Today we’d like to introduce you to Eric Tseng.
Eric, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
Three years ago, I purchased a home in Oklahoma. Not being from the area, I relied solely on a referral from friends to find a real estate agent. Upon finding an agent and searching for homes, I quickly realized that buying a home was going to be the most expensive service I had ever purchased in my life.
Currently, the average sale price of a home is around $235,000. At three percent commission for real estate agents, we pay an average of $7,050 for an agent’s services. Because of this, I began to research the industry while still in the Army and identified a problem for home buyers and sellers: there is no easy way to find and compare real estate agents online.
Not yet being confident in launching my own company, I joined a technology startup based in Chicago, as their Operations Director immediately upon leaving the Army. During that time, I assisted in all aspects of the business to help the company successfully raise seed capital and implement their minimum viable product in three major healthcare systems in Chicago, and one county in Illinois.
Following this experience, in September of 2017, I recruited my team and we began to build PadScouts. Having one early startup experience under my belt, we moved quickly to build a minimum viable product for a Chicago Beta. PadScouts began onboarding real estate agents in November 2017 and started marketing to Chicago consumers early January 2018.
Has it been a smooth road?
I don’t think there is any entrepreneurial experience that can be described as a “smooth” road. Being in the early stages of development, I believe that most of the struggles we face are ahead of us, as I am sure we will soon learn from our Beta launch in January 2018.
Since our focus is on empowering home buyers and sellers to find a great real estate agent, we’re excited about the feedback we will receive from our consumers. So far, the most difficult struggle has been recruiting great agents onto our network.
Real estate agents are constantly bombarded by software sales pitches and, to them, we are just another lead generator. Gaining the trust of real estate agents to work with us has been difficult when we don’t yet have a proven track record or any brand equity. With that said, we’ve been successful in recruiting great agents and are excited to match them to consumers.
We’d love to hear more about your business.
The average home buyer and seller spends $7,050 on a real estate agent’s services. However, right now, there is no easy way to comparison shop for an agent. PadScouts is an online marketplace where home buyers and sellers can comparison shop for a good real estate agent, one that is specifically matched to their needs and preferences. The service is completely free for home buyers and sellers and there is no obligation to utilize any of the agents in our network.
PadScouts possesses all agent types. We have a low commission, flat fee and full commission agents in our network to compete for our home buyers and sellers. Other websites provide consumers with agents with only high star ratings or those who pay to rank higher on the platform. At PadScouts, consumers will be able to shop based on real estate agent services and their respective prices alone.
Large companies and organizations have the luxury to request contract proposals from major vendors. We are most proud of bringing the request-for-proposal model to home buyers and sellers so they can experience the same level of service and convenience when they shop for the most expensive service purchase of their lives, real estate agent services.
Is our city a good place to do what you do?
I think Chicago is a great city to start businesses like PadScouts and really any type of business, for that matter. There are a lot of resources for entrepreneurs throughout the city, and the Chicago market is incredibly supportive of local startups.
For me, specifically, I was able to take advantage of Bunker Labs’ Launch Lab program. It is a 12-week class that helps startups launch their businesses. I am also currently part of WeWork’s Veterans in Residence program, which provides us 6 months of office space and mentorship!
The opportunities are abundant in Chicago and I would recommend anyone who is just starting out to begin their journey in our city.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.padscouts.com
- Email: info@padscouts.com
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/PadScoutsChicago/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/PadscoutsInc
- Other: https://medium.com/padscouts
Image Credit:
Jesse Nagelberg
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