Gary Jacklin

Managing Broker/Owner
RE/MAX Action

The Rolling Stones said it’s only rock ‘n’ roll, but RE/MAX Action’s Gary Jacklin finds that his years in music equipped him with much more, namely the business savvy, entrepreneurial spirit and enduring tenacity that a Realtor must possess. “I was on the road as a professional musician, which helped me learn sales as a live performer and business as the manager of my band,” he explains. Jacklin’s ability to identify connections between his entertainment experience and the real estate industry created the blueprint for his nearly three decades as both an agent and managing broker/owner of the top RE/MAX office in Northern Illinois. Furthermore, the number of Realtors who work for his agency has increased almost ten-fold from 11 in 1996 to 105 today, a testament to his ability to recognize and cultivate talent.

In fact, Jacklin no longer lists and sells properties since managing and growing the team at RE/MAX Action are his top priorities. Although his professionals range in age from mid-20s to mid-80s, he believes that implementing the right kind of support bridges the generational gap. To him, this requires the practical application of his in-depth understanding of technology, so RE/MAX Action operates a cutting- edge, technology-driven system that increases agents’ capacity to list and sell properties in optimal time. “It’s not about the technology itself,” Jacklin points out, “but how technology is used to create a benefit. Time is the most valuable commodity.”

Few know more about the intersection of real estate and technology than Jacklin, who created his own software for the industry in 1994. His SOAR MLS was a Multiple Listing Service automation tool that automated property searches and e-mailed them to clients years before the Internet was recognized as a valuable real estate tool. This visionary approach using the World Wide Web to support Realtor-client relations, he believes, has been his greatest contribution to the profession.

Jacklin has earned multiple awards and honors since joining the industry in 1987, including membership in the RE/MAX Hall of Fame, RE/MAX Platinum Club and RE/MAX Broker/Owner of the Year, but he never fails to return to his musician roots. He spends his off hours performing local shows as a fiddle, electric guitar and acoustic guitar player and vocalist with Big John Howell & The Born To Boogie Band, an act that has shared the stage with George Jones and The Marshall Tucker Band. But whether he needs to navigate the ins and outs of music or real estate, Jacklin, in the words of The Stones, says he likes it. “Life doesn’t present problems,” he makes clear, “only challenges and solutions!”