Consolidation Gives RE/MAX Office In Addison A Larger Footprint In Metro Chicago Real Estate Market

Broker/Owners Peter and George Dravilas RE/MAX Preferred Properties, Addison

The RE/MAX offices in Addison and Bensenville, Ill., joined forces on Sept. 1 in a move designed to streamline operations and reduce overhead. Agents from the Bensenville office have now joined RE/MAX Preferred Properties of Addison, which will have an expanded footprint in the west suburban segment of the metropolitan Chicago real estate market.

Established 25 years ago, RE/MAX Preferred Properties is now jointly operated by Peter Dravilas, its founder, and his son, George Dravilas. The office is located at 715 Lake St. in Addison.
“We’re happy to welcome the agents from Bensenville, including Mike Loiacono and Adam Vena, the broker/owners of that office, to our RE/MAX Preferred Properties team and to our Addison office, which was extensively updated just a year ago,” said Peter Dravilas. “We’ve built a strong reputation for service and professionalism during the past quarter century, and these new agents will allow us to leverage that by providing a greater presence in a vital and growing segment of the market.”

Dravilas noted that in a real estate market where total transaction volume, and thus commission levels, are down, real estate brokerages are seeking out ways to reduce overhead and maximize productivity and that office consolidation is an important tool in that effort.

“We are able to capitalize on the fact that in this era of the Internet and wireless communications, agents use their offices less and spend more time in the field. We have ample room for future growth and also can give our agents the technological tools they need to be maximally productive,” he said.

The consolidation of the two offices comes at a time, Dravilas reports, when the DuPage County residential market is showing signs of a rebound.
“The commercial market is facing issues related to the availability of financing that may not be solved this year, but the residential market is definitely on the upswing,” Dravilas said. “I think we’ll really see that become apparent next spring when the housing activity traditionally peaks for the year.”

RE/MAX Office in Huntley Donates a Quarter Ton of Food to Grafton Township Food Pantry

During the month of September, participating RE/MAX offices in the northern Illinois area conducted a food drive to help replenish local food pantries that were challenged to stay stock due to the current, challenging economic circumstances. RE/MAX Superior Properties in Huntley, collected 572 pounds of non-perishable items, which they donated to Grafton Township Food Pantry in Huntley on the last day of the drive.

Commuter Catches RE/MAX Hot Air Balloon on Film

A commuter en route to work early in the morning on September 30 in the southwest suburbs of Chicago, was able to catch the RE/MAX hot air balloon on film and provide enjoyable commentary as it descended to its landing.

RE/MAX Hot Air Balloon To Make Educational Visit To Rhodes School In River Grove On OCT. 15

Presented By the RE/MAX Metro Chicago Real Estate Network

Students at Rhodes School, 8931 W. Fullerton Ave. in River Grove, Ill., will get an exciting introduction to hot air ballooning thanks to a visit from the RE/MAX Hot Air Balloon and its crew on Oct. 15. The visit is part of an on-going interactive educational program developed and sponsored by the RE/MAX metro Chicago real estate network.

The 700 students at Rhodes, which serves the villages of River Grove and Melrose Park, will learn about various aspects of ballooning, including its history, the scientific principles involved and a demonstration on how the balloon functions.

The program will be presented at 8:30 a.m. outdoors on the school grounds, weather permitting, but can be moved indoors if required. The balloon envelope will be inflated with hot air to its full 75-foot height if the program is held outdoors. If the program moves indoors, the envelope is inflated with cold air so that students can walk inside it.

Consolidation Will Help RE/MAX C.R.E.S. Serve Broader Segment Of Metro Chicago Real Estate Market

Broker/Owners John O’Hara and Chuck Nunley RE/MAX Commercial Real Estate Services, Chicago.

RE/MAX Commercial Real Estate Services, 120 N. LaSalle St., Chicago, the only RE/MAX office in the metro Chicago real estate market that focuses exclusively on commercial properties, recently consolidated its operations with those of its sister firm, RE/MAX Gateway of Gilberts, Ill. Both firms were owned by Charles Nunley and John O’Hara, and the two men will continue to operate RE/MAX C.R.E.S.

Nunley explained that changes in the commercial marketplace made the consolidation a logical step.

“We were fairly new to the RE/MAX system and the real estate brokerage business when we opened the Gilberts office three years ago,” he said. “We wanted to focus on Chicago commercial real estate but weren’t sure what the best approach to that segment would be for us. Over the last several years, that has become clearer, especially since we opened the downtown office last year.”

According to Nunley, the firm has won a substantial number of tenant representation assignments, while also marketing hotels and developable land. Another area of concentration has been consulting with owners of distressed properties, which have been growing in number as commercial vacancy rates rose during the last several years.

“We came to realize that we needed access to properties throughout the metro Chicago real estate market, from Lake County to the south suburbs, and a downtown location makes that much easier from a geographic perspective than our initial location in Gilberts,” he said.

Another advantage of the consolidation, Nunley noted, is that it will increase the synergistic interactions between agents in the office.

“Success in commercial real estate is often about finding the right way to help a client company or property owner achieve its objectives, so the more our agents can share ideas and information, the better the results,” he said.

RE/MAX has been systematically expanding its presence in the commercial real estate market in recent years both nationally and in the Chicago area. Its www.illinoisproperty.com Web site offers hundreds of commercial property listings, and earlier this year RE/MAX announced the launch of its Commercial Information Exchange (CIE), a comprehensive marketing and research software tool for commercial real estate agents.

Bloomingdale Acquisition Raises RE/MAX All Pro To New Heights In Metro Chicago Real Estate Market

Broker/Owner Tim Binning, RE/MAX All Pro, Carol Stream/Bloomingdale

RE/MAX All Pro of Bloomingdale, Ill., recently raised its profile in the metro Chicago real estate market to new heights through an acquisition of RE/MAX Accord, also located in Bloomingdale.

“We are especially pleased with this expansion, our second this year, because we’re confident it will make our Bloomingdale operation the dominant real estate office in the northwest DuPage County market area that includes Carol Stream, Glendale Heights, Bartlett and Hanover Park, along with Bloomingdale,” said Tim Binning, broker/owner of RE/MAX All Pro. Earlier this year, Binning’s firm acquired RE/MAX Great American North in St. Charles, Illinois.

Twenty-two agents from RE/MAX Accord, including broker/owner Terry White, relocated to the RE/MAX All Pro office at 450 W. Army Trail Road, bringing the total agent count at the office to 49. In addition, the firm has 40 other agents divided between the St. Charles office and another location in Sugar Grove, IL, which added 15 agents earlier this year.

“These steps have allowed us to triple our agent count since the beginning of the year from 30 to 90 professionals. That leaves us well positioned to increase our market share as home sales trend upward again, which they are starting to do,” Binning said, who acquired RE/MAX All Pro in Bloomingdale in 1997.

Binning reports that the residential market in northwest DuPage County has been looking stronger for the last four or five months.

“Pending sales have been increasing each month, which means buyers are returning to the market in greater numbers,” he said. “We attribute that to the improved affordability of homes today, which is created by a combination of somewhat lower prices and extremely attractive mortgage interest rates. Another factor, of course, has been the tax credit available to first-time buyers, which expires at the end of November.”