Realty Life
Veteran realtor and industry leader Ken McLachlan talks with real people about their passions, their accomplishments and the moments that changed their lives. Realty Life is an inspirational and powerful look at how life turns and the journeys that follow.
Realty Life
Building a Real Estate LEGACY | Mark Arnstein
What happens when a West Coast realtor reinvents himself in the heart of Toronto?
Ken McLachlan sits down with longtime friend and top-producing agent Mark Arnstein for an inspiring journey through personal transformation, business perseverance, and community impact.
From restarting a thriving career in a new city to dropping 70+ pounds, coaching hockey, and running half-marathons, Mark shares candid stories about what drives him—both in real estate and in life.
It’s not just about open houses and marketing strategies (though there’s plenty of that); it’s about how one man turned vision into reality, and how the same discipline that built his business also reshaped his body, his mindset, and his future.
Listen For:
1:13 From Vancouver to Toronto: A Realtor’s Leap of Faith
7:50 Dog Walks, Open Houses, and Hustling From Scratch
12:28 Farming for Clients: 21 Years of Patience Pays Off
18:58 The Cabo Wake-Up Call: Mark’s 70-Pound Weight Loss Journey
31:37 Vision 2030: Mark’s Future, Goals, and Granddad Predictions
Guest: Mark Arstein
Website | YouTube | X | Instagram | LinkedIn | Facebook
Ken can be reached at:
Mark Arstein (00:00):
I think, look, we're in the people serving business, right? There's no reason for it, right? You're here to meet and interact with people on a daily, regular basis. So the more you can do that, the more you can attract people to come and want to work with you, the better your life is going to be. And that's basically what I did.
Ken McLachlan (00:25):
Hi everyone, my name is Ken McLachlan, and welcome to my podcast Realty Life. This is a podcast that I've been doing for I think a couple years now, and I get to hang out with not only real estate professionals or people that support the real estate business, but all people from all sorts of life. And it isn't about a podcast that I do that, how do you sell real estate and stuff like that. It's more of a podcast of what got you to where you are today in life and how did you achieve it, and what have you struggled with and what are your visions and how are you being as a person out there? So I'm really excited about our guest today because his transformation, I've known this guy for a while and he is a realtor, a very, very successful realtor. But what we're going to dig into today with him is his, I am going to call it transformation, and I say that respectfully because I think that he's transformed a lot of who he is today from when I first met this guy. So we're going to dig into that and maybe you give us some secrets along the way. So welcome Mark Arnstein. How are you doing, buddy?
Mark Arstein (01:36):
I'm great. Thank you for having me, Ken. I'm so excited to be here. This is
Ken McLachlan (01:40):
Fine, man. I am trying to think back, and I'm in preparation for this. I'm thinking back, and you're going to fill this in for me. I think your memory's a lot better than mine on dates that the first time we met on Young Street, when we bought that company, you moved back from Vancouver and you were, okay, so set the stage. How did you get to Hallmark? How did that work?
Mark Arstein (02:01):
Okay, so I was an agent in Vancouver for almost nine years, or just over nine years, and I never lived in Toronto before. My wife was from here, so I agreed to move to Toronto because Happy Wife is a happy life. So you
Ken McLachlan (02:15):
Never lived in Toronto? I thought you were Toronto then Vancouver then back. So your wife did. Okay, got you.
Mark Arstein (02:20):
No, I'm a pure bred West coaster, but it has been imported into Toronto.
Ken McLachlan (02:25):
Yeah. Okay.
Mark Arstein (02:26):
Anyways, and then we moved, so I was with Max when I was in Vancouver, a company called Max Select, which is a very big, very similar to REM Max Hallmark. And when I was doing research,
Ken McLachlan (02:35):
Wait, wait, wait. Back that out. Nobody is similar to Max Hallmark.
Mark Arstein (02:39):
True. Now that I've been here for as long as I have, I will agree.
Ken McLachlan (02:42):
Okay. So it's not joking aside.
Mark Arstein (02:45):
Okay. Anyways, so my manager at the Times had actually recommended Hallmark as a company definitely to talk to. Oh, cool. Yeah, so then when I came initially we just had the Mount Pleasant office, which was a satellite from home office, and I was just hesitant about being new to the city and going to an office where there was no office, there was no desk, there was no place to sit and having to work from home, I'm not really a work from home kind guy. Yeah, I know that. And so I ended up going to Royal Page and then we were, because there were a family friend who helped us when we first got settled here. And then I think I ran into you at an agent's open and because you had just got a new Q seven and I was asking you,
Ken McLachlan (03:28):
Oh, that's right, you were
Mark Arstein (03:29):
Walking back to the car and I was asking you questions about it if you did. And I remember just kind of talking back and forth. And anyways, so I had met with Deborah, obviously before moving out here, and so we kind of stayed in contact. And then when you guys bought the Young Street location, then they helped it up. Yeah, went from there and moved over and the rest is kind of history.
