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ONGENAGROUP
Stop looking.
Start finding.®
Most agents can show you a home. Jim Ongena spent seven years managing residential construction before selling his first one — so you find out what a home is worth, quality of construction, and understand who buys it after you.
Transactions closed (Const. & Sales)
Transactional experience
Chicagoland Brokers Since 2015
Two careers in one advisor.
Jim graduated from Illinois State University in 2003 with degrees in Construction Management and Business Management, then spent seven years managing residential construction projects — learning how buildings are designed, built, maintained, and evaluated.
He entered residential real estate in 2010, in one of the hardest housing markets in modern history. That combination is the whole point: one realtor for the market analysis and the building itself.
We read the building, not just the listing
An aging furnace isn’t a line on an inspection report. It’s remaining life, repair cost, replacement cost, a negotiation opportunity, and a resale conversation three years out.
Renovation math before you offer
What the work actually costs, which improvements return their money, and which ones quietly don’t — priced from real project experience, not a guess.
Every decision tested against resale
If this home had to sell tomorrow, does this choice help, hurt, or make no difference? Almost every conversation comes back to that question.
“Who will be buying your home next?”
The question behind every recommendation we make
Protecting what you buy means understanding who buys it from you. Before an offer goes out we work through the next buyer: who they are, what they care about, what would excite them, and what would scare them off.
It’s the difference between a house you love today and an asset that still makes sense in seven years.
“As someone who spent a good portion of his career on the construction side, he knew what to look for… Without him I definitely might’ve settled on one of at least three condos that had flaws that would put a dent in my wallet, from water damage in walls, water damage / bubbling in floors, and decaying rooftops that would need to be replaced sooner than later.”
Saul Barrera · Buyer · West Town
Eighty-five clients have written about working with Jim — across forty towns and neighborhoods, from 2012 to today.
Buying or selling — you’ll always know what happens next.
Four phases, eleven steps
Consultation and planning, the search, under contract, and closing — with hold-period math so you know what the home has to do for you before you own it.
Five phases, twelve steps
Strategy, preparing for market, marketing and negotiation, under contract, closing — plus a written traffic report every Tuesday, whether the news is good or not.
The quarterly market report, four times a year.
What actually sold in your area, what it went for, and what it means if you are thinking about moving in the next year or three. No listings blast, no drip campaign — four emails a year and a note when something changes that affects you.
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