TJ Rubin

Owner and Founder, Fulton Grace Realty

Rubin built Fulton Grace Realty from a one-man rental operation into a heavyweight independent brokerage that holds its own against bigger players in the increasingly consolidated Chicago real estate landscape.
A former attorney who traded court filings for lease agreements, Rubin started Fulton Grace at the height of the financial crisis and has shown a knack for adapting through changing market cycles.
Starting out as a rental brokerage and property manager, the firm pivoted to residential sales and now has 400 agents operating across Illinois, Wisconsin, Arizona and Florida. Rubin has pushed expansion through acquisitions rather than organic sprawl, in a strategy Rubin said allows Fulton Grace to offer clients the resources of a larger firm with the boutique experience of a local operation. In 2024, Fulton Grace absorbed a 20-agent team from RE/MAX Destiny, followed by the 2025 purchase of Main Street Real Estate Group, adding roughly 40 agents. The firm also launched a proprietary tech platform, HUB, to support its growing agent base.
That strategy has driven growth. The firm ranked 11th in The Real Deal’s 2025 Cook County brokerage rankings, closing $513 million in residential sale volume across 953 transactions. It still has a rental operation with about 7,000 apartments annually, but 70 percent of the firm’s revenue now comes from sales while 30 percent comes from rentals, giving Rubin a diversified base in a market dominated by national brands.
— Caleb McCullough