Thomas McCarey

[See in original format at The Real Estate Lounge Chicago]

Buried somewhere in the innards of yesterday's New York Times was a story that elated me.

17-year-old Zac Sunderland completed a one-year odyssey in which he sailed around the world alone aboard his sailboat "Intrepid."

Doing the math backward this means that Zac left his mom and dad and brothers and sisters when he was 16. And while some kids don't like to spend the night away from the nest and here we have Zac enduring some 28,000 miles sailing solo.

Wow!

I'm sure he's happy to be the youngest-ever person to complete a feat such as this. But more important, perhaps, than the accolade is the knowledge that he did it. And as did this beautiful shaggy haired teen tip his lance deftly toward the windmill, so too can the rest of us gain a truer measure of ourselves and also do it.

Hah! It rekindles in my mind the time-worn saw from Nike - "Just do it."

Seems like Zac Sunderland heard the call of this muse and did just that. Now it's our turn.

Sometimes the adventures are smaller, like the excursion that my family and I took through our Edgewater neighborhood in the northside of Chicago to participate in the community's "Third Saturday." And sometimes the scope is a bit grander like when Nicole and I hightailed it up the Machu Picchu trail in Peru or down the Amazon River (or even when we traveled to Europe the Christmas before last with nine-m0nth-old Lucas and two-year-old Jackson).

What struck me about Zac, aside from his courage and grace to have accomplished this feat was that his parents not only raised him to do it, but they encouraged him to do it.

Wow and wow!

What a lesson to bear in mind as I intermingle trying to be the best dad that I can be to Jackson and Lucas while simultaneously servicing the needs of my clients buying and selling homes and condos in the Chicago real estate market. At the end of the day it's not that tough a task. Well, sometimes it is tough, but those times typically are related to friction and friction often is the result of ego or pride trying to dictate an end result. And when you have ego and pride squaring off between two parties as oft is the case when folks act like folks...

So the call to action is manifold, but primarily what I gleaned from Zac's story is to be inspired and moved to do things fully and with greatness.

Sounds like I'm orbiting my old Zen haunts again.

[See in original format at The Real Estate Lounge Chicago]

But not only do we take great pride in the Chicago real estate that we represent, we take great efforts to ensure that we market the listings of The Real Estate Lounge Chicago as fully as possible. And so each listing has its own website as you see when you view our Wicker Park home for sale at 1917 Race. Relying on professionally snapped photographs from VHT and text penned by Tom McCarey, we produce online marketing materials that are syndicated to myriad websites including all members of the cooperative mls serving Chicago as well as straight to the consumer via craigslist and other sites.

And to establish what I call an online matrix whereby the online consumer sees the listings when they google or bing, I stitch together a technological canvas that spans my known technological universe relying on sites such as flickr, postlets, vast, backpage, vast, etc to propel the listing to be visible. And then we go the extra mile through tools like Scribd and SlideShare which are powerpoint presentations that I convert to a pdf, add a few tags related to the listing and let the demigods of the internet push the listing even further into the sight lines of online consumers.

And so consider 1917 Race, a Wicker Park or East Village home for sale with a flowing layout and a price tag of $824,900 that reflects the current market. This home offers fine finishes from the front door to the master suite, from the handwrought steel floating staircase to the gourmet kitchen, from the whole home audio wiring with speakers to the garage top deck. In essence this is a true home for the person looking to find a Chicago home.

Now that we have brought it to the market the true heavy lifting of the listing agent commences to maintain a diligent drum beat to continue to market the listing until finally the person for whom the home is just right walks through the front door.

If that person is you, hurry! If it's your friend, share the info with them. And if you are simply figuring out what you do when it's time for your to sell be sure to select a Chicago real estate professional whose method of promotion is actual and measurable and not simply verbal.

[Original format at The Real Estate Lounge Chicago]

The rain came this morning.

Quick, loud, and is typically the case with rain, wet.

It came shortly after 5 am. The clock on the stove told me it was so. And though my brain was hurling invectives at me as I rose the combination of the time (nearly time to arise) along with the precarious situation of the patio furniture was enough to spur me forward. So being the responsible fellow I am, I tip-toed my bare foot way to the patio to retrieve and hurl to safety the hyacinth pads from the chairs surrounding the wrought round table where just last night Nicole and the boys and I enjoyed our evening repast.

And just as quickly as it came the rumbling early morning Chicago thunderstorm ambled by and no doubt is prompting folks east of my Edgewater location to decide if they too will tip toe damply and with bare feet to secure items unintentionally left to gather rain drops (or buckets of rain, as the case may be).

The real solution, no doubt, is to heed the echoes of parental admonitions past - if you're done, put it away. And so I vow that it will be the case next time. I will put it away. For no matter how much like a hero I feel now that I have risen early and snared a head start on the day, I might just have preferred to remain abed until my circadian rhythm reached its crescendo and urged me to rise naturally.

And there you have it.

What you also have, if you are of a mind to dabble as a buyer of Chicago real estate are three new listings hosted by the team of The Real Estate Lounge Chicago. A veritable smattering of homes, Tom McCarey and Mitch Aronson are beaming with news of the following:

At 1917 W Race is a three-level contemporary single family home situated near Wicker Park and priced at $824,900. Tom McCarey represented the buyers when they purchased this custom built new construction five years ago. The home offers a gourmet kitchen, high end finishes, a handcrafted floating steel staircase and a garage top deck that urges backyard get-aways in this East Village location.

