How to be a great Real Estate Agent with Karin

On this episode of Carlene Tonight/Diva Tonight we speak to Real Estate guru Karin Rotem about her career in Real Estate, how she started and why she loves working with her clients

Do you want to sell houses for a living? Karin talks about what you should consider and what are the key components to being a great Realtor

You can follow her on Instagram at @karin.rotem

Karin is a Greater Toronto Area Top Realtor

www.karinrotem.com

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Transcript

Carlene 0:00

Hi, I'm Carleen. And this is Carleen Tonight. Hi, I'm Carleen and this is Carleen Tonight. We have with us on a Zoom call Corinne Rotom. Corinne, how are you? Hi, I'm so good.

SPEAKER_04 0:18

I love talking to you.

Carlene 0:20

I love talking to you too. So for those who don't know Corinne, she's a real estate agent. She's actually helped me find an apartment. And she's amazing. Uh, I like working with you. So if I have to find something again, I'll be like, Corinne!

SPEAKER_04 0:36

Please, anytime.

Carlene 0:38

Please tell me about you. What do you do with your clients?

SPEAKER_04 0:43

I help buyers and sellers and renters all over the GTA. I don't specialize in just one area. Um, I go everywhere from Hamilton just since COVID, when the roads got more empty, I went, started doing Hamilton as well. But when things go back to so-called normal, I don't know if I'll go all the way to Hamilton again. I'll probably partner with my Hamilton person again. Um, but I have been going as far out as Hamilton to the west and uh, you know, Oshawa Clarington to the east, Bowmanville. And to the north, I go to Barrie and down to the lake. So I cover a lot of territory. And the reason I do that is because my focus is always on the client and what the client needs and wants. And that's what it's all about. I know a lot of people when they think real estate, they think it's about houses. And I know I talk to some young people who are like, oh, I really love decorating. Maybe I'll go become a realtor. And I kind of laugh a little, but not to discourage, but just to say, you know, being a realtor really has nothing to do with homes, with houses, you know, and that's such a weird thing to say. Like, what do you mean? You sell houses, but it's really not. It really what I do is client care, and that's always my focus. So whether I'm doing a basement rental for a thousand a month, or you know, if I'm selling a three million dollar estate home, it doesn't matter. I just I look at that client and I take care of that client. And that's just always been my focus um in the way that I in the way that I work. So I think that's what I do. Tommy, why did you get into real estate? Oh my goodness. So it's a really funny story and uh it's almost a bit embarrassing. But really what happened is uh so I was a teacher first, high school teacher. And after my first year of teaching, you know, all of a sudden I had a bit of money in the bank for the first time ever in my life. And uh a friend of mine came over and she was in a similar position. She also had had a job for a couple of years and had a bit of money in the bank. And we kind of just sat there on the couch. I don't remember we were watching TV, The Simpsons, I don't know what we were watching. And she just kind of at some point said, you know, we should maybe buy a little house together and uh tear it down, build something and flip it and sell it. And it was honestly that's what uh started the sort of idea of real estate in our minds. And, you know, she was a good friend. I said, okay, let's let's do that. And we sort of looked on realtor.ca and we found these little cute houses at the time were really cheap in Etobicoke, near the Kingsway, just seemed like a really smart idea. And, you know, we just started looking into that. And then she said, you know, one of us should maybe be the realtor so that we don't have to hire one. And that's and I said, okay, I'll do that. Like I'm smart. Honestly, that's how it started. So the next day I kind of researched it, I registered for the first course, and you know, the rest is history. I totally didn't realize what it meant and that it was an entire profession. I kind of went into it naively, but that's what inspired me to take the course and kind of just do it for that purpose. But then it turned into something much bigger for me, and I realized that may be my calling. And so, yeah, and I took a bunch of leaves of absence from teaching and uh yeah, here we are now, and this is what I do every day, almost 24-7. Wow.

Carlene 3:58

I didn't know that about you all these years. Wow.

