News Highlights
People to Watch- Brent Gleeson
San Diego Union Tribune. Dated 04/14/2006
April 14, 2006
Company: New Condos Online.com
Title: Founder and president
Age: 29
Brent Gleesen served four years as a Navy SEAL and participated in more than 100 combat missions in Iraq and Africa. After being honorably discharged, he went to graduate school at the University of San Diego, where he received a master's in real estate. Gleesen, 29, met his business partner, 25-year-old Brandon Fishman, while in the master's program and together they created NewCondosOnline.com. Their Web site is meant to be a convenient place for home buyers to find new condos as well as an advertising forum for developers. Just before graduating in June 2005, they launched their Web site and have since signed on nearly 700 projects nationwide, including about 90 projects in San Diego.
When you came up with the idea to create NewCondosOnline.com, why only condos?
There are some other real estate Web sites out there, but most of them focus on single-family homes and don't really focus on attached housing. That's where we saw the niche.
Who are your competitors?
The competitors really are these other real estate Web sites that focus on single-family homes, master plan communities. There's nothing out there that really focuses just on condos unless they're individual broker Web sites and those Web sites are usually just for a specific city.
What do you make of all the condo bubble talk? Frankly, I think there's a lot of negative buzz out there that might not be accurate. Especially with San Diego, I don't really think we're overbuilt yet. The bottom line is there's still too much demand. People keep moving here and people want to stay in San Diego. I think honestly in reference to the bubble bursting, I think the bubble has burst, and this is as bad as it's going to get. Markets all over the country, some are going down, some are picking up. Our business model can follow the trends in the markets, but also when the market slows, builders still need a good source of inexpensive advertising because they still have to sell the units and the projects. Can you talk a little about the technology aspect of your company?
Well, from a technology standpoint, our service is pretty simple. We're more or less like an online magazine with interactive ads where all of our ads link through to the builders' Web sites, the projects' Web sites, and sales team information. We're not doing anything really new, we're just creating a new and user friendly, sort of hip type of forum, for showcasing and advertising new and preconstruction condos.
How does being a Navy SEAL translate to the business world?
It translates unbelievably well. I have guys from my team, getting out, getting into Harvard and Wharton business schools. What many people might think of as stressful, you know it's not. Seems like I can work from 6 in the morning to 11 at night, straight, and not be too fazed by it. Team guys, just by definition, only 10 percent of the people who go through training make it, so you have a lot of very competitive individuals in that community.
What are the ages of the people who use your Web site?
I think a lot of that's driven by the age of people looking for condos. A lot of it is first-time buyers so you get a lot of people in their mid-to late-20s. To baby boomers who are looking to downsize. The kids are off to college and they're looking to sell their single-family homes. People saying, hey you know I can sell my single family home here in Dallas for $500,000 and buy a great condo somewhere.
• DAVID BERLIN
