Todd Stephenson is the owner and sponsoring broker of Premier Chicago Real Estate. He has over 10 years of experience in real estate sales and consulting, property management, and real estate investment management.
He has also represented distressed homeowners in working toward solutions by either advising on short sales or helping them work through loan modifications. At Premier Chicago, Todd specializes in residential and commercial sales in addition to real estate investment management.
Prior to working in real estate, he worked in the advertising and technology industries. With more than 15 years of sales experience, his responsibilities have included marketing, business development, and client relationship management.
Todd earned his bachelor’s degree in Business Administration at Kentucky State University. He was born and raised in Chicago and continues to be an active member of his community.
Todd currently resides in the Beverly neighborhood with his wife and son.
Connect with Todd on LinkedIn.
What You’ll Learn In This Episode
- Opening Premier Chicago Real Estate in the midst of the pandemic
This transcript is machine transcribed by Sonix
TRANSCRIPT
Intro: [00:00:04] Broadcasting live from the Business RadioX studio in Chicago, Illinois, it’s time for Chicago Business Radio brought to you by Firm Space, your private sanctuary for productivity and growth. To learn more, go to FirmSpace.com. Now here’s your host.
Max Kantor: [00:00:21] Hey everybody, and welcome to another episode of Chicago Business Radio. I’m your host, Max Kantor. And before we get started, today’s episode is sponsored by firm SpaceX. So thank you to firm SpaceX because without them, we couldn’t be sharing these important stories that we do. I’m excited for today’s episode. We have the owner and sponsoring broker of Premiere Chicago Real Estate, so there should be a good one. Please. Welcome to the show, Todd Stephenson. Welcome to the show, Todd.
Todd Stephenson: [00:00:49] Max, thank you, thank you very much.
Max Kantor: [00:00:52] Tell us, let’s jump right into it. How are you serving, folks?
Todd Stephenson: [00:00:55] Well, my company we are a boutique boutique real estate firm here in Chicago Land, specializing in residential and commercial real estate throughout the city and the surrounding suburbs, primarily working with, you know, first time home buyers, sellers as well as investors with purchasing real estate throughout the city.
Max Kantor: [00:01:17] Gotcha. So I know reading your bio and stuff, you weren’t always in the real estate business. So what drew you to that industry?
Todd Stephenson: [00:01:24] Well, you know, I did not start on the real estate business, but it’s always been a passion or an interest of mine since I was younger, got out of college, kind of went in another direction with sales and the corporate environment, but just kept calling me. It was something I always wanted to do and, you know, serve people and help people. So, you know, a few years within the sales environment, I got out and got into real estate finally.
Max Kantor: [00:01:50] Gotcha. Gotcha. And so you open this business during the pandemic, what was that like?
Todd Stephenson: [00:01:56] Yeah, we opened it 20, 20. It’s like, like again, it’s always something I had an interest in doing, always something I plan to do. But just like anything, you got busy with work and you kind of put things off and then obviously the pandemic hit. And timing is everything right? And it was, you know, just with the pandemic, it kind of allowed me that pause to really focus and step out to do what I really wanted to do was start my own brokerage.
Max Kantor: [00:02:21] Gotcha. Gotcha. So how did industry trends change before, during and now what kind of post-COVID? I know it’s still going on, but how have you seen those trends shift?
Todd Stephenson: [00:02:34] Well, you know, right, right before COVID hit, we saw a trend in as far as like the interest rates with the home buying market. So, you know, mortgage interest rates were kind of kind of getting lower there, then the pandemic hit. And then obviously things went on on a standstill. But I think the trends kind of changed with. You know, more people wanting to take advantage of the low interest rates within the mortgage market and the low. I kind of just just rambling on here, but they wanted to take advantage of the low interest rates they shifted to. Once the once the market shifted, it was low inventory, so you kind of push prices higher. So we’re kind of dealing with more or less a seller’s market now where, you know, basically you have an influx of buyers, buyers competing for a lot of inventory because it’s very low inventory. So the sellers have basically the pick of the litter. So they’re able to kind of list their price and then get multiple offers at or above. Ask with their with their with their sales price. So we see it’s kind of a a tricky market now if you’re dealing with buyers. But if you’re dealing with sellers, you know you’re able to get at or above as so. It’s a great time to sell. Great time to buy. But again, with the low inventory, it’s kind of rough with finding properties out there, but that’s kind of what’s going on in the residential market right now.