SPEAKER_04 4:01

I didn't tell you that before. You know, this sounds cheesy, but it's really true that I still consider myself an educator. So, you know, they when you say realtor, I'm a salesperson technically, but I I really see myself as an educator, as a facilitator. So when I meet clients, I feel like my role is there to kind of give them as much information as possible and sort of guide them through the process. I think everyone's self-educated about real estate. They know quite a bit and they just need me to kind of prop them up to the point where they can make a really big purchase or or sale or even even renters as well, knowing their rights in Ontario. So I still take that skill set with me every day.

Carlene 4:43

I feel like that's still what I am. We're gonna focus on your journey as more or less an entrepreneur, because even though you're a real estate agent, you have your own clients and you have a foundation, right? I think you've built your reputation as a real estate agent. So a lot of people come to you. Is it more or less through word of mouth? Like how do people find how do people know about you and connect with you if they're looking for their new home?

SPEAKER_04 5:10

I guess the best way, what I like the most, is when my clients come to me by referral, because that means that a client that I've helped has felt so good that they tell their friends how good it was and uh kind of warms the soul, right? Because it's it's such a good feeling because you know you're helping someone with probably the biggest transaction of their life. And so when they tell their friends about it, it's really it's the ultimate thank you. So that's one way. It's not the only way, though. I do a ton of marketing as well, of my listings, and even when my clients buy a place, like I'll market that and and use that as a tool to get new prospects. But really for me, you know, some agents do what's called cold calling and door knocking. And that's sort of what I call a cold approach to getting new clients. And I don't do that, I don't like it. I really focus on the warm approach. I want, like I said before, my business is relationships. And so it's really important for me to build those. So social media has been really important for me. Partly because I'm an introvert. So, you know, with social media, you're kind of talking to yourself a lot of the time. But it it's for me, it's an easy outlet. It's an easier way to kind of stretch myself and uh reach out to people. So I just kind of share a lot, both on Facebook and Instagram. I just share like my life, which has some real estate in it as well, and uh has some ducks in it and has some kids in it and has some coffee in it. And I just kind of try to be me as much as possible. And then I think that when people see that, it just hopefully makes them comfortable to approach me about housing needs. So that's that's my approach.

Carlene 6:54

In the beginning, was it? Do you remember? Like, is that something that you had to do? The cold calling?

SPEAKER_04 6:59

Listen, if if it was a new realtor starting in the business, I would definitely say I see my colleagues around me and they're very successful because they do that. It's definitely a big part of this business. I just didn't. Like I just could never, I don't know, it just doesn't suit me. And I think that's okay. Like I think it's okay to be yourself. So what I focused on was again, it's the warm, it's the relationships. So what I did at the beginning beginning is that I hosted other agents open houses for them. And that was a way to meet people, you know, in person, have that conversation. They would, you know, show up with their kids and I could kind of I like little kids. So I would, you know, spend some time with them, let the parents go around, answer questions, just develop that relationship. So for me, that was my entryway. I really didn't do the cool calling. The closest I got to door knocking was after I sold my first properties. I would, you know, create postcards. And then instead of just dropping them off, I would knock on the door and hand a postcard and say, you know, this is who I am. I just sold, you know, house one, two, three, X, Y, Z. Although it is, it is a pillar of being a realtor. You have to door knock, go call. Like that's just something that's drilled into us. It's just not something I could ever bring myself to do because I'm an introvert and because I came from a different kind of background. Like I didn't come from sales like a lot of other realtors. Successful realtors, you know, they just have a different approach. I just didn't come from that. So it was always really hard for me to kind of start the day that way in a cold way. So, no, not really. I didn't.

Carlene 8:38

But you know what? I like your approach. I think I like that too. And you you said you're an introvert. So I have to ask you the question do you feel like as an introvert, you're okay with the lockdown, like the all these restrictions that we've had in the last year, the honor.

