- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Movies |
- All
Saffron Realty Group
Rating Details »
Categories: Real Estate Agents, Real Estate Services [Edit]
Neighborhood: Humboldt Park2538 W Chicago Ave
(between Maplewood Ave & Rockwell St)
Chicago, IL 60622
(773) 496-4111
Need To List Your Property?
Free C.M.A.
Just call us at 773 496-4111 to discuss how Saffron Realty Group can help you out!
- Hours:
Mon-Sun. 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
19 reviews for Saffron Realty Group
Ron Knoll = Amazing.
Ron is one of the co-owners of this real estate firm (the Ron in Saffron) and despite the extra paperwork that must come with the title, he was there for us every step of the way.
My then-boyfriend (got engaged during the house-hunt and not even my mom was as excited as Ron!) and I were first time buyers and went to Saffron directly because of their Yelp rating. Ron called me back right away and talked with me about our needs. We *thought* we wanted a foreclosure property. We *thought* we wanted a fixer-upper. After seeing exactly what that means in this economy, we hastily revised our wants/needs/desires and opened up our search range and Ron just rolled with it, never pushed or pulled at us.
We took a home buying class before starting our search which probably made us a dangerous combination - both with too much and too little knowledge of the home buying process. Ron had great suggestions for us and never balked at our requests - even when one of them included moving our close date up by a month. Never a doubt that it would happen - and it did!
We did take him up on his suggestion of lawyers (Michelle Laiss - fabulous!) and his mortgage guy (Jeff came to our small, hot apartment to fill out the paperwork!) and couldn't be happier with their work as well.
All in all, Ron was amazing. He was there with us despite the fact his first child was born just a few hours after one of our outings (sorry Mrs!) We took longer than the average buyer and saw probably 50+ houses, but couldn't be happier 8 weeks after closing the deal.
Ron Knoll = awesome
The hubs and I were first time home buyers. We had our stuff in order (for the most part) before we began the search, but as all newbies eventually realize, there's so much more that we don't know. Ron was always there...either by email, text or phone... to answer our questions.
I honestly don't think the process could have gone any smoother. Right from the get-go, Ron had us out looking at houses that were exactly what we were looking for. And he was NOT pushy - never once did he show us a house that was out of our range (which was very thoughtful considering we were operating on a tight budget). Within 2 weeks of beginning our search, we had put an offer in and successfully signed a contract! Ron was EXTREMELY helpful in the negotiating portion (the part we felt most unsure about) and helped us get a great deal on a fabulous "diamond in the rough" (with an amazing frisbee yard ;o).
Another great service that Ron (and Saffron) offered was their list of attorneys, inspectors, contractors, etc. We've only been in the city for 2 years, so finding quality people to help us through the process was important. We went with Ron's recommendations on attorney (Michelle Laiss) and inspector (Michelle Teague) and both were super.
Something we also want to make note of is that over the course of the two months we worked with Ron there was a family death and the birth of his first child. No matter what, he was there for us. He made sure that our contract was sent through, that we had someone there with us during the inspection...and he made sure he was there for our final walk through and closing. That's more than we had expected given the tumultuous times...but he did it anyways!
In closing...as I mentioned earlier (and I can't reiterate it enough)...this process was smoother than we had ever expected. And I can guarantee it was all because of Ron!
Ron Knoll = awesome
I became a first time home-owner this year, and Bob and Becca were ridiculously awesome in assisting and guiding me through the process. I was very uncertain about the whole ordeal going into it, but they were extremely thorough in explaining every detail that I needed to know about, and more than patient in dealing with what ended up being a better-part-of-the-year search.
While I had some rough ideas as to what I was looking for, they were incredibly motivated to help me find exactly what I was looking for, without pushing me to hurry or settle. Aside from being exceptionally capable, they are also super friendly, great people. I could not have asked for anything more.
The folks here are very good realtors. The office is inviting too!
I reccomend anyone that works in this office they do justice to Humboldt Park
Jennifer is by far the best thing that could have happened to us when we started looking around to buy our first place. We were super green and had no idea what to expect, and we ran into just about every hurdle you could imagine. Luckily, Jennifer helped us navigate through all of it; she not only found incredible solutions to our problems but also kept us from pulling our hair out. Even better, she is super quick with her responses and made us feel like we were always her top priority.
We couldn't be more happy with our new home, and there is no way we would have been able to make it work without Jennifer's help. I will definitely be recommending her overzealously to anyone who even thinks they might start looking for a place.
My fiancee and I just bought a condo, with the assistance of Erin Duncan of Saffron Realty. We were very happy with her services, and she made herself available to us on evenings and weekends many times throughout the process. She was laidback and very pleasant. Saffron Realty seems to have a great knowledge of properties in the West Town and Logan Square areas. For first-time home buyers, it was a real asset to have the assistance of Saffron Realty and Erin Duncan.
Let me start off with saying I am a Realtor in Texas (formerly a Realtor in Chicago) and I know the real estate business and many Realtors in Chicago. Bob Safranski is a first class Realtor and my choice when I have a real estate needs in Chicago. I have sent many referrals to him and he has treated everyone like gold (even though some of them were tuff to deal with).