Max Kantor: [00:04:07] Gotcha. Gotcha. Now why should a seller work with your firm?
Todd Stephenson: [00:04:15] Well, our goal is to be able to obviously its customer service quality. We want to make sure that we respond in a timely manner, be able to kind of not only respond in a quality manner, but be able to kind of list the price at proper proper list prices. So when you when you get somebody selling, you know, you don’t want to over oversell and under-deliver. So our goal is to make sure we’re doing our due diligence, getting the proper pricing strategy for the market and making sure we get enough buyers within the door to actually get competing offers. That way, we can’t get a quality price at or above what they’re looking to get when selling their property.
Max Kantor: [00:05:01] You mentioned that you work with a lot of first time homebuyers, so I’m sure a lot of people listening to this might have never even looked into buying a home. But listening to this, they become interested. So what are some common kind of beginner concerns and questions that you have seen with new home buyers? And how do you address those?
Todd Stephenson: [00:05:22] With new homebuyers, I mean, their biggest their biggest concern is, is this is, you know, most people only buy one home within their lifespan. So this is the biggest investment in their life. You’re talking about taking the average sales home. I mean, home sales price in Chicagoland is around two hundred and fifty thousand. So when you’re thinking about getting a mortgage, that’s a hefty price tag. So you want to make sure you can afford the property be what to look for. You know, as far as like, you know, again with it being your biggest investment. You know, what are some of the things that you’re going to have over the next five, 10, 15 years as owning this property? You know, what are some of the the structural things that you may need to look for, et cetera? So you know, it’s, you know, homebuyer. I mean, home ownership is very key to kind of be aware of some of these things as far as, like, you know, condition of the property when going into it, you know, how much can you afford? What are some of the do’s and don’ts? You know, as well as like how to take care of the property over the initial, you know, time that you own the property. So those are some of the initial things that you kind of look for into a home.
Max Kantor: [00:06:29] Yeah. Well, you know, home buying such a big decision. So it sounds like you do a really great job at easing people into making such a large decision and helping them with it. You mentioned that you help buyers in the Chicagoland area and sellers. So what neighborhoods are hot right now? Where are there still good deals in that area?
Todd Stephenson: [00:06:50] It’s quite a few in Chicago woodland being one of the hottest neighborhoods, not only in the city of Chicago but as well as the nation. It’s one of the fastest growing and appreciating neighborhoods across the nation, so I think woodland is a great place. You know, West Loop, it’s a ton of new development and properties going up in West Slope, South Loop. Those are some of your hot areas right now. But I like those three areas, primarily when it comes to To the Fast, one of some of the fastest growing and appreciating hot neighborhoods within Chicago.
Max Kantor: [00:07:25] Now does your firm do only residential or residential and commercial?
Todd Stephenson: [00:07:30] We also do commercial. I work, I do some small commercial. I do. I work with the Cook County Land Bank, whose primary focus is also help revitalizing neighborhoods with some of their commercial properties. So I work as a commercial broker with them, and I help them kind of sell some of their commercial inventory within the south and west side of Chicago.
Max Kantor: [00:07:54] Gotcha. So you’re you mentioned you’re relatively new, started last year in 2020. Do you have any kind of success stories that you’re proud of that you would want to share?
Todd Stephenson: [00:08:06] Oof, that is a great question, I mean. I mean, it’s quite a few, I mean, I don’t know where I mean, could you maybe be specific with that like any like residential commercial? I mean, what are what are you?
Max Kantor: [00:08:18] Maybe a time that you helped a first time homebuyer that was really impactful to them or to you.
