Get Representation!

Get Representation!

I can’t stress the importance of this enough. This is likely the biggest and most important financial decision of your life do not take the risk of spending thousands of dollars more then you need to. If you are buying a home in the London area please contact me and I will be happy represent you.

Who Pays?

In virtually all cases the REALTOR is paid from the proceeds of sale and any fee paid is set by the Seller during the listing agreement. This fee is fixed at that time and is paid whether you get a Buyer’s Representative or not. You save nothing by not using a Buyer’s Representative.

Agency

It is very important to know whom a REALTOR is working for. If you do not have a signed Buyer’s Representative Agreement then you likely are a Customer to who ever you are talking to-which means they are likely actively working for someone else!

This is a very important financial decision please make sure you understand who is working for who. I will be very happy to explain and clarify any questions you have. If you are looking for a home in the London area please contact me and I will help.

What can I do as your REALTOR?

There are many things involved in buying a London area home. I can provide you with a step by step guide to buying a home. Here are a few other things that I do for you:

Financing- As your REALTOR I understand the different financing options available and I can help direct you to someone who has financing that is right for you.

Searching-As your REALTOR I will actively search for a home that means your needs and budget. I will show you properties that you are interested in.

Selecting-As your REALTOR I will help provide objective information about each home, and its area. I will help you evaluate whether it will truly meet your needs and how the homes features will affect its value in the future. Will you make money on it in the future? I can help you answer that and give you detailed information about the market.

Negotiating-As your REALTOR I will help with this complex and very important step. Drafting the legal documents can be very confusing and I will help explain what everything means. I will also help negotiate details like price, financing, terms, date of possession, inclusion or exclusion of fixtures, chattels, and repairs.

Closing-As your REALTOR I will help get you to this final stage, help handle problems along the way, and get you into the home.

After Closing-As your REALTOR I will not disappear and I will follow up with you regularly to make sure you are doing well and answer any questions or concerns that may have come up after the purchase. I will still be there to help you.

There are many other things I will do as your REALTOR as the process is very complex. My services are guaranteed in writing. Call me today and I will be happy to explain to you in more detail.

London's Smart Buses

The new smart buses are scheduled to hit London’s roads this coming spring (2008) and I have to say some of the features are really cool.

The upcoming changes are part of a plan to improve local transportations systems by providing better customer service and make buses more accessible to all Londoners. The Siemens VDO program has two key elements it allows real time communication to riders and potential riders of its position and time of arrival, as well it allows the bus to have priority service at traffic signals-so the bus can reduce the time it sits at a red light. This will also help with environmental impact from the bus with idle times from sitting.

Now if you are like me you were thinking how great that is and how do you get it-well it is $30, 000 per bus so unless you have more money then you know what to do with I don’t think you will be installing one soon. If you do have enough spare money for one you need to call me and I can help you with that.

It is expensive but fortunately Londoner’s are not going to get hit with a tax increase as the Provincial and Federal Governments are sponsoring programs that are for new and improved services- Thankfully this qualifies.

Another part of the new system involves improving accessibility and quality of use for everyone. One of the new features will provide audible notifications at the approach and arrival of each stop. When the doors open it will announce the bus and the route it is on. The audible messages will be of great value and equalize the environment for someone with a visual disability.

The London Transit Commission has some interesting long term plans for the improvement of London’s transportation-what do you think of this so far?

How I Ended Up In Real Estate: Part 5- Choices and Dreams

Terrified, excited, driven, unsure…those are a few ways to describe how I felt with the unknown before me. The next chapter heading towards self-employment was a hurricane of emotions.

Now I had to make a choice. It was time to center myself, recoup my energy, shed the negative energy, find my direction and pursue it but where? Where would I head? How could I do what I wanted to do, help people, be there for my family, be self-employed, but still do something I would love to do?

Isn’t that everyone’s dream? Maybe it is yours and if it is, or even if it isn’t, I wish that you find your dream. I hope that you can find a way to make your dreams happen. It can be hard though but you can do it.

It is funny how we can miss what is right in front of us the entire time. The answer for me was hitting me in the face daily but it took my family and friends to point out the obvious to me.

I did a mini interview with several of them. I did it individually so they had no way of knowing I even talked to anyone else about my future and options. Amazingly they ALL suggested Real Estate. I couldn’t believe it, of all the choices they could have said that would have met my criteria (on paper anyway) they all picked Real Estate.

