Lew Sichelman

About Lew

As early as the sixth grade, when he won his first writing award, Lew Sichelman knew he wanted to be a writer. But after covering labor for three years, it wasn't until he wanted to work for a daily newspaper that he started concentrating on real estate. That paper, the long lost Washington Daily News, was looking for a real estate editor and Sichelman applied, saying he was one. He got the job, probably because he took a real estate course in College at the University of Maryland and because construction labor was one of beats. He got the job in 1978 and his career as one of the realty journalism profession's most decorated writers was born.

Sichelman, known as the "consumer's housing columnist" because of his unique ability to explain complicated subjects to novice buyers and sellers, spent three years at the News, until it was purchased by the Washington Star, which asked him to continue as its real estate editor. He covered housing, mortgage and commercial construction for the Star until its demise in 1981. It was about 1976 when Sichelman and the United Features Syndicate came together to distribute his work beyond the Washington DC area. To this day, his daily column is distributed by UFS to newspapers throughout the country.

Over the course of his nearly 50-year career covering the housing sector, he has been honored by the National Association of Real Estate Editors, the Mortgage Bankers Association, the National Association of Home Builders and the National Association of Realtors. Besides his column, he has worked on assignment for, among others, National Mortgages News, MarketWatch, Mortgage Banking Magazine and even Sports Illustrated. That's right, even SI!