Todd Stephenson: [00:08:26] Yeah, I mean, I want to think of something that’s fresh off hand helped a VA seller. We listed his pride. I mean, it’s property and floss more, which is a southern suburb here in Chicago, have been going back and forth for a while. But we listed his property and within a week of listing the property again. When we’re talking about pricing strategy, we priced it right. Got enough activity in traffic through the door of the first weekend. We had an offer that following week. So I would say within a matter of five to seven days, we had had an offer on multiple offers on his place, but we had an offer. I think it was just over 15 K over apps. We were asking three twenty. We got three, thirty five for that place.
Max Kantor: [00:09:12] Wow. And is that is that quick? Is that I don’t know the the timeline for things like that. So is that faster than usual?
Todd Stephenson: [00:09:20] Yeah. Within the market, like I said, this market is, is is is key. You know, it’s very it’s very hot right now. So if you got a quality like I know the sellers have an advantage. So that is pretty fast seven days, you know, I mean, you’re looking at, you know, generally within the first few weeks is when you get the most interest in a property, when you list the property. So, you know, if you can get an offer within that first seven days, that is that’s huge. But generally, you know, the activity starts to starts to die down a little bit after like 30 days of being on the market. So if you’re 30 days, you know, you start to see less activity because it’s not as fresh in the market, but to get a get multiple offers. We had like three or four offers the first weekend and like I said, we accepted one point K over s, which is it’s pretty, pretty good this market.
Max Kantor: [00:10:11] So I want to ask you about some tips for first time homebuyers. Something like, you know what credit score should they be looking to have? How much do you need for a down payment, things like that.
Todd Stephenson: [00:10:26] A down payment, I mean, they have programs out here now where you can do FHA or even conventional products with as little as three to three and a half percent down and credit score. That’s a good question. I mean, you know, I think some lenders can go, you know, somewhere around like the 600 range. You know, obviously the better credit score, the better interest rate and terms you’re going to get. But I think somewhere around the six hundred credit score would suffer. I mean, it depends on the mortgage company, but generally maybe around six hundred plus you can get a mortgage with three and a half percent down. Fha.
Max Kantor: [00:11:03] Gotcha. So on this show, Chicago Business RadioX, we love to highlight and spotlight local businesses, which is why I’m so glad I get to talk to you today. So as a local business, you know, what do you need more of? Do you need more buyers? Do you need sellers? How can our listeners help you?
Todd Stephenson: [00:11:21] Well, both buyers and sellers are key to our business. You know, you can’t obviously have one without the other. I love working with buyers because it’s helping them realize the dream of home ownership. And you know, sellers, you know, obviously they’re selling their property to move on to whatever their next opportunity is with their business, you know, downsizing or getting or relocating to another area, or maybe even getting something bigger because their family is expanding. So I would say both buyers and sellers, you know, are both key and our market.
Max Kantor: [00:11:54] And and finally, I got to ask you what is the most rewarding part of what you do?
Todd Stephenson: [00:12:01] Just being able to help others, you know, I’m always open to lend a helping hand for me. You know, dealing with buyers, like I said, it’s very rewarding because, you know, some of them may, you know, like their lifelong dream. It may have been owning a home. And just to be able to see them get to the finish line and be able to own the home that they truly dreamed about or, you know, always want it is rewarding to me. And then, like I said, you know, even helping sellers, you know, whether if it’s downsizing, you know, growing or expanding or relocating, I know that it’s key to be it’s I feel it’s very rewarding to be able to help them achieve their goals. So it really is just helping, helping others, helping people.
Max Kantor: [00:12:42] So Todd, if there’s a buyer or seller or just someone who’s interested in learning more about your firm, how can people contact you? What’s your website and or social media?
Todd Stephenson: [00:12:51] Well, I do have our website. They can visit us at W-w-what for mayor of Chicago Real Estate, and we do have an Instagram recently is at Premier Chicago are as a real e as an estate.
Max Kantor: [00:13:07] Great. Well, Todd, thank you again for being on the show today. It was excellent to talk to you.
Todd Stephenson: [00:13:13] Same here, Max, thanks for having me.
Max Kantor: [00:13:14] No problem at all, and thanks to you for listening and we will see you next time on Chicago Business Radio.
Intro: [00:13:23] This episode is Chicago Business Radio has been brought to you by firm SpaceX, your private sanctuary for productivity and growth. To learn more, go to Firme Space.com.
