New Ownership Now In Place At RE/MAX County Line In Burr Ridge

Budd Simmons, new owner

Tradition of Leadership in Suburban Chicago Real Estate Market to Continue

New ownership is now in place at RE/MAX County Line, 84 Burr Ridge Pkwy., Burr Ridge, Ill., with Budd Simons acquiring the successful office in late March from Bonnie Kenyon, its founder and long-time broker/owner. Kenyon originally opened the office in 1982, making it one of the earliest RE/MAX offices serving the metro Chicago real estate market.

“Bonnie will continue as an active agent, but after 30 years, she was ready to step away from the day-to-day demands of managing a real estate office,” said Simons, who has been a real estate professional for 12 years.
His real estate career began as an agent in Florida in 1998. Three years later he relocated to the Chicago area to manage a 1.5 million-square-foot portfolio of retail and professional buildings for a group of private investors. In 2008 he left his property management position to join RE/MAX County Line and return to real estate sales.

“At that point, I was ready to go out on my on my own again,” said Simons, 42. “In acquiring RE/MAX County Line, I’ve taken that impulse a step further, but owning my own office was something I’ve been thinking about for several years.”

Simons already has repainted the office and installed a new computer system with wireless network. All new furnishings also have arrived, and the office will soon have access to RSN, the RE/MAX satellite TV channel that provides both training and market information to agents.

“The office had long been quite successful, but it needed some modernization to incorporate the best of contemporary technology and help agents stay ahead of a marketplace that is developing quite rapidly,” Simons said. “The Burr Ridge, Hinsdale, Downers Grove market, which is our primary service area, is a great place to be within the metro Chicago real estate market. It is a stable area with a large supply of mid-priced and high-end homes that has weathered the current real estate downturn better than many areas.”

He plans to add commercial and property management divisions to the office later this year to take full advantage of his own real estate background, which includes work in both areas. A native of Kenosha, Wis., and a U.S. Navy veteran, Simons now lives in Willowbrook, IL.