Background On This Blog
Getting Real is Gary Lucido’s irreverent blog about the Chicago real estate scene – the market, the industry, and the players. Gary is the President of Lucid Realty, which he founded with his partner, Sari Levy, seven years ago out of frustration with the real estate industry. As someone who is still skeptical about the real estate industry, Gary doesn’t mince words and certainly doesn’t toe the party line.
Getting Real has recently been recognized by Movoto as one of the Top 6 Chicago Real Estate Sites Worth Following and by Broadview Networks as one of the Best Real Estate Blogs.
If you have any real estate tips for Gary you can always email him. Heck, if you have something interesting to say you can even write an entire post and Gary will welcome the break. This might be particularly appealing to an industry insider – we’ll link to your site.
About Lucid Realty
Lucid Realty was in the top 1% of the Chicago Association of Realtors’ teams for 2014 and was founded on the principle that full service doesn’t necessarily mean full price. We discount commissions to sellers and rebate a portion of the seller paid commissions to our buyers. In case you missed that…we PAY YOU to buy with us. And by full service, we mean a higher standard of customer service than traditional brokers, because our agents are not merely independent contractors, but rather employees. We don’t just hire anyone who can fog a mirror. You can learn more about Lucid Realty’s philosophy.
More about Gary
Gary brings over 20 years of experience in customer service, finance, operations, and information services, and has an obsessive passion forgetting the job done quickly and correctly. His corporate experience includes many multi-million dollar contract negotiations that resulted in wins for both parties. Prior to working with a well-known traditional real estate brokerage, Gary was President of a national concierge company, where he worked with Sari. He was also one of the founders of Shop Local, a leading provider of Web shopping services for retailers, where he served as the President and Chief Operating Officer, responsible for client services, operations, and technology. His team built the company to more than 150 employees serving most of the top retailers in the country.
Gary’s experience also includes 7 years at Circuit City Stores as Director of Inventory Productivity and Extended Service Plans, where he was responsible for the company’s $500 million warranty program and led Circuit City’s first supply chain initiatives. In addition, he was a Corporate Business Development Manager at General Electric, where he led a one-year customer service improvement study for GE Financial Services. Early in his career he worked in the strategy practice at Booz, Allen & Hamilton, and in corporate finance at Sears, Roebuck and Co.
Gary received a B.S. degree in math and physics from Duke University and an MBA from Northwestern University’s J.L. Kellogg Graduate School of Management,where he concentrated in finance and management policy. He has lived in the Chicago area for over 19 years, including Evanston, Lakeview, Lincoln Park, University Village, and now East Village.
Feel free to email Gary with any real estate questions you might have.