ADAM BUCHANAN

31, OF KAYSVILLE, UTAH, A SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETER AND BEEKEEPER

uWHAT: He sold his home entirely on his iPhone using SQFT, a new mobile app that charges ideally as little as 2% in fees (1% to list the home on MLS, Zillow, Redfin and the other sites, and 1% to the buyer’s agent — and if the buyer comes directly through the SQFT app without a buyer’s agent, the total commission is only 1%). He saved about $9,000 on the $300,000 sale.

uWHERE: The home he sold was in Denver.

uWHEN: Closed in May.

uHOW DID IT GO? “Very smooth.” Buchanan says his wife was skeptical, but he’s a huge fan of automating and simplifying. “As a seller, from a logistical standpoint, with SQFT, it’s very streamlined.” Everything was done via text, phone and email. Al- though SQFT took care of the photos (it’s included in the listing fee), he created the listing himself, got the home ready to go on the market and took care of the showings. Denver is a hot market, so after three days and about 15 showings, all arranged via text, the home was under contract. Buchanan was concerned about the paperwork, but when the time came, “They acted very much like a traditional Realtor. They took care of all that.”

uWHY: With student debt, three kids and a fourth on the way, “I thought, for a little bit of risk on a DIY approach, we could really come out on top. And we did.” Buchanan paid off some debt and his car and rolled some of his savings into his next house and starting an online venture to network with beekeepers buying and selling their local honey.

uBOTTOM LINE: “We are now entering a very customer-centric generation of services and products. The power that consumers have is now really outstanding.”