Today we’d like to introduce you to Fred McGill.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Fred. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Despite being in software sales for most of my career, I always had a love for real estate, construction and housing. Growing up in Atlanta, my father was a builder and a real estate broker.
While attending business school at Georgia Tech, I was flipping houses on the weekends. I got my real estate license to save money on Realtor commissions. It was during this time that I discovered how rapidly the home buying process has changed in the last 5-10 years.
Consumers no longer need a Realtor to drive them around neighborhoods and send them property listings. Most consumers (about 80%) are finding the home they ultimately buy on their own, without a Realtor. But these same consumers don’t have a great way to access the homes without hiring an agent. This is how the idea for SimpleShowing was born.
Has it been a smooth road?
The first nine months of starting the company were quite difficult. It was very cash intensive in terms of investing in the brand, personnel, marketing, etc. To further complicate things, we were building the first iteration of our app, which allows the consumer to book property showings on demand. We worked with a variety of contractors and software development shops before releasing a working product.
So, as you know, we’re impressed with SimpleShowing – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
We’re a tech-enabled real estate brokerage. We’re fully licensed to help people buy or sell their home, but we save them thousands of dollars versus using a traditional brokerage like Keller Williams or REMAX. Through our app or website, you can book home showings for any house in Atlanta and if you buy that home through us, we refund up to half our commission for using our service.
We will show you the home, write the offer, help you negotiate and inspect the property and even attend the closing with you. Most people don’t realize that when they buy a home, their agent is not a free service. The “buyer’s agent” commission is paid by the seller, but yet, that cost is absorbed into the price you’re paying for the home. We reward our customers for finding the home on their own and refund about $6,000 on average.
For example, if you’re buying a $400,000 home, we earn $12,000 (3% of the purchase price), but then we refund half of that back to you at closing ($6,000). For sellers, we charge a flat fee of $5,000 at closing – which saves people a ton of money in Realtor commissions. For example, for a $500,000 home, this would only be 1% versus the typical 3%.
Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and least?
I love the diversity and vibrancy of Atlanta. It’s growing so rapidly, which infuses new perspectives and talent into the fabric of the city. The thing I like the least is the lack of public transportation.
Contact Info:
- Website: simpleshowing.com
- Email: fred@simpleshowing.com
- Instagram: simpleshowing
- Facebook: facebook.com/simpleshowing
- Twitter: simpleshowingHQ
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