The real estate industry is beyond crowded — it seems like agents are popping up everywhere and taking aim at your clients. So, how can you cut through all that noise to stand out? You’ve got to become an expert marketer.

Marketing equals attraction

Wondering how you can stop chasing leads and start attracting them? The answer: with a strategic plan and commitment to taking imperfect action. It’s scary but will give you so much momentum … compared to thousands of leftover promotional magnets and sitting idle at open houses. Here are some strategies I used to sell over 2,400-plus homes in my career.

Become the authority

When you’re looking for a service, don’t you want the expert? Don’t you want the top surgeon or the financial planner who wrote the book on financial planning? What you’re looking for is the recognized authority.

First, be recognized. It doesn’t matter how amazing you are if no one knows about you. You need your whole market to know you! Next, be an authority. Many agents slide by with the minimum knowledge they need to get the job done. An authority not only becomes an expert, they also share their expertise.

How? Through strategic video marketing, sharing binge-worthy real estate and community-related information, getting it in front of your ideal audience and positioning yourself as the local expert.

I’ve written four bestselling books, spoken on stages and shared my knowledge by answering questions my audience didn’t realize they had. I became my community’s expert.
Serve, don’t sell

Stop “selling” yourself to people and focus on serving them. Stop convincing, start contributing. When you provide valuable information, they’ll see and understand just how terrific (and different) you really are. When you serve them without asking for anything in return, they’ll trust you, like you and choose to do business with you.

Serve through the valuable information you share. Serve by giving back to your community. Serve by helping promote other businesses in your community. You can do all of this without sacrificing your business. And you’ll end up with local fans that will stop you in the middle of the street asking, “Hey … aren’t you THAT real estate agent!?”

Be unique

If you want to stand out from the crowd, you have to do things differently. Part of branding is about who you are. Are you funny? A local coffee shop or brewery supporter? Want to save local shelter animals? You’re discovering your niche …

You might be wondering, “If I niche, will I lose out on other business?” Not at all. With every video or marketing piece you develop, you will continue to grow your brand as the local real estate authority. Your niche will help you save money, stand out and develop specialized knowledge.

Get started by choosing what you want to focus on. Rural properties or condos? Vacation properties or fixer-uppers? Then starting thinking about who you want to work with. First-time buyers? Retirees? Investors? All of these unique qualities should show up in everything you do, from your business cards to your website to your marketing brochures.

But always be ready to adapt. During the recession from 2007 to 2009, I made myself known as the “Foreclosure Queen.” When the market got back to normal, that identity no longer served my brand — it actually hurt me. I lost luxury listings because no one wanted to list their seven-figure home with the foreclosure expert. So, I adapted. I rebranded myself by using technology to market higher-end homes and became the “Digital Marketing Queen.”

Give awesome service

Doing the bare minimum will never escalate you to top producer. Constantly ask yourself, “How much more value can I give?” Think about all areas of your real estate business. I teach my students to infuse expert marketing throughout the complete sales cycle of their business; which includes areas like branding, lead generation, lead nurturing, conversion, fulfillment, delivery, re-listing and referrals.

Do you have a strategic plan for outstanding and differentiated service in each of these areas?

I’ve seen my students leverage these strategies and achieve incredible results. And guess what … You can dominate your market, too, by becoming your local authority who is unique, gives awesome service and focuses on serving, not selling.

Krista Mashore is a best-selling author and the founder and CEO of Krista Mashore Coaching.

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Originally Appeared Here

Cast: Al Pacino
Jack Lemmon
Alec Baldwin
Alan Arkin
Ed Harris

Geners:
Crime

Drama

Mystery

Director: James Foley

Release Date: Sep 15, 1992

When an office full of Chicago real estate salesmen is given the news that all but the top two will be fired at the end of the week, the atmosphere begins to heat up. Shelley Levene, who has a sick daughter, does everything in his power to get better leads from his boss, John Williamson, but to no avail. When his coworker Dave Moss comes up with a plan to steal the leads, things get complicated for the tough-talking salesmen.

Glengarry Glen Ross is currently not on Netflix. Movies and series tend to come and go quite a lot in the streaming service unless they’re Netflix originals. A Netflix account starts from $9.99 and gives you full access to their library with ad-free viewing.

They’re not on Hulu, either! But prices for this streaming service currently start at $6.99 per month, or $69.99 for the whole year. For the ad-free version, it’s $12.99 per month, $64.99 per month for Hulu + Live TV, or $70.99 for the ad-free Hulu + Live TV.

