.png)
Batten House Podcast
Batten House Podcast
Batten House Podcast
Ep 15 Breaking Down Real Estate Myths: Bernie Coughlin's Journey from PEI to Ottawa's Top 5%
If I can help young people get on the right track today, or even people that are nervous and newcomers to Canada. That's an amazing feeling. Like I said, we put them first, and when you love what you do, you don't work.
Speaker 2:This is the Batten House Podcast, the place where local businesses and neighbours come together. Here's your host, Sean Batten.
Speaker 3:Well, hello, everyone Another podcast episode.
Speaker 1:Here's your host. I'd be you. What can I say? You know.
Speaker 3:Absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1:It's a great day.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it is, it is, and you're coming into the selling season, springtime. Oh, springtime yeah.
Speaker 1:Things are picking up really fast. I know a lot of people seem scared right now, but it doesn't seem to be showing in the real estate market. Yeah, they're really picking up for us, which is good yeah.
Speaker 3:It's great, it's good. So my first question is always tell me about your business, but tell me about your approach, cause I've already mentioned your real estate agent, but you're also one of the one of the real estate agents in the top 20% that actually sell homes on a regular basis.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah, actually, I just found out two weeks ago that I'm in the top 5% in Ontario for real estate.
Speaker 3:That's amazing. So I was really, really happy to hear that. That's amazing, awesome. So tell us about your approach. Well, why do you think that is?
Speaker 1:I think it's the Prince Edward Island in me. You know, I'm from the East Coast of Canada and, of course, we learn from a very young age to care about people, and the way that I run my business is I always put the person first. If it doesn't work for them, I'm not looking to push them into something that they don't want to be involved in or, you know, like make them do a purchase that isn't necessary, I want to protect their interests and, to me, when you always put the client first, everything else comes naturally, and so that's the approach we use. The new to our real estate team, like we have now. There's four of us on the team now, which is amazing. We have three agents and our wonderful operations manager and she's incredible.
Speaker 1:My business partner, omar Kiki, which you've met You've met him before and he's an amazing guy. And, of course, we have a new girl that's going to be joining us soon. She hasn't signed yet, so I don't want to say anything, but she's a spitfire. She's like going to do amazingly well. Like you know, we talked last night. She said I'm coming and I was like okay, great day, you know, um, that's good. Yeah, you just want to service everybody you can and all walks of life right, so that's what.
Speaker 3:So our approach is always put the client first yeah, no, that's that's good and you and knowing you a little bit like I do, that that's who you are as a person. Right, that makes a big difference thank, thank you, I really appreciate that.
Speaker 3:Well, when you can translate that to your business, it really gives you an edge because you're not pretending Right, and that's huge for you and Omar actually, and again to know Omar as well. So so, how did you get into this, I tell? Tell us about your journey. How, why are you selling real estate not on the island but in Ottawa, ontario?
Speaker 1:Okay, so I bought my first house.
Speaker 1:I was 17 years old. You were allowed to own a house that many years ago. You were allowed to own a house at 17. So I was almost 18. So I'm not sure if it was on my 18th birthday. We registered it.
Speaker 1:I can't remember all the details, but I got out of high school, I graduated at 17, my birthday's in January and started working at Cavendish Farms making fries and potato patties and all that fun stuff, and I said real estate is the way to go. I see people that have real estate accumulate wealth and then they can help their families and friends and different people. And so I bought my first house at 17. It was investment property. I rented it out for three years before I sold it. I left Cavendish Farms and I went back to university because I was like, no, I'm not going to work here forever.
Speaker 1:So after three years of making fries, I went back to school, accounting, and then I worked a couple of jobs in the meantime, you know before. And then I got hired by CRA and that was when I was 26. And I was looking at real estate at that time in my life and CRA gave me security when I was raising my children, so it was, you know, around 29 years old. I went and talked to a realtor and he said you really kind of have to immerse yourself full time. But you know it's commission based income, right, and I really didn't know if I'd be good or not. So of course I took a step back and I stayed with CRA.
Speaker 1:But when my youngest son went out the door to go to university and I sat there in my house one day and I said I think I'm going to move and I'm going to start real estate. I lived in Ottawa for five years with CRA, so I know Ottawa a bit and I know that the market here is incredible and the people are friendly and Ottawa is a little bit more protected than some of the other areas in Canada because of the government it's in a bubble. So it's nice that it has that protection layer, you know. So I came totawa and I got my license almost eight years ago now and I've been driving it ever since that's right.
