Three RE/MAX Offices in Chicago Take Home High Honors at RE/MAX Northern Illinois Awards Ceremony

Chicago, IL, June 24, 2012 --(PR.com)-- Three Chicago RE/MAX offices -- 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 awards ceremony held in late April. Each year, the awards ceremony honors affiliates who have achieved outstanding results in the areas of sales, service, philanthropy and technology.

The three brokerages were honored for both their steady sales and for their willingness to embrace strategies designed to help them thrive in the changing Chicago real estate market.

The broker/owners of RE/MAX City, Henry Sakowski and Martin Lata, won the Technology Award in addition to taking home two top production awards. Their office at 7020 W. Higgins Ave. was named the top RE/MAX office in Chicago for closed sales volume. Their RE/MAX office network, which also includes an office at 6839 W. Belmont Ave., was honored as the multi-office RE/MAX brokerage in Chicago with the most closed transactions and highest sales volume last year.

Sakowski and Lata earned the Technology Award for their impressive use of the newest digital tools to maximize agent and office productivity. They hold weekly meetings and seminars on how best to use those tools. Their offices went paperless in 2011, and all contracts are stored as electronic PDF files in virtual storage and are reviewed and signed electronically.

This is just the start of the technological advances that Sakowski and Lata plan as they search for new ways to make RE/MAX City the most efficient firm it can be.

Linda O'Donnell, broker/owner of RE/MAX Signature, 2411 N. Clybourn Ave., received the Eagle Award, a rare honor given to an individual who best embraces corporate directives designed to help brokerages through challenging economic times.

Much of O’Donnell’s success comes from her strong business vision. During the economic downturn, she focused her business on the distressed properties sector with great success. As a broker/owner and team leader, she generously shares leads with the agents in her office and opened the doors of RE/MAX Signature to others in the RE/MAX network forced to consolidate by challenging market conditions.

RE/MAX Signature was recognized for closing more sales transactions than any other single RE/MAX office in the city during 2011.

Janice Corley and Cynthia Bauer, broker/owners of Chicago's RE/MAX Premier Properties, 1205 N. Dearborn Pkwy., also had cause to celebrate. 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.

Bauer and Corley, formerly affiliated with Sotheby's International Realty, last year opened the first RE/MAX office in Chicago's prestigious Gold Coast neighborhood. They were also honored by the worldwide RE/MAX organization at its March 2012 annual convention. They captured the “Top Office, Largest Net Gain in Sales Associates - Metro Market U.S.” award in recognition of their outstanding recruiting efforts, which continue to attract the city’s top producers to the RE/MAX brand.

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.