Disney Plus is expanding, but their branding is still quite specific, and Glengarry Glen Ross is currently not available to stream there. With Disney+, you can have a wide range of shows from Marvel, Star Wars, Disney+, Pixar, ESPN, and National Geographic to choose from in the streaming platform for the price of $7.99 monthly or $79.99 annually.

You won’t find Glengarry Glen Ross on HBO Max. But if you’re still interested in the service, it’s $14.99 per month, which gives you full access to the entire vault, and is also ad-free, or $9.99 per month with ads. However, the annual versions for both are cheaper, with the ad-free plan at $150 and the ad-supported plan at $100.

Yes, Glengarry Glen Ross is available to watch for free on Amazon Prime Video! One can access the vast library of titles within Amazon Video for a subscription cost of $14.99 a month.

Glengarry Glen Ross is not available to watch on Peacock at the time of writing. Peacock offers a subscription costing $4.99 a month or $49.99 per year for a premium account. As their namesake, the streaming platform is free with content out in the open, however, limited.

Glengarry Glen Ross is not on Paramount Plus also. Paramount Plus has two subscription options: the basic version ad-supported Paramount+ Essential service costs $4.99 per month, and an ad-free premium plan for $9.99 per month.

No dice. Glengarry Glen Ross isn’t streaming on the Apple TV+ library at this time. You can watch plenty of other top-rated shows and movies like Mythic Quest, Tedd Lasso, and Wolfwalkers for a monthly cost of $4.99 from the Apple TV Plus library.

If you have Direct TV you can watch Glengarry Glen Ross for free on their service! You’ll also have access to thousands of other shows and movies! Enjoy.

Amazon Prime Video

$14.99

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Originally Appeared Here

Prologis

6250 North River Road, Suite 1100, Rosemont, Il, 60018

(847) 292-3900

https://www.prologis.com

Industry: Commercial real estate

Annual revenue: $4.759B

Number of employees: 2,053

Q: Describe your company.

A: Prologis owns, develops and manages high-quality warehouses and logistics properties worldwide and is uniquely positioned to help our customers address their biggest challenges. Our facilities service approximately 5,800 customers, enabling the distribution of goods globally, including many products people rely on every day.

We own and operate 337 buildings in Chicago and the Western suburbs, totaling 63.9 million square feet and supporting over 550 customers.

We love this idea of “Businesses for a Better World.” We are committed to sustainable development, innovative solutions and being a strong community partner — as we live in the communities we invest and develop. We are particularly proud of our commitment to sustainable design and have set a global goal to achieve carbon-neutral construction by 2025.

We are also ranked No. 3 in on-site solar capacity in the United States, and our communities and customers are already reaping the financial and operational benefits of clean energy.

Q: Do you plan to hire any additional staff or make any significant capital investments in your company in the next year?

A: Chicago is one of our fastest growing markets, and we continue to seek top talent to support more than 550 customers, ranging from smaller to mid-sized businesses to major brands and third-party logistics providers. The people who work for Prologis are at the forefront of our exceptional customer-focused model.

        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        

 

Q: What will your company’s main challenges be in the next year?

A: More than ever, companies — in Chicago and worldwide — recognize the critical role that logistics real estate plays in their supply chains and how being in the right location affects operations. Land for logistics real estate is scarce, while demand for space is high.

Our research shows that an incremental 800 million square feet of logistics space will be needed to correct the current inventory shortage. As such, businesses will face challenging conditions securing logistical space and having a strong partner such as Prologis will be imperative.

Q: What’s the hottest trend in your industry?

A: Last mile delivery. In 2021, e-commerce represented 13.2 percent of all U.S. retail sales. As such, consumer expectation for faster delivery continues to increase and companies are locating their distribution facilities in Chicagoland for quick access to the region’s consumer population. We expect logistics real estate that is within or adjacent to major cities worldwide to continue to be in high demand.

Q: Does climate change affect how your company does business?

A: Making rapid improvements to environmental performance is essential for addressing climate change and other global challenges. Our approach to Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) is integrated into every aspect of Prologis. In 2021 we made steady progress against our ESG goals and set ambitious new ones, including reaching carbon-neutral construction globally by 2025 and achieving third-party sustainable building certifications for new development projects.

        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        

 

Further, we partner with our customers and leverage our scale to help them contribute their ESG efforts. For example, Prologis has launched a new mobility offering to provide turnkey electric vehicle charging solutions across its property portfolio, enabling our customers to advance their renewable energy operations.

Q: What does your company do to reduce the effects of climate change?

A: Prologis is the No. 1 real estate investment trust (REIT) on the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World list — and I’m proud to work for an industry leader in this sector. Prologis addresses climate change proactively.

In 2020 we set a goal that 100 percent of new developments and redevelopments will achieve sustainable building certification each year. We’re also leading the logistics industry in decarbonization through cutting-edge solutions across our value chain.

