Real estate agent tries new sales technique: bike tour

A real estate agent who was told in 2004 he would never bicycle again after a terrible accident, proved the doctors wrong. And now Ryan Castleberry of Keller Williams Realty wants to prove something else: Two wheels work better than four when it comes to showing homes in a sluggish market.

Castleberry, 32, plans to lead a dozen bike tours of homes from April 18 to Sept. 19 in Decatur and Avondale Estates. The first one begins at Glenlake Park in Decatur.

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JOEY IVANSCO/jivasco@ajc.com

If you are a prospective homebuyer who wants to go on Ryan Castleberry’s tour of homes, you’ll need a bicycle.

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• Find a bicycle for the tour
• See homes for sale

“Now you can experience everything that probably would have been overlooked while looking at homes in the traditional car way,” he said. “You get the chance to see parks, meet neighbors or experience the roads that your children may be playing very close to.” Castleberry mass-mailed 4,000 announcements and hopes 10 to 12 people sign up per tour. Each tour will cover five to six nearby homes.

A triathlete, Castleberry runs, swims and bicycles. Three days after getting his real estate license in June 2004, he and his wife, Loree’, were riding a motorcycle in Cleveland, Ga., on a Sunday morning when a drunk driver pulled in front them.

Castleberry hit the SUV windshield head first and suffered multiple fractures. Doctors inserted five steel plates and 30 screws to repair his face. They told him his bicycling days might be over. But 363 days after the accident, Castleberry was competing again in a triathlon.

“Cycling is the one thing that I really strove to get back to,” he said. “Fitness has always been a passion to me.” The idea for the two-wheel tour came from a friend, who e-mailed him information about a bike-riding agent in Colorado.

Castleberry believes bike tours really could carry him to greater sales.

“It’s going to appeal to people who have alike interests,” he said.

For more information go to: www.thecastleberryteam.com/Bicycle_Home_Tours/page_2113788.html