Ken McLachlan (03:49):
So you moving, I mean, that's a big step to, you had a great business in Vancouver for how many years were you a realtor out there? You said eight years,
Mark Arstein (03:58):
Or No, just over nine. Just over nine.
Ken McLachlan (04:00):
Okay. So you're a realtor in Vancouver, you're doing a great business family, your love, your home was home for your wife in Toronto. So you decided to pack up and leave and come to Toronto, set up your business. How did you do that? How would you advise people to do that? Do you remember how your formula for it or, yeah, it was tough, man, wasn't it?
Mark Arstein (04:25):
Yeah, it's a loaded question. It's a great question. It's a big question. Its a big answer too. I think part of it, when we bought our house here, we bought in at Young and Lawrence on Brookdale, and I said to the family, realtor friend, who's this guy from New York who's living here? And I said, look, rather than give me the referral off the price of the house, just take me under your wing when I get here to help me learn the nuances of Toronto. Because there are a lot of nuances. I mean, the business is the business, but some of the language was very different from Vancouver to Toronto. We don't have mutual drives in Vancouver. I was like, what the heck is Broadland? When I first got here, I'd never heard of that before. And people was like,
Ken McLachlan (05:09):
Car? Well, they call it duplexes rather than semis as well, don't they?
Mark Arstein (05:13):
Or do they? No, no, no. You can have different, so semi detached in Vancouver falls typically under the condominium act. So they're stratified, whoa. They're not built like freehold like they are here. So there was learn all the different angle,
Ken McLachlan (05:29):
A lot of changes. So you're in Toronto, you bought the home and you had to get your license, obviously you had to be licensed to sell here. So your first day of work, what did you do
Mark Arstein (05:42):
Anyways? We also got a puppy when we first got here. Great. Let's
Ken McLachlan (05:46):
Get complicated.
Mark Arstein (05:47):
Okay. Yeah. So before is before we had kids, but honest to God, I've given talks about this before. When I've done work for Richard Robbins, I've been on stage and talking, and she was my saving grace. She, honest to God, if it wasn't for the dog, I fully would've lost my mind because while I was studying for the challenge exam, because I didn't have time to do it, obviously before I left Vancouver, there's just too much to shut down. I would take the breaks, take her out for a walk. I learned the area because again, don't forget, I'm not from here. I don't know where anything is.
Ken McLachlan (06:19):
You don't know anything. Yeah,
Mark Arstein (06:21):
I didn't know where even the local Starbucks is. I mean, I knew nothing.
(06:26):
And so I learned the streets, I learned the neighborhood. Obviously you have a puppy, people run into you and they start talking to you. So I would tell him what I'm doing. Anyway, so fast forward, I get my license. This is January, 2005. We moved here in August of 2004, and I got going with open houses right away out of the gate. I was just trying to do as many opens as I possibly could. I was trying to do a four weekend, so I was doing one to 3, 3 30 to five kind of thing. And at the time, there was nothing else at home. I had to work, I had to start making money. This was the first time ever. I mean since I was 12 where I actually was not making a paycheck.
Ken McLachlan (07:11):
And it was, I mean, starting out the business, what you're saying to me is you just started doing what you had to do whenever you had to do it.
Mark Arstein (07:20):
Go ahead. I was going to say I knew the business. I just had to get in front of the
Ken McLachlan (07:23):
People to meet that. And then when you did that was doing the open houses and getting walk in the neighborhoods. And I have a friend in the business that Brian Ross, he used to really just walk his dog every day. And he met so many people by walking his dog and being real with him in conversations. Oh, totally. Everybody loves to see a dog. Everybody has Oh, little lace dog, puppy, and stuff like that. So it's a good way of meeting people really, isn't
Mark Arstein (07:51):
It? For sure. And then the other part of it, obviously I had to be able to talk from an educational standpoint. So when someone comes in and starts asking you
Ken McLachlan (07:59):
Questions,
Mark Arstein (08:00):
Then you got to be obviously knowledgeable enough to answer them and know what's going on. So you had to do a lot. So there was a lot of research to get to know the market, to know the ins and outs and understand the values, what's going
Ken McLachlan (08:12):
On. Did you recall it as a tough time mark or what?