He is currently helping me with a short sale. When I could not find a lawyer to work with on such a unique case he went way out of his way and found one of the best law firms I have worked with.
If you want first class marketing, someone who is committed to helping you achieve your goals, a skilled negotiator, a Realtor who will stay in touch, remove much of the stress and who knows the local market well then Saffron Realty & Bob Safranski are the only choice.
11/24/08 Update....
Saffron Realty SOLD MY CONDO!!!!!!
Better yet- I didn't lose any money!
Bob and Becca worked their butts off in a very cooperative manner. The teamwork was great. In this crazy market, they helped us pull off a miracle by working really hard to get the deal done.
1 Previous Review: Show all »
-
1/12/2008
Saffranski has been my agent for six years. He put up with my bullshit, worked with me through… Read more »
As newbies to the real estate/home owning world (and after hearing some horror stories about it from other friends), we were pretty nervous and cautious about how to even get started on the right foot here. However, thanks to a referral towards Bob Saffranski from a good friend of ours, we landed in what I would consider to be a perfect real estate experience working with Saffron Realty. Bob and Becca are absolutely incredible, hands down. From our initial meeting just to say Hi (filled with things like, "OK, um....rookie question for you..."), all the way through our months of searching together, their patience, guidance, and experience was unreal, and made our home search a huge pleasure. And, now we are inspected, contracted, about to be officially mortgaged, and weeks away from moving into our first place!
We could not recommend working with this company, and specifically Bob and Becca, more!
I strongly recommend using Saffron Realty to sell your home. Bob's a smart guy that knows how to read both the market and the potential buyer. I did not think I stood a chance to sell my condo before my upcoming move and was about to put it on the rental market. At Bob's suggestion I kept it on the market for a few more weeks. He and Becca gave up their weekends and scheduled several open houses.
I know he had other properties and clients he was dealing with but I felt like I was the only one. Believe me that my condo was a tough sell. I think there were some 500 other 2 BR 2 BA within a 1 mile radius on the market at the time.
Thanks for the great treatment, Bob, and our move went great!
Hands down the best in the business. Ron Knoll was our realtor and he just goes the extra mile. I met the other owner, Bob, and you could tell he was the same way. I think Ron is a member of the ethics board or something like that, so you know they are not going to take advantage of you.
We must have looked at 12-20 places before we settled on the one we wanted. Ron was amazing. He was flexible and very understanding when we walked in....and 20 seconds later walked out b/c we knew it was not the place for us. I have since been by the office and the whole staff is super friendly. Plus, they have an amazing website that lets you search the MLS and you don't have to worry about them stalking you:)
HIGHLY recommend!
Bob and Becca worked miracles selling our Lincoln Park condo in the toughest economic times! They are the most professional, trustworthy, honest and down to earth realtors we've ever had the pleasure of working with and frankly have become like family to us.
Our story began when my husband and I moved from Chicago to California in 2007 and initially left our condo in the hands of another realtor from a national franchise Keller Williams. The KW realtor didn't act in our best interests, including scheduling open houses and not showing up, not notifying us when he saw there was water damage resulting from heavy storms, not advertising the home, etc. Finally after a year with no sale and a downward housing market, my husband and I got fed up and decided to look for another realtor. Since we no longer lived in Chicago, we searched the internet for reviews on realtors and ended up seeing glowing reviews of Bob on YELP and thought we'd give them a try. We couldn't have made a better decision!
They did amazing marketing on our property, bringing in heavy traffic and gave us periodic updates on the activity with our place. Even when the condo experienced basement leakage problems (that stemmed from our condo association's common area basement), which put the sale of my home on hold, Bob and Becca stepped up to the plate and never gave up on us. They got quotes from several drain tile contractors, brick wall contractors and painters AND scheduled all contractor appointments, sacrificing all their personal time to oversee ALL the work (since we lived out of state). And since we had condo common area problems, Bob and Becca even helped us with what we should be communicating to our condo association. THEN, when my husband and I had family issues to deal with, Bob and Becca were so compassionate. They lightened our load, kept us optimistic about our home and handled things in our absence for us with ease. They never let us down and are simply AMAZING. Imagine trusting a total stranger you've never met face-to-face with the keys to your home...but with Bob and Becca, there's no other set of realtors out there that we now trust more. We currently live in California and wish we could use them for all our real estate transactions! We are referring them to all our friends in Chicago.
Bob and Becca are a true dream team!!! If any of you need references on Bob and Becca or have any questions on their performance, PLEASE send me a message and I'd be happy to elaborate. Words can't express how phenomenal these two are!
Bottom line......Bob is the best realtor I have ever used. I will never use anyone else, no matter where I buy in Chicago. Bob has helped me buy a number of properties, including my first investment building. He also helped me find an excellent tenant for my rental property.
