Thomas McCarey

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Let me presume that you're familiar with the notion of "any port in a storm." My take on these words strung together is the equivalent of "by any means necessary." And so here we are in Chicago in the midwest in the United States in this hemisphere in this world in this year 2009 amid this economy. And with me sitting here perhaps as one of the brighter and more personable of folks engaged in the sale of Chicago real estate I wonder if you will allow me the opportunity to conjure up various "ports" that we might rely on if what we are in right now is a storm.

Empty Symbolism - A Blank Cookie Tray and the Smell of Vanilla

Time had it way back when that a realtor would drip a few drops of vanilla on an otherwise empty cookie tray and pop that sucker into a heated oven and, voila, the abode would be abundantly rife with the pleasant and suggestive scent of cookies. Ah, this gorgeous and wholesome aroma would tip-toe to the antediluvian part of the brain where it would trigger this most ancient part of the noggin and dance with primitive hopes and desires, some perhaps unrequited. And the attendant result would be action. End result? The home sold because it smelled like a bakery. But simple scents may not be enough today.

Words, Words, Words

So is the pen mightier than the sword of economic unease? And will the wielded pen (or its first cousin the keyboard) subdue unease as the ever-creative real estate professional labors over descriptive terms that paint the home abutting the train as being "close to transportation"? Or the condo above the all-night restaurant painted as "culinary opportunities abound"? Or is it simply that these lovely words fall upon deaf ears? In fact today perhaps the one true port is the one steeped in faith. Meaning? When the 3 am desperation of the soul rises relative to real estate, you may not only want a real estate professional who is great, but moreso someone or something that is divine. And that, for some, is when St. Joseph enters the picture.

Calling on St. Joseph for Help to Sell Real Estate

Having been raised Catholic, I am well-versed in the litany of the saints. If you were not so raised, imagine that every saint has a good and noble cause with which they are associated. Catholics refer to this as the patron cause of the saint. If you haven't heard, the cause of selling houses is that of St. Joseph, step-father to Jesus Christ. Actually that's a bit of a misnomer. St. Joseph, a carpenter by trade, is the patron of families and making a home. But for years, maybe centuries, his divine intervention has been sought to ensure the sale of homes. As I googled about today I unearthed several stories that credited the burying of St. Joseph medallions with an order of nuns getting the land they coveted in 16th century Europe while an order of monks in Montreal who sought St. Joseph's intercession first obtained and then completed the construction of the St. Joseph Oratory. So what's the deal? If you try to distill the various anecdotes what you come up with are the following caveats. St. Joseph was a carpenter, he built homes, he was the step-father to Jesus, he taught the skill of carpentry to Jesus, he recognized the importance of shelter and always provided shelter to Jesus, he was the patron saint of families and making a home. Add all of this up and you come up with a saint whose intervention is sought to ensure the sale of one's home. And how does one go about gaining St. Joseph's intercession? By asking, of course. Or, if we don't shy away from the real word - through prayer. And while it's perfectly conceivable that prayer alone will rule the day, what's truly interesting about St. Joseph is the use and placement of his statue to gain the goal. Go online and you will see hundreds, if not thousands, of vendors hawking St. Joseph real estate kits. Running from a few bucks to a lot of bucks, the kits contain plastic statues, prayer cards, and instructions. Pretty much across the board the instructions call for the statue of St. Joseph to be buried upside down in the dirt. Some instructions say exactly 12 inches deep. Others call for the statue to face east. Some allow for flower pots with condos. And they all stipulate that St. Joseph be petitioned to obtain the goal and that upon accomplishing the task (the sale of the home) that the statue be unearthed, cleaned off, and put in an honored place in the new home. As I understand it, the statue is to be placed upside down in the ground so as to trigger St. Joseph's discomfort. Therefore he will be more prone to act more quickly. When I told this to my good friend Mike, he laughed and said "I think I will be more likely to gain St. Joseph's good graces by simply welcoming him into our home." I think to a large extent Mike is right. I'm not one to needlessly go against the grain of belief but I think if St. Joseph is sitting in the kitchen as a family gathers to make a meal as we did last night he will feel the loving energy of the home and be more prone to respond affirmatively to the petition. After hanging out a few nights with the family and kids all working together to boil a pot of pasta or operate the juicer to make an organic smoothie St. Joe will be so impressed that he will absolutely make sure that you get into your new Chicago single family or condo pronto! Which gets me to wondering how I might graciously and truthfully incorporate St. Joseph into the realm of the electronic. What I have come up with is the placement of St. Joseph here at The Real Estate Lounge Chicago below my column of listings. And bearing in mind the compassion expressed by Mike, I and The Real Estate Lounge Chicago will not force St. Joseph to endure being upside down in the dirt to motivate him to get the home sold. I mean, really, it's as though the Freudian slip is showing to imagine that by engaging in quasi torture that somehow we are going to convince St. Joseph to do something that he doesn't want to do. And so?

