You know every house on the block. Sellers just can’t find you yet.
Discovery Marketing helps agents, brokerages and builders get found by the buyers and sellers searching right now, and builds the systems that turn a search into a booked showing, all inside fair housing rules.
Your website is built and hosted free. We earn a percentage of ad spend only if you choose to advertise.
ReneeBroker & builder, Plumbline Homes · Bronzeville, ChicagoA composite character. Her story shows exactly how we work.
She held the blueprints while her dad built.
Her dad was a union carpenter who rehabbed two-flats on the South Side on weekends. Renee held the blueprints, fetched nails, and learned the first rule of a plumb line: a wall is straight or it isn’t.
She got her broker’s license and spent a decade at a big brokerage, selling homes other people built. When Chicago started allowing new coach houses again in 2021, she earned her managing broker’s license and opened Plumbline Homes: listings, buyers and a small crew building coach houses and new two-flats.
She can read a floor plan in her sleep. Marketing herself is a different job.
Chatham, the early 1990s. Holding the blueprints.
The yard signs say “Plumbline.” There just aren’t many of them.
Her pricing is as sharp as anyone’s in the city. Outside her old brokerage and her dad’s friends, almost nobody knows it.
Buyer agreement Signature needed before Saturday’s tour.
Showing app 6 requests waiting to confirm.
Transaction platform Inspection response due tomorrow.
Permit portal Plan review comments posted.
New CRM trial Your 14-day trial ends soon.
Every week, another app.
Since August 2024, MLS rules require a written agreement with a buyer before the first tour. Add inspections, appraisals and permits, and marketing never makes the list.
NAR settlement practice changes, 2024
Best agent to sell a two-flat in Bronzeville?
Here are some options nearby:
National brokerage
Home-search app pick
Cash-offer company
Plumbline Homes: not mentioned
The big names are everywhere.
National brokerages buy the billboards. Search apps own the listing pages. Cash-offer companies promise a sale in a week. On the building side, the ten largest builders closed 43.6% of all new single-family homes in 2025.
NAHB, from Builder magazine data, 2026
Referrals have a ceiling.
Past clients send friends. Friends send neighbors. Two in three sellers hired an agent who was referred to them or one they’d used before. That works, until she runs out of people who already know her.
NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 2025
Busy, but not growing.
Existing-home sales totaled 4.06 million in 2025, matching the lowest level since 1995. Fewer deals means every listing appointment counts, and she can’t afford to miss one.
NAR existing-home sales, via NAHB, 2026
She knows houses. She doesn’t know how clients choose an agent. So she keeps working for whoever finds her.
Being great isn’t the same as being found.
Buyers start online. Sellers ask a friend, then look you up. Both pick whoever answers first. An agent who doesn’t show up, doesn’t explain herself, or can’t be booked online loses the client before the first meeting.
realtor near meChicago, IL
1National brokerage
2Home-search app
3Franchise office
52% of recent buyers found the home they bought online.NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 2025
4Cash-offer company
5Discount brokerage
9Plumbline Homes5.0 stars · 27 reviews
Illustration. Competitor names are hidden on purpose.
88% of buyers and 91% of sellers worked with a real estate agent or broker. NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 2025
16% of buyers bought a newly built home, a share last seen in 2006. NAR Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers, 2025
45% of consumers have used AI tools like ChatGPT for local business recommendations, up from 6% a year earlier. BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey (vendor), 2026
And most sellers never shop around: about four in five contacted only one agent before hiring (NAR Home Buyers and Sellers Generational Trends, 2025). The agent who shows up first, with real answers, usually gets the listing. We’ll never promise a map ranking; nobody can buy one.
Then Renee met Andy.
A past client sent her one of Andy’s videos about good businesses nobody can find. She booked a call between a closing and a framing inspection.
Andy BedellFounder, Discovery Marketing
Andy has marketed real estate before. In 2018 he helped sell out one of Adelaide’s largest new luxury condo developments. He also spent four years marketing executive education at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where every claim had to hold up.
That’s the balance Renee needs. Persuasive enough that sellers call and buyers book tours. Careful enough that every ad passes fair housing law, the platforms’ housing rules and Illinois license law.
Career stats
Where
What happened
UChicago BoothExecutive Education · 4 years
Managed budgets above $20 million a year across Google, LinkedIn and direct mail.
KeySmartJoined 2015
Took daily sales from about $5,000 to $25,000 within a week, then helped the company reach a peak near $35 million a year.
Real estate
Helped sell out one of Adelaide’s largest new luxury condo developments (2018).
Career
$200 million+ in managed ad spend.
One short call. A working website two hours later.
