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The REALTORS® Association of Edmonton (RAE), founded in 1927, is a professional association of real estate brokers and associates in the Greater Edmonton Area and beyond.
Welcome to the RAEdio Podcast brought to you by RAE, the REALTORS® Association of Edmonton. So that's the RAE in our radio. We deliver easy to understand market insights, some homeowner tips, perspectives from industry experts so that you can feel informed and empowered wherever you are in your home ownership journey because better decisions start with better information. Hello, everyone, and welcome to the RAEdio Podcast. RAEd stands for REALTORS Association of Edmonton, and we have a couple of award winning REALTORS joining us.
Mark:Jennifer Chan was named REALTOR on the RISE recently, and Jacob Johnson won the award for Rookie of the Year. Thanks for joining us, you too, and congratulations.
Jacob:Thank you. Thanks for having us.
Jennifer:Thank you for having us.
Mark:So for listeners who may not know you yet, tell us a little bit about yourselves and what brought you into real estate. Jennifer, we'll start with you.
Jennifer:Sure. So my real estate story actually came from getting hurt. So I have a nursing and a teaching background. I was a nurse for seventeen years prior to this, and one day, I dislocated my arm. And I just thought, oh, that, like, can't lift anything anymore.
Jennifer:I can't help people get out of bed. So I went into real estate after my actually, my father-in-law went into a fortune telling reading, and he's like, oh, you are supposed to be doing real estate. So I did my course during mat leave, and that was it.
Mark:Okay. That's a pretty good story getting into real estate. Jacob Jacob, can you beat that one? Did a fortune teller tell you to get into it?
Jacob:That's gonna be it's gonna be tough to follow that up. Yeah. No. That's no. Not the same for me, but I, you know, primarily been in sales my whole life.
Jacob:I few years ago, I moved away to try something new. I've always wanted to live in the Okanagan, been holiday holidaying out there my whole life, and had an opportunity to move out there about four years ago, and I lived in the in the Kelowna and the Okanagan area for for two years, and just loved it. I mean, was the best, but I just switched gears entirely and did something totally different. And we got a job with the city of Kelowna there, just doing more of a labor position. Got a year into that that I kinda found out that I'd, you know, it wasn't really for me, but I did love it.
Jacob:It was a lot of fun. But just, you know, not what I wanted, and that's kinda when I started to take the the real estate course. I started to take that. I had I was working four tens on a shift there, so I had a fair amount of time off, and during that time off, I started writing the course and just kinda put one day a week into into doing the course and and finished it up that way. It was real estate was something that I wanted to do early on, probably out of high school.
Jacob:We've always had some investment properties in the family and and things like that, so it's always interested me, but I just never never really wanted to work that much. I wanted to do some other things first, so yeah. So, you know, fast forward, you know, probably eight or ten years and and got into it about two years, just under just about two years ago. And, you know, I'm loving it.
Mark:So Jacob, when you when you started into it, what were some of the toughest learning curves for you?
Jacob:I mean, I think there's just such a long list of unknowns. You know, you get into it, there's there's you know, you you work for yourself. There's not really a ton of guidance or anything like that. Luckily, at at REMAX Excellence, they have the Excellence Academy, which is, you know, one of the big reasons I came here led by Tim Grover. So they, you know, kinda do a training session or course two days a week that, you know, I was lucky enough to go to pretty much every day that they had it and it just, you know, gives you that much more, you know, learning experience and things like that and get questions answered and, you know, just kinda surround yourself with people who are in a similar boat.
Jacob:It's for all for new starting kinda rookie realtors, and it's, you know, very beneficial when you're starting out.
Mark:Well, I've heard that from a lot of realtors that often a mentor is very important, someone you can learn the ropes from. So so, Jennifer, when you were starting out, did you have a mentor, or what were the challenges that you saw?
