I love that our annual Real Data issue is coming out on President’s Day this year, because I like to think of the top performers in the following pages as the presidents of their territories. Of course, I wouldn’t recommend Jeff Lowe march up to the fourth floor of City Hall and tell Mayor Lori Lightfoot that I said he can be in charge now. But he definitely has some sweet bragging rights among the Chicagoland real estate community. See if you can guess where I ranked (hint: It’s nothing to sneeze at).
This time next year, we might have a little more competition on the Real Data lists from the national league. NAR’s Nobu Hata is stepping down from his role of telling brokers and associations what they’re doing wrong with technology to get back into sales. Will he be joining Shay’s team at Berkshire Hathaway? Are they already training little Oliver to take the reins? Only time will tell.
Who was at d’aprile properties’ summit downtown on Feb. 8? I’m not actually sure what this was, but certain people got some “silver key” awards, which I assume was for good behavior. Let’s hope there wasn’t any bad behavior probably courtesy of the event’s signature cocktail, which was an herbal old fashioned dubbed “the good investment.” I could double down on that.
Though there are obviously no for-sale signs allowed on my private island, I have been watching you poor, cold Chicagoans struggle with marketing listings in this nasty weather. I saw that Jorge Caceres’ open house sign got completely covered in snow, rendering it completely unreadable. Maybe it’s better as fodder for dibs? Or, hey: Maybe it’s time for Compass to look into self-heating signs for Chicago winters? You can have that one for free, Rachael Rohn. Meanwhile, the Byers Home Team just successfully posted their first Compass for-sale sign at their listing on Seeley. We can’t wait to see the custom ones come in, hopefully frost-free.
Apparently, Anthony Marinaccio has passed on his strong networking skills to his progeny. Upon taking his daughter to a recent father-daughter dance, he was promptly ditched by said daughter, so she could go hang with her friends. Time to brush up on the solo breakdancing moves, Anthony! (That’s what the kids are into these days, right?)
It’s the end of February in a leap year and I am devastated to say I know of no leap babies in the Chicagoland real estate community. Let me know if I’m missing anyone! In the meantime, let’s pause on Feb. 18 to wish a very happy birthday to both Debra Kaden and Alice Chin. Don’t tell Lewis Jones, but we might just copy and paste that message on the subsequent day, which happens to belong to his birth. On Feb. 22, Kevin Kelly’s celebration can act as a pregame for Graham Allen, Jill Hare and David Kasprisin, who’ll all get one year older the next day. We’ll have to take one more trip around the sun before we can clink glasses with Donna Crane on Feb. 24, but it’ll be worth it in the end. And finally, Beth Repta will get her moment on March 3.