When You Least Expect It...

One of my favorite teachings is by Thich Nhat Hanh. He says do not be irritated by the sound of the bell but use it as a reminder to return. His teaching was an urging to return to breath, to maintain one's meditation. And here I - raised Catholic, married by a Lakota shaman, with bookshelves sighing under the weight of books on Buddhism and eastern thought - as I consider St. Joseph and the prayers made to him I have felt my faith reinspired. This is not to assign any specificity to what I believe, it is simply to say that I do believe. I believe in this and I believe in that and I believe that positive actions trigger positive results. I believe that we are on the cusp of a rebound and that better days are before us. And while my jury is out about plunging a statue into the earth to get a home sold, I believe that everything surrounding this action related to right thinking and reaching a hand up into the air to a power greater than myself is going to have positive impact. That's what I believe.

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What if?

These words, I think, are the basis of empathy. At least that's what I think today. And empathy, to me, is vital to community. Whether it's across the street, a few blocks over, an entire city, the whole culture, the whole wide world - empathy is the critical ingredient that makes us human, and urges us to care. At the root of it is our individual capacity to see ourselves in the other person's situation, to put ourselves in their shoes.

What if?

It's the simple conversation that takes place in the recesses of the mind, silently, many times a day. Informal and constant, it might perhaps be the voice of conscience. Whatever name you'd like to pin to its chest, to me it's rooted in decency as well as in an aspiration to be better, to make our lives better. And in so doing to lift the tent and enable those around us to also enjoy better lives.

Maybe that's a bit complicated. Maybe the crux of the matter is that empathy moves us simply to be nice. Or to be nicer.

Or maybe it's a bit more accurate to say that it inspires us to be more gentle.

What if?

Sounds a little like the golden rule. You know, do unto others as you would them do unto you. But the golden rule alone doesn't fully work for me. It smacks a little too much like our momentary exit from the State of Nature that Thomas Hobbes talks about. And my sense is that empathy runs deeper than ephemeral self-interest.

The night before last Jackie was uprooted from his sleep by a nagging and persistent cough. Somewhere between 2 and 3 in the morning Nicole and I woke with Jacks and as she scoured natural healing books Jackson and I settled in for a long hot shower to dissipate whatever was causing his distress. With his cough a somewhat leashed in he and I headed to the couch with a cup of echinacea tea and Pinocchio. The course of sleep eventually made its way to us, with Jackson's cough no longer nagging him.

The cough doesn't seem too serious. But waking up with him in the small of the night prompted more than a few "what ifs" and these musings galvanized a deeper understanding, a broader empathy and a fuller gentleness emanating from me.

And more than a little tiredness from being up half the night.

The Susan Boyle Moment

Another trigger for my "What if" moment came as I drove up Lake Shore Drive listening to NPR Wednesday or Thursday. It was a brief report and audio clip of Susan Boyle as she entered the realm of the phenomenal. Boyle, in case you're not aware, is a 40 something woman from a tiny hamlet in the English countryside who donned her "going to the city" finest and some sensible shoes to appear on a televised talent show.

While not many if any folks would consider Susan anything but homely and for all intents and purposes it looked like it would be a perfect moment for Simon Cowell, one of the show's panelists, to exhibit what can only be termed anti-empathy. But it turned out much different.

It turned out much better.

Click here to see Susan Boyle sing

Susan, with a singular eyebrow traced across a forehead that she said has never been pecked by a non-family member, opened her mouth and mesmerized the tv audience (and now millions of people around the world) with a sweet and full voice rich with passion and imbued with a lifetime of things unsaid but not unfelt.