Speaker 3:But you, but you do return to the island a lot. Yes, I have you still family there yeah, I have three sons.
Speaker 1:They're all grown up now, so I have a 30. So I have a 30 year old, I have a 28 year old and actually my son Alex's birthday is today and he's 27. So it's exciting.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's great and you're a granddad. I have a grandson. He just turned seven months old on the 28th, and that is one of the best feelings you have no idea. And so I talked to him on FaceTime and you know I know I'm just a TV in front of him, but it was so funny. Last week he has the little his teething ring in his mouth and I said give pop a bite Boop. It was hilarious, he actually tried.
Speaker 3:In fairness, you are there like you see him right. And you go there and visit.
Speaker 1:So that's awesome, that commitment, so tell us about after eight years now in Ottawa, like, yeah, there's a bit of a bubble here, which is nice, we all love that, but tell us about any, especially during campaign time. You will never own a house in Canada. If you're a young person today, you will never own a house. Do you realize that buying a house today is no different than it was 30 years ago? People say oh, yeah, but the salaries and the price of homes, okay, in the 80s the minimum wage when I started out of school was $3.25. The average price of a house was $90,000. So you multiply all of this by, you know, astronomical? Yes, of course it's, you know. So you're paying a bigger portion, but it's because your salaries are bigger portions.
Speaker 1:And, yes, the economy sucks. We all know that, like we. You know, since COVID took over it's been really hard for people. You know there's a lot of people that are suffering from it, but it's nice to see that. You know there are programs in place for first home, first time home buyers. So there's the rsp program, there's the, the, the savings program that they've just opened up for them. There's a lot of different avenues and I'm helping new buyers, first time buyers, every day to find home, and so that's one misconception.
Speaker 1:Another misconception right now is um trump's tariffs. Everybody's like her economy's going to, we're going to, we're going to. What happened the last time the economy went crazy during covet? What happened to interest rates? Yeah, they dropped. We have to drop interest rates in order to stimulate the economy, and when we do that, then housing becomes more affordable for more people absolutely so. That's when to lock in, get yourself, build, build equity, build wealth through real estate, and we're helping people do that every day and we're going through these myths and we're really seeing, above and beyond, what they can do, and we're looking at the long-term goal, which is to retire happy. Let's get real. We all want to retire happy. If I can help young people get on the right track today, or even people that are nervous and, you know, newcomers to Canada, that's an amazing feeling. Like I said, we put them first, and it's when you love what you do, you don't work.
Speaker 3:It doesn't feel like work, yeah, yeah. Well, I was going to say like just being able to help young people and encourage them and say, hey, there's still a way to do all these things. Like as one of the reasons I love doing this podcast, I want our youth, our leaders of tomorrow, to see that it's possible to be an agent and run your business. It's possible to own a franchise. It's possible to start your business here in Canada today or when you're 20 or 19. Actually, I spoke to a gentleman yesterday. He started his business at 17, and now he's 28. He's still going, you know, yeah, and so I love what you're doing and I love that you're I know that you're so passionate about it, but being able to find those young people and point them in the right direction and give them a little bit of advice long-term, yeah, and one of the main things that I find, too, is just try.
Speaker 1:You know what. You might fail, but you fail forward. You never fail back, you always fail forward. Do you think that Steve Jobs, who was one of the richest men at the time that he passed away with Apple? He talked about his failures and if he didn't fail forward, he never would have been the great CEO that he was? Absolutely, you know. So that's what it's all about is taking risks, taking chances to get you to the life that you want to live, and I believe that wholeheartedly. And if you want to live in a new house, hey, I'm here to help you.
Speaker 3:Yes, that's good. Well, and you did that. I mean, you had a CRA job Like that was. Hey, I've got my pension.
Speaker 1:I can get a pension in six years. I would have had a full pension. Yeah, and I just took a leap, yeah.
Speaker 3:Just kidding. Yeah, good for you, good for you. So when you're not, you know I know you go, go, go, which is awesome, but when you're not doing that, what are you doing for fun?
