Finding a Realtor on the internet can be as scary as picking up a hitch-hiker. With that in mind I thought I’d take some time to tell you a little more about Benchmark Realty, Automated Homefinder and myself.
Benchmark Realty was founded in 1999 by Joel McDonald. Joel actually sold me my first home in Colorado and, as our friendship grew, he recruited me away from a career in Logistics to join him. We began with 4 brokers. Joel and I are the only ones left out of the original crew. We have since grown to 30 brokers working all the way from Ft Collins in the north to Colorado Springs in the south and every area in between. We are a relatively small “boutique” brokerage (and we kinda like it that way).
Automated Homefinder grew out of a necessity to keep our out of town clients up to date with information as to homes available in our market. Let me tell you, what you see now is nothing like what Automated Homefinder used to be. Heck we weren’t even web based when we first started. Everything was “cut and paste”; manually sent. It took a large amount of effort and time. Thankfully, we can now serve many, many more clients without the 2am emails going out of our office.
Our focus remains internet marketing and sales strategy. Again, we are a small boutique shop - and we like it that way. Our marketing strength comes from our absolute attention to honing our web based skill set. This is something that we’ve been doing for over 10 years now and we are very, very good at it. Joel McDonald, who is my business partner, is a genius at SEO (search engine optimization), adwords, blogging and generating web traffic. You can see his own personal consulting website at www.leojco.com.
The NAR reports that close to 100% of all home searches begin online now. That number will reach 100% very soon. We are way ahead of the learning curve with respect to being out there in front of the web searching public. We positioned ourselves in this place years ago when we recognized what was coming.
That said, the traditional tools (flyers, signage, etc) will still be used in marketing your home but I will be much more focused on the internet and web prescence. That is our primary strength and I utilize it to the fullest. I am a solid negotiator when it comes to contract time and fully know the ins and outs of the black and white world that makes up transactional paperwork. As the employing broker, I have to be.
I’ve been a Realtor now for 10 years. I have brokered transactions for people from all walks of life including one pro basketball player from China (due to the time difference, I had to stay up til almost 3am in order to call him when he was looking for homes). I have brokered 90K condos and 3M mansions and I am quite comfortable in either. My clients, past and present, are well served no matter their price range. Some have become best friends. I grew up in No. Kentucky and have lived in Minneapolis and Kansas City however Colorado is now home (for the last 15 years). I live in Highlands Ranch with my wife of 12 years. Along with our two children (3rd & 4th grade), we enjoy everything Colorado has to offer!
