Her name is Erin Harper, but we’ll call her “Erring Erin Harper,” because erring seems to be her core competency.

Erring Erin is affiliated with Chicagoland Property Group (“CPG”), a firm we’ve called Craiglist’s worst apartment ad spammer. Erin Harper accounts for just over 10% of CPG’s abusively repetitive apartment ads at Craigslist. Type the following in your Craigslist search, and you’ll be spared having to see CPG ads: – “Chicagoland Property Group”

How does Erin err? Erring Erin errs in not complying with the Illinois Real Estate License Act (the “Act”) requirement that she have written authorization before advertising a property for rent. Erring Erin errs by pirating copyrighted photos from the properties she’s not authorized to advertise. Erring Erin errs by advertising as “available now” apartment types that aren’t currently available. Worst of all, from a renter’s standpoint, Erring Erin errs by quoting rents as much as $500 below actual rents, and she does it in quite a few ads. We’ve saved screen caps documenting a total of 66 unauthorized ads for four different properties. We encountered more in the course of scanning Erring Erin’s ads.

In our opinion, Jon Zolecki, CPG’s leasing manager, is a firm believer in the bait-and-switch school of advertising, and he appears to have found an apt pupil in Erring Erin Harper.

The Act imposes an obligation on Collin Walker, CPG’s managing broker, to supervise advertising by his agents. From everything I can see, Walker appears to be supervising his agents to scoff at the Act’s requirements for truthful advertising that’s authorized in writing by the advertised properties.

In previous posts we’ve written about Walker’s scofflaw mother Joi Walker, his scofflaw brother Kellen Walker, his scofflaw sister Cassi (Walker) Norman, his scofflaw leasing manager, Jon Zolecki and scofflaw agents Stephen Seitz and Michael Hawks. Joi Walker deleted all 684 of her Craigslist ads after our post. Kellen Walker deleted 55 of his but has since added more. Cassi (Walker) Norman has not posted ads since the date of our post and only 5 of her ads remain on Craigslist.

Cleaning up after his mother, brother, sister, Zolecki, Seitz, Hawks and Harper won’t be enough to protect Collin Walker’s managing broker license. We’ll be monitoring the sea of Craigslist spam ads generated by other agents at CPG. And, of course, Collin’s own online behavior. We’ll email links to this post to both Collin Walker and Erin Harper, with an invitation to respond in a comment.

It’s been our long experience that leasing agents who scoff at any legal or ethical obligation are likely to scoff at all of them.

Renters need to be aware that the only sure way to avoid the risk of falling victim to a scofflaw rental service leasing agent is to avoid all Chicago rental services and work directly with properties. YoChicago’s apartment reviews and lists make it easy for you to find an apartment in sought-after lakefront neighborhoods.

Scofflaw agents need to be aware that a Google search on their name by their mother, father, brother, sister, aunt, uncle, prospective social contact or employer, is likely to surface our post about them high on the first page of search results. If “Scofflaw” is personal branding that you cherish (and we know that some of you do), we’ll help your branding efforts.

Managing brokers at Chicago rental services need to be aware that we won’t be focusing all of our attention on Collin Walker / CPG. We’re documenting the abuses of agents in other firms, and will be making their managing brokers aware of them, and monitoring their subsequent behavior.

For years now, Chicago property managers have taken a lax approach to the well-known, rampantly illegal behavior of Chicago rental services. They’ve spoken softly and occasionally wagged their fingers at scofflaw companies that advertise illegally, employ unlicensed agents and convicted felons, play bait and switch with renters, lie to renters, destroy the utility of websites that renters frequent, create fraudulent Yelp and Google+ reviews – and a great deal more.

The local property management industry has tolerated such extensive disorder and contempt for legal and ethical standards that Chicago’s rental services a/k/a apartment finders a/k/a locators, have recently begun to ratchet up their abusive behavior to new levels. The risks are apparently perceived as minimal, and the reward is a pot filled with millions of dollars of commissions, a pot that’s substantially enlarged this year by a flurry of new high-rises coming to market.

Renters at risk of identity theft
Chicago’s rental services are spamming two relatively new websites, Zumper and RadPad, with 1,000s of ads, many of which are designed to deceive renters into believing they can apply online and submit their credit report to the properties that are being advertised.

No serious management company that I’m aware of in this city allows rental services to accept applications on their behalf. Renters who click an Instant Apply button at Zumper or an Apply Instantly button at OnRadPad.com are being played for suckers. To make matters worse, they may be being played by an identity thief. Many ads on these sites name individuals who don’t hold real estate licenses in Illinois, and don’t have identifiable phone numbers or places of business. A Google search on these names returns no results – the people are fictitious and may very well be identity thieves.

What can be done?
Renters should totally avoid Zumper and OnRadPad. Renters in Chicago’s prime lakefront neighborhoods can easily connect directly with properties, and should avoid rental services. The risk of dealing with Chicago rental services is high and the benefits are negligible – at best.

Chicago’s property managers need to get serious about ensuring that their prospective residents are treated fairly and dealt with honestly at every step of the rental process. They need to start shouting at rental services, and swinging hammers. No other reputable industry allows its independent sales force to abuse its customers. Management companies would fire an employee in an instant for behavior that they routinely wink at from the rental services they cooperate with.

Management companies need to set some bright line rules, and enforce them ruthlessly. Rental services that advertise at Zumper or RadPad, or on sites that syndicate ads to Zumper or RadPad, should be terminated. Rental services that advertise anyone’s property illegally or engage in bait-and-switch tactics should be terminated. Rental services that pollute Craigslist and other sites with abusively repetitive ads should be terminated.

We’re in a “broken windows” scenario where what’s been perceived as merely pervasive low-level offenses is about to erupt into widespread harm to renters.

