RE/MAX City, a Chicago real estate office, has relocated its Norwood Park office on Chicago’s Northwest Side to 7020 W. Higgins Road from its prior location at 5435 N. Harlem Ave in Chicago, IL.
“The new space is well suited to the evolving needs of our Chicago real estate agents and their clients. We provide sophisticated computer and communications systems, smaller work spaces and an intensive program of educational offerings that keep agents abreast of the marketplace,” said Henry Sakowski, broker/owner of RE/MAX City.
He explained that today’s real estate professionals and the clients they serve rely increasingly on computers and cellular phones to communicate and to screen properties, making the larger office spaces of the past somewhat superfluous.
“A large percentage of agents now work primarily from home offices and need only a small desk space at the main office,” said Sakowski, so our new space is designed to accommodate that shift in working styles. We have nearly 100 agents and room for more, but we offer fewer large enclosed offices than in the past.”
Instead, the focus at RE/MAX City is helping agents to adapt to changing market conditions by providing seminars and access to experts, such as attorneys, bankers and mortgage brokers.
“Agents are encouraged to understand short sales and foreclosure. We require every agent to attend at least one seminar on this topic. As a result, many of our agents now work with banks, helping evaluate properties that may face foreclosure and handling the sale of those properties on which the lender does foreclose,” said Sakowski. “In addition, we hold weekly meetings on technology and business development to help agents navigate the current business environment.”
The new office has a three-person support staff, and it offers a mix of work spaces that range from private offices to cubicles. It also includes two conference rooms, kitchen and lunch room. Sakowski and his partner, Martin Lata, plan to bring in a full-time real estate attorney and a mortgage broker early in 2009.
Thursday, December 11, 2008
RE/MAX City Moves Chicago Real Estate Office In Norwood Park To New Location At 7020 W. Higgins Road
REMAX.COM Advances In Hitwise November Ranking
The http://www.remax.com/ Web site moved up to sixth place among all real estate Web sites during November, capturing a 1.85 percent share of online traffic. In October, RE/MAX ranked seventh with a 1.74 percent market share. The rankings are compiled by Hitwise, a leading online competitive intelligence service that looks at how Web sites are used.
The RE/MAX site was number one among real estate brokerage brands and was the only brokerage Web site to rank in the Hitwise Real Estate Top 10 for November. The top ranked real estate Web site again was http://www.realtor.com/, followed by http://www.realestate.yahoo.com/, http://www.zillow.com/, http://www.ziprealty.com/ and http://www.rent.com/. Ranking below RE/MAX in the Top 10 for November were http://www.homegain.com/, http://www.servicemagic.com/, http://www.hud.gov/ and http://www.realtytrac.com/.
“As a destination for consumers seeking a wide range of real estate information, http://www.remax.com/ continues to dominate other brokerage sponsored sites because consumers have confidence in the RE/MAX name and because the site is easy to use and comprehensive,” said Jim Merrion, regional director of RE/MAX Northern Illinois, the Chicago real estate leader.
“Consumers using http://www.remax.com/ have access to 95 percent of multiple listing services in the United States, as well as property listings in more than 60 other nations.”
The site gives visitors access to listings all across the country as well for Illinois real estate, including both “for sale” and “for rent” properties, as well as access to data about neighborhood property values.
RE/MAX Continues International Growth; Initiates Operations In Albania, Macedonia
Albania and Macedonia recently were added to the roster of nations in which RE/MAX offers real estate brokerage services. The two countries are neighbors in the Balkan area of southeastern Europe. RE/MAX Albania and RE/MAX Macedonia have a common ownership and management and bring the number of nations served by RE/MAX to 71.
“We're delighted to welcome Albania and the Republic of Macedonia to the RE/MAX network,” said William Soteroff, vice president of international development for RE/MAX International. “This is the right time in history for these two countries with rich heritages to emerge on the international scene. We're confident that they'll be successful and take their rightful place in the market.”
