Tri-Star Estates Offers Affordable Options for Single-Family Homes

Nestled in Bourbonnais, home of the Chicago Bears training camp, Tri-Star Estates (a Santefort Neighborhood) boasts a legacy of more than 40 years, catering to a wide register of homes for sale and homes for lease.

Patch: Tri-Star Estates is being marketed as a way to get out of the city while still being right nearby. How did you first come up with this concept?

Quam: It just makes sense that families and retirees can get a lot more for their money in a more peaceful, less congested environment if they get a little outside the Chicago Collar counties. Tri-Star is just a hour from the Chicago loop and offers great homes for every budget and club-like amenities. The Kankakee/Bourbonnais community offers great schools, restaurants, theaters and shopping. I-57 is less than five minutes away to get anywhere north and into the city. Tri-Star provides a great place to raise your children or to downsize if the kids are gone. The Tri-Star Estates community has an upscale clubhouse that provides a pool, exercise facility and great community and private gatherings and events all year long! We feel you owe it to yourself to visit us and tour the community to see all we have to offer.

Patch: What's your definition of success?

Quam: Personally, I like the thought that success is not getting what you want, but wanting what you get. From Tri-Star’s perspective, success is about doing all we can to ensure our residents know we respect them and to continue to provide great housing alternatives at a budget for most every homeowner.

Patch: Tri-Star Estates strives to be kid-friendly. What steps have you taken toward this goal?

Quam: We have focused our efforts on being a kid friendly environment and investing in our youth. We have added all kinds of venues to keep kids busy and living a healthy, proactive life as a child. Kids can cool off and stay active by swimming in our pool and also play on our state of the art playgrounds and basketball courts. There are awesome kid activities in our clubhouse planned all year long, such as kids craft days and movie nights! Lots of parents book children’s birthday parties in the clubhouse. Tri-Star and Bourbonnais are the perfect place to raise a family, and your kids will love it here.

Patch: How did you first get started in real estate?

Quam: My family bought 100-acre plus land tracks, subdivided it in to lots and then sold the lots for years when I was growing up. I started selling residential units in the late 80s and then, in the early 90s, I started selling manufactured homes, and that is what I have continued to do all these years.

Patch: How does Tri-Star Estates maintain its edge over the competition?

Quam: We sell and lease beautiful, new and rehabbed, manufactured homes at affordable prices. We choose our new homes with the long-term in mind–offering better roofs, walls and insulation, dishwashers, double master sinks and walk-in showers because we know these homes will last for 40 years or more, and we want them designed right from the start. Most of our competitors don’t choose these long-term options. We also provide amazing amenities, fun social events and more at no additional cost to the resident. We think very creatively about how to meet our community’s needs. For example, to reward our Neighborhood Heroes, we offer 5 percent down and 5 percent fixed rate, 15-year financing to qualified veterans, police, fire, nursing and teaching professionals. We also offer lease with an option to purchase, which would give any leased home resident the ability to convert to a purchase and get full credit for all of their rent payments against the price of the home. This allows millennials to build equity while not making a full commitment until they are ready. Try getting these deals from a competitor or apartment complex! Residents can also take advantage of our "one month free rent" referral program. Tri-Star is always working hard to provide the best place to live, and we offer everything that a resident wants in a home and community.

Patch: If you had to recommend three books, what would they be and why?

Quam: The 5 Love Languages was a great book for me to learn extra ways to relate to my husband. Winning Friends and Influencing People was a great book to help me keep myself motivated and to best learn how to relate to all people in all areas of my life. The Power of A Whisper is a book that helped me understand that God is always sending us messages that he feels can help point us in the right direction.

Patch: What’s the strangest thing to ever happen to you while showing a house?

Quam: I showed a home once and the clients were so excited, they started jumping up and down and shouting [that] they found the right home. It was strange in a good way. We’ve seen this more than once when someone sees how much house they get for the money at Tri-Star.

Patch: How’s the market in Illinois these days?

Quam: The higher end of the economy has seemed to recover quicker than the middle class. Many folks are still struggling in the wake of the last recession. We are closing an average of eight to 10 homes per month at Tri-Star, so our market is pretty hot.

Patch: What advice would you give to someone looking to a buy a new home right now?

Quam: Simply, I’d say shop and compare. Anyone looking to live in the south Chicago metro area owes it to themselves to see what Tri-Star has to offer then compare it to our competition. Our competitors don’t generally buy the same quality homes as we do. They don’t rehab used homes like we do. They don’t offer our amenities, financing and lease-to-own options. What apartment owner will help you build equity by being willing to sell you your apartment after two years with full credit for your rent payments? Most importantly, Tri-Star’s commitment to resident satisfaction is second to none.

Patch: How can readers contact you to learn more about Tri-Star Estates?

Quam: You can contact us by calling our sales office at (815) 940-4222, or email Mike or Linda at mquam@sregpm.com or lquam@sregpm.com. Also, please check out our website tristarestates.com to get more details about our Tri-Star community and our available homes for sale.

Photos courtesy of Tri-Star Estates, a Santefort Neighborhood