By Jill Nagy
Eric Eckardt’s real estate office is “wherever there is the best coffee,” as he strives to bring great service at low cost through Cleardoor, his new real estate company.
Cleardoor has no fixed brick and mortar office and, Eckardt said, no fixed levels of management. He meets his clients at coffee shops where “We have a cuppa together,” or at their homes.
Low overhead keeps his costs down. Costs to clients are, typically, a one percent commission for his company and a similar amount—at the customer’s discretion—toward the other broker’s commission. That can save a buyer or seller as much as $20,000 on a typical transaction, compared to the national average commission of five to six percent of the sales price, he estimates.
The company was launched—virtually—last January and sold its first property, a house in Wilton, in less than a week. He reports that there were 20 showings of that house and multiple offers and it sold for more than the asking price.
Cleardoor’s business is largely technology-driven. It offers such amenities as aerial drone photography and 3-D virtual tours. In general, Eckardt pledges, “there is no sacrifice of service” in exchange for the reduced cost.
Eckardt has one associate broker and a small support staff of “transaction coordinators,” who look after the necessary paperwork. All work remotely.
As the head of a start-up, Eckardt is concentrating on “building awareness” of the new business. For now, he is concentrating on the Saratoga area but plans to go national. He is awaiting approval of licenses to operate in California, Florida, Nevada, and Texas, and raising venture capital.
While Cleardoor is a new business, Eckardt has had a real estate license since 2004 and, he said, has been involved with real estate technology during his entire career. He served on a panel convened by the U.S. Department of Justice and Federal Trade Commission. His book, “The Digital Home Seller and Online Real Estate Trends,” is available from Amazon. He launched and later sold three previous start-up companies. His linkedin profile is at linkedin.com/in/ericeckhardt/
He lives in Saratoga Springs.
If you are not able to track down Eckardt at your favorite coffee shop, you can reach Cleardoor by telephone at 518 368-8087 or online at cleardoor.io.