SPEAKER_04 8:54

No, no, you know what the big misconception about introverts is it's not that we don't want to be around people. It's that we we need a small circle of people to fill our whatever it is. Whereas extroverts need like multiple people, like they need groups, they need big, they need more. We just need our core, but we need them. So you need it, yeah. Like I need my few, I need my family. I haven't had that. I was talking to you earlier about my sort of solution for the education of my kids this year. And because we formed a pod, we we've been super, super strict about who we see, how we see people. So we haven't had anybody in our house, even outdoors were masked and distance with family. So it's been to say a struggle is probably the lightest possible word I could use. Like, I cannot wait to hug my family in a really long time. And we haven't changed our behavior since this all began, like since March 2020. We've been exactly the same. We don't listen to the news, we don't listen to anything. We've just always done the social distance mask thing and we never really let go. We never let go from day one. And for me, it makes it easier to just this is how we do it, and that's it. And we don't think about it. But no, lockdowns. No, I don't think there's any human being that can tolerate this. I don't think it's human. It's awful. Yeah, it is. It is that's my hard, yeah.

Carlene 10:24

Yeah. I think uh, you know, the the whole world, we're we're like, I mean, they say we're all in this together, but it really doesn't feel that way. It feels like we're all in we're all feeling this, you know what I mean? Um, different parts of the world separately. Yeah, yeah. It's um, yeah, like you said, you have your your people in your household and you have the pod, and nothing has changed. And and honestly, it doesn't feel like it's changed. Like I mean, they lift the restrictions and then it feels like we're back at it again. So it's very challenging. So I have a question for you. I looked at your site here and um I think it's very interesting because you said you like working with people, and I see that your core is the exceptional client experience. Uh, you say, I believe experience is everything. So, what do you mean when you say that?

SPEAKER_04 11:12

It's sort of what I was talking about before is just that for me, when you're my client, you're everything. And it's so funny because I there's this one client in particular that I talk to a lot. I actually call her mom sometimes. I better send this. After you you you post this, I have to send this to her. So we talk a lot, and it's really, really important to me, like that, just that relationship. And she's a client from the past. Like we're today, we're not really even doing anything, but we still talk. And at some point, I think it was about a month ago or maybe longer, I posted, I post reviews. So uh, whenever somebody has a really good experience with me, I asked them to write a review about me, something just organic, like how did it feel, right? To be my client. And then I post it on social media. So I had a review recently where the person said something about how they felt like I was always available and always talking to them and how they felt like they were the only person in my world. And so this my mom, this client of mine, who's not really my mom, I just call her that because she sort of sometimes tells me, like, oh, don't drive so late or make sure you eat dinner and that kind of thing. So she called me after she saw that review and she said, you know, I feel like I'm the only one you talk to, but obviously you talk to other people. And I guess that's what it is for me is I want my clients to feel like they're everything because they really are, like in that moment, in that transaction, that full experience of having someone take care of you, knowing that I do everything that I possibly can for them, negotiate for them, make sure that it's easy and efficient, seamless as much as possible. I just put everything into my clients. So I think that's what it is. I don't think that that's a usual thing. And uh like I said before, it doesn't even matter if we're talking about a rental, if we're talking about a sale, but like it doesn't matter to me. Every individual client matters a lot. And that's just the core of my business.

Carlene 13:04

Well, I think it leaves a lasting impression, of course. So we don't forget you, Corinne. I I've worked with you twice, and I remember the second time you actually referred me to someone else and they didn't pull their end of the bargain and you were so upset and you're like, Well, I'm gonna help you, Carlene. You know, and of course, yeah. No, but I mean, I'm I'm very grateful for your help too. As one of your previous clients, you know, I I don't forget. If anyone I know is looking for a home, I always refer them to you if they haven't found a real estate agent. Cause I I just think that you are always looking out for your clients in every way that you can. And that's important, you know what I mean? The show is about relationships. And I, you know, as someone who you value those relationships, even when you say you you prefer to do the warm approach as opposed to the cold one, I think you build stronger connections that way. And we we always want to have good relationships because it builds a good rapport and people remember you that way, you know?

SPEAKER_04 13:58

Yeah, and and listen, I there's different approaches, and uh I think, and I tell my kids this too all the time like just be you and yeah, just be true to your character. And that's just me. And so that is my approach, and I've been successful because of that. But there's you know, equally successful realtors are out there that are very different from me and they have their style and that works for them, and that's great. So maybe that's just another lesson as a mom is just be true to you and do it your way. But the other thing I tell my kids this as well like whatever you do, just do it well, like do it as amazingly as you possibly can. And I think that's my approach too, is just if I'm gonna be representing you, I want to do it A plus. That's my goal. And with my kids too. Like if they want to go into law school or if they want to be an artist or if they want to be whatever they want to be, but they just have to be the best that they possibly can be in that. That's my philosophy of life.

