It’s that time of the year again, lovelies, when I dust off the old laptop and take a long hard gander at my favorite thing in the world — real estate tech!

Friends may come and go, but luxury will always be there for you. No matter which way the wind blows or what way the tide turns, you can always count on luxury to cheer you up in some way, shape or form.

As the most sage poet of 2019 sang effortlessly in her hit tune, truth hurts. But I’m here to tell you that Lizzo isn’t always right. Sometimes the truth is actually just fun gossip, and you know that’s Agent X’s favorite thing in the whole wide world.

Ah, the annual CA lending issue. This one is one of my favorite and least favorite topics in the industry.

Since I’m sure you read last month’s issue cover to cover you know exactly what to expect in 2022. But do you know the details of what went on last year? Didn’t think so.

We did it! We made it to 2022. I’m still working through a NYE sugar hangover (and maybe a bit of something else), so let’s get right to the gossip and carry on with the year.

It’s prediction time! The cover story will give you fancy tips on how to get ready for 2022, and my column will get you into the holiday spirit with a healthy helping of gossip.

Here we are at our annual Agents’ Choice Awards! If you don’t see your name in the cover story, better luck next year.

When I heard about the topic of this issue, I was hoping our fearless publishers would simply listing every Chicagoland brokerage with an assigned grade. I even phoned them up to provide a few recommendations!

What better way to prepare for new construction than to get in a good sweat sesh? Another way is to read all the latest goss, so here we go!

I hope you already have some idea, because you can’t really be in this industry if you’re not keeping track of what’s going on in the big, wide world of real estate.

Take who you are, flip it upside down, enhance it a bit and boom! You’ve got your brand. Some people pay me a lot of money for that advice, so use it wisely.

My fair readers know me pretty well by now, and I’m not afraid to share (yet again) that I have no interest in learning about technology.

“I’ve been waxing poetic about luxury in these pages for a number of years now, and it never gets old. From opulent imported marble kitchens to practical basement bowling alleys and solid gold bathtubs, there’s no such thing as over the top.” — Agent X

As far as this issue goes, I’m not as interested in who works where, but I do like to know who makes the most dough and what makes people want to jump ship.

“The only thing hot out there these days is the housing market, now that interest rates are lower than the low end of a scale.” — Agent X