Regional Spotlight—RISMEDIA, May 9, 2011—RE/MAX Signature, which has been the fastest growing RE/MAX franchise in the City of Chicago over the last several years, has put in place two new initiatives that will further facilitate its continued expansion in the Chicago real estate market.
Linda O’Donnell, broker/owner of RE/MAX Signature, recently announced that the firm will relocate from its current office at 2901 N. Clybourn Ave. in North Center to a new and larger space at 2411 N. Clybourn in Lincoln Park. In addition, effective April 1, RE/MAX Signature absorbed the agents and operations of RE/MAX Skyline, which was headquartered at 3132 W. North Ave. in Humboldt Park. The expansion will make the new 4,000-square-foot office home to a staff of more than 60 affiliated agents. The combined activity of both offices in 2010 totaled more than $64 million in closed sales volume.
According to O’Donnell, both of these developments will make the upcoming celebration of RE/MAX Signature’s 10th anniversary an even bigger occasion.
The brokerage has ranked as the top-producing single RE/MAX office in Chicago for 2008, 2009 and 2010.
The new office will feature three conference rooms with flat-panel televisions, high-speed Internet and Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone service. The agents will also be able to access all of their computer files remotely—ideal if they are working from home or are out looking at properties—once the new office opens.
O’Donnell says her goal for the new office is to have the technology in place that will make it effectively a paper-free work environment.
Now, in adding the agents of RE/MAX Skyline, O’Donnell’s office is going through its second such expansion in the past year. RE/MAX Skyline joined the RE/MAX Northern Illinois real estate network in 2007 after being established in 2006 as an independent firm by broker/owner Mariano Rivera. All agents affiliated with RE/MAX Skyline have chosen to remain with the RE/MAX network.
“We’re excited to welcome this group of outstanding and experienced agents to our office,” says O’Donnell. “They will strengthen our presence, especially in the Humboldt Park community, and they are a knowledgeable and highly productive group of professionals, so our office will benefit in many ways.
“Last year our agents doubled the number of transactions they closed compared to the prior year, and the newest members of our team will help us maintain that momentum.”
In 2010, the combined sales activity of RE/MAX Signature and RE/MAX Skyline totaled more than 500 transactions.
Jim Merrion, regional director of the RE/MAX Northern Illinois real estate network, notes that the growth of RE/MAX Signature illustrates a trend that is evident nationwide in the real estate industry.
“Today, real estate is more about providing agents with resources and training and less about giving them office space because frankly they do most of their work from their home offices and their automobiles, thanks to laptop computers, smartphones and other high-tech devices. At the same time, their clients are also migrating to the Internet, so that much of what was done on paper or face to face is now done electronically,” Merrion says.
“As the real estate business has migrated online, the best offices have added agents and offered them enhanced technology and cutting edge training in everything from marketing their services to the intricacies of dealing with distressed properties,” he says. “We fully expect those trends to continue as the real estate market recovers from the slowdown in activity that we’ve seen in the last three years.”