Mark Arstein (08:17):
A bit of both. We were smart about it. Obviously I gave myself a cushion moving here, so there wasn't any issues financially. So that part was good. But I will say the first day Sarah went off, my wife went off to work and I was like, okay, what do I do now? And that's never happened to me before. So that was a real aha moment kind of a thing. But the good news was as I started doing the opens and people would come in and I would be talking to 'em and they would stop, and they just kind look at me really funny. I'm like, is everything okay? And they're like, yeah, you're nice. Sorry, is that a bad thing? I'm like, what do you mean?
(08:58):
And they're like, they just listen in the center core of the city. I am not going to disrespect anybody, but a lot of agents have a lot of arrogance to them sometimes can be. And I think, look, we're in the people serving business. There's no reason for it. You're here to meet and interact with people on a daily, regular basis. So the more you can do that, the more you can attract people to come and want to work with you, the better your life is going to be. And that's basically what I did. And I just got the business kind of growing from there. And then I started working ide lot geographical farming as we've talked about.
Ken McLachlan (09:40):
I want to get into that. I recall that period when you were used to farm mailing.
Mark Arstein (09:45):
No, not used to. Still do.
Ken McLachlan (09:47):
I know, but sorry, back then you used to. Yeah, you still do. Good point. But you made no but about it. I remember you telling me one time that I've sent out mailings for, I'm going to pick a number, three years.
Mark Arstein (10:02):
Not
Ken McLachlan (10:02):
One person had phoned me or whatever. I'm exaggerating. But really you didn't have any feedback, any success from it. And we talked, you and I talked about the purpose that you had in that and should you pull it back, should you increase it, should you do not. And we came to the decision, I think and met networking, you and I, that you should not quit that at all. Obviously you haven't because it took you a lot of years to develop that synergy of doing. And how many years have you been doing flyers
Mark Arstein (10:31):
Now? 21 years.
Ken McLachlan (10:33):
Yeah. Yeah. It's quite neat. You were also doing it everything before, I think you were on the cups of, again, correct me, of internet before social media, before it really came out
Mark Arstein (10:47):
With video.
Ken McLachlan (10:48):
Video and all that. And I remember us having a conversation and I said to you, clearly, just get that smile in front of people, remember?
Mark Arstein (10:59):
Yep.
Ken McLachlan (10:59):
Yeah. And it's true. And it really was. I said, you just got to get that face in front of people and because once they get to know you, they will trust you. You're likable. You know what you're doing, and your job is to get that out there at that time. And you jumped into it headstrong, right?
Mark Arstein (11:15):
Yeah. I mean, it's funny because Toronto is a very unique market onto itself. So anyone who's watching us who is not from the Toronto area and doesn't understand, we have the most hyper competitive market probably in North America, probably I would say, as bad.
Ken McLachlan (11:35):
That's the most competitive I've seen. I might travel all around, and this market is incredible, especially the market you work in.
Mark Arstein (11:41):
And that was my next point. And then take it even further, going into North Toronto, the center core of the city, it's even compounded a hundred times worse. So when I first started that farm, which is Avenue Road East over to Bayview 4 0 1, south, down into just south of Lawrence, there were probably six or seven agents that were top, I would say top ranked that were ahead of me. And now there's a neck and neck battle between one, two, and three. Right? Well, you
Ken McLachlan (12:13):
Put the work in. Yeah.
Mark Arstein (12:14):
Yeah. And when I talk to people about doing geographical farming, it is like a patient's game. It's like, and the problem is, in today's world, everybody wants instantaneous results because if you don't get results back right away, it's like, well, wait a second, then why am I doing this? It's like, no, it takes time because it's all about the repetition.
Ken McLachlan (12:32):
That's what they call it, farming, right?
Mark Arstein (12:33):
Yeah, exactly. So I said, if you're a farmer and you go and start your own farm, you are going to grow broccoli. You don't have the A one broccoli crop the first year. It takes probably a good three or four years to get things going to the right level of the right production and where you can start making it somewhat profitable. But once you get it going, and then you can incorporate other things into it to make it more even better. So now we do community events, and we have coming up in a couple of weeks, on October 25th, this are going to be our 12th, 12th annual free pumpkin giveaway. And
Ken McLachlan (13:07):
I thought it was more years than 12, but wow,
Mark Arstein (13:11):
12 years. Well, we lost one because of COVID. So the gift that keeps on giving. Anyways, I was going to say, so the first year we did it, we did 200 pumpkins in two hours in the pouring rain. And I thought, oh my God, what did we just do? And now we're at the point where we have the street blocked off from Young Street to on Brookdale, but we do in conjunction with Starbucks because they provide free coffee and hot chocolate. And anyways, the first quarter of the street is blocked off. We have now a thousand pumpkins that will be gone in within two hours and no sweat. That fun. We have a dj, we have a magician, we have face painting, we have a photo booth, we have raffles for free. It is a crazy, crazy,
Ken McLachlan (13:55):
It's a community thing. It's a community massive community event. It massive. You do more than one of these a year. You don't do more than one pumpkin thing? We do more one event.
