Evanston, Illinois (the suburb my office is based in, and where I live and practice real estate)...was included in Movoto's top ten most exciting suburbs!! The 10 Most Exciting Suburbs In America By Movoto Real Estate They ranked Evanston as the 10th most exciting suburb in all of the united sta...

01/29/2014

Don't let technology tie you in knots!

24 Comments

Our office, nay our company, is making a major push toward technology. We've been pushing DocuSign (electronic signature technology) for the last year or more. And even though we have thousands of agents in the greater Chicagoland area, and our company/MLS is subsidizing it's use, the number of ...

01/28/2014

Your transaction is so ugly.... "how ugly is it?"

53 Comments

In one of my recent posts, someone mentioned that some transactions get ugly. True that. I've been a party to some transactions that get really ugly (and sometimes downright mean). Sometimes ugly is the path the buyer and seller choose... allright, well, maybe they don't really choose ugly... b...

01/27/2014

It's a beginning. Let's continue the conversation.

93 Comments

There's a conversation going on, in the rain, at the moment, about how a Seller (and their associated listing agent) should receive a "low-ball offer". My counsel, to my sellers, has often been "Don't be offended by a low-ball offer. It's an offer! Someone liked the home enough to write an offe...

01/27/2014

You're probably not the right agent for me. There's two sides to every story.

68 Comments

This post was inspired by another post here in the rain, entitled: I’m Probably Not the Right Agent for You. I don't disagree with Pamela Seley's take on things, but there's always another side to every story... so I thought I'd try to represent that side: IF YOU CAN'T:Respect me as the owner/s...

01/23/2014

What did Dr. King accomplish?

9 Comments

On this Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, I thought I would write a little piece about the much venerated Dr. King. In order to speak intelligently about Dr. King, I did a little online research, and came across this article, written by a gentleman named Hamden Rice. I decided, after reading his arti...

01/20/2014

Beating your head against a feathered-wall! I would have shot that duck!

22 Comments

A recent featured blog post, by Angelia Barton, told a story about being interrupted during a listing presentation with the statement: "We are not going to use you to list our home." When asked "why?", the homeowner further explained that they had a friend who was a Realtor and they were going to...

01/10/2014

Once more into the fray!

36 Comments

Back in January of 2011, I publicly made a new year's resolution to lose 50 pounds. Over a long period of time, I achieved that goal. I didn't do it quite as quickly as I wanted... but in total... I lost over 60 pounds. sah-weet! I had to buy all new clothes, honestly, even my undergarments did...

01/03/2014