When I heard about the topic of this issue, I was hoping our fearless publishers would simply be listing the name of every brokerage in the Chicagoland area and assigning a grade. I even phoned them up to provide a few recommendations on some of my faves and not-so-faves, but no one has gotten back to me as of press time. My guess is their voicemail wasn’t working that day, or maybe my voicemail didn’t record their enthusiastic responses. Regardless, turns out that’s not quite what this issue is about. But if you’d like to see an article along these lines, you know how to reach me. In the meantime, let’s just get into the good stuff, OK?
Yolanda Jeffries of Baird & Warner just got her General Contractors license from the City of Chicago! This top producer can now ad GC to the list of fancy letters after her name.
Berkshire Hathaway Home Service’s Rich Aronson is also looking to add a new title to his resume: TV star! Or rather, “TV personality” as it is listed on his Facebook page. Rich will be starring on the upcoming American Dream Chicago on WGN debuting in October, so ask for autographs as soon as you can.
TV stars who double as brokers, top producer GCs and now CAR has a rock star president? That’s right, incoming CAR President Antje Gehrken commented that though she has retired from the music business, she plays such an important role in so many people’s lives as an agent that she still feels like a rock star. And when it comes to fame and fortune, it’s all about how you feel, and I’m feeling like a billionaire these days.
Since now is the time for changing of the association guards, I thought I’d check out what what’s going on with the Mainstreet Association of Realtors. Incoming prez John LeTourneau shared that his rise to the presidency all started with a tap on the shoulder six years ago by the late, great Margery Shinners. I don’t have the heart to tell him she was just brushing a spider off of his shoulder, but it seems to have worked out OK. And I enjoy any opportunity to mention Margery because she was one of my favorite human beings, and I don’t have a lot of those.
People are still getting older, so let’s tell everyone about it. Sharbel Shamoon will get wiser and (probably not possible, but we’ll see) potentially more handsome on Oct. 6. Nicole Hajdu will celebrate Oct. 7, and then Ryan D’Aprile gets to be the star on Oct. 8. Jenny Sepulveda (who for the last time is NOT related to CA’s Marci Sepulveda) will get another year more amazing on Oct. 10. Beth Wexler celebrates on Oct. 11, while Josh Lipton swoops in for a party on lucky number 13. My name fave Maria Thanasouras shares a b-day with Ryan Wynia on Oct. 14. Celebrate with Keven Serafin on Oct. 16 and Christine Breuer McNamee on Oct. 17, and then head into the fall with Karen Peterson on Oct. 22 and Matt Garrison and Emily Sachs Wong on Oct. 24. Amy Duong Kim and Jon Goldman are birthday twinsies on the 24th, just like Stefanie Neuman Lavelle and Cathy Stabb on Oct. 28. Then get ready for Halloween by giving a spooky shout out to Steven Maher and Monique Pierron-Strong on Oct. 30.