Mark Arstein (14:01):
Yeah, we do three major events. So we do the pumpkin giveaway in the fall, then in February we do family day skate, and then in June we do movie night in the park.
Ken McLachlan (14:12):
Wow. That's cool. So let's switch this conversation a bit to other
Mark Arstein (14:18):
Stuff.
Ken McLachlan (14:20):
I remember one time, and one of the things that you and I talked about was that you wanted to get on stage, and I thought that was such a natural for you to present yourself to other people. I think it would do a lot of good, not that you needed the help with your confidence, but it would really just propel you to another level, an element in your life. So I remember, and you about to go on stage and Vienna.
Mark Arstein (14:52):
Oh my gosh, yeah,
Ken McLachlan (14:53):
Yeah, you remember. And you're on the phone to me and said, I'm standing outside of wherever you were because I had arranged it with whoever was there for you to do there. I introduced you to people anyway, and I'm not taking credit for that, but I'm just how it happened. It's okay, you can, it's all good. It's all good. And you're all set. I'm about to go on stage. I'm doing this, I'm doing that. And I thought, wow, this is brilliant. I love it. And you killed him. You rocked it. Do you remember that day?
Mark Arstein (15:17):
Yep, yep,
Ken McLachlan (15:18):
Yep. That was your first time, I think.
Mark Arstein (15:20):
Yeah. And also the fight part was after sitting in the lobby having a beer with Richard Robbins and we were talking about coaching, and I was telling him how amazing that I feel after doing our coaching call with you, and I feel like a hundred bucks after or something like that. And Rich looks at me and goes, mark, the difference is you're with me. You'd feel like a million. And I said, said, I love Rich. And I go, I'm calling Ken right now. I called you. And I said, Kenny, it's Mark. He's like, Hey, you're like, how's it going? I'm like, I'm in vi and everything's going amazing. I said, I'm with Richard Robbins. Oh, say hi. I am like, rich says, if I do switch to coaching with him and instead with you, I'll feel like a million dollars instead of a hundred dollars. And you're like, tell Rich to
Ken McLachlan (16:01):
With love. Yeah,
Mark Arstein (16:02):
He with love, with love with love.
Ken McLachlan (16:04):
I'm a big fan of Rich as you know, and he is worth every penny that he is out there doing this. But anyway, that was a pivotal moment for me to watch you grow into that next phase of what you do. Now. You speak pretty well anywhere, all over the world, and you impart people and you coach with people. You do these different things. It's a really different parts. You have the real estate arm, certainly the family is the most important thing.
Mark Arstein (16:30):
You
Ken McLachlan (16:30):
Have your real estate business arm, you have your speaking with people, coaching with people, and impacting people. And then we get into the other transformation you've had in your life. Because when I first met you, how do I put this? You were not who you are today physically.
Mark Arstein (16:47):
Oh, okay. We go. I thought that's where we were going, but I wasn't sure. Okay. Yeah,
Ken McLachlan (16:50):
Yeah. So you were not, I mean were, how did you make the decision? So when I first met Mark, he was, I'm going to say pretty typical of he wasn't the guy that worked out a lot. Maybe you did some, you skated or whatever, but you weren't zealous of
Mark Arstein (17:08):
What
Ken McLachlan (17:09):
You were doing. And you have transformed into such a fitness guy, incredibly good shape, things you do. And when did you make that decision to work on yourself that way? Do you remember?
Mark Arstein (17:24):
Yeah. Oh, totally. 100%. I remember. I will never forget it. So I came from a big sports background. So growing up as a kid, I played hockey, football, baseball, big water skier, snow scheme, tennis, all that stuff, a typical jock. And after moving here, we had our first son in two September, 2005. I can't believe he just jumped to me.
Ken McLachlan (17:51):
It's crazy. Wow.
Mark Arstein (17:53):
Yeah, it's just wild.
Ken McLachlan (17:54):
I remember when he was born.
Mark Arstein (17:55):
Yeah, I know. You're at the house when he
Ken McLachlan (17:57):
I know.