Will we see business as usual this rental season, or will Chicago’s management companies step up and begin to show their renters more respect?

Note: The issue of how and why management companies deal with rental services is more nuanced and complex than the manner in which I’ve presented it here. I’ve treated it simplistically because I see a bad situation for renters and for management companies rapidly becoming far worse.

Six members of a single family hold real estate licenses affiliated with Chicagoland Property Group (“CPG”), a firm we’ve singled out as Craiglist’s worst apartment ad spammer based on its 1,000s of abusively repetitive ads at Craigslist. We’ve repeatedly referred to the family as the spam-family Walker, but now consider it more appropriate to call them the “scofflaw-family Walker.”

The outliers
The family has two outliers. Patriarch James Walker posted a single ad at Craigslist two years ago and hasn’t, to our knowledge, advertised since. We haven’t seen any ads from son-in-law Timothy Norman.

Ma Walker
Joi Walker is the mother of Collin and Kellen Walker and their sister Cassi (Walker) Norman. We first wrote about Joi’s scofflaw ads two years ago. Joi had 654 Craigslist ads online on March 11. All of those ads were removed the same day, following our post. A number of those ads were for properties that had not given CPG the written authorization to advertise required by the Illinois Real Estate License Act (the “Act”).

Joi Walker resumed posting Craigslist ads on March 17 and has 45 ads online as of this morning.

Kellen Walker
Collin Walker’s brother Kellen had 564 Craigslist ads online on March 12, many of them in violation of the Act’s requirement for written authorization. Fifty-five illegal Walker ads were removed following our post and he paused for several days before resuming posting. As of this morning, Kellen has 436 ads at Craigslist, some of which are illegal.

Cassi (Walker) Norman
Collin Walker’s sister Cassi Norman had 289 ads at Craigslist on March 13, some of which had originally been placed nearly a month earlier. At least 31 of those ads lacked the written authority to advertise that the Act requires. All 289 ads cycled off Craigslist over a matter of days, and there are currently no apartment ads containing the name Cassi Norman at Craigslist.

Our post noted that the IDFPR License Lookup database did not show Cassi Norman holding an active real estate license as of March 13. Her leasing agent student license had expired on December 17 of last year. Per the above screen cap, Cassi Norman was issued a broker license on March 18.

Engaging in activity which requires a real license without having one, or holding oneself out as being licensed without having a license, is a Class A misdemeanor under the Act. If the dates in the IDFPR database are accurate, Cassi Norman appears to have committed criminal violations.

Collin Walker
Collin Walker is CPG’s sponsoring broker and managing broker. One of the duties the Act imposes on a managing broker is to supervise the firm’s advertising. Can there be any doubt, based on our reporting, that Collin Walker has risked suspension or revocation of his managing broker license by failing to supervise advertising by his mother, brother and sister? If any doubt remains, consider the scofflaw ads placed by sponsored licensees Jon Zolecki, Stephen Seitz, Michael Hawks and Erin Harper.

We’ll be writing about more scofflaw CPG leasing agents in coming days, and continuing to monitor and document the online behavior of the scofflaw-family Walker and other CPG leasing agents. At some point we’ll present our documentation to IDFPR and ask for a determination of whether Collin Walker’s license should be suspended or revoked.

Advice for renters
Renters need to be aware that the only sure way to avoid the risk of falling victim to a scofflaw rental service leasing agent is to avoid all Chicago rental services and work directly with properties. YoChicago’s apartment reviews and lists make it easy for you to find an apartment in sought-after lakefront neighborhoods.

Rental service agents and brokers
Managing brokers at Chicago rental services need to be aware that we won’t be focusing all of our attention on Collin Walker / CPG. We’re documenting the abuses of agents in other firms and will be making their managing brokers aware of them, and monitoring their subsequent behavior. One firm fired its top-producing agent following a series of YoChicago posts. Many, many more need to be fired.

Note: Consult our more up-to-date 2017 list.

The City of Chicago publishes a list of problem landlords, and updates it twice a year. The list has no properties in the prime near-lakefront neighborhoods where YoChicago concentrates its coverage.

A list of bad landlords isn’t very helpful to renters, who are typically far more interested in finding a good one than in avoiding a bad one.

We know some bad landlords. We don’t allow them to advertise at YoChicago, and we don’t include their properties in our reviews and at-a-glance apartment lists.

We also know some very good landlords – some of the city’s best. The properties they manage range from vintage walk-ups to the newest luxury high-rises. We know them because they’re current or former YoChicago advertisers. We’ve been in their buildings, met their staff and informally debriefed residents about their experience living in the buildings. We’d recommend them to prospective renters without hesitation, and would rent “site-unseen” with confidence at their properties.

If you’re looking to rent near Chicago’s lakefront, from the South Loop north to Rogers Park, contact the following before heading to Craigslist or any other source. You’ll find floor plans and near real-time rent and availability info at almost all of the sites listed below.

Atlantic Realty Partners has developed over 3,000 apartments, including The Parker in the West Loop and 1717 in Evanston

Aviation Lofts is a recently-renovated loft apartment building in the South Loop.

BJB Properties and its affiliates own and manage about 40 buildings in the Gold Coast, Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Rogers Park, Streeterville and West Loop.

Bozzuto is a national developer and property manager. Bozzuto’s Chicago offerings include OneEleven in the Loop, Atwater in Streeterville, Parc Huron in River North, and Lofts at Roosevelt Collection in the South Loop.

The John Buck Company is a Chicago-based national development firm that has acquired, developed or redeveloped more than 41 million square feet of property. Its most recent addition to Chicago’s skyline, MILA, is a 41-story, 402-unit Loop apartment tower on Michigan Avenue that welcomed its first residents in May of 2016.

