Reviews | Barbara O'Connor

I have had the pleasure of working with Barbara O’Connor for over 20 years . I have NEVER known or worked with another broker who was more diligent, honest and effective than Barbara. The O’Connor group which now includes her equally amazing and hard working broker/daughters Hilary and Claire have sold over 400 properties for me and done so in an extremely professional manner with expert marketing advice on pricing and marketing. I myself have had a brokers license during the entire period that I have worked with Barbara and her group, but could not have handled the volume nor the ability to handle multiple sales office or open houses at multiple sites on same day that the O’Connor group has done for me consistently. Her advice on pricing and marketing has always been on point and helped me and my development company maximize sales volume and profit. Her analysis of value for homes both existing and not yet built has always been “spot on”. You will not find a harder working, nor more effective real estate agent / group to work with than the O’Connor Group . Whether you have one or 100 properties to sell or are looking for property to acquire. There are no better real estate professionals than the O’Connor Group.

I cannot thank you enough for your time and work in selling my West Loop condo. I sincerely appreciated your expertise, willingness to answer my questions, make yourself available at all hours and share your vast resources! I am grateful. I look forward to us working together in the future.

Experience matters. Barbara O'Connor is the consummate real estate professional. Her knowledge of market dynamics, proper listing price and overall strategy is unparalleled. Barbara and her team clearly understood how to sell our home. She communicated with us every step of the process, which removed all the stress. We highly, highly recommend Barbara and her team.

We count our blessings over the Barbara O'Connor Team! We have not had ONE thing that we did not like about how you took care of us, the whole experience has been amazing.

Barbara assisted us in the purchase of our home, and her wisdom, experience, and stellar industry reputation were crucial in our success. We saw our home the day after it was listed for sale, and Barbara expertly negotiated and locked in our contract in just a few hours, before anyone else had a chance to submit an offer. She and Claire made the process feel so easy and seamless, and treated us like members of their own family from start to finish. If you are buying or selling a home in the Chicagoland area and want a smooth and successful experience, working with Barbara O'Connor Group will be your best decision. No team will take better care of you!

Working with Barbara, Hilary and team was a pleasure. They took away the stress from selling the house, took a very proactive approach and communicated effectively throughout the entire process! I'd definitely recommend Barbara and Hilary for any real estate needs.

Working with Barbara and her team is always a great experience. They are always fair, very on top of everything and always a pleasure to be around. Barbara and James were both excellent agents who, while doing a great job representing their client, were very easy to work with.

Barbara and her team did an excellent job selling our home. Not only did she go above and beyond to have the most beautiful photos taken of our property, she also had a professional videographer create an awesome video, take drone footage, and she also had some virtual staging images created to show potential buyers what they could also do to enhance the space. Additionally, Barbara made sure we received the best price for our home. We put a lot of work into updating the property over the time we lived there, and another agent wanted to list our home for much less than Barbara recommended. Not only does Barbara know the neighborhoods well, she has also lived in our neighborhood for many years, giving her insight that other competitors did not have. We couldn't be happier with the outcome of choosing to work with her and her team.

I want both of you to know how much Gary and I appreciate all the professional advice and personal touch you have both brought to selling our house. We interviewed 4 other realtors, and every one of them suggested that our top dollar price was $375,000, and some of them suggested that we would only get that if we invested a few thousand in fixing it up. You were the only team that saw the potential here, and knew the market could bear a higher price. Today our faith in you really paid off! Thanks a billion!

Barb, I'm sure glad that we hired you to sell our parents house at 5507 N. Artesian, which was in our family for 59 years! Your efforts went way, way beyond our expectations including: 1. Getting us at least $50,000 more than we expected for the house. 2. Going way beyond the call of duty to handle many issues that came up along the way. 3. You always exuded the utmost professionalism on every occasion even when it was clear that your mom was not doing so well. 4. Finding us a buyer who I am sure my dad would have liked because he: a) was easy to deal with and b) seems to be one who will respect dad's house, which is as important to us as even the sale. 5. Always keeping your word.

I have been using her for over a dozen years. She sold a Lake Shore Drive 3 bedroom condo for me in 2 weeks - full price. She sold my Edgewater 3 flat in 10 days $29,000 over asking. Want to sell? Call Barbara.

Great combination of personal and professional; patient yet challenging as necessary. Exactly the kind of "partnership" I was looking for.

