But with Facebook now being so mainstream among agents in the industry, who exactly is worth following? If you’re looking for quality updates on a regular basis without going overboard, we recommend the following Chicago agents or brokerages:

• Baird & Warner-Real estate is more than just the home you live in – it’s the life you get out of it.

• Resurrecting Real Estate- Resurrecting Real Estate was established for the sole purpose of preserving, managing and selling REO assets. Our goal is to bring innovative and efficient systems into our market place, to service our Clients in a way which has not been seen before

• Ashley Authurs- Ashley Arthurs is focused on providing her clients with a successful and seamless real estate experience. Through her client focused approach, she uses her keen understanding of the marketplace and city trends to guide her clients to the best decisions.

• See Chicago Real Estate- For more than 25 years, Ted Guarnero has been a leader in downtown Chicago’s residential real estate market, developing a loyal following of homebuyers and sellers, developers, and community leaders.

• Sobborgo- Sobborgo.com is suburban Chicago’s most comprehensive real estate website. Contact their team of real estate pros for more info on homes for sale in your Chicago suburb.

• Luxury Living- Luxury Living Chicago is a boutique marketing and apartment finding resource. We work directly with the newest full amenity high rise buildings in downtown Chicago and provide the most professional experience.

• Tessi Neuhauser- Tessi Neuhauser is a Real Estate Broker specializing in The Gold Coast. Her love of people, Chicago and Real Estate makes her the perfect combination for helping you find your next home.

• Danielle Dowell- Danielle has been a Chicago real estate broker since 2006. She provides her clients with firsthand, thorough knowledge of the city while offering market expertise that expands over Chicago’s neighborhoods

• Sherri Kramer- Sherri has been a realtor in Chicago since 1986 and top producer with Coldwell Banker Residential’s Lincoln Park Plaza office for 16 years. Her business is based on repeat and referral clients, providing the best marketing support to Sellers and helping Buyers through the complicated process of purchasing a home.

• Christine Hancock- Christine is very internet savvy and offers the most cutting edge and effective real estate technology tools currently available. Along with that, Christine believes that the best use of technology will save time and money for both her and her clients.

• Urban Real Estate- Creatively mixing Chicago Real Estate and Technology for all Chicagoans!!

• iMove Chicago- Bringing Chicago home… iMove Chicago is a full service real estate brokerage working each day for you. Together, let’s move.

• Skipper Denton- A Real estate professional – integrity, in-depth community and market knowledge, marketing savvy, effective negotiation skills and a high-quality professional network, all of which are hallmarks of how I work.

Main image courtesy of Franco Bouly via Flickr.com

RE/MAX

Three Re/Max Offices in Chicago, Re/Max City, Re/Max Signature and Re/Max Premier Properties, took home some of the most prestigious awards during the annual Re/Max Northern Illinois award ceremony held in late April.

All three offices were honored for their steady sales and a willingness to embrace strategies designed to help them thrive in the changing Chicago real estate market. The Technology Award was given to the broker owners of Re/Max City, Henry Sakowski and Martin Lata. In addition the office took home two top production awards. Their office at 720 W. Higgins Avenue was named the top Re/Max office in Chicago for closed sales volume. Their Re/Max office network was honored as the multi-office Re/Max brokerage in Chicago with the most closed transactions and highest sales volumes in 2011.

The technology award was due to the offices impressive use of the newest digital tools, helping to maximize office and agent productivity. This included holding weekly meetings and seminars on the best way to implement these tools, and their offices went paperless last year.

Linda O’Donnell, broker owner of Re/Max Signature, 2411 N. Clybourn Avenue, received the Eagle Award, which is given to the individual who best embraces corporate directives designed to help brokerages through challenging economic times.

During the economic downturn O’Donnell has focused much of her business on the distressed property sector, and has been very successful. She is known for generously sharing leads with agents in her office, and opened the doors of Re/Max Signature to others in the Re/Max network forced to consolidate due to market conditions. Re/Max Signature was recognized for closing more sales transactions than any other single Re/Max office in Chicago last year.

Janice Corley and Cynthia Bauer, formerly associated with Sotheby’s International Realty, are broker owners of Chicago’s Re/Max Premier Properties, located at 1205 N. Dearborn Parkway. They took home the Trendsetter Award which is given to individuals who are best able to analyze changing real estate trends for the benefit of their business and the entire Re/Max Northern Illinois network.

The Re/Max Northern Illinois network has its headquarters in Elgin, and consists of 2100 sales associates as well as 110 individually owned and operated Re/Max offices, providing a full range of brokerage services.

President: Marki Lemons Unlimited

Website: www.markilemons.com

Marki Lemons-Ryhal not only shines as Chicago’s own “Queen of Foreclosures”, she shares her knowledge with other professionals who are eager to learn from her expertise. An insightful and dedicated Real Estate Educator, Marki’s drive to empower other professionals with the tools they need to grow their businesses is fueled by her passion for excellence and her commitment to serve.

We recently sat down with Marki to discuss her real estate career past and present.

RealtyBizNews.com: As a Real Estate Instructor, what are some the things you specialize in?

ML: I’m a subject matter expert on foreclosures, short sales, technology and social media, and then I am a full time instructor in the State of Illinois, dealing with license law, pre-licensing, that sort of thing.

RealtyBizNews.com: So is your experience more on the investor side or the retail side of the business?

ML: Oh, I would say it’s more on the retail side, but I have a lot of investor experience. I was an investor, as well, so I’ve done quite a few purchase rehab deals myself.

RealtyBizNews.com: With the housing crisis being a daily topic, what advice would you give those who are facing foreclosure?

ML: The first thing I would tell them is to talk to their lenders, because their lender likely has special programs, which may be able to help them. Even though the government has the home affordable foreclosure alternatives program and the principal reduction program for mortgages, a lot of lenders have developed their own programs. The guidelines are a little different than the federal guidelines, so homeowners facing foreclosure will need to investigate what their options are with their lender. They should sit down with their own certified home finance counsel or if they want to keep the property to see if a modification is an option.

Realty Biz News.com: We noticed one of your specialties is Gamification, what benefits does if offer within the real estate industry from a technology standpoint?

ML: Gamification allows you to be a market leader in the community you’re trying to serve. Technically speaking, you could dominate a community on the internet.  Gamification also helps with search engine optimization. For example, I could search for “Marki” on Foursquare, and there are 9000 impressions on that program – just from me checking in every few seconds into the venues in my community.

It’s really dominated by males who tend to make $100,000 dollars or more a year. I’m in a “war” over a couple of places in the neighborhood that I serve! But now, I’ve gotten to know people that I normally would never have met. We send text messages back and forth and we joke around with another, but we have met face to face so it’s really a good networking tool as well.

Realty Biz News.com: So what’s in store for 2012?

ML: More technology. I think you’re going to see a continuation of video and of global technology. I don’t believe the market is going to change substantially next year. I believe that with unemployment still remaining high that we’re still going to see a constant flow of homeowner defaults.

What I would love to see is state funds so that we can actually transform some of the houses that would probably be more advantageous for an investor and put the property on its way to cash flow.

Awards And Achievements:

2010 Real Estate Instructor of the Year

Accredited Buyer Representative

Certified Residential Broker

Short Sale and Foreclosure Resource Certification

You may contact Marki and view her properties on her website at: www.markilemons.com