Crescent Heights is a national developer of condos, apartments, offices and hotels. The company’s Chicago offerings include Astoria Tower (South Loop), Burnham Pointe (South Loop), Echelon (Fulton River District), Park Michigan (South Loop), The LEX (South Loop) and North Harbor Tower (Loop).

DK Living is an affiliate of Draper and Kramer, a Chicago-based firm founded in the 1890s. DK Living’s Chicago management portfolio includes Lake Meadows and Prairie Shores (South side), pictured above.

Golub & Co is a Chicago-based international builder. Golub manages Chestnut Place and One East Delaware (Gold Coast / River North), Marquee (Loop), Moment and Sienna in Streeterville, 1001 South State (South Loop) and a portfolio of fully-renovated neighborhood properties.

Greystar manages more than 1,500 apartment communities throughout the United States. Greystar’s Chicago buildings include 1225 Old Town, K2 and Kenect (Fulton River District), One Superior Place (River North) and The Seneca and 420 East Ohio in Streeterville.

Group Fox owns and manages dozens of renovated apartment buildings in prime locations, including The Lofts at River East, the only loft rental building in Streeterville, and Axis in Streeterville.

The Habitat Company has been building great buildings, many of which have been converted to condos, for more than 40 years. Properties currently managed by Habitat include Kingsbury Plaza and Hubbard Place in River North, the new 1000 South Clark in the South Loop, Columbus Plaza on the Loop’s New East side, and McClurg Court in Streeterville.

Lincoln Property Company is the second largest property manager in the United States, with over 163,000 units currently under management. Lincoln’s Chicago properties include West 77 in River North, JeffJack, Circa 922, Arkadia, Gateway West Loop, and The Madison at Racine in the West Loop, 215 West in the Loop, K2 in the Fulton River District, North Water in Streeterville, and Mondial in River West.

Magellan Development Group is one of Chicago’s most experienced developers. Magellan’s Chicago offerings include Wolf Point West in River North, and Aqua, Coast, The Tides and The Shoreham in the Loop’s Lakeshore East.

Morguard owns and manages office, industrial, retail, apartment and hotel properties in North America. Morguard’s local offerings include Alta, a high-amenity, two-tower community in the Fulton River District.

Planned Property owns and manages more than 3,500 apartments in prime River North, Gold Coast, Near North, Lincoln Park and Lakeview locations.

Reside Living and its affiliates own and manage about 30 buildings, including the new State & Chestnut tower, in prime Buena Park, Fulton Market, Gold Coast, Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Old Town, Rogers Park and Wicker Park locations.

RMK Management. RMK manages rental properties with more than 10,000 apartments in Illinois and Minnesota. RMK’s Chicago offerings include the new Scott Residences in Old Town, Halsted Flats in Lakeview, 73 East Lake in the Loop, and Residences at New City on the Near North Side.

Suite Home Chicago rents more than 300 furnished apartments in luxury buildings in city and suburban locations.

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Village Green manages more than 40,000 apartments in ten states. Village Green’s local communities include Eugenie Terrace, the only full-amenity apartment tower in Lincoln Park. Cobbler Square (Oldl Town), Randolph Tower (Loop), The Bernardin (River North) and The Streeter (Streeterville).

Wirtz Residential has more than 80 years of residential ownership and management expertise in the Chicago area. Wirtz has dozens of properties in prime near-lakefront locations, including a broad selection of apartments in Lakeview at 2970 N Sheridan, 529-41 W Wellington, 535 W Cornelia & 634 W Stratford, 3000 N Sheridan, 422-24 W Melrose, 3240 N Lake Shore and 3260-3270 N Lake Shore. Wirtz’ latest offering, 2950 North Sheridan in Lakeview, will begin occupancy in April of 2017.

ZRS Management. ZRS manages Chestnut Tower in River North.

Chicagoland Property Group’s scofflaw-family Walker is vomiting up about 1,000 fewer active spam ads at Craigslist following our posts on Joi Walker, Kellen Walker and Cassi (Walker) Norman. Joi Walker’s ads have tumbled from 654 to 67, Kellen’s from 564 to 436 and Cassi’s from 289 to 0.

We’ve previously noted that many scofflaw-family Walker ads sharply understated rents, advertised unavailable apartments, infringed copyrights, and advertised properties without the written authorization required by the Illinois Real Estate License Act (the “Act”). Cassi Norman’s 289 ads were placed at a time when, according to the IDFPR License Lookup database, she was not licensed to hold herself out as a licensed real estate broker. If the dates in the IDFPR database are accurate, Cassi’s behavior might involve the commission of Class A misdemeanors.

Joi Walker, Kellen Walker and Cassi Norman are based in Channahon, a small town 50 miles southwest of downtown Chicago. Based on their location and other publicly available information, it’s reasonable to infer that they don’t personally conduct the showings their ads invite renters to arrange, but refer those renters to other Chicagoland Property Group (“CPG”) agents.

The Act, 225 ILCS 454/10-35 (a), provides that “Licensees intending to sell or share consumer information gathered from or through the Internet or other electronic communication media shall disclose that intention to consumers in a timely and readily apparent manner.”

Scofflaw-family Walker ads contain no disclosure of an intent to sell or share renter information. Disclosure in the ads themselves can be considered the only way to satisfy the Act’s mandate of “timely and readily apparent” disclosure. If Joi, Kellen and Cassi in fact share or sell renter info with other agents, every single ad they place is in violation of the Act.

We’ll send a link to this post to Collin Walker, CPG’s managing broker who is charged by law with supervising advertising by CPG agents, requesting clarification. Collin Walker has not acknowledged or responded to prior invitations to comment on our posts, and we don’t expect a response to this one.

We’ll continue to monitor and document the online behavior of the scofflaw-family Walker and other scofflaw CPG leasing agents. At some point we’ll present our documentation to IDFPR and ask for a determination of whether Collin Walker’s license should be suspended or revoked.