Mark Arstein (18:00):
So then we had our second son, Jake. Then things got busier and busier with work and the gym stuff slowed down. And as you parents do, the kids start eating the chicken fingers and the fries and you start picking off their plate. And I'd be at the office up here on Young Street and like, oh, afternoon coffee. That's go for a break. And the
Ken McLachlan (18:24):
Belly buster submarine across the street.
Mark Arstein (18:26):
No, I was never a big belly. I
Ken McLachlan (18:28):
Hated that place too, but it was there.
Mark Arstein (18:29):
Yeah, yeah. No, but I would walk down to Starbucks and I would get a full latte and a chocolate chip cookie, and that would be an afternoon treat. That's like a thousand calories right there. Anyways, so then when we had our third, we had our daughter in 2011, and this is about a year, this is almost two years after she was born. We're in Cabo. And I took a picture standing next to my wife and I was standing sideways, and I, oh, like, oh my God, I look like I'm eight months pregnant. I just had a kid. I remember my wife was like, and she goes, mark, there's a gym in Toronto at the time was called Track Fitness down in Forest Hill Village. She was like, just go to track. It's easy. You don't have to think about it. It's up your alley. It's a combination running on the do class. It's like run the treadmill, do some
Ken McLachlan (19:20):
Weights. So Sarah told you this. Well, okay, cool.
Mark Arstein (19:23):
Yeah. And so I was like, okay, we got back from Mexico. I went in January, 2014, and I've never looked back since and I dropped.
Ken McLachlan (19:33):
That's not as easy as it sounds.
Mark Arstein (19:35):
70, 70 plus pounds.
Ken McLachlan (19:38):
I know. I know. You've dropped a lot of weight. I know, but you are, how often do you work out?
Mark Arstein (19:45):
Six days a week.
Ken McLachlan (19:47):
Wow. I love this.
Mark Arstein (19:49):
And
Ken McLachlan (19:50):
You have a coach really for training a trainer. You got to have a coach for everything.
Mark Arstein (19:54):
There you go.
Ken McLachlan (19:55):
That's what you want you to say.
Mark Arstein (19:56):
Yeah. No, I do. I have a trainer who's just like a fitness fanga, and my wife's like, okay, I think you're spending a little too much time together now. He gets all these ideas in my head now I want to do high rocks. So I dunno what High Rocks is.
Ken McLachlan (20:09):
Well, that what I was going to ask you, I mean, do you have a goal with your fitness? I mean, your weight loss and your actually physique of how you were looking and doing is tremendous, but do you have a goal to be I'm going to run a marathon. I'm going to run,
Mark Arstein (20:24):
Yeah, no, no. I'm doing my fourth half marathon next month in October. So Waterfront one,
Ken McLachlan (20:31):
I've done that. Scotiabank. Yeah,
Mark Arstein (20:33):
Yeah, yeah. So I'm going for, well, now it's the name. Yeah. Sponsorship, right? So I'm trying to do it. So half marathon is just about 22 kilometers, and I'm trying to do it in an hour and 50 this time.
Ken McLachlan (20:48):
Wow, that's pretty good.
Mark Arstein (20:50):
Yeah, that's very good. Then I think the next goal, I think is going to probably try and do High Rocks. I think it's like, what is High Rocks? What is that? High Rocks is so up my alley. It's basically, it's dent. It's eight different exercises. After each one you got to run a kilometer. So Patrick Gillis does it from the office. Oh,
Ken McLachlan (21:12):
Yeah. Oh, he did that in, he won it, didn't he? For his age group?
Mark Arstein (21:16):
Yeah, he went in. So he did as a team. So you can go different ways. You can go into, as individuals, you can go as teams, you can go as mixed teams. There's all kinds of different ways you can enter into it. But I think to me, I know a lot of people got really heavily into CrossFit, and I think CrossFit is just a recipe for disaster because I think there's too much stuff in there that I think is not actually good on your body. So that's, I'm 55, right? I mean, you got to be smart about what you're doing and be conscious about not
Ken McLachlan (21:46):
Overdo it. You got to be careful. You
Mark Arstein (21:47):
Have to watch it. High rocks, there's a sled, push sled pool, there's skier wall balls, a burpees, farmer caries, and then there's, I think
Ken McLachlan (22:07):
Every word you've mentioned is foreign to me, by the way. But you know what? I have a vision of you doing it and being barely successful at it and accomplishing anything you want. And that's fear. And every fear you take, everything you do. So let me get back to it. So I want to package this whole thing. You got the real estate, you got the family. Obviously what you're doing, you're speaking, you're coaching the things you do and helping, mentoring other people, your fitness that you do on top of that. And you're very much involved. Also, mark, with, I don't know if you are as much anymore, but you are managing or coaching your hockey team for your kids.
