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Guthrie and Associates Real Estate is growing

‘We’ve grown a lot.’ – Scott Underberg, co-owner, Guthrie and Associates Real Estate

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen Katie and Scott Underberg, co-owners of Guthrie and Associates Real Estate, pose in front of their newly renovated offices at 1302 Central Avenue in Fort Dodge. They also recently moved to this location.

Just a bit more than two years ago, a new era began at Guthrie and Associates Real Estate when Scott and Katie Underberg became the new owners of one of the town’s oldest real estate firms. Both Underbergs were real estate agents affiliated with the agency prior to taking the helm of the enterprise.

The business has undergone some changes with the Underbergs in charge. In November 2016, it moved from 7 N. 18th St. to 1302 Central Ave.

“We wanted to purchase our own spot and remodel it the way we wanted it to be,” Scott Underberg said. “The building we were in had been rented for many years.”

The result is a new home for the agency in a structure that has been massively renovated.

“We did everything,” Scott Underberg said of the building’s transformation. “The only thing that is original is the roof put on by the previous investor and some of the steel and the concrete walls. The interior is completely new. The whole building is 3,360 square feet. Our office takes up 2,800 square feet of that. It is twice as big as where we were before.”

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen Katie and Scott Underberg, co-owners of Guthrie and Associates Real Estate, pose with a movable computer screen they use to show listings to clients in their newly renovated offices at 1302 Central Avenue in Fort Dodge. They also recently moved to this location.

The business has flourished.

“We’ve grown a lot,” Underberg said. “We about doubled production in the first year we owned it and it’s grown even more this year. We’re slated to be about triple what the year before we took over was.”

An additional business venture has also been added.

“We started Connections Property Management Group in September 2016,” Underberg said. “We own that along with a property manager who is a partner in that, Kaylee Christensen.”

He said property management is a logical companion business for a real estate agency.

-Messenger photo by Hans Madsen Katie and Scott Underberg, co-owners of Guthrie and Associates Real Estate, stop to chat with Realtor Lynsey Froisland chat in the lobby of their offices at 1302 Central Avenue.

“We service the properties,” Underberg said. “Everything from maintenance to move-in and move-outs, collecting rents. All the management aspects. We do both residential and commercial properties.”

Local market

The housing market is active in Fort Dodge and Webster County and exceptionally tight, according to Underberg.

“I actually had one today that I put on the market and accepted an offer two hours later,” he said. “That’s not very uncommon right now. The market times are a lot shorter than they used to be.”

Underberg said it’s a good time to sell a house in Webster County, but that is also true in many places around the nation.

“Across the country, there is a shortage of inventory everywhere,” he said. “It is very apparent here, though. Webster County is special because the workforce is so dynamic and we’ve got so much coming in here. We are the hub for about 125,000 to 140,000 people. This is where people come to shop. This is where they come to eat. This is where they come for entertainment.”

Meet the Underbergs

Both Underbergs are longtime Fort Dodgers. Scott Underberg graduated from St. Edmond High School in 1998. He has had dual professions for a number of years. Underberg has sold real estate at Guthrie and Associates since 2004. From 2000 to 2014 he was also a full-time corrections officer at Fort Dodge Correctional Facility.

Katie Segar Underberg graduated from Fort Dodge Senior High in 2001. She then studied at Buena Vista and received a bachelor’s degree in 2009. She has been in the sales world since college and a Realtor since 2013 as part of the team at Guthrie and Associates.

Scott Underberg said after more than a decade in real estate sales he remains enthusiastic about his career choice.

“It’s being able to serve people and make them happy,” he said about the work. “We’re able to make people happy with the greatest purchase in their lives. It’s the biggest purchase most people make.

Katie Underberg echoed that sentiment.

“I enjoy helping clients find their perfect house,” she said. “That’s very fun. It’s a huge thing for their family. That’s the fun part.”

About Guthrie and Associates Real Estate

Guthrie and Associates Real Estate was launched by Don Guthrie Sr. in 1972. His sons — Don Guthrie Jr. and Dwight Guthrie — have been part of the family business since the 1970s and were its owners in 2015. They remained affiliated with the business after the Underbergs took the helm.

Their continued involvement is welcomed by the new owners.

“I learned from the best,” Scott Underberg said. “I really think the Guthries were really the best as what they did.”

He said the agency has 11 licensed agents. For residential properties Underberg said the focus is Webster County and the surrounding counties. On the commercial side the venue is more wide-ranging.

“For commercial, depending the size of it, I would travel most of the state,” Underberg said. “It depends on what it is.”

What sets the agency apart is quite straightforward, according to Underberg.

“Expertise, industry knowledge,” he said.

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