Advice for renters
You can avoid all Chicagoland Property Group ads at Craigslist by typing the following in the search box: – “Chicagoland Property Group”.

Renters need to be aware that the only sure way to avoid the risk of falling victim to a scofflaw rental service leasing agent is to avoid all Chicago rental services and work directly with properties. YoChicago’s apartment reviews and lists make it easy for you to find an apartment in sought-after lakefront neighborhoods.

Rental service agents and brokers
Managing brokers at Chicago rental services need to be aware that we won’t be focusing all of our attention on Collin Walker / CPG. We’re documenting the abuses of agents in other firms and will be making their managing brokers aware of them, and monitoring their subsequent behavior. One firm fired its top-producing agent following a series of YoChicago posts. Many, many more need to be fired.

A mere four agents at North Star Real Estate Group had over 4,100 apartment ads active on Craigslist yesterday evening. Three of them accounted for nearly 3,900 ads.

Michael Longo ranks second among North Star’s steroidal spammers with 1,373 ads. We quickly identified six properties that accounted for 870 of those ads – an average of 145 ads per property. Many of Longo’s ads were for properties from which North Star has not received the written authorization required by the Illinois Real Estate License Act. Quite a few ads were for types of units not currently available at a property, and available for later dates only at rents hundreds of dollars higher than advertised. Bait and switch.

A veteran property manager at one of those 6 properties replied to my email inquiry as follows: “I have never even heard of this company. This is really amazing.”

I’m not amazed, but I will concede that I can’t recall any spammer matching Longo’s 180 active Craigslist ads for a single property.

We’ll take a closer look at North Star’s other spammers in coming days. We’ll also focus in on North Star’s non-advertising managing broker, who appears to be just some random rent-a-license dude based in Omaha, NE.

We’ll continue to report on the scofflaws at Chicagoland Property Group, Craigslist’s worst apartment ad spammer. You can search Craigslist without seeing any of the more than 10,000 North Star and CPG apartment ads by typing the following into the Craigslist search box: – “North Star Real Estate” – “Chicagoland Property Group”

Advice for renters
Renters need to be aware that the only sure way to avoid the risk of falling victim to a scofflaw rental service leasing agent is to avoid all Chicago rental services and work directly with properties. YoChicago’s apartment reviews and lists make it easy for you to find an apartment in sought-after lakefront neighborhoods.

Update, 3/24, 2 pm: After being directed by a property manager to remove ads from Craigslist, and agreeing to do so, Michael Longo proceeded to renew ads for the property and add more. What kind of treatment do you think a one-time renter can expect from Longo, when he treats a property this way?

Update, 3/26, 11 am: Longo is still publishing new ads for this property, after reportedly agreeing to delete all of them.

When we began our recent spate of posts on Chicagoland Property Group (“CPG”), back on March 11, twenty-two of the firm’s agents had just over 7,000 repetitively abusive apartment ads at Craigslist.

Just before we began this post, the same 22 agents had just over 3,300 ads at Craigslist. CPG’s leasing manager, scofflaw Jon Zolecki, reduced his spamming from 1,134 ads to 196.

The ad volume of the Channahon-based members of the scofflaw-family Walker is down over 85%. Joi Walker has gone from 654 ads to 145, Kellen Walker from 564 ads to 41 and Cassi (Walker) Norman from 279 to 0.

Casamiro “Cas” Prime has a small dip in his ad volume, from 143 to 132. If the dates in the IDFPR License Lookup database (screen cap above) are accurate, Cas Prime was committing a Class A misdemeanor by holding himself out as a licensee on March 11. Cassi (Walker) Norman also advertised at a time when she was apparently unlicensed.

Mike Britton has more than doubled his Craigslist ads, from 140 to 364.

Many of CPG’s current ads are for properties that haven’t given CPG the written authority to advertise that the Illinois Real Estate License Act requires. Units are being advertised that aren’t available for rent or are available only at materially higher prices. You might call them bait-and-switch ads; I call them Zoleckis.

An apt unit of measure for CPG’s Craigslist ad volume is “a shitload.” No matter how you slice it, 3,300 ads is still a shitload – in quality as well as quantity. Far fewer but fresher ads can waste just as much time for renters as many more ads many of which are days older.

Advice for renters
You can avoid all Chicagoland Property Group ads at Craigslist by typing the following in the search box: – “Chicagoland Property Group”.

Renters need to be aware that the only sure way to avoid the risk of falling victim to a scofflaw rental service leasing agent is to avoid all Chicago rental services and work directly with properties. YoChicago’s apartment reviews and lists make it easy for you to find an apartment in sought-after lakefront neighborhoods.

Rental service agents and brokers
Managing brokers at Chicago rental services need to be aware that we won’t be focusing all of our attention on Collin Walker / CPG. We’re documenting the abuses of agents in other firms and will be making their managing brokers aware of them, and monitoring their subsequent behavior. One firm fired its top-producing agent following a series of YoChicago posts. Many, many more need to be fired.

As of this morning Zach Gotkin at North Star Real Estate Group had 1,257 abusively repetitive ads online at Craigslist. Four days ago he had 1,602 ads at Craigslist.

We examined virtually all of Zach’s 670 ads for Edgewater apartments and couldn’t identify a single one as actually being in Edgewater. The three properties we could identify are all in Uptown.

A hundred ads for a “prime Edgewater location” in the “heart of Edgewater” illustrate the view from the Uptown Regency apartments, 5050 N Sheridan in Uptown. The property is managed by Horizon Realty Group, a group we’d strongly recommend you avoid.

