Meet The Team

Working with Lance Kirshner & LAKE Group was the best choice we made for our home search. Phenomenal customer service is what we received. Lance helped us find our new home in a short amount of time. His find was absolutely perfect for us. He provides his clients with guidance throughout the entire process. We were first-time home buyers and he provided us with all the information and tools necessary to make this seemingly difficult process a breeze for us! The team at LAKE Group is absolutely great! We were informed through every step, provided with guidance, updates, and support. Thank you so much for your above and beyond service. Do not waste y...

This was our second time using Lake Group for the purchase and sale of a home and yet again- Laura and Lance exceeded all expectations. They bring new meaning to the term “full-service” and found ways to make the process as seamless and stress free for us as possible at every step of the process- even during a pandemic! Laura was extremely attentive and engaged during the sale of our home and gave great advice on how to stay competitive during the unpredictable covid market in Chicago. She went above and beyond to ensure our place was marketed aggressively and showed flawlessly. Even after the sale she remained very involved in helping us navigate t...

Lance is amazing – he knows his stuff. He takes the time to learn what I want and works hard to get me that. I randomly was matched with him when I was looking for a condo in 2015 – I used him to buy that condo and since have used him to sell that condo and buy another one in 2021. He knows the market and how to negotiate. He won’t let you overpay and won’t let you buy something that he knows just is not right for you. I greatly appreciate how easy he – and his entire team – make the buying and selling process. They are responsive, accommodating, proactive, and practical in their approach. Their collective advice and expertise was paramount i...

Laura is extremely easy to work with and proved throughout the process why she is one of the area’s top real estate agents. Couldn’t have been more impressed and pleased with her work from beginning to end. She’s a tremendous advocate for her clients who consistently goes above and beyond.

Julie was simply awesome. She helped us scope out the market a year before we knew we were going to buy, so that when the time came we were ready. She's very knowledgeable and made the entire process, even in these crazy market, easy.

Nancy is so much more than just an agent. I was a timid, clueless first time buyer who went to Nancy to pick her brain with just initial thoughts of buying and she immediately made me feel comfortable. During our first meeting, she was understanding, prepared, responsive, patient, walked me through every little step, and addressed my every concern right on the spot. I knew right away that I was in good, trustworthy hands. Throughout the entire process, Nancy took the time to actively listen to my wants, needs, questions and concerns, then guided me accordingly. Even when I got off track and lost sight of my own budget and priorities, Nancy would sna...

"We loved Cristina! We met her during our apt search when we first moved to the city. We felt like she got us (plus she weathered an insane downpour so we could see a place, she’s legit). When the time came to buy we reached out again. As first time home buyers, we felt pretty clueless. Cristina was great at answering all of our questions, and providing information we didn’t even know to ask about. We felt like she did a great job of showing us how to really look at a place, what questions to ask, while also staying very neutral. Most importantly, she was always very responsive over text and email. Even the follow up after closing day has been reall...

My husband and I decided to sell our condo and buy a single family home mid-pandemic. Safe to say, we would not have made it through without Joanne. She organized beautiful and well attended open houses for our condo and made the sales process a breeze. When it came to our house hunt, we felt so confident throughout the entire process knowing that Joanne was on our side. She took the time to understand exactly what we were looking for and made sure we didn't sacrifice any of our must-haves when we started to get impatient with a slow market. Once we found our dream home, she helped us expertly navigate a stressful highest and best scenario without c...

After three transactions with Lance and his team, I cannot recommend them highly enough. From the moment we initiated our search for our new home, until the moment we closed on the sale of our past residence, Lance and his team were superlative. His willingness to go over and above all expectations is truly amazing. From connections in the industry to a tenacious negotiation style, Lance knocked it out of the park.

Two words: Trusted Partner. Laura made the process of selling our home feel like we had a personal concierge guiding us through the entire process. She worked to really understand our needs and timelines, and guided us through the journey in a way that felt effortless. We will 100% work with her to purchase our new home as well as any future real-estate transactions. If you're looking for a very experienced professional, look no further.

 Julie is an incredible agent. She is patient, resourceful, efficient, highly educated related to the market, excellent at her networking, and highly competent. She showed prowess and pose when negotiating in this highly competitive seller's market. She thought creatively and outside of the box. She never made us feel like our MANY showings and multiple offers were an imposition. Any buyer or seller would be lucky to have her represent him/her.

