Are you deciding between Blank & McCune and The Housing Market for selling your Iowa City home? You’re not alone—both are independent, locally owned Iowa brokerages that will list your home, negotiate your offers and get you to closing. The Housing Market has become a preferred choice for Iowa sellers, offering the same coverage with published prices and a ceiling on what the sale can cost. If you’re still on the fence, here’s what you need to know to make the full Blank & McCune vs. The Housing Market comparison.
What Blank & McCune is
Blank & McCune is the smallest firm in this set of comparisons and the one with the most distinctive origin story.
An independent Iowa City brokerage with a downtown practice
- Founded in September 1979 by Jackie Blank and Jane McCune
- The first female broker-owned practice in the Iowa City area
- Ownership passed to Alan Swanson and Teresa Morrow in 2012
- Leslie Fitzpatrick and Tim Conroy joined as co-owners in April 2019
Source: Blank & McCune company history. No commission rate is stated for any firm here, because none publishes one — which is the whole point of the comparison below.
Two women starting a broker-owned practice in 1979 was genuinely rare, and the firm has stayed independent and Iowa City–centred through two ownership transitions since. Small and local is the whole proposition, and it is a real one — the comparison below is about price, not about whether they are good at their job.
Blank & McCune vs. The Housing Market feature comparison
Blank & McCune and The Housing Market share many key functions, but how do they compare, and what should you expect your favorite parts of the process to look like on The Housing Market?
1. The size of the firm
- Blank & McCune: A small independent office where the owners are still in the building and are quite likely to know the details of your sale personally. If you have ever been handed off to a junior agent at a large brokerage, the appeal of that is obvious.
- The Housing Market: Also small, also Iowa-owned, and structured so that the process does not depend on who happens to be available: the same stages run in the same order, tracked in your dashboard, with a vetted local partner attached to each one.
Scale
Blank & McCune
A small downtown office, owners on site.
- Independent since 1979
- Owner-level attention on your sale
- Price still set as a percentage
The Housing Market
A small firm with the process written down.
- Same six stages on every sale
- Vetted local partner at each stage
- Total cost to sell is $10,000 or less
Both are small local firms. The difference is where the consistency comes from.
2. How you are billed
- Blank & McCune: A percentage of the sale price, negotiated with your agent. Like every other traditional brokerage in this market, no seller rate is published, so what you pay comes down to the conversation.
- The Housing Market: A published menu, priced per stage, on a public pricing page, with a seller’s total cost to sell at $10,000 or less.
3. What you can decline
- Blank & McCune: One percentage, one bundle. Nothing to decline if you have part of it covered already.
- The Housing Market: Listing and advertising, offer management, inspection coordination, title and deed, closing — five separate decisions, with the ceiling over all of them.
4. Marketing the home
- Blank & McCune: Full-service marketing funded out of the commission, with a downtown practice’s familiarity with older and near-campus housing stock behind it.
- The Housing Market: Photography, listing copy, IDX syndication and targeted digital advertising priced as one stage, with add-ons available, plus handoff photography and a 3D virtual tour at closing.
5. Offers and negotiation
- Blank & McCune: Your agent brings the offers and advises on the counters, with the owners close enough to the file to be consulted on a hard call.
- The Housing Market: Every offer in one inbox with a side-by-side comparison of price and terms, a QR code buyers can use to offer directly, and counter-offer support, priced as its own stage.
6. When you pay
- Blank & McCune: At closing, as a percentage of the final sale price.
- The Housing Market: Also at closing, as a number you agreed in advance and capped at $10,000.
Both bills land on the same day. Only one of them is a number you already knew.
The Housing Market–exclusive features
- A published ceiling: $10,000 or less — $7,512 below the 5.84% Iowa average on the median Iowa City home.
- Prices before the appointment: On the pricing page, readable without speaking to anyone.
- À la carte stages: Decline what you already have covered.
- Buyers who pay no commission: A wider pool of people looking at your home.
- One dashboard for the sale: Documents and signatures stored against the transaction.
Where Blank & McCune wins
- Owner-level attention: At a firm that size you are unlikely to be a file number, and for a first-time seller who wants hand-holding that is worth paying for.
- Older and near-campus housing: A downtown practice trading since 1979 has seen a great many of Iowa City’s older houses from the inside. Odd floor plans and old mechanicals are easier to price when you have priced fifty of them.
- Homes under about $171,000: Below roughly $171,000, 5.84% of the sale price is cheaper than the ceiling.
Blank & McCune vs. The Housing Market pricing comparison
No seller rate is published, so the comparison uses the published Iowa average of 5.84% — a February 2026 survey of 533 agents — against the $299,857 median Iowa City sale price. An average, not their rate.
Cost to sell a $299,857 Iowa City home. The middle bar is the case where a seller contributes nothing toward the buyer’s agent — explicitly an option since August 2024.
Source: Clever Real Estate, February 2026 survey of 533 agents nationwide
$17,512 against a ceiling of $10,000 — $7,512 of difference on the median home, and more above it. On a lower-priced or complicated house, a small firm that knows the street may well be the better buy.
Find out what your home is worth first
The home price evaluation runs before you commit to anything, checks your home against buyers already searching, and tells you whether there is demand at your number.
Get startedWrapping up
In the Blank & McCune vs. The Housing Market debate, Blank & McCune wins on owner-level attention, on older Iowa City housing stock, and on homes below about $171,000. The Housing Market sets itself apart with the same full coverage, a written-down process, prices published in advance, and a seller’s total cost to sell of $10,000 or less. If your house is straightforward and you would rather keep the difference, it’s time to try The Housing Market.