Hello and welcome!
I am Kelly Page and I am the founder of We Buy Houses Illinois. I am a wife, mom of three precious boy munchkins and bonus mom to one beautiful young lady.
I am also a self-proclaimed foodie, wine lover, and in my life previous to children, a backpacking world traveler (37 countries).
I have worked in Healthcare Information Technology as a Systems Engineer and Technical Project Manager for more than 25 years. Yep, I’m a geek and techie.
I am a Chicago born-and-bred native, who has lived for significant periods on all “sides” of the city. During my pre-teen to early teen years I lived on the south side in Chatham. From early teens to well into adulthood I lived on the north side in Edgewater, West Ridge and for a short stint in Evanston. For the past several years I have lived on the west side on the border of the Near West Side and East Garfield Park neighborhoods.
During my college years, I lived in Urbana, Illinois while attending University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. When on summer vacation I earned college credits while attending Triton College (calculus), Loyola University (physics). I also attended Northwestern University after graduation as I completed my pre-medicine prerequisite courses. I even attended University of Illinois at Chicago trying out a Masters in Public Health. For fun, I took photography and television productions at Columbia College. In later years, I attended Oakton Community College in Skokie and Des Plaines for fun adult continuing education classes. What I can say is that I love learning and Chicago schools were my drug for a while. (Schools were not as expensive then.)
I was a staff instructor for College of Lake County at both their Waukegan and Grayslake Campuses teaching Microsoft Office products. One more… I attended Northern Illinois University in Naperville completing Construction Management classes. Whew! As you can see my breadcrumbs are all over Illinois.
In 2002, I bought my first property which was a small multifamily 2-flat (2-unit) in Chicago.
I continued to build up my real estate portfolio and then lost it all in almost all of it in 2008 with the great crash of financial institutions. I left real estate alone and thought that I would never return. Fast forward, I met my husband on a vacation to Jamaica, fell in love, got married and had a few babies.
Wanting to build a life where making a living supporting my family and getting my time back brought me back to real estate. I had learned some tough knocks about life and learned how I could rebuild with a real estate business that reflects my values, achieve our family needs as well as show my children the value of hard work, entrepreneurship and giving while giving back to communities.
As we are still a very small business, I were multiple hats. As a matter of fact, I wear all of the hats that are not construction, renovation, or repair based. That means I am the main person you will talk to as well as the marketer, bookkeeper, social media manager, and much more.
Though I started all over in the real estate business, I now have a different, greater purpose – to provide for my family, create a legacy and to serve others.
Education:
- B.S. Kinesiology Pre-Med, Chemistry Minor, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), Graduated 1994
- University of Illinois at Chicago, Fundamentals of Urban Real Estate, Completed 05/2006
Certifications:
- Northern Illinois University, Construction Management Certification Program, Certificate Completed 2005
- Chicago Rehab Network, Empowerment Series, Certificate Completed 2007
- Project Management Institute, Project Management Professional (PMP), Certificate Completed 2008
Affiliations:
- Urban Land Institute, Young Leaders Group, Former Member, 08/2002
- Home Builders Association of Greater Chicagoland, Associate Member Member, Since 2005
- Project Management Institute Member, Since 2008
- Former Board of Directors: North Avenue Day Nursery, Chicago, IL
- Chicago Creative Investors Association (CCIA), Since 2019 to Present
Wha go on?! Hello there!
I am Ricordo Page and I am a Jamaican native. I met my wife, Kelly, at a beach in Jamaica while at work at the resort. Yep! Four years later, I came here on a fiance visa and we are still going strong nearly a decade later.
In my home country I had done home repair work in my home and that of my family and friends. I also worked as a construction worker as well. However, there are many differences with the construction in Jamaica and here. Since the methodologies, materials and general work was a bit different, initially I did not pursue this type of work.
After being disappointed by GCs and subcontractors working on various projects, I fell into my home improvement skills for our projects and haven’t stopped. Since then, I have become a professional handyman and will soon become a General Contractor.
Kelly uses my talents for this business as our project manager managing all of the contractors and subcontractors as well as applying some sweat equity.
When I am not working on renovation and repair projects, you can catch me watching international football games (not that of the American Football variety…aka soccer as Americans call it).
We work in and on this business together.
We enjoy that our business is primarily about helping others. We feel really good when we can help someone, a couple or a family move forward by purchasing a property which is no longer a benefit to them or their situation
If we resonate with you and if you feel like you are in a bind, then just fill out the form or call me at 312.508.0700. My business specializes in serving people just like you. We are transparent, have a high work ethic, operate with integrity and we care.
Call us today at 312.508.0700 to see how we can help you.