I built them before I sold them
I grew up on a chicken farm. Roughly forty thousand birds, twelve to fifteen thousand eggs a day, and two newspaper routes on top of it. I was working before I was grown and I never really stopped.
In 1980 I went on the tools. Red Seal journeyman carpenter. I built custom homes, and I worked commercial, including BC Tel buildings and the SkyDome in Toronto. I owned a finishing company called Dano Construction with people working under me on large jobs, a community centre and a lakeside resort among them.
In 2004 I got licensed. That is twenty-four years of building before twenty-two years of selling, and the order matters. Most agents can describe a house. I can read one. I know what is behind the drywall, what a bad roofline is going to cost you, and which cosmetic problem is actually structural.
What that means on a walkthrough
I talk while I look. It is a habit from the job site and I have never seen a reason to drop it. If the grade slopes toward the foundation, I will say so and tell you what fixing it costs. If the deck ledger is attached wrong, you will hear about that too, in the same tone I use for the things that are right.
This is not a sales technique. A house you understand is a house you can decide about. A house that has been sold to you is one you find out about later, usually in the spring.
Who I work with
Most of my work is downsizing and relocation in the South Okanagan. People selling the family home and buying what may be the last one, and people moving in from somewhere else who need someone who knows which street floods.
My favourite clients were Phil and Diane. Loyal, understanding, honest. That is the filter, and it is character rather than budget. I do my best work with people who are straight with me and stay with me, and I return it at the same weight. I still take the condo and the first house. My business comes from referrals, and referrals do not sort themselves by price.
The credentials, plainly
- Licensed REALTOR® since 2004, Penticton, BC
- Royal LePage Locations West Realty
- Real Estate License #1118346, recognized by the British Columbia Financial Services Authority (BCFSA)
- Red Seal journeyman carpenter since 1980
- Personal Real Estate Corporation