Customer Wants Value. We’re All Over It.

By Anthony Caciopo

A routine correspondence between our Customer Care Department and a person browsing our website led to an interesting thought about that classic old real estate axiom of "location, location, location."

Kyle O. registered for a search on OwnACondo.com and left us a comment stating that he is looking for rental condos under a certain price per month. Our customer care manager asked  for a general idea of where Kyle would like to live, and Kyle replied via email:

"I know this sounds vague, but I am willing to look anywhere that gives me the most bang for my buck.  I will need a reasonable commute from any location as I work on Randolph/Wells. The areas I was initially interested in were Lakeview, UIC area, and Lincoln Park.  With that said, if a unit in Evanston provides me a better situation I will gladly look into that. "

We thanked Kyle for his reply and have already gotten to work on his behalf. We didn't find any difficulty whatsoever with Kyle's description. He has a wide range of interesting and desirable communities, and we should be able to hook him up without problem. But beyond the locations he specified, what we heard especially loud and clear was his stipulation that he is "willing to look anywhere that gives me the most bang for my buck."

Value has always been important to consumers, of course. But currently, we've noticed more and more consumers demand the very best deal possible, whether they are renting or buying real estate. Obvious? Sure, but that wasn't necessarily the case just a few short years ago, when buyers were grabbing properties at top-dollar prices, often not daring to make an offer less than asking price for fear of being passed up by someone else who was willing to pay more.

We understand and we can help, because we're not only in the business of real estate, but we're consumers, too, and a desire for the best possible value is never far from our minds.