In our July episode of Monday Market Minute with Carrie McCormick of @Properties provides an update on the current red-hot Chicago real estate market. She is seeing an increase in activity around suburban homes and provides advice on how to handle multiple-offer scenarios for both buyers and sellers. Carrie also discusses Alcove, the newest Wicker Park development that she’s representing. She points out that selling pre-construction properties requires the ability to tell the story of the finished product.
If you’d prefer to watch this interview, click here to view on YouTube!
Carrie can be reached at carrie@atproperties.com or by phone at 312.961.4612.
Please follow Carrie on Instagram by clicking here.
Transcript
D.J. Paris 0:00
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All right, welcome to another episode of Keeping it real, the largest podcast made by real estate agents. And for real estate agents. My name is DJ Parris, and I am your go, ghost, I’m your host and guide through the show. I’m not a ghost. But thank you, for everyone tuning in. You might be watching us live right now in our private Facebook group. If you’re not a member of our group, please follow us on Facebook facebook.com forward slash keeping it real. Or you might be listening through a an app, which is great. We also do video episodes. And we’re going to be today specifically showing some some some video. So if you are listening, we encourage you to click on the link in the notes see the video because we’re going to be showcasing a development here in Chicago. But today is our Monday market minute with Carrie McCormick. Now if you’re not familiar with Carrie Carrie has been with us all the way since the very beginning that we started the show almost five years ago, she comes on every single month to talk about the Chicago market and what real estate professionals and also buyers and sellers need to know what’s going on in the market, how it’s responding. And you know how you can you know, take advantage of those current trends. She is a broker for over 20 years at add properties, one of the very top brokers not only at at properties, but in the entire Chicagoland area. She is in the top 1% of 1%. And there’s 44,000 agents, he or she is always in about the top 20 Out of all of those in production. She’s an absolute, we’re so grateful to have her she’s an absolute professional. And Carrie, welcome once again to the show.
Carrie McCormick 2:23
Thank you so much. Good intro.
D.J. Paris 2:26
Thanks. So before we get to you, I forgot to also tell everybody who’s listening to follow Kerry on Instagram. So find her at Kerry McCormick real estate. So it’s at Kerry McCormack real estate and also visit her website, which is Kerry McCormick r e.com. All right, Carrie, what do we got to this month?
Carrie McCormick 2:45
Well, thank you so much. It’s a crazy world out there, as everyone knows who’s listening, our market has skyrocketed here in Chicago, we are seeing multiple offers on properties. And what I what the big shift is. And again, I know everyone knows this, but will you see this big change of how people are living you know, there’s home offices that are needed, kids are at home, they just want more space, they want outdoor space, right. So whether you’re a two bedroom homeowner, you want a three bedroom, three bedroom wants a four bedroom, tap up to townhomes single families land, the suburban markets doing amazing, I’ve got a lot of city sellers looking to move to the suburbs. And finally, our suburban market is seeing multiple offers as well. So we’re in a dynamic market, I’d encourage everyone to take advantage of this as much as possible, get our sellers and buyers to the places that they want to be. And it’s great. And I was actually telling DJ before we went on, there’s a lot of off market inventory right now. And I brought some buyers to some off market properties. And we’ve offered asking prices, the sellers have actually rescinded those offers and are demanding more money now for their properties because they’re seeing, you know, the pent up demand in the city. So it’s it’s crazy out there. And I encourage all of us as real estate professionals to work together because as you know, the market gets crazy like this everyone kind of you know, tensions get high and anxiety and you know, multiple offers. But it’s really you know, great to work with a good group of realtors that we all work together because we all have the same goal right is to sell a home and to get our buyers into a home so just remain calm and we’ll get the deals done.
D.J. Paris 4:31
How important is it to prep the buyer and the seller ahead of time about multiple offer situations that of course so many agents are experiencing.