Jennifer:I think I'm kind of I never really truly had a mentor. My mentor was my past self and my experiences that I went through. So other than being in nursing and teaching, I started my own business. So I really I really kind of carved my own path and I went through the failures by myself. So there wasn't really anyone that I was able to ask questions on.
Jennifer:And of course, when I first started, I was at another brokerage, and I pretty much had one to three deals that I, had someone tell me the steps in what to do. Yep. And that was how I got to today. And it I really utilized the first couple deals, and thankfully, it was thorough enough that I did not need to go you know? I I didn't get myself into too much trouble is what I will say.
Mark:Well, you did mention failures. So maybe those are always great to learn from, and other people can learn from your failures. What were the times you had those challenges? What were they?
Jennifer:So giving people too much benefit of the doubt is kind of is kind of a big failure. If you believe that everybody will hold the same standards and follow the same rules, You just have to be more careful. You have to be more thorough and follow-up again to make sure that the deal, is smooth and will go through. Often, I feel like that I I like to I'm a I'm a kind of a control freak. So I like to know that things are aligned and going smoothly.
Jennifer:So the biggest thing that I've learned is communication. You need to have very, very clear communication with all parties, whoever you can talk to. And that's that's probably the biggest take back that I have learned throughout my years of being human.
Mark:And Jacob, does that sound familiar to you, that that sort of due diligence and communication part?
Jacob:Yeah. I think it's key. I mean, you you gotta stay on top of things, and I think that's one thing that I've heard from a lot of people who've dealt with, you know, REALTORS in the past or, know, not so great stories, just, you know, lack of communication was a was a consistent, you know, response, I would say, so if you're, you know, unfortunately, we kinda live on our phones a little bit, but it's, you kinda sign up for that, so I think people appreciate as long as you stay in touch, yeah, just communicating and getting back and forth to people in a timely manner, and stuff like that, it goes a long way.
Mark:Now both being REALTORS, we are talking from the point of view of the REALTORS Association of Edmonton. What do you think a realtor adds to the experience of buying a home? You know, Jacob, what kind of things have you learned through the realtors that that sort of set you apart and and give you sort of all the tools you need to do your job.
Jacob:Yeah. Think it can make a huge difference. I mean, providing good service and everything like that, you know, we, you know, you can, you know, do pretty well and make some good money doing this. I think it's it's imperative that you, you know, take care of your clients and and go the extra step, go the extra mile to to really make the difference in, you know, many ways. But I do think that that helps immensely.
Mark:Yeah. And what about you, Jennifer? Same question. Being a realtor, what do you think that brings to the process?
Jennifer:So the transaction itself, I truly believe that if anyone really wanted to do it themselves, they could. Where a realtor comes in is the education. Like, there's a lot of AI out there. What's true? What's not true?
Jennifer:Nobody knows. Right. The support that we provide because it's a very emotional process. Sellers think like their their home should be worth a million bucks no matter what. Okay?
Jennifer:And you gotta support that. Right? And buyers, they they wanna buy everything for a dollar. Right? And you have to support that too.
Jennifer:So being the real estate agent in the middle and helping everyone understand what the data is, what the statistics is, what the factors are that are impacting the sale, that's the most important because most people cannot see the bigger picture like we do.
Mark:And often you have to deliver sort of bad news to them as as in, I know you think this, but this is the reality. Is that part of the job, Jennifer?
Jennifer:Yes. Like, I I I'm very happy that I'm I'm able to communicate honestly. I'm very blunt in all of my communications. So the the expectations are set properly, and there's there's no there's no misguidance or misinformation on my end ever, whether it's to my partnering re the real estate agent that I'm doing the deal with or my clients. And I think that's important because between the real estate agents, we need to be we need to be very transparent as well.
Jennifer:Sometimes it it doesn't happen that way. But, of course, we're a self governing industry, so we always need to push for the maximum professionalism that we can uphold within ourselves.
Mark:Just about the professionalism of being a realtor and how that was impressed upon you as you were learning the ins and outs of the business.