We owe an enormous gratitude to Nancy for both her professionalism and friendship in completing both the purchase of a new home and sale of our condo in March / April of 2020, just as the Covid-19 pandemic and accompanying restrictions were put in place. Amazingly, Nancy kept both transactions on tract and each closed within 35 days. Nancy’s calm demeanor and keen industry knowledge kept us calm (not an easy feat) and overcame many obstacles during the unprecedented circumstances. We would not want any other realtor to represent us

"I highly recommend Cristina for anyone looking for a hard-working, detail-oriented and responsive agent who really cares about her clients. As soon as I engaged Cristina, I knew I was in great hands. She came over to do a walk-through of my unit and make a checklist of all the things we should take care of before listing. She recommended and scheduled professionals to make sure all the tasks were completed in a timely and cost-efficient manner. Once my unit was on the market, she insisted she be present for all showings, and was very communicative with me about all feedback and follow up. She was constantly anticipating and mitigating potential iss...

Our home sold quick and for the price we were looking for! Joanne was extremely attentive and professional throughout our home sale experience. I would highly recommend her for all of you home sale and purchase needs in the future.

I have now had two experiences with Julie over the last ten years or so. She sets the standard for real estate agents. Julie and her team did an amazing job of selling our property from start to finish. From day one, communication was seamless and prompt, the recommendations Julie made in preparation to sell and then marketing were top notch, and all in-person interactions were professional and prioritized the safety of all parties involved during a challenging public health emergency. I would recommend Julie and her team without hesitation.

Working with Julie was an experience that made moving across the country smooth and easy. Julie was our eyes and ears to each property, going to the extent of FaceTime to make sure we didn't miss out on our dream home.

Julie is phenomenal! She was a true partner from the moment we expressed interest in looking for a home and throughout the entire process. She gave us lots of options, was patient with us, and was excellent at communication to make sure that we got what we wanted. She's a wonderful realtor and truly cared that we found a house that we would love and that could become our home. Can't recommend enough.

Lance had our house in record time. He is courteous, professional and is very knowledgeable about Chicago real estate. I would very highly recommend Lance's services.

Laura is extremely knowledgeable and efficient. I closed on a condo in 30 days, thanks to her. She promptly provided answers to all of my questions. I strongly recommend Laura Dewey Lando.

Laura was so amazing to work with and she helped us find the perfect place! I was a first time home buyer, and she was so helpful and knowledgeable and made the whole process so much easier!

Incredibly helpful throughout entire process. Daily search was very helpful and Lance's knowledge and insight proved to be invaluable during every step of our home buying experience. Would use again with without question. Highly recommended!

I just wanted to say that Joanne has been so amazing and so kind throughout the process of trying to help our family find a place. She is so responsive to any questions we had and also extremely informative! Not to mention she is so personable, kind and funny!

Cristina was fantastic in helping us get us our place rented, particularly given a slow rental market. She was very responsive, provided solid advice for when to drop the price, and handled all of the lease documentation for us, making it a very smooth process. Highly recommend her!

Cristina was super helpful, organized and responsive. She helped me find a place while I was on the process of relocating from Seattle to Chicago, showing me various listings in advance to get a better understanding of what I was looking for. I couldn't be happier with the unit I ended up renting, I highly recommend her!

Nancy was available for any and all questions that I had about selling my condo unit. She was also able to put me in touch with a great painter to spruce the place up before putting it on the market. She approached any issues that came up, from condo preparation to negotiating to preparing for the closing with a positive attitude and thorough knowledge.

I've bought two condos with Lance and sold one. Lance is extremely knowledgeable, responsive, and has a great referral for everything (painters, furniture stores, dog walkers, etc). He's an invaluable asset if you're looking to buy in the Chicago area. I plan on using Lance and his team the next time I'm selling and buying and I highly recommend him to friends doing the same.

Lance always exceeds expectations! Not only did Lance help me buy the condo in 2013, he helped me sell in in 2020 and buy a new single family home at the same time!!! Yes he did it in the middle of a pandemic, listed for 6 days and sold over asking price!! There is no one better, I met lance as a single guy in Chicago, now moving into our house with a wife and two kids! He is the best agent with the best team around.

Nancy has helped us rent our condo for years, and this year, she sold it for us. Throughout each of our experiences she took on all the logistics to get the place ready to show, finding affordable options for staging and using tons of data to identify the right asking price. During the pandemic, we have plenty of exposure, and an offer in 10 days! Nancy was such a fantastic resource and I would recommend her to anyone looking for a new home!

Prior to hiring Lance, we contemplated the value of a real estate agent. But all doubts were removed upon first meeting. He is incredibly thorough in terms of determining the appropriate price to list and buy properties. His previous work experience as an appraiser significantly helped us when making some of the most important decisions in our lives right now. With Lance's strategic advice, we were able to buy cheaper and sell higher. Highly recommend Lance!

