Kevin Christopher, the regional head of sales for mortgage banking’s midwest sales region at Chase, chats with us about 2016’s lending environment, upcoming regulations and how agents and lenders should work together. Chicago Agent (CA): Lending standards have been

Ninety-eight percent of Realtors believe buyers respond to curb appeal, a National Association of Realtors report found. Improving a home’s curb appeal is a quick and relatively inexpensive way (as far as home-improvement projects go) to boost a home’s

David Wieland is the founder and CEO of Realized, an online crowdfunding platform that simplifies the 1031 exchange process; a process he discussed with us in regards to how it affects real estate agents.  Chicago Agent (CA): First and

For most buyers and sellers, contacting a real estate agent isn’t their first step. Their first move is to go online. Sixty-six percent of Realtors and 70 percent of brokers have a website, the National Association of Realtors’ 2015 Member

September is Realtor safety month – an important month for real estate. As a real estate agent, you are vulnerable to harassment, being robbed at gunpoint, kidnapping and even murder. Your job can be risky – in fact, nearly 40 percent

In one of his more famous speeches, Don Draper, the central character of the “Mad Men” television series, stated that advertising is based on one thing – happiness. And though his focus was on the ad world, Draper could

We all know that a first impression can make or break a deal, and the same goes for selling a home. The first thing homebuyers see when they pull up to a property is the front exterior, so focusing on your

Rafay Qamar, the broker/owner of RE/MAX Northern Shores, explains how agents can attract foreign homebuyers with their real estate business. 5. Internet Exposure – Create a visually pleasing listing that is easily searchable on international channels such as realtor.com,

Nathan Glaisner is the co-founder and director of sales at CartoFront, an online map search platform that helps real estate professionals identify opportunities in Chicago at the parcel level using predictive mapping and complex search filters. We caught up

News flash: Americans love looking at homes, particularly via real estate apps. Just how much they love those apps, though, has been put into greater perspective by recent research from Google, which interviewed more than 1,000 people, conducted dozens

I have noticed a trend of agents who feel that open houses are a waste of time, and of clients that were previously told by an agent they interviewed that they do not do open houses because they do not

Millions of Baby Boomers are planning move over the next several years – everyone knows this. But it could mean big things for agents working in Chicago. There are three reasons most homeowners between the ages of 61 and 90 want

Many buyers want their homes to be outfitted with smart technology, but most homes don’t have it, according to a consumer survey from The Demand Institute. It’s an opportunity for sellers. Seventy-three percent of consumers agreed that having home automation

A new real estate marketing era takes off on Aug. 29, when the Federal Aviation Administration officially implements new, relaxed regulations on how Realtors and other marketers can use drones or remote-controlled, unmanned aircraft systems. Drones offer real estate

We’ll begin with an obvious fact – listing descriptions are important. Indeed, according to the 2016 Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers from the National Association of Realtors, a whopping 84 percent of prospective homebuyers think detailed information about a

Nearly half of Americans either have or hope to invest soon in smart home technology, a Coldwell Banker survey found. They probably don’t know that the smart home feature the survey found “most appealing” to homebuyers can be hacked.