In Chicago’s competitive real estate market, it’s hard to get closer to the stars than selling some of the city’s most exclusive penthouses. Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage agent Chezi Rafaeli has made his mark on the city by handling

Christopher Norris, the Chicago market manager for mortgage retail lending at BMO Harris Bank, sees an improving atmosphere in which credit is readily available for qualified buyers. By many measures, the national housing market is showing strong signs of

President Obama and the FHA recently announced that it would reduce its mortgage insurance premium from 1.35 to 0.85, which makes FHA loans even more affordable. The FHA, which is overseen by HUD and insures mortgages with down payments

Geoffrey Hewings, the director of the University of Illinois’ Regional Economics Applications laboratory, went looking for a condo last summer. He was told during his search that he would have to provide his latest pay stubs as proof of

Anxious to find out what’s next for real estate in 2015? The market had been incrementally improving each year, and though 2014’s market saw slightly less sales activity and price growth than 2013, it doesn’t feel like much has

Short sales and REOs are statistically at an all-time low, but in Illinois, does that mean we will start to see less and less of them? Not exactly. Bert Gor, short sale specialist with RE/MAX Professionals Select, has “a

Several years ago, Coldwell Banker agent Carol Best was approached by an acquaintance from the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce about helping him buy a home. He let her know that it might take up to two years of working

As hard as we may try, we can’t please everyone. If a client happens to leave you a negative review online, handle your reputation by following these three steps: 1. Keep your cool. The phrase “the customer is always

It’s no secret that real estate is a highly competitive industry, which is why consumers are turning to review sites more and more prior to choosing just any one agent to work with. Here are quick snapshots of a

Recruiting can be a tricky business. There needs to be something about another office and managing broker that is different – and better – to be able to recruit top agents. Nina Fotopoulos, the managing broker of Coldwell Banker

Managing brokers obviously want to recruit top agents to be on their team. Here are some quick tips on how to effectively recruit experienced agents: 1. Figure out your value proposition – Recruitment strategies are necessary, and here’s why: agents

Top Ways to Attract Top Talent In recruitment, where there used to be a focus on the quantity of agents, now the focus is on their quality. Here are our top three tips on how to recruit and retain

Your Home Address For many years, we sent our resume and cover letter through the mail. We put our home address right on the top. Fact is, there is no longer a need to put your home address on

The Edgebrook neighborhood on Chicago’s Northwest Side is a quiet part of the bustling city. Situated amidst several forest preserves and surrounded by similarly bucolic neighborhoods, it has a settled, small-town feel marked by active community groups and involved

We asked agents, developers and lenders to vote for peers and colleagues for our ninth annual Agents’ Choice Awards, and the winners are all on the following pages. The top three vote-getters were the official nominees for each category,

Millie Rosenbloom Baird & Warner Millie Rosenbloom is currently a broker with Baird & Warner’s Lincoln Park office, where she is No. 1 in the company sales out of over 2,000 agents, having brokered over $1 billion in individual