Mark Arstein (22:44):
Well, I'm done now because they've aged out.
Ken McLachlan (22:46):
I know.
Mark Arstein (22:47):
Yeah, I know. We were just having this conversation last Don. I had dinner and I was saying to my brother-in-law, because his son now is fully in the thick of it. He is like 10 years old. I'm like, let me know when the games are. I think I'm going through withdrawal. I need to go to the rink. It's fun, isn't it? Did you have fun
Ken McLachlan (23:03):
Doing it?
Mark Arstein (23:03):
Oh, I loved it. Loved every minute of it. I would not change it for the world. It was 13 incredible years. And I got to tell you, when Jake had his last game last year, I bawled my eyes out. I was,
Ken McLachlan (23:16):
Yeah, I've remember seen the pictures on Facebook
Mark Arstein (23:18):
Or Instagram, and it's about the quality of time that you get with the kids. It's the driving to and from the rink. It's the going away on the tournaments, that quality one-on-one time that you get where you have their undivided attention. I know.
Ken McLachlan (23:36):
I love it. I love that.
Mark Arstein (23:38):
There was a great post, I dunno if you ever saw, it was Jeff Daniels talking about it too, because I guess his son played hockey, and he was just saying how same thing, how it wasn't about the game itself. It wasn't about the craziness. It was about being together in the car and just getting to have real conversations.
Ken McLachlan (23:55):
I did. I saw that post. It was brilliant.
Mark Arstein (23:57):
Very good. And I was like, oh my God. I started crying when I saw it too, because it is so what I went through, and that meant everything to me. I didn't have that as a kid growing up. My dad passed away when I was super little, when I was four and a half years old. And then my stepdad was a major worker, so he traveled a ton for work, and he would come home, have dinner, go back into his office and work for the rest. He just so just wasn't around. So that time with my boys especially, because getting to do that was just everything
Ken McLachlan (24:28):
To me. It warmed you.
Mark Arstein (24:28):
Yeah.
Ken McLachlan (24:29):
Well, it was important. And it is important too. I know that. I know who you are and light on that. I want to ask you a question Mark, do you remember where you were when you were 13?
Mark Arstein (24:41):
Well, sure. But
Ken McLachlan (24:43):
Tell me what your life was like when you were 13. Do you remember?
Mark Arstein (24:47):
Yeah, I was in,
Ken McLachlan (24:49):
Let me preface it more. So I believe this to be true. I believe that there's something in her life that happened around the age of 13 that impacts us so much in life for future years. So for me was my introduction to making the realization that I wanted to get into real estate. I knew that at the age of 13, I pretty well asked everybody on this podcast that question. I think it's important to know what I think it's an important time of our life at that time. 13. Do you have anything that pops up?
Mark Arstein (25:23):
I mean, I'm trying to think. 13. I was in grade seven. I just had my bar mitzvah. So a pretty life-changing event. It's
Ken McLachlan (25:32):
Big.
Mark Arstein (25:33):
Yeah. But I mean, other than that,
Ken McLachlan (25:36):
Nothing really. I,
Mark Arstein (25:38):
Yeah, I mean, I had my first job when I was 12 or 12, 13. So I started working for a delivery as a delivery boy for a local pharmacy and ride my bike all over in the pouring rain, trying to deliver prescriptions to old people. And then again, you got to think about, this is like 1983, so no cell phones, no GPS looking at a real map and trying to figure out where the heck you're going to get to, where you had to get to. And then not only that, but then having to organize where all the addresses, where you were had to deliver to, and then being able
Ken McLachlan (26:15):
To, the discipline of actually doing it. You had to
Mark Arstein (26:16):
Figure it out. Yeah, no, but also the order to make it efficient so that you could do it in the right amount of time.
Ken McLachlan (26:22):
I know.
Mark Arstein (26:22):
So I guess if you think about it from that standpoint, it kind of set me up for real estate.
Ken McLachlan (26:26):
Do you remember when you decided to get into real estate or why did you get into it? What was the drive on that?
Mark Arstein (26:34):
I was in school, and I was also working as well. I was a manager for a sporting goods company in Vancouver, and a friend of mine who I used to work with was in real estate. And so we went out for a bite date and he was just telling me about the business, and I was like, it sounded really interesting. He's like, honestly, mark goes, I think you'd be a total natural. You should for sure do it. And my stepdad, who was, there's a company out west called London Drugs. He was the executive vice president of LD and very business savvy. And so I said to him, I go, what do you think? And he's like, I think it is a natural fit. I think you should totally do it. You'd be great at it. So that was it. Yeah.
