RE/MAX Fidelity Opens on Chicago’s Northwest Side with Focus on Avondale, Hermosa and Belmont Cragin

CHICAGO, IL – June 6, 2012 – (RealEstateRama) — Angel and Antonio Aguilar recently opened RE/MAX Fidelity at 2137 N. Cicero Ave. on Chicago’s Northwest Side. In doing so, they started with a simple but important goal: To provide superior real estate services to a very important segment of the city, the adjoining neighborhoods of Hermosa, Avondale and Belmont Cragin.

Their target service area has a relative scarcity of real estate brokerages, making it challenging for the residents to find real estate agents who know the local market. By opening RE/MAX Fidelity in the heart of this area, the Aguilars are providing residents with the chance to work with experienced real estate professionals who offer a deep understanding of the community and its housing market.

Angel Aguilar, the managing broker of the new office, said that he and his affiliates look forward to building a reputation for local expertise in all three neighborhoods, which collectively posted an 86 percent increase in residential sales activity from 2008 to 2011.

He also notes that prices seem to be stabilizing in the area after four years of steady decline. Through the first five months of this year, the median sales price for residential property in the three neighborhoods was $121,500, up 5.7 percent from the median sales price for the same period in 2011.

“We picked this area for our new brokerage because we think it is underserved and will thrive as the real estate market improves over the remainder of this decade,” he said. “We will bring these neighborhoods a level of real estate services they haven’t enjoyed previously.”

Aguilar entered the real estate business in 2005 and joined RE/MAX in 2007. Already, he is one of the most successful real estate agents in Chicago. The numbers tell the tale: since 2008, the Chicago Association of REALTORS® has ranked Aguilar and his team among the top 1 percent of agents in number of homes sold.

While the Aguilars hope to raise the impact of RE/MAX throughout the Avondale, Hermosa and Belmont Cragin areas, the brand already has a strong presence there. For example, in 2011, RE/MAX was the leader in listings sold in the Avondale neighborhood and second overall in the city.

Angel Aguilar said his goal is to attract at least 10 new sales associates to his office, each with a real commitment to the real estate business.

“We work with a lot of passion here,” Aguilar said. “My staff and I love what we do. Money comes second.”

As an example of this passion, Aguilar points to the way his staff handles the many bank-owned properties they have been listing. If a bank calls with a property to list, a RE/MAX Fidelity agent will make a same-day visit to the property and meet with bank officials.

The goal is to get the property onto the market rapidly. This provides a new housing opportunity for the neighborhood and helps move a distressed property into the hands of new long-term owners as quickly as possible, Aguilar said.

“Especially, with bank-owned properties, there are some outstanding values available today,” he emphasized. “Being able to help people buy a home and knowing they are getting a good deal is what makes selling real estate fun, and we are having a lot of fun these days.”

RE/MAX has been the leader in the northern Illinois real estate market since 1989. The RE/MAX Northern Illinois network, with headquarters in Elgin, Ill., consists of 2,100 sales associates and 110 individually owned and operated RE/MAX offices that provide a full range of residential and commercial brokerage services. Its www.illinoisproperty.com and www.remax.com websites are leaders in consumer visits among real estate franchise brands. Its mobile search, m.illinoisproperty.com, allows users to conduct real estate searches on any mobile device with Internet access. The northern Illinois network is part of RE/MAX LLC, a global real estate organization with 88,000 sales associates in 89 nations.