Real estate powerhouse: Meg Burns Lietz
Moving six times in the last twelve years has taught me a lot about the dos and don’ts of buying and selling a home. From relocating to a nearby state to a quick jaunt down the road to upgrade to more square footage, to say I’ve lived “under the gun” of uncertainty of where my family will reside next is an understatement. Having had the pleasure of working with several top notch agents, I consider myself fortunate to be connected to people who sincerely have my best interest at heart. However, there were also some cringeworthy experiences that left a bad taste in my mouth for realtors.
On the selling side the experience was pretty much the same — list house, have a few showings in the first few weeks, then nothing. Cue the realtor to start suggesting we drop the price in our home to entice buyers. The purchasing end with one of the agents we worked with entailed a barrage of emails from the MLS (Multiple Listing Service) and that’s where the communication ended. Interested in a specific area, I asked about a particular neighborhood and all I received was a pared down email list of the original report she had pulled from the larger pool of homes available.
Always curious about real estate, I happened upon a Facebook Live walk-through a few weeks ago of a home in Geneva, Illinois, I had never seen before and was immediately excited to live vicariously through the agent’s “sneak peek.”
As the agent walked viewers through the house, she not only gave historic tidbits about the property, which I particularly love, she highlighted small pops of features that a plain old listing wouldn’t show in still photos. This woman had done her homework and blanketed me with an infectious excitement about real estate.
A new powerhouse in the real estate industry, Meg Burns Lietz takes marketing a home seriously. And she’s not afraid to get out into the world to bring an interestingly beautiful array of houses to you, whether your looking for a home or not. She’s a beautiful combo of a classy HGTV show host and small town woman who intimately knows her community and all aspects of the real estate buying and selling process.
“I didn’t come into a career in real estate because I like houses,” explained Burns Lietz. “I have a curiosity that most people don’t have about the entire process.”
Intrigued by her tenacity, I sat down with Burns Lietz to see what made her spirit so excited about real estate.
“Once I got my degree in economics, the Internet was just picking up momentum (in the late 90s) and realtor.com entered my world,” explained Burns Lietz. “I would spend hours pouring over listings, but the temptation to dig a little deeper always pulled me to really investigate more — I eventually found myself researching every part of a real estate transaction.”
Burns Lietz was not simply looking at square footage and the possibility of a charming fixer-upper property, she scoured over county and city websites, interested in details like foreclosures and mortgage information. The history of properties fascinated her, and the Geneva-native found herself researching all the nooks and crannies of information she could get her hands on to find out more about properties.
“It’s not normal,” Burns Lietz’s laughed. “And as the internet progressed so did I…”
I asked Burns Lietz what she loved about Kane County, to which she quickly responded, “When you grow up in this area you don’t realize you’re living in a kind of utopia,” said Burns Lietz. “When I moved back, one of the most special elements about this place was reconnecting with people.”
But what if you didn’t grown up in the Tri-cities?
“Here’s what I love the most about moving to Kane County — it’s transient enough so if you’re not from here, you can still plug into that small town feeling,” commented Burns Lietz. “The people from this area are very open and welcoming and you can easily get involved in a church, school, social, and work communities. “You can’t find that everywhere. To still have this really solid core community with people who are super involved and still open to new people is very special.”
Armed with a prominent hyper-local social presence, Burns Lietz sees social media platforms like Facebook as a natural tool for real estate agents.
“Facebook is so engaging and I love it,” said Burns Lietz. “Not everyone has the time to stalk the internet for listings and often a quick Facebook Live video is just what buyers are looking for to get an idea of a property.”
With a constant conversation about area real estate running through her mind and a willingness to not only list homes but sell them, Burns Lietz’s approach to supporting homeowners is a tried and true strategy:
“I ask myself, “What are simple and easy ways to make this home marketable that won’t cause the owners to spent a lot of money?””
Always striving for getting her clients top dollar, Burns Lietz is constantly aware of current inventory, checking on the “pulse” of what’s available to buyers — and what will give her sellers a competitive edge.
“I’m always thinking about what can I do to make your house look better, and not always visually, marketing it differently from the competition. That thought process is different.”
And that includes both luxury and more budget-friendly homes. Burns Lietz has personally been in the “over $500K” market.
“There are so many luxury homes on the market and when I was a seller, I wanted to set myself apart from my neighbors who were also selling their beautiful homes.”
Burns Lietz went on to explain that using an agent to decide the listing price of a home is a combination of marketing and pricing, which is often a hard conversation to have with sellers.
“I’m comfortable having those conversations with potential clients, just like I am putting myself out there on social feeds to highlight a home,” said Burns Lietz. “Because I would want to work with somebody that was 100% confident in listing my home and selling it for top dollar.”
This honesty is why Burns Lietz focuses not only what’s on the minds of her clients — buying or selling a house — but what the future holds for them.
“You don’t want to insert too much of your personal opinion as an agent,” explained Burns Lietz. “If someone’s on a busy road, I also think about the possibility of when they’re selling the house in the future and point that out to them. Listening to their wants and needs and getting to know more about their lifestyle is key — which helps me streamline a search when I’m working with a buyer.”
Burns Lietz’s favorite areas to hunt for homes:
#1 — Quiet streets — but near the hustle and bustle.
North 2nd Avenue off of Delnor Avenue in St. Charles near Pottawatomie Park is a nice hidden street. Homes there look over Swanson Pool and the the Pottawatomie Golf Course. “It’s kind of a hidden street that offers more modest houses and some really expensive homes that look over the Fox River,” said Burns Lietz. “Plus it’s wooded and private.”
More quiet streets in St. Charles — Pheasant Run Drive off of Dean and Burr Road Lane off of Burr Road are both heavily wooded. “Burr Road Lane is a little deceiving because there are pillars right where you turn in, so one would think it’s a private drive,” explained Burns Lietz of the area just west of LeRoy Oakes Forest Preserve.
#2 — In-town hotspots.
“In Geneva, South 8th Street is not only a beautiful street, it has convenient walkability to the train station. River Street is right in town but has a quietness about it that’s stealthy so buyers never know it’s there.”
#3 — Homes under $350K
“You can’t go wrong with downtown St. Charles and Batavia. Both have an abundance of homes for sale throughout the year under $350,000.”
You can follow Meg on Facebook at or her listing site on Baird & Warner.
This article originally appeared in the Kane County Chronicle on August 16, 2018.
