Title: Proud founder of Garvey Residential Team and GrtHomes.com. Proud manager of EXP Realty LLc at 1010 Lake St. in downtown Oak Park, IL.
I was born and raised in Oak Park and along with my wife Nancy, raised our three children in River Forest and then again in Oak Park. What an amazing exprience it has been!
We bought our first home in 1986. It was a beautiful Victorian on Ridgeland that we fixed up. We went on to do that with four other homes in Oak Park and one in River Forest. At the time I would never have guessed that fixing up 100-year-old homes would lead to the fantastic HGTV lifestyle that I live now as a realtor.
During my journey through life here, I have seen the amazing evolution of a quaint small town feel village progress into these beautiful, vibrant and full of life villages that still feel small town, but have a harmony within todays slightly hectic world that seems to be working pretty well.
Oak Park and River Forest have been a dream come true as Nancy and I grew up to know the community. We watched our three boys experience these beautifully diverse and multicultural schools and then go on to be wonderfully successful in life.
Nancy and I met at Marquette University where she was studying to be a nurse, while I was studying business. We went on to get married and started looking for our first home. While I was pretty sure we were destined to stay in Oak Park, Nancy grew up in Wheeling Illinois and wanted to live close to her family, so I was keeping an open mind as to where we would eventually be raising our children.
It was around this time that my father offered me a little advice. He said to me “Chris, there is no better place to raise your children or just live your life than right here in Oak Park and River Forest.” Now I am not saying that he may not have had ulterior motives, but when he said it I sensed that he really meant it. He told me that his father had said that to him. I knew my Grandpa and his word still means more to me now then ever. My children are the fourth-generation of Garvey’s to live here.
My father said to us, “Whether you are raising a family or just living your life, your ability to grow in this world, your social interaction with the community, the relationships that you will form at the bandstand’s and in the parks – or a local sporting events, will not only be your greatest times in life, they will become your steppingstones in life.”
Now, as I grow older, I see how this fabric of life – this mixing of people throughout the village, its businesses, parks and many activities – and I see the success of my children and their friends and their friend’s families and I have come to understand what my father meant by these steppingstones in life. I am truly just beginning to learn of the great value this community brings to those who embrace it.
I will leave you with one last quote from my father’s father (the first Garvey to move to Oak Park). He said to my dad that “if you place yourself in the place of most potential, and you are open-minded enough to recognize an opportunity when you see it, success will always come to you.“ Ever since I have lived here, I’ve always found this to be true.
Post Script:
When you are ready, I invite you to tour homes for sale with me while you experience your own HGTV style of exploring homes. How can you make a decision on a home to buy, if you have not seen enough homes to know what a good value is?
Find out everything you need to know about our neighborhoods and buying these beautiful, but often times 100+ year old homes and condos.
Client Testimonials
Chris is really good, he spends time to explain our questions and is very informative. He is very detail oriented and showed us how to look for water damage and other issues with a house.
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Sunil B.2/16/2015
Chris, where do I start.. You ARE the best realtor in Oak Park by far. We're so grateful to have your help and knowledge in buying our first home. I'm even a little sad that we won't get to look at houses together anymore, but very happy to have our new home. Thank you so very much for your kindness and patience and generosity. We were so very lucky to have you.
Kelly and Dave
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kelly K.1/08/2020
Chris Garvey is FANTASTIC!After employing him for both a sale of a condo in Oak Park, a purchase of a three-story home in Forest Park, and the sale of two condos in Evanston, Illinois, we can’t say enough wonderful things about him! He and his Team hit a grand slam every single time! We kept hiring him because he’s the right guy for the job!He absolutely loves what he does. He loves his communities. He takes the care, the time, and the resources needed for each task involved in the process, and he pays the attention to detail that is necessary to get the sale and/or purchase done right and done quickly. He has knowledge about Oak Park real estate and history and the surrounding Chicago areas, like no other. His accessibility is unparalleled. Chris Garvey exceeded our expectations every time, in every way. He has obviously devoted his life to this stuff! It is his passion and an experience he loves ... with each individual client, with each of his families, and each of his neighborhoods.Unlike all the others realtors out there (whether local, regional, or national), his knowledge extends to all of the other stuff that you need to know about before and after (and, of course, throughout) the sale/purchase process, e.g., he knows the best contractors, developers, and lawyers, and he has an unmatched working knowledge relative to local and state ordinances and laws and construction, engineering, remodeling, decorating, and design. If he doesn’t, he makes sure to acquire the knowledge and information for you, so that you don’t have to do the work. ... so that you do not have to worry.In short, you get so much more than a realtor when you hire Chris Garvey and his Team!You absolutely won’t be disappointed. We promise!CHRIS GARVEY IS YOUR GUY!Jennifer & David(We have not in any way been paid by Chris to say the above. In fact, please contact Chris if you would like to speak to us about our experience. We believe in him and his Team so much that we are willing to give our time to share our wonderful experiences with him.)
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Jennifer C.3/19/2019
Chris was very accommodating, and willing to go the extra mile. We are very happy with the results and his commitment to make this an enjoyable experience for us.1
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acaracho3/23/2016
Chris was great for my husband and I as we bought our first house from afar. We needed to move to Oak Park from another state (during the Covid pandemic) and he helped us by giving recommendations, doing FaceTime videos to look at homes, and knowing just about everything about Oak Park. He was also a great resource on getting someone to help sell our condo in Iowa and has a list of contractors and such to help make our home perfect! Chris was amazing!
