Local property manager wins leasing agent of the year award

Shari C. Vass, certified property manager of The Braeside Group of Northbrook, won the Leasing Agent of the Year award at the 12th Annual Institute for Real Estate Management Chicago Premier Awards.

As executive property and leasing manager at the Braeside Group, Vass successfully represented owners in 83 lease transactions in 2015. Braeside Owner David Multack wrote in nominating Vass, "She is a person with a plan. She has strong business acumen and has a lot of heart. She listens to customers and works to get them the perfect space. She really has a knack for matching the right tenant to the right property."

Northbrook based Braeside Group manages more than 6,000 residential units in more than 70 properties and over 100,000 square feet of commercial and industrial real estate throughout the northern suburbs and the Chicago area. Multack adds that "Shari has been a real asset for our company and her leasing and interaction with owners has helped expand our service base." Vass handles properties in Buffalo Grove, Deerfield, Northbrook, Highland Park and Northfield as well as other suburbs.

A lifelong real estate professional in the Chicago area, Vass says, "Every promise I make I keep."

She says she finds instant gratification in the problems she solves as well as an important higher purpose. "If I fix your faucet, it fixes your faucet, it saves water and it builds a relationship," she says, adding "I love what I do."

She also gives back through professional, community and fundraising activities. The Shari Vass IREM Chicago Educational Fund provides financial assistance to students who plan to enter real estate management as a career. She is a past president of the Chicago IREM Chapter and a past chairman of the Illinois Community Association Licensing Board.

Most actively, she supports Orchard Village in Skokie, a home for special needs adults, as well as a similar home, UCP-Seguin, in Cicero. Initially drawn to the work through her nephew, a resident, she remains active in Orchard Village even though her nephew has moved.

The IREM Premier Awards were created to recognize people, organizations and companies for excellence in real estate management in areas that include innovation and technology, energy conservation, community involvement and leadership, vendor services and embodying the core principles of the industry. Chicago is the largest IREM chapter in the United States.

Vass is a resident of Lincolnwood and the grandmother of five grandchildren.