Laricy Properties, a division of Americorp – Chicago, Illinois

October 30, 2024

Laricy Properties, a division of Americorp

Predicting Future Real Estate Trends

With an unparalleled level of service, a focus on high tech, and an eye to the future, this leading Chicago Real Estate Firm continues to dominate

There is very little that can be actively done to sway the real estate market. Beyond a few hard and fast truths such as ‘location, location, location’, and the inevitable effect of interest rate fluctuations, the market will ultimately dictate real estate activity. It is only the very best in the business that can reliably predict market movements and accurately capture future market directions.

For Matt Laricy, CEO and owner of the highly successful downtown Chicago-based boutique real estate agency, Laricy Properties, a division of Americorp, predicting real estate trends is in his DNA. He argues that real estate is merely a reflection of human nature. Understanding how buyers react and sellers think is the golden nugget that leads to continuous success in a business that is known for its cutthroat competition.

Specializing in Chicago condo sales, one only has to look at Laricy Properties’ year-over-year numbers to see that his predictive abilities, along with his highly experienced and motivated team, are paying dividends.

Despite hitting agency number lows, Laricy’s 2023 numbers reflect the highest in the Chicago condo real estate market.

“We are up about 20% year-over-year,” Laricy notes.

“In 2023, I finished number one in every category—number one for sales, number one for several buyer transactions, and number one for sellers transactions.”

This is quite a real estate feat given that “2023 was [technically] one of the worst years I have had. It was the first year I’ve ever gone backwards in my career.”

“This year we are on pace for 2022 numbers and could finish as our best year ever,” Laricy adds.

A Tough Chicago Condo Market

Laricy’s business model is working. This is welcome news given the continued challenges that face realtors navigating Chicago’s downtown condo market.

“We still have a tale of two cities here in Chicago. The high-rise market is very soft, and it is a buyer’s market.”

Laricy argues that this is attributed largely to the reality that people are still nervous about buying in downtown Chicago.

“This is due to the lack of people back to work at the office, an increase in crime, and the perception of ‘badness’ downtown,” he continues.

“Lincoln Park, Lakeview, and other similar neighborhoods— those outside of the immediate downtown area—are on fire; however, there is not enough inventory available to meet this demand.”

It is still the norm for there to be several offers over asking price on properties in these areas, Laricy points out.

“In the downtown markets, on the other hand, there is a lot of negotiating.”

Winning Predictive Strategy

So how does Laricy continue to achieve condo-selling success amid a market reflecting such a dichotomy?

“We are trying to tell people that history repeats itself. Since the dawn of time, humans got together and built cities. This notion that people will not live in the heart of the city and go back to the office for work again is short-sighted to me. People will be back to work.”

Using history as a guide, Laricy elaborates, “People have said this is the new norm, and it is easy to tell people you can work from home when you are rich. Go tell a tech guy who just got laid off that he can keep his job if he goes back to the office and see what he does.”

“Let’s not forget 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, and 2014 when 50 people were applying for one job.”

“Now more and more companies are clamping down just to get people back to work, and with more people back to work, more people will want to live closer to the city again to avoid sitting in traffic for two hours,” Laricy predicts.

“The reality is that everything is changing.”

“We tell our buyers to get in at the bottom. The bottom is now.”

“And the buyers who don’t get in now will look back at these other sales and ask ‘Well, how did they get such a good deal?'”

“Well, they bought at the bottom. You could have done that, but you didn’t,” he states.

Advanced Technology and Forward-thinking Services

Laricy is the first to point out that staying two steps ahead when it comes to technology plays a significant role in real estate predictive success and helps fuel the ability to stay on top of the real estate market.

“We have been ahead of the curve for so long. We have been using things like drones, 3D tours, and podcasting. People are just now utilizing this technology, and we are already in the next tech phase.”

The Laricy Team is now focusing its latest efforts on the newest tech offerings such as the NFC tag.

“It is like Apple Play. You just point your phone at something and it presents something. So if somebody meets us at one of our listings, we don’t hand them paper brochures. They can scan our NFC tag there.”

“When they tap it, they get a full online presentation. We can see what everyone is looking at and get their information so we can then reach back out to them and say ‘Hey you have been looking at these pictures’ and get them back in to buy the place.”

When asked about the use of AI, Laricy is quick to point out its potential in the real estate business, while also acknowledging that it is new and untested in many ways.

“We are trying to embrace AI which is the hot-button topic right now with everyone seeming to brag about it,” he relays.

“Honestly, I am not saying that there may be good ways to utilize it, but I just don’t think that AI is quite there yet if you are a perfectionist like me.”

“AI pictures don’t come out right. I have tried to use it to help us edit our videos, but it is not exactly the way I want it. I feel there is still a learning curve with AI,” he concludes.

While a little skeptical about the impact AI will have on his business, Laricy fully embraces the use of social media.

“We continue to fully utilize social media because it is the wave of the future. We have doubled down on our social advertising and hired a new social media team this year which we have done very well with.”

“I always have new videos out on YouTube as well as Tiktok.”

As for the use of an in-house end-to-end CRM platform, Laricy is clear about his view.

“I don’t like these programs because we find that they frustrate consumers.”

Laricy stands by Google Docs, “Because everyone knows how to use Google. All you have to do is click on it, and we color-code it. They can follow along and watch things move along in real time. They get a checklist where we tick off each task,” he explains.

Predicting Future Success

With an eye to future business growth, Laricy has taken the time to tweak a few services to prepare for what he describes as a downtown Chicago condo market that will soon be very robust.

“We have gotten back to some of the basics,” he offers. “We were only touching base with clients every quarter, but now we started sending a monthly mailer to our clients because not everyone opens their email.”

“We hired a new assistant to take some of the pressure off our other assistants,” he elaborates. “We also hired a new media team for video editing.”

“We just tried to perfect a lot of things that I think we already did extremely well. I feel like I can always do better,” he reflects.

These enhancements are all geared towards being fully prepared to hit the ground running in early 2025.

By assessing as he does best, the buyer mentality, Laricy confidently predicts that the downtown condo market will ignite in the new year.

“It isn’t rocket science, it is just basic human nature. The more you understand how the human mind works, the better you can predict [buyer trends]. I think the way an actual person thinks and then I go about changing my strategy—that is it.”

So what lies ahead?

“Our biggest thing to navigate in the immediate future is going to be what I’m calling the frightful fall.”

“It has been a tougher fall market due to the impending election and the overall uncertainty in the marketplace. I think realtors are prepared for these things and are going to win in the next six months.”

Prepared and equipped for a condo storm in 2025 Laricy sums it up best:

“Once we hit February of next year, the market is going to take off like a rocket ship. I think next year is going to be one of the best years since 2022 for real estate.”

“We are going to build during a little downtime and crush 2025 and make it a record year,” he concludes.