Real estate veteran Steve Koleno has joined Spot Real Estate as vice president of consumer empowerment.  

Koleno is ranked among the top real estate agents in the United States by RealTrends Verified — he participated in 2,088 transactions valued at $703.65 million in 2024 — and previously managed home portfolios at the single-family rental companies Invitation Homes and American Homes for Rent.  

“I’ve had the privilege of working with some of the most sophisticated real estate investors in the world,” Koleno said. “What they demanded — and what I delivered — was complete transparency, flexible service models and pricing that made sense for their specific needs. Why shouldn’t every homeowner in Chicago have access to that same approach?” 

Spot charges home sellers a 1% commission instead of the usual 2% to 3%, which the brokerage says is achieved by “lean operations.” Spot offers three tiers of customer service: the Standard Plan, the Prime Plan and the Elite Plan.

“While the 1% listing commission is new to the Chicagoland market, there are many markets across the U.S. that have already introduced similar models,” Founder and CEO Mark Miles said. “However, many of the similar pricing models are merely lead generators that send the clients to a small group of local agents as referrals and therefore don’t control the quality of the experience. Spot, on the other hand, directly works with all its clients.”