Elmhurst RE/MAX office acquired by Canadian investor

ELMHURST - RE/MAX Northern Illinois said the RE/MAX 1st franchise in Elmhurst has been acquired by real estate broker and investor Surinder Chandi of Toronto, Canada.

Terms of the acquisition were not announced.

After working with both commercial and residential real estate in the Toronto area for two decades, Chandi began investing in Chicago-area real estate in 2014 and now divides his time between the two cities. In Illinois, he has purchased, renovated and sold approximately 25 homes in the Chicago suburbs from Country Club Hills north to Park Ridge. He explained that there were three main motivations behind his decision to purchase what is Illinois' oldest RE/MAX franchise, established in 1977.

"First, I wanted to affiliate with RE/MAX because it is the global leader in real estate and the most recognized brand," Chandi explained. "In fact, I'm also in the process of affiliating my Toronto operations with RE/MAX. I've been impressed with the way RE/MAX has evolved from its original business model to one that now offers both franchise owners and their affiliated brokers the financial options that allow them to work together in the most productive ways." Chandi also sees an opportunity to bring ideas from the Toronto market to the Chicago area that he believes will offer brokers at RE//MAX 1st a competitive advantage.

Initial plans call for the new office to be 2,500 square feet, but "we'll also retain some expansion space in the building," he said. "We have 13 brokers now, but I'm confident we'll add to that substantially once the new space is ready if not sooner."

Chandi is also excited about the potential of the Elmhurst market, which has been among the strongest performers in suburban Chicago over the past decade.