jan-2018

178 179 THE MATT LARICY GROUP 23 years old; we don’t have an office in the third largest city in the country, so it may not have been the best idea. But,where there’s a will, there’s a way.” “I hustled and built the group to where it is to- day, and we’ve been growing rapidly ever since,”he recounts.“My best year ever was $5 million in sales; then I went to $10.4million; to $18million; to $39 million; to $69million; to $105million; to $125mil- lion last year; and this year,we should do $140 mil- lion. So, our extent upwards has been tremendous. We grew so much, that in 2013, I started the Matt Laricy Group. I got a storefront in River North,which is in the heart of the downtown Chicago market.” Solely a residential real estate company, the Group works the Windy City’s downtown neighbor- hoods: River North, Streetville, Gold Coast,Old Town, New East Side,West Loop, South Loop, Lincoln Park, West Town,Wicker Park/Bucktown, Lakeview, Logan Square, and The Loop.“It’s not big parcels of land, but there are a lot of people in those parcels,”Laricy states.“Our clients are anybody that buys, sells, or invests in the downtown markets.”The Group con- sists of seven members -five full-time brokers, an executive assistant, and a full-time creative market- ing director. Laricy believes that one key to the Group’s success is its diversification.“A lot of brokers,when they get bigger, they only want to work with a million-dollar buyer or seller.The problem is when the market gets bad, the rich always hold and you lose every- thing-and we’re straight commission,”he explains. “So, I sell $200,000 places to first-time, 24-year old buyers, and I’ll sell a $7million place to a 45-year old CEO of a billion dollar company. It’s good when you have your foot in the door of every single price point, because then it’s really easy to predict the market. I meet with at least three or four people a day who are looking to buy or sell, so I’m collecting data,myself, all day, every day.” Another differentiator is Laricy’s punishing work schedule.“We work harder than our competition,” he declares.“I sleep four hours a night; I work seven days a week; I take 18 days off, a year. I have a three- to- four-hour turnaround time.Any time you call me, I get right back to you, so our response time is great. “Also,we’re always embracing technology. For instance, I’m taking listings off my website.Why is a real estate company taking listings off their web- site? The reality is that with Zillow, and Trulia, and real.com , and homes.com , and HomeFinder, and all these other sites, having listings on your site just clogs it up. People want to go to your site to see who you are, where you work, what kind of technology you have to offer, and then they’ll go Right now, we’re a boutique company. My saying is: ‘think big, choose small.’ Our goal is to provide the best customer service possible. We run a well-oiled ma- chine from start to finish. The minute we get a hold of you to the minute you close, we have a system in place to make the home buying or home selling process as easy as possible. MATT LARICY