Carrie McCormick 4:42
Yeah, so with buyers you definitely have to prep them because especially if they’re a first time homebuyer or even an experienced buyer, you know, it’s just it’s a different market. So you they definitely have to be prepared with their pre approval letter 100% That’s, you know, non negotiable at this point. And just knowing what you know price that they want, because sometimes too, and our job is to, you know, provide guidance to our buyers. And some, you know, they don’t want to overpay for a property. So sometimes I go in ahead of time with comps already pulled up to some degree. And let them know that, you know, you can’t get emotional about the property, either. It’s like, you know, if it’s priced at, let’s just say, 600,000. You know, you don’t want to go in, you know, you don’t want to overpay for a property. But I will say I had a client. We out we overbid $100,000 on a property, we got it, but there was 12 offers. And actually, it was a little bit of a neck and neck. You know, so it’s it appraised out. So it’s good. But yeah, we definitely have to prepare our buyers and sellers for the market that we’re in so that we’re positioned properly, to get what they need.
D.J. Paris 5:50
And, and how, how is what are those conversations? When you’re talking to a buyer? Or rather, I’ve actually have a different question. How important is it as the agent representing the buyer or the seller to you know, in a multiple offer situation? Are you making a lot more phone calls to the other agent that you then you were maybe in the past?
Carrie McCormick 6:09
Absolutely, because in the past, you know, a lot of transactions were done. I hate to admit it, you know, but there’s a lot of text that goes back and forth, or, you know, email exchange, but I do think it’s important now. And we have seen that a lot more, as you know, you pick up the phone and you have a conversation with the other broker. Because I think text and email is very flat, it’s very cold. But a conversation definitely is warranted. You know, that’s, that’s my view on it. And that’s how I like to conduct business. You know, but it I definitely think a conversation is definitely more warranted in this situation.
D.J. Paris 6:46
Right now you are sitting and for those who are listening, you’re not able to see this. So we encourage you when you’re done listening to watch the video here that we’ll be posting in the notes. But you are actually sitting in a sales center at a development. Can you tell us a little bit about it?
Carrie McCormick 7:01
Yeah, so I’m so excited to share this with everybody. It’s called alcove and it’s in the heart of Wicker Park. It’s one of my favorite developments because I absolutely love this neighborhood. It’s vibrant, you are close to the blue line, you are close to, you know, restaurants and boutiques and there’s such a good vibe here. Again, the developments called alcove you can visit our website, but I’m just gonna get up and spin you around is probably not the best way to look at it. But we have a sale center. It’s located at 1295 North Milwaukee Avenue. The building is under construction is delivering this this winter of 2020. Again, the shell of the building is up so we can do on site tours in the building. But there’s nothing to see yet inside. But in our sales gallery. Hopefully you guys can see this. Okay, we’ve got a wall of floor plans. And again, I’m just going to spin your round, we’ve got a vignette of a bathroom. We’ve got a design center here, you’ll meet with a designer. And you’ll see we’ve got some, you know if you can see this color palettes already picked out from our designer. And then we’ve got a vignette of a kitchen here too. And then we’ve got a VR tour here. So we give the clients the buyers a great tour of you know, our sales center, which again, we’ve got all the floor plans here we’ve got the finished selections here we’ve got vignettes, and then we can narrow it down to what the buyers looking for. There’s 43 condos in the building, all ranging from two bedroom, three bedroom, four bedrooms, we’ve got 12 townhomes here or just townhomes and in Wicker Park and Bucktown. There’s not a whole lot of townhomes here. So those have been a really great seller for us. Again, delivery is going to be this winter of 2020 all the way into spring of 21.
D.J. Paris 8:55
Wonderful. And so I know a lot of our listeners who are real estate professionals are probably thinking boy, I would love to, you know, be in a scenario where I have access to selling some of these units. And so I know you’ve you’ve been practicing real estate for several decades, you’ve built really strong relationships with developers. Do you have any tips for agents who are like, boy, I would love to have those opportunities as well.
