Michael Gobber worked for his broker uncle at the age of 10, picking weeds and cleaning up garbage outside his office, and one day, that office would become Gobber’s.
Gobber, a Westchester, Illinois-based agent who was named 2025 Illinois Realtor of the Year, considers that uncle his first mentor. When his uncle, George C. Breneisen, died in 2005, Gobber purchased the building where he ran his Century 21 office for 30 years.
“He taught me some of the basics that have stayed with me through today,” said Gobber.
Gobber eventually returned to Century 21 in 2017. "Another full circle moment from where I started," he said. It's fitting because his office happens to be called Century 21 Circle.
The building is also where Gobber began his career, now spanning more than 20 years, and where he runs his business out of today. Gobber initially worked as an auditor until he became disenchanted with the corporate world and decided to pursue the freedom of real estate, which his entrepreneurial side was drawn to.
“I realized that any time I wanted to take a day off for a golf outing or an event, I’d have to give two weeks' notice. I have to do all this just to get a day off,” said Gobber about working a corporate job. “That restriction kind of pushed me over the edge, and I said I need to do something where I work for myself.”
Gobber kept his day job during the first six months of working with his uncle until making his first sale: a four-bedroom home in the Chicago suburb of Glen Ellyn for a coworker’s first home. That gave him a bit of a financial cushion and a fire that pushed him to leave auditing.
“I finally had a closing, I loved it, and finally said, time to move full time,” he said.
Since then, Gobber led his local Realtor association in 2019 before being named its Realtor of the Year in 2021, and has served as a director for the National Association of Realtors since 2020, in addition to being a board member of the Illinois Realtors, and the Illinois Realtors president in 2023.
This interview had been edited and condensed for clarity.
What’s your house like?
“I live in Elmhurst. It’s a MacDougall split-level, which is the builder. He built a lot of homes in the area. It used to be owned by a former Chicago Blackhawk, Keith Brown. When he built it, the second bath he put in, he basically took out the shower and put in a giant hot tub, which is not standard or typically what people want in this style of house. It made sense because he was a hockey player.
When they moved, Brown kept the house and rented it to the rookies on the team, and they, of course, would enjoy the hot tub too. We replaced it pretty quickly after buying.”
What’s your favorite part of your house?
“We recently redid our patio, set up lights and have a built-in fire pit. That’s where our main entertaining in our house is, in our backyard.”
What are your hobbies?
“One of my hobbies is grilling and smoking meat. Even in winter, I’m out there in the snow smoking meat. When we have family over, I usually have up to four machines running at once. I have my giant Weber Summit grill, I have a Blackstone, a Weber Smokey Mountain smoker, and a Recteq pellet grill smoker.
I have a separate 200 square feet of patio dedicated to my smoking area. Brisket and pork belly burnt ends are my two favorites.
I’ve always enjoyed running. I had some back problems two years ago that stopped me from doing everything. I always wanted to run a marathon, so once it healed up, I said I’m doing this now while I still can. I ran my first marathon in October at the Chicago Marathon, and I’m signed up to run again this year.”
What local real estate trends are you noticing?
“The trend in our market is what we’ve seen across the country lately, it’s the inventory situation. It’s still the top on our list of what’s happening.
Even though we’re seeing a little bit of a resurgence in the inventory across the country, we’re not really seeing it in the Chicagoland area.
We’re still really low on inventory, which is driving prices up. Combine that with the interest rates, and affordability is becoming our main topic, especially at the association level.”