn’t always easy, but the people in this company continue to show up and do hard things the right way.”
“When you add together the experience of our agents and staff, it represents more than 3,500 years of combined experience,” Mr. Beason said. “That depth matters. … Our success isn’t driven by a slogan. It’s driven by people who care about doing the right thing for their clients, their communities, and each other, no matter the market.”
Award winners
Mr. Beason and CEO Caroline Ruhl presented these awards:
- Top Excellence in Service Award: Rachel Griffel, Burlington Office.
- Top Associate of the Year: Kurt Johnson, Bettendorf Office.
- Top Team of the Year: The Healey Group, Dubuque Office.
- Top New Associate of the Year: Kirk Thompson, Muscatine Office.
- Top Associate of the Year (Farm Division): Eric Schlutz, Muscatine Office.
- Extraordinary Production Award: Lacey Daedlow, Davenport Office.
- Top Ruhl Mortgage Associate of the Year: Ray McDevitt, Bettendorf Office.
- Top Nelson Brothers Associate of the Year: Kurt Johnson, Bettendorf Office.
- Top Community Involvement of the Year: Sara Carlson, Muscatine Office.
- Top Referral Staff Member: Misty Grady, Property Management, Corporate Office.
- Employee of the Year: Dounia Sareini, Marketing Department, Corporate Office.
See a complete list of award winners on Ruhl&Ruhl Realtors’ website here.
As part of the celebration, Ms. Ruhl also detailed the company’s results in 2025 for her team.
Sales performance recap
Highlights included:
- Residential sales volume was $1,033,085,604, up 4% from 2024.
- Properties sold – Ruhl&Ruhl Realtors sold 4,239 properties as either listing or selling agent – 0.2% more transactions than in 2024.
- Revenue in real estate is primarily gross income (GCI). Ruhl’s 2025 GCI was $30,055,199, up 3.1% from 2024.
- New listings – Ruhl&Ruhl listed 2,586 properties for sale, an increase of 3.7% over 2024.
- Nationally ranked per agent productivity – On average, agents closed 15.8 transactions, up from 15.3 sides per agent in 2024.
- Workforce – Ruhl&Ruhl ended 2025 with 268 residential agents and 58 company employees. Midwest Referral, an affiliated company, has 116 agents who refer business to Ruhl&Ruhl Realtors.
- Ruhl Property Management manages 280 properties (476 units) and two HOAs (79 units). It acquired 163 new properties in 2025: 123 for property management and 40 for tenant placement as well as executed 168 lease agreements and received 48 agent referrals for owners or tenants.
- Ruhl Mortgage closed $165,178,315 in loan volume generated by 670 loans. Ruhl Mortgage employs 20 staff members, including loan officers, assistants, in-house underwriters, processors, and other management and staff.
- Nelson Brothers Agency – Ruhl&Ruhl agents referred clients, resulting in 427 policies sold by Nelson Brothers, an affiliated insurance company. The agency has 20 agent producers, 17 support staff, and three managers.
- NAI Ruhl Commercial Company, a joint venture with Ruhl&Ruhl, sold $99,187,000 in commercial real estate in 2025 with a 31-person team. NAI Ruhl Commercial Property Management manages 1,488,264 square feet of space and 439 HOA units and operate a maintenance division.
For more information, visit their website at www.RuhlHomes.com.
2026 regional forecast
Ruhl&Ruhl also offered a 2026 forecast. Home appreciation is expected to rise over the year. Homes appreciated 2.99% on average in its markets from Q3 2024 to Q3 2025. Ruhl&Ruhl now expects 1-3% appreciation in 2026.
“Nationally, home prices will probably rise modestly in 2026 … but the numbers are likely to be very different from state to state and market to market, with states in the South and West likely to see small price declines, while markets in the Midwest and Northeast will continue to see prices rise,” according to Rick Sharga, president and CEO, CJ Patrick Company.
The QC firm also expects mortgage to decline modestly. Down from a peak of 7% and an average rate of 6.6% in 2025, as of late January mortgage rates had fallen to their lowest level since December 2023. Rates then were: 15-Year Conventional Fixed, 5.125%; 30-Year Conventional Fixed, 5.750%; FHA 30-Year Fixed, 5.875%; and VA 30-Year Fixed, 5.875%.
Economists predict rates to hover around 6% all year, Ruhl&Ruhl said.
“We anticipate affordability will improve modestly, on average, in 2026. This results from our expectations of slightly lower interest rates, only modest increases in home prices, and a more balanced market than in recent years,” Jake Krimmel, senior economist with Realtor.com, shared.
Economists expect wage growth to outpace home prices. Combined with slightly lower mortgage rates, this will give buyers more purchasing power “helping to shrink the share of a paycheck that has to be put toward the mortgage,” Realtor.com reported.
Economists also project existing home sales will increase by 4-5% in 2026 impacted by improved affordability.
“The housing market should settle into a healthier state in 2026, with buyers seeing a bit more breathing room and sellers benefiting from price stability and more consistent demand,” according to Zillow Research.