Over 100 ads for another Edgewater property “steps away from … Loyola” illustrate a model apartment at 5051 N Kenmore, a property in Uptown managed by Flats Chicago. That’s another company we strongly recommend you avoid. As for “steps away,” divide your average stride into the 1.7 miles from 5051 N Kenmore to the south end of Loyola’s Rogers Park campus.

Gotkin has over 100 ads for other Horizon and Flats Chicago properties that are properly identified as located in Uptown.

Hundreds of additional Gotkin “Edgewater” ads contain photos from Somerset Place, 5009 N Sheridan, in Uptown. I haven’t been in the building since it’s been renovated. You can easily find attractive apartments in far more appealing locations at less than the quoted rents at Somerset Place.

The three properties identify their location as Uptown. Zach Gotkin is no rookie rental agent. He’s been a licensed real estate agent for nearly 8 years, so there can be no doubt that he’s deliberately lying about the location of the properties in these ads.

Zach Gotkin doesn’t use his full name in his Craigslist ads. If you’re unfortunate enough to call or meet Zach Gotkin, ask him how many apartments he’s been evicted from and whether he’s currently a named defendant in any fraud litigation.

We’ll send Zach Gotkin a link to this post and invite him to respond in a comment.

We’ve previously written about Michael Longo, a scofflaw leasing agent at North Star Real Estate Group you’ll want to avoid.

To avoid seeing any Craigslist apartment ads from this company, type the following into the search box: – “North Star Real Estate Group”.

Advice for renters
Renters need to be aware that the only sure way to avoid the risk of falling victim to a scofflaw rental service leasing agent is to avoid all Chicago rental services and work directly with properties. YoChicago’s apartment reviews and lists make it easy for you to find an apartment in sought-after lakefront neighborhoods.

It’s been nearly two years since we’ve written about the prolific Craigslsit apartment ad spammers at State Street Properties.

Since our post the firm has amped up its spam volume and adopted a new name: Chicago Property Genius. With more than 4,000 abusively repetitive ads at Craigslist, Chicago Property Genius has overtaken Chicagoland Property Group as Craigslist’s worst apartment ad spammer. Chicagoland Property Group shed several thousand ads after we began writing about the scofflaws at that firm.

It doesn’t take a genius to discover that Chicago Property Genius continues State Street Properties’ practice of advertising properties from which it doesn’t have the written authorization to advertise that the Illinois Real Estate License Act requires. And the firm still seems addicted to bait-and-switch ad tactics. We scanned dozens of unauthorized, i.e. illegal, ads for half a dozen buildings, and focused on one to illustrate the bait and switch.

Chicago Property Genius has 879 “Gold Coast” ads at Craigslist, including ads for immediate-occupancy studios renting for $1,525 and 1-bedrooms for $1,800, both with in-unit washer / dryers.

The lowest-priced studio available at the property illustrated in those ads is $1,780. The property has 1-bedrooms available for $2,405, $2,505, $2,610 and $2,670. The property is in River North, several blocks from the Gold Coast.

Chicago Property Genius ads at Craigslist have the same thin copy and photo content, lack of contact names, atypical presentation of phone numbers and nonsense word strings that we were used to seeing in State Street Properties ads. You’ll also find URLs, several of which are illustrated above, that redirect to State Street Properties.

It’s astonishing to think that there are actually renters naïve enough to respond to an ad from the bait-and-switch bozos at Chicago Property Genius.

Advice for renters
Renters need to be aware that the only sure way to avoid the risk of falling victim to a scofflaw rental service leasing agent is to avoid all Chicago rental services and work directly with properties. YoChicago’s apartment reviews and lists make it easy for you to find an apartment in sought-after lakefront neighborhoods.

My attention was drawn to Daniel Zager when I saw copyrighted photos I’d shot in an ad he’d placed for a property that doesn’t allow brokers to advertise. Two strikes against Zager, a leasing agent at Chicago Apartment Leasing Group (“CALG”). Strike three: the ad did not, as required by the Real Estate License Act, include the name under which his firm is registered with IDFPR.

Zager has 100s of ads at Craigslist, many of them for properties which haven’t given CALG the legally-required authorization to advertise.

Zager ramps up his scofflaw behavior at Zumper by advertising properties without authorization and with a fraudulently deceptive Instant Apply link. Any renter foolish enough to follow through on the Instant Apply feature may provide Zager their Experian credit report. None of the properties Zager advertises at Zumper accept applications through brokers, and there can be no doubt that Zager is aware of that fact and is deliberately misleading renters.

Advice for renters
Renters need to be aware that the only sure way to avoid the risk of falling victim to a scofflaw rental service leasing agent is to avoid all Chicago rental services and work directly with properties. YoChicago’s apartment reviews and lists make it easy for you to find an apartment in sought-after lakefront neighborhoods.

Last April 1, after outing a career criminal working as a leasing agent, we abandoned our practice of writing hoax posts on April Fools’ Day, posted a somber warning to landlords, renters and prospective leasing agents, and proclaimed the day Chicago Rental Services Day, Chicago Apartment Locators Day and Chicago Apartment Finders Day.

Chicago rental service scofflaws have ratcheted up their abusive advertising and deceptive business practices since last year. If you’re a landlord seeking tenants, a renter looking for an apartment, or someone considering working at one of these firms, don’t be a fool.

Don’t be a fool on Chicago Rental Services Day, Chicago Apartment Locators Day, Chicago Apartment Finders Day – or any other day.

In a previous post we noted that we consider North Star Real Estate Group’s Zach Gotkin an abusive liar.

Gotkin had 1,602 abusively repetitive ads at Craigslist when we first began alerting management companies about his ads. Four days later that number had dwindled to 1,257. As of this morning his ad count was down to 307. That’s a lot less poison, but it’s still a lot of poison.

Our previous post focused on Gotkin’s lies about location. Some renters might consider that sort of bait-and-switch fairly harmless when they’re receiving a “free” service.