Carrie McCormick 9:22
Yeah, so I think selling a new development, especially something that’s not tangible, the beginning, right, because you’re selling a floor plan. Sure, that’s a different skill set of selling because when you walk into a home I mean, there’s features and benefits you can show to somebody I mean here it’s more of storytelling, you know, because you’re trying to create a picture for the buyers and the sales process is a little bit longer. So you need to understand the the sales process of getting a buyer across the finish line for a new development. But I would say if you want to get involved in it you know It’s it’s also scouting land, you know, you know that a lot of my colleagues that I work with with builders, you know, they go and scout the land and the site, and then they bring it to the builder, and then they’re guaranteed, you know, to have or should be guaranteed to have that development. So that’s one way to go about development. This one is, through our properties, of course. And, you know, it was brought to me as far as like leading the team here. So it’s a great opportunity for our properties. And for me to be a part of this because I think all development in Chicago, it changes the landscape of a neighborhood showed us. My career started on in the development world. So it’s fun to even just to drive through Chicago, like one of the first developments. Well, one of the first developments I worked on was in the west loop in the late 90s. You know, in the late 90s, there was nothing in the west loop. And now that when I drive through there is there’s always this great memory of Oh, my gosh, I remember sitting in that sales center, and I remember when there was nothing else around. So it changes the landscape. So it’s fun to be part of that.
D.J. Paris 11:06
Wonderful. Well, if if anyone who is listening who is in the Chicagoland area wants to get once come see the unit, or see this rather do the virtual tours in the VR tours, and also just visiting the website. What’s the website? Again? It’s alcove? Yeah, it’s alcove wicker park.com. So definitely go there. They’d have a really cool looking website as well. And if they’re interested in bringing their clients by what’s what’s the best way they should do that?
Carrie McCormick 11:37
So they can register on the website. They can also call me 312-961-4612. We can you know, our sales centers open Saturdays and Sundays from 12 to three. So you can come right into our sales center, which is located at 1295 North Milwaukee Avenue. Again Saturday and Sunday 12 to three or just call us and we’re always by appointment.
D.J. Paris 12:01
Yeah, that’s and just bring bring your mask, I’m guessing Yes, we
Carrie McCormick 12:05
have them here to so people don’t have them. We’ve got them here for you.
D.J. Paris 12:10
Yeah, and this is a real testament to Karis, you know, professionalism and her legacy she’s built as a real estate professional here in Chicago. And we’re really super excited to to see development. In this day and day and age as well. Right now things are, you know, tricky, just getting construction done. And it’s so exciting to to see additional development going on. And also we should also say for anyone who is interested who might be a buyer, a seller, a renter and investor who is interested in looking outside of alcove but just within the entire Chicagoland area, who wants to work with somebody like Carrie, who is literally one of the top Realtors in in Chicago, what is the best way they should reach out to you the same way,
Carrie McCormick 12:55
they call me just 312-961-4612 I always love you know, chatting with people over the phone, you know, if you prefer to text or email, you can do that too.
D.J. Paris 13:05
And also, I want everyone as we close, oh, I have a marketing tip as well. So before we wrap up, my quick marketing tip is do not neglect your sphere of influence. This is a constant thing I bring up very often most months I talk about it. But your sphere of influence is ultimately hopefully going to be your primary source of not only just clients but referrals, right? So anyone you’ve worked with in the past your friends and family, make sure that you’re reaching out to them in some sort of intimate way every month. It doesn’t have to be a long drawn out phone call. It could be a message on a social media post. It could be a handwritten note, it could be a text, an email, a phone call anything, make sure that those people are hearing from you as often as possible. You don’t have to talk real estate, but make sure they they know that you’re reaching out to them. You know, if you go on LinkedIn, and if you see they’ve celebrated a work anniversary, give them a call, congratulate them on their birthdays, do all of that. I promise you that that is the biggest missed opportunity that real estate agents often overlook is staying in touch with your sphere always thinking how do I get new clients? Instead of thinking how do I take such great care of the people I’ve already worked with or the people that are already close to me that they can’t help but telling everyone else about me so do not neglect your sphere every month touch every single person maybe you’re sending a mailer. That’s okay that works do something every single month. It’s pretty simple and easy. But before we let everyone go to quick things, please tell a friend about this podcast. Think of one another real estate agent that could benefit from you know hearing from people like Carrie and all the other wonderful guests we have and send them a link to our show. You can find us at keeping it real pod.com Every episode we’ve ever done is there and also to follow us once again on Facebook facebook.com forward slash keeping it real pod. Well Carrie is super incredibly busy and we are going to let her get back to her busy day. Thank you once again Carrie. We will see you next month. Thank you
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