I would recommend CityGate to anyone who is considering selling their home by owner. I originally…read morewas just looking for a listing company to simply get my house on MLS. CityGate's flat rate pricing was very competitive but what sets them apart is all the extra values. They even included very professional photograghy of our home and offered exceptional realtor representation for us. With an agent on our side to handle the communication with the buyer's side definitely reduced the stress of for sale by owner. We were so lucky to have Garrett as our agent. He is experienced and responsive. Felt like he was there for US the entire process. This company will be our go to for any real estate sale in the future. We really didn't feel like there was a big difference between their flat fee service vs a traditional realtor other than the thousands saved in commission.

Best real estate people I've worked with. Attentive, responsive, knowledgeable. No one better in…read morechicago!

Working with Randy and Jeremy was like a dream. I always hear about how stressful the home buying…read moreand selling process can be, and these guys annihilated any possible stress. I have worked with Randy before and he truly understands you as a person and advises accordingly. He is one of the most brilliant persons when it comes to real estate. He has an intuition that one could have only gained from meaningful experiences. He is one of the most knowledgeable persons about laws, policies, procedures, and has a deep understanding of what is currently happening in the market. He puts his blood, sweat, and soul into all of the behind the scenes work, making it feel like smooth sailing to the client. He's also incredibly responsive at all hours! I met Jeremy this time and he felt like an old friend that will go the extra mile to support you in any way possible. These two guys have such great synergy, and are so creative in their approach. As stressful as buying and selling a home can be, now that I'm on the other side of the process, the only thing that I will miss from it is the joy of constantly interacting with Randy and Jeremy. These two are such precious gems, that any home buyer should only be so lucky to have them on their team. I am grateful for them!

Review Date: July 2009…read more This note is a testament to the real estate broker services Barry Newman provided to my daughter Tricia Lee, and to myself as a first time homebuyer's parent. We randomly encountered Barry as we searched real estate listings on the internet. Tricia was looking for her first home and with her apartment lease expiring in 3 months. We found that Barry made good use of internet access and advertising, as his name came up on numerous occasions, so we contacted him. I made a cold call to Barry on a Sunday afternoon, and asked if he could meet us that very same day. Tricia travels occasionally with her job, and is also in graduate school part time, so our opportunities for house hunting were limited. Though he was conducting his own open house, he promptly made an appointment with us that very afternoon at 4pm, and showed us a few townhomes in Northbrook Green. He was always available to show us a listing. Tricia was looking for something under $300K, and Barry gave us his full attention, though we know he has sold million dollar homes as well. He never once pressured Tricia to make an offer. We made the offers when we were comfortable. He always offered words of wisdom from the heart - be it about resale value, schools, neighborhoods, what he perceived to be good value, or an overpriced property. If we wanted to make a $228K offer on a $269K property, Barry did not try to talk us out of it. He would honor the ask ("his fiduciary responsibility to his client") and made sure the seller got our offer, and saw that a counter-offer was pursued. In the end, Barry helped Tricia close on the purchase of a new townhouse. He negotiated a price we are convinced we could not have gotten for ourselves, and he knew of the levers that were important to the builder in making those negotiations. I have bought and sold 3 homes, so I have an idea of what Barry did for us. The anecdotes mentioned speak to Barry as a true professional. He did his job, and he did it well. We also have found that Barry has a team of highly competent associates whom we utilized, including a home inspector, and a mortgage broker. We really needed competent people as Tricia executed an end-of-month closing within 12 days of committing to purchase. We have learned that if Barry makes a recommendation to us, we have to seriously consider it. Even if we might not agree on a point, Barry was professional about it, and would move on or work around it. In the end, what makes Barry special is that he is a good person, he is a fun person to do business with, he has principles and standards he upholds to, and he is committed to meeting the needs of his client. We all know brokers work for commission, but with Barry, you also know that it will take care of itself in due time, and the commision incentive does not drive any negative behaviors. We hope to utilize Barry's services again sometime in the future.

As a first time homebuyer, aspects of my townhome search - filtering search results, viewing…read moreproperties, and negotiating price - were at times overwhelming and stressful. Enter Barry Newman. Barry's expertise, business acumen, and recommendations as far as individuals who could help me successfully close on my property of interest in a tight 12 days were extremely sharp and helpful. He made a real effort to put himself into my shoes to help find the type of home I envisioned for myself and kept my priorities of location, home accommodations, and resale value at the top of mind. Barry is a "make it happen" type of broker. From my experience with closing on my townhome on an extremely aggressive timeline, I highly recommend him to anybody interested in buying or selling real estate. Without a doubt, I will be leveraging Barry's services for any future real estate endeavors I pursue.

