Itai - We met at one of the first open houses I ever hosted in Ravenswood.
Jeremy - We met at an evening showing you were covering for someone in Ravenswood.
Itai - It was during the day.
Jeremy - So… I remember it was a first floor walk up, and I’m pretty sure it was on Cullom… and I swear to god it was in the evening. We walked in and you were there. I asked you a couple of questions and I remember you were like “I’m not the listing agent, but if I don’t know the answer to one of your questions I’ll get it for you”, which I totally respect because I do the same thing.
Itai - Here’s how I know we met at an open house and not a showing... I only own one suit which I bought for my wedding. I only bust it out for open houses because you have to dress to impress.
Jeremy - I don’t remember what you were wearing. You were probably wearing suspenders.
Itai - This was pre-suspenders.
Jeremy - My clients started to look around and you started asking me very good questions about real estate in general. I honestly didn’t realize you were a new agent. The thing about you, and I feel this is true about me too, is that you have this presence and ability to make people like you, which is huge in this business.
Itai - I asked you questions about how you get your clients etc. At the time, I was at the very beginning of my career as a real estate broker. Maybe 2 - 3 months in.
Jeremy - That’s one of the things that I remembered most about you. I thought to myself that dude is asking the right questions but I could also tell you were hungry for business. You were asking questions about my answers which showed that you were actually engaged.
Jeremy - After that my clients wanted to check out the parking situation. Wasn’t it in a weird place under the stairs?
Itai - It was under the deck.
Jeremy - Oh yeah! It was under the deck or porch. I remember my clients were like what?!?! Then you went into this whole sales pitch about the parking.
Itai - The parking was in a great location! It was a covered parking spot under the deck, which kinda comes in handy during Chicago winters. It was conveniently located close to the back entrance so if you’re carrying groceries you don’t have to go too far.
Jeremy - The sales pitch made sense and was true, but anybody logically, would be like “the parking is under the deck, like wtf?”. That’s when I was like this guy knows what’s up because I would done the same.
Itai - Great minds think alike. I left that showing thinking there was some good synergy there.
Jeremy - There was definitely some synergy there. 100%.
Itai - Fast forward a few months. I was out on some showings with my very first buyer. One of the homes we saw happened to be one of your listings.
Jeremy - You walked in to my listing and go “oh it’s you!”. It was just you and your client.
Jeremy - I thought his dad came to the second showing? Were there more people at the second showing?
Itai - Yeah his dad’s partner came along for the second showing.
Jeremy - Oh yeah yeah yeah, you have a good memory!
Itai - That’s the first time anyone ever told me I have a good memory.
Jeremy - Well I will say, I’ve gotten to know you pretty well… It’s good sometimes. That was an example of it being good.
Itai - The important things stick.
Itai - After that I think you emailed me asking if I wanted to meet up for lunch.
Jeremy - I felt like, all right, here’s this guy who’s new to the industry, he’s kinda killing it for where he’s at.
Itai - Love that you felt that way. I definitely did not feel that way.
Jeremy - You were building that pipeline. Listen you need to fill that martini glass right? I don’t know, I just had this gut feeling.
Itai - When I got that email I assumed you were going to try to recruit me. Yeah we had a couple positive interactions which was great BUT, I was very happy with where I was at company wise. I liked the culture and positive atmosphere at my office. It was going to be very hard for me to walk away… but I thought- I like this dude so I’ll do him the courtesy of meeting him for lunch.
Jeremy - Where did we go to lunch?
Itai - Le Bouchon in Bucktown. I was pretty bummed the frog legs were out of season. To borrow a phrase from my grandmother, those frog legs are divine!
Jeremy - That place is sooooo good!
Itai - I was prepared for the “do you want to join Compass?” question. I was not prepared for you to say you’re looking to partner with me.
Jeremy - I love that!
Itai - Honestly it felt too good to be true as we were talking through what you were looking for. I mean you were offering me a partnership, you wanted to kinda take me under your wing.
Jeremy - Listen, I feel like in this industry there are so many people that are just out there for themselves and if you can find somebody that you genuinely want to be around, and you can create common goals with you gotta go for it.
Itai - Every successful person has certain breaks. I feel like meeting you was that break for me.
Itai - After the lunch I knew deep down that I was probably going to take you up on your offer.
Jeremy - I honestly left lunch thinking it’s in the bag. I was gonna give you a couple days but I thought you were gonna jump on it for sure.
Itai - I would be an idiot not to take it. How many people get an opportunity to fast track their career 8 months into it? I had to go for it.
Jeremy - I mean, honestly, we’re like a good fucking team.
Itai - Bottom line… if you’ve made it this far in our oral history, you’re looking to buy or sell real estate and want to have some fun while you’re at it, give us a call!