I'm delighted to celebrate my career as a realtor and my own 10-year anniversary. Barbara O'Connor has been a phenomenal role model and mentor! I'm so grateful to have her and my old pal Yehuda at the Lincoln Square office for day-to-day support. I proudly closed over $10M in sales last year and have achieved a seat among the top 35 agents of the company. I'd like to thank the management team sincerely from the bottom of my heart!

Barbara O'Connor is a fantastic realtor! She gave us recommendations that surprised us. Like leaving some of the colors on the walls. And keeping up a few personal photos out so perceptive buyers felt like this was a home. Barbara did her research and shared her recommended listing price with us for our condo. She was spot on! We had a bidding war after only a week on the market! Barbara also has a magnetic energy which made us feel like we were in good hands. Claire O'Connor is kind and a great communicator. Claire is the Director of Operations & Marketing. We found the marketing of our condo was beyond what we had with other realtors. The photographer took allot of pics that made our place look great. The web site maps photos to a floor plan so a perceptive buyer can see every room at every angle! Awesome! Brittany Lemke is a talented Real Estate Agent. She showed our place in a way that made perspective buyers comfortable talking to her. We received feedback from Britt after showings! We LOVED that! Brit is honest and direct in the best way. Our quick sale had everything to do with her style and skills. As two women selling our home, I can't speak highly enough about the professionalism and special care we felt from Barbara and her team!

Barbara O'Connor is a fantastic realtor! She gave us recommendations that surprised us. Like leaving some of the colors on the walls. And keeping up a few personal photos out so perceptive buyers felt like this was a home. Barbara did her research and shared her recommended listing price with us for our condo. She was spot on! We had a bidding war after only a week on the market! Barbara also has a magnetic energy which made us feel like we were in good hands. Claire O'Connor is kind and a great communicator. Claire is the Director of Operations & Marketing. We found the marketing of our condo was beyond what we had with other realtors. The photographer took allot of pics that made our place look great. The web site maps photos to a floor plan so a perceptive buyer can see every room at every angle! Awesome! Brittany Lemke is a talented Real Estate Agent. She showed our place in a way that made perspective buyers comfortable talking to her. We received feedback from Britt after showings! We LOVED that! Brit is honest and direct in the best way. Our quick sale had everything to do with her style and skills. As two women selling our home, I can't speak highly enough about the professionalism and special care we felt from Barbara and her team!

I owe you and your team an incredible amount of thanks for supporting me throughout the process. I am indeed glad it's over! Thank you so much for going above and beyond to get the place sold. I will be recommending your Dream Town team to anyone who is buying or selling a house in Chicago. You are beyond easy to work with and did a tremendous job.

I want both of you to know how much Gary and I appreciate all the professional advice and personal touch you have both brought to selling our house. We interviewed 4 other realtors, and every one of them suggested that our top dollar price was $375,000, and some of them suggested that we would only get that if we invested a few thousand in fixing it up. You were the only team that saw the potential here, and knew the market could bear a higher price. Today our faith in you really paid off! Thanks a billion!

We had used Dream Town before and were pleased with the experience. They helped us to sell our home and to also find a new one. We would use them again.

A quick note from the sunny south to tell you "hi" and to say that WE SURE WISH your territory extended down here (Tampa area). Having dealt with a Realtor or two since we arrived, we now can say for certain what we felt so strongly in Chicago: You are one in a million!! No one else we talk to seems as smart/real/sincere/competent/nice as you are. Your clients up there are just LUCKY (!) to be able to work with you. Jeff

Barbara and team showed their metal on this one and it's not lost on us. Thank you again. Al & Barb

Heather and I are so glad to have worked together and couldn't be happier with the results. From start to finish you really took control of the situation and got things done... from staging, showing, open house and pursuing every lead out there I was very happy with your aggressive pursuit of a buyer and I think we got top dollar for it which makes me happy. Thank you! Matt Bosman

Sincerely, the services of Team O'Connor-Hebson changed my family's life, and allowed us to move on from what felt like a very dark, endless tunnel into a happy, sunny new life in our LSD co-op just as Baby #2 came to join us. I cannot thank you enough for your expertise and steadfastness throughout. I have already recommended you to several friends and colleagues and will continue to do so. Maaike Almeida

