Forget the Oscars, People’s Choice Awards and Golden Globes – with our readers, the Agents’ Choice Awards seem to be everyone’s favorite awards ceremony. From Sept. 22 to Oct. 19, real estate professionals throughout Chicagoland voted for their favorites

Technology is one of those things that is ever-changing. It seems like once I’m finally caught up learning the latest and greatest app or platform, it’s gone out of date. For example, Facebook and Twitter are constantly changing their

The lending industry has been a tricky industry to navigate lately – it’s full of unpredictable mortgage rates (that, at press time, are at an all-time low of 3.94 percent) and ever-changing credit requirements and restrictions, along with ever-changing

Making mistakes and letting down the people who depend on us is tough. It can be embarrassing and, of course, it never feels good to fail. But this is life: mistakes happen, and all we can do is learn

I’m no salesperson. Selling effectively requires a certain skill set. Successful salespeople have a combination of knowing what to say to get through to their target market, being persuasive and having thorough product knowledge. I like to think I

The truth can be good, bad and surprising. But one thing’s certain: the truth always comes out eventually. For our second annual “Truth About Agents” issue, we sent out a survey to gather information about you, our readers, to

Today, just about everyone has an “online footprint,” or, can be tracked down online. In fact, it’s hard to not have an online footprint – with Facebook, LinkedIn and Google directories, everyone can be

There is a reason we all don’t live in plain vanilla boxes. People care about where they live. We care about what our homes look like. We care about the floor plan and how it flows. But more importantly,

I looked through last year’s Green issue while putting this issue together, and found that some attitudes about “going green” have changed within a year. According to our Survey Says results on page 19, more than half of agents

With all the concern and speculation about how the real estate market is and how it is going to fluctuate today, tomorrow and in the next few years, the focus hasn’t been on second homes at all. Like the

Sometimes, people make what they do every day, no matter how challenging, look so easy. Imagine helping to handle one agent’s short sale difficulties alongside another agent’s high-maintenance clients, all while making sure to allocate leads to the correct

After compiling, writing and editing countless biographies for this year’s Who’s Who issue, I noticed something that everyone had in common, according to our interviews with them. Yes, everyone who is featured in this issue is hard-working and at

Life isn’t perfect and it’s definitely not fair. But that doesn’t mean that we all can’t wish for things to be different. Obviously, a majority of people in the industry wish things could be a little bit different right

There’s always a market for luxury. Just ask Jim Kinney, vice president of luxury at Baird and Warner, who graces this issue’s cover. Even though it might not seem like it, upper-bracket buyers exist throughout up and down cycles.

The industry has changed – that goes without saying. But due to these changes, you’d think that by now, agents and lenders alike would be used to dealing with the challenges and issues that sometimes – and unfortunately, often

Change has been in the wind for several Chicagoland agents as of late. It seems like every week there’s an announcement about agents moving to different brokerages and making changes within their career – and those agents actually inspired