Speaker 1:Music is a big part of my life, as you know. I like to sing for seniors because when I get to be that age, I would like to have somebody come in and care enough to volunteer their time the way I do and to help them. I help with fundraising, I work with the food drive. I'm always trying to give back to the community as much as I can. You know, just enjoying family time, traveling to PEI, doing things that I really love to do, because, honestly, I don't feel like I work a day in a year like because I love so much what I do. And, yes, it's stressful and there's times that it can be. You know, you're waiting on that final financing, you're waiting on that inspection thing to pass your, you know, but it's amazing. Life is, life is exactly that. It can be amazing and that's what I choose to make it.
Speaker 3:Absolutely so you've. You've gone on quite the journey to be here right, and so, as you look back, I know that you can. So tell me, tell me a hardship or something that was just a shock and you had to pivot and you've learned through and now you're better for it. Well, back.
Speaker 1:It's four years ago now. In January well, december actually I was diagnosed with kidney cancer. I just started my real estate career two and a half years before and all of a sudden now I'm like you know, or three and a half years before, and I'm like, oh my God, like you know, this could, like you know, it's a matter of life and death.
Speaker 1:But you know what I made up my mind at that point I know I'm going to sound like one of those fricking hokey pokey people and whatnot, but I said, if this is the end, this is the end, I need to accept it. I need to be grateful for everything I have. I came through it with flying colors, which was amazing. They they told me my kidney was the size of a football. It's the tumor on it. But do you know what kept me going? During the whole thing I had clients and people tell me I'm crazy and they were looking for homes and they had specific homes in mind and I said I need to help them. I still got to get out there and do it. Two and a half weeks after my surgery, I'm out door knocking to find homes for the people that need them. And I was like, okay, get up the steps. But I did it. And you know what, when you persevere like that, like life's a blessing.
Speaker 3:Yeah, good for you, but what a perspective, right, thank you. I mean, we all have been touched by somebody who's struggled through cancer or has it now or has gone through it. But to be able to take that, that's a devastating blow and that could derail you, but it didn't. No, you know, and that's like I honor you for that, because you give back so much and that's how we met and I love that you do that and it's if you embody that and that is that's just so great, so great for, for, for our community. Well, thank you, I really appreciate that. Yeah, absolutely so. What's the one thing you wish our listeners knew about you and New Door?
Speaker 1:How hard we work for our clients. People like people don't know me, they know you know. They see a sign of somebody that's out there just promoting themselves as a sign, so they think, okay, that's a face I'm familiar with. We believe in the building the relationship. It's not about a transaction, it's about a relationship and I think if people knew how we are with our clients, it would like you know.
Speaker 1:That's the one thing that I can pass forward is call us, you know like, we'll meet you, we'll talk to you, we'll have a coffee. Even if you're not looking to sell for 10 years, I don't care. It's about building relationships every day because that strengthens who we are as people and it strengthens the community and it brings you know, it melds people together rather than pulling them apart, because this time in life there's so much being done in the world to create divide and to me, if I can bring people together, even we can differ on opinions. We're allowed to differ on opinions, but if we share a common goal of helping people and being there for people, and that's that's what New Door is all about. I'm sorry.
Speaker 3:I kind of rambled a bit, but you know I'm passionate about what I do. Yeah, absolutely, and it shows and that's one reason I love working with you and being with you and and getting the word out. So, who, how can people find you? What's your number?
Speaker 1:613-263-0444. You can find it under Bernie Coughlin and that is spelled C-O-U-G-H-L-I-N. So if you forget and you think C-O-F no Lynn and New Door Real Estate team as well. Check us out on Google. Look us up on Facebook and Instagram. You'll see. We market so different than anybody else. We have fun marketing Like God. We've dressed in drag before and sang songs. We create music. I'll pull the music from a song and we'll create lyrics based on that home so that we get views and views and views, which is amazing.
Speaker 3:I love that approach and I've seen those videos.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we've got upwards of 50,000 views on some of those. So if you can get more exposure for your house, what's that going to do for your bottom line?
Speaker 3:Absolutely, absolutely. Well, listen, I know you're busy leading a successful team and in your personal life. I really appreciate your time today, thank you, so much for having me, and I feel like we need to continue this conversation another time.
Speaker 2:So let's stay in touch and we'll talk.
Speaker 3:Take care, brother. Okay, great, talk to you soon.
Speaker 2:Thanks for listening to the Batten House Podcast. To nominate a favorite local business to be featured on the show, go to battenhousepodcastca. That's battenhousepodcastca. That's battenhousepodcastca.
