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Willing to go the extra miles for a sale

Mary Umberger | House & Homes: On Real Estate

January 25, 2009

How far would you go to find buyers for Chicago's priciest condos? How about Dubai?

That's where Chicago real estate broker Tricia Fox hopes to snag the attention of international real estate investors and high-net-worth buyers, thousands of whom are expected to visit the wealthy emirate on the Arabian Gulf for the 5th annual International Property Show Feb. 15 to 17.

"I'm trying to think outside the box," said Fox, a specialist in downtown properties for Keller Williams Gold Coast Realtors. "We've gone for the world."

The Dubai show's promoters say 33,000 attendees have registered. Though the primary focus of the show is Middle Eastern real estate, attendance is international, with strong representation from Europe, she said.

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She's looking to flag the attention of wealthy international buyers, who, she says, are increasingly interested in second homes in Chicago. She is working in Chicago with Australian buyers, and agents on her staff have Russian clients, Fox said.

Chicago's reputation is getting a long-overdue update internationally and may finally be shedding some of its Al Capone rap, Fox said.

"Two years ago, when I would meet people [from abroad] at conventions, they would make noises like a machine gun," she said. "Now they're not doing that."

She credits most of the Chicago redemption to exposure on the Internet, President Barack Obama and the city's Olympic bid, though she says some of that progress has been tempered by the worldwide publicity generated by the Gov. Rod Blagojevich scandal.

Fox and her staff have bought a booth at the Dubai show, where they'll continuously show a video about the city produced by the Olympic-bid committee.

"Whether or not we get the Olympics, it has put us on the map," she said. "People overseas are saying to me, 'I didn't realize you have the Third Coast, with nearly an ocean.'

"For the first time, they're giving us a serious look," Fox said.

Previously, she said, international buyers have shopped for properties primarily in San Francisco and New York. "They wanted waterfront, and they wanted city. We have both, and our prices are better than those two markets."

Although economic conditions certainly have affected the very high end of the market that she specializes in, she said that bracket tends to operate in its own little world, and some properties are doing well.

Nonetheless, she sees a change in what buyers are seeking at that level—$1 million and up in downtown Chicago and the Gold Coast.

"The majority of our buyers have two or three homes," Fox said. "They're price-conscious, for sure. It used to be location, location, location, and now it's price, price, price."

No longer, she said, is it likely that those buyers will pick out a condo and plan on an extensive renovation.

"They don't seem to be in the mood for a gut job, or something they have to redo," Fox said.

And, perhaps, they're looking at real estate anew.

"A client I met said, 'I've lost $3 million [in the stock market]. I wish I had put it in real estate.' "

The economy also inspired the client to decide maybe it's time to live a little, Fox said.

"She also went out and bought herself a Bentley."

What goes around ...

These days, home builders are scrambling to find ways to get consumers to sign that purchase contract. One of those ways is to offer home features that buyers are unlikely to get in older homes.

Builder magazine recently offered a Top 10 list of hard-to-pass-up home goodies that are relatively affordable for builders to install. Their favorites include: radiant-heat bathroom floors, glass-tile backsplashes in kitchens and baths and central vacuum systems. Green-minded buyers will want low-flow showerheads, dual-flush toilets and on-demand water heaters, the magazine said.

I winced, though, at one choice because it's so retro in a marketplace that covets granite: That would be butcher-block countertops on kitchen islands and bars. Older buyers will see butcher-block as nostalgic, younger ones will see it as new, the magazine says.

Hear Mary Umberger at 12:49 and 11:15 p.m. Tuesdays and Thursdays and at 10:30 a.m. Saturdays and Sundays on WGN-AM 720. Write to her at: House & Homes, Chicago Tribune, 435 N. Michigan Ave., Chicago, IL 60611 or e-mail

housingnews@comcast.net.