I've had quite a diverse career in my early years. Born and raised in the smaller city of North Bay, Ontario, I used to hold 2-3 jobs at any given time, from high school to college, and then university. From building, renovations, and roofing, to hospitality, serving, and bartending, to maintenance , security, and sales; It took me 30 years to find my calling.
During university, I was accepted to participate on Canada's version of the hit tv show Wipeout. There, I met my future wife and even took home the grand prize of our episode. After meeting Sheena, I did the rest of my university courses online to move to the GTA and be with her.
My first couple of positions when I moved to Toronto was in sales. I spent a little time in technology sales where I made the largest 'first' sale of the company. From there I was recruited to head hunting and placed over a quarter million in revenue for the company on my first year; but it wasn't for me. I didn't like talking people into moving from a company that were happy at.
In 2014 I decided make my own path starting a company that was a mix of project managing and general contracting. It was meant
to help homeowners get projects completed by a reliable contractor and backed by me. It quickly turned very hands on as clients love my work. Taking my construction experience I built a busy renovation company.
After a few personal and business experiences with various real estate agents, I noticed a big gap between what people expect of real estate agents, what those agents should be doing, and what they actually do. So by March of 2018 I got my real estate license, but with 1 young child and 1 on the way it wasn't the right time to dive into a new career. We continued on as we were until the middle of 2020, with Sheena back to work, we decided it was a good time to make the shift full time.
Shortly after I landed my first client who was looking to move from a townhouse to a detached house. This client was pretty handy so a lot of the prep work he was able to get done himself. I was still able to help him out with some repairs and painting. I rented a storage unit close by his house, took my trailer and we moved everything that they didn't need for the next couple of months. Found a great stager and photographer. And started marketing all while going out for showings to find their new place. Just before the scheduled offer presentation day we found a house that my clients loved. Everything they were looking for except for a finished basement. We got into a bidding war with 2 other buyers. They gave us one final chance for the best offer and my clients pushed their number way up....
My response was that I didn't think they had to go up that high. I promised them I would not loose it for them, but we shaved off $20k from their offer, and they got it. So we immediately let all our potential buyers know we had a firm closing date and when our presentation date came, we received almost 50 offers. Instead of holding it at night with all the other competition, we held it in the middle of the day. Told everyone we would have a decision by 4pm so that they could put another offer down in the evening if they didn't get this one. In the morning as it was leading up to our hour, I kept calling all the agents that had lower offers, not to push them higher, just to kindly let them know they weren't in the running; it's the worst feeling waiting around to find out your offer never had a chance. They all appreciated it and most asked to come back with stronger offers. It ended up being so crazy that we finally stopped with two of them being at the exact same number on their 3rd attempts and still offering to go higher. I told my clients this is getting a little out of control, we can keep pushing, but at this point it's more about the financial situation because an appraisal isn't going to come back anywhere close to this. So we went back to the both buyers asking for everything they can provide about who they are and their financials and made the decision on that.
In the end my client sold for over $100,000 more than the recent and similar on the street, and bought for less than they were willing to spend. They used that money to finish the basement. On closing day, I went into their new house and finished the framing in the basement and laid the subfloor. He had a contact for drywall and laid the flooring himself.
It was some time in the middle of all this that I realized I finally found my calling and had a unique twist to the whole real estate transaction process that can really help people in ways most real estate agents can't. I've combined all my experience through almost 20 years of construction and sales into real estate. I bring my knowledge of homes to help you make informed decisions. Client satisfaction is his number one goal, always ensuring I understand your needs to deliver an unparalleled, stress-free experience - beyond full service.