Catherine Boyle is an exceptional real estate agent, and I feel incredibly fortunate that she…read morehelped me find my first condo. She was attentive and responsive every step of the way, moving quickly to schedule viewings and making sure I never missed an opportunity. As a top-tier agent, she also has access to pocket listings and properties that may not yet be widely available. As a first-time buyer, I especially appreciated Catherine's patience and willingness to explain every step of the real estate process. She made what could have been an overwhelming experience feel manageable and connected me with a stellar real estate attorney and a top-notch home inspector. Catherine also brings a unique level of expertise to home evaluations. Because she comes from a family of home builders, she understands construction and knows exactly what to look for. She noticed important details that helped steer me away from properties that looked beautiful on the surface but had issues I never would have recognized on my own. When it was time to make an offer, Catherine suggested thoughtful ways to help me stand out and convince the seller that I was the right buyer. In Chicago's competitive real estate market, those small but strategic details can make all the difference--and they helped seal the sale. Catherine is kind, thorough, responsive and exceptionally knowledgeable about the Chicago real estate market, pricing, construction quality and negotiation. I truly felt that I was in excellent hands throughout the entire process. You cannot go wrong with Catherine Boyle as your real estate agent. She is a true gem!

Catherine was fantastic. She helped us look for condos in the city, at first to buy, then to rent,…read moreand then again to buy. She was knowledgeable and extremely well connected, we ended up using all of her contacts for the entirety of the process and we felt taken care of and empowered by each one of them. We will be working with her again in the future!

My husband and I had the pleasure of working with Coleen in our home purchase and the leasing of…read moreour condominium unit. We were impressed from day one, when she sat with us and patiently explained the whole process of a home purchase. She was also diligent in getting to know what our needs and desires were for our purchase. Her professionalism was evident when we inquired about selling our condo in conjunction with purchasing our home. Per her research, expertise and guidance, we decided to keep the condo and lease it instead. It took just a couple weeks for Coleen to show us a house that was perfect for us. We fell in love and wanted to make an offer. When she found out that the sellers were already working with 3-4 other offers, she went into full expert mode and strategically worked with us to come in with a strong, competitive and fair offer. Something the real-estate agents for the other offers couldn't do because the sellers accepted our offer! We knew that it was because Coleen did her due diligence. Her advice and guidance was proven to be perfect when the appraisal came in beneficial to us! We were truly dealing with an EXPERT in real-estate. In terms of renting our condo, we again were amazed at the fact that we didn't have to lift a finger. She staged, hired a professional photographer, and showed our condo multiple times. When she found the right tenants for us, she made sure to check their credit, eviction history and called their references. She did all this while guiding and providing us with expert advice. She was able find our tenants in perfect timing so that we wouldn't lose a month's rent due to vacancy. The peace of mind that she provided throughout this whole process was PRICELESS. Coleen is genuine, engaging and a top player in the real-estate world. If you are looking for an agent that is hard working and produces results, contact Coleen Kent. She is the best!

I imagine there may be a few real estate brokers out there that are as good as Coleen, but I can…read moreassure you there are none that are better. Coleen helped my better half and I find a unit in River North, and she really did an amazing job. She helped us explore all our options within our search parameters and did a great job of helping us understand those options. We weren't exactly ahead of the curve in starting to look long before our lease expired, and it had given us a little more stress than we probably needed. But not to worry, Coleen was on top of her game and had options ready to be viewed in less than 48 hours if my memory serves me correctly. Coleen is never pushy, she simply laid out options and helped us understand the pros and cons of each potential situation. I simply cannot recommend Coleen enough! I would be more than confident sending any friends or family towards her to rent, buy, or sell their homes.

I reached out to Smart City for assistance with my apartment search and was divinely paired with…read moreUri. He was attentive and knowledgeable which put me at ease initially. Uri was able to find excellent apartment matches that fit my needs and wants. So much so, I was able to apply for apartment on the first showing. I would definitely recommend Uri and the Smart City team.

Khala Bridges is the real deal. Patient, professional, and genuinely cares…read more I will be honest. I was a difficult client. Khala showed me multiple places, I went and looked at options through other channels, and at one point she probably thought I had moved on entirely. She never made me feel bad about it, never pressured me, and stayed professional and kind throughout. When I was ready to commit, she came through immediately. I just signed a lease for me and my son, and I could not be happier. This is exactly what I needed and Khala made it happen. If you are apartment hunting in Chicago, especially in the South Loop, ask for Khala Bridges. She will take care of you. And Cassie, thank you for building a company with people like her on your team. It is rare. 10 out of 10. I will recommend to everyone I know. Best, Christian S

After having my prior apartment flood I decided that it was time to move. Both to be on a higher…read morefloor and to be more central in the city for my hospital rotations. As I do not know the city well I decided to get the help of professionals to help navigate the situation and ended up going with Dumas and Associates. During my apartment search I worked with Nikki and Rena, who were both incredibly helpful. They were communicative, proactive in contacting apartments I wanted to look at, and were in my corner when it came to filling out applications and other paperwork. I'm fairly certain that without their help the process of finding a new place would have been many times harder. On top of that, I found their compensation structure to be very transparent and fair. At no point was I blindsided by an unexpected fee or bill. I don't know if I'll ever be moving around the city again, but if I do I'd happily work with this group again.