Well needless to say I couldn’t ignore that amount of positive energy towards a single choice. I had to pursue it and they were right it has been great so far.

Well that is the short version of how I arrived at this point in my life. I am happy to be where I am and now I want to help others. I want to help others find their dream homes. I want to help others be successful and of course I want to be successful.

Maybe I will hear from you but even if I don’t thank you for reading about me. Feel free to tell me a bit about yourself.

How I Ended Up In Real Estate: Part 4- Important Realizations

The next major period of my life was working with Hercules International. I was Warehouse Manager for about 6.5 years there and it was significant to me for many reasons. I describe some of the skills that are applicable to real estate in the About Me on my website so I won’t go through those. I think it is better to talk about some of the other stuff.

Some of the most important things I learned involved working with a wonderful team of people and developing lasting relationships. It truly helped me appreciate how good it felt to help people in their careers and in their personal lives.

I would like to think that I made a difference in more ways then just the bottom line for my company. I am proud of my accomplishments there and very proud of the staff I worked with. I really miss them but I am excited for the future as well. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done leaving there but it was for the best, for all of us.

I learned that no matter how much you love the people you work with -a few real bad apples could spoil the bunch over time. The longer the time the more sour the stink, heh.

All of this led me to appreciate that I really wanted to help people, that I enjoyed being of service to others. Obviously, I need to make a living as well but there are far more important things in life then money and those are the priority.

How I Ended Up In Real Estate: Part 3 Building the Foundation

My plan called for developing a foundation of skills and experiences that would give me long-term success. To do this I also had to recognize my weaknesses especially that I was an introvert and very analytical. Those can be big advantages in business but from a sales and customer service aspect sometimes you can be taken the wrong way and appear unfriendly.

I picked Sales and Marketing for college because I thought it was singly the best major I could pursue to help improve my weak areas. I could have picked something that I would have naturally excelled at but that was not the purpose. I really had to work hard in college but it paid off and I finished top in my class. Crazy when you think of how much this went against my personality type.

Have you ever done something that you were afraid of, or dreaded so much that you joked about preferring some type of pain? That was how hard it was for me to take that course.

After college it was time to improve on my education with more specific work experiences. It was time to learn how to service clients better and really work with people on a new level.

How I Ended Up In Real Estate: Part 2 Fast Forward

I took with me some significant life lessons from my teenage years. I am sure you did as well and can relate. So many mistakes that I wish I hadn’t made but probably best that I did- learning from our mistakes is key I think. I think I could write a novel just based on those years.

Now that I think about it some of those mistakes and lessons carried into my twenties as well. I laugh when I think back now. It was shortly after that I swallowed my pride and realized no matter how much I really wanted success, or how smart I thought I was, it was never going to come to me unless I set out a plan and followed it.

That meant I needed higher education but not just formal also more specific work education as well. It was time to plan for the skills I wanted to gain. It was time to drive forward with a purpose and move beyond survival.

How I Ended Up In Real Estate: Part 1 The Beginning

I decided years ago that I wanted to own my own business. Actually even when I was young I did too. Of course my primary dream back then was to play in the NHL. What boy didn’t? Fortunately my skills in business have always been better then my puck handling, but oh to dream.

If you just run out and start a business without a lot of homework you are not going to succeed. Without a big savings account you are going to have a lot of trouble too. I came from a lower income family. That pretty much meant I had to work very hard to get a head in life.

I started working pretty young. In Niagara Falls the tourist industry gave me a full time job as a teenager. I started working seasonal full time hours at 13 years old. This helped me fund my hockey addiction and other sports-and gradually I started saving for the future.

I tell you I gained a solid appreciation for hard work and the value of a dollar. It can really motivate you when you work that hard and make only a couple bucks an hour. You come to realize there has to be a better way.

How I Ended Up In Real Estate-Introduction

Hello!

The purpose of this series of blogs is to give a more personal look into my life and why I came into real estate. Some of you may be genuinely interested and I hope you enjoy my story.

Well I am not a great writer but I did try to make it reasonably interesting for you to read. It is definitely not a sales pitch nor does it hold wondrous real estate secrets. It is strictly me sharing some of my life experiences and lessons learned to get to this point in my life. I hope it has some value to you and thank you for reading it. Feel free to send me an e-mail or comment. Please be nice though :)