Work and Play

I think I have one of the few jobs that allows me to work 24 hours a day, but also enjoy spending time with my wife, my family, and my friends. What I am talking about is this. The other night, I attended a Cubs game with my friend who had an extra ticket. So we jumped on the “EL” and headed down to Wrigley Field. While on the “EL” I find myself catching “For Sale” signs out of the corner of my eye. This happens often, as I think I have been conditioned to seeing “For Sale” signs. It is not like I am purposely looking for the signs, I just happen to see them. In my business I am always trying to stay on top of the market and on top of the inventory in the market. I work a lot on the North Side of Chicago in neighborhoods such as Lake View, Lincoln Square, Ravenswood, Albany Park, Uptown, etc, so I like to know what is for sale in these neighborhoods. I think I have become very good at spotting a sign, taking a quick look at the building or house, and coming up with a price in my head. I usually come up with a couple of prices to accommodate if there are 2 – 3 bedrooms and if parking is available and so forth. So while we were on the “EL” I saw some properties for sale and did some quick math in my head. While we were walking to and from the game I saw more property and did the same thing. I was sure not to be rude and ignore my friend totally. I do not want to do that especially since he gave me a free ticket. What is good about this exercise is that if I have a client looking for something in this area, I can let them know if I saw something or let them know what I think the value of the area might be. So I was working while at the same time enjoying spending some time with my friend. Of course if something really catches my eye, I will not be so subtle. I will stop take a good look at the property, walk around the property, write down the address, and even make a phone call. Sometimes my friends cannot appreciate what I am doing and will nag at me to keep moving. Luckily, for my friend, this did not happen the other night. So all in all we had a good time at the game and was able to keep from talking his ear off about Real Estate. See the picture above. These are the seats my friend has, they are pretty good. See the tall building all the way to the right? That’s the New York building. Count nine floors up and I have a client who I helped purchase that unit. Ok so maybe a little Real Estate talk at the game:)