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loukurdi7/29/2020
When looking for a home, Chris and Caroline provided such a wonderful experience. They are super friendly, helpful and knowledgeable. Chris especially was always available and flexible with last minute home viewings. Not to mention he is extremely honest and I always felt like I could trust him. He helped me find my dream condo! Thank you both!
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Noelle H.3/19/2020
Chris Garvey is an amazing realtor. He is knowledgeable, kind, thorough, patient and easy to work with. He provides great insight on properties and makes the home buying experience enjoyable! I am grateful to have been able to work with him and highly recommend him to anyone looking for a realtor!
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Kinga B.4/18/2022
Chris was very helpful guiding us through our first home purchase. He was always available for questions and was extremely easy to work with. I highly recommend him.
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thikibear8/27/2018
Chris did a terrific job helping us buy a foreclosed house needing a lot of work a year ago. He was very persistent on getting the contract finalized. He also was a wealth of information on the process and provided excellent professional resources along the way ( inspector , mortgage broker , lawyer ). I would HIGHLY recommend Chris for your real estate agent
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Mary K.8/25/2018
Chris worked with us for well over a year in our single family home search in the Oak Park area, and additionally, sold our Chicago condo. We appreciated his no pressure, low stress approach to the house hunting phase as we explored neighborhoods in Oak Park, but when we decided it was "time", he was all-in with us. His knowledge of the area was extremely helpful to us, and appreciated his timely response to questions and advice about the local market. From beginning to end, it was a sincere pleasure working with him.
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kristin s.9/06/2016
As first time home buyers my husband and I didn't know anything about real estate agents (or even mortgages for that matter), but wow did Chris make the process so painless and fun! He really listened to what my husband and I were interested in, never rushed us, and was so on top of everything all the time it was just a great experience. He found us our perfect home and I am so thankful we were able to get it 🙂
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Laura W.3/19/2019
My wife and I started looking at homes in Winter of 2015. We had a low level of urgency, and started off just wanting to explore available options in our desired area (Oak Park). Working with Chris was great early on, because he was willing to work with us as casually as we wanted at that time. He was willing to look at homes with us whenever we wanted, and was well aware of changes in the local market that related to our preferences. It was low pressure, informative, and highly enjoyable.
In the Spring, we got more serious, and wanted to go look at houses more frequently and in a wider area--we had decided that we wanted to look in Naperville and Downers Grove as well as Oak Park. Chris was more than accommodating, and very knowledgeable of all the areas in which we were looking.
In the end, we decided that we wanted to buy a house in Naperville that needed some short-term work, and Chris was very helpful through the finance-securing process to make sure that the decision made sense for us, which we really appreciated. We would probably not be in the house we bought if not for Chris' thoughtful, informative, and low-pressure approach.
Chris has lived in, renovated, and sold many of his own homes, so his knowledge base extends beyond "basic" real estate know-how. He has a strong understanding of the true value of the homes he tours, as well as the potential issues that a buyer may run into. It was great to have his foresight working on our behalf.
Not only was Chris helpful, knowledgeable, and honest, but he was also fun to spend time with. I grew to look forward to house hunting on weekends. We could not be happier with the experience. Thanks Chris!
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tylerjmiller187/05/2016
Chris is fantastic! We immediately felt comfortable with Chris. He has a depth of knowledge about our community that is second-to-none. His advice about all of the homes we toured was invaluable. He truly made the home search experience enjoyable, he always called it a "home tour" which made me smile, and he was very responsive to all of our requests. We hope to stay in touch with him for years to come, he's truly a gem. He won't lead you astray!
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alexius o.2/24/2017
Caroline is an amazing realtor. As first time home buyers, we began this process with a different realtor and did not have a positive experience. We almost walked away from the buying process all together.
Caroline was/is an informative & tenacious realtor. We learned so much about every aspect of the process. She listened to our needs and respected our financial parameters. Caroline was always positive and kept our spirits high. We can not recommend her enough, and if and when we want to sell, she will be our realtor again
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Kelly A.4/02/2019
bought our first condo with chris and he helped us so much through the process, never rushed us, gave great tips and was very knowledgable about the neighborhoods. He did a great job negotiating as well and we were very happy to work with him.
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mattiehawkinson312/21/2020
Chris was a huge help in my buying my first home. Easy to work with, knowledgeable, and flexible with my needs in both finances and time.
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Daniel H.3/19/2020
After having such a great experience buying our first home with Chris, we turned to him when we were selling our home and could not be happier with the results. He gave us amazing advice and tips on how to present our home while still living in it, and we ended up selling immediately, which was our wish since we had to move across country! As first time home sellers we appreciated him walking us through the process. Also I want to mention that Chris truly knows the real estate industry like the back of his hand. When we were in the midst of buying our new house and farm in Vermont and were having trouble with the seller agent and mortgage companies, Chris helped us out even with those stressful issues even though there was nothing in it for him! Chris is just an amazing guy.
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zuser201706061805308964/06/2021
Chris has been a great help and a pleasure to work with for the sale of our condo and the purchase of our house. He was always available, very responsive and thorough in his evaluation of properties.
We can definitely recommend Chris to anyone looking for a smooth and turnkey selling and buying process.
