Preferred News
Prudential ranks highest in satisfying home sellers
Prudential ranks highest in satisfying home sellers based on a recent J.D. Power and Associates survey.
On August 27, the following Business Wire release was distributed, "Prudential Real Estate Ranked Highest for Seller Satisfaction in J.D. Power and Associates’ 2008 Home Buyer/Seller Study"
To view the full J.D. Power press release and corresponding video, please click here.
The Sun Times also ran an article on August 1. To read it, click here.
Welcome Prudential Starck, Realtors!
Welcome Prudential Starck, Realtors!
Prudential Preferred Properties is proud to welcome Prudential Starck, Realtors to the Prudential Real Estate network. Prudential Starck, Realtors has 13 offices and 500 sales professionals spanning the Northwestern suburbs of Chicago to Rockford, Illinois. Prudential Real Estate has a strong presence in Northern Illinois, which has now been strengthened through this affiliation. Andy Starck, owner and CEO, has earned the respect of the real estate community as a strong independent. His company has a proud, 48-year company history. Andy's goal is to double the size of his company over the next two years. After much research, he selected Prudential Real Estate as the network that could propel that growth.
"We are so pleased that Starck Realtors has joined the Prudential family," Michael Pierson, president of Prudential Preferred Properties. "Andy Starck and his firm are the perfect fit for the growing Prudential family and we are pleased that Prudential national continues to seek and affiliate quality companies to the network. We certainly look forward to working with his agents as well as increasing the sign count, market share and network impact of Prudential throughout Chicagoland as we all pursue an aggressive path of growth for our sales professionals and companies. Please join me in extending a hearty welcome to Andy Starck and Prudential Starck, Realtors."
Stacey Cortez Quoted in Crain's Chicago Business
Stacey Cortez, a sales professional with the Michigan Avenue office of Prudential Preferred Properties, was quoted in the July 28 issue of Crain's Chicago Business.
Click on the title to read the full story: "Arts district stirs part of Oak Park."
David Baran quoted in Crain's Chicago Business
David Baran, of the PPP Lincoln Park office, was quoted in an article titled, "Gentrification hits bump in Rogers Park" in the July 28 edition of Crain's Chicago Business. Click here to read the full story.
‘This Real-Estate Rout May Be Short-Lived’ according to Barron's Jonathon Laing.
On July 14, Barron's ran a story titled, 'Bottom's Up: This Real-Estate Rout May Be Short-Lived.'
Click here to read "Bottom's Up: This Real-Estate Rout May Be Short-Lived." by Jonathan R. Laing.
See our ad in the Chicago Tribune
Click the image to view our ad!
Colette Connelly quoted in Crain's Chicago Business
Colette Connelly, an agent with the PPP Lincoln Park office, was featured in the June 9 issue of Crain's Chicago Business.
Click here to read the article titled, "Meltdown at the Closing Table."
Sandy Adler quoted in Crain's Chicago Business
Sandy Adler, of the PPP Michigan Avenue office, was quoted in a June 9 Crain's Chicago Business story. To read the full story, please click on the following title: "Cool-headed buyers stick to necessities" .
‘The Housing Crisis is Over’ according to Wall Street Journal’s Cyril Mouille-Berteaux.
On May 6, 2008, The Wall Street Journal ran a story titled, 'The Housing Crisis is Over.'
Click here to read 'The Housing Crisis is Over,' by Cyril Mouille-Berteaux.
Joanne Nemerovski Featured in Crain's Chicago Business
Joanne Nemerovski, PPP Lincoln Park, was featured in the April 29 Crain's Chicago Business Daily Business Briefing.
Click here to read the article titled, "Luxury broker leaves Koenig for Prudential."
Amy Morro Quoted in Crain's Chicago Business
Amy Morro, an agent in the PPP Michigan Avenue office, was quoted in today's issue of Crain's Chicago Business. The story is about pricing in today's market.
To read the article, please click the following link:
Crain's Chicago Business: Homes stall as owners resist major price cuts
Barbara Marriott and Marti Kuehn Quoted in Financial Times
Barbara Marriott, of the PPP Michigan Avenue office, and Marti Kuehn, formerly of the PPP Evanston office, were quoted in the Financial Times on March 29, 2008 in an article about Frank Lloyd Wright homes in Oak Park.