Jacob:Yes. I think it's very important to be professional and hold yourself to a high standard. I think there could be some improvement there with with some some of the REALTORS in the industry, but I think it's going in the right direction. I think one thing I think is, you know, just getting face to face with people. I think nowadays, there's a lot of, you know, with technology and everything like that, it's, you know, and you can do a whole deal through a whole transaction and never actually meet the realtor on the other side.
Jacob:I think that part could could use, you know, could use some some work, but, you know, I also like, you know, being around people and and and you know, communicating in person and stuff like that. Sometimes people don't even wanna do a phone call, you know, it's just like, they just would rather just text, so Okay. Which is fine, I I guess, but I just, you know, I I kind of enjoy that part
Mark:of it. It's interesting because, you know, when when people are doing real estate deals, so to speak, it sounds like a pretty impersonal business. But, you know, this is for many people, and most people I would say, the biggest investment in their lives. And also, because it's their home, there can be a lot of emotion attached to it. So I just wanted you both to think about that for a second, and and tell me if you have an anecdote or a story about someone who you helped, who you kinda had that impact, or you you had that feeling that, wow, this was this was an emotional time, or this was either joyous or difficult.
Mark:Jennifer, do you have any stories like that that you could impart to us?
Jennifer:There there's lots of stories. The the one that kinda, I guess, really showcases the emotions is when a home becomes split into two, when you're dealing with, say, families that are going through a breakup. Right? And I think that's probably the deals where I feel the strongest emotions where it's not just about losing the home, but but losing the family. I think that becomes something that you need to stay unemotional to help them get through their emotions.
Mark:Right.
Jennifer:They they often you know, the the partnerings on title, they often just agree with each other. And it's important for us to talk them through the process, take out the emotions, and try to guide them through till the end because the fight continues, unfortunately, beyond. Right? So as as the realtor, it's important to be as unemotional as possible to be the the proper support for your clients.
Mark:I I you know, it sounds like there's a lot of psychology going on there too, and I'm sure you can learn that as you go through, but your your background in nursing might have helped you with that. What about you, Jacob? Are there any sort of examples of times when you you did a deal, and that sort of beyond the business kind of feeling came through for you?
Jacob:Yeah. I think, honestly, I think it's almost every deal. I mean, it's such an emotional thing. There's definitely emotion attached to to all of them. It just kinda depends scenario to scenario on what the what the case is.
Jacob:You know, I think, like, I had one actually, my very first deal we ever did, we sold or I ever did, sold my family cabin
Mark:Oh.
Jacob:At the lake. So we've had that, you know, not super long, but probably about twelve years, so that was kind of, you know, it's kinda nice to do your first deal, and it's a property that your family owns. Definitely makes things, I would say, you know, a little bit simpler, but there's also, you know, like you said, that emotion thing where you're you're you're kinda moving on from something that you grew up with. So there's that. I would say, know, on another one, you know, some family friends were selling their their mom's house that was, you know, they're moving into a to a, you know, old age or kind of Care facility.
Jacob:Assisted living care facility So, type yeah, I think, you know, there's there's definitely always emotion there with with with every it's the biggest transaction you're ever gonna do likely in your life. So you definitely gotta be mindful of that. And and and from for yourself, you you gotta remember that it you know, it's not about you, it's it's about them. So you gotta definitely gotta remove your emotion from it too and just make sure that you can get them through, you know, the process.
Jennifer:I like how Jacob had said his first deal was selling his own family cabin because my first deal was awful selling my own place. And I think most realtors when they go into the industry, we always use our first, like, our own asset as a first trial. So if we make any mistakes, it's on us.
Mark:Right. You've got a friendly client, but it's also high stakes.
Jennifer:Yeah. Exactly.
Jacob:Selling it for my dad, so I just doubled up the rate.
Mark:Nice. It's
Jennifer:the family and friend discount.