Carlene 14:54

Corinne, I just had a birthday and I'm like, oh my God, it's been like my second birthday in lockdown. And and um, I, you know how you I'm an I'm an extrovert. I do like people, I like big gatherings, and you know, I'm I'm used to having like I don't always do a big birthday, but I have, and I like going to Woodbine Beach and I like people, like you said. And so I think when you're kind of like forced to do this lockdown, whatever you want to call it, it just makes you realize how your personality is. I think a lot of us has have learned about like what we took for granted, what we appreciate more. You appreciate the smaller things, right? And so for sure. You have three kids, right? And three babies. Three babies. We don't want to be baby called babies, but too bad. Are my babies, yep? Yes, yes. So so tell me what it's like to be a mom and a real estate agent and you know, like all juggle all these hats.

SPEAKER_04 15:49

I don't know how a realtor, a single mom realtor would do it very, very hard because you don't really have a schedule. You kind of every day is a new day. So sometimes I'll wake up in the morning not knowing I have appointments and then an hour into my day, and suddenly I have all sorts of appointments. So luckily I have a partner, a life partner that kind of runs the show with everything except for kind of what I do. So I run around doing the work and he's managing kind of everything else. So I'm very grateful for that. And you know, there are moments like I remember a little while ago, I was sitting with my son and I had in my back end of the realtor.ca site, we have a back end as realtors, and I had mine open to my listings. And I have a lot of listings, and my son looked at that and he was like, What is that, mommy? And I said, Oh, this is the list of homes that mommy's selling. And he's like, You're selling all of those. And I kind of, you know, with pride, I was like, Yes, I am. And he got sad and he was like, Mommy, but that'll take too long. I don't want you to. And I realized, right? Like I was all proud of it, but he was like, Oh, God, right? So there's moments like that, of course. Mom guilt sets in, but you know, on the flip side of it, I think I'm teaching, you know, my girls that you can be, you know, a successful woman, entrepreneur, businesswoman. You can do whatever your heart desires. And also for my son, too, like that wrong women are out there. We'll take it or leave it. So yeah, pretty proud of it. But it is hard, it is a challenge because you kind of want to be with them all the time, but also you have to work. So it's uh it's a balance. But lots of conversation, lot, lots of explanation. You know, when I'm out late at night, it's like, why is mommy out so late? And having to, you just have to explain it. You know, this is this is how we feed you, right? And clothe you and and house you. So they're they're little, so they ask questions and try to answer.

Carlene 17:51

Yeah, I guess you have many hats, so it's just that conversation, like you said. So explain to me though. Uh, the one thing I I do I haven't heard about this before, but I I do want to know about the way that you've schooled your kids now, because you know, the education system has changed, you know, a lot of homeschooling. And so it I think it would have been difficult if you had to do your job, your husband has to do his, and then having the kids at home, right? So you've mentioned that you're doing what's it called, the pod?