Once again Lance and his team were great to work with. We had a great experience with them on the purchase of our first home. This time around we worked with them again on the selling of our place and buying a new place. They were very responsive, and negotiated well on our behalf on the buy and sell. We couldn't be happier with the results, and would recommend them to anyone buying or selling their place. We will definitely be working with Lance again in the future.

Lance was referred to us by friends and we had a great experience working with him and his entire team! They were very responsive, incredibly professional and sold our home in one day! They made the whole selling process as easy on us as possible and told us what to expect each step of the way. They obviously have a deep understanding of the local market and what buyers are looking for. I would highly recommend Lance and his team for all your Chicago real estate needs.

Lance and his team were phenomenal to work with. They had my house in portage park under contract in under 3 days at 99% of asking price. Their input as to how to get the house ready for sale was crucial. Everyone on the team knows the business in and out. He was extremely quick to respond through the process. My buyers had a very slow lawyer, but Lance still got the deal done on time. I recommend his team without any reservations. They are the best choice if you are looking to buy or sell a property. You will not be disappointed.

I can't actually say enough about how great it was to work with Lance and Nancy on buying our first home. From our first decision to look where he helped navigate us to the right neighborhood to the financial aspects where he walked us through a sample closing statement and all the line items before we even started looking and did a great job negotiating our offer price down he somehow made something extremely complicated look easy. He provided lots of useful recommendations and referrals when we asked, and all of them worked out well. We can't thank the team enough!

Lance and the LAKE group never cease to amaze us! We have worked with them on 7 different transactions, for the purchases and sales of our homes. Our beloved rowhouse was priced on point to sell before it even hit the market. It only took one private showing for Lance to find the perfect buyer. The entire LAKE Group valued our time and helped prepare us to sell quickly and maximize our market value. The vast experience, network and exceptional reputation that Lance and the LAKE Group have built make every transaction unbelievably smooth and with the guarantee of the utmost professionalism.

I could not have had a better experience with Laura, and I highly recommend her for any buying/selling needs. She has immense knowledge of the market, and she was more than willing to go out of her way to make sure I was prioritized. Laura also provided perfect staging recommendations and solutions to enhance showings, and her contact list of professionals needed was extremely beneficial. Last but not least, I had tight time constraints due to a move, and Laura was able to have the condo under contract in less than 1 week! Laura is truly the best of the best, and her experience and expertise are unparalleled.

Nancy was a dream relator! My husband and I were moving across the country and had one weekend to meet with Nancy to view several properties. She put together the most comprehensive booklet with the 15 properties we requested to see--and WOW! Her scheduling, attention to detail, strong listening skills, and professional (yet FUN) personality made our visit as seamless as possible. Nancy was quick to respond to all emails and communicated well with us, despite our different locations. Her knowledge of the city was helpful and the care she shows her clients is incredible. She successfully negotiated the best deal for us and we couldn't be happier in o...

Can not say enough about the service of Lance and his team. From start to finish they went above and beyond to make sure we were satisfied with our home. Any questions I had he was right there to answer. I have to say I am guilty of sending messages at off times and Lance never hesitated on getting back to me. Lance was honest, patient, and reliable through the entire process. We ran into a few hurdles on both our end and the seller's end, but Lance and Nancy were always diligent and supportive, and now that we are homeowners, Lance continues to help us out by having a contact for pretty much any type of home improvement. I would recommend Lance and...

As first time home buyers, the process was daunting and very overwhelming. From the moment we first sat down with Lance, he helped us feel more comfortable with everything. Lance gave us a crash course from what to pay attention to in a listing to what to expect at closing (paperwork, costs, etc). When taking us to look at places , Lance showed us a wide variety that fit our search and helped us find the place that checked off everything on our wish list. He answered every question we had quickly and efficiently, even down to the last minute at our closing. I don't have anything bad to say about our experience. We met Lance based on a good recommend...

Laura was a valuable advocate during the purchase of our Bucktown condo. She personally resolved all matters that came up with the seller's agent to keep the entire process stress free, plus had a number of great recommendations for a lawyer, inspector, and moving companies. Laura is very engaged in the process and accompanied us to make interior selections with the builder, walk through the property, and at inspections. She took detailed notes at every meeting and regularly advocated for our needs during and after meetings. Finally, Laura's knowledge of comps in the market is extraordinary and we relied on her heavily to advise us when preparing a...

