Lisa Kay – @properties

Although I don’t necessarily disagree with the other posters who have praised her tenacity, my most recent experience with her leads me to question whether she has her client’s best interest at heart.
While there were a number of problems with the transaction that aren’t worth going into, my biggest complaint is that Lisa did not disclose the fact that she intended to list our place with an unequal broker split with the larger portion going to her and her agency (@properties). After several conversations with both her and her managing broker where I expressed my belief that the unequal split should have been disclosed in the listing agreement as opposed to simply stating the «gross» commission, I finally sent the following e-​mail to them which they promised to answer but have yet to respond:
Lisa, here are the questions I was looking to get answered. In an nutshell, I feel that your behavior has been at the very least unethical and could be construed as fraudulent. In my attempts to get your side of the story regarding my concerns you have been nothing but combative towards me to the point where I am now considering action against you and @properties. Your thoughtful answers to the following questions would be appreciated.
$ 350 Fee
1) The @properties marketing agreement we signed called for a $ 350 fee to be paid by us when entering into the contract. What does this fee represent?
2) When entering into our marketing agreements in 2013 then again in 2014 why didn’t you collect this mandatory fee at the start of the engagement?
3) Have you ever waived or picked up the fee yourself? If so, under what circumstances do you not collect the fee from your client?
4) If in the past you have not charged your clients the $ 350 fee, is the cost picked up by you or does @properties waive the fee altogether?
5) Has @ properties provided any training or direction regarding the handling of the fee?
Unequal Agent Split
1) Our current agreement provides for a 3.5%/2.5% agent split with the larger portion going to @properties. Were these terms disclosed in our listing agreement?
2) Many standard marketing agreements provide for both the gross commission and the respective splits between agents. Has @properties ever discussed with you why they have purposely omitted the broker splits in the contract provided by them?
3) How do you decide what split to set when entering into an agreement? Are the terms mandated by @properties?
4) Do you feel that the allocation of the gross commission should be disclosed to a client before they enter into a listing agreement? If not, explain.
5) Do you agree with the premise that most buyers agents are more likely to direct clients to properties having higher splits provided to them? (eg. Most agents would prefer to make more money rather than less.)
6) If you answered «no» to the previous question, why wouldn’t you list the property with a more favorable (5%/1%) split to yourself if the amount of the opposing broker’s commission doesn’t effect their willingness to bring clients to our property?
In short, I think Lisa cares more about her relationship with @properties than she does the interest of her clients. If you choose to use her I would make sure that all fees are disclosed upfront as it seems as though she is under pressure from her agency to maximize their commission which to me contradicts her fiduciary responsibility to her clients.

My boyfriend and I decided we wanted to move to Chicago from Ohio and had no idea where to begin looking. We found Lisa and she was wonderful. She sent us many places to look at online that met all our requirements. She then went on to schedule showings of the apartments with our friends that live in the city. She was very patient with us and our friends. Once we found the place we wanted she helped get everything ready. The day we arrived to chicago my parents truck broke down with the u-​haul truck attached on lake shore drive. Lisa was nice enough to go with my boyfriend to find my parents and help us find a place to fix the truck. She went above and beyond for us. She made our moving to a different state a lot easier on us.

We found our way to Lisa Kay (unintentional but fun rhyme!) pretty randomly — but I now believe fate had something to do with it.
My boyfriend and I began discussing taking advantage of this crazy buyer’s market, and then my dad got in on the conversation. He’s retired and bored so he decided to troll the Internet for condos for us. He found one represented by Lisa Kay from Coldwell Banker, gave her a call, and set us up on a date with her. We didn’t buy that first condo, in fact, we didn’t buy one for another year, but Lisa stuck with us and never made us feel pressured on the biggest purchase of our lives thus far.
You know that Canadian lady on HGTV’s Property Virgins? Well, Lisa could kick her ass when it comes to guiding first-​time home buyers like us. She didn’t just find us the perfect condo after seeing 30+ across the city. She was informative, patient, and made driving around for entire Saturdays of condo-​searching FUN.
Lisa helped us find a phenomenal lender (Professional Mortgage Partners/​Vince Kueffner), and we should have taken her advice on an attorney too since ours was kinda flaky (Lisa kept him in line though!). Unilocal got us our inspector (search: Speaker of the House Property Inspections), and the rest is history.
As a first-​time home buyer, this was a frightening process, but Lisa took us through the whole process with lots of laughs and I’m now happy to call her my friend.

This little lady from New York is just what you want of someone with those credentials… Fun, Sprightly, Savvy, Insightful, No-​nonsense, and did I say fun? After working with a realtor that didn’t listen to me and just didn’t seem to care about my less than lofty budget, I called little Lisa who I had met at a party.
She found me the place that I wanted in the area that I wanted for less than the price that I wanted. Her attorney was also amazingly tenacious and so smart which came in so handy when dealing with the sleazy developer’s attorneys.
I would recommend Lisa to any and everyone, she is amazing at what she does and she is joy to work with!
I can happily call her my friend, but when I sell I know who I am calling.

Knowledgeable. Professional. Helpful. And a heckuva good time.
Lisa Kay made buying my first home super fun, stress-​free and very rewarding. Thanks to her, I found a dreamy 2-​bed, 2-​bath condo on a 1-​bed, 1-​bath budget! As if that wasn’t enough, she even got me 307 square feet of terrace space and a parking spot to boot!
She narrowed in on what I wanted right away, finding me the perfect place on the first day we went out looking!
The best part is that I didn’t just find a phenomenal real estate agent, but I also made a wonderful new friend in Lisa.
But don’t let her friendly nature and quirky sense of humor fool you. When it comes down to negotiating, Lisa is focused, strategic and 110% business. Thanks to her tenacious negotiating skills, I got an INCREDIBLE price on a place that I couldn’t have afforded otherwise.
And she didn’t stop there. Lisa has been an invaluable help to me throughout the entire process, offering recommendations for fantastic lawyers, mortgage bankers and even home staging specialists to help me with the décor and furniture layout for my very unique floor plan. She even took me to my home inspection to ensure that everything was up to her standards.
For all of these reasons and more, I can’t recommend Lisa enough!