One of the key factors to a successful career in real estate is hosting successful open houses. They provide an opportunity to expose buyers to homes, grow your client database and expand your business. However, many agents make crucial

As an agent, it is important to act as though a seller is watching you during an open house, but what if they are actually watching you? Today, as nanny cams become less expensive and easier to use, more

Some people steal things from open houses. As the name implies, they’re an easy target. To help mitigate the risk that something will be taken from your client’s home, make sure to hide these commonly stolen items: Cash Don’t

Open houses are an opportunity for potential buyers to get a feel for the property. Here is a checklist of some of the elements all open houses need in order to appeal to both emotional and practical buyers. We’ve

There are 297 municipalities and political jurisdictions in the Chicagoland area, and moving between those municipalities – and juggling all of the disparate zoning regulations, building codes and neighborhood amenities – can be quite challenging for builders. So to

Pricing new construction is a balancing act between knowing what a building is worth, how people view its value and how you go about selling it. To get a better idea on how professionals balance those facets, we spoke

Agents who adopt pre-MLS or non-MLS marketing strategies are doing the best they can for their clients. At least that’s the argument agents make in support of the polarizing practice. The logic behind it is simple – according to

“Pricing a home is a little bit like a physics experiment or setting the price of a stock,” says Paul Lazarre, founder and CEO of Leap Real Estate Systems (LeapRE). “You never know what it is until you put

According to Chicago Agent’s newly released Real Data numbers, in the first half of this year, 14 of the 20 top-performing agents in the Chicagoland housing market headed real estate teams, and altogether they accounted for nearly $824 million

In the 1990s, a swelling economy driven largely by the tech bubble helped push housing past its late-80s, early-90s dip, ushering in a new competitive landscape where traditional agents shared the competition with the new trend of Realtor teams.

The Internet has ushered in many changes to the U.S. economy, and one of the most pronounced has been the customer review. Though Consumer Reports, Consumers Digest and other publications have offered reviews of products and services for decades,

In today’s market, you need a multi-channel marketing plan Your clients are now your ex-clients, because their house sat on the market for many months. Setbacks happen, but your clients were expecting something that you didn’t deliver. It is

With more than 15 years of experience in the mortgage industry, Rebecca Mott, the vice president of mortgage lending and new construction specialist with Guaranteed Rate, has come to understand the do’s and don’ts of lending. As an expert

It’s easy to imagine negotiations as a battle, where victories are relished and defeats mourned, but in the context of real estate, the closing table, the industry’s front line, is less like a battlefield than it is a political

For Realtors seeking a little assistance in building a listing presentation, realtor.com offers a free listing presentation tool available on the company’s website. The step-by-step online marketing plan allows Realtors to show sellers why online marketing is important, and

Luxury is a slippery concept, one that is constantly evolving and dictated by trends that change not only yearly, but monthly. To better understand what luxury represents, we chose to showcase a local listing. And with more than 7,800