Kane and Dee Powell’s Lake Panorama Realty has roots back to 1976.
By Susan Thompson | Lake Panorama Times
Kane and Dee Powell have owned Lake Panorama Realty for five years. Since their purchase in the spring of 2020, they have been steadily building their business, which turns 40 years old this year.
The early years
Lake Panorama Realty got its start 40 years ago when Larry Squires and Patrick Moylan registered the name to use when dealing with Lake Panorama properties. In this photo, Moylan and Squires are shown in a golf cart in a Panorama Days parade.
“My start was pure accident,” Moylan says. “Larry Squires and Robert Hill both sold lots during the early days of Lake Panorama, before starting Country Realty. They approached my father to ask if he would consider selling farms for their firm. Dad said he wasn’t interested, but he had another person in mind for the job, and that was me.”
At the time, Patrick and Deb Moylan were living on a farm southwest of Guthrie Center, raising cattle and hogs. Moylan met with Squires and Hill, who offered him the job. He took the real estate test and soon was listing and selling properties.
In 1981, Moylan decided to start his own company, and Moylan Realty was formed. That same year, Larry Squires also left Country Realty and formed Squires Realty. A few months later, the two men merged their two companies, forming a partnership under the name Squires Moylan Realty.
“Deb and Larry’s wife, Anita, were our secretaries,” Moylan says. “When it was Deb’s day to work, she would bring the kids with her. We had a play pen set up for the youngest one. Anita and Deb played an integral part in getting our business off the ground.”
In the beginning, most of the company’s sales were farms and acreages. But as the Lake Panorama development started to grow, Squires and Moylan decided to come up with a different name for their lake business.
In 1985, they registered Lake Panorama Realty as a new business. Squires Moylan Realty continued for real estate listings and sales not related to Lake Panorama.
It’s not often the entire Powell family can get away on vacation together, but they made it happen earlier this year. Shown at Marco Island, Florida, are Kane, Dee, Adrienne, Faith, Emma, Evan and Connor.
“We had formed a close working relationship with Barry and Roger Underwood over the years on real estate loans,” Moylan says. “Working together with them felt like a good fit. Larry and I stayed on after the sale and continued as brokers of the company.”
The new Guthrie County State Bank building in Panora opened in 1998, and Moylan and Squires moved their offices there. Squires continued with the company until his retirement in 2004. He moved to West Des Moines and passed away in 2019. Moylan remained with Lake Panorama Realty until his retirement in 2015, concluding a 37-year career in real estate.
The Powells
Kane Powell was raised in Fort Dodge. He was 14 years old when he started helping his grandfather and uncle in their construction business. After high school, he moved to Ankeny and worked on a framing crew for a while before returning home.
“I moved back home because my grandfather needed help,” Kane says. “At the age of 19, I was running construction crews of a dozen or so workers.”
Next up was a move back to Ankeny, where he held several positions with Norwest Corporation, a banking and financial services firm that later merged with Wells Fargo. After two years, he wanted something more active and joined a business that built and installed countertops.
It was during this time the Powells met. They were introduced to each other in 1997 during a church singles’ group volleyball game. Dee was living in her hometown of Sully.
“Once we met, I knew Kane was the guy I was going to marry. I moved to Des Moines, and we started dating,” Dee says. Six months later, they were engaged, and in another six months, they were married.
Their first home was a fixer-upper in Madrid. They had not been married long when Kane came home from work one day and told Dee he wanted to start his own business.
“I come from a long line of self-employed business owners,” Kane says. “We only had $300 in the bank, but Dee said if I wanted to quit my job and start a business, that was fine with her.”
Powell started a company that installed kitchen cabinets, countertops, windows, doors and more in homes across Iowa. Then he started a cabinet design company and later sold both businesses.
Next, Powell bought into an existing electrical company and went through the process of becoming a licensed electrician, from apprentice to journeyman to a master. Soon his brother, Ken, partnered with him, which was the beginning of Genesis Electric.
In 1999, the couple purchased property at Lake Panorama and moved here in 2000.
“We love it here,” Kane says. “It’s been a great place to raise our kids. We homeschooled them but also were able to dual enroll them at Panorama Community Schools. That allowed them to attend some classes and also compete in sports.”
By 2008, Kane decided it was time to downsize. For the next 15 years, he and a small crew built and remodeled houses and did electrical work for others.
The couple has five children. Their oldest, Adrienne, works at Guthrie County State Bank as a personal banker. Faith is an esthetician in Grimes, and Emma is a dental assistant in Norwalk.
Sons Connor and Evan work for the family’s building and electric business, Paradigm LLC. Evan also attends classes at Southwest Community College in Creston and plays on the college’s golf team. Tate Willey also works for Paradigm.
The Nevitt connection
In 2018, Bob Nevitt, who already had a successful real estate business in Perry, purchased Lake Panorama Realty.
Dee Powell began working for Nevitt in 2019 and received her real estate license in February of 2020.
That same year, Barry Monaghan knew Nevitt was interested in selling the business. He decided to contact Kane and Dee and ask if they had thought about getting more involved in real estate.
“In fact, I did have an interest in real estate,” Kane says. “My mother was an agent, and my grandfather was a real estate broker. From my decades of experience in the building industry, I knew a long list of people with similar backgrounds as mine who became real estate agents. It’s easier on the knees.”
Soon, Kane and Dee Powell purchased Lake Panorama Realty from Nevitt. Since then, Kane has been gradually moving away from the physical work of the construction business.
Transitioning to real estate
“I play more of a supervisory role and now spend most of my time on our real estate business,” Kane says. “We plan to keep the building and electric business going, as long as the boys want to keep it. They do light remodeling projects as well as electrical work.”
The Powells lease office space in the Guthrie County State Bank building located at 505 East Main St. in Panora.
“We own and operate Lake Panorama Realty and don’t have any formal affiliation with the bank,” Kane says. “We do work well with them, though, just as we do with many other lenders. If we have a client in the office who has a lending question, it’s nice to be able to just walk a few steps and introduce them to someone who can help.”
Both of the Powells are real estate brokers with Kane the managing broker and Dee the associate broker. Dee also is the transactions coordinator and office manager and handles all real estate closings for the business.
A year ago, Mason Babcock joined the business as an independent agent.
“As a husband-and-wife team, it’s hard for us to get away from the office together for any length of time,” Kane says. “We started looking for someone to join us, and Mason has been a great fit.”
While much of the Lake Panorama Realty focus is on the community for which it was named, the team is licensed to sell anywhere in Iowa.
“If we have a client who wants our help, we’ll go anywhere,” Kane says. “No property is too small. We sell $10,000 lots and $2 million dollar homes. The process is the same, and we treat all of our clients the same.”
Relationships
The Powells say having lived in the Lake Panorama area for more than 26 years has played a big role in their successful real estate venture.
“Real estate is all about building relationships,” Kane says. “We get so much of our business from referrals and word-of-mouth. It would have been much harder to get started if we had just moved here. We know this community, and our clients benefit from that.”
Powell says his construction background also is a benefit to clients.
“My knowledge of what to look for in a residential home is at a high level,” he says. “I know what questions to ask about a property and how to help clients understand what they are getting and any concerns that might exist.”
The Powells say their goal is to offer their clients the best service possible.
“It’s nice being the owners of a business that has been through many different economic times in the last 40 years and is still here,” Kane says. “We learn something new every day. We know there are opportunities to continue to grow, and we look forward to what’s in store for us.”
More information about Lake Panorama Realty is available online at lakepanoramarealty.com.lakepanoramarealty.com