For example, we’re piloting low carbon concrete solutions, installing the infrastructure to accommodate the future EV trucks or autonomous yard tractors and incorporating automation-ready design features. By creating an operating environment within our warehouse facilities our customers can advance their own ESG goals.

Q: Does your company donate time or money to any philanthropic causes? If so, what causes?

A: We have an annual global day of service, IMPACT Day, when our employees worldwide step away from their desks and come together to give back to the communities where we live and work. This year in Chicago we supported Inspirations Kitchens, a local restaurant and catering business that houses a no-cost food service training program that benefits the homeless and working poor of the city.

The Chicago team collected outside debris and garbage, organized inside storage areas and prepared the garden for planting vegetables, which will be used to cook meals at the restaurant.

Also, we just helped 10 local fire departments conduct training exercises at one of our sites in Woodridge, where a building was being torn down and firefighters were able to practice roof cutting.

Another program, Space for Good, donates temporary, rent-free space in our buildings to organizations providing disaster relief or addressing short-term community needs. In Chicago, our Space for Good program has supported Chicago Toys for Tots, Greater Chicago Food Depository and United Way Chicago. Additionally, Prologis and our employees have been contributing to Ukrainian refugee assistance efforts, including providing space to local nonprofits under this program.

Q: Does your company do anything else to make your community better?

A: In 2018 we proudly launched the Prologis Community Workforce Initiative (CWI) that seeks help make our community better while solving a major pain point for our customers. The initiative trains individuals for the logistics industry and help boost economic growth in the communities where we do business.

We collaborate with local workforce programs to provide mentorship, skills training, internships and job placement services for people interested in pursuing careers in logistics, distribution and transportation to meet the booming demand of e-commerce.

Prologis has pledged to train 25,000 individuals by the end of 2025, for jobs in transportation, distribution and logistics. CWI is active in 15 markets in the U.S. and Mexico and has served more than 13,000 people to date, including here in Chicago.

Q: Do you have a business mantra?

A: At Prologis we strive to help our customers to stay “ahead of what’s next” and offer products and services they need to drive business operations forward. For example, Prologis Essentials is the only offering of its kind with warehouse solutions that today’s logistics customers need. We’re leveraging our scale and relationships to help customers, specifically our small and medium customers, source the equipment, tools and services needed to set up their business and optimize operations. Products range from electric forklifts to energy solutions such as solar, storage and electric vehicle charging to workforce solutions.

Q: What is one interesting fact about your company that most people may not know?

A: Prologis Ventures, our venture capital arm, invests in emerging technologies that can address our customers’ pain points in their supply chain, transportation, building digitization & infrastructure, energy and sustainability, workforce and real estate/construction needs. Since its founding, the team has made nearly 40 direct investments, totaling over $130 million in total investments.

• Do you know of a Business for a Better World? Email us about it at sbnews@dailyherald.com.

        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        

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Originally Appeared Here

Upgrading the 80-year-old El Paso County Coliseum and possibly adding an Ascarate Park amphitheater that could hold about 5,500 people are being studied by El Paso County officials.

Renovating the 5,250-seat coliseum, which hosts concerts and other events, and making other improvements on its 20-acre campus in South-Central El Paso, and the proposed amphitheater were examined in a $90,000 study. It was done for the county by Hunden Strategic Partners, a Chicago real estate development consulting firm.

El Paso County Commissioners Court  Wednesday held a special meeting to learn more about results of the study, given to them earlier this year, and provide ideas and guidance to county staff on next steps.

The coliseum campus upgrades would cost an estimated $54.1 million, the study found.

That would include turning the adjacent Sherman Barn, now used for storage, into a boutique music venue with 1,500-2,000 seats, adding a second ice rink, and adding on-site restaurants.

Upgrades to the coliseum building would be an estimated $15.1 million of the total $54.1 million cost.

The proposed amphitheater in Ascarate Park in the Lower Valley would cost an estimated $24.3 million, including a parking area.

Michael Hernandez, county economic development director, told commissioners the coliseum structure is sound, especially since it was built to be a bomb shelter. It would be cost-prohibitive to demolish and replace it, he said.

It’s become an important and nostalgic place for many people in the community, public sessions held as part of the study found, Hernandez said.

More: El Paso’s ‘Barn’ filled with 75 years of memories

The consultant’s report also noted that if the coliseum isn’t improved soon it will continue to lose events and eventually become obsolete.

The idea behind the improvements at the coliseum campus and adding an amphitheater is to capture concerts and other events that are bypassing El Paso, Hernandez said.

