Even keeled and clear headed, Ryan Parks gives his clients the confidence and insights to navigate the most expensive purchase of their lives. Recognized as a top producer by the Chicago Association of Realtors for the last nine years in a row, Parks, a residential real estate broker with @properties, has 17 years of industry experience and works with buyers, sellers and investors throughout Chicago and the western suburbs.

Learning the Chicago market by way of new construction sales for high-end single family homes and 3-24 unit condo buildings, Parks worked 7 seven days a week to learn the business inside and out. “I remember driving furiously from building to building for showing appointments, often as many as 15-20 per day,” he says. “That process taught me how to communicate with clients and build a foundation of trust.”

Prior to entering the real estate industry, Parks obtained his MBA while working in the hospitality industry and teaching a high school ESL class. “Both experiences helped me become a better listener and advisor,” he says, noting that his time as a teacher informs how he educates his clients and prepares them for the transaction. “I am real with them,” he continues. “Good or bad, I’m going to give them honest feedback.”

Even with the responsibilities of parenting three children all under 8 years old, coaching two little league teams and racing his kids around to hockey, baseball and soccer practices during COVID, Parks had one of his best professional years ever. “Although every deal is different, I’ve observed the market’s ebbs and flows for nearly two decades so I felt prepared to handle the shifts caused by the pandemic,” he says.

Parks is a self-described sneakerhead and attributes his obsession to growing up in Chicago during the 80s and 90s.