Bike-Riding Firm to Start Madison, Wis., Franchise

Bike-friendly Madison is welcoming a new kind of real estate company. Based in Boulder, Colo., but now developing franchises nationwide, Pedal to Properties specializes in showing homes for sale by navigating clients through neighborhoods on bicycle.

The bike tours are a more personal and even calm way for interested buyers to choose a home and get oriented to an area, says Pedal to Properties President Tim Majors.

In addition, the tours feature a depth of detail that car rides cannot provide.

Majors adds that his business is a new concept that Realtors can use to help them stand out in a housing market that continues to be difficult for many. He concludes, "There's too many Realtors and not enough homes that are selling. Realtors need to reinvent themselves. They have to think outside the square about how they can market themselves as a brand."

Source: Wisconsin State Journal, Karen Rivedal (07/07/10).