To read the article, please click the following link:
Financial Times, Dedicated followers of Frank
The Gibraltar Circle Award
We are pleased to announce that Prudential Preferred Properties received the Gibraltar Circle Award from Prudential Real Estate Affiliates.
You may read about it at the below sources:
Recently Quoted in the News...
Vera Pergl-Butkovich was recently quoted in a Medill Reports Chicago article on pending home sales. To view the entire article, please click here.
Chicago Tribune Sees Glimmer of Relief in Housing
On the front page of today's Chicago Tribune, Mary Umberger reports the latest housing news you won't want to miss.
To read the story, click on the link below.
A glimmer of relief in housing
PPP Lakeview Sales Professional featured in Chicago Agent Magazine
Click the above image to read James Faircloth's Agent Snapshop featured in Chicago Agent Magazine, or download the pdf here.
Prudential Preferred Properties Launches New PruPref.com Website
Prudential Preferred Properties is pleased to announce the launch of the company’s new website, PruPref.com. The new site offers innovative features for clients and consumers, including a sophisticated property search, intuitive navigation, easy-to-use tools for sales professionals to manage listings and user profiles, and a breakthrough look and feel.
The site’s property search offers a variety of ways to look for the perfect listing, including searches by town/neighborhood, radius, open house and building. The property search interface was designed so that the consumer’s search yields specific results quickly and easily. For those looking for information about their own home or simply curious about a specific area, the ability to look up sold listings is also available.
Sales professionals and their clients will also find added benefits to using the site, including access to detailed web activity reports for each listing, and the ability to register for automatic custom email updates.
The Preferred Resource Center, found on the home page, offers a number of unique features of value to the consumer, such as an industry and company news section with up-to-date information, and the Top 50 section, which includes the 50 most expensive property listings in certain areas.
Sterling Title Services Opens New Office
Ira Berger, president of Sterling Title Services, and his team, are settling into their new office space at 1 N. LaSalle. The new location will serve as the main production and closing facility for Sterling Title Services. Of course, Sterling Title Services will continue to close in any one of PPP's 10 conveniently located offices in addition to 1 N. LaSalle. Please note the following contact information for Sterling Title Services:
Sterling Title Services
1 North LaSalle, Suite 2475
Chicago, IL 60602
T 312.268.2900
F 312.268.2901
Northbrook Has Arrived!
We are very happy to announce that the Northbrook office has moved to their new location at 1143 Church Street! Leslie Stein and her team are extremely excited to get settled in their beautiful new space. Welcome home PPP Northbrook family!
Coming Soon... Prudential Preferred Properties-Lincoln Park
We are pleased to announce Prudential Preferred Properties' newest sales office to be located at 2301 N. Clark Street in the heart of Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood. Dennis Dooley, a 32-year veteran of Chicago real estate, will manage this highly visible location at the corner of Clark Street and Belden Avenue. The 6,000-square-foot space, formerly the home of Tower Records, will have all the productivity enhancing features of a 21st Century brokerage facility. There will be a virtual agent center for those agents who opt to keep their primary office at home. The office build-out should be complete and ready to open in early 2008.
AgentConnect Provides Sales Professionals with Strong Foundation for 2008!
Over 225 Prudential Preferred Properties' sales professionals attended the event to receive comprehensive training on a range of topics. The primary focus of the day was Michael Pierson's 'Top of the Rock Business Planning' session, which received rave reviews from sales professionals.
Wendy Bergseth's Generational Insight presentation also received glowing remarks. In fact, many sales professionals expressed interest in ordering a book she recommended, Generational Marketing: Myth or Mastery.
EZFarm, a fantastic way to plan your 2008 marketing campaign in one sitting, was presented to packed audiences. These beautiful color seasonal cards are sent to your sphere of influence automatically. To access eZFarm, simply go to PruPress and select eZFarm from the left side navigation. Additional training on eZFarm will be scheduled in the offices soon.
