Luxury real estate expert reveals benefits of Kirk Cousins selling his home privately after trade to Vikings

While Kirk Cousins is back in Minnesota with the Vikings, not everything will be quite the same.

Cousins revealed that when he signed with the Atlanta Falcons in 2024, he sold his house through a neighbor without ever putting it on the open market. The 38-year-old said his neighbor told him he had someone who could buy his house immediately, so Cousins sold it without ever listing it.

Margit Brandt, a luxury real estate agent, said that Cousins may have gotten a little lucky finding an off the market buyer for his house so quickly, but there are many advantages to selling a home off-market.

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Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins speaks during an NFL football press conference Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026, in Eagan, Minn., the day after being traded to the team by the Las Vegas Raiders. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

"Another component to the off-market is also privacy and discretion and not having your name out there because when you publicly list something, press picks it up. There's photos on Zillow and online of like what your living room and your kitchen and your closet, like all these personal spaces," Brandt told OutKick in a recent interview.

"So for someone like Kirk Cousins to have someone come in off market and not have to like open his dress, so to speak, right, in terms of his home on the market, his name being out there. I think that's appealing."

Brandt is based in Palm Beach, Florida, and said her team has sold $1 billion worth of homes this year, with about a third of those sales completed off-market. When looking to sell a home, Brandt said she taps into her relationships if a client initially requests an off-market sale.

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Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins passes against the Carolina Panthers during the first half of an NFL game on Oct. 1, 2023, in Charlotte, N.C. (AP Photo/Rusty Jones)

"We have like a private portfolio for off-market properties. And you have good broker relationships and you have to know the market and we have 30% of the Palm Beach market right now. So we know exactly who's looking at what price point, who's real, who's not. It gives you a good bird's eye view of like what's happening here," Brandt said.

"So, you can certainly try something off-market for all those reasons we just discussed, privacy, discretion, safety, even, right? People don't want people to know where they live. It's a safety thing."

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Minnesota Vikings quarterback Kirk Cousins speaks during an NFL football press conference Wednesday, Nov. 11, 2026, in Eagan, Minn., the day after being traded to the team by the Las Vegas Raiders. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

Cousins said at the end of his re-introductory press conference with the Minnesota Vikings that his wife, Julie, and their sons are staying in a hotel while she looks for a new home. The Pro Bowl quarterback hopes to find their next home sooner rather than later.

"Trust me, because we sell a lot of houses, it's harder than it looks. It's sometimes it takes a little bit to get to the right person for every house, but there is a person for every house. We've learned that there is," Brandt said.

Ryan Canfield is a digital production assistant for Fox News Digital.