Utmost Real Estate Group, a boutique brokerage that has served Chicago since 2019, has affiliated with CENTURY 21, the company has announced. This increases the brand’s presence in the Chicago metro area.
The company is led by Grace Ryu, who first entered the real estate industry in 2006 and has since become a key resource for the local Korean-American real estate community. Ryu, who is Korean-American herself, and the majority of her affiliated agents are bilingual and frequently work with clients of Korean descent on residential and commercial sales.
Now doing business as CENTURY 21 Utmost, Ryu and her sales team will have access to the CENTURY 21® brand’s technology and marketing, lead generation, agent learning and coaching, and innovative productivity platform to help better serve and deliver the highest quality of service to homebuyers, homesellers and investors, a release noted.
Based in Wheeling, the firm serves the northwest, northeast and western regions of the Chicago metropolitan area. Ryu will leverage her affiliation with the CENTURY 21 brand to open a second office in the northern part of Naperville. She will fuel additional firm growth by tapping into the CENTURY 21 brand’s extensive network, ample referral channels, robust professional development and recruiting programs, and state-of-the-art technology.
“After four years as an independent firm, I knew that in order to provide the best service to my affiliated agents and valued clients, and fuel growth, I needed the additional resources of a strong franchise brand,” said Ryu. “Equally important was finding a brand whose values aligned with ours and the CENTURY 21® brand was the stand out. They understand the many challenges that independent brokerages face and have been eager to help us implement solutions and provide support to help us grow. Not only do we have the tools and technology to bolster our firm’s presence in the market, but we also have the ability to uphold the core values of our company’s unique culture.”
The firm is already reputable within the local Korean community, however, as a CENTURY 21 affiliated company, Ryu will focus on expanding the firm’s client base to serve an even more diverse clientele.
“Grace’s main focus is growth, which is definitely in our wheelhouse,” said Mike Miedler, president and CEO of Century 21 Real Estate LLC. “As part of the CENTURY 21 network, Grace and her team will have an enhanced value proposition that will help them compete in the Chicago marketplace while staying true to their founding principles. We are thrilled to welcome them to the CENTURY 21 family.”
For more information, visit https://www.century21.com/.