Markets Served

• Chicago, IL

Real Estate Specialties

• Real Estate Technology

Education

• Arizona State University, B.S. Real Estate, 1996

Community Involvement

• NAHB
• Habitat for Humanity

• We’re no dummies!

  Posted on 08/07/2008 by Brian Columbus

  A couple weeks ago, I attended Inman’s Real Estate Connect conference in San Francisco. I spoke to quite a few people about HomePerks and there were a lot of questions on the part of those unfamiliar with us. The most common questions were: “What is HomePerks?” “Why should I use rewards?” “Is loyalty in real estate possible?” “Why aren’t more [...]

  E-mail | in How to use HomePerks.com, h...

• I’ve been Twitter-fied

  Posted on 07/23/2008 by Brian Columbus

  Over Capacity I’ve had a Twitter account since January, but was reluctant to use it despite all the hype. So I started using it yesterday during my trip to Real Estate Connect in San Francisco. I’m a bad blogger. I try to post more often, as I know I should. But I always seem to put off [...]

  E-mail | in Uncategorized

• HomePerks featured in Inman News

  Posted on 07/18/2008 by Brian Columbus

  HomePerks was featured in a story by Inman News. Click the thumbnail to the left to view the story.

  E-mail | in Uncategorized

• Spring: The Time to Grow

  Posted on 04/04/2008 by Brian Columbus

  Today, we quietly launched our new site. It’s a little rough right now, but it’s kind of like a seedling…mostly dirt, roots and a sprout. With the right conditions and care it holds lots of potential. It’s finally starting to feel like spring here in Chicago (60F tomorrow), so I thought it would be a [...]

  E-mail | in About Us, homeperks, Real E...

• When will this end?

  Posted on 03/07/2008 by Brian Columbus

  (Photo by http://www.flickr.com/photos/spudart/) It’s the first week of March and it is STILL snowing in Chicago. I was downtown yesterday and despite taking public transportation around the City, I came home with salt covering my shoes, pant cuffs and overcoat. It seems that this will never end. The Taste of Chicago is less than 4 months [...]

  E-mail | in Uncategorized

• Social Networks - Can you find the Real Estate Consumer?

  Posted on 02/26/2008 by Brian Columbus

  Recently, I’ve been getting active on some of our industry’s top blogs to discuss the merit of social networking in real estate. Judging from the discussion, it seems that ‘everyone’ in RE.net has passed judgement on the merits of social networking. It reminds me of how in 2000 Wall Street passed judgement on B-to-C commerce [...]

  E-mail | in Uncategorized, RE.net, Real...

• HomePerks for Rental Housing

  Posted on 01/16/2008 by Brian Columbus

    HomePerks Rewards are a great incentive tool for any real estate related business: brokerage, new construction, mortgage, insurance, etc. One of the best property segments is rental housing or apartments. Due to the fixed-cylce and repetetive nature of leasing,  HomePerks Rewards are a great way for the apartment industry to drive property visits, generate new leases, [...]

  E-mail | in Uncategorized, Apartments, ...

• Back from Connect NYC

  Posted on 01/15/2008 by Brian Columbus

     As expected, Connect NYC 08 was a great event. Our team first attended Beer with Bloggers sponsored by Zillow on Tuesday night at the Heartland Brewery in Manhattan. It was a pretty good turn out and we took advantage of the opportunity to meet some of the bloggers attending the show on Wednesday. We spent [...]

  E-mail | in Uncategorized, Bloggers Con...

• Back to Reality

  Posted on 01/05/2008 by Brian Columbus

  I’ve spent the last 5 weeks in hurricane mode trying to get some major HomePerks initiatives accomplished prior to the Inman Connect NYC show. I also spent a lot of time during the holidays trying to make up for lost time with the family. Here we are at the finish line (show starts in 4 days) [...]

  E-mail | in Uncategorized

• How to Maximize a Today Show Appearance

  Posted on 12/20/2007 by Brian Columbus

     Brian Columbus, CEO HomePerks.com - 10/1/07  Glenn Kelman, CEO Redfin.com - 12/17/07 This evening, I saw Glenn Kelman’s appearance on the Today show. I must preface my comments by saying that I think Glenn is a fantastic public speaker, savvy front-man and probably the perfect promoter of his brand. I read his blog post about his appearance on [...]

  E-mail | in Uncategorized, Glenn Kelman...