Tuesday, September 09, 2008

More bicycling Realtors®

First I mentioned Eric Rojas in Chicago. Then the Wall Street Journal reported on bicycling real estate agents around the nation. Seth Teel told us about the "Coldwell Banker-Gundaker Bike Garage" in St. Louis.

Now we learn Cambridge, Mass has bicycling Realtors. Coldwell Banker agents Ellie Botshon and Jonathan Mitchell are apparently the first in the Boston area to ride their bikes to home showings.
Botshon and Mitchell both enjoy riding to work and showing houses, and feel they are doing their part in changing the idea of riding as exercise in to riding as an efficient form of transportation.

Clients also benefit from biking with Botshon and Mitchell; they become more familiar with the area. “It’s a great way to know the neighborhood,” said Botshon, and in ways she cannot define, “it’s really helps to build a community.”
More at Norwich Bulletin.

I just also noticed that Eric Rojas in Chicago was mentioned in this AP story along with other real estate agents --
Clad in a purple helmet with plastic flowers dangling from her handlebars, Portland's Kirsten Kaufman is part of a new generation of agents eager to replace the stereotypes of hauling clients around in fancy sedans or SUVs.

The mother of three starting hosting bike tours earlier this summer, doling out energy bars and apricots to a growing tail of clients whose passion for pedaling weighs heavily in their choice of homes. Some are hard-core cyclists. Others are moving into the city to avoid increasingly expensive and onerous commutes.

"It's becoming more common to see families committing to driving less," said Kaufman. "I think it's a part of the market that will continue to grow as gas gets more expensive."
Read more.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

"Anything client-involved should exclude a bicycle," said Portland real estate agent Charles Turner. "If you're meeting someone on location, you're not exactly business-presentable when you show up dripping with sweat."

Someone who obviously doesn't ride a bike. If you're going two miles, you don't have a hammer it like it's the tour. If it's that hot out. Bring a dry rag to use on your forehead. Even then you won't sweat much.

Mr. Turner just has a hard time with the idea of giving up his Escalade.

murphstahoe said...

Charles Turner is a bad realtor.

Real Estate Sales is in large part about publicity. The realtors on the leading edge of this have gotten HUGE publicity. Even if the "cycling client" who finds more kitsch in the cycling realtor is a small demographic, these realtors will dominate that demographic. And since being a realtor is not an enterprise that scales, domination of a small demographic will easily make you a top producer.