In need of inspiration and a fresh outlook for the coming year? Discover what it takes to reach and maintain top-producer status directly from the source: top-producing brokers in the city and suburbs.

On days Beth Wexler works from Starbucks, toiling away on her laptop with the @properties logo sticker face-up, people often stop to ask her questions about the market. By the end of the day, she’s likely to have three new clients. That’s the point of getting away from the office — to generate business organically. Wexler recently hit career sales totaling $1 billion, spanning 34 years.

She began learning the trade in 1991 with Jameson Realty, selling new-construction lofts and condominiums in the city.

“The biggest reason I reached top-producer status is I started at 21, and my clientele grew with me,” she said. “Between buying and selling, I probably did six deals with everyone.”

Wexler believes the best way to become a top producer is to form a team. She co-leads The Wexler Gault Group at @properties Christie’s International Real Estate with fellow brokers Joey Gault and Liz Salinas. Launched more than two decades ago, it’s the No. 1 team in Deerfield and Highland Park, according to the MLS. It’s also the No. 1 team at the brokerage’s Highland Park office. Having eight brokers and one full-time assistant allows Wexler to be in several places at one time and each team leader to focus on the tasks in which they excel.

Everything Wexler has done throughout her career has been unconventional, naturally setting her apart from the competition. She formed a team, attended showings for listings with buyer’s agents and had a website long before those practices were commonplace.

Grigory Pekarsky wasn’t a top producer when he started in real estate 16 years ago. Consistent efforts and a focus on “MMAs” (money-making activities), not results, led him there. Pekarsky, managing broker, co-founder and team lead of Vesta Preferred Realty in Bucktown, agrees that starting a team is the best way to reach next-level success. He recently achieved No. 1 team status in Chicago.

“Success is not about money,” he said. “It’s about getting your time back without losing momentum.”

Pekarsky put people in places he didn’t need to be — answering phones, setting appointments and even going to appointments.

“When you’re a top producer, you want freedom, and you get freedom by multiplying yourself,” he explained. “Understand the core basics of what it takes to get there.”

Pekarsky narrowed it down to three components: leads, systems for measuring success and accountability coaching.

“When you get a lead, don’t take it as you’re the only one who gets the opportunity,” he said. “Call that lead right away, and get that opportunity. Talk to them about the NAR settlement. Exclusive contracts have been one of the best competitive advantages in this industry. Know your value pitch, and get them to sign.”

He works with team members on a weekly basis, using metrics to pinpoint where to focus training and observing the people in action. “If they’re underperforming in a week, it’s going to take 3 days to get them back on track,” he said. “We have to catch where they’re slipping right away.”

Pekarsky has 27 agents on his team. Collectively, they sold 550 units in 2024, totaling approximately $275 million. He said it’s the result of hiring agents who are humble, have a “best-in-class attitude,” have an unstoppable work ethic and compete only with themselves — attributes he cannot teach. What he can teach, however, is technique.

“I look for great people in the wrong environment, and I give them what they need to reach their greatest potential,” he explained. Pekarsky advises agents to ask themselves, “Am I in the right environment?”

To become a top producer takes consistency and passion, insists Danielle Dowell. “It has to feel like a lifestyle and not going to work every day,” Dowell, founder of The DoWell Real Estate Group backed by Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices in Lincoln Park, explained. “I’m doing the same things I did when I started by myself 15 years ago. I just have more people to help me.”

Pekarsky agrees. “Ninety-seven percent of success is boring,” he said. “We make calls, answer phones and are available when people need us. Only 3% of it is fun, like doing interviews with magazines.”

Dowell leads a team of 15 brokers in the city and suburbs, which allows her to delegate paperwork, marketing and social media tasks. To avoid getting “pigeonholed” in a market segment that’s hurting, she doesn’t have a niche.

“I’ve turned from an agent to a manager running a business, and I think in those terms,” she said. “That’s how you get to the next level.”

Understand the market

Wexler advises aspiring top producers to socialize and insert real estate into every conversation. “Know your market, because everybody is real estate-obsessed,” she said. Right now, low inventory, high demand and a ton of competition for turnkey homes best describes the North Shore landscape. It’s a seller’s market, and Wexler doesn’t see it changing in 2025.