Saffron Realty is built on generating personal relationships as opposed to generating numbers. Bob took the time to find out what I was exactly looking for and tailored my searches to meet those needs. My searches with Bob rarely took longer than a few weeks because he was so good at finding properties that interested me, although I suspect he would be just as enthusiastic at helping me if my search took a few months.
I recommend Saffron to all my friends because Bob and crew have made my life so much easier when it came to buying property in Chicago.
Saffron Realty was as professional a real estate broker as I have ever had. They worked closely with me to assess the marketplace, list my home, market my home in the most effective manner and close. I would recommend Saffron Realty and Ron Knoll to anyone looking for a home in the Chicagoland area.
Ron Knoll and his company, Saffron Realty, are GEMS in a sea of confusion, namely a volatile real estate market and curt real estate agents.
My husband and I began our search like many do - on our own, just browsing open houses and trying to figure out how to go from apartment to "home".
Ron found us, then the three of us found our DREAM HOME. But this dream would have never been a reality had it not been for Ron's honesty with us and shrewd business savvy when it came to our interests.
We owe him a large part of our happiness, and have thought of him often over the past year - when we drank our wonderful champagne house warming gift and opened several warm greeting cards, in signature red and orange of course.
I'm not sure if I should hit "Post" on this Yelp, because truthfully I'd like to keep Saffron Realty to ourselves ;)
We were first-time home buyrers and although we did as much homework as possible, we still didn't know what we were in for. In general I am a little apprehensive about anybody that stands to make a good deal of money off of my business and was wary of feeling pressured to make a purchase. I tend to get really defensive in those situations.
With Ron we struck gold. Ron is intense, his passion for what he does comes through. He was very patient with us and heard our concerns and addressed them. He is highly knowledgeable and makes use of whatever technologies are available to him. He was always prepared for every one of our meetings, having comps, talking about the neighborhoods, he was always "there" with us, he never seemed to be thinking of other clients/issues. To sum it up he is "Sharp as a tack", is what comes to mind.
Early in our buying we were only looking at bungelows, but Ron suggested we check out a house just to see.... we fell in love with it. In the end we had really difficult negotiations (weeks of back and forth) on this house and eventually we walked away just before sigining on the dotted line. Ron was very supportive of our decision, even though we were "this" close. I really appreciated the fact that he was supportive of our choices and didn't pressure us to make decisions. He would provide very clear timelines of how things should work and the consequences of acting on some information (or not acting on it).
About a month later we found our bungelow in the price range we wanted. We've been here for 9 months and are thrilled with our purchase.
I would highly recommend Ron Knoll to anybody.
I have been working with Bob at Saffron for the past 3 months--and I have to tell ya. The Company, and Bob in particular, are AMAZING. I have worked in the RE biz my whole life, and I can honestly say that I've never experienced service of this kind.
I contacted Bob to help me do my first personal investment property, and the entire time we worked together, I literally felt like I was his only client. Rather than just send me the MLS link to ALL of the 600 or so properties that fit my criteria--Bob sorted through all the listings, and screened the best ones for us to visit. Whether weekends, late nights, emails, phone calls--you name it. Bob is there, and he is the man. He is seasoned, knows the business, and will tell it to you straight. No sales BS, just honesty, good advice, and hard work.
If you are looking for help finding a property in Chicago, for the love of God, call Bob at Saffron.
---UPDATE---1/29/09
Yesterday, I closed on the best multifamily deal ON EARTH, all thanks to Bob. When he first showed me the listing, I said "Nah lets pass on this one." Bob said, "Trust me, lets just have a look." Turns out it was a foreclosure (read: tough but AMAZING deal), and by far the BEST DEAL I have ever looked at--the best that Bob and I have seen in our (ehem) one year of working together, and not doing a deal. And now, I OWN A BUILDING! Bob is incredible. Cmon, a real estate broker with undisputed FIVE STARS on Yelp?! Call Bob. He is the King.
Bob is awesome! I met Bob in late 2003 when he was actually working for another local realty office and I was looking to sell my condo in Logan Square. I was expecting the property to be on the market for a few months. However, to my surprise, within a few weeks it was sold at near listing price. I attribute this to Bob's knowledge of the market and his relentless dedication to working with both buyer and seller to get the deal done.
At that same time, Bob was helping me find a new place in Oak Park. I was very grateful to have his knowledge and insight when looking at each of the properties. He was extremely patient even though I wasn't quite sure what kind of property I really wanted. We must of went through 30+ properties before I finally settled on one.
I just recently completed the purchase of an investment property through Bob. With his help, we were able to negotiate and close the deal in about 4 weeks! Bob's roledex of contacts, from attorneys to lenders to contractors, were equally impressive in their own areas of expertise.
I've recommended Bob to several friends who have in turn recommended him to their friends and they have all had positive experiences. I would highly recommend Bob to anyone who is looking to buy or sell real estate!
If i could give more stars i would. Bob and Becca made buying my first home so easy and enjoyable i wish i had more money to do it all over again. They worked around my hours and days off, giving up there own free time to help. I wish that more people were dedicated and passionate about there careers like Bob and the rest of the Saffron Group.