First Sterling Mortgage Services and Sterling Title Services generously provided lunch for all AgentConnect attendees. Sales professionals were given the opportunity to donate the cost of their lunch to the Sunshine Kids, Prudential Real Estate's national philanthropy. The results are in hand! A total of $1000 was raised for this wonderful organization; $500 from sales professional and staff contributions and $500 in matching funds from PPP.
Michael Pierson's presentation and all of the handouts from the event are posted on the Intranet under Online Forms, Agent Training, Support, Tech and Help, AgentConnect 2007.
Thank you to everyone who attended AgentConnect. We hope you found it beneficial.
Announcing... First Sterling Mortgage Services
Prudential Preferred Properties has partnered with Shelter Mortgage of Milwaukee, Wisconsin to provide in-house lending services under the brand name First Sterling Mortgage Services, LLC. Shelter Mortgage is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Guaranty Bank, a federally-chartered bank founded in 1923.
"Shelter Mortgage has been successfully managing Real Estate partnerships for many years," said Michael Pierson, President of Prudential Preferred Properties. "They complement our unique brand with their great lending products, world-class service, and the stability of a federally-chartered bank," added Chris Eigel, CEO of PPP.
Jay Skwierawski, a 29-year veteran of Shelter Mortgage, was named President of the new company. "Our blend of flexible mortgage products and high-touch customer service will be a good fit for Prudential Preferred Properties' clients," said Skwierawski. "We are thrilled about the opportunity to establish First Sterling Mortgage Services as a leader in the market," added Jill Belconis, President of Shelter Mortgage.
Ultimate Address Features Five Pages of PPP Advertising
Ultimate Address, the Chicago Tribune's beautiful, full color, targeted luxury homes guide, was inserted into the Chicago Tribune on November 9, 2007. Additional coop advertising opportunities in Ultimate Address will be available throughout 2008.
Look How Far We Have Come
Since February 2007, PPP has grown significantly. It's difficult to believe how far we have come in only seven short months. Below are some of the most notable accomplishments:
The addition of 164 new sales professionals
New PPP Branded Marketing Materials
New PPP property signage and conversion
Single entry system for listings
PruPress
Expanded rotational advertising
Retooled Fine Homes program
New eCards
Online fillable forms
High resolution photography
Automated URL ordering
Band Notes - PPP’s virtual bulletin board
Preferred Development section on website
Opening a Michigan Avenue office
Significant hardware and software upgrades
Launch of First Sterling Mortgage Services
Street and radius mailing list search on PruPress
eZFarm
Relocating the Northbrook office
Opening the Lake Forest office
New Lincoln Park location, coming soon
Rick Sobin Promoted to Managing Broker of Lincoln Square Office
Rick served as Prudential Preferred Properties' technology trainer and offered career development guidance to PPP sales professionals on a company-wide basis prior to his appointment as Lincoln Square managing broker. Rick has lived in Chicago since 1988 working as a camera technician in the motion picture business. We are confident that he will do an outstanding job leading the office.
PPP Once Again Featured in CS Magazine
PPP is featured in the October issue of CS Magazine. Along with a beautiful four color ad is a PPP editorial piece detailing our significant growth to date. In addition to the image here that you can view electronically, extra hard copies of the issue will be available in each sales office.
Michael Pierson Featured in Crain's Chicago Business
Michael Pierson was the subject of the Crain's Chicago Business Info Junkie column on September 24, 2007. Please click here to see it!
Chris Eigel Featured in LORE Magazine
Chris Eigel was featured in the July/August issue of Lore Magazine. Click on the image to read the article in its entirety.
December eNews is Available!
The latest issue of PPP's eNews, focusing on home security during the holidays, is still available. eNews is produced monthly. To register to receive PPP's eNews, simply click here to register.
PPP's Branding Event is Featured in CS Magazine
PPP Featured in Ravinia Ads
Prudential Preferred Properties ran full page color ads in the Ravinia Festival program magazine over the summer months.
Announcing the PPP Dedicated Development Section...Preferred Developments
Preferred Developments are now easily accessible on the PPP website. Simply select Property Search followed by Developments in the top navigation bar. Each development has a detailed property page that offers complete specifications, features, amenities, and individual unit floor plans. Check it out today!