David is not a gusher, and I am, sometimes to a fault. But I think a little gushing is appropriate here. Colin told me when we first signed the listing on Racine, that short sales can be long and messy but that he and Barbara don't quit. Both of those predictions were accurate here. I still have no idea how your team managed to sell Racine and find such a solid buyer for Halsted, and keep everyone on board through the nonsense and delays for an actual closing. You enabled us to largely walk away and go on with our lives for the past year while we trusted you to take care of all the details, and you delivered. I can't express the level of relief we had, ringing in 2013 as single-property owners, and knowing that our home is now quiet and safe and happy, with room for our little family to grow up. Thank you thank you thank you for guiding us through this so expertly. Really, no other gift was necessary at all. David and Maaike Almeida, Lakeview

In making my decision for a professional Realtor, Barbara O'Connor came to mind. I came across her on a piece pf property I was buying. She represented the seller. She was very detailed oriented and it was apparent that she knew the market well. When I had made the decision to list my property, Barbara was with Koening & Strey. About 3 months after Barbara had listed my property, she had come to me letting me know that she had decided to change real estate companies. She had told me she was making the change over to Dreamtown and would I relist with her and her new company. I had no reason not too as she had done everything she said she would and marketed my property well. It was a smooth transaction from the moment it occurred. After the switch of companies, activity on my property had picked up. Barbara had more resources available to her with Dreamtown and along with her experience and professionalism is the reason my unit sold. With out reservation, I would refer any buyer / seller to Barbara O'Connor with Dreamtown. Thank you Barbara!! H. Rue, East Rogers Park

I am writing to commend the service my wife, Vickie, and I received from your agent, Barbara O'Connor and her team, Mary Herman, Jen Geu, and Donna Theisinger. From listing to closing, Barbara arranged and managed the process of the selling of our condo with a level of courtesy and expertise that should thrill you, given the positive reflection her professionalism has on your company. I have already referred Barbara to neighbors and co-workers, and I am confident that they will be equally satisfied with her work. In a time when the Internet and MLS access-selling is making the idea of a "FSBO" sale attractive to many homeowners, brokerage companies need agents whose competence and market experience provide for prospective clients solid reasons not to go it alone in the sale of their homes. Barbara's profile with Baird & WEarner provided just such a rationale for us, and her subsequent advice and efforts on our behalf more than matched the positive expectation created during those initial conversations with her. Thank you for offering to us an agent of Barbara's quality. She is truly an honor to her profession. J. Daignault, Edgewater

As for Barbara O'Connor, she is a highly competent real estate agent and an important part of the Edgewater team. She worked hard to sell this development and the fact that she succeeded made Edgewater more attractive to other businesses and developers. The success of this development was not a slam-dunk. It was (pardon the pun) breaking new ground by offering high quality houses at a new level of pricing for this community. It took quite a skilled team to make it happen. S. Ludkin, Edgewater

"Top shelf" - "Couth, class and excellence" the words that come to mind when I think of you. M. Soehgen, Edgewater

We are all breathing a whole lot easier now and are so grateful that the sale went through successfully. Thank you, on behalf of my entire family, for everything you did to help make this process a lot less difficult. We are very happy we chose you as our realtor and we will be recommending you in the future. M. Blocker, Edgewater

Thank you. I can't tell you how nice it was to work with you and your staff. I hope we can work together again. It meant so much to me that you cared about me as a person and not just a client. I can not even begin to express how grateful I am to have had you as my Real Estate agent. Thank you for all of your time and help getting me into my new home! I am so happy and excited with my decision. The whole process was more stressful and time consuming than I anticipated. Even when I almost gave up hope, you were there to reassure me that I would find something and to not settle for anything. I wish you much success... C. Albrecht, Lakeview

With all of the chaos surrounding our two moves and wedding that followed shortly after we never got the chance to properly thank you for all of our help with the sale of our condo. We were just saying we can't believe it was a year ago already! Thanks again for all of your help; I can't tell you how much it helped having someone in our corner during what was a really stressful time for both of us. A. Fildes, Irving Park

Barbara O'Connor sold my home this summer (July 2010) in the Budlong Woods area of Chicago. She is an expert in the field and I would say without a doubt one of the top real estate agents in the Chicago area. It's not just Barbara's professionalism that makes her exceptional but more than that it is her compassion and understanding of the individual seller who she represents. Barbara is dedicated to her profession and did her best for me in all areas of selling e.g. determining the listing price, marketing, showings and negotiating the contract -- all this in a difficult time in the real estate market. Her honesty, integrity and experience combine to make her an outstanding real estate agent. I would highly recommend her to anyone who is thinking of buying or selling a home in Chicago. Vicky Obis, Budlong Woods