One trend is coming across loud and clear for home sales this year – demonstrate lower monthly bills and you will attract buyers!  After all, 50 to 75 percent of homebuyers compare utility bills when looking for their next

There are companies that look down on text messaging. It might look like that employee isn’t paying attention, but the truth is, they might actually be multi-tasking and working, just by reading and sending texts – provided the texts

By Ron Kaufman In an age when a customer’s unhappy experience with a company can go viral mere minutes after it occurred – and when customers regularly take to the Internet to publicize their great and not-so-great experiences –

If you’re planning to buy a house, you must be giving a lot of effort to search for the perfect house. Equal attention should be paid to this question –“mortgage how much can I borrow?” Lenders have their own

One of my No. 1 hot topics in trainings right now is Facebook ads. It can seem like an elusive concept at first – how can you capitalize on the target marketing platform available through Facebook? However, once you

If you are working with out of town buyers or buyers that are not familiar with Chicago, these two new tools are here to help. We all know how difficult it can be to work with clients that do

Think about the last car commercial you saw. At the end, did the voiceover or text on the screen show the dealer’s invoice price? What about MSRP? No. It featured the monthly payment. So why is almost every real

By Kristina Jaramillo During a presentation I gave at a small business owner’s boot camp, I was asked a very interesting question by one of the attendees: “I am a real estate agent and not sure how LinkedIn can

By Bob Corcoran “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” Winston Churchill  I could spend this entire article moaning about the problems real estate has endured over the last three years,

By Rebecca Denison for AGBeat McKinsey & Company released a report about the overwhelming amount of data being created by the Internet called “Big Data.” With the new data coming at us at all times, McKinsey predicted that nearly

I have been writing blog posts for some time and often the topic of participation is discussed. I for one don’t think that word can be over-reinforced, even as a gentle reminder. To participate is to belong; it is

In today’s ever-changing real estate and mortgage market, one always needs to make sure that they are looking out for their client’s best purchasing options. Whether a buyer is financing, or paying cash, is always a factor in what

Although everybody’s situation is unique, there are some instances where homebuyers are able to keep their current primary residence and purchase another home to live in. There are a variety of reasons as to why homeowners would do this.

By Timothy Dwyer Thanks to depreciated home values and historically low interest rates, potential homebuyers have a bargain-hunting mindset. As you prepare for the busy spring real estate season, you will need to differentiate yourself to these value-driven buyers

I know that the northwest suburbs of Chicago are a great place to live, work and play, but do your clients? One of the challenges that real estate agents can have is to showcase the great area that we

In our market, remodeling a home has become part of our housing conversation, whether it is to make a necessary repair in order to sell or a total gut rehab. Hiring a reputable contractor is the beginning, though –