Today we’d like to introduce you to Karla Thomas.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Karla. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
Real Estate accidentally became my passion. I have a degree in Mechanical Engineering and an MBA from Northwestern. I rode the corporate escalator for 15 years but never really was full-filled by my jobs or accomplishments. A year after I graduated from college, I bought my first condo. I remember spending hours on line looking at short sales and foreclosures, as I wanted a deal. I really enjoyed the research and the process as a whole. 18 months after I purchased my first condo, I rented it out and purchased a 2nd, and that started a cycle buying, renting and renovating that has become my life’s work. I started renovating homes and flipping back in 2004. 3 years into my real estate investing practices, I decided I would get my real estate license to get handle my own investment purchases and sales. After 12 years of doing real estate as a side hustle, I quit my job as a Managing Director in a consulting firm and opened a real estate brokerage (Urb & Burb Realty) and real estate development firm (Urban Lifestyle Homes).
Today, I wake up every morning invigorated my work. I never dread Mondays! I love using my design talents to create and build beautiful homes and I have innate ability to help clients zone in on the perfect community and home for their families and lifestyle.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The biggest struggle was making the transition to doing real estate sales and development full time. I made this transition after I had started a family. I could not simply leave my corporate position and benefits without an equal income to take its place. Two years before I officially left my job, I started my real estate brokerage. I told myself that I would not be able to leave my job until I was making as much through real estate as I was doing from my job. The sticky part to that challenge is that I had to figure out a way to match my corporate salary while still working my job. That lead to 2 years of working 16-18 hours days and very little sleep. I worked day and night and was severely sleep deprived and constantly exhausted. My wife deserves an award for putting up with my crazy hours and grumpiness during that time. She is a saint!
But I got through it and was able to quit my job and jump into Real Estate full time in early 2016. That same year, I started a 2nd business, a real estate development firm with a partner called Urban Lifestyle Homes. While that added to the workload, it allowed me to kick off another decade-long dream of doing new construction home development. My first development project hit the market in early 2018. (1515 Greenleaf, https://www.redfin.com/IL/Evanston/1515-Greenleaf-St-60202/home/114107758).
Urb & Burb Realty & Urban Lifestyle Homes – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
My background an a very analytical process and efficiency engineer impacts my approach to real estate in so many ways. I called my brokerage Urb & Burb which is short for Urban & Suburban as we help individual and families make the very common choice to either live in the city or suburbs. It’s a community and neighborhood focused brokerage. We spend a great deal of time helping clients determine which community would be the best fit for their lifestyle and family needs before we get to the business of finding them the perfect home. This concept was developed during the 2014 Chicago Lean Start-Up competitions which my team ended up winning that year. I spend most of my energy listening to my clients and then assessing their community needs. We call our approach “The Art and Science of Finding Home” because users have collected data of over 80 Chicagoland Communities like commute time into the city, walkability scores, median home prices, demographics and psychographics and more. We then match that to the client’s desired environment. This personalized attention to your community needs is not something you can find at any other real estate brokerage in Chicagoland. Because of my background in renovation and development, I also help clients who purchase fixer-uppers and need to get repairs and renovations completed.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
My proudest moments come in the form of an ecstatic and grateful client. Just this month I have had a client’s 14-year-old son hug me and tell me “You’re the best!”. A client’s daughter drew a picture of me demanding that their family get the home they wanted… I had my boxing gloves on in the picture because she knew I boxed for exercise. I also had a client who told me stories of growing up in Englewood and gang violence and never expecting to own. Then we called me after moving into his 1st home to thank me and tell me how much it meant to him to be a homeowner. This is the stuff that fuels my passion and fills my soul!
I also know that we live in a world where very few people get to do what they love for a living! I am proud to have relentlessly pursued my dreams and passions and to now successfully be supporting my family via these passions. The first homes that I designed and built a kind of don’t suck either! 🙂 https://tour.vht.com/433714883
Contact Info:
- Address: 1617 Florence Avenue,
Evanston, IL 60201 - Website: www.urb2burb.com
- Phone: 773-505-1121
- Email: karla.thomas@urb2burb.com
- Instagram: Zillow: https://www.zillow.com/profile/KarlaUrb2burb/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/urb2burb/
- Twitter: Video 2: https://vimeo.com/133486572
- Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/urb-and-burb-realty-evanston-2
- Other: Video1: https://vimeo.com/250913554
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