Jacob:Yeah. That's right. Yeah.
Mark:There you go. Yeah. I want you to both think back to the the night of the awards now, and we're chatting with you because you won these awards, and and once again, congratulations. Now a question for Jennifer, because I'm told you didn't think you were gonna win, so you didn't write a speech. No.
Mark:So is there anyone you wanna thank, or anyone you wanna say now that you you you didn't think about in the moment?
Jennifer:Yes. Thank you for giving me the second chance. I was completely shocked, and I I like, just thinking back, I was like, oh my gosh. I was completely not prepared. And I went up and I was thinking, you know, I'll probably just use ChatGBT and make it my speech.
Jennifer:Classic. Classic. Classic real practice. Seems so unprofessional. So definitely, there's a couple of people that I really, really am grateful for.
Jennifer:The first one is my husband. He's my support pillar. He is so flexible and so supportive in everything that I do in life. I have kind of like the renaissance woman, someone likes to I call have my hands and everything, and he's able to adapt with helping me with every side. So with family, with my business, with marketing, with everything.
Jennifer:So without him, I don't think I would be here at all. The next people that I wanna thank are my parents. I grew up in a very Asian based family. And if there's any listeners out there, they will understand what that means. What that means is when you achieve like a 99.9%, you're failing.
Jennifer:So where's that last point 1%? And I believe that growing up in a family with those values, you're always striving to be better, and there's never ever perfection. So that has driven me in terms of all the sleepless nights and everything that I'm involved in. I truly feel that I can hear my mom's voice saying, well, you know, where's that last 10.1%? You're not a 100% yet.
Jennifer:And then the the other side to that is accepting that I I am who I am, and I need to sleep too. So, yeah. I also wanna thank my kids because they come with me sometimes.
Mark:Oh, yeah?
Jennifer:They support me and they give me ideas in how to be a better real estate agent. They will sometimes come with me and help me take care of my client's kids Wow. While I do the showing. So I'm very grateful that my family is so supportive, and I'm who I am because they're they're able to let me allow me to be who I am.
Mark:That's great. That's awesome. Jacob, anybody that you did not thank that you wanna thank now?
Jacob:You know what? I I had a little bit of a speech there. I feel like I didn't read it as well as I would have liked. I'm not a huge public speaker, but I guess I'm, you know, trying to get work on it anyways. But yeah.
Jacob:I think, you know, Jennifer touched on it earlier too, like, with hers, but I have a mentor as well that has definitely, you know, been a game changer for the his whole career. And Rick Law, who's a family friend of mine, and he's been in the business about twenty eight years. He actually I actually share this this office that I'm sitting in right now with him, and he's not here today, but but, yeah, I think that's, you know, the number one reason of why I've kinda gotten to where I've gotten to at this point, you know, at this stage. And he's been, you know, a driving factor for this, and I've just learned so much, know, it gives you real world experience. Like I said, when you started, there's so many unknowns and Right.
Jacob:You don't really know what direction you're you're gonna go. So just being able to kinda, you know, fly under his wing sort of thing, take you on, you know, deals and listing appointments and things like that, and just kinda learn how it actually really works day to day in real life, as opposed to just kinda, you know, reading about it or whatever, things like that or on the on the test or course or whatever. So, yeah, you know, that's definitely my my number one thank you right now and or and right now, and and for the and the office I'm at has been awesome as well. It's a big office. There's a, I think, 250 some realtors here now.
Jacob:Wow. Yeah. It's big. And but the, you know, they have the Excellence Academy, which is was when I very first started was, you know, one of the reasons I came here, and I'm happy happy to say that I did just because it, you know, you you get to go to that class or course, you know, a couple days a week, you know, pick up things here and there, and then, you know, with having Rick on top of that to to teach you stuff and show you, you know, real life day to day stuff was the combination has has been very very helpful.
