Who We Are

My name is Kelly Halligan and I am super excited to share my story with you. Before I tell you all about my life and how I embarked on my renovation career, I am first going to share how Halo Renovations got its name. My grandmother, Nancy Halligan, was and still is a huge inspiration in my life. She passed away in 2019, the same year I opened my own renovation business. Her passing gave me the push I needed to muster the courage to go out on my own and live my dream. My grandmother was fearless and believed wholeheartedly in living out your passions. She still guides me and I see her as a serious light in my life, hence the name Halo Renovations - Your light to home remodeling and restoration.

Here's a bit about me. I grew up in Maryland and moved to Illinois to attend the University of Illinois in Champaign/Urbana. Upon graduation, I couldn't wait to move to Chicago. Once here in the big city, I attended DePaul University and earned a Masters of Education, and soon after began my long and rewarding teaching career. I educated 8th grade students in the Chicago Public School system for 25 years. As we all know, teachers earn "peanuts" and I don't enjoy "pinching pennies'', so in 2005, I decided to get my real estate license. Now it wasn't just about the money. I also had a passion that was stirring inside of me since I was a little girl. I used to attend open houses with my Mom on the weekends and we would dream about which home would be ours. So, this love affair with real estate was a long time in the making. To put my passion in motion, I earned my real estate license, tried my hand at a few different brokerages and in 2012, I landed at Mark Allen Realty which is my brokerage to this day. I worked part-time in the real estate industry for many years and in early 2022, I jumped in 100 %.

Mohamad Ali once said,"If your dreams don't scare you, they arent big enough." I had a childhood dream to renovate homes and as a single mother, I wanted to provide more for my children. So, I went for it! In 2016, I took Ali's advice and I renovated a home that I owned as a rental. With a lot of elbow grease and a serious crew, we completed the home, listed it and sold it on the first showing, which commenced my renovation career! I learned the business of "flipping" homes over the past six years and like I mentioned earlier, I have retired from CPS and currently work solely in the real estate industry. I renovate approximately four homes a year and have expanded to renovating my clients' homes. With my renovation experience, I am also an asset to you in your home search or sale because I know a lot about the inner workings of a home, from structural aspects, to designing, to the prices to get work done. To make things even more appealing, I have the skilled tradespeople to get the projects done for you. I am what some would call "a one stop shop".

These days, I work with buyers and sellers as their realtor, as well as a resource in their remodeling needs. I focus mainly on the Northwest side of Chicago, in such neighborhoods as Logan Square, Avondale, Hermosa Park, Portage Park, Old Irving Park, Montclare, Dunning, Park Ridge, Skokie and Niles. However, I know the Chicagoland area like the back of my hand, so I am comfortable in and knowledgeable about most areas in and around the city.