Communities I Serve

Northern Illinois - Gurnee, Lake Villa, Lindenhurst

Lake County, IL

Northeast Illinois

Southeast Wisconsin

Blogsite

www.OnTheBorderRealEstate.com

About Me

Karin is a licensed broker associate in the states of IL and WI. Although born in Hamburg, Germany, her parents came to the US when she was quite young and after growing up and being schooled in Milwaukee, she married and moved to Des Plaines, IL, but has resided in Lake County for over 25 years.

Karin acquired an in-depth knowledge of residential construction practices via construction management positions from 1986-1999, working for builders who specialized in a variety of home types from apartment buildings to new construction starter homes to large subdivisions of tract homes to additions in excess of $2,000,000 on Chicago's North Shore.

Selling real estate from 2000-2005, Karin accepted a management position with AMC Mortgage (a subprime lender and now part of Citi Residential Lending) as their Schaumburg REO department manager (bank-owned properties). Her staff was responsible for disposition of hundreds of foreclosed properties each month.

After gaining a broad knowledge of the secondary mortgage market (institutional investor-owned pools of mortgages), Karin became a remote asset manager (selling foreclosed, bank-owned properties) for Coldwell Banker REOExperts (a Florida-based outsourcer for major bank clients, selling their reacquired properties), primarily in midwest states.

This knowledge base gives Karin a unique insight into what the banks needs are in selling their foreclosed properties, thereby making negotiations with the banks a much simpler, less stressful process for her buyers. Having sold literally thousands of properties over the past 4 years for bank clients also gives Karin strong negotiation skills that work in any environment, not just with bank-sellers. Last, but not least, Karin's construction background creates an awareness of costs involved in repairs, updates, and renovations; thereby better able to present an accurate comparative market analysis to sellers when listing their properties, and guidance to buyers before negotiations begin on a property of their choice.

With core knowledge that applies to buyers as well as sellers, investors as well as homeowners, Karin has worked in many venues within the scope of residential real estate in both up and down markets, and brings a competency to the table that is reflected in consistent client satisfaction.