Here's the thing with Susan Boyle. What she did was incongruous - it was unexpected. But then she did it and a dread anticipation that met her arrival was replaced by something much kinder and nobler. It was replaced by celebration and, I hope, a pause. A pause to remember to insert a moment between the cynical or harsh judgement with something softer, something tinged with empathy.

Which reminds me of a teaching that I associate with Ram Dass

"And I am that too."

Remembering to Forget and Forgetting to Remember

That works for me.

And though I often forget this teaching and I wander away from the softer truths of "what if," I am brought out of the so-called fog by looking into the eyes of my children or contemplating the magnificence of my wife or Susan Boyle moments when something completely unexpected occurs and a random act of kindness ensues.

And so is there empathy and thus community.

By the way, feel free to tap into my philosophical musings in person by stopping by my open house from noon-2p at 3118 Sheffield. (Or visit other pieces of Chicago real estate represented by The Real Estate Lounge Chicago team that include an Andersonville condo for sale at 1218 Carmen from 11.30-1.30 and a Sauganash sfh for sale at 4353 Hollywood from noon-2p. Or tap my shoulder to talk by reaching me at 773.848.9241.

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My son Jacksonpeered into the mirror yesterday morning and said something unexpected,

I want a haircut. At the age of three-and-a-half, Jackson has had fewer haircuts in his life than he has fingers on his left hand (or his right hand, for that matter). Perhaps his mom and I have greater affinity for his locks than he does, though he seems to appreciate his flowing tresses. But as a super-active kid who prefers to run when walking will suffice, slightly shorter tresses may be in order. And I suppose that's what it comes down to - the ability to conform to circumstances. Mind me, I am not saying that we're going to take out a pair of hedge clippers and take it all the way down. Altering our course doesn't mean we're going to turn off our moral compass completely. We will just take a bit off the top.

Three Chicago Condos with Three New Prices

Much in the same manner that three of my Chicago condo listings this week have opted to do the same with their asking prices.

And so 3118 N Sheffield has reduced to $599,900 for a spectacular three bed/two bath first-time resale with garage parking in the heart of Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood

And 1055 N Hermitage has reduced to $475,000 for a penthouse two bed/two bath condo with garage parking just off Division Street in Chicago's robust East Village - Wicker Park neighborhood

And 1250 W Van Buren has reduced to $224,900 for a timber loft one bed with parking in Chicago's booming West Loop neighborhood

Here's the thing - with respect to each of these extremely desirable Chicago listings we set course originally with good reason. Now, in response to our ongoing conversation with the Chicago real estate market, it has proven reasonable to us to relinquish our grip on the original price and alter our so-called trajectory.

"A Little Off the Top" Leads to Many Through the Door

Thus, with Easter and Passover in our rear view mirror, we have repositioned ourselves and see to establish a new conversation with our respective consumer pools. The result of which? We look forward to an increase in activity and, of course, contract to purchase in each instance. And all because we took "a little off the top." To arrange a private showing at any of these fantastic Chicago properties for sale either call me at 773.848.9241 or tom.mccarey@atproperties.com.

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What a lovely day it has been. A bit brisker than I would like - so much so that the jaunt around the block this morning with Lucas, Jackson and my cup of coffee left us all with hydrating nostrils and hands red from the chill.

But offsetting the weather more akin to the year's first three months than those associated with Spring were the gentle blue skies and the company of my boys.

And that, He Asks as We Walk By St. Gertrude's

For the past three weeks or so Jackson has been fascinated by the beautiful building at the corner of Granville and Glenwood. Fully and magnificently occupying the space is St. Gertrude's, a Roman Catholic church. With each passing he asks,

"What is that place?"

I reply,

"It's a church."

To which he responds,

"I want to see that place."

Several times during our mid-week walks we have walked up the steps to find the doors bolted. Today, though, the doors were open and in we went to find a place buzzing with activity. We spotted our neighbor Bob Backis who, as he always does, graciously greeted the boys, asking them what they thought of this bigger than life place full of folks getting ready for tonight's mass.

