with new real estate business
There’s a new Volkswagen camper van making its way around the Milwaukee area. But its occupant isn’t camping out; he’s doing business.
Brian Spoerl recently left Irgens Development Partners of Wauwatosa to start HomeOffice Realtors, a Milwaukee-based residential and commercial real estate firm (www.homeofficerealtors.com). And he’s behind the wheel of that camper-turned mobile office.
You can’t miss the brightly painted vehicle with its big, bold "HomeOffice" lettering. And that’s part of Spoerl’s plan, gaining attention for a young operation that, he believes, has potential for national franchise expansion.
Spoerl, a 1996 graduate of UW-Milwaukee with a degree in Real Estate & Urban Development and Marketing, got his start in the real estate world in 1994, selling homes for the Elmbrook office of what was then called Wauwatosa Realty (now ShoreWest). Upon graduation, he went to work for MLG and later for Boldt Development, out of which Irgens Development Partners was formed. As a vice president at Irgens, he was responsible for the firm’s marketing and leasing department, focusing on the firm’s 3 million-square-foot office and medical office portfolio.
The HomeOffice name relates to the firm’s focus on both home sales and commercial office real estate transactions.
"It’s going great," Spoerl said after a recent lunch and tour of his mobile office. He’s presenting HomeOffice as an alternative to a conventional brokerage company, offering planning and marketing for independent brokers in addition to bringing buyers and sellers together.
The mobile office is fully functional, with an Internet-accessible computer and printer, comfortable seating, and kitchen and restroom facilities. The wireless remote computer connections are through a system called Unique Field Office.
Spoerl is also maintaining downtown Milwaukee office space, at 250 E. Wisconsin Ave.
But he has sights well beyond the southeastern Wisconsin market for the concept. He’s taken his thoughts for franchising the business plan to persons across the country, meeting with them in the idea earlier this week.
– David Niles
April 26, 2002 Small Business Times, Milwaukee
