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How New Agents Can Become True Market Experts

How to Learn More About the Market as a New Real Estate Agent

As a real estate broker, one of the core parts of your day-to-day responsibilities is helping buyers and sellers navigate the real estate market. In a city like Chicago, that can be more easily said than done. 

As a city, Chicago is dynamic and ever-changing. No matter how much time you’ve spent here, there’s always something more to see and learn. As the writer Dominic Pacyga once put it: “there seems to be a different Chicago around every street corner, behind every bar, and within every apartment, two-flat, cottage, or bungalow.” 

So, as a new-to-the-business broker, how can you learn more about all of the wonderful aspects that make our area unique — and develop the skills and understanding you need to provide a top-tier experience to your clients? 

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How Office-Level Support Can Take Your Real Estate Business to the Next Level

Office-Level Support Staff and Management

Here at Baird & Warner – Lincoln Park, our brokers are some of the most productive in the city — and we know how important a strong support team is for keeping the flow of business moving. 

Consistently praised by our brokers as some of the best in the business, our office-level support staff includes multiple full-time administrators who are available to assist with listing management, marketing production, closing logistics, and much more. And with a full-time management staff of three, brokers in the Lincoln Park office have unrivaled support, guidance, coaching and mentorship at every stage of their careers.

Let’s take a deeper look at how our office-level support helps our agents to make the most of new opportunities, focus on their business strategies, and gain a competitive edge in the market: 

Operational Support: Freeing You Up to Focus On What Matters Most

Attentive, driven, and professional, our operational support staff provides our agents with the specialized support they need to run a full-time business. Having a dedicated support staff in our office frees up time for our brokers to focus on the lead-generating activities that are central to growing their businesses. Depending on your business plan and strategy, this might include cultivating leads online or in-person; preparing market research and putting it into practice; negotiating deals; attending listing and buyer presentations; learning and growing in ongoing training sessions or classes; or taking part in local networking events to grow your sphere. 

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The Benefits and Opportunities of a Chicago Real Estate Career

Reasons to Start Your Chicago Real Estate Career

Considering launching a new career in real estate? Whether you’re starting with real estate as a first career or transitioning from another field, you should know that you’re entering an industry that is fast-paced and ever-evolving. 

Real estate is a field that can empower you to build up your community, and make a real difference in the lives of countless people. It can be rewarding, exciting, and dynamic — while offering high-earning potential and lots of opportunities to continue learning and growing. 

Debating whether or not to pursue a career in Chicago real estate? On the fence about exploring this field, or getting started with pre-licensing training? One great place to start finding answers may be to think about your why. Why commit to this career — and why now?

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Real Estate Training for New Agents: Three Tiers to Success

Real Estate Training for New Agents

Looking for training and coaching opportunities as you launch your Chicago real estate career to new heights? At Baird & Warner Lincoln Park, we have a training program and office culture that is designed to help boost your confidence and productivity from day one.

Whether coming to us with experience or brand new to the business, every new broker who joins our office is offered access to three important levels of training, including:

  • Corporate training
  • Office-level training, and 
  • Individual coaching and mentorship

These three distinct training opportunities work together to provide you with all the tools necessary for success, empower you to feel confident venturing into your new career, and help accelerate your success curve with a business plan tailored to your specific goals.

Curious about what our corporate, office-level, and one-on-one training can do for your real estate career? Let’s explore each of these three levels of training in a bit more depth: 

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This Real Estate Life ep 13: How to develop a successful business in a new city with Dan Asher

This week, we spoke with Dan Asher to learn how he built and continues to build his successful real estate business, starting over in a brand new city! Dan spent 15+ years building successful real estate and home building businesses in St. Louis. Last year, he and his family chose to finally pursue a dream to move to Chicago and sell real estate in our great city. He’s been here less than a year and is already crushing it, leveraging old strategies and adopting new ones. If you feel stagnant, or are new to the biz and want to learn how Dan has been growing his business with little to no existing local network, take a listen…I know you will find lots of great gems in this episode. (and check out his Instagram for some great video content! @danasher_realestate) 

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How Our Support and Training Help Our Experienced Brokers Thrive In Any Market

Baird & Warner Lincoln Park Offers Support and Training Help Our Experienced Brokers Thrive In Any Market

The COVID-19 pandemic has had far-reaching effects on our Chicago community, and the economic impact may continue to be felt for months, if not years to come. This is an unusual and unpredictable time, to say the least — including in the world of real estate. 

We’ve faced some significant challenges in the last 10 years from a real estate perspective, whether it was the financial crisis back in 2009 or the pandemic that we are facing right now. 

In these challenging moments, it’s important to take stock, and think about where you are, and where you’d like to go. 

Do you have the tools and resources you need to rise to this moment? 

Are you getting the support and training it takes to thrive in any market?

Recently, I’ve been having a lot of conversations with experienced brokers from across Chicago. Market-wide, companies are pulling back on the support and resources that they are offering to the brokers and their offices. This means delegating more to the brokers, while limiting the staff at the office level. 

In moments like this, I believe that support that we offer on the office-level is an important resource to help brokers stay ahead of the curve, pivot quickly to new challenges, and offer a better experience for their clients. 

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This Real Estate Life ep 12: Becoming a local expert and mastering the data with John Irwin

It’s time for another episode of the BWLP podcast, “This Real Estate Life”!


This week’s guest, John Irwin, tells us why becoming a local expert and mastering the data can help you succeed through any challenge the real estate market faces. John shares how he built his career focused on high-end homes within a local market, and how he has leveraged his exceptional understanding of the data and market to create trust and ensure confidence in his clients that he is, without a doubt, THE best broker for the job. Listen in to learn how John got his start, why the data matters, and for a few of his predictions of what is to come for Chicago real estate! Spoiler Alert: It may include boats.

Listen below!

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This Real Estate Life ep 10: How To Be A Leader in Your Business – Lessons from David Bailey

This week was a very special one, as we had the privilege of interviewing our very own Designated Managing Broker, David Bailey. With over 15 years of real estate experience, and a lifetime of influence and learning as the son of a Broker Owner on the east coast, David has served as a resource, ally, advisor, and compassionate leader for his team of 170+ realtors and staff at his Lincoln Park office. In our conversation, David shared his real estate background, as well as his perspective on what it takes to be successful in real estate and how he approaches his position to best support his agents with their businesses. Many of our agents claim David > Google…want to find out why? Take a listen to the interview and give him a call to learn more about how he and the Baird & Warner Lincoln Park office can help you launch your real estate career, and/or take your business to the next level where you desire and deserve to be!

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Is a Chicago Real Estate Career Right For You?

Is a Career In Real Estate Going to be the Right Fit for You?

“Is a career in real estate going to be the right fit for me?”

As the Designated Managing Broker for Baird & Warner – Lincoln Park, I get this question a lot — both from people who are considering real estate as their first career, and people who are looking to transition from another field. 

Residential real estate is a career that exemplifies the old adage, “you get from it what you put into it.” There is no one right way to be a successful real estate broker, and all kinds of people will be able to achieve incredible things in this field. It doesn’t matter whether you’re introverted or outgoing, or whether or not you already have a large professional sphere in place. Whatever point you’re starting from, there are opportunities for you to learn and grow, as long as you commit to training and developing a plan that will allow you to work toward your goals.

I believe in an individualized approach that encourages every broker to maximize his or her own natural style, strengths, and opportunities with my support and the support of our office as a whole. It is important that we formulate a custom business plan for each broker, and provide support that is ongoing and constantly evolving as the broker’s career path and goals change.

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