The coliseum, operated by the nonprofit El Paso Sports Commission through a contract with the county, has been losing around $1.8 million a year, the study reported.

County Judge Ricardo Samaniego said whatever improvements are done should embrace the coliseum’s historic feel and long history as a music venue where Elvis Presley, Frank Sinatra, and a host of other stars performed.

“I am more excited that we capture what we have and embrace it” and not make it look modern, he said. “This is an opportunity to differentiate ourselves” among other event venues in the country, he said.

He suggested a music museum be part of renovation plans as a way to showcase not only famous stars who performed in the arena, but also local artists who’ve made names for themselves, he said.

Commissioner Iliana Holguin said upgrading the coliseum and its grounds should take priority over adding an amphitheater at Ascarate Park.

That proposal also could be difficult because county officials recently learned that an amphitheater apparently is in the works in Sunland Park, N.M., on the border of El Paso’s West Side.

Officials with the town of Sunland Park could not immediately be reached to determine if such a venue has been approved for the area.

The Ascarate Park amphitheater proposed in the consultant’s study would have 1,260 seats and attached lawn for about 4,300 people.

More: El Paso County begins process to possibly increase taxes for $346M in medical projects

Commissioners Court took no action Wednesday.

Hernandez and County Chief Administrator Betsy Keller said staff would use the commissioners’ input to help develop future proposals for them to examine. Which projects would be done and how they would be financed are questions yet to be answered. The county also would have to seek specific designs for projects, the officials said.

Vic Kolenc may be reached at 546-6421; vkolenc@elpasotimes.com; @vickolenc on Twitter.

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Originally Appeared Here

Although all three downstate Illinois Republicans endorsed by former President Donald Trump won their primary races Tuesday, outspoken Trump supporters seeking nomination for statewide or federal seats saw mixed results in the suburbs.

Such candidates were defeated in the 6th, 8th and 14th congressional districts’ GOP primaries, as well as in the U.S. Senate race. But they won nominations in the 5th and 11th districts.

Trump didn’t endorse any suburban candidates in Tuesday’s primary. Lake County Republican leader Mark Shaw said he doubts a Trump-approved stamp would have helped. Voters in northern Illinois are less conservative than those in the central or southern parts of the state, Shaw noted — and their opinions of the former president aren’t as positive.

“The president doesn’t do as well in northern Illinois,” Shaw said.

Who backed Trump?

Trump endorsed Darren Bailey of Xenia in the gubernatorial primary, U.S. Rep. Mary Miller of Oakland in the 15th Congressional District race and U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood of Dunlap in the 16th. There was no shortage of Trump supporters on suburban ballots, however.

Some aligned themselves with the former president merely by criticizing the 2020 election results or understating the severity of last year’s incursion at the U.S. Capitol.

Others visited Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida during the campaign. They included Bailey; 11th Congressional District hopeful Mark Carroll of North Aurora, who placed third out of six candidates Tuesday; and 14th District candidate James Marter of Oswego, who finished second in his race.

        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        

 

Both Marter and fellow 14th District candidate Jack Lombardi of Manhattan alleged fraud in the 2020 presidential race despite no evidence of widespread chicanery. Lombardi finished fourth Tuesday.

The GOP nominee in the 14th, Oswego’s Scott Gryder, avoided that pro-Trump conspiracy. He’ll face two-term Democratic incumbent Lauren Underwood of Naperville in November.

In the 8th District GOP primary, Chad Koppie of Gilberts and Karen Kolodziej of Itasca finished far behind nominee Chris Dargis of Palatine. Dargis will face Democratic U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi of Schaumburg in the general.

Kaspar’s efforts

And then there’s 6th Congressional District hopeful Scott Kaspar, who secured the backing of Trump allies Rudy Giuliani and Bernard Kerik.

        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        

 

Kaspar, a lawyer from Orland Park, frequently dropped by Mar-a-Lago Club and other Trump properties for political gatherings, too.

But those maneuvers didn’t pay off. Kaspar placed fifth out of six candidates.

The winner in the 6th District GOP primary was Orland Park Mayor Keith Pekau, who didn’t support election conspiracy theories and criticized the Capitol rioters. Pekau will face Democratic U.S. Rep. Sean Casten of Downers Grove in November.

The 6th includes much of the West and Southwest suburbs in Cook and DuPage counties, as well as some Chicago precincts. Considering Trump lost suburban Cook County and DuPage County in both 2016 and 2020 by wide margins, being so pro-Trump likely wouldn’t have helped Kaspar in a general election showdown, campaign expert Kent Redfield said.

“If you are running as a Republican in a suburban congressional district, you have to appeal to moderate and swing voters in the general election to win,” said Redfield, professor emeritus of political science at the University of Illinois Springfield.