Andy asked how she prices a listing, how she builds and what buyers always ask. Two hours later she had a link to a complete site: a home-value page for sellers, a plain-English guide for buyers, her coach-house builds with honest timelines, and online booking for showings and consultations.
Before A profile page on her old brokerage’s site and a link in her Instagram bio.
2:00:00to your demo
plumblinehomes.example
A broker who knows how houses are built.Sell · Buy · BuildGet my home’s value
Sell your homeBuy with a guideCoach housesNew construction
What’s my home worth?
Can my lot take a coach house?
What does a buyer agreement cover?
Showing times
Thu 5:30Sat 10:00Sun 1:15
You’re booked. The buyer agreement is in your inbox to review before the tour.
Fictional business. Your demo typically arrives about two hours after your call.
Before we write a word, we read what clients already say.
Every claim on her new site came from somewhere real:
Public reviews. Sorted by what clients praise, and what worried them before they signed.
Her call with Andy. Thirty minutes on how she prices, negotiates and builds.
Her market. Recent sales, days on market, and what buyers and sellers in her part of the city search for.
The rulebook. Fair housing law, Illinois license rules and the ad platforms’ housing policies.
She told us our asking price was too high. She was right.
Straight talk
Texted back in ten minutes on a Sunday night.
Responsive
Spotted the foundation crack before our inspector did.
Builder’s eye
No sugarcoating. Just the numbers and what she’d do.
Straight talk
We toured three places the same weekend we called.
Responsive
Walked our garage and sketched where a coach house could go.
Builder’s eye
She told us our asking price was too high. She was right.
Straight talk
Texted back in ten minutes on a Sunday night.
Responsive
Spotted the foundation crack before our inspector did.
Builder’s eye
No sugarcoating. Just the numbers and what she’d do.
Straight talk
We toured three places the same weekend we called.
Responsive
Walked our garage and sketched where a coach house could go.
Builder’s eye
Composite excerpts written for this illustration, not real reviews.
Three things kept coming up.
Straight talk
Clients trust her pricing because she tells them the truth, even when it isn’t what they hoped to hear.
Responsive
Calls returned, showings booked fast, and updates before anyone has to ask.
Builder’s eye
She grew up on job sites. She sees what a house needs, and what it could become.
Now run the plays, by the book.
A website that answers buyers’ and sellers’ questions on every page. Then campaigns aimed by search and location, never by who someone is.
Every page makes the same three promises.
A seller, a buyer and a family thinking about a coach house want different things. Each page shows how straight talk, fast answers and a builder’s eye help that person.
Straight talkA pricing plan built on recent nearby sales, explained line by line.
ResponsiveA reply within the hour and an update every week until closing.
Builder’s eyeA walk-through that flags the repairs worth doing, and the ones that aren’t.
Straight talkA plain-English buyer agreement before the first tour, so you know how she’s paid.
ResponsiveTours booked online, often the same week.
Builder’s eyeA second look at the roof, the foundation and the mechanicals before you make an offer.
Straight talkHonest budgets and timelines, including what the city has to approve.
ResponsiveOne point of contact from zoning to final inspection.
Builder’s eyeDesigns that fit the lot, the alley and the main house.
Buyers can book a showing without a phone call.
Her site is built so AI assistants like ChatGPT and Meta’s Muse can read her listings, open showing times and home-value visits, then finish the booking. The buyer agreement and the paperwork stay in her own systems.
AI assistantExample conversation
We’re looking for a two-flat with a coach house on the South Side. Anything we could see this weekend?
Plumbline Homes listed a new-construction two-flat with a coach house in Bronzeville this week.
Renee has a showing open Saturday at 10:00 AM. Want me to book it?Plumbline HomesShowing · Sat, 10:00 AM5.0 · Bronzeville
Yes, book it.
Done. Renee will email the buyer agreement to review before the tour.
Meet buyers and sellers at the search.
Someone typing “sell my house Chicago” is choosing an agent this season. Google Ads can put Plumbline at the top of those searches across the city she serves, with an ad that answers the search and a page built for it. Pick a search:
Sellers
Buyers & builds
1 · They search
sell my house chicago
Sponsored · plumblinehomes.exampleSelling a Chicago Home? | See What It’s Worth First
A pricing plan built on recent nearby sales, from a broker who knows construction.
2 · They land on the matching page
Plumbline HomesWhat your home could sell for, and why.Get my home’s value
3 · They book
Appointment bookedSent straight to her CRM
Real estate search clicks averaged about $3.22 in 2026 industry benchmarks (LocaliQ/WordStream); your market will vary. Ads target the search and the location, never age, gender or ZIP code.
