'Everybody Knows A Realtor': Website Narrows Down Agent Search
LITTLETON, Colo. (CBS4) – A family looking to buy and sell in Colorado's competitive housing market say a website offering multiple offers from real estate agents at once helped them find the best broker to save money on commissions and make the move they wanted across the metro area.
"We had a lot of friends that knew a realtor, everybody knows a realtor," said Bryan Hinds.
Hinds says his family wanted to move from Green Valley Ranch to Littleton to improve the school district their daughter enrolled in last fall. He did a thorough search for agents asking around and searching online for the best match.
A few days into his search, he discovered the website, UpNest. Hinds connected with Scott McManaway, a real estate broker for The Bartic Group at Keller Williams Realty.
"We had access to interact with the realtors, see detailed professional proposals, and understand what the commission fees were going to be upfront," said Hinds. "I don't think we would have found them without UpNest."
Hinds says he considered 10 agents altogether, but got six proposals on the website within a day. He got information on the number of sales and listings each agent had at the time plus knew what he would have to pay in commission for those brokers.
Hinds says when he contacted agents through other methods some were not willing to share their proposals upfront.
"That was so much easier because we knew everything they were going to do for us upfront," he said of the website. "We would redo it again."
The move made by the Hinds family comes as the real estate market in the Denver metro area remains one of the most competitive in the country. Brokers say they need every opportunity they can get to reach potential customers.
"The market is unbelievable right now," said McManaway. "UpNest for us has just provided another avenue to get in front of motivated buyers and sellers and have their opportunity to earn their business."
As an agent in Denver for six years, McManaway has seen the rise in home prices around the state. He says it remains a seller's market and builders cannot keep up with the need for more homes across Colorado.
Those factors still make it a challenge for all buyers in the market, including the Hinds.
"We looked at tons and tons of houses, and we lost out on a lot of opportunities because of the competitiveness," said Hinds.
McManaway says even established agents need to compete for clients and with everything moving to the internet, he understand that people want to spend less time looking for an agent.
McManaway also says agents have to be transparent and willing to share their proposals if they want to sign someone in this market.
"The demand is still high," he said. "What UpNest provides is the ability to have some of the top producing agents in the area compete for your business almost immediately."
He advises sellers to take advantage of the high demand and list their property now and tells buyers to find an agent that knows the market well. He goes on to say they should learn how many homes an agent has sold and study their background.
Hinds says he ultimately saved between $6,000 to $8,000 because of UpNest on transactions relating to selling one home and buying his current house.
"Which we were able to use for the down payment and for some projects we needed to do in the house," he said. "That's tough to find."
LINK: UpNest
Shawn Chitnis reports for CBS4 News at 10 on weekends and CBS4 News at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. throughout the week. Email him story ideas at smchitnis@cbs.com and connect with him on Twitter or Facebook.