A Community is Made up of Neighbors

The boys loved it. So much so that it's likely that tonight we will return in accord with Jackson's other request to go to church. And as was the case today we will see plenty of our neighbors just as we do when we walk around the block or go any of our nearby parks or stop at the Dominick's on Broadway. Or anything else that we do that brings us in touch with the folks who live near us, that has us intertwine our lives with folks who not only live in the same zip code, on a street with the same of perhaps a known name, but who greet the day much in the same way that we do with hopes and worries and responsibilities and joys.

When I was in high school in that place called the southside of Chicago the principal once tried to regain a semblance of order after a school assembly by declaring, "Everybody should be somewhere." I don't know if Mr. Bieber was cognizant of the philosophical depths he was plumbing with the nugget, but as I chuckle about walking around the block in Edgewater on the northside of Chicago prior to a day of dealing with the Chicago real estate market working with clients looking at condos in Old Town and Lincoln Park (with a fellow agent from @properties) and showing my listing in River North at 855 Erie I muse to myself that Mr. Bieber was right.

"Everybody Should Be Somewhere"

"Everybody should be somewhere." And as I finish clickety-clacking this keyboard and head downtown to finish my continuing education requirement before my evening showing at 550 Surf in Lakeview, I will be somewhere. I will be here and there and in between, but most important heading home to my family as soon as I can and greeting my neighbors as my sons have taught me.

Simply smiling and saying, "Hi!"

Funny thing is it always works. And each time it has this beautiful effect of this simple truth - it makes for that thing that so many of us yearn for - a neighborhood.

By the way, I returned to the post to add the pix - the good news is the education requirement has been successfully vanquished. The other good news? I await your call as was the case Friday when I received a call from a person living in Lakeview on Lake Shore Drive. She has been reading The Real Estate Lounge Chicago blog and wants to talk about listing her place.

I look forward to the conversation Wednesday or Thursday. As I look forward to hearing from you. You can always reach me at 773.848.9241.

A Saturday Meeting with New Home Buying Clients

This past weekend I met with new buying clients at my office in Lincoln Park. We initially met last summer at an open house I hosted of a new construction single family home in Bucktown. They said they liked the fact that I had kept in touch but wasn't pushy.

So now we are working together to sift through listings that match their search terms in areas like Lincoln Park, Lakeview, Roscoe Village and Lincoln Square.

One of the things that I promised them was I wouldn't just throw them on an auto-search and ply them with needless dozens if not hundreds of Chicago real estate listings. They smiled and said that would be great as they still, years after registering at Dreamtown's website, are getting pointless and unwanted listings from that outfit.

A Promise to Personally Email Relevant Listings

What I promised them is that, on the basis of what we has spent the last 90 minutes talking about, I would do for them what I do for all of my clients who are looking to buy a condo, single family home, townhome in the Chicago real estate market - I will send the personal emails every time a new Chicago real estate listing hits the market that meets (or exceeds) their expectations. This includes size, location, price, and finish.

What I then promised them is a continuation of the type of information I shared with them as we looked through a smattering of relevant listings when we met. That includes the financial background of the listing (what it sold for historically, what is owed on the property, what its real estate taxes are), how long the listing has been on the market, whether the listing appears value priced or wishfully priced, and, with respect to pricing, what current comps suggest.

Here's the deal - in the past nine years among the most productive Chicago real estate professionals (talking about me) it has been the discerning of relevant information (combined with skilled representation and negotiation) that has best benefited my numerous buying and selling clients in pursuing successful strategies to get the homes they want at the best possible prices.

And so the journey begins.

Don't Go Crazy When You Are Looking for a New Home!

Here's the question for you - when it's time to find your new home specific to a location, a school, a high "walkability" score, finish quality, size, price, etc. - don't you want to arrive at the doorstep of your new and loved Chicago home with a real estate professional who can walk you through the dwelling and edify you clearly and easily about the home's pluses and minuses?

That's what I provide. And it's what has distinguished me to my clients and what they tell friends and family when they refer me. And it's what I provide day-in and day-out as we make our way to your new home.

And it means no ridiculous automated emails with a plethora of irrelevant listings.

So when it's time to make your way to your new Chicago home, don't hesitate to call me at 773.848.9241 or email me at The Real Estate Lounge Chicago of @properties.