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Expert advice, market reports, and tips from the Niagara Region real estate professionals.
I know! It’s a bit late to be talking about Christmas here in the middle of February, but with only one e-newsletter a month, and with last month’s Nuggets dedicated to our Christmas Gala, here we are. This event was unique enough that I thought it was worth sharing.
A lot of holidays and special events run for only one day. Not so with Christmas. At least not at RE/MAX Garden City Realty. Things actually start to ramp up in mid-November. That’s when the announcement goes out to our agents and staff reminding them of Christmas Caring and Sharing, and that’s when the donations begin. Then about that time, tree trimming in our offices begins and especially in our Grimsby office, where we also enjoy the annual Christmas Pot Luck. Always an amazing event
In some ways, Christmas can be bittersweet. Sweet because it is an enchanting time. For so many little ones, it’s a time where memories are forged that will last a lifetime. Think back over your life. Review some of your most cherished memories, and I’ll bet Christmas factors in there somewhere. Going with Mom and Dad to pick out a Christmas tree. On a corner lot or out at a farm. The forest smell as it climatizes to the indoors. Decorating the house inside and out. And the food. Golden turkey with all the trimmings. Apple or even mincemeat pie. Eggnog. Plum pudding with warm caramel sauce. On and on it goes.
Back in 1970, a man named Alvin Toffler wrote a book called Future Shock. In that book, he described future shock as “the dizzying disorientation brought about by the premature arrival of the future.” What he was saying was that things were going to move so fast and change at such a dizzying pace that you would be hard-pressed to keep up. Talk about vision. And I’m not sure even Mr Toffler, 55 years ago, would have believed how fast change would be taking place in 2025.
Back in the day, we used to have Tour of Property on a regular weekly basis. It was quite the event. A literal caravan of cars would head out from our RE/MAX office following a pre-ordained route through Niagara to personally inspect a number of our listings that were new to the market. And often these inspections, sometimes involving 30 or 40 of our agents would spawn an almost immediate sale, when salespeople walking through a house would think, ‘I’ve got just the buyer for this!’
Golf tournaments come in all shapes and sizes. Some are built around prestige. Bragging rights. They have generally a dazzling array of prizes. They provide a showcase to show off skill. Tournaments like the Masters, with a prize ‘table’ of cash in the millions of dollars.
Fraud! It seems to be more prevalent every day. Bank fraud. Identity theft. Social media scams. Mortgage Fraud. Schemes to take your money for goods and/or services that will never appear or be performed. As a result, defense mechanisms are springing up that make our life more complicated but at the same time more secure.
Whenever an Agent, whether newly licensed or veteran, interviews with us to see what RE/MAX Garden City Realty Inc. has to offer, the discussion soon reverts to culture. Every real estate firm can provide an Agent with a business card, a sign, and a phone. All an Agent really needs. But each firm has its unique claim to fame as it were. Ours is our culture. You spend a significant chunk of your life at work. We want to be sure when our Agents walk through the front door it feels like home. The atmosphere is positive, supportive and inviting. And the key to our achieving that is our amazing support staff. From the front reception, through all departments like marketing, social media, technology and management right to our back office administration, they get it! Our Agents are our clients and we’re here to serve them.
Kids do it. Athletes do it. Olympians do it as well! When they have finished a challenging task. Accomplished something extraordinary. As they stand in the spotlight, they extend their arms out and wait for the applause. It’s their ‘Ta-Da’ moment. Their moment of recognition. It’s the reason movies have Oscar’s; television has Emmy’s. Olympics have gold, silver and bronze medallions. The list goes on.
On Wednesday, March 5th, RE/MAX Garden City Realty Inc. celebrated International Women's Day with a powerful event at our St. Catharines office training room. The Empowering Women in Real Estate panel was a great success, bringing together agents at all career stages to hear from our esteemed panel of female real estate professionals. The packed room buzzed with excitement as attendees gathered to learn valuable insights and strategies for success in today’s competitive real estate market.
I think most people have the best intentions when it comes to their life. To their future. We determine January 1st that this is the year we are going to get fit. To lose weight. To take that dream vacation. But somehow life gets in the way and by mid-February, we’ve lost sight of those goals. It’s been said, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail. And I think that’s at the heart of the problem. We have goals in mind. But we have no clear path on how to get there. And without a systematic plan, we make little progress.