RE/MAX operations in both countries are now owned by Samir Mane, while Shpetin Spahija is the regional director responsible for the day-to-day business operations. Eventually, they plan to open 150 offices in the two nations and recruit 500 to 600 agents. Albania has a population of 3.6 million, while the population of the Republic of Macedonia is 2 million.
The headquarters of the RE/MAX operations in both countries will be in Albania's capital city of Tirana - the nation's economic and real estate hub.
A major goal for RE/MAX in Albania and Macedonia will be the expansion of professional real estate training, education and standards. Currently, real estate agents in the two countries are not required to be licensed to sell homes. Even though it's not required, all broker/owners or sales associates who join RE/MAX Albania and RE/MAX Macedonia will be required to have professional training.
The Republic of Macedonia is a landlocked, mountainous country bordered by Greece to the south, Bulgaria to the east, Serbia and Kosovo to the north and Albania to the west. The coastline of Albania along the Adriatic Sea is virtually untouched by the development and tourism enjoyed by its neighbors such as Greece and Montenegro, but that's quickly changing.
“We are pleased to see RE/MAX continue its expansion in the Balkans,” said Jim Merrion, regional director of the RE/MAX Illinois real estate network. “A substantial number of people in northern Illinois, especially in the Chicago area, have strong ties to that region and want to purchase or sell property there. Now, our agents can assist those clients more effectively, and agents in those two countries will have better connections to the Chicago real estate market.”
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Chicago Real Estate Offices, RE/MAX Unlimited Northwest In Algonquin And Crystal Lake, Move To New Locations
RE/MAX Unlimited Northwest, one of the most successful Chicago real estate brokerage groups in the northwest suburban area, recently moved two of its key offices to new locations that offer increased visibility and convenience.
The firm’s Algonquin office relocated to a new 4,000-square-foot facility at 2045 Harnish Dr. at Randall Road in Algonquin, IL, from its old location at 101 S. Main St. The Algonquin office is managed by Joanne Levicki and currently has 23 agents and room for 40.
RE/MAX Unlimited Northwest relocated its Crystal Lake, Ill., office to 7107 Pingree Road near the intersection of U.S. Hwy. 14. The new facility is also 4,000 square feet and replaces not only the firm’s former Crystal Lake office at 500 Coventry Ct., but also its nearby Cary office at 445 Park Ave.
“Moving the Algonquin office was an objective we set for ourselves when we acquired the Algonquin, Crystal Lake and Cary offices several years ago,” said Mike Chaires, who along with his partner Bill Flemming is broker/owner of RE/MAX Unlimited Northwest, which also has offices in Palatine and Lake Zurich. “When we needed to move the Crystal Lake office, it created an opportunity to consolidate two offices into one facility.
“As a result, the offices serving those three Chicago real estate communities enjoy more visible, easily accessed locations and provide state-of-the-art facilities,” he said.
According to Chaires, the consolidation of the Crystal Lake and Cary offices was made possible by the fact that the new office in Crystal Lake is only 2.5 miles from the former Cary office. The manager of the new office is Mary Opfer, who had been based in Cary.
“It’s an ideal location to serve the entire Crystal Lake, Cary, Fox River Grove area. Plus, we now have all 25 of our agents in a single location, which should generate valuable business synergies that benefit both our agents and their clients and will allow us to more effectively focus our resources while implementing a number of operational efficiencies,” said Chaires.
Another important consideration in the office relocations, he said, was the need to update the facilities to keep pace with the rapidly evolving technology that is so central to the way people buy and sell homes today.
“Our business has changed so dramatically in the last 10 years in terms of how agents and consumers operate that older offices are becoming obsolete, and frankly it is a lot easier to update a facility by moving into something new, rather than going through the pain of remodeling an existing office,” Chaires said. “We have long had a great group of agents, and now we have the right locations and facilities so that we are ready to grow as the market strengthens.”
