In 1999 I stepped out of my marketing business to go into real estate. I started by assisting sellers who had difficulty selling their homes, or "expired listings". I felt that many agents were simply nice people that put up a sign but had few ideas on how to really market homes,  homes that were difficult to sell. Some agents in fact simply focused on volume of listings they had, without giving any individual attention to really marketing their listings. Their attitude seemed to be... "If they sold they sold!, if they didn't they had lots of other sales from clients that were easy." With these types of agents, the focus was simply on lowering the price if their client's homes didn't sell. I felt that there was more that could be done for sellers like this. 

 

Up until 2005 expired listings represented about 97% of my business. Working with these types of clients exposed me to all types of clients. High end clients and lower end clients alike, but they all had one thing in common. They had unique properties and they really needed a good marketer to turn around their situation. Often I could market the homes at the same prices or even raise the prices of their homes and sell them higher than the previous agents asking price. I really enjoyed this and generated a lot of very happy clients. I became a specialist in this area. 

 

Growing up in Saskatchewan, our family didn't buy new homes we always either renovated or built. (meaning we built ourselves). I always liked do it yourself projects around the house. In my 3rd year selling real estate in Calgary I bought a 1947 home in the inner city. This home I bought really needed everything. New plumbing, new electrical, new foundation in the addition. Over time it was completely taken down to the studs and re-done. I also purchased a property to renovate and flip, selling it for more than $100,000 than I paid. 

 

The last construction project I pulled applied for my own development and building permits, electrical permits and did almost all of it myself with a handiman. 

 

By now I've been in hundreds of home inspections. I've probably seen just about everything thats wrong with homes including the new ones. I can be your pre-inspector, and we can simply avoid the homes that may prove to be over priced due to the amount of work they need. 

 

I'm your expert shopping consultant. 

If you're looking for a project to make some money on, I can find you a property at the right price in the areas that will make you the most money. 

 

I can help you avoid the pitfalls of buying new. Over the years I've had many clients who were selling the home they'd bought through the builder. The problem with real estate is that often mistakes are found only years after you buy a new home. In some cases my sellers had made mistakes with layout, design, location that they didn't understand until they tried to sell. As your consultant, if you want me to help you buy new I can do that.. in fact since most people don't buy very many homes in their lifetime, it's good practice to hire a real estate consultant for the biggest purchase of your lifetime. 

 

I'm interested in schools and communities around the city. To date there hasn't been a community that I haven't shown homes in. 

 

I want you to make the right buy and make money for the future so in the event you want to sell and improve, you can call me up and we can always get a desirable price your your home.