Niel was Executive Vice President and one of the founding members of Fortune Properties, Inc., now Coldwell Banker Best Properties until his retirement in 2018. A Realtor® since 1983, Niel's clients were mid- to upper-end residential and commercial-investment real estate buyers and sellers, corporate owners of foreclosed property, and corporate relocation service providers.

Niel's leadership in professional groups enabled him to make the most of technologies for marketing and identifying property. Niel was one of only three Alaska licensees holding both "PhD's in real estate," designations of the National Association of Realtors® that signify the highest levels of knowledge and achievement in residential and commercial real estate.

• CCIM: Certified Commercial-Investment Member
• CRS: Certified Residential Specialist.

Niel's record of even-handed dealing, fair play and justice flowed from:

• Locally Niel’s service to the Anchorage Board of Realtors as mediator and chair of arbitration panels hearing allegations of Realtor ethics violations and fee disputes was recognized in 2015 by his being named “Realtor® of the Year”.
• Niel was also an Accredited Buyer Representative (ABR), certified by the National Association of Realtors.
• Alaska MLS, Inc., publishes the listings of brokers across Alaska. Niel is a Past President
• Niel has served as a member of the Anchorage Board of Equalization. This board of real estate experts was appointed by the Anchorage Assembly to hear cases where a taxpayer questions assessed value.
• Involved in numerous community activities, Niel has been a member of the Anchorage Downtown Rotary Club, Commonwealth North, and the Chugach State Park Citizens Advisory Board.

In years past, Niel wrote the column on real estate for the statewide business newspaper, the Alaska Journal of Alaska Commerce. The column covered a variety of commercial and residential real estate subjects of interest to Alaskan business and professional readers. The National Association of Realtors published an article he wrote for its national magazine on proper procedures for handling multiple offers on real estate. He has often serve as a trainer of new associates and lecturer on real estate to community and professional groups.

An Alaskan resident 1974-2015, Niel is a graduate of Cornell University and past president of the Cornell Club of Alaska. He served under Governor Jay Hammond from 1975-82 as director of the Alaska State Commission for Human Rights. For a time in the early 1980's he was the only Alaskan labor arbitrator certified by both the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service and the American Arbitration Association. A tournament bridge player, he holds the rank of Life Master.