Mark:Well, I think you've got both got unique sort of entries into this kind of career, and a little bit divergent sort of experiences. But I think it would be valuable to someone who's considering a career in real estate to hear from you about, you know, what should the things they would should consider, what kind of advice you might give them. So, Jennifer, if someone's considering that, going into being becoming a realtor, what would you say to them? What kind of things should they think about?
Jennifer:They should think about being genuine and not looking for the money. They should they shouldn't be focusing on the commissions. The the point is is to guide them through a process that is smooth and will will get that shadiness vibe out of the real estate the industry. Because if you ask anyone out there, lots of people will say, Oh, you're a real estate agent now. Suddenly, I've become shady.
Jennifer:Right? So very important, don't go for the money. Don't go for the commissions. Do it because you want to have that connection with people, you want to make a difference in their lives. I'm very strong on the community side of things, so I like to provide my services more like community support, whether it is with the the nursing side or the real estate side.
Jennifer:I'm a support person.
Mark:And then, Jacob, what about you? Any advice you give to folks going into it?
Jacob:I think, you know, I think it depends, you know, what you want out of it. I think if you wanted there's, you know, there's a lot of realtors that, you know, do it part time, or, you know, do it on the side and things like that, which is which is fine. I for me, it was all or nothing. You know, I jumped in with both feet. I moved away from the from Kelowna to come back to Edmonton.
Jacob:Definitely not for the weather, I'll tell you that. But We
Mark:know that.
Jacob:Yeah. So, yeah, I think, you know, I I I was really loving my time in Cullinan, and to be honest with you, really didn't wanna leave. I'm from Edmonton, born and raised here, but it was just such a great time out there. And to come back and, you know, pursue this, I knew that, you know, I'd I'd had to be pretty or I had to be all in on it. So for me, I I jumped in with both feet and, you know, kind of, you know, put a lot on the line to to make it work, and do it, you know, take it to where I wanna go, and it's still, you know, still early stages obviously, but I'm I'm happy with the start and, you know, where we're going with it.
Jacob:And, you know, and and that. So it it it's you get in, you know, you get out what you kinda put into it. I think Jennifer touched on it as well just like with the community thing. With regard to this rookie of the year award, I mean, it's, you know, it's based on a lot of factors. And I think that, you know, a big part of that was was community involvement, and I'm on the the REMAX GA committee, which I think was a huge, you know, portion of of why I won the award, which is Well, that marketing plan they do?
Jacob:Yeah. It's for, like, marketing and advertising for for the REMAX brand. So, you know, one realtor from each REMAX office in the city and surrounding get together about once a month and we discuss, you know, where, you know, advertising and and marketing costs are are going and getting allocated and things like that. So again, just getting kind of face to face with with other REALTORS and actually doing things in person and, you know, I think is very important and I think a big reason of why, you know, I was able to to get this award. And it got it got offered to me pretty early on when I started about four probably about four or five months into starting this career and by one of the owners here at the my office.
Jacob:And to tell you the truth, I had no idea what I was signing myself up for, but I didn't you know, I I I also knew at the time that, you know, it felt like a good opportunity, and I I tend to not try and, you know, walk away from good opportunities if it's there. I mean, I'll just, you know, figure it out as as you go sort of thing. So it had been in that just over a year now, and I'm, you know, happy to definitely happy that I that I made that choice.
Mark:Well, for both of you, these these awards are I mean, they're a recognition from your peers that you're on the right path, I would say. As you go forward in your careers, what kind of feeling or or reputation or do you want people to have from you? What you know, Jacob, I'll start with you. What do you hope people take away after they've worked with you?
Jacob:I think, yeah. I mean, I think you kinda already said it, like, you know, it's a competitive industry. There's a there's a lot of of REALTORS and things like that, and I think, I hate to say it, but I think there is a bit of a, you know, you know, reputation there that so there's some realtors, you know, a lot of realtors can be better. Yep. And I think I I wanna be better.
