John D Ambrogio

From our dear intern - Maija Harjula - A few weeks ago Baird & Warner’s REO Manager Karen Larsen was awarded in a Freddie Mac’s Illinois Annual Regional Meeting. She received the Mentor of the Year award for her work with Pamela Martin of Realty Services Consortium. When Karen was named as Pamela’s mentor last May Pamela was just starting as a HomeSteps network broker.

I had a chance to ask Pamela what made Karen’s mentoring so great. “In addition to being a wealth of knowledge, she is patient and willing to share every little thing. We talk openly and I have no hesitation in bringing up any problematic matters” Pamela told of Karen.

I had no doubt the award went to the right person – especially when Pamela referred to Karen as “… my mentor, my go-to person, my friend forever”.

Chicago Relocation Blog salutes Karen for her great work!

John D Ambrogio

A recent article on IndustryGab.com had an amazing article on staging!  It brought up a number of points that you should consider when staging luxury real estate in Chicago.

For instance, it makes the comment “poor stagers believe life is unfair, while rich stagers feel life is what you make it.” It goes on to point out that the “poor” way to look at it holds a feeling of entitlement (I paid a million for this house and I NEED to get a million out of it), while the “rich” way is to look at the market TODAY, and use tools like staging to maximize your chances of getting the highest price in the shortest amount of time in TODAY’S market. By improving the appearance of their real estate they’re becoming “market makers;” by pushing the image of their home higher in the minds of potential buyers. 

The article goes on to propose that one’s unconscious beliefs about money and their ability to have it may be at the root of why some people fail and some thrive. Maybe a little deep for an article on staging. Nonetheless, it’s an interesting read, and a great article to review before staging your  Chicago Luxury real estate!

John D Ambrogio

Judging by the excited chatter on my airplane right now - Relocation professionals around the country are excited about the future of relocation in general, and Chicago in particular.

Flying out of O’Hare to conferences is always interesting - It’s a big “connecter” location and I’ve got colleagues from both east and west here changing planes to head down to The Relocation Director’s Council and The Employee Relocation Council’s Spring meetings in sunny Orlando FL.

Says on professional “initiations are up, buyers are optimistic, and sellers are REALISTIC.”  Says another - “We’re seeing corporations understanding that there is a pent up demand in the Chicago market, and  many others, to get the right people to the right location.”

Encouraging news for the professional (or civilian) with the need to  move in today’s market.

John D Ambrogio

Some comments from our own Maija Harjula - A while ago I read an interesting article in Crain’s Chicago Business about the shape of Chicago real estate markets. Alby Gallun’s article Chicago Housing Market Won’t Recover Until 2013 takes a quite pessimistic stand on where the real estate market is standing right now. In the article Perry Bigelow and other featured experts pretty much smash the idea of our recovering housing market.

It really is an interesting piece where Gallun discusses Chicago-area housing, foreclosures and the future. But what this means to Chicago relocation? We all know that the economy isn’t going to recover overnight. How do you feel about 2010?

Gallun writes that 95 000 units are expected to sell in 2013 – it’s still far from the numbers we had in 2005 during the boom’s peak, way over 100,000 units. I have a feeling that it might take a while to get up to those numbers again. According to Bigelow there’s no reason to be optimistic — what do you think? Like Gallun’s quoted expert Geoffrey Hewings, director of the Regional Economics Application Laboratory, says the Chicago real estate will need some serious signs of economical recovery before starting to climb up itself.

I hope you take a few minutes to read it (you can do it here!) and if it happens that you don’t agree with it, at least it’ll give you something to think about. I personally found the article very interesting but for me a little optimism is never a bad thing.

John D Ambrogio

Foreclosed homes are old, un-kept, not-so-nice looking properties… Right?

Nope, no more! CNBC just published an article “High-End Homeowners Falling Into Foreclosure Trap” by Joseph Pisami discussing the newly found high-end in the foreclosure market.
Quoting few experts, including Baird & Warner’s Jim Kinney, VP of Luxury Home Sales, Pisami provided interesting data and some clever observations about increasing luxury foreclosures.

“We’ve seen an increase, in the million-plus range, of the number of foreclosures and short sales in the greater Chicago area.” sayed Kinney in the article.

John D Ambrogio

Chicago Agent Magazine’s article “Baird & Warner Earns Multiple International Real Estate Marketing & Website Awards” talked about B&W’s success in a recent Leading Real Estate Companies of the World conference. B&W was honored with three major industry prizes: Best Overall Website, Best Property Search, and Best Property Advertising.

“Bairdwarner.com is an excellent site with extremely high usability” said one of the judges. “It is simple, direct, engaging and packed with useful information that is conveyed using succinct, web-friendly writing. Site is focused on what clients need.”

Jim Schiefelbein, VP/Chief Marketing Officer, accepted the award on behalf of the company and reminded how revolutionizing the real estate marketing has been in the past 15 years.

John D Ambrogio

The Chicago Tribune’s real estate writer Mary Umberger shared her thoughts about Chicago real estate and the current market conditions. Mrs. Unberger’s article “Market Turnaround or Numbers Game?” also featured Baird & Warner’s Jim Kinney, the Vice President of Luxury Home Sales. Read the whole article here.

John D Ambrogio

Forbes Life recently ran an editor’s note entitled “Credit Worthy” by Gary Walther. His points were intriguing - why, as the Dow takes a dive, does the interest in luxury lifestyle often rise? Yes the wealthy will always have money and now is an incredible buying opportunity, especially in Chicago Luxury Real Estate.  But the article had some interesting other points, particularly that price is not the essence of luxury, it’s a by-product.

So maybe it is more of the craftsmanship than an overinflated price that makes something “luxury.”

Don’t fixate on the incredible price tag that comes with some of Chicago’s luxury developments - if you’re in that price range look at the things like views, craftsmanship and upgrades. Spend the time to determine what luxury is - quality construction, careful attention to detail, etc.  

Luxury is not your possessions, it’s your lifestyle!