Nikki helped me and my partner buy our first home. She was absolutely amazing from start to finish…read more Incredibly attentive, communicative, and motivated! She was always ready to get us in to see listings as soon as possible, helped us to get a better understanding of what we were looking for, and was there to answer any and all questions we had. I highly recommend using Nikki as your realtor-- couldn't say enough good things about her both as a professional and as a person.

Staci is a wonderful and professional realtor who is also very personable. Being new to Chicago,…read moreour list of "must haves" and "wishes" were constantly changing as we figured out our budget and neighborhood preferences. Staci went with the flow and smiled through all of it. She sent us new property listings almost immediately after any changes and arranged our showings right away. She was attentive to our budget and concerns, patient, kind, knowledgeable, and very helpful. I would definitely recommend her to a friend!

This review has been a long time coming but I am finally getting around to doing it. I do not think…read moreanyone works harder than Rick Batista. He held an open house weekly until the property was sold. He found me competitive bids from contractors. He met with contractors and was kind enough to do small repairs for me. He always returned my phone calls promptly . We had some bumps along the way but overall I would highly recommend him to sell your home.

Richard has done an impeccable job with helping us find the home that we wanted. When he looks at…read morehouses with you, he looks at them as if he were buying it for himself. Paying attention to lots of details that we would not normally notice. He has knowledge in many aspects of the entire process of home buying and knows a great deal about the market. If you want a bargain, he's very comfortable with going up to bat and negotiating to get a better price for you. There are lots of realtors out there and anybody can just show you a house but once you work with Richard who goes above and beyond, you will never settle for just any other realtor again.

Kathy Volpe is a wonderful asset to your real estate journey. She is very knowledgeable about the…read morearea, neighborhoods, house value, keeps an eye out for what is important to you as a buyer or seller. She is a proactive agent, flexible with her time, honest and understanding of your needs. She fully understands the whole buying and selling process and has great resources as you go through the process (appraisal contacts, attorney, etc). I have known Kathy for several years. She helped me find my first home in Lombard, helped me sell it (and my husbands condo) and buy a new home once married, then when divorced guided a single mom to a perfect location (where I have lived for 13 years now), and has recently helped my elderly parents buy a home as they relocated from across country to be closer to me.

I selected Ms Volpe to sell my parent's house after reviewing her annual sales record. She staged…read morethe house and during that time she told me that the house would sell in 1day. We struck a wager - I lost - it sold in 1 day. Very professional and competent. I do not hesitate to recommend her.

I am sad to say that I had a bad experience with the OPHA staff. I had an interview scheduled for…read moreMonday, May 21, 2018. Due to conflicts with my work schedule, I was not able to get the day off. I started calling to the OPHA office on Wednesday, 5/16/18 and 5/17/18 to reschedule this appointment. I never received a call back. On Friday, 5/18/18, I walked into the office to see if I could receive any assistance with my request. The lady at the front desk was very professional and tried to locate someone who could help me. An older lady named Eva J. was only concerned with taking a "cigarette break" and not assisting me at all. When she discovered that I was writing a letter of complaint, she pretended to be concerned. I called back on Monday(5/21/18) the day of the interview and left another message on the voicemail of Ken Southward. This time I asked if he could give me a call back with the name and telephone number to the corporate office because I wanted to put in a complaint against the staff. He returned my call at 5:31p. He informed me, very abruptly that he and a couple of other staff members called me and left voicemail messages. I explained to him that I didn't have any missed calls or messages from any staff member from the OPHA office. I informed him that it wasn't until this morning that I received a call from Latunda at 10:25a. He was very rude, argumentative and unprofessional to say the least while speaking with me. I sincerely hope that other clients are not being treated this way.It is my hope that in the future, when dealing with clients, the staff will learn to be more caring and empathetic. Tj. Erskin

Words cannot explain how thankful I am for Oak Park Housing Authority!…read moreI came to them after a long day of looking at apartments through other Oak Park housing sources, all of which were disappointing. We were immediately greeted with warmth. They provided us with a folder of available apartments and specifications, and then drove us around looking at ones that matched my criteria. They offered to put me on their list so that when other apartments opened up, I would be notified. However-we found our DREAM apartment for a dream price, right near the Green Line. They helped us fill out our lease application and now here we are, loving our apartment in Oak Park. The process was 100% stress-free and catered toward US-the client- not their business. Would definitely use them again if we move. Highly recommend. *Charlie* showed us from apartment to apartment--and helped us really get a feel of the Oak Park community.