Ken McLachlan (27:17):
Yeah. And you're here, you're today.
Mark Arstein (27:19):
Yeah. I mean, I think for me, I love the marketing. I love the creativity that goes in behind getting to do all the fun marketing stuff. Obviously the sales are wrong. The sales are fantastic, and the negotiations is amazing, but just getting to allow your creative side and kind of let yourself evolve, I think is kind of half the fun. And everyone, I think a lot of agents typically hold themselves back and they're just a bit hesitant as to, well, I just kind of do what everybody else is going to do rather than try and do something
Ken McLachlan (27:50):
Before. Yeah, well, you actually did it before Most other people were doing it as well. I mean, you had that profile, that YouTube channel that you did prior to anybody actually getting out there and doing it, I think. And you've
Mark Arstein (28:01):
Driven that. Don't say it the wrong way. You got to say it the right way.
Ken McLachlan (28:03):
No, I think that's the right way. I think it's a beautiful,
Mark Arstein (28:05):
No, no, no. You got to say it.
Ken McLachlan (28:07):
Living north toronto.com. Yeah, you changed that back a little while ago.
Mark Arstein (28:12):
Not by choice.
Ken McLachlan (28:13):
I know, I remember that. So living north toronto.com, and you post a lot of videos on that, so I encourage people to go to that and see it. A lot of fun stuff. It's not dry. Oh, this is a house, look at this house and stuff like that. It's really about Mark and his life and what he's doing. But that's what you have to do.
Mark Arstein (28:30):
If you want to grow social media and you want to get presence into your account. If you post real estate 24 hours, seven days a week, kill me. No one's going to give a atuie what you have to say.
Ken McLachlan (28:44):
You
Mark Arstein (28:44):
Have to throw in other stuff. Otherwise, people just don't find anything engaging. Now, the interesting thing, it's unfortunate or fortunate, depending on who you want to talk to, but listen, obviously women who are attractive definitely have an upper hand in us, and you've got to be obviously careful, but you watch some of these accounts that have just blown up. There's a real estate team out of Utah, Utah's finest. If you look at them on social, she's a powerhouse. She's young, attractive, she walks with authority and she does all this great content, but she's also really enjoyable to watch. So it grows, but at the end of the day, video here, it's not going anywhere. You got to embrace it 1000% because if you don't, you will get left behind in the dust. Don't worry about how you look. Don't worry about how you sound, just who you are, because that's what's going to happen when people go to see you in real life, and you're going to see who you're,
Ken McLachlan (29:46):
I want to throw this into it as well. And the influencers in their business are out there. I think they're great. Oh, that's, that's horrible. They're great. But I think it's important to know that the work you're doing is founded by your track record of the business you've done.
Mark Arstein (30:04):
Yeah.
Ken McLachlan (30:05):
There's a lot of people that are out there, and God bless them, respect as well. They're growing their business by trying to influence people by doing stuff, but a lot of them don't have a lot of sales behind them.
Mark Arstein (30:18):
No, and that's
Ken McLachlan (30:19):
What I love about what you're doing.
Mark Arstein (30:20):
Yeah, thank you. And I think that's super important. I think that's a really important point to hit is don't, do not listen to what I'm saying. Try and become an influencer. You will not succeed. It's
Ken McLachlan (30:32):
Crazy.
Mark Arstein (30:32):
It's a waste of time, energy, and money. Because think about it, and I gave this talk actually in London back in June. I went to a mastermind. I got asked to come in and speak out, and I showed this video, and it's like this lady, she's basically naked walking through a house to, I don't
Ken McLachlan (30:55):
Get it anyway.
Mark Arstein (30:56):
It's just like, don't it. Just don't do it. Don't
Ken McLachlan (30:59):
Do it. I think be authentic, and that's what you are. You're very authentic. You have a track record that bounces back and you've been doing the same thing. You change it all this, but you're really who you are. And that comes across very straight on that. So let me talk about this here. I want you to bring me five years from now for Vermont. Interesting. So you'd be a granddad.
Mark Arstein (31:22):
No, I better not be. No. No chance. No chance. If I am I Well,
Ken McLachlan (31:28):
You'll be when you are a granddad, you be a grandma and grandpa, you'll be, what is it, Nona and what is it?
Mark Arstein (31:34):
Oh, it could be nana, Papa. It could be, yeah. And
Ken McLachlan (31:38):
Papa, by
Mark Arstein (31:38):
The way. Zady and Bubba Bubby we go. Yeah.
