Steve Koleno Jumps From Dream Town to Spot Real Estate

Steve Koleno, one of the nation’s top residential brokers, has left Dream Town after its merger with 174-year-old Baird & Warner to move his Illinois business to startup brokerage Spot Real Estate.

Spot Real Estate is billed as a cost-saving brokerage for sellers, offering a 1 percent commission fee, rather than the standard 2 to 3 percent.

Koleno, who came on as a broker and vice president of consumer empowerment in late September, has been outspoken about offering consumers options beyond the standard real estate model. Koleno works with low-commission and flat-fee brokerages in other states, and he said Spot’s business model fits with his philosophy of giving consumers more choices in real estate.

“We’re going to go out and try to take some market share, really give folks some options,” Koleno said. “I know there’s people looking for options all over, and the traditional legacy industry just doesn’t provide that.”

The firm was founded in March by Mark Miles, who previously had stints involved in operations at Dream Town and as a broker with @properties.

Miles said he was inspired to start Spot Real Estate after he saw average commissions increase, rather than decrease, in the wake of the antitrust settlement with the National Association of Realtors last year over commission fees. While there are flat-fee brokerages in Chicagoland, Miles said he didn’t see many brokerages offering low commissions while offering full services.

Sellers who work with Spot can choose from two tiers that include a fee plus 1% of the sale price, or a flat fee that gets their property on the MLS but offers minimal marketing services.

“There was a sweet spot, where nobody was filling that gap, giving a reduced commission to consumers without reducing the services that were being provided,” Miles said.

Miles said he connected with Koleno after seeing a social media post that Koleno was looking for a brokerage in Illinois outside the traditional model. Miles and Koleno are the only brokers at Spot, but they are looking to expand.

Koleno, who started in real estate in Illinois but now sells in more than a dozen states, was the sixth-highest selling agent in the country last year, according to Real Trends, with close to $704 million in volume on 2,088 transaction sides.

Koleno joined Dream Town a year ago to focus on luxury sales. After it was bought by Baird & Warner earlier this year, he said he felt like the older, traditional brokerage “wasn’t a good fit anymore.”

Illinois has been a smaller part of Koleno’s operation in recent years as he focused on business in other states, he told The Real Deal. He said he’s sold fewer properties in Illinois in recent years than he used to, but he’d like to increase his local sales with this move.

Editor’s note: Mark Miles’ former titles with Dream Town and @properties have been updated in this story.