Meet the Chicago agent taking intimate home tours to the masses

People might not recognize Dean Lauvina’s face, but it’s his voice that gives him away when he says, “How much rent do you pay in Chicago?”

Videos of The Nav Agency broker asking the question have racked up millions of views online and a combined following of more than 360,000 across Instagram and TikTok. The exposure has also developed into a steady stream of clients, accounting for 70% of Lauvina’s business. Last month he moved from eXp Realty, where he worked for about a year.

What follows the question is a seemingly impromptu tour of a person’s home, including transparency on their monthly mortgage or rent. Tours follow the resident as they share stories behind tchotchkes, favorite features of their home and what brought them to Chicago. Behind the scenes is Lauvina, who works in leasing luxury high-rises, with just his phone in hand, chatting and occasionally testing out a couch or two.

Lauvina, 28, took inspiration from New York-based creator Caleb Simpson, who’s known for reviving the format that's a throwback to "MTV Cribs." For Simpson, it began as entertainment. For Lauvina, it’s tied into his business and love for Chicago.

“I didn't really see anyone making this kind of content in Chicago. And one of my main goals with Chicago and with my content is, I really just want to shine a light on the city,” said Lauvina, who grew up in Kankakee, Illinois, about 60 miles south of Chicago. He moved to attend the University of Illinois Chicago. “I feel like more people should know about it. Now, getting into real estate too, and selling apartments here, I need everyone to know about this city.”

Letting a stranger into a home can be intimate, let alone one with a camera and thousands of social media followers, but that doesn’t keep Chicagoans from filling Lauvina’s inbox with tour requests.

The series gives them an opportunity to showcase their personal slice of Chicago, a place Lauvina says often faces negative criticism. His videos aim to show what the city can offer.

He began posting in 2023 as a means for lead generation and highlighting Chicago. The tours started with friends, but today, he has a consistent backlog of requests, filming up to three tours daily and posting a minimum of once a day. “My DMs are filled all the time,” he said. Lauvina’s even worked with the city’s big league soccer team, the Chicago Fire, for a video tour of Soldier Field and with the Chicago Cubs for a visit to Wrigley Field.

The clips are Lauvina’s only marketing source, and he’s happy with that. He feels like he’s found the cheat code for real estate.

“If you can find something that works, you’re not just speaking to one person,” said Lauvina. “You’re speaking to potentially hundreds of thousands, if you do it right.”

The tours take the agent across Chicago’s neighborhoods, and each adds to his repertoire of real estate knowledge.

One day Lauvina could be touring someone's Buena Park home with a $2,500 mortgage payment. On another, he might be sharing a Gold Coast home with a monthly mortgage of $6,500, owned by an investor. His top-performing video of a River North apartment rented for $2,000 hit 12 million views on TikTok.

But his most memorable was an apartment split between three roommates and complete with a waterfall cascading down to the lower level.

“It was like something straight out of a Rainforest Cafe,” said Lauvina.

The comments on Lauvina’s videos often express shock at the affordable rates in the country’s third-largest city, where the median cost of a single-family home is $330,000, according to Homes.com data.

“I read the comments a lot of the time, and people will say, ‘Oh, I didn't know you could get this in Chicago,’” said Lauvina. “A lot of the comments I've been seeing recently is, ‘Wow, I didn't know Chicago had units like this. New York could never."

Once he understands a client’s wants and personality, Lauvina finds that his extensive touring allows him to pinpoint which neighborhoods best fit. Lauvina himself lives in West Town and says he could see the area booming in the coming years.

Prospective clients use his videos similarly to educate themselves on an area’s housing and the typical monthly payment to look for. Then, many fill out the form in Lauvina’s profile to work with him.

With 70% of business coming in from his online popularity and the other 30% from repeats and referrals, it’s certainly been beneficial for Lauvina, even a saving grace at a time when he became desperate to build up a clientele.

Now, Lauvina often finds himself offering social media advice to colleagues — like adding “Chicago real estate agent” to a username or beefing up captions. While others have tried to claim the tour model in Chicago, only Lauvina seems to have found the right approach. It could be due to his competitive nature kicking in from years of playing soccer, he noted. Once he started the series, Lauvina ramped up immediately, filming and producing tours daily.

Still, he’s not always sure which tours will perform the best, partly why he doesn’t say no to any tour. His process is simpler than people might think. Though videos start on the sidewalk and appear as though Lauvina stops strangers (though he says he wouldn’t be opposed to that), it’s all staged.

He meets the individual to learn more about them and then runs through a practice tour before pulling out his phone. It’s all about making the subject feel comfortable. Lauvina asks questions during the tour about the art or furniture, generating conversation and adding more personal flair.

“How would I feel if I was on the other end of this? Would I want someone to come and start filming?’ Probably not,” he said.

It combines three things Lauvina loves: meeting people, real estate and Chicago.

“I just really enjoy doing these videos. I really haven't gotten tired of it,” he said. “As long as people are reaching out to me, and as long as I'm in real estate, I'll probably just keep on doing this for as long as I can.”