Jacob:I wanna be great at this, and, you know, I think to be, you know, respected amongst your colleagues is is huge. You know, I want people to think that when we're going through a transaction or going through a deal or something like that, that they're, you know, they're in good hands on the other side. So I think that would be, you know, reputation that I wanna go for, and and, you know, I want it to be I'm not, you know, in this for for a short time. I want this to be a lasting career, so I'm really looking forward to to what's coming.
Mark:And, Jennifer, how would you handle that question?
Jennifer:My reputation is being honest, genuine. I'm a support person. So how I would how I would say is I want to complete every transaction where my clients feels safe enough to come back to me and say, I the power tripped. What do I do? They don't need to call the electrician and pay a $100 to tell them how to flip the switch.
Jennifer:I want them to feel comfortable enough that they don't feel like they're asking any dumb questions, which is, you know, there's never a dumb question. But lots of my clients are not from Canada. They've never owned a home. They don't know what a furnace is. They don't know what a hot water tank is.
Jennifer:And I do a lot of new builds, and I go to every single appointment with them. That's that's, like, on average, probably, like, the first the first appointment is three to four hours. Right? And then you have all your other subsequent, appointments. I go to every single one with them because they need to understand how their house was built, what materials it was used, and how to care for their home.
Jennifer:And so a of my testimonial letters were actually from from builders because they don't see REALTORS go in with their clients the whole way through. It's usually the first appointment, one and done. Right?
Mark:Yep.
Jennifer:And I don't feel comfortable with that. So I I uphold myself to the highest standard. If I take them on as a client, I see it to the end and far beyond.
Mark:Well, you know, you both have such interesting perspectives and come at it from from different areas, but really, I think your integrity for both of you shines through. So I think that's awesome. We like to finish off all our interviews with this question. So I'm gonna throw it to you first, Jacob, and it is, you know, for you, what makes a house a home? How does it go from being just a building that you're gonna live in to making it your home?
Jacob:Yeah. I think, you know, the people that are in it, think. You know, the family, you know, bringing everybody together. I've done a lot of deals where, you know, it's just a property at one point, but you see that at the end of the transaction or whatever and, you know, the family's coming together, the kids are coming over, the grandkids are coming getting together, you know, their space, they're playing in the yard, stuff like that. I would say that's definitely part of the probably one of the better parts of the the the business.
Jacob:It's just, you know, realizing that you're you're, you know, you're really changing someone's life for the better, and, you know, just really giving them that opportunity to, you know, bring bring the family together.
Mark:Jennifer, how would you handle that question?
Jennifer:So a home a home, yes, the people who live in it is the most important, but the the layout of the home and the usability, the functionality really impacts whether you love your home or or you you need to learn to live in it. Right? So there's when you purchase, say, a new build, it's not necessarily a perfect home for you. You have to make little adjustments, maybe upgrades, renovations to make it your own, to make it usable for you at that stage of your life. So understanding that sometimes I have my clients call me and they say, hey.
Jennifer:I wanna do this to this room. What does it impact the resell value? And the main thing is we need to understand whatever we're doing to our home. Number one, does it work for you? And then number two, is there a resell value to it?
Jennifer:Right? And lots of people kinda just dump money into the most expensive items. Right? And that would be more for yourself. But the the reality is if it's for you, don't expect someone else to love it just as much as you.
Jennifer:So a home, it's for yourself. You don't have to think about others. But if you are thinking about renovation for resale, that's completely different. Right? It's a home still for an investor.
Jennifer:They're they're trying to make money off of it. Right? So understanding their where each homeowner goes, what their mindset is in purchasing will help with how I can help them.
Mark:Well, I wanna thank you both for coming on the podcast to talk about your careers and your recent awards. So once again, congratulations, and thanks so much for joining us.
Jacob:Thank you for having us.
Jennifer:Thank you for us.
Jacob:This is a lot of fun.
Jennifer:You.