Courtney Welsch, a real estate star who ranks consistently in the top 3% of all Chicagoland brokers, has known the real estate business from a young age. As the daughter of a Chicagoland top broker, Courtney’s seen the business from all angles, and knows more than anyone what it takes to generate consistent success for her clients.
A graduate of the University of Illinois with a degree in finance and management, Courtney started on a more traditional path after college, but quickly realized that the path that had led to so much success for her mother would suit her well. “I liked that it would be my own business, and I would get out of it what I put in. I knew by watching my mother that with some hard work and dedication, you can reap your own benefits.” Courtney values the flexibility provided by her career in real estate, which gives her the opportunity to treat each client as an individual and respond to their needs.
Courtney brings a service-oriented approach to everything she does. Asked about what she finds most satisfying about her real estate career, she states “the best part of my job is when people walk into a place and find ‘the one.’ Helping people manage what can be a very stressful process and bringing them through that is amazing. Working in a service industry, which I find real estate to be, is very rewarding.”
Courtney’s devotion to service extends beyond her clients and into the entire Chicagoland community. As chair of Baird & Warner Lincoln Park’s Good Will Works committee, Courtney devotes herself to raising awareness and funding for worthy causes in the Chicagoland area, including Your Children’s Bookshelf, which provides free children’s books to families and children, and Big Brothers Big Sisters of Metropolitan Chicago, among countless others.
Courtney has been with the Baird & Warner Lincoln Park office since she started her real estate journey in 2004. “I’ll tell anyone we have the best office in the Chicagoland area. There’s an energy in the office and a lot of camaraderie. I love this office, love the people, and I love the manager.” As for training and professional development, Courtney praises the opportunities at Baird & Warner Lincoln Park. “you’re always learning in real estate and [in this office] you can always find someone to talk through a question or celebrate a success.”
Asked about the secret to her success, Courtney advocates for a straightforward approach: “the number one key is lots of hard work. You have to be willing to put yourself out there and learn everything you can about real estate from people who have been in the business who can share experiences and stories.” Although she doesn’t tend to pursue a “hard sell” approach, she does advise new brokers to “be direct — tell the people that you want to work with that you would love to have the opportunity to help them find or sell their home.”
With Courtney’s dynamic approach, the hard sell isn’t usually necessary. As a consistently high-producer in the competitive Chicagoland market, Courtney is able to leverage her network of top producing brokers to source opportunities that are not available on the open market, often finding dream homes that buyers would otherwise never have seen. As a Certified Real Estate Negotiator (CREN) and Certified Relocation expert (CRP) with more than15 years of experience, Courtney’s clients know that they can trust her expertise and training to guide them through even the most difficult market.
A big factor in Courtney’s success is her ability to keep pushing, even when facing setbacks. When asked for one lesson or piece of wisdom that has always stuck with her, she acknowledges that adversity happens to everyone: “the biggest lesson you learn in real estate is how to not get stuck on disappointments. Not everything is going to work out the way you plan, and when things don’t work, it’s important to keep moving forward and focus on the successes. We can have 10 successes and one failure, and tend to get stuck on the failure, but you just have to keep moving forward.”
When she is not working hard building successes for her clients, Courtney loves talking about and eating at Chicagoland’s best restaurants, organizing restaurant crawls for friends’ birthdays and enjoying the best of Chicagoland’s culinary scene. Among her area favorites are Stephanie Izard’s Duck Duck Goat and Siena Tavern — specifically, Siena Tavern’s donuts with whiskey caramel sauce.
To connect with Courtney, you can visit her site, https://courtneywelsch.bairdwarner.com/, find her on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/courtneywelschrealtor/, or check out her instagram @courtneywelsch. Curious about how the training, support, and services at Baird & Warner Lincoln Park can help take your business to the next level? Reach out to us today to get the conversation started.