The concept behind ACUMEN Real Estate was born several years ago. My name is Richard Gapski and I am a native of England and I moved to Wilmington, NC in 2003. I had long desired a career in the real estate business, so I took all of the necessary courses and soon obtained my broker’s license.

On entering the business it was staggering to me the amount of money that it cost to list and sell a home in this country. Having lived in Europe all my life, I had never heard of real estate agents being paid such high percentages to broker deals. Most commonly, agents would be paid around 1-2% of the total sales price of the home for a successful sale.

In the US the most important tool in selling a home is access to the MLS or Multiple Listing Service. This is a database of homes for sale in any given geographical area. Realtor’s search the MLS to find homes for their buyer clients.  If you wish to have your home included for sale in the MLS, you must list it with a Realtor and pay the high commission. The only other option that consumers had available was to try sell their homes “for sale by owner”, a tough challenge as the property would not be included in the all-important MLS!

Some homes are specific and unique; undoubtedly they will require the services a local knowledgeable, realtor to spend a lot of money to market and sell them. However, many people will pay 6-7% simply to have a sign and lockbox placed on their property, have photos taken and their home entered into the MLS. This is too high!

Our goal is to give our clients more choice, fair prices and to revolutionize the current antiquated real estate model. We offer 3 different packages for our sellers, all with MLS access from $395. If we represent you when you buy a home or lot we will even give you 1% of the sales price back at closing!

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