At 2449 Logan Boulevard is a top floor Logan Square condo for sale that overlooks tree-lined Logan Boulevard. Providing an extra-wide footprint, this two bed/two bath Chicago condo has a separate living room and dining room and a large granite and stainless steel kitchen. Hardwood floors extend throughout and list price of $379,900 includes a parking space.

At 2542 N Sacramento is a vintage lover's delight. Upgraded exquisitely, this home combines features such as coffered ceilings, crown molding and six-paneled oak doors and hardwood flooring with a granite kitchen, central heat and air, and in-unit laundry. An easy walk to the Logan Square blue line stop, this Chicago condo is listed at $249,900.

As with all of our listings and any listing that intrigues you in the Chicago real estate market, arranging an appointment is only a phone call away. To reach Tom McCarey call 773.848.9241 and to reach Mitch Aronson call 773.405.6600.

[View this post in original format at The Real Estate Lounge Chicago]

Sunday emerges superbly this day, shining on the denizens of this metropolis we call Chicago.

Hallelujah.

And as Jackson, Lucas and I took a spin around the block before I head to my open house in a contemporary single family home in the Lakeview neighborhood of Chicago - Jackson on his brilliantly beautiful blue bike and Lucas with feet propped up on his Kettler trike, me pushing with one hand and balancing a cup of Metropolis coffee in the other - we heard the congregation lifting their voices in St. Gertrude's at the corner of Granville and Glenwood.

Jackson always asks if we can see if the church is open as we pass. Today with the doors wide open we had our answer. So we crossed the street and took it all in, enjoying blue skies, warm weather and the beauty of "Hallelujah" being lifted by a church full of voices.

Hallelujah.

One of the glories of several movies that I love watching with the boys are single stamp songs that are so magnificently massive that they surpass the boundaries of the movie that they spawn from. And so is the case with "Hallelujah" from the movie Shrek.

And as we returned from our ambulation about our Edgewater neighborhood I turned to Songza and pulled up the entire series of Shrek-related "Hallelujah" songs. And so it now serves as the backdrop as the boys tunnel small holes in the backyard and as I furiously scratch out this brief missive.

And so as you consider the state of your current Chicago home or plan what bit of real estate you will next pursue in Chicago click the connection here to see if Rufus Wainwright singing "Hallelujah" from Shrek has the same glorious impact on you as it does in my neck of the woods.

Hah! It's kinda like love, you just don't know where it's gonna come from, and you surely can't plan it. But when it's there, voila! That's the beauty of life - there's a compelling mystery as we experience one great thing after another, sometimes with knowing anticipation and at other times fully and wholly unexpected.

[See this post in original format at The Real Estate Lounge Chicago]



I received a great compliment a few days back.

A few weeks ago my phone rang. A nice young man had seen me online. Originally searching in the Wicker Park area he told me I was the top listing agent in the area. Based on that he took a deeper look and the looking led to a phone call.

Without delving too much into specifics he said he was calling real estate professionals working in the Chicago market to figure out who he wanted to represent him with his upcoming purchase. As is the case with satisfying conversations, there was an unscripted and generous give and take. He mentioned a few areas that interested him and I gave him my sense of what these Chicago neighborhoods were like with insights based on my direct experiences.

To make a long story short we met Wednesday afternoon to chart an itinerary as we investigate real estate prospects ranging from Edgewater to Lakeview, from Roscoe Village to Albany Park. Where we are going is inscribed in the map above. In the course of conversation two he was nice enough to tell me something along the lines that he was pleased to finally have his expectations surpassed by somebody he met as he was preparing to make what promises to be his first very significant investment.

Evidently some of his phone calls didn't have the same result with some phone calls going unreturned. And evidently some folks "working" the Chicago real estate market didn't seem to be working after all. His exact words were "They don't seem to want my business."

And the words of one his classmates at The Kellogg School of Business who also is making a real estate purchase were "not many realtors seemed hungry."

I understand what he and his associate are saying. And it's not so much that I am hungry as I am motivated by the simple truth that it is my job to do my job the best that I can. And I will. And I do.

Just as I expect him and all of my clients to have questions and want their real estate professional to be able to respond with knowledge, authenticity and authority.

And so I am lucky enough to have nice people like this new client of mine praising me. Just as I have been fortunate for nearly ten years to have similar laudatory praises offered by folks buying houses, selling condos, purchasing two-flats and looking for someone they can trust in the Chicago real estate market.

And that has been me. And that's something for which I am thankful. Thankful to my clients. But thankful also to the way that I am wired.

Wired to work harder than seems reasonable. To know as much as possible. To freely share my knowledge (thereby enabling my clients to make decisions - whether yes or no). And to never deviate from what is in my clients' (and my family's) best interests.

It's a good way to live. And in fact I like it so much that I intend to do it again tomorrow.

By the way, can you tell how pleased I am with my page one ranking for "chicago real estate" at both google and bing? As one of Jackson's favorite cartoons would say - "Wow wow Wubzie! Wubzie Wubzie WOW WOW!"