Erik Topor had a quiet if not sheltered childhood growing up in a traditional Polish family
in the Chicago suburb of Burbank. Quite the introspective albeit extroverted individual
from a young age, Erik discovered a passion for music as a means of expression and
catharsis, picking up folk violin and then piano at the age of seven. This opened
opportunities that would not only shape his understanding of the world, but also lead to
meeting and interacting with hundreds of people from all different walks of life. This
would in turn lead Erik to expanding his horizons and developing passions later in life
for comedy, video games, and even basketball. Despite all that, but perhaps also thanks
to the support of his family and friends, academic success never took a back seat.
Following high school, Erik enrolled at DePaul University in the city near and dear to his
heart, majoring in International Studies and minoring in Polish. It was also then that he
found the love of his life, who coincidentally had gone to the same high school. They
married a few years later and welcomed their daughter to a very different world than
they grew up in, following the pandemic. Having started his professional career in the
family business, Erik worked under his father learning the ins and outs of the
transportation business, before taking over day to day operations and letting his father
focus on driving for A&B Trucking. In 2020, Erik briefly worked for C.R. England, as an
Afterhours Fleet Manager, greatly increasing the scale and scope of the work he was
familiar with. Having covered dozens of markets spanning the continental United States,
he gained management and multitasking experience in a time sensitive environment
where the smallest error could result in delays and shipment disruptions. It was also
around this time that Erik became increasingly interested in real estate. He and his wife
were looking for a small plot of land on which to build their dream home, even coming
close to closing on a property in Frankfort before the deal fell through. From that
moment on the search never stopped, but Erik became increasingly disillusioned with
real estate brokers, many of which he felt did not do due diligence by their clients and
potential leads. He returned full time to A&B Trucking at the end of 2020, realizing that
with this switch he would now have the freedom to pursue a healthier lifestyle filled with
exercise, good food, and down time to explore the world with his family, as well as to
pursue other business opportunities.
Erik officially joined the real estate industry as a broker in 2024. Given his background
in transport, he specializes in industrial and commercial properties, but the goal is to
always do right by his clients, whether that’s finding them the home of their dreams or a
space where they can proudly grow their business. He’s not vicariously living out his
home-owning dreams through his clients, but it sure feels good to give those clients the
attention they deserve and help empower them in these difficult times.