SPEAKER_04 18:22

Learning pod, yeah. Yeah. So I would say on the spectrum of like people that are chill about COVID, to the other side of the spectrum where people are very scared and super COVID sensitive. I I don't say scared, I say sensitive. So we last year, last summer were super, super on the side of being sensitive. Like we were just, how is this gonna work? Like, how can my husband be a teacher? How do the how do kids go to school? Like we just couldn't wrap our heads around it. And quite honestly, we were losing sleep over it. We were really, really, really worried. Just had no idea how what the year would look like. And I'm a bit of a control freak. What is that? Like a gold personality. I just couldn't handle not knowing what was coming. So actually, a friend of mine started the idea of a learning pod because in the summer she created her own kind of camp pod. And so then she created a group on Facebook called Learning Pods Canada, and then that kind of blossomed into Learning Pods. What did she do? Like Learning Pods Toronto, Learning Pods York Region. I think she even did North York, Scarborough. Like she branched it all out, and it was sort of that that made me think, huh, Learning Pod, right? And just started reaching out to people I know through social media. And I think it was August 30th, like it was really down to the last wire, and we were so nervous. I found somebody who I had shown a house to, honestly, five years ago. And uh I posted something about a learning pod. And so she sent me a private message saying, hey, we might be interested too. And then also we posted in the group, and then a teacher posted that she might be interested in teaching. So, anyways, it all came together really at the end of summer. That my kids, I have three, and then this other family's kids, they have two, five of them all together go to the teacher's house. So that's just been that was a lifesaver this year. It's not perfect, you know. Like my kids didn't get French and they didn't get physed and they didn't get, you know, like they're very, very much doing literacy and numeracy and you know, the the core subjects. And they sacrificed, you know, the concept of school, which they miss very, very much. But we got stability, you know, Monday to Friday. We know what we're doing, everything's fine. We don't really pay attention to the news too much. We're pretty safe in our bubble. We're all kind of of the same COVID-sensitive mindset. So it's just worked for us really well this year.

Carlene 20:47

Yeah, because you I think with the learning audio, you don't really have to worry about how things are gonna change in the TDSB, how they changed like um spring break this year. It's always been in March, and then all of a sudden it changed the April. And now they said that after this week of March break, or like what used to be known as March break, the spring break, it's gonna be back to online learning again. So every parent who have the kids in school, they have to revert back to I know, I know.

SPEAKER_04 21:17

So I I know it's listen, there's pros and cons. Like I said, my kids, I really feel like they sacrificed a lot this year, just not having that normal group school thing, like walking down halls, you know, they appreciate that so much now. They don't get that now. But we have that stability. And for my mental health, for their mental health, it's been like, I don't even know how we would have done it without this. Like, really, like we're fragile as it is, you know, none of us are perfect. We're still, you know, we miss our family, like we miss a lot of normality, but at least we have this. Like I said, Monday to Friday, nine to three, same, same, same. Like it's just so important for all of us, not just for them, for the parents. Too. And yeah, like you said, and with lockdowns, we checked in the first lockdown, and we are allowed to operate as a pod as long as it's five kids or less. So every lockdown, we just keep going. So it's been, it's been really, really good. I know I I don't I really don't know. I do know I have parents are struggling. They're really struggling. And I talk to so many, especially moms, that will open up to me. Like dads are, you know, dads will complain too, but moms, like I've had, I've had like heart-wrenching conversations with moms who are just don't know how to function anymore. Like it's it's really bad. It's really, really hard out there. So I get it. So yeah, I'm I'm happy with what we did, but I'm telling you that my kids would do anything to get back to a school setting. Not that they don't love their they love their pod very much, but you know, there's a lot, a lot that they that they don't have.

Carlene 22:55

So we'll get there soon. Yeah, at some point we will get there. Like interacting with other kids is so important, you know. And hopefully maybe once we roll out more vaccines that we can see the light at the end of the tunnel because this is so challenging. Even to hear you say it, like you have this system in place and you have this structure in place. And I think you we realize more than ever how important structure is in our day-to-day, and to have that for your kids is important. And obviously they're missing out on some of the things that they used to have, but at least they are going to a smaller school setting every day, and they're able to learn with other kids, right? So getting back to you as a real estate agent and your relationship with your clients. And I think um the one thing we focused on is just your career. I and I just want to say, like, I think you know, a lot of people are changing their careers, they're looking into other opportunities and having a plan B. And if someone is considering your career path, what advice would you give to them?

SPEAKER_04 24:00

Um, if what I said before, right? When when people tell me, oh, I love houses and I love placure in a living room. No, get into staging, interior design, and then come work with me because I that's not my forte at all. I'm getting better at it with experience, but no, I, you know, for staging, I have my professionals and and all of that. And then just patience, you know, with real estate. Like you're building a business. It's really not about one sale or five sales or 10 sales, like it's you're building a business. So you have to really dig deep and kind of uh you need to be consistent with things that work and have patience. And and the other thing is, which I think is true for any profession, because I remember learning this in teachers' college too, is that it really takes about 10 years to be a become a professional in anything. And that's not discouraging, it's actually encouraging because you just have to know that for about 10 years, like you're growing at an exponential rate until you get to a point where you kind of you've got this. So just to have patience with it and to listen to people that have been successful, but not to copy them, right? In like in any in any business. But it, you know, what I have found is just again, like I said before, just to be true to you. So take whatever is unique about you and and run with that, but listen to kind of what other people have done to be successful.

