THE CURRENT HOT REAL ESTATE on the North Shore offers many challenges for buyers and sellers. With record low inventory, many homes are sold before they ever hit the MLS, or the Private Listing Service for that matter, and most receive multiple offers. While it’s a seller’s market, potential sellers who want to upsize or downsize must consider where they’ll go if they want to stay on the North Shore.

Under the current market conditions, finding an experienced agent with a strong knowledge of the local community can make all the difference. Joanna Koperski, a broker with @properties in Lake Forest, offers that knowledge and experience to her clients. Ranked among the top five percent of real estate brokers in Illinois, Koperski has resided in Lake Forest since 1986 and brings a rare business and marketing savvy to the table, having been the CEO of a nationally recognized creative design firm.

“The advantage of experience is one of the most important assets supporting and shaping the countless decisions confronting us as agents on a daily basis,” Koperski says. “In today’s aggressive market, there’s benefit from the sense of calm a wealth of experience affords both buyers and sellers. Including the ability to recall a library of past occurrences in order to apply them to current difficult situations is priceless.”

Koperski says we are definitely in a heated sellers’ market with demand exceeding supply and new listings barely going live as they are gobbled up by impassioned and competing buyers. Multiple offers are commonplace, as are offers above list price.

“This heated activity primarily advances the interests of sellers, often bringing them a profitable and quick conclusion to an event most of them expected to be drawn out and stressful,” she says. “Experience in these conditions becomes a serious resource for sellers, guiding them calmly and carefully through the various convoluted labyrinths of the ‘new normal’ for these deals.”

With the current market favorable for sellers and interest rates on the rise, Koperski recommends that anyone who has been considering a move to list as soon as possible to take full advantage of the current seller-positive conditions.

“Any delay in moving forward will allow these increasing interest rates to negatively affect buyers’ purchasing power,” she says. “This will certainly dampen current market enthusiasm, with far reaching repercussions.”

Many of those currently looking for homes on the North Shore are families with children, and Koperski’s knowledge of the Lake Forest and Lake Bluff area, accumulated over her decades of residing in the community, offers migrating families a database of knowledge to tap. She’s a true ambassador for Lake Forest and its refined country ambience.

“Lake Forest has a wonderful village ambience replete with prime shopping and restaurants, and that magnificent lake with its welcoming beaches,” she says. “After two years of restricted living forced upon us, we have come to realize that our homes are priceless in the safety, security, and comfort they offer.”

She adds that choice is no longer influenced by necessity—it is now influenced by lifestyle preferences—and that Lake Forest has much to offer. For her, helping match families with the right home is what matters.

“What a pleasure to be able to participate in assisting clients so directly in making their best life choices,” she says.

Joanna Koperski is with @properties, 600 N. Western in Lake Forest, 847-668-0096, atproperties.com.