John Rebchook is a former Rocky Mountain News reporter with more than 30 years of experience in writing and communications... 
Greg Geller, the new president-elect of the Denver Board of Realtors, poses in front of the home he bought from Andrew Romanoff in a photo shoot for Law Week Colorado.
Greg Geller, who made headlines last month for buying Andrew Romanoff’s house as a fix and flip, is now the president-elect of the Denver Board of Realtors. When that year-long term is completed, he will serve as the president of the trade group.
“I was elected president-elect last night and I will be president of the Denver Board of Realtors during the following cycle,” Geller, the principal of Vision Real Estate said on Friday. Geller, known as the “King of Flips,” believes he has bought and sold more homes in Denver than anyone else.
Geller said he wants to boost the image of Realtors, as well as bring a fresh perspective to its members. “I think I can improve relations between Realtors and consumers,” said Geller. “I can also bring a younger person’s spin to the position. I’m 39 and most people who have been the president of the Denver Board of Realtors have been in their 50s or 60s.”
Yet, Geller has done more deals than many people who are much older than he is.
“I have bought and sold 2,300 homes,” Geller said. “I have surpassed $300 million in closings. To put that into perspective, the average broker does seven deals a year for total annual volume of $1 million, or maybe slightly less. I’ve done $300 million.”
Still, the deal that brought him the most notoriety is when it was learned last month that he bought Romanoff’s house at 887 S. Gilpin St. in the Washington Park area for $360,000. Romanoff used proceeds from that house, and other savings, to pump $325,000 into his campaign for the Democratic Senate nomination, but was still beaten in the primary by incumbent Michael Bennet. Geller’s company bought the home on June 23, but it didn’t become public for about five weeks after the closing.
At the time, Geller told InsideRealEstateNews and other reporters, that he had no idea he was buying Romanoff’s home, nor did he care.
Indeed, he still hasn’t talked with Romanoff. “I heard from some of his attorney, but I never talked to him,” Geller said. “I don’t know what he is going to do. There are a lot of rumors swirling.”
He said several of his friends teased him about it his high-profile purchase, after Romanoff lost the primary.
“They sent me text messages saying that maybe he wants his house back. Well, I’m not giving it back to him.”
Renovating Romanoff’s house
He did lease the house back to Romanoff and “we’re getting possession on (Sept.) 15,” Geller said. “After that, we’re going to start the renovation project. We haven’t decided exactly what we’re going to do yet, but we’re probably going to put in a new kitchen, new bathroom, and finish the basement. We are not going to do a full-blown project. We’re not going to pop the top or anything.”
He said that it probably will take about 60 days to complete the renovation.
“So it should be ready around November. We’ll probably put it on the market for $475,000-ish.”
Contact John Rebchook at JRCHOOK@gmail.com or 303-945-6865.
Great, now Realtors have put the “Dealing Doug” of the used car market in charge of their trade group. It does make sense, as Geller is the prototypical Realtor/used car salesperson. Nice work Denver Metro Realtor Association.
Puulease, Joe! There are seven Boards in the Denver metropolitan area. The Denver Board is the one you are referring to. The six others didn’t have a thing to do with it. Don’t make matters worse than they already are.
Pretty bold statements. I didn’t hear anything about taking care of his clients or referrals and repeat business. Turn’em and burn’em……
You would think after selling 2300 homes, you could afford jeans without holes and a shirt that buttons all the way up.
He wants to improve the reputation of realtors? Really? How does he plan on doing that? Fox in the hen house?
But as more and more realtors float their resumes into the job market the sad bitter truth will really hit home as these “fine folks” will be starving! The economy will not pick up for many many
months until more companies start hiring!!!! NObama 2012???