Carlene 25:20

You actually touched on something that my college professor said to me in radio school. And he said, it takes 10 years to be a professional in anything. And if you even in radio, like it's 10 years in the industry to own your craft. And so you've just mentioned something that I remember him saying years ago, Neil Mather. And uh, it's interesting to hear you say it because you learned that in teachers' college. So another teacher, but obviously he worked in radio for many, many years before he became an announcing teacher, you know what I mean? So he taught us at Humber. And so it's very cool to hear you say that because I think a lot of people get discouraged if they're not getting the results that they want. But I think, like you said, even as an entrepreneur or someone who is working in any field, like you have to keep that in mind that this is not something that you perfect quickly. You know what I mean? It's not the fastest way to anything, right? But you know, we we touched on your career and your kids. And you know, the one thing I think I want to ask you is because you're married as well, and you've been married for many years now. And I remember even you telling me the story when you got your first apartment and how cheap it was, you know, and uh just back then how things were, you know, from now, but back in the day, back in the day when we olden days, yes.

SPEAKER_04 26:43

Oh my gosh. I remember our first basement apartment, 500 bucks a month. Like, oh, you know what? I think it was four. Was it four? No, it was five, it was five, but it was like, oh, that's so expensive, right? It was so expensive, and it was just somebody's basement in a nice area, actually. Um, my poor husband, he's like six foot three, and we were actually just 18 at the time, so he wasn't my husband. The bait the ceiling was actually not six foot three, so the poor guy was like bent over most of the time, but we were so happy, yeah. So I don't know how far back do you want to go? Do you want to hear how we're middle school sweethearts? Is that what we're doing?

Carlene 27:22

Oh my god, I didn't know that. Tell me, I want to hear this. Yes, I want to hear about it.

SPEAKER_04 27:27

Yeah, grade eight, grade eight. Yeah, we've been together since grade eight, so yeah, and I like to tell people that it has evolved over time, of course. Not the same in grade eight as it is now. But and I also and I also tell my kids, you know, like that's not what mommy and daddy want for you necessarily. Like, we just got lucky. Yeah, we've just been best friends for for a very long time, most of our lives now, right?

Carlene 27:58

This sounds like a movie romance though, since you were yeah, the rest is history. I know, right? Yeah, I think everyone helps for that, but I think it doesn't always happen that way, right? I say I'm so lucky, and he hates that.

SPEAKER_04 28:10

He's like, it's not luck, you know. We we did this, and but yeah, I do feel a bit lucky, right? Like finding the one when you're 13. I think there's there's an element of luck there.

Carlene 28:22

Yeah, because some people find their person at a young age like you did, and some people it takes them like you know, I had someone else on the show and she found her husband when she was 40. So not everyone is cut the same cloth, and some of us are lucky early on in life, right? But I think it's a beautiful story though, the fact that you guys, I didn't even remember you telling me this, so it's so interesting. I'm like, wow, this is definitely a journey, you know, you've grown together. That's beautiful though. And so getting back to you, Madame Karen. So for those who um want to work with you, and if they are looking for a home or, you know, just looking for an apartment, because you said you help others with apartments as well, how can they find you?