Lauf’s connection

Catalina Lauf, the GOP nominee in the 11th District, briefly worked at the U.S. Commerce Department during the Trump administration and has touted her connection to the former president on social media.

Lauf’s conservative views include opposing gun control and abortion. She will face Democratic U.S. Rep. Bill Foster of Naperville for the 11th District seat, which serves parts of Cook, DuPage, Kane, Lake, McHenry, Will, DeKalb and Boone counties.

Lauf’s Trump ties and views could work against her in November, Redfield said.

“In general, being too closely tied to former President Trump, Stop the Steal or hard-right, socially conservative positions … will hurt a Republican running in the general election in a suburban congressional district,” he said.

Shaw had a similar opinion.

“I think Trump can be a positive for some candidates and not so positive for others,” he said. “It depends where they’re running.”

What about Hanson?

Lauf wasn’t the only Trump-aligned winner Tuesday.

So was the 5th District’s Tommy Hanson. A Chicago real estate broker, he questioned the 2020 election results and alleged police at the U.S. Capitol during last year’s riot “were coached” to make it look like the mob was assaulting the building.

No evidence of that exists.

Hanson will face veteran Democratic U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley of Chicago in the general. Quigley beat Hanson in 2018 and 2020 to continue serving the 5th, which includes parts of Cook and Lake counties.

The statewides

Bailey was the only statewide candidate Trump backed.

The Bailey ticket did very well in the suburbs, winning each of the collar counties by wide margins. Bailey will face incumbent Democrat J.B. Pritzker in November.

As for the Senate race, three election deniers were among the nominees: Bobby Piton of Geneva, who went as far as to say Joe Biden isn’t actually president and called the Capitol riot a “false flag event”; Peggy Hubbard of Belleville, who reportedly was at the Capitol on Jan. 6; and Jimmy Lee Tillman II of Chicago.

But Trump didn’t endorse anyone. The nomination went to Mundelein’s Kathy Salvi, who crushed the field in the collar counties. She will face Democratic U.S. Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Hoffman Estates in November.

        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        

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Originally Appeared Here

An older building gets more clear height and a new lease on life.

A Midwest developer not long ago was worried it had an industrial-sized white elephant on its hands.

The 220K SF vacant manufacturing plant it owned in Wyoming, Michigan, seemed to be nearing the end of its useful life. Further complicating matters, the building’s roof was only 16 feet tall — too low to accommodate the needs of many potential tenants.

“Today’s owners and tenants want their clear heights to be 30-plus feet,” said Mason Harris, vice president of operations for Rooflifters. “This has to do with the height of racking systems or other storage or manufacturing equipment they will need to operate in the space.”

Harris said the developer was considering demolishing the building but was open to other, less costly alternatives. The cost of razing the property could run into the mid-six figures, on top of the even larger expense of building a new building in its place. 

The developer reached out to Rooflifters to execute a solution: double the height of the existing roof to 32 feet. Conducted in two phases with a proprietary hydraulic system, the lift took approximately three months to complete. Once the raised roof was in place, support columns were installed where needed and walls were extended upward and reconnected to the roof. 

This brought new life and opportunities to the building at a fraction of the cost of new construction, Harris said.

In fact, the cost of lifting a facility’s roof to accommodate modern users’ needs can be less than one-third of the cost of replacing the property with a new industrial building.

“This building was the definition of ‘functionally obsolete’ — every year we considered tearing it down,” the developer said. “This all changed with the roof-lifting plan. We now have a long-term commitment from the new tenant — a supplier to the auto industry — and favorable tax incentives from the city.”

Harris said roof lifting is a viable option for aging industrial facilities that either are located in dense, urban areas with no room to grow horizontally or are constrained by zoning restrictions. Other candidates include retail properties looking to attract modern commercial tenants and self-storage operations that need to expand their square footage, he said.

At issue is a building’s “clear height,” which is the unobstructed vertical clearance from the floor to the structural steel level of the roof. A masonry building built 50 years ago might have a maximum clear height of only around 14 feet to 16 feet. Modern buildings constructed with precast, tilt-up methods — the sort the developer knew it would compete against for tenants — range from 28 feet to 32 feet tall, and even 40-foot heights are not unheard of.

It is not only industrial buildings that are trying to avoid obsolescence. Harris said the decline of brick-and-mortar retail, which accelerated during the pandemic, has left owners searching for ways to make their properties attractive to modern tenants, whether it is a big-box retailer or an entertainment venture such as a trampoline park, rock climbing gym or movie theater.

