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BUSINESS BASICS
Started as a Relator in: 1979, with no desire to retire. Real estate is part of who he is as a person.
Specialization: Richmond, Delta, South Surrey/White Rock, Downtown Vancouver, and Vancouver-West.
One piece of advice: Choose your real estate team very carefully. Interview prospective team members. Make a list of questions. There are no wrong questions, just ones that are important to you. Your real estate team would include a Mortgage Broker, Realtor, notary, lawyer, home inspector and possibly a handyman. Sellers would include professionals such as a home stager.
Why RE/MAX? RE/MAX opened its first BC office in the early 1980’s and Ed joined in 1985. RE/MAX encouraged independence and had attuned business model that allowed for synergy between RE/MAX Realtors, the exact vehicle he wanted. It attracts a type of person with a particular attitude, people who strive to be #1. Integrity, education, professionalism, and independence are very important. Ed appreciates that RE/MAX has become the ‘standard’ for excellence in real estate sales.
“Ed is great and he bends over backwards. He went above and beyond our expectations. Just super! We were referred to him by our daughter and son-in-law who have used him twice before. A great guy that lays it all on the line, right up front. We can’t say enough… We don’t just consider Ed as our Realtor, he is our friend” -Mr. & Mrs. Goertzen, Clients.
Q & A
1. What differentiates you from the 11,000 licensed real estate agents in the Greater Vancouver area?
Real estate is an individual business. Some realtors make a lot of money in this business and you wouldn’t know their names. Others promote themselves everywhere, creating an image of success. I prefer to work by referral and nurture the relationship with each client.
I’m personable and attuned to each client’s housing needs. I listen more then I speak. Upon meeting a customer for the first time I interview them and discover their needs and wants in a home. Listening to my customers is a ‘key’ component in developing trusting relationship.
I don’t forget my clients. I keep in touch with market updates monthly. Even if they were upset with a particular part of the process I continually follow up to ensure I prove to them I am here to help assist in making their experience happy and memorable.
I don’t make promises I can’t keep, and I have learned from the years that sometimes the smallest, minor detail can make a transaction collapse. As a teacher, I help to show what’s truly important and how I can assist buyers or sellers see the value from my services.
I get my clients mainly from repeat clients and their personal referrals. I set up interviews with prospects to see if there is a right fit. We discuss and complete questionnaires in my buyer/seller presentation, review their basic financial position and offer referral sources to professionals they may need throughout the process.
Depending on location, situation and client fit, I have a buyer’s agent I work with that it may make sense to include. We have a buyer’s system in places so the client never feels unimportant.
2. Describe your Typical Client?
It’s too difficult to pinpoint, but looking at the last year in particular, many of my clients are going through the “transitional” point of their lives. They have kids in their teens or adults and have owned their home for 20 or 40 years and now considering the next phase of their lives, which may include downsizing.
Buyers and sellers have changed over the years. In the last 10 years buyers are much more money conscious and attuned to the market and economy. They have access to relevant information and the internet.
Sellers are inundated with media reports about the housing market, however, a Relator is necessary to apply the statistics to their specific neighbourhood.
3. What has been your favorite success story?
In 1989/90 the market was at it’s peak. I had a referral from a past client who wanted to purchase land to build residential towers in Richmond. I met the decision maker of the group and you wouldn’t know it by his uncoordinated, awkward and unpolished attire. His business card had an alphabet behind his name, every designation you could imagine. He was a factory owner, which produced electric stove elements. He was likely a Billionaire if you think about the number of stove top elements there are in the world!
I had worked non-stop for three months researching price points. I was asked to determine all the tower comparables in the surrounding cities. I had to show all the values per square foot amongst other things. We had to deal with the politics of the city for approval. That was a very stressful three months. The building approval passed in council by one vote! Then we had to arrange financing and collect all the deposits from the 50 initial investors by driving around the city collecting individual cheques. The experience was exciting and educational.
4. Who was your most interesting client?
I came from poverty; so working with very wealthy customers can be challenging. A recent referral involved a wealthy couple who owned their own successful business and were familiar with purchasing and selling commercial properties. They owned their home for 30+ years in an area that became an ‘exclusive’ neighbourhood. They are now building a 7-Million dollar home.
We first met on their patio and the husband asked me questions I had never been asked before. He wanted to know my take on future pricing since they weren’t going to list for another 6 months. I was honest and put the question back to him, knowing no one could predict the future. His wife would ask more emotional or domestic questions, where he was quite the opposite, direct and business like.
It was an experience working with someone who had such a strong business sense in negotiations and real estate. Effectively we marketed the home and sold it for top dollar.
“Great, Great, honest hard working guy. Nice and knowledgeable.” -Greg Griffiths, Realtor, TRG The Residential Group
PERSONAL SNAP SHOT
About: Married to Kathy with four kids, 3 girls and 1 boy. He enjoys traveling, martial arts, biking, swimming, climbing and flying airplanes.
He’s Unique because…
1. He has taught real estate courses for the BC Real Estate Association for 23 years. He loves teaching the younger students, since they continually teach him new things on how to implement it in business
2. If he weren’t a Realtor he would have been a commercial pilot.
Likes (If you had more time, what would you do more of): Integrating more volunteering, theatre and arts into his daily activities.
Loves (can’t live without): Family, photography, and teaching
THE EXTRAS
Ed has real estate running through his blood. Thirty-three years can do that to a person. He loves the people he has done business with and has shown loyalty to him over the years. He also really loves meeting new and interesting people and helping them solve their housing issues. The hardest part of his job is educating people on the value of owning their own home, starting with affordability rather than financially extending themselves.
Ed not only appreciates and invests extra time into his education but he also has taught with the BCREA for 23 years. He achieves double the number of industry credits required each year and he keeps current by taking courses in home staging, finance, marketing, presentations, personal growth, and coaching. He continually makes an effort to keep up with the latest technologies and social media – he may not know how to use all it offers, but he’s able to use and understand the basics.
He believes that clients are looking for a Realtor with a personality match; someone they can bond with and trust. Clients have told him that they feel he is calm, diligent, and focused, especially when it comes to him negotiating on their behalf. Ed says his best features are his negotiating skills and patience, but he also stands by his integrity, forward communication, organization and punctual service.
He left me with a wonderful quote that I believe is the simple truth, “Don’t wait to buy real estate, buy real estate and wait.”
Contact Ed.
Wish to share your thoughts, feel free to comment below.
Day view from Grand Central 3
Night view from Grand Central 3 
The Canadian housing market cool down is wide spread across the nation. Sales fell in 21 of the 28 metropolitan areas. In Vancouver, August posted the second worst month for home sales since 1998; a 21.4% decline from the month prior, 30.7% drop from August 2011 and 39.2% below the 10-year average, yet the slower activity did not have a major impact on price.
Windsor Gate
Balance. What is it and what does it mean in life? I recently went to a women’s conference on Innovating Differently, Women, Entrepreneurship & Technology and enviably the question on work-life balance was addressed. The hot “balance” topic has recently been made popular by Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook CEO with her Commencement speech to the Barnard Graduating class of 2011 and, in more recent months, by Anne-Marie Slaughter, former Director of Policy Planning at the State Department for the United States, publishing a fifteen page article in the Atlantic, “Why Women Still Can’t Have it All.” My good friend, a female powerhouse, brought these amazing women to my attention through her blog Shawna’s Musings http://shawnalittle.com/.