CR Magazine - Spring 2017 (Sales Awards)

More documents

Info

EDITOR’S PICKS 2017 Predictions In January we once again welcomed back DJ Smokey Smoke (a.k.a. Jonathan Smoke) to provide his insights for 2017. If you missed it, be sure to check out our takeaways on the next page. See not only where the market is going, but also how you can make an impact. View a video of his presentation at ChicagoREALTOR.com. Selling the Future Sel No longer reserved for video game nerds and sci-fi films, VR is poised to become a must-have sales tool in your real estate marketing plan, with great benefits for you and your clients. Learn how you can incorporate it into your business on page 39. To Share or Not to Share While out and about at office visits or events, I always receive questions about what brokers can and can’t post on social media. On page 42, we’ve put together some do’s and don’ts to help you. In short: when in doubt, ask permission! And remember: no one comes out looking rosy in a comment war. Here’s to another fantastic year. Don’t hesitate to reach out with any feedback or questions – I’d love to hear from you! Jessica Kern Director of Marketing and Communications jkern@chicagorealtor.com 34 Chicago REALTOR ® Magazine
KEEP THESE 2017 TRENDS ON YOUR RADAR Watch the outlook videos, get the slides and share the playlist with your clients. realtor.com ® Chief Economist Jonathan Smoke joined us once again to present his predictions for the 2017 real estate market at our annual Market Outlook in January. So, what does this year have in store? We broke down a few of the major trends for you. For the full scoop, check out videos from the event at ChicagoREALTOR.com. It is of utmost importance to get people selling and buying as early as possible. Use your expertise and market insight to talk to homeowners about why now is a good time to sell, and talk to builders about the growing demand for multi-family homes. This will get inventory back on the market to match the growing demand. ANTICIPATE THE WILD CARD. Our economy's foundation will be solid, but we do have some wild cards entering the mix. The summer of 2016 had mortgage rates so incredibly low, they rendered home affordability extremely possible. Now, we don’t know how high they’ll go and how quickly that will happen. The Trump administration in Washington is also a wild card. We really don’t know what to anticipate, but we can be sure that it will include significant reform on tax policies, interest rates and trade - which presents a significant challenge to any economist trying to put out a forecast. LOW INVENTORY IS OUR #1 PROBLEM. We have the lowest amount of inventory ever recorded on realtor.com ® . How did this happen? REALTORS ® sold homes at a faster rate than the year prior, and new construction is on the negative side, mainly in single and multi-family. We have a certain amount of pent-up demand, but low inventory is slowing down the home purchase process. This is something that is actually very much in our control, which leads to the next point. BUILD AND SELL NOW. Consumer confidence is at its highest since 1985 — that’s when Madonna, Prince and Michael Jackson were topping the charts. We are seeing people who are planning to purchase a home this year at a high. Builders nationally are more optimistic now than they have been in the last 15 years. Take advantage of this optimism! DJ SMOKEY SMOKE’S PLAYLIST MORTGAGE RATES REMAIN AFFORDABLE. It is officially easier to get a mortgage than ever before, though you can rest assured it is nothing like 2004 when even your pet could qualify for a mortgage. Talk to Baby Boomers and Millennials about this! Nationwide, the average down payment on a mortgage is 11%. Baby boomers who haven’t moved in 20 years might not realize it’s easier to qualify for a mortgage, while younger, first-time buyers face financial hurdles like credit scores and down payments. It is up to REALTORS ® to influence these two demographics. The perfect time to do so is right now, before mortgage rates change too much from their current status. GET READY TO HEAR LOTS MORE ABOUT MILLENNIALS. As of December, we are in our 75 th straight month of job expansion, and job creation has principally gone to Millennials. They are young, talented, inexperienced, and cheap. 43% of purchase mortgages in Cook County in 2016 went to people under 35, which made Chicago appear weak compared to other markets. This is because these younger, first-time buyers are extremely rate-sensitive and skewed our ranking. Nevertheless, it’s important to note that 25-34 is the largest demographic in Chicago. It’s not about attracting them to this market; it’s about keeping them. Millennials can only put off life events so long, and as they build families, they are going to find rentals cannot serve their future needs. GOOD GRIEF BASTILLE How are we going to get by without mortgage rates below four percent? We’re going to miss them. It was a heck of a lot easier, especially this last year, to sell homes with rates this low. We’ll look back and wax poetic about the “Summer of Love.” That era is over. Rates are going to be higher in the months and years ahead. CHASE YOU DOWN RUNAGROUND Right now, the most important message to prospective buyers and sellers is to get in this game early. When you think about it, our data suggests that 85 percent of people looking to sell their home are also looking to buy. If inventory is really going to be challenging in the spring and summer, that tells me the early bird is going to get the worm. SHE SETS THE CITY ON FIRE GAVIN DEGRAW Under 35-year-olds set the city on fire. The message to Chicago is that if you really want this market to outperform my forecast, those are the people you need to be focusing on. Over half the people on realtor.com ® looking to buy are first-time buyers. They’re out there. They’re dreaming about it. www.ChicagoREALTOR.com 35
Page 1: CR Chicago REALTOR ® Magazine V o
Page 5 and 6: 2016 MAJOR INVESTORS Elite Champion
Page 7: STERLING R continued MAURICE HAMPTO
Page 10 and 11: 2016 Platinum Level — Volume Indi
Page 12 and 13: EDITOR’S NOTE 2016 Gold Level —
Page 14 and 15: 2016 Silver Level — Volume Indivi
Page 16 and 17: 2016 Bronze Level — Volume Indivi
Page 18 and 19: 2016 Top Rental Agents & Rookies Re
Page 20 and 21: Congratulations Top Producers of 20
Page 28 and 29: 2016 Top Producers by Neighborhood
Page 30 and 31: PRESIDENT’S PERSPECTIVE In my Ina
Page 32 and 33: FROM THE CEO Congratulations, 2016
Page 36 and 37: Other Predictions for 2017 The chal
Page 38 and 39: Serve Your Older Clients With Empat
Page 40 and 41: “The goal is to give people the f
Page 42 and 43: To Share or Not to Share Online Eth
Page 44 and 45: Special Advertising Section GREATER
Page 46 and 47: Michaela Gordon, @properties, and T
Page 48: SPRING LINEUP! CERTIFICATIONS & DES
Page 52: 4 Chicago REALTOR ® Magazine

CR Magazine - Spring 2017 (Sales Awards)

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?