“Owners want to get additional foot traffic by bringing in a major tenant, but you can’t get one of those with a small, 16-foot clear height,” he said. “We can modify all or any section of that shopping center so that it will appeal to a tenant with name-brand recognition.”

Rooflifters President Marty Shiff said potential clients recognize the benefits of roof-raising when they run the numbers. In addition to avoiding demolition, development and construction costs, the process uses mostly off-the-shelf materials, avoiding the supply chain backlogs that disrupt and add costs to many construction projects today. 

He added that as long as the heightened building stays within allowable zoning heights and no floor area is added to the building, the work falls under the category of “renovation” as opposed to “new construction” in most municipalities. This shaves significant time and money from the permitting process.

“With the cost of construction these days, the lead time for entitlements and all of the additional costs that come with building a new building or even ripping off a roof, our process has only become more cost-effective and much quicker,” Shiff said.

This article was produced in collaboration between Studio B and Rooflifters. Bisnow news staff was not involved in the production of this content.

Studio B is Bisnow’s in-house content and design studio. To learn more about how Studio B can help your team, reach out to studio@bisnow.com. 

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Originally Appeared Here

LAKE ZURICH — SVT Supply Chain Solutions has signed a lease for 39,400 square feet of space at 580 Capital Drive in the Lake Zurich Industrial Park, according to real estate brokers involved in the deal.

Based in New Hampshire, SVT is a warehousing, distribution and supply chain management company. Oakbrook Terrace-based Cawley Chicago Real Estate represented the building owner, Mapletree, in the long-term lease negotiations. Sean Herrick of Cushman & Wakefield represented SVT.

“SVT’s occupancy takes the park’s vacancy to 2.1%. Rents in this industrial park continue to grow as vacancy rates in Lake Zurich have been at record low levels for the last 15 months,” said David Conroy, principal, Cawley Chicago.

The Lake Zurich Industrial Park benefits from quick access to Route 53, giving it great access to McHenry, Lake and Kane counties and O’Hare International Airport, he said.

        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        

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Originally Appeared Here

Much of the work of the Cook County Assessor is accomplished by using digital tools. However, data used to reach an accurate assessment of your property often is not available to the Assessor in its final form.

26-Jun-22 – Assessing true real estate values in Chicago and throughout Cook County really is an inexact science and a challenge.

Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi readily admits his field team, which helps maintain residential characteristics on 1.2 million properties, legally cannot enter homes and so “must make educated guesses” as to interior features, improvements, and appointments.

Who knows how many thousands of Chicago homes and two-flats have basement, attic, garage, and coach house apartments with illegal kitchens and bathrooms that date back to before the end of World War II?

The Assessor’s team readily admits it cannot be realistically staffed to knock on every residential property door in Cook County every year and instead depends on home improvement permits to trigger site visits.

“Permitting is at best an incomplete process – some home improvements are performed unpermitted, and some permits do not accurately represent the work being done,” according to a new Open Data Portal recently opened by the Assessor.

Much of the Assessor’s staff work is accomplished by utilizing digital tools, including the Automated Valuation Model. The AVM is joined with the parcel universe to allow convenient spatial analysis and mapping of sales, which can be joined to historic assessed values for ratio studies, notes the Open Data Portal.

Got that?

So, it is no wonder that Assessor Kaegi says his data department cannot currently guarantee that historic and current parcel values align with what is presented on his website. Therefore, the data used to reach an accurate assessment often is not available to the data staff in its final form.

“We hope to be able to confirm the accuracy of data we’re making available here against what’s available on the website soon,” according to the Open Data Report.

In an effort to provide governmental transparency, Kaegi recently published millions of rows of data on Cook County’s Open Data Portal. Datasets from the Assessor’s office can be viewed and downloaded online at 2022 Open Data Refresh.

The data for each property contains the following:

• Assessed values from 1999 to 2021.

• Transaction and sales data.

• Location data, such as the school district in which the property is situated and distances to amenities, including the nearest L station or park.

• Physical characteristics of homes and condominiums.

These datasets will automatically update periodically with new information as it is entered into iasWorld, the Assessor Office’s modernized assessment system of record.

“Since the start of my administration, I’ve prioritized transparency and data integrity,” said Kaegi (left). “The publication of this historic assessment data demonstrates my dedication to these values.”

Kaegi, who is running for reelection, has been targeted and criticized by big commercial property owners and apartment developers for refocusing assessment efforts on them – and away from homeowners, who have been carrying most of the tax burden for decades.

Kaegi’s opponent is Kari Steele, president of the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago.

Property owners who think they are over-assessed should file an appeal, advises expert property tax assessment lawyer Michael Griffin. Visit the Assessor’s website or call 312-443-7550 to find comparable properties or start the appeal process.

