Real estate firm pushes the pedal with green idea

By Lisa Marshall, Special to the Rocky

Published September 22, 2008 at 7:46 p.m.
Updated September 23, 2008 at 9:37 a.m.

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Photo by Silvia Razgova / Special to the Rocky

Pedal to Properties real estate agent Chris Cullen hands a bike helmet to client Lisa Bechard on Sunday afternoon, at the beginning of the day's homes tour. Cullen said the eco-friendly way of looking at houses also lets clients get to know a neighborhood better. Mack Johnson is in the background.

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With rising gas prices, gridlocked roads and slumping home sales, one Colorado company has come up with an innovative way to peddle real estate - providing two-wheeled tours to home shoppers interested in seeing neighborhoods in a different light.

"People these days are looking for work, school, retail and home all accessible in a defined area," said Matt Kolb, president of Pedal to Properties, which provides showings by bicycle in the Boulder area and plans to open an office in Portland, Ore., by year's end.

"When you're on a bike, especially in a town like this, you open their eyes to the neighborhood and show them how quickly they can get around without a car," he said.

A University of Colorado finance grad and Ironman triathlete, Kolb initially planned to start offering bike tours to a few clients at his former firm. But after consulting with fellow Realtor Chris Sweeney, a marathoner, the duo decided the concept was unique enough to build a business around.

They invested $50,000 on 48 Electra Cruiser bikes (silver for men; pink for women) with comfy seats, silver baskets, helmets and water bottles; took out a $2 million insurance policy in case somebody crashed; and rented a downtown office.

Clients now either meet at the office and ride from there, or meet the Realtor (with bikes stowed in the trunk) at the first house on the list and pedal to the others. "With the traffic and the parking, a lot of times it is actually quicker," Kolb said.

Eighteen months after opening, the company now hosts roughly 40 percent of showings by bike (car tours are, of course, still offered). It also offers Wednesday night group home tours by bicycle.

"What better way to look for houses?" said Kelly Stroker, 34, a NOAA scientist who pedaled to nine properties with Kolb before deciding on one three miles from work, with bike paths safe enough she could haul her toddler to day care in a bike trailer.

Kolb and Sweeney say they sold $11 million worth of property in 2007, doing 40 percent more business as Pedal to Properties than they did working elsewhere the year prior. The firm has since added three more equally athletic agents and anticipates 2008 will far exceed 2007 numbers.

Portland is the first on their "hot list" of youthful bike-friendly towns where they plan to expand.

With seven bike-friendly pocket neighborhoods in the city, one of the best mass transit systems in the country and hordes of residents willing to eschew car comforts for savings on gas and better health, Melvin Broadous, president of the Portland Metropolitan Association of Realtors, believes it could be an ideal town for cycling real estate agents.

"Of course, you have the road rage, and the damp weather. And you aren't going to sell more homes this way to people who really like driving their cars. But the people who are interested in cycling are going to be thrilled with this," Broadous said.

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