We compared the rents at two of the properties Gotkin is advertising with the rents quoted in his ads. Any renter who pays the Gotkin-advertised rents is being ripped off, since those rents are higher than the ones actually available at the properties.

Charging renters a higher rent when they work with a broker is a common practice in a number of Chicago neighborhoods. It’s not a practice that honest brokers or honest management companies will engage in without clear disclosures, but Gotkin is not an honest broker. The properties we checked are managed by Flats Chicago – not, in our opinion, an honest management company.

We’ll send Zach Gotkin a link to this post and invite him to respond in a comment.

We’ve previously written about Michael Longo, a scofflaw leasing agent at North Star Real Estate Group you’ll want to avoid. Longo had 1,373 Craigslist ads at the time of our post and had 158 as of a few minutes ago. Michael Richman, another spammer in the firm, had 910 ads 10 days ago and currently has 33. North Star spammer Sara Mock has reduced her Craigslist ad count from 251 to 53.

North Star Real Estate Group’s Craigslist ad count has declined by more than 85% since we began writing about the firm. Again, a lot less poison, but still a lot of poison.

To avoid seeing any Craigslist apartment ads from this company, type the following into the search box: – “North Star Real Estate Group”.

Advice for renters
Renters need to be aware that the only sure way to avoid the risk of falling victim to a scofflaw rental service leasing agent is to avoid all Chicago rental services and work directly with properties. YoChicago’s apartment reviews and lists make it easy for you to find an apartment in sought-after lakefront neighborhoods.

YoChicago knows some very good landlords, some of the city’s best. The properties they manage range from vintage walk-ups to the newest luxury high-rises. We know them because they’re current or former YoChicago advertisers. We’ve been in their buildings, met their staff and informally debriefed residents about their experience living in the buildings. We’d recommend them to prospective renters without hesitation, and would rent “site-unseen” with confidence at their properties.

If you’re looking to rent near Chicago’s lakefront, from the South Loop north to Rogers Park, visit our 2016 list of Chicago’s best landlords. We’ve recently updated the list to reflect management changes at a number of properties.

We’ve also expanded the list to include Wirtz Residential. Wirtz has more than 80 years of residential ownership and management expertise in the Chicago area, and dozens of properties in prime near-lakefront locations. We recently visited five Wirtz properties in Lakeview: 2970 N Sheridan, 529-41 W Wellington, 535 W Cornelia & 634 W Stratford, 3000 N Sheridan and 422-24 W Melrose.

You can tour furnished model studios at 422 W Melrose and 535 W Cornelia in the above videos. You’ll find video tours of more than 50 Lakeview apartments at our YouTube playlist, and more are in the works.

Apartment communities try to maximize their rents – no surprise there. One element in rent maximization is timing lease expirations into periods of high demand.

It’s not uncommon for high-rise apartment communities to display a pricing matrix that varies the amount of your rent based on your move-in date and the length of the lease term you select.

A near real-time rent and availability check at a Streeterville apartment complex this morning surfaced the matrix you see above.

If you opt for an 11-month lease on this studio apartment, you’ll pay $1,686 a month. A 12-month lease on the same apartment will set you back $1,851 a month. The 11-month lease would save you $165 a month, or $1,980 during the 11 months. A 7-month lease costs $1,762 a month.

The variance in rent prices based on lease length typically changes throughout the year, sometimes on a daily basis, and differs from property to property and among unit types within a property. There’s no general rule you can apply, but the closest you can come to one is that you’ll often get a lower rent quote during the late fall and winter in Chicago than you will for a lease starting in the late spring or summer.

If you’re working with one of the rental service brokers on our do-not-call list you’re unlikely to learn about all of your options. Saving you money reduces the broker’s commission and may eliminate it entirely if you opt for less than a 12-month lease.

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (“IDFPR”) is responsible for licensing real estate professionals. In our judgment, IDFPR has exercised that responsibility irresponsibly many times in the past, and is likely to continue to do so.

The most recent IDFPR enforcement actions report (PDF) notes that the license of Dan Dantuma has been “indefinitely suspended for a minimum of two years” due to felony convictions and his failure to report prior criminal convictions to the department.

The IDFPR action against Dantuma comes two-and-a-half years after we first wrote about his lengthy criminal history, and more than a year after we noted another heroin bust.

The IDFPR report also lists several licenses that have been issued in probationary status due to a history of felony convictions.

Over the years, we’ve written about far too many leasing agents with criminal records, including a career criminal working under a false identity and a scofflaw agent working from the Lake County jail.

Do you know who has the keys to your apartment? Do you know who you’re getting in the car with to view apartments? Are you comfortable giving your Social Security # and other identifying information to a convicted felon?

Your safest bet is to work directly with landlords and management companies, and avoid rental service leasing agents and brokers entirely. If you opt to work with a rental service, be aware that the odds of finding an honest, experienced agent are heavily against you, and the odds of your getting the best deal on an apartment are even lower.

Section 20-22 of the Illinois Real Estate License Act provides that:

• “Any person who is found working or acting as a managing broker, real estate broker, real estate salesperson or leasing agent, or holding himself out as a licensed sponsoring broker, managing broker, real estate broker, real estate salesperson, or leasing agent without being issued a valid existing license is guilty of a Class A misdemeanor …”

It’s easy to check whether an individual or firm holds a valid active license. Simply go to the License lookup page at the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR).

If Jeff Garver, a part of whose linkedIn profile is pictured above, can be taken at his word, he committed multiple crimes during his tenure at AptAmigo. According to the IDFPR license lookup, Garver has never been issued any license.