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SAN JOSE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Home365, a creator of the OneRate real estate investing platform that guarantees Net Operating Income (NOI) of rental property investments, today announced expansion into the Chicago market. Home365 also announced the acquisition of Paper Street Realty, a leading management company of more than 500 units in the Chicago DMA. The acquisition creates the first Chicago-owned end-to-end PropTech platform, offering a purchasing and management model that mitigates the risk of ownership, repairs, vacancy and leasing for Chicago-area investors.

Home365 offers a PropTech industry-first cloud platform for investors that uses sophisticated data analysis and AI modeling to create a unique insurance-like NOI guarantee. The core product for real estate investors, OneRate, covers operating expenses such as management, leasing, maintenance repairs and vacancy, ensuring a steady passive income. Home365’s end-to-end tech platform includes a cloud interface and mobile app that lowers management burdens for owners while improving the resident experience with seamless repairs and management interactions. The company’s efforts to democratize real estate continues to grow – with more than $1.5B in investment assets across 7,000 properties in 17 cities and plans to add multiple additional metro areas by the end of this year.

“The vision is to combine Paper Street’s local employees, knowledge of Chicago rental property rules, and passion for its tenants and owners with Home365’s funding, centralized resources, and technology, creating a market shifting real estate and property management company,” said Bruce Spagnola, co-owner of Paper Street Realty. “We believe coupling Home365’s robust software and technology with our team’s vast expertise in real estate will benefit owners, vendors, and our tenants and provide consistent performance for portfolio investors.”

In addition to its patent pending NOI guarantee, Home365 also provides extensive investor resources regarding the acquisition of investment properties and financing, while automating all other labor-intensive operations such as identifying qualified tenants, conducting credit, background and rental history checks.

“Our OneRate program has attracted a strong response from investors allowing us to rapidly expand across the U.S. and this style of real estate investment is a perfect fit for Chicago,” said Daniel Shaked, founder and CEO of Home365. “While Wall Street investing has been made more accessible by apps like Robinhood, real estate investing has remained out of reach to all but the most sophisticated, resourceful and tenacious investors. REITs and local management companies offer some amount of access, but until now, the full benefits have not effectively been brought to bear for individual home and rental real estate investors. We have reimagined real estate investment opportunities and property management services for millions of investors and are delighted to be serving Chicago.”

About Home365

Based in Silicon Valley with an R&D center in Tel-Aviv, Israel, and an operations hub in Lancaster, PA, Home365 makes real estate investment in single family and small multifamily for the small to medium investor profitable, predictable and hassle free. Analyzing and underwriting more than 40 data points such as property age, size and location Home365 provides investors with an affordable performance guarantee and a one-stop option that handles all aspects of property ownership including management, vacancy, day-to-day maintenance and operational costs. Visit https://www.home365.co

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NEW LONDON, MINN. – After a three-year search took him north near Brainerd, east to Eau Claire and west toward South Dakota, Mark Haugejorde found the tumbling land he sought for a remote “destination” private golf club he says Minnesota lacks.

It was five miles from his childhood home.

The former Chicago real-estate investment banker — and New London-Spicer’s 1973 Minnesota high school state golf co-champion — traveled a Kandiyohi County road he knew from hunting pheasant and saw a ravine and creek he didn’t recall.

So he turned left down a dead-end gravel road on a Sunday spring morning a year ago and drove a half-mile more. He marked the location and time — 8:28 a.m., May 23, 2021 — on a hunting app.

“I pulled over and said, ‘There it is,’ ” he said.

That “it” is 228 acres of undulating former farmland made by nature for golf.

Land made for golf is what has created stay-and-play courses — most of them private clubs — and discerning clienteles paying large membership fees. They have sprung up these past 25 years mostly on sandy soils from Colorado’s eastern plains and Nebraska’s sandhills to Wisconsin’s ancient glacial lakes.

It is also what convinced Haugejorde that 100 golfers from near and far will pay a six-figure membership fee to join the Tepetonka Club, named after a resort on nearby Green Lake a century ago.

Four years ago, Haugejorde played one of those destination courses — Nebraska’s famed Sand Hills — with former longtime Hazeltine National head pro Mike Schultz, Haugejorde’s pro-shop boss back in his college days.

They asked each other why Minnesota — with all its great private metro clubs and public-resort courses in Brainerd and Giants Ridge — didn’t have something like that. Golfweek rates Sand Hills the best modern American course built since 1960.

“There are states all around us, like a horseshoe, that have these places to go stay-and-play,” said Haugejorde, who played college golf at Houston with Jim Nantz, Fred Couples and briefly Nick Faldo. “And we don’t have any.”

