Chuck Olson marks 35 years in real estate

The Daily Inter Lake

Chuck Olson is a born salesman.

Whether it was selling Christmas trees to raise money for his Boy Scout troop or peddling vacuum cleaners door-to-door, Olson, 57, always has had the kind of sales savvy that catapulted him to the top.

He used that moxie to get started in real estate in 1972, and this year celebrates 35 years in the business. Chuck Olson Real Estate Inc. is the largest independent real-estate firm in Northwest Montana.

"Sales is a great job," he said with a fresh enthusiasm that makes it evident why he can sell anything. "I love it."

Even in a booming real-estate market, Olson doesn't rest on his laurels.

"You keep yourself out there," he said.

Last summer he went door-to-door in Kalispell, cold-calling homeowners to ask them if they wanted to sell.

"You just pick a block and go. I got two good leads on one block."

He used that same tack when he sold his first house 35 years ago.

"It was for sale by owner, and I knocked on his door and told him I could help him sell it," Olson recalled. "He listed it, I sold it and the guy moved to Kalispell."

Accessibility is another secret to his success. He believes in an "open-door" policy. If a person walks into his office and wants to talk to him, he'll make himself available.

OLSON WAS a business student at Eastern Montana College in Billings when he first dabbled in sales.

"I needed money, so I sold vacuum cleaners door-to-door," he said, adding he had about a 65 percent success rate. "I sold one to an insurance man and he told me I should sell insurance, so I sold life insurance for two years."

As an agent for American Western Life, Olson's territory included the entire state of Montana. He'd been on the job only a couple of months when he was first named top salesperson.

When Mike Unroe was selling his Polson real-estate business in 1972, he called Olson and asked him if he was interested in getting into real estate.

"I bought it and moved to Polson," Olson said.

At that point, Olson was close to his hometown of Ronan, where he was a 1968 Ronan High School graduate and had been named most valuable player of his football team.

He acquired a Century 21 franchise in 1977 and operated Century 21 Chuck Olson until 1982, with offices in Polson, Kalispell, Whitefish and Bigfork. The Kalispell and Whitefish offices were established in 1979; Bigfork came on line in 1980.

"I was sending way too much money out of state for [franchise] advertising, so I sold two franchises and dropped two in 1982," he said.

He sold the Kalispell franchise and the Polson franchise, which also included an office and property.

At that point he became the owner of an independent real-estate company, with Chuck Olson Real Estate offices in Whitefish, Kalispell and Bigfork. Ken and Cindy Stein bought the Whitefish office in the early 1990s, and just recently the Bigfork office merged with the main office in Kalispell.

"We're all still a team," he said.

OLSON WEATHERED some tough years in the Flathead Valley.

"The '80s were terrible. Interest rates were high. Creative financing was the word," he said. "There was a lot of contract for deed and owner-financed homes."

The real-estate industry rebounded in the late 1980s and by the early '90s it was back in full force.

"It's been strong ever since," he said. "I think the Flathead will continue to grow. I don't see it slowing down. We've definitely been discovered."

Chuck Olson Real Estate has a roster of experienced brokers, many of them with 10 to 20 years of experience or more. And Olson always has his eye out for young, ambitious brokers who can match his enthusiasm for sales.

Olson admits he never thought he'd see $200,000 starter homes, or mobile homes on lots listed for $100,000 or better.

Though the lion's share of his company's business is residential sales, commercial real-estate transactions are Olson's specialty.

"Commercial is not for everyone," he said. "With residential, the sale is more emotional. They [the buyers] are falling in love with it. In commercial it's a numbers' buy. The numbers have to make sense. It's a no-nonsense deal."

Throughout his career, he has believed in customer service that goes the extra mile. He's dug into his own pocket more than once to seal the deal.

Olson recalled one of the first homes he sold in Polson.

"The seller took the carpet, blinds, light bulbs, everything. They took it all with them," he remembered. At that time all of a home's fixtures had to be listed in the buy-sell agreement; otherwise they were fair game. It was an expensive lesson learned, he said.

Another time, Olson had to replace a calf chute, and recently, he supplied some heaters so the deal would go through.

His attention to detail has earned him three generations of loyalty. Early on in his real-estate career, he gave away Chuck Olson T-shirts, and more than once, homebuyers who had gotten one of those T-shirts as a youngster later bought a home from him.

OLSON BEGAN stacking up accolades and awards early in his career. At the top of his list of honors is the coveted Montana Association of Realtors' Realtor of the Year award earned in 1987. The Flathead Board of Realtors named him Realtor of the Year in 1981 and 1987. He earned the same honor in Lake County in 1980.

He's taken an active role in both local and state real-estate organizations, serving as president of the Flathead and Lake County Board of Realtors and chairman of a couple of state real-estate committees.

Olson's a family man, too. He and his wife, Julie, have three daughters, Brenda, Jody and Mandy, plus 10 grandchildren and "one on the way."

Early retirement? Forget about it.

"This is too much fun," Olson said. "Besides, you can't play golf all the time."

Features editor Lynnette Hintze may be reached at 758-4421 or by e-mail at lhintze@dailyinterlake.com