Be the answer AI gives.
ChatGPT’s ad rules don’t allow ads for individual homes for sale or rent, so for real estate we don’t buy our way in. We earn it: clear listing and neighborhood pages, structured data, a complete Google Business Profile and a steady flow of honest reviews give AI assistants something accurate to recommend.
We never promise a ranking or a mention. We make you easy to understand and easy to recommend.
AI assistantIllustration
Who’s a good agent near Bronzeville who actually knows construction?
Nearby brokerPlumbline HomesAn independent brokerage that also builds coach houses. Reviews often mention honest pricing and fast replies. Online booking available.
Ask everyone. Reply like a pro.
Every client gets the same review request at closing, whatever we think they’ll say. No paid, fake or filtered reviews, as the FTC’s 2024 rule requires. And 80% of consumers say they’re likely to use a business that responds to all of its reviews.
BrightLocal Local Consumer Review Survey (vendor), 2026
Our offer lost and nobody called us back for two days.
Reply from the owner
We’re sorry the follow-up was slow. Losing an offer is hard, and you deserved a call that day. Please call Renee directly so we can make it right on the next one.
Illustration of a calm, professional reply.
Most buyers don’t book on the first visit. Follow up the right way.
Housing ads can’t be aimed by age, gender or ZIP code, and they shouldn’t be. So we follow up with people who already raised their hand: they visited the site, watched a video or asked a question. Everyone in the area sees the same honest picture of the business.
Five days. No ZIP targeting.
MondayGoogle
Searches “new construction homes Chicago.” Reads the coach-house page. Doesn’t book yet.
TuesdayInstagram
Sees Renee’s walk-through video, shown because they visited the site, never because of their age, gender or ZIP code.
ThursdayGoogle reviews
Reads what clients say about her pricing, and how Renee replies.
FridayAI assistant
Asks who builds coach houses nearby. The clear site makes Plumbline Homes easy to recommend.
SaturdayPlumbline’s site
Books a showing online.
Google and Meta housing ads can’t target by age, gender or ZIP code. Meta also requires at least a 15-mile radius around any location and doesn’t allow lookalike audiences. Reminding people who visited your site is still allowed.Meta special ad category rules; Google personalized advertising policy (housing), 2026
Then the calendar started filling.
Appointments / month, before8
Appointments / month, after30
Illustrative figures from Renee’s composite story. Not a typical or guaranteed result. Your numbers depend on your market, your inventory, interest rates and the season.
Showings and home-value visits moved online. Every lead landed in her CRM with the search that brought it in. And for the first time, she could see which pages brought in sellers, not just buyers.
Then we made the videos buyers actually watch.
No promises about prices. Just Renee doing what she does best: walking a house and explaining what she sees, comparing a coach house with a basement unit, and introducing the people who answer the phone. Every video carries her brokerage’s name, as Illinois law requires.
Walk-throughWhat to check before you buy a two-flatThis or thatCoach house or basement unit? How to chooseWarmthMeet the team that answers the phone
Concept frames from Renee’s composite story.
From a few listings to a waitlist for builds.
Year 1 A few listings, long nights.
Sales come from past clients. Nights go to paperwork, showings and permit drawings.
Year 2 Systems that run themselves.
Online booking, a home-value page, follow-up that never forgets, and every lead in her CRM. A transaction coordinator joins to keep closings on track.
Year 3 A second agent and more builds.
Showings fill the weekends, so Renee brings on a buyer’s agent instead of working later, and spends her own time on coach houses.
Year 5 A build studio and a waitlist.
A second storefront opens next door for the building side. Her mom and dad still stop by, and her dad still checks the framing.
The kid who held the blueprints now runs a growing firm that sells and builds, on her terms.
Her one regret: she wishes she’d started marketing before her first build.
Got an idea? We test it before we bet on it.
Renee wanted the seller page to show recent sales nearby, right at the top, instead of a plain “Request a home valuation” button. Andy liked it, but the page was already working. So they ran a trial: half of visitors saw the current page, half saw hers.
A “Request a home valuation”
Visitors
1,000
Consults
100
Per 100
10.0
+20%
B Her idea: show recent sales nearby
Visitors
1,000
Consults
120
Per 100
12.0
Winner: B. 12 home-value consults per 100 visitors instead of 10. That’s 20% more seller conversations from the same budget.
Illustrative test from Renee’s story. We call a winner when the difference holds up statistically, not when one page is ahead for a day.
What buyers and sellers want changes with the calendar.
Chicago real estate has a rhythm, and so does building. The campaigns and pages rotate with it, and the budget follows your listings and your crew’s schedule.