A natural

So far, Tepetonka’s 18-hole and short courses are routed only on paper and staked in the earth by Australian course-design company OCM Golf Course Design — the O for 2006 U.S. Open champion Geoff Ogilvy — that will move very little dirt except for the construction of greens and tees.

Ogilvy and colleagues Mike Cocking and Ashley Mead spent five cold, snow-blown days in April walking the property, allowing a course to reveal itself after they got the job. Cocking and Mead returned in May and all three will come back in July during the 3M Open after deciding where bunkers will be built, and how many.

“The first thing I did was look at a map to see where New London was,” Ogilvy wrote by e-mail. “I’d been through Minneapolis a few times, but truth be told, I really had no idea where it was.”

Construction for a course that will be primarily a walking one with a caddie program is set to begin next spring after an environmental assessment and permits are completed. Opening is scheduled for summer 2024.

Those 228 acres feature bluffs and 50-foot elevation changes, distinctive cedar trees smattered on the hilltops and flowing Shakopee Creek that will come into play on seven holes at a course where the wind usually blows.

It’s almost as if the moraines deposited by receding glaciers more than 10,000 years ago were left there specifically to route fairways over and among.

“It’s not almost,” Haugejorde said. “They are.”

A year after Haugejorde’s discovery, three siblings who together own 187 acres of the site are disputing among themselves the $1.2 million land sale. One filed a civil lawsuit against the other two alleging, among other things, they agreed to sell the land at a “significant discount” and didn’t have the property appraised. A hearing is scheduled for September.

Haugejorde said the club has a binding purchase agreement and a license to access the property as planning and permitting work to build the two courses, clubhouse, creekside cabins, dining, game room, wine cellar and more proceeds. Environmental, engineering and course design teams all have been working on-site, he said.

Haugejorde said a club that’s “exclusive but not exclusionary” will be all about business networking and philanthropy.

He envisions the club will host college tournaments and PGA section events on a course lined with native prairie grasses. It’s intended to play firm and bouncy, like a seaside links course.

“It could be in the UK,” Cocking said.

In his own backyard

The first of 20 sold-out founding members paying an introductory $100,000 each have joined Tepetonka Club, Haugejorde said. The fee is set to increase 20 members at a time until membership is capped at 100.

Haugejorde said he expects about 60 members from the Twin Cities, 20 from outstate Minnesota and 20 from out of state. Most already belong to other private clubs. He belongs to Windsong Farm locally and a collection of private clubs nationally called the Dormie Network that is planning a new one in Nebraska’s sandhills called Graybull.

Some will fly on private planes into nearby Willmar airport from their southern homes, seeking to beat the summer heat for a day or three, just as Minnesotans escape winters in Arizona and Florida. Its golf season will be roughly Memorial Day into October every year about a two-hour drive from the Twin Cities.

Ogilvy had seen the topographical maps, photographs and drone video before he first walked the property for five cold, snowy, windy days in April with his partners. They worked out a routing the first four days, then turned it all around the night before they presented it to Haugejorde.

When asked how long it took to reach the routing, Cocking replied, “Twenty-two years.” He and Mead started their company in 2000.

“You try to identify the land that looks like good golf, what’s interesting, and what doesn’t look like golf,” Mead said about a process all about contours and angles.

Before he left, Ogilvy quipped he’d never experienced a White Christmas before but now knows a White Easter. He called the spring weather “amazing for three guys from Australia” and the land from which his crew builds holes out of the ground more than he expected.

“You never really know for sure until you see it and walk around it,” Ogilvy wrote. “We loved what we found, even in the crazy weather we experienced. Holes just appearing as we wandered about.”

Their firm is based among Australia’s great sand-belt courses in and around Melbourne. Its American work includes renovations of Ben Hogan’s Shady Oaks in Texas and U.S. Open, Ryder Cup and 2026 Presidents Cup site Medinah 3 near Chicago.

Haugejorde talked to representatives with Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus design firms but took pro golfer and pal Tim Herron’s advice, among others, and hired the three respected Australian designers.

Haugejorde worked for Nicklaus’ companies for seven years, marketing Jack’s brand worldwide while he observed how the organization built hundreds of courses.

He calls himself Tepetonka’s “club captain,” and is responsible for project management and membership development with Schultz his “chief question officer.”

His father started Little Crow golf resort in Spicer in the 1960s. His five sisters all play, as still does his 93-year-old mother. Haugejorde had some time before his 11 a.m. tee time with his mom that Sunday morning last year when he turned off that county road and saw it unlike any site ruled out because it wasn’t special enough.

“We found something beyond our wildest imaginations in any area,” he said, “let alone our backyard where we grew up.”

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