AptAmigo’s co-founder and CEO Dan Willenborg is a licensed real estate broker. Is it conceivable that he was unaware that the activities Garver (and others) engaged in on behalf of AptAmigo required licensing? Did he ever advise Garver that he needed to be licensed? Is he unaware of the License Act’s requirements that the name of AptAmigo’s affiliated brokerage firm be disclosed on AptAmigo’s website and in Craigslist ads? Is he unaware of the License Act’s requirement that a broker secure written authorization before advertising a property for rent?

We first wrote about AptAmigo in August of 2015, noting that it had engaged in wholesale piracy of our copyrighted images and images owned by others. In September of 2015 we noted AptAmigo’s vandalism of CTA property and violations of Federal Trade Commission guidelines on endorsements, and wondered whether it’s an outlaw enterprise.

Since our original post AptAmigo has periodically pirated our copyrighted images and displayed them on its website – including some of the same images that it had previously removed after our complaints.

Willful and conscious theft of intellectual property is only one of the ways in which Dan Willenborg and AptAmigo flaunt their disregard of legal and ethical standards. We could go on at length on this topic, but we’ll spare you.

In our considered judgment, AptAmigo is an outlaw rental service. Any renter who contacts AptAmigo or its agents is exhibiting extremely poor judgment and taking a risk. Any landlord or management firm doing business with AptAmigo needs to be zealous about ensuring that only licensed agents are bringing renters to their property. Anyone who goes to work for the company needs to consult a knowledgeable attorney about the scope of their employment.

Willenborg is a licensed broker whose managing broker has informed me that her firm is terminating Willenborg’s legally-required sponsorship. Will Willenborg find a new rental service to host his license? We have no doubt that he will. Chicago has far too many of them, and many of them will view his apparent contempt for legal and ethical requirements as a positive attribute. If you’re looking to rent an apartment, go directly to landlords and management companies.

The City of Chicago publishes a list of problem landlords, and updates it twice a year. The list has no properties in the prime near-lakefront neighborhoods where YoChicago concentrates its coverage.

A list of bad landlords isn’t very helpful to renters, who are typically far more interested in finding a good one than in avoiding a bad one.

We know some bad landlords. We don’t allow them to advertise at YoChicago, and we don’t include their properties in our neighborhood apartment guides.

We also know some very good landlords – some of the city’s best. The properties they manage range from vintage walk-ups to the newest luxury high-rises. We know them because they’re current or former YoChicago advertisers. We’ve been in their buildings, met their staff and informally debriefed residents about their experience living in the buildings. We’d recommend them to prospective renters without hesitation, and would rent “site-unseen” with confidence at their properties.

If you’re looking to rent near Chicago’s lakefront, from the South Loop north to Rogers Park, contact the following before heading to Craigslist or any other source. You’ll find floor plans and near real-time rent and availability info at almost all of the sites listed below. You can see links to narrated video walk-throughs of 100s of apartments on our downtown, Lincoln Park and Lakeview grids.

Atlantic Realty Partners has developed over 3,000 apartments, including The Parker in the West Loop and 1717 in Evanston

Aviation Lofts is a recently-renovated loft apartment building in the South Loop.

BJB Properties and its affiliates own and manage about 40 buildings in the Gold Coast, Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Rogers Park, Streeterville and West Loop.

Bozzuto is a national developer and property manager. Bozzuto’s Chicago offerings include The Sinclair, an exciting new Gold Coast tower, OneEleven in the Loop, Atwater in Streeterville, Parc Huron in River North, and Lofts at Roosevelt Collection in the South Loop.

The John Buck Company is a Chicago-based national development firm that has acquired, developed or redeveloped more than 41 million square feet of property. Its most recent addition to Chicago’s skyline, MILA, is a 41-story, 402-unit Loop apartment tower on Michigan Avenue that welcomed its first residents in May of 2016.

Crescent Heights is a national developer of condos, apartments, offices and hotels. The company’s Chicago offerings include Astoria Tower (South Loop), Burnham Pointe (South Loop), Echelon (Fulton River District), Park Michigan (South Loop), The LEX (South Loop) and North Harbor Tower (Loop).

Draper and Kramer is a Chicago-based firm founded in the 1890s whose management portfolio includes Lake Meadows and Prairie Shores (South side), pictured above.

Golub & Co is a Chicago-based international builder. Golub manages Chestnut Place and One East Delaware (Gold Coast / River North), Marquee (Loop), Moment and Sienna in Streeterville, 1001 South State (South Loop) and a portfolio of fully-renovated neighborhood properties. View video tours of Golub-managed properties.

Greystar manages more than 1,500 apartment communities throughout the United States. Greystar’s Chicago buildings include 1225 Old Town, Kenect (Fulton River District), One Superior Place (River North) and The Seneca and 420 East Ohio in Streeterville.

Group Fox owns and manages dozens of renovated apartment buildings in prime locations, including The Lofts at River East, the only loft rental building in Streeterville, and Axis in Streeterville. View video tours of Group Fox apartments.

The Habitat Company has been building great buildings, many of which have been converted to condos, for more than 40 years. Properties currently managed by Habitat include Kingsbury Plaza and Hubbard Place in River North, the new 1000 South Clark in the South Loop, Columbus Plaza on the Loop’s New East side, and McClurg Court in Streeterville. See video tours of Habitat-managed apartments.

Lincoln Property Company is the second largest property manager in the United States, with over 163,000 units currently under management. Lincoln’s Chicago properties include West 77 in River North, JeffJack, Circa 922, Arkadia, Gateway West Loop, and The Madison at Racine in the West Loop, 215 West in the Loop, K2 in the Fulton River District, North Water in Streeterville, and Mondial in River West.

Magellan Development Group is one of Chicago’s most experienced developers. Magellan’s Chicago offerings include Wolf Point West and Exhibit on Superior in River North, and Aqua, Coast, The Tides and The Shoreham in the Loop’s Lakeshore East.