“People are holding on to 2% and 3% interest rates and staying in homes longer,” she said. “Unless you’re a cash buyer, there’s not a ton of motivation to move and double your rate.”

Still, people always need to move for situational reasons — relocations, death, divorce or other challenges — and that creates inventory, said Salinas, managing partner for The Wexler Gault Group. “If interest rates are 10% or 2%, we’ll still be doing deals,” she said, but she noted that lately those moves are happening less often.

With fewer properties available, agents have to present buyers in the best possible light, added Gault, co-team lead of The Wexler Gault Group. “There are a lot of people waiting in the wings for inventory to come on the market, and the second it does, they will be jumping on properties. The biggest thing is to prepare clients to win a multiple-offer situation.”

It requires cash terms and meeting the seller’s ideal close date, Gault explained — basically, doing whatever they want. It also helps to give the other broker a lot of background on the client to make them feel confident that the deal will go through. “It’s important to be easy to work with and have good relationships with other brokers,” Wexler added.

All the same, Dowell is bullish on the Chicago market. “Chicago overall is a pretty conservative market,” she said. “It doesn’t reach the highs of other big cities. But it doesn’t reach the lows, either. It’s still doing relatively well.”

She’s witnessing people return to the city who left for other states during the pandemic. “It’s very much a seller’s market, except for the luxury sector downtown, which is a buyer’s market,” she noted. “But still good.”

Dowell anticipates a steady 2025 market, with low inventory and interest rates that don’t decrease as much as people are expecting. She cited the economy, mortgage rates and inventory as the biggest factors that contribute to a strong real estate market. Regardless, the main factor is inventory, Wexler said. Brokers need properties to sell, and inventory remains low.

What’s hot and what’s not

Resoundingly, the worst market is luxury high-rise buildings downtown, due to high property taxes, Pekarsky said. He noted that walk-up, three-flat buildings without a high HOA near the train lines continue to do well. He singled out Bronzeville, Woodlawn, Logan Square and Bucktown for attracting lots of buyers but advises staying ahead of the trend by buying in adjacent neighborhoods, where inventory is plentiful and prices are down. With the Obama Center almost complete, he said the South Side is an up-and-coming location.

Dowell said sales in the suburban market are doing great. “Before COVID, you couldn’t give away a house in Lake Forest. Now it’s a 180-degree change.”

Profile of today’s buyers

Young families moving from the city to the suburbs for the schools, downsizing empty nesters, move-up buyers and relocation clients are purchasing homes on the North Shore, Wexler said. Property types that are trending are ranches, mid-century modern homes and “anything” built post-2000. “A lot of our buyers would take a smaller place with nicer finishers over a larger place that needs updating,” Wexler said.

Pekarsky thinks the majority of sellers this year will be “the 30+ demographic” listing properties below $500,000. They impulsively bought homes during COVID that didn’t suit their needs, he said, and now they want to upgrade.

2025 market outlook

Pekarsky projects the first and second quarters will be marked by dramatic price increases (upward of 5% to 10%) for limited inventory. He expects homes from $500,000 to $800,000 to experience dramatic price growth. In comparison, he anticipates that properties $800,000 to $1.2 million will see smaller price increases, and he forecasts some demand for properties costing $1.5 million+. He believes the third quarter, historically the slowest, will remain that way.

“In Chicago, there’s segmentation,” he said. “It’s understanding the neighborhood, type of real estate and price point. All of those are independent.”

One key to providing good advice, he said, particularly during a bidding war, is knowing when the circumstances warrant an offer that’s under list price. To that end, consumers will seek savvy brokers who know how to shop for off-market properties, win multiple bidding wars and advise them when it’s best to walk away, he said.

Guiding clients to decisions that have their best interests in mind adds value to the transaction process and is something all top producers strive to do. “I tell our team members to pretend like they work at Nordstrom,” Wexler said. “You have to provide exceptional service to every client.”

EXPERT SOURCES

Danielle Dowell
Founder, The DoWell Real Estate Group, Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago

Grigory Pekarsky
Managing Broker, Co-Founder and Team Lead, Vesta Preferred Realty

Beth Wexler, Joey Gault and Liz Salinas
Team Leads, The Wexler Gault Group, @properties Christie’s International Real Estate

Correction: A previous version of this article included the incorrect sales and volume totals for Grigory Pekarsky’s team.