Carriage Realty is an independent real estate sales company with experience in selling and managing residential and commercial properties in Northeastern Illinois, more specifically in northern Cook and Lake counties.

A popular misconception is that an independent real estate company cannot do as good a job as a name brand company. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Carriage Realty is a member of two (2) multiple listing services while the name brand companies in our area as a policy are members of just one. Carriage Realty promotes properties in the Tribune, Daily Herald, Pioneer Press, The Advertiser, two most popular and widely circulated real estate magazines.

Two Factors impacted our decision to form Carriage Realty.

It has been said that nothing has impacted modern civilization more since the printing press than the micro chip, i.e., the computer. Those real estate companies that see it as a replacement for a type writer or listing book are missing the many other benefits. Carriage Realty stays on the leading edge of computer technology to take full advantage of its ever broadening power and we require that all agents be computer literate. We even offer the highest compensation in the industry to the agents that have a fully equipped office in their home that matches the capabilities of the main office.

The second factor is a genuine belief that at a time in history when General Motors, IBM and many other companies are down sizing to save operating cost while at the same time looking for ways to provide a better product at a lower price, property owners want the best service at a fair price. Our fee schedule ranges from 2% to 5% depending on the program and variables. That is 1% to 5% less than other companies offering less service. This is possible because we don't pay franchise fees or advertise on national television. We don't believe that a commercial on the David Letterman Show ever sold a house. The only purpose it serves is to convince sellers that they need to pay high commissions to get brand recognition. We would enjoy the opportunity to show you why in real estate brand recognition just doesn't matter.