Chicago real estate without the polish.
Laricy LIVE tracks the Chicago housing market from the ground level: spring inventory, bid battles, condo financing, suburban moves, and seller prep. It is practical, blunt, and local, with enough side chatter to keep the transaction advice from feeling packaged.
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Laricy LIVE is a Chicago-centered real estate show with the feel of a working office conversation that wandered onto microphones. It moves fast. One episode may begin with sponsor reads and a joke about a chair, then land on whether the day after the Super Bowl really starts the spring market. Another turns a spring break listing surge into advice about seller homework, roof ages, appliance serial numbers, tuckpointing, and the small details that make a buyer think a place has been cared for. The show likes blunt questions. It also likes practical answers. Multiple-offer episodes focus on timing, lease cycles, downtown inventory, Lakeshore Drive comps, and how buyers can structure bids when the market stops behaving politely. Mortgage conversations with Ben Cohen get into condo financing, pre-approval, building repairs, balcony issues, and why a lender who understands condos can change a deal. Broader industry interviews bring in Illinois REALTORS® leadership and property tax arguments, including pension pressure and the frustration of reform that never seems simple. The local lens matters. Old Town, Evanston, Old Irving, West Town, downtown condos, Chicago suburbs, and first-time buyer behavior all sit inside the same market map. Guests such as J Maggio, Katarina Peroulis, Jeffrey T. Baker, and Ben Cohen give the show more voices, but the appeal is still the same: live transaction texture. It is funny without being tidy. It is opinionated without pretending every problem has a clean answer. The show is strongest when it translates macro noise into what buyers, sellers, and lenders have to decide this week. It is especially useful for people who already know the vocabulary of offers, rates, underwriting, and inventory, but want a sharper read on what those words mean in Chicago right now.
Made for: Built for Chicago-area buyers, sellers, and real estate watchers who want market talk tied to actual listings, offers, lending, and condo issues. It works best for listeners comfortable with industry shorthand and candid opinions.
What sets it apart: Laricy LIVE stands apart by mixing local market reads with transaction-room details: bid structure, seller prep, condo underwriting, repair rules, and property-tax pressure. The messy banter is part of the signal, because the advice comes from real situations rather than packaged talking points.
Laricy LIVE is your go to real estate podcast that covers market trends, real estate news, and all the questions you need answered on a weekly basis! This show is brought to you by Matt Laricy, recognized as a NAR 30 Under 30 in the country, and #2 out of over 14,000 agents in Chicago, IL.
Based on 4 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Matt Laricy connects Chicago housing policy and financing to the practical realities of condo transactions.
Laricy LIVE treats Chicago residential real estate as a chain of practical consequences, following market shifts and policy questions down to what happens inside a deal.
A listing sits for months, moves to a private network, and suddenly you want receipts.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A blunt Illinois housing conversation where tax pressure and budget math keep coming back.
This Illinois real estate conversation stays locked on property taxes, pension funding, and the budget math underneath them. Matt Literacy and Jeff Baker keep circling tax reform, levy growth, pension funding reform, and the way those pressures show up in housing costs across…
Blunt, practical real estate talk about what buyers notice and sellers forget.
This episode stays close to the practical side of real estate. It looks at how buyers judge whether a house has been cared for, why sellers and agents need to do their homework before a listing goes live, and which details tend to matter most once the home is on the market.
A blunt condo-lending conversation that turns mortgage talk into practical advice.
Matt Literacy and Ben Cohen keep this episode focused on mortgages, financing, and the practical headaches that come with condo deals. The strongest part is the run through building repairs, special assessments, and the way something that looks cosmetic can still become a…
A holiday-market real estate talk about private-network listings, buyer prospecting, and why some inventory feels new.
The episode folds holiday chatter into a plainspoken look at how real estate listings can seem newly available when they move into a private network.
A loose Chicago real estate talk that turns election noise into market pressure.
Matt Literacy and the group spend most of this one circling the same post-election question: what do the votes mean for the marketplace? The best material comes from the calls and reactions on the ground, with empty nesters and out-of-staters asking whether things are getting…
Short-term rental lessons from the operator side.
Matt Literacy’s Q3 2026 Chicago figures show average sale prices up 8.2%, led by Lincoln Park’s 22.2% increase.
Laricy LIVE host Matt Laricy interviews Susana Mendoza about Chicago's mayoral race, property taxes, schools, and business climate.
Matt Laricy contrasts spring buyers, who fear missing out, with fall buyers, who fear "making a mistake," using a pool analogy where fall buyers announce a swim but hesitate at the edge.
Jeff Baker gets the CEO treatment, then the room slides from title jokes and sponsor patter into Illinois property taxes, pension funding, and why levy hikes can feel wired into local budgets.
Matt Literacy marks episode 200 and keeps the conversation centered on the everyday mechanics of real estate.
This episode provides strategies for buyers to win real estate bid battles in competitive markets, focusing on multiple offer scenarios and timing during peak seasons.
This episode explores whether listing a home the day after the Super Bowl is truly the best time to sell, examining market trends and inventory levels.
The host discusses the Chicago spring real estate market starting in January 2026, introducing the concept of three main types of buyers active during this period.
This episode discusses real estate trends in Chicago and its suburbs, featuring guest Jay Maggio, with humorous banter about suburban living and real estate services.
This episode discusses summer real estate market trends in Chicago, focusing on first-time buyers and featuring insights from agents Kat and Lexi.
Matt Literacy sits down with Ben Cohen and keeps the conversation relaxed.
The show opens with holiday chatter and a few name-change jokes.
["Laricy LIVE E167 centers on the \"post-election push\" and how election results may have changed Chicago real-estate behavior within days.", "Matt Literacy, John Paul, Mickey, and Ben Cohen link the rebound to Bitcoin moving from 40k to 93k, the stock market hitting an all-time high, and mortgage rates still sitting above seven.", "The hosts say downtown Chicago remains under pressure because River North and Gold Coast properties are still far below prior values, with one River North example taking nine months to sell and some units down about 35% from 2020.", "They argue that crime perception, sanctuary-city politics, and return-to-office policy could matter more for downtown demand than another quarter-point Fed cut."]
Host Matt Literacy interviews top Illinois lender Ben Cohen to discuss current trends and updates in the mortgage industry.
This episode educates listeners on the importance and controversies of condo document reviews in real estate transactions, featuring insights from a guest with extensive condo board experience.