SPEAKER_04 29:11

Wherever, I think uh they can call me and check my website. I like social media. I actually had a client recently. Wow, I'm full of stories today. I had a client recently who told me she told me that she creeped me on social media for two years before she reached out. Wow. And I thought, oh, that's a little creepy. But on the other hand, she said, no, you know what, it it I was trying to figure out if I could work with you. She said she has, you know, she had trust issues. Like she wasn't sure who she could trust. She had worked with other realtors in the past and just didn't feel that connection. And so just uh she just sort of followed me on Instagram, Facebook. So if you can find me on Instagram, Corinne.rotem and on Facebook, Corinne Rotem, and feel free to PM first. And uh and yeah, because you know, like my role is so important, and uh people just want to make sure that they're feel comfortable with me. So uh social media is a good way to start. Um, but obviously my website, reach out, fill in a contact sheet, email Corinne at CorinneRotem.com. Uh, whichever way. And you know what? Some people like to text, feel free to text. Some people like to use WhatsApp. I use WhatsApp a lot with clients. Whatever is your medium of choice, I'm happy to use.

Carlene 30:30

Yes, and you're right, the social media presence. People have found me that way, Corinne. I'm surprised sometimes when I get an email and they're like, Oh, I um found you on social media. Like one of my guests, he actually found me through Instagram. So you just never know. I think we have to keep our presence online because that's the way of the world right now. You know, it's it's who you are online. Yeah. But I like that story though.

SPEAKER_04 30:54

Yeah. And she even told me that she asked me a question like months and months in advance about something that she didn't even care about just to see how I would answer. Like she even tested me. And I guess I passed the test, and now, you know, she's like, You're the only realtor I've ever trusted, and I'll ever trust again. And I was like, Whoa, okay, I'm glad I passed that test, right? But yeah, that's very interesting.

Carlene 31:21

I I think I understand what she's saying though, because I mean you're helping someone find like if it's their apartment, their house, you know, their first home, and and there's so many things that you have to do. I talked to another friend who just bought a condo, and not everyone understands how tedious this process is. Not only getting a mortgage, but you know, uh all the paperwork, the deed, you know, all the things that you have to get done when you're buying a home. It's it's not the easiest process, right?

SPEAKER_04 31:50

So no, and just navigating the crazy market too, and knowing kind of how to approach a situation when you're in, you know, multiple offers with 37 other people. And I just I'm sort of exaggerating, but I fully had that this past summer where my clients were up against 36 others. There were 37 offers in total. And guess what? They got it, you know, and we we had a strategy. We I had my sort of my mantra that I teach people, just ignore everybody else, make your offer, and uh they ended up getting it, which was really cool. But yeah, you definitely need a professional on your side. Yeah, either way, if you're buying or selling right now.

Carlene 32:29

Yeah. The one thing that the misconception is that COVID is making things a little bit more challenging with real estate, but it seems like um a lot of people are buying right now, the people who can buy, right?

SPEAKER_04 32:42

Oh my goodness, yeah. The market's crazy. The demand is through the roof, and the supply was low for a while. Now the supply is pretty good, but still it's it's always supply and demand. That's just how markets work. And uh the demand is what's driving things, and it's it's quite high, I have to tell you. There's multiple offers on most things. Yep.

Carlene 33:04

Well, thank you, Corinne, for being a guest on the show. It's great to have you, great to connect with you. I'm Carleen, and this is Carleen Tonight with Corinne Rotom. Thank you. Hi, I'm Carleen, and this is Carleen Tonight. We have for you Altered by Mom. You can do what you want with my heart, babe. This song is actually featured on CBC's Kim Convenience season five, episode two. If you're a Kim Convenience fan, I definitely suggest you check it out. Again, Altered by Mom, you can do what you want with my heart, babe.

SPEAKER_02 33:42

Every time I see you, I usually say hey. My feelings low bubble. I float away, I look for an exit. I usually can't find my body doesn't listen and tries to hide.

SPEAKER_01 34:04

If we're gonna talk about it, I want you to know that you can blow it up, you can break it up, you can do what you want with my heartbeat, just bring the giveaway. You can do it, you can hold it close, you can do what you want with my heartbeat, just bring the game back to me.

SPEAKER_00 34:38

You can do what you want with my heartbeat, just bring it back tomorrow. If I saw you, I'd smile and move on. Even though my heart is breaking, when I say the song I rocked on your profile, know why I do that. I don't want your attention, let's avoid the past. If we're gonna try to fold it.

SPEAKER_01 35:08

I want you to know that you can blow it up, you can break it, take it up, but you can tell what you want, but it doesn't bring up anything but that before you put the ball out of the colour.