-Kneip and Norgaard announce major real estate merger
BY ASHLEY BOLSTAD
The Brookings Register
Published: March 8th, 2007
Register photo by Ashley Bolstad
-David Kneip and Best Choice GMAC Real Estate are on the move. The Brookings broker just concluded a deal that merged his firm and Coldwell Banker Select, making Best Choice one of the largest real estate companies in the region.
Best Choice is getting bigger. Much bigger.
Coldwell Banker Select Real Estate is joining Best Choice GMAC Real Estate, the two Brookings firms teaming up to keep pace with a growing community.
David Kneip, broker and owner of Best Choice, and Mark Norgaard of Coldwell Banker announced this week that the agents formerly associated with Coldwell have become part of the Best Choice team and are now housed at the company's offices at 611 Sixth St. "This merger is the most recent step in the tremendous growth of Best Choice GMAC Real Estate in recent years," said Kneip.
The move, he said, "will help prepare (the real estate companies) for the future economic expansion we anticipate in the Brookings market." Norgaard and his expertise in commercial real estate will be utilized at Best Choice, where he will serve as a broker associate. The Coldwell Banker office building on Sixth Street will no longer house agents but may still be used by Best Choice. Kneip said his firm is considering its options, whether to sell or keep the Coldwell office building. A decision to sell the building has not been made, Kneip explained, because the location offers an opportunity to expand the merged firm's services.
With the merger, the 16 Best Choice agents are now "blended " with the eight agents from Coldwell Banker Select. Best Choice recently expanded the lower level of its headquarters building to add offices to accommodate the former Coldwell agents.
"This was a great blend," Kneip said. "It brought quality people to a quality company."
Kneip purchased the firm in 1995, and it has been the market leader every year since. Best Choice GMAC Real Estate was one of the first in the state of South Dakota to have homes featured online (at brookingshomes .com) and to offer a moving truck to its customers.
At the time Kneip bought the company, Best Choice had just six agents and a moving truck he acquired as a trade-in on his wife’s car. The business was located in a converted house on Main Avenue.
Over the years, more and more sales agents joined Best Choice to help build the company to its present level of 24.
The Best Choice-Coldwell union already appears to be a good fit, Kneip says.
"As market leaders in the area, our progressive and unique marketing styles will be combined," he said.
"This merger, along with the outstanding Realtors currently at Best Choice GMAC Real Estate, will allow us to serve the Brookings community even better."