Jan–Mar
Sellers plan, builders permit
Since April 2026, coach houses are allowed in 34 of Chicago’s 50 wards. Winter is when owners ask what their home is worth and send plans to the city, so campaigns lead with home-value visits and lot checks.
Apr–May
Peak listing season
Realtor.com’s data points to mid-April, and Zillow’s to late May, as the strongest weeks to list. Listing pages and seller ads move to the front.
Summer
Moves before school starts
Families want to close before the school year begins. Showings and open houses carry the budget while the crew works through building season.
Fall–Winter
Fewer listings, serious buyers
Fewer homes come on the market, so the buyers still looking mean it. Past clients get a check-in, with their consent, before the spring rush.
Sources: City of Chicago ADU ordinance, via WTTW, 2026; Realtor.com Best Time to Sell report, 2026; Zillow best time to list analysis, 2026.
It’s maintenance, not a one-time inspection.
A house needs upkeep long after closing. Marketing works the same way. Ads wear out, rates move, platforms change their housing rules, and competitors copy what works. We check on it every day, so you can sell and build.
What we watch, every day
Budgets and bids, matched to your listings and your build schedule.
Broken forms, showing links and tracking. If something breaks, ads pause until it’s fixed.
Housing ad policy changes on Google, Meta and every new platform.
Fresh walk-through videos before the old ones stop working.
What national brokerages, search apps and cash-offer companies are doing.
It starts with one call.
From “book a call” to campaigns that run while you show homes and build them.
1 minute
Book a call
Pick a time on Andy’s calendar and tell us your business and the part of town you serve.
Behind the scenes
We gather your footprint
Your listings, your public reviews, your recent sales and what people say about you online.
30 minutes
Your call with Andy
How you price, how you build and who you serve best. No client details needed.
About 2 hours
Your demo website
Listings, seller and buyer pages, your builds and online booking, written in your voice.
Before launch
Every claim checked
We swap AI images for real photos, add your brokerage’s name, and check every page against fair housing law and your state’s license rules.
Free
Discovery Platform
Request edits with our AI, approve drafts, or send our team a ticket.
Kickoff
A $500 Google Ads test
Ten days at $50 a day, paid straight to Google: the searches sellers and buyers use, the area you serve, and pages that answer them.
Always
Measure, carefully
Every lead lands in your CRM with the search that brought it in, and every audience follows the housing rules.
We charge 20% of the ad spend we run to start, and the percentage goes down as you grow. No setup fee, no retainer, no contract. The website is built and hosted free. Everything below is included, so all you have to do is sell and build.
Starting outGrowingScalingMulti-site
We start at 20% of the ad spend we run, and the percentage steps down as your monthly spend grows.
Included in the percentage
Video production
Landing pages for listings, sellers and builds
Copywriting checked against fair housing rules
Review and reputation guidance
Google keyword research
Daily budget management
Housing-compliant audience setup
Leads delivered to your CRM
Fresh creative before ads wear out
Ongoing A/B testing
Seasonal planning
Website hosting
Just want the website? That’s fine. We’ll still build it and host it for free.
Happy with the website you have? Keep it. If it runs on your brokerage’s platform or an IDX feed, we’ll add the pieces that bring in clients, like seller pages and ad landing pages, and run your campaigns around it. Plan it on a call with Andy.
Nothing goes out that would put your license on the line.
Real estate advertising has more rules than most, and we treat them as the brief, not the fine print. Every claim is backed by something real, approved by you, and checked before it runs. Listing photos are used only as your MLS rules allow.
No words or images that suggest a preference for or against anyone the Fair Housing Act protects, plus the added protections in Illinois and Chicago law.
Housing ads follow Google’s and Meta’s housing policies: no targeting by age, gender or ZIP code, and no lookalike audiences on Meta.
Your sponsoring brokerage’s name on every ad, at least as large as any team or agent name, and your interest disclosed when you sell a home you own, as the Illinois Real Estate License Act of 2000 requires.
Buyer pages that follow the 2024 NAR settlement practice changes: a written agreement before any tour, and services never called “free” unless you’re paid nothing from any source.
No fake, paid or filtered reviews, as the FTC’s 2024 rule requires.
Renee and Plumbline Homes are composites, and this page tells you so. We are not your lawyer; your managing broker and your attorney have the final word.
Coach houses are just the start.
Agents, brokerages, home builders, developers, ADU builders and property managers. Different clients, different rules, same playbook: find what makes you better, explain it clearly, and put it in front of the people looking for you.
Book your call with Andy.
Thirty minutes on how you sell, build and win clients. Your demo website typically arrives about two hours later.
