From left, Rotor &Wing helicopter pilot, client Martin Bonis and Realtor Dave Bowers prepare for a flight over the Wake Forest area as Bonis shops for a new home.

For Realtor Dave Bowers, presentation is everything. In fact, it’s a key part of who he is. At open houses, he dresses in full tuxedo and serves non-alcoholic champagne. And the day he took me up in a helicopter, along with client Martin Bonis, he donned a pilot’s uniform, complete with black and gold epaulets on the shoulders. Bowers offers his clients a real estate search from the air, via helicopter, before househunting the conventional way. The first step is to ask his clients about their everyday life—from where they work to what they enjoy. “I absorb all of this material and then file it as a flight plan,” says Bowers, a member of John T. Little’s team at Re/Max United. “I’ll fly the husband to work, and I’ll fly the wife to her job so she can see the roads she’d be taking. I’ll point out the hospitals and the vet clinics, and we’ll go out to the lake. If they’re interested in golf, we’ll visit a couple of courses. After 30 to 45 minutes, the idea is to draw a general conclusion on the area. After landing, the search takes over on the ground in the conventional way.”

Take-off
Amazingly, the helicopter, an R-44 leased from North Carolina Rotor &Wing, lands on a large grassy field directly in front of the Re/Max United building. Our pilot is a friendly European woman
named Isabell, who instructs us how to enter and exit the chopper and also how to work our headsets, which are fitted with microphones so we can talk easily. Bonis, who’s single and works in the mortgage industry, hopes to find something in the Raleigh/Wake Forest area that’s larger and quieter than what he owns now. “I live on Main Street and it’s so loud that I feel like I’m on a runway at home,” says Bonis, who plans to spend less than $500,000. “I’d like something a little more secluded, with more privacy and a little bigger.” Bonis loves both boating and golf, so Bowers plans to show him several different areas.We fly with the doors off because it is a hot day. Isabell is a capable pilot, following Bowers’ instructions as we fly over Heritage, Wakefield Plantation and Kenwood Reserve, the latter of which is farther out than the first two subdivisions. In Heritage, Isabell hones in on a home directly on the golf course that is on Bonis’ list. Bowers explains that a home directly on the course will cost about $100,000 more than one off the course. Next, we head over to Wakefield Plantation. Bowers directs Isabell to descend, dropping to about 400 feet, and to follow the roads to the next house on Bonis’ preferred list. This is the route Bonis would follow every day, if he buys the home. From the chopper, Bonis can see it backs up to a busy road, and he’s not too crazy about the noise factor. On paper, however, it was one of his favorites. We fly over Falls Lake, and Bonis wistfully talks about having a house directly on the lake. “Can’t do it,” says Bowers through the headset. “The whole thing is owned by the Corps of Engineers.” Bonis pushes, wondering how close he could get, but from the chopper it’s evident there’s a pretty wide buffer around the lake. We make a quick stop at the airport in Franklin County to meet Todd Hendrikson, owner of North Carolina Rotor & Wing. Hendrikson started his business in December 2005 with one helicopter. He now has four helicopters and several fixed-wing airplanes. “I think what Dave is trying to do is show everyone the proximity in relation to their work, schools, traffic patterns, that sort of thing,” says Hendrikson. “It’s a whole different world from the air.”

With the helicopter, Dave Bowers is able to show his client, Martin Bonis, the features surrounding homes on his preferred list that would not be apparent from the ground.

Serendipity

As is often the case in life, Bowers came upon the helicopter idea by accident. Three years ago,
as a new agent, he planned a seminar at a local coffee house, hoping to gain clients. “I put a lot of effort into it and one person showed up,” says Bowers. “I was very disappointed. I knew at that time that running seminars was not the way to build a business.” The one person who did show up, however, was a helicopter pilot. Bowers went home and the wheels started turning. “All of a sudden it occurred to me that I could takemy business to a very high level and business would take off if I offered this service,” Bowers says. He partnered with Southeastern Helicopter, but it wasn’t long before the company went under. A few months ago, he saw an ad for North Carolina Rotor & Wing and his idea resurrected. Helicopter rides are expensive. An hour-long jaunt in a chopper with clients and a pilot costs Bowers about $500, so he’s serious about screening clients. First, Bowers’ clients must be willing to buy a home costing more than $300,000, must pre-qualify, andmust sign a “hold harmless” agreement, the latter of which is similar to what you might sign if you were taking a tourist ride over the Grand Canyon. “This is not Dave’s Helicopter Service,” says Bowers, “This is Dave helping you find a proper location based on amacro-overview.” Bowers currently takes up one client a week, but is hoping to increase that to three.

A ‘great perspective’
Dave Bowers’ background is as diverse as the real estate he now sells. For years he was in the Air Force. After that, he worked in marketing at Madison Square Garden in New York City. “That’s where I learned how to create interest,” he says. His next career move was designrelated.
During the 80s and 90s, while living in New Jersey, Bowers was, at one time, the largest wallpaper importer in the U.S., with factories in Holland, the UK and Paris. “That’s how I made my money,” Bowers says. When he turned 55, he and his wife moved to North Carolina to retire, but Bowers couldn’t sit still for long. “This is more exciting than the other stuff. I’m hoping that I can close 90 percent of the people that go aloft.” Martin Bonis is likely to be in that 90 percent. Although he thought he wanted to buy in a wooded area, the helicopter ride helped him eliminate
some of the more rural locations because of the commute involved to and from work. “It was a great perspective going up there and seeing it from the air because I never even thought about that from the ground,” says Bonis. “I think of all the neighborhoods, Wakefield is number one. If the price is right, maybe Heritage. And I don’t have to be on the golf course. An extra $100,000 for the golf course? Forget it; I can walk right across the street.” Bonis and Bowers will continue their search by car — doing the painstaking work of going through each house one by one, a procedure that’s not likely to change. “I’ve never, ever sold a house from the air,” says Bowers. “With the helicopter, I’m selling an area. You can’t buy a house by looking at the roof.”

Check it out
If you’re interested in more information, visit www.flyncrealestate.com. If even the thought of flying in a helicopter makes you queasy, Bowers recommends this site for homeowners who want to see an aerial view of their home from home, www.googleearth.com.