CHICAGO - December 14, 2015 - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Keller Williams, the world’s largest real estate franchise by associate count, today announced it will establish a Chicago market center on the near north side to focus on residential properties. Mary Haight and Joe Zimmerman, previously brokers with @properties Chicago, will co-lead the Chicago operation.
Keller Williams currently has 10 market centers, or offices, in the Chicago suburban area but none in the city of Chicago, except for a satellite facility at North and Sheffield Avenues. It has been absent from the market since 2012, when the previous independent owner sold the business to another firm. Keller Williams retained the rights to the territory.
“We are truly excited with this opportunity to build the KW presence in Chicago,” said Haight. “This is a highly successful agent-centric company, with a culture that provides proven systems, business models and training to help agents build their business and better serve client needs.”
“The KW culture and its training and education program is a huge part of why we’re making this move,” Zimmerman said. “This is a company built by the agent, for the agent, and we want to expand this successful blueprint in the Chicago market.”
According to John Schumacher, director of the Keller Williams Mid-American region, which includes Illinois and Northwest Indiana, “Chicago is one of the two biggest growth opportunities in 2016 in the world for this company. We intend to make Chicago a shining example of what Keller Williams is all about. Our expansion plan here hinged on finding the right leadership who understands our culture, and we believe Joe and Mary are those people.”
Expansion plans include adding three other market centers in Chicago in 2016, and four more in the Chicago metropolitan area. The KW Mid-American region currently has 15 market centers with 1,760 agents.
All Keller Williams market centers are independently owned and operated. “We believe the real estate business is hyper-local,” Schumacher said. “A big part of the KW model is to provide local owners with the resources and tools to help them be successful. We want people who are lifelong learners, and provide the training and coaching to enable that.”
Haight is a Certified Home Luxury Specialist and joined @properties in 2003 after several successful years in the commercial real estate industry. Since 2003 she has been consistently recognized by the Chicago Association of Realtors as a top-producing agent. Zimmerman has been with @properties since 2001 and was named to both the National Association of Realtors’ “Top 30 Under 30” and the Association of Chicago Realtors’ “Top 40 Under 40” lists for achievement in sales.
Austin, Texas-based Keller Williams Realty, Inc. is the largest real estate franchise by associate count in the world with more than 700 offices and 129,000 associates across the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia. Since 1983, Keller Williams has grown exponentially and continues to cultivate an agent-centric, education-based, technology-driven culture that rewards agents as stakeholders. www.kw.com
SOURCE Keller Williams Realty, Inc.
Marge Ferroli
for Keller Williams Realty, Inc.
312-415-5103
Austin-Texas based Keller Williams Realty, Inc. is the largest real estate franchise by agent count in the world with 700 offices and 125,000 associates across the Americas, Europe, Africa and Asia.