Ken McLachlan (31:43):
So what's it five years from now for you? Five?
Mark Arstein (31:49):
Well, I think the team would be a bit bigger for sure. I think ideally another five years. I think I'd like to see where we have more market dominance, definitely doing more speaking, and in five years from now, there's a new venture that I definitely want to look into that actually has to do with you, which we've kind of had a conversation about already. I like to see that can been rolling as well.
Ken McLachlan (32:11):
Yeah. Okay. So there is a bright, bright future that in doing what you're doing and refining what you're doing and making it, pushing it harder and getting out there, you're having found it funded.
Mark Arstein (32:22):
Yeah. I mean, I think right now I think we're just really starting to hit our stride, to be honest with you. And I said it, I know I'm 55 years old. I don't feel like I'm 55 years old, so I feel like we're just really gearing it up. Yeah.
Ken McLachlan (32:38):
The only problem I have with you is one problem. You're not a late fan.
Mark Arstein (32:43):
No, no. Hold on, hold on, hold on. It's been 21 years. I now have access to, last year we had 20 games. This year I dial it back a bit because the boys aren't here as much, so they're off at university. But Canucks are still my number one team. Yes, 100%.
Ken McLachlan (33:01):
I thought Edmonton was up there as well, wasn't it? No,
Mark Arstein (33:03):
No, no. My brother. No, that's a whole other story.
Ken McLachlan (33:06):
Okay. I remember that. I remember now. So Vancouver is still your team. I feel sorry for you, but anyway,
Mark Arstein (33:13):
Okay. All. All right. Anyways, Vancouver is still my team. I wear my jersey when I go to the game every year, but I do obviously root for the leafs. How can you not? It is in your city. I think your son was is what? It's
Ken McLachlan (33:28):
San Jose's Sharks. He
Mark Arstein (33:30):
Was, and then he got off of it about five years ago, and it became a diehard, both boys are now diehard Leaf fans.
Ken McLachlan (33:37):
Oh God. Bless 'em. They're smart. You raise really good kids, mark. They're have a lot of disappointment in their life, but they raise good kids. This has been fun. Have you had fun?
Mark Arstein (33:47):
Always.
Ken McLachlan (33:48):
It is always a
Mark Arstein (33:48):
Great time with you, Kenny.
Ken McLachlan (33:49):
You're the best. Yeah. This is fun, Matt. We're going to do this again. There's so much other stuff I want to get into, but we're at our limit of time right now. This has been a riot. I mean, I've had been privileged to have this journey with you for how many years? I can't even add that up. How many years together?
Mark Arstein (34:07):
I think I've been with Hallmark now for, I've only been with two companies my entire 21 years in Toronto, so I think it's, well, actually, I can tell you 5, 10, 15, 16 years.
Ken McLachlan (34:23):
Wow.
Mark Arstein (34:24):
Isn't that great? I just got to look at the plaques over on the,
Ken McLachlan (34:28):
It's been my great 16 years of my life, buddy. I've watched you. We've grown together on different things. Our company, our vision and what we're doing and the impact you're making on people in this world and watching you grow to be who you are and business and family and fitness and all that great stuff has been an inspiration to me and so many other people. So thank you. Thank you for doing that.
Mark Arstein (34:50):
Thank you. Thank
Ken McLachlan (34:51):
You. If people had wanted to get ahold of you, how would they do it?
Mark Arstein (34:55):
Oh God, it's so easy. Everything is at Mark Arnstein. So Instagram at Mark Arnstein or Living North Toronto, you can go either one. Same thing with Facebook, LinkedIn, TikTok, Twitter.
Ken McLachlan (35:09):
What's your website?
Mark Arstein (35:10):
Website is mark arnstein.com.
Ken McLachlan (35:12):
MARK, right?
Mark Arstein (35:13):
Yeah. M-A-R-K-A-R-N-S-T-E-I n.com. And email is mark@markarnstein.com.
Ken McLachlan (35:31):
Actually, mark is very generous with his time and information, and I guarantee if you reach out to Mark and talk to him about all the stuff we talked about today, there's much more depth to it than we've gotten into at this point. So I encourage you to do that and have some fun with it, and you'll leave with a big smile on your face as I am today.
Mark Arstein (35:52):
Likewise, my friend. Likewise.
Ken McLachlan (35:53):
So Mark, thanks for being here, bud. I appreciate you and keep making a difference.
Mark Arstein (35:57):
My pleasure. Thank you too, Kenny. Don't sell yourself short, man. You make a massive difference out there too. Sweet. Thanks brother. Thank you. I love you. Love you.
