Danan Powell Sets Himself & His Clients Up for Long-Term Success

“I wanted to treat the person across the table as if they were my mother.” 

For Danan Powell, real estate is about not only helping people reach their real estate needs but also treating them with respect. Having been in the industry since 2002, Danan has learned a few tricks to help his clients and his business.

When One Door Closes, Another One Opens 

Before entering real estate, Danan used to work in IT but explained, “It wasn’t, you know, IT wasn’t my passion. It was something I did.” When the dot-com bubble burst, Danan was trying to determine what to do next. Fortunately for him, when that virtual door closed, another more literal one opened.  

“I was driving down the street and I saw a sign — literally, I saw a sign. It was a sign on a sign. So, I looked up and the sign said, ‘Will train real estate agents.’ And I thought, ‘Ya know, I have always been interested in real estate. Let me go in and talk to them.’” After immediately hitting it off with the broker inside, Danan knew he wanted to enter the industry.

Within a few months, Danan passed the real estate license exam and became an agent. Now with several years of experience under his belt, he is a managing broker for Compass in Seattle.

Expanding His Reach  

Danan works primarily in north King County and south Snohomish County, but he doesn’t limit himself to just these areas. He notes, “I’ve sold all around… If my clients have a need, they need to be in a certain area, then I’ll go to whatever area they need.”  

Not only does his flexibility make his clients happy, but also it has helped Danan’s business throughout the years. When the market is bad, winning business is harder, but Danan has set himself up for success. “I’ve been through the market downturn… By not limiting myself to one specific area, it really gave me a broad knowledge of all the different areas because each area has their own pros and cons. So, I know I can evaluate a home in pretty much any area because I’ve worked at it, I’ve sold it, I’m familiar with it. I know what the value should be.” 

Not only does Danan make sure he has an expansive reach in regard to location, but also he has worked with clients that other agents might have ignored. Danan explains that when he first got started, “I saw a lot of people who didn’t have the strongest credit or didn’t have a big down payment, and they would kind of get just pushed to the side. Of course, all the lenders and Realtors wanted all the ‘A’ papers with, you know, 25, 30% down. And that just wasn’t the case for a lot of people. So, I kind of prided myself on helping people who didn’t believe that they could become owners realize the American Dream and become homeowners.”  

While other agents may have cast some of these people aside or put them on the back burner, Danan treated each client with respect. He explains, “I wanted to treat the person across the table as if they were my mother.” Not only did this approach help him do more business, but also he won some clients for life. “They turned into great clients. A lot of times, they bought two to three times through me.”   

Helping Sellers Make Top Dollar  

In general, Seattle has a strong real estate market, but that doesn’t mean Danan can sell any home without putting in the work. An overwhelming majority of buyers want move-in ready homes, but 69% of sellers don’t want to front the money for repairs.¹ For some homeowners, it isn’t just about not wanting to pay the money for repairs when they are about to leave. Some may not have the cash available to do so.  

For many agents, getting sellers to make these updates can be problematic. Without them, the homes may sit on the market for too long, and the homeowners can get restless. But Danan has found a solution. “I have some clients who, you know, had nice homes but had some years of deferred maintenance… And so I suggested Curbio to a couple of my clients, and we needed it, we got right on board, and my experience was A+ with Curbio.” 

With one recent listing, Danan used the Curbio Seattle team to help the home reach its full potential and hit the million-dollar sales mark. Danan explains, “That was a pretty big project because it’s a beautiful house, but my client had years of deferred maintenance — there was an old cedar roof. And it was an amazing floorplan, beautiful house, but it was just dated. It wasn’t that it was a bad house; It was just dated.”  

Danan knew that many buyers would overlook the home in its current state, so he called in Curbio to help prepare the home to sell. “We did new countertops. We painted the cabinets. We did new hardware, backsplash, appliances, new carpet. We changed faucets. We painted everything in the inside— full paint, all the trim… Actually, with everybody’s help, we were ahead of schedule. So we got it done, and we got it done ahead of schedule.” When the house sold, the owner made over $60,000 in profit.  

He goes on to say that without Curbio, “I don’t know what our response to market would have been. You know, I don’t know how the market would have responded. I think we would have gotten an offer, but it would have been a lot less, and it would have taken longer.” 

For Danan, this is only the beginning. “I have completed two transactions with Curbio, but trust me, I’m going to refer to a lot more of my clients.” 

Making the Job a Bit Easier   

For many agents like Danan, doing pre-sale updates is nothing new, but it can be a pain. A lot of the work will often fall on the agent. This extra time commitment can also take away from the agent’s ability to get other work done. Fortunately, Danan was able to lean on Curbio for support. “I loved having the PM [project manager] there to oversee because typically, I have always been the person coordinating with all the subcontractors, you know, painter, carpenters, the demo guy, the landscaping, all of that.”  

Danan continues, “To have the PM there as the point person allowed me to focus on other clients as well. I wasn’t all tied up in this one transaction. So, it allowed me to step back.” With Curbio’s help, Danan can now spend more time winning lists or promoting his business instead of managing these home improvement projects.  

For agents like Danan, Curbio can be a big timesaver, but the rewards may not end there. In a competitive field with a limited number of homes going on the market, actually winning the listing can be a challenge as well. With Curbio added to the mix, Danan can secure these listings a bit more easily. “One of our clients, you know, she’s an investor and we bought multiple properties together. So when I presented to her, it was a no-brainer.”  

As working in the real estate market continues to shift and becomes more competitive, it is important for agents to find solutions to problems causing them the biggest issue. At Curbio, we want to help. As the Realtor’s choice of pay-at-closing general contractors, we take the headache out of pre-sale updates for agents and their clients alike. Get started today with a free, no-obligation estimate.  

Sources: 

 1. Curbio (2022). Preparing to Sell: 2022 Home Improvement Report