Laura Maychruk is known for her work in the Oak Park Arts District, her previous career running the Buzz Café and her work as a real estate agent in River Forest and Oak Park. This spring, she became her own client, listing her River Forest home for sale for a new opportunity in Oak Park.
“It’s been interesting to be in the shoes of my clients,” she said.
Like all local Realtors, Maychruk has seen the real estate market achieve new heights in 2025. Her listings have drawn multiple offers and high prices.
“It’s been going on since January,” she said. “I was talking to my husband about how this market is just nuts.”
But it was not originally her attention to sell her own home and buy a new one.
About a month ago, a house on Columbian Avenue in Oak Park hit the market. She showed it to three clients. “It was awesome. A solid house. It needed a new kitchen and baths, but it was such a great house,” she recalled. “By Sunday afternoon, all three had texted me that they weren’t interested. I told my husband that we should go take a look.”
With the youngest of their four children about to graduate from OPRF High School, Maychruk was feeling a call to make a change. She and her husband put in a bid and soon became the new owners of a fixer-upper.
The Maychruks have been in their River Forest home at 210 Gale for roughly 20 years. When they purchased it, their eldest child was five, and their youngest hadn’t yet made an appearance.
Built in 1895, the house was a true renovation special. The Victorian home had been turned into a three-flat and covered in stucco. The couple returned it to a single-family home, rehabilitating both the exterior and interior. They earned two historic preservation awards for their work on the house.
As Maychruk recounted, “My house has been a labor of love. Everything is completely done. I’m looking forward to doing that again.”
She said that the fast-moving market was a catalyst that pushed her to move on from the home where she happily raised her family.
Even though she’s an experienced real estate agent with her own firm, Maychruk said she had to make herself become the client when it came to marketing her own home.
“I told my stager to pretend it’s not me. Tell me what to do,” she said.
Her stager recommended she get rid of anything painted yellow and repaint the walls a neutral white color. The stager also rearranged items and streamlined the house. Maychruk said that she realized she was just like her seller clients, “When you love a house, you don’t see it.”
It wasn’t always an easy message to hear, she said. “It’s painful to hear someone doesn’t like your style or how you use a room. Bottom line, she was right. The house looks great now.”
Maychruk did all of her own showings on her house noting that no one else knows her house like she does. “Of course, I disclose I’m the owner. I want to share so much minute details that it’s hard for me to shut up about it all and just let them see the house,” she laughs.
The six-bedroom, three and one-half-bathroom home hit the market asking $1,349,000 on a Monday, and Maychruk was requesting that all offers be in on Friday April 18, letting her have time to enjoy the Easter weekend with her family. As of press time, the house is under contract.
While the kids have mixed emotions about leaving their childhood home, Maychruk emphasizes that the new place has plenty of room for them. She’s looking forward to bringing the 1927-era home back and hopefully winning some new historic preservation awards in the process.