Morguard owns and manages office, industrial, retail, apartment and hotel properties in North America. Morguard’s local offerings include Alta, a high-amenity, two-tower community in the Fulton River District.

Planned Property owns and manages more than 3,500 apartments in prime River North, Gold Coast, Near North, Lincoln Park and Lakeview locations. See video tours of Planned Property apartments.

Reside Living and its affiliates own and manage about 30 buildings, including the new State & Chestnut tower, in prime Buena Park, Fulton Market, Gold Coast, Lakeview, Lincoln Park, Old Town, Rogers Park and Wicker Park locations. See video tours of Reside Living apartments.

RMK Management. RMK manages rental properties with more than 10,000 apartments in Illinois and Minnesota. RMK’s Chicago offerings include the new Scott Residences in Old Town, Halsted Flats in Lakeview, 73 East Lake in the Loop, and Residences at New City on the Near North Side.

Suite Home Chicago rents more than 300 furnished apartments in luxury buildings in city and suburban locations.

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Village Green manages more than 40,000 apartments in ten states. Village Green’s local communities include Eugenie Terrace, the only full-amenity apartment tower in Lincoln Park. Cobbler Square (Oldl Town), Randolph Tower (Loop), The Bernardin (River North) and The Streeter (Streeterville).

Wirtz Residential has more than 80 years of residential ownership and management expertise in the Chicago area. Wirtz has dozens of properties in prime near-lakefront locations, including a broad selection of apartments in Lakeview at 2970 N Sheridan, 529-41 W Wellington, 535 W Cornelia & 634 W Stratford, 3000 N Sheridan, 422-24 W Melrose, 3240 N Lake Shore and 3260-3270 N Lake Shore. Wirtz’ latest offering, 2950 North Sheridan in Lakeview, opened for occupancy in April of 2017. See video tours of Wirtz-managed apartments.

ZRS Management. ZRS manages Chestnut Tower in River North.

If you’re looking to rent in a prime near-the-park location in Lincoln Park or Lakeview East, the worst mistake you can make is to work with one of Chicago’s rental services, a/k/a apartment locators a/k/a apartment finders.

Even if you’re lucky enough to avoid the know-nothing rookies, the convicted felons, the bait-and-switch sharks, the take-your-deposit and hold onto it sleazes and the habitual liars, it’s a near-certainty that you’ll miss out on many of the best deals on Lincoln Park and Lakeview East apartments.

Some of the largest and most professional management companies in these neighborhoods don’t cooperate with rental services and won’t allow them to show apartments. If they do cooperate with rental services, they may not allow them to show occupied apartments and typically unwilling to negotiate any deals with a renter who’s working with one of the them. Professional management companies that do cooperate with rental services often work with only a limited number of firms and even then don’t allow them to show all of their apartments.

Your best bet is to work directly with the properties listed in our Lincoln Park and Lakeview apartment guides. You’ll find accurate rent and availability info at the linked property websites. You can preview many apartments in YoChicago’s Lincoln Park and Lakeview narrated video tours.

Suite Home Chicago, a provider of short-term, fully-furnished luxury apartments, was given the “Company Member of the Year” award by the Corporate Housing Providers Association (CHPA) at its recent annual conference in Huntington Beach, CA.

The award recognized Suite Home Chicago’s commitment to excellence within the corporate housing industry and its emphasis on building strong relationships within the hospitality sector.

“Our team is thrilled,” said Suite Home Chicago Owner Jennifer Breen. “To be recognized among your peers is an incredible feeling, and I am so grateful that we can celebrate this company honor.”

Breen continued, “We truly love doing what we do, and we have the best partners in the world. This is a testament to our passion for temporary housing and our industry as a whole.”

Join YoChicago in the recent videos, above, for a narrated walk through two of Suite Home Chicago’s furnished apartments.

CHPA is the only trade association dedicated exclusively to the corporate housing industry.

Established in 2005, Suite Home Chicago offers luxury furnished corporate apartments with flexible leasing terms throughout the Chicagoland and Milwaukee areas. The units are fully equipped with modern furnishings, luxury linens, and all the housewares needed for a temporary stay. The Suite Home staff strive to provide guests a “home away from home” experience, and are equipped to handle large corporate groups, project work, relocation, medical travel, entertainment crews, interns, and government travel.

Note: Suite Home Chicago is a YoChicago advertiser.

If you’re apartment hunting in the prime near-lakefront areas of Lincoln Park or Lakeview, working with one of Chicago’s apartment finders (a/k/a rental services, locators or brokers) is a guarantee that you won’t see some of the best apartments in these neighborhoods. You also won’t get the best deal on the apartments you do see, and a part of your rent check every month will pay for what you were told was a “free” service.

The first thing you need to know is that a number of landlords and management companies who have great apartments don’t cooperate with finders and don’t allow them to show apartments. There are also landlords and management companies that only cooperate with brokers on their hard-to-rent apartments. Work with a finder / broker and you can be certain that you won’t see some of the best apartments in Lincoln Park and Lakeview.

Landlords who work with brokers typically pay them a month’s rent (or more) as a commission. Your rent covers that cost. Your finder / broker has likely agreed, in writing, not to negotiate rent or fees on your behalf. Work with a “free” rental service and you’re not only paying for it, you’re surrendering your ability to negotiate a better deal on your own.

There are lots of additional pitfalls in working with a rental service, and we’ve outlined 25 of them for you.

The smart way to find a great apartment is to start with our linked Lincoln Park and Lakeview guides. They list scores of buildings from professional management firms, link to the building websites and near real-time rent and availability checks, and to review pages that provide objective information about the properties and their immediate surroundings. Our Lincoln Park and Lakeview guides also link to video tours of many of the properties.