Winthrop Club Event Hailed a Resounding Success
The Winthrop Club event, held September 12, exclusively for Prudential Preferred Properties sales professionals, was a resounding success. Contact Bob Parris or Shannon Stamback from the Evanston office or visit the Preferred Developments section of the website for additional information on The Winthrop Club.
PPP Moves into Commercial Brokerage and Leasing
PPP now has a Commercial Division with five dedicated sales professionals who are seeing a lot of activity, both locally and interstate. For questions regarding commercial business, please contact Dennis Dooley at 312.264.1274 or send him an email at ddooley@PruPref.com.
PPP Experts Speak Before CAR and CRC
Chris Eigel participated in a Chicago Association of REALTORS (CAR) panel discussion on the real estate market on August 29, 2007. Also participating on th epanel were the presidents of three other Chicagoland real estate firms.
Barb Springer will speak before the Corporate Relocation Council (CRC) on the state of the market when they meet on September 27, 2007. The event will take place aboard the Chicago Architecture Foundations' tour boat just prior to a Chicago River tour.
Barb Springer to Speak at 2008 National Relocation Conference
Barb Springer, Senior Vice Prsident of Business Development, has been invited to join the RAC Trac 2008 Planning Committee of the Relocation Appraisers and Consultants (RAC). As a member of the committee, she will help to develop a special educational offering held in conjunction with the 2008 National Relocation Conference in San Antonio. She will also speak at the event.
Dennis Dooley to Lead Future Lincoln Park Office
Dennis Dooley, a 30-year industry veteran, has joined PPP as Managing Broker of the 1201 N. Clark office. As the former Vice President and Director of Sales for another Chicago company, Dooley was responsible for significant growth in the organization, increasing the sales force from 45 to 123 in just over a year. He will now lead 1201 N. Clark until the new Lincoln Park office is announced. Additional details will be available soon.
Fine Homes International Program
The Fine Homes International Marketing Program provides luxury clients with the most comprehensive marketing and advertising support in the industry. Through this remarkable program, properties are exposed to over 100 websites.
Corporate Departments Moving to Michigan Avenue
In an effort to provide the best agent and client support in Chicagoland, the Accounting, Marketing and Relocation departments will be moving to 737 N. Michigan Avenue.
QSC Awards PPP with National Award for Customer Service
Quality Service Certification awarded Prudential Preferred Properties with a Quie Award. This award ranks PPP among the top 10 companies in the nation in terms of customer service.
The Value of a REALTOR®
The Orlando Regional REALTOR® Association published a document that we feel is very well done and they have agreed to share it with us. Click on this document titled The Critical Role of the REALTOR® in the Real Estate Transaction.
It was Time To Celebrate
Prudential Preferred Properties held a fabulous event on June 20th to launch the company's new brand. The re-branding celebration was an opportunity to unveil the new look and thank the sales professionals for all of their hard work. The black, white and platinum branding will be incorporated throughout the company.
PPP Announces New Lake Forest Office and Appoints Wendy Bergseth as EVP and Manager
PPP has signed a 4,000-square-foot lease for a state-of-the-art office at 778 N. Western Avenue in north suburban Lake Forest. Wendy Bergseth, a leader in metropolitan Chicago residential sales, has been named executive vice president of the firm and manager of the office.
Leslie Stein Named Sr VP and Managing Broker of PPP Northbrook
Prudential Preferred Properties has named Leslie Stein senior vice president and managing broker of its Northbrook office. A lease has been signed to relocated the office from 3115 Dundee Road to a larger, state-of-the-art, 5,000-square-foot facility at 1143 Churs Street in downtown Northbrook during the third quarter of 2007.
Barb Springer Appointed Sr VP of PPP
Barbara Springer has joined Prudential Preferred Properties as senior vice president of Relocation and Business Development for the Chicago region.
Prior to joining Prudential Preferred Properties, Springer was the VP of Relocation and Business Development for the third largest real estate company in Chicago. Active in residential real estate for 22 years, and the recipient of numerous industry awards, she began her career as an appraiser before becoming an Account Executive with Prudential Relocation
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