Home is both Old Memories and New Possibilities.

I just got back into town earlier this week from Chicago to go to a Seder with my wife, parents, sister, and her husband. (I hope all of you have a good Easter, Passover, and Ramadan.) It was quite a whirlwind week.  It also helped me remember what people go through when moving and how “stuck” and emotional moving can be.

Last Thursday evening, We Won Best Brokerage of the Year by readers of the Palm Beach Post!  Congratulations for helping to make that occur!

The next morning at 4:30am, me and my wife, Veronica got up and drove to PBI for a trip to Chicago.  Some office colleagues got me opening day tickets to the White Sox game.  I’ve been to a Super Bowl, World Series, and Stanley Cup but never to opening day. I’m grateful for them making that happen for me.

When we arrived, the weather was in the 40’s, grey skies, and trees not just ready to bud.  Palm Beach is so warm, green, blue and vibrant. That difference was striking.

For 4 days, it was a trip down memory lane.  I visited old homes I grew up in (even walked into one that was being remodeled), schools, places I worked (Western Textile, Ravinia, golf course I caddied at) stores, and much more.

We lived on a street called Tanglewood Court (I guess a Court and not a Street?) when I was 4-13.  I took a photo as I remembered the house.  Me sitting criss cross on the front lawn where I played when I was little.  I still think of that home as my primary home when I think of Chicago.  I even stopped in at a very good friend of mine’s Mom, Mrs. Hoseman. Her husband passed last year.  When I called her last year to give condolences, I realized, I hadn’t heard her voice in maybe 35 years when I was still a teenager. She answered the door and invited us in. We talked for an hour.  2 of her kids moved away and one stayed nearby.  She was staying put as she was happy in her home.  Perhaps if one of her kids moved away or the house was too big, maybe she would have moved.

We went to restaurants that have been around 40+ years.  Barnaby’s thin crust pizza smelled and tasted just as I remembered it. It’s interesting how smell, touch, taste affects you. I know every nook of the drive from the Edens to 90-94 to the Ohio Street feeder ramp.  We went to a Bulls game and Sox game.  I forgot how friendly the Midwest is. We stayed a block away from our first apartment (420 East Ohio) in Streeterville.  I walked the mornings along the lake off of Lakeshore Drive.  I always walked North past the John Hancock building, the beach and toward Lincoln Park.   Lots of great memories.

On our last day, Tuesday morning, though I decided to walk a different path. I went under the underpass and made a right going north at Navy Pier.  I realized the reason I never went South is there wasn’t a path on the lakefront side that went over the Chicago River.  However, now they had built one and I was able to.  I headed towards the Shedd Aquarium, Soldier Filed and McCormick Place.  On the lake, workmen were working hard fixing up individual piers on the Chicago Harbour for boats that would soon be coming in as spring approaches later.  I saw different sides of the buildings and noticed things I never would have with new perspective and a fresh viewpoint.  When I walked back through the tunnel and was leaving the underpass I noticed a plaque …..Faith in New Possibilities and Courage to Advocate Them.  Jane Addams. I took some of that message as inspiration.

Right after, I hopped on a call with a wonderful past client.  They thought about putting the house on the market a few years back but were not ready.  They were looking at new possibilities of building a dream home out West.  Finally that dream opportunity was coming to fruition and having a smaller place here solved a problem of being closer to home.

Our clients go through this a lot…….

When we moved from Chicago, it was time to move on.  I loved Chicago but family and lots of friends and my work had moved away.  It was a place with some close friends, restaurants, and sports teams but it wasn’t the same home anymore. I dreaded our kids growing up without Grandparents close by. Without your family and work life, a place is just a place.  You can always visit that past home in your mind and it’s important to do so but you must keep moving forward. Our kids now reside in Florida and when I think of home it’s the house we raised them in here in Jupiter and have lived in for 20+ years.

It was a reminder for me of how hard and emotional it can be when you love a place.  We all have new challenges in our everyday lives and goals within our business.  Echo has lots of challenges of growth in Martin and South Palm Beach County, more market growth in NPC. There are things we are looking to implement at a faster pace and accomplish in all aspects of our business and personal lives.

Veronica sked me what I saw “new” about Chicago.  For a place I knew so well, it was the lesson of going South (toward Florida), to take the wonderful old memories with me but to always look at new possibilities and implement them.

Jeff Lichtenstein, originally from Chicago, got his start in the home furnishings textile business where he traveled over 35 weeks a year selling fabrics. After the family business was sold, Jeff moved to Florida and became a real estate agent. Today he is the owner and broker of Echo Fine Properties, a luxury residential brokerage voted best brokerage of the year. Jeff manages a non-traditional model of real estate that mimics a traditional business model. Echo has 80 agents, an average of one million dollars per transaction and over 500 million in annual sales. Between traveling for work and annual family trips to national parks with his wife and 2 now adult children, Jeff has visited 49 states. He is also one of the few Chicago White Sox fans you’ll ever meet.  Some publications he has been quoted in.

Feel free to ask him a question directly at [email protected] including a complimentaryreal valuation of your home.