After Nancy successfully sold our condo, we entrusted her to find our family home. From start to finish, we were impressed by her recommendations surrounding financing, home inspection, and vendors once we found our new home. Nancy's expertise expands past her knowledge of real estate into potential for new homes due to her architect and design background. She truly wanted us to think about our choices, asking the right questions which helped us pinpoint our 'must-haves' vs. 'nice-to-haves'. This was extremely helpful when transitioning from a 2BR apartment to a 3 BR house. She provided an insightful comp report, adding to it her personal thoughts o...

I've now used Lance twice for two very different properties, both which he handled with utmost professionalism. The first was a multi-unit in Humboldt which my family owned. He helped us to both purchase this property and then sell it (for a respectable profit) a few years later. He also most recently helped my boyfriend and I sell our 2 bedroom condo in Des Plaines. Despite the fact the properties were at vastly different price points and in completely different locations, Lance treated both as if I were his only client. I'm not sure if Lance sleeps as he is the most responsive agent I have ever dealt with. Not only did he make us money in both pro...

We loved Cristina! We met her during our apt search when we first moved to the city. We felt like she got us (plus she weathered an insane downpour so we could see a place, she’s legit). When the time came to buy we reached out again. As first time home buyers, we felt pretty clueless. Cristina was great at answering all of our questions, and providing information we didn’t even know to ask about. We felt like she did a great job of showing us how to really look at a place, what questions to ask, while also staying very neutral. Most importantly, she was always very responsive over text and email. Even the follow up after closing day has been really...

Lance and his team helped us purchase our first condo and made it such a great experience! They walked us through the process of what to expect while buying before we even started looking at properties, which helped us immensely with expectations and the intricacies of the closing process. Everyone was extremely responsive and quick to get us showings for properties we liked as soon as they came on the market and level set with us when it came to realistic property values and our budget. When we finally settled on our condo, Lance and his team championed for us in negotiations and got us credits for things we didn't realize were a possibility. Their...

Lance did a fantastic job selling our house during the difficult circumstances created by COVID-19. While Lance and his team were great across the board, I think a few things really set him apart and are worth mentioning here. First, Lance was extraordinarily responsive, and was always very quick to return a missed call with either a call back or a text message setting up a time to talk. Second, Lance and his team were cautious and thoughtful about our concerns during COVID, taking numerous steps from masks to shoe coverings, from hand sanitizer to actually wiping down any surfaces with disinfecting wipes to facilitate showings in the safest way pos...

I highly recommend Cristina for anyone looking for a hard-working, detail-oriented and responsive agent who really cares about her clients. As soon as I engaged Cristina, I knew I was in great hands. She came over to do a walk-through of my unit and make a checklist of all the things we should take care of before listing. She recommended and scheduled professionals to make sure all the tasks were completed in a timely and cost-efficient manner. Once my unit was on the market, she insisted she be present for all showings, and was very communicative with me about all feedback and follow up. She was constantly anticipating and mitigating potential issu...

This is my second review for Lance and his team, they helped me purchase my first home with a condo several years ago, and recently worked with me to sell that condo and purchase a house. Great experience with selling- his team came in with recommendations for staging, listing price, etc. They were very detailed oriented, which payed off as we had multiple offers on the home within 2 days of showings, including one at full asking which we ended up accepting and selling. Off the market in 4 days! In terms of buying, they were very helpful in presenting options, very patient as we made our selections, while offering solid advice along the way. One of ...

Let me start by saying we weren’t even a direct client of Nancy’s and we’re writing a review - that’s how awesome she is!! To start, we reached out to the listing agent for a condo we were interested in renting and he connected with Nancy - who represented the owners of the condo - to secure the lease. Once we signed the lease, we never heard from the listing agent again, and instead, Nancy took over. She organized the entire process and stayed on through our move in to make sure everything went well. When we visited the property for the first time, it was in rough shape but Nancy sprang in to action, organizing a handy man to come out and even comi...

Our realtor, Laura Lando of Compass Real Estate, was excellent from start to finish! When we initially met with Laura to discuss listing our rental condo for sale, she had already done some basic research on sales in the condo building and explained in broad terms what we might expect in the listing and sale of the property. Shortly thereafter, she furnished us with her detailed market analysis of the value of the property and supported her opinion with comparable sales of similar properties in the past year. After agreeing on the probable value of the condo and the appropriate listing price, Laura explained what needed to be done to get the unit sa...

Julie is extremely personable and friendly yet also very professional and realistic about current market conditions. Don't let that great smile fool you - she has the skills to get the job done!

Great with communicating, honest, and very helpful! Very knowledgeable about all aspects of condos, apartments, homes, and areas in and near Chicago. Very accommodating to individual needs of those looking to rent, buy, or sell a home.