My husband and I have worked with Cheryl on three different deals. We purchased our first home…read morewith Cheryl, listed it when we were ready for a new home and also purchased our forever home with her. Our home sold in 18 days as we made an offer on our current home on the same day! Our closing dates were lined up 1 after the next and, while the entire process was overwhelming, Cheryl kept us on course. She made lender recommendations, helped negotiate and made sure we were comfortable with our purchase/sale. Highly, highly recommended! I would give her 10 stars, if I could, to off-set the guy who was upset with the flags! Yikes. Cheryl and Chris are great realtors!

Cheryl was very knowledgeable and so fun to work with! We really liked her approach to looking at…read morehomes and how to really carefully think about whether or not the house we were viewing would work for us. Being first time home buyers, finding the perfect home for us was a tough process! In the very beginning Cheryl told us we need to find "Grandma's house", something that we can update a little bit, but is taken care of. She did just that! We are loving our new home and so grateful for Cheryl's help!

NO. I thought I made a good decision to use a local Lisle realtor to A-support a local woman owned…read morebusiness and B-use someone that lived and hung their shingle in town but I should have not...at all. The initial meeting went well and then after that I was not contacted in a consistent manner and wasnt given nearly a level of service that should have occurred. The photos and listing were published without reviewing them with me and were not beneficial to the house at all. There was no follow up on the 4 interested agents that were waiting to view the house prior to it going public; which to me equates 4 possible lost sales. Emails with questions were constantly ignored, like not an acknowledged, just ignored. There was also zero follow up on the comments from agents that did go through the home. If it wasnt for offer she presented on my deadline, that was also handled terribly; DPG and Debbie would have been fired. The contract and communication were not handled adequately either but at that point, I made the decision to finalize the sale. The only thing DPG did was ignore me and cash a check. I didnt even get a thank you. No wait, after I called her out on it she forwarded me a canned text she sent my husband. Apparently gratitude is lost there. Please do yourself a favor and use an alternate agent. This is a solid truthful review with back up documentation as well.

My partner and I have used this agency many times over the past decade. We will use and recommend…read morethem always. They are the best.

My wife and I met Lisa 15 years ago when relocating to Evanston, IL after 6 years away. We loved…read moreher writing (describing a home she represented) and reached out to her. Not only did she go above and beyond in helping an out of town family find and buy the perfect home but she became a friend, watching our kids grow up, attending events we organized, coming to parties, etc. I can't tell you how many times over the years we connected new clients with her and, without fail, were told of the stellar job she did for them, too. 15 years later when we were ready to move there was no question who would help us. Once again, Lisa has provided us exceptional service, unsurpassed attention to detail, and has gone the extra mile to make the job of selling & moving easier than imaginable.

I cannot say enough good things about Lisa Gendel. She is true professional and a credit to her…read moreindustry. Lisa helped my wife and I from beginning to end in the process of selling our home. We were becoming a bit frustrated trying to sell our home "by owner" and when we met Lisa it became clear that she was very knowledgeable regarding the industry in which she thrives. We turned over the duties of selling our home to her and the results were immediate. Not only is she knowledgeable, as most agents are, she has that extra component about her that is extremely likable and kind. Because we were originally selling our home by owner we had a chance to meet many of the very nice/capable agents on the North Shore, but after a few meetings with Lisa it became very clear very quickly that we had gotten extremely lucky in choosing Lisa. Her openness and communicative skills are flawless and helped all of us involved, sellers and buyers move through the process efficiently but more importantly cordially. Her business acumen and friendly manner are an incredible recipe for success. Thank you Lisa.

My mother has lived at Coromandel for 29 years and I have found that Braeside, mainly probably…read morebecause of the Property Managers, Morgan and Steven, have been incredibly responsive and helpful. They always walk the property, they respond quickly to any issue, they are very professional and figure out ways to help the owners. I live in the city and am experiencing the opposite type of service. I wish Braeside did management in the City of Chicago or there were more property managers like Morgan and Steven. I have never had an incident where they didn't both resolve the issue. You just don't know how lucky you are until you experience another property management company.

The management company: (Braeside Condominium Management in Deerfield, IL) wants to charge me $75…read morebecause I leased my townhouse to an individual. The fee goes to the management company for putting a copy of the lease into the management's file cabinet. There is nothing in the townhouse association's by-laws that permits this charge. This maverick fee is not for the benefit of the townhouse association. Instead this is a non-by-law supported fee. It is a type of shake down that solely benefits the management company. The management fee is therefore illegal since it did not have the approval of the Board of Directors when the fee was issued.

Just a nightmare. Badmouthing clients. Quits without notice. Broker sucks too. Want to sell low…read more Quit during contract.

As first-time buyers, Mary really knew how to guide my wife and I through the home-buying process…read more We had so many questions, and Mary was always available to answer them! She dived right in to understand what we were looking for, and immediately connected us with great listings in our area. We found a perfect match on our second round of showings and Mary was there to guide us all the way through our closing day. Note that my wife and I are officially home owners, we cannot wait to start this next chapter. Thank you so much, Mary! (5/5 stars is truly an understatement!)