Episode 74: The Working REALTOR®: Building Long-Term Community in a Short-Term Stay

REALTORS® are deeply connected to the communities they serve, which makes them especially valuable in helping others feel at home in a new community. Their deep local knowledge can help meet the needs of buyers with unique circumstances such as, professional athletes, military relocations, or those looking for short-term properties.

In this episode, Dame Linda Pinizzotto, Jesse Robertson, and Ali Worsfold share how they support niche clienteles with intricate considerations ranging from privacy, to timing, to international exchange rates. Learn how these REALTORS® navigate challenges, build trust, and help their clients feel at home, even if it’s just for a short while. 

Transcript

Jesse Robertson: From flash to bang, five to seven days to land on the ground and leave with an accepted offer, inspections done, all of that. 

Shaun Majumder: What? Yes, of course-- 

Ali Worsfold: Small towns, you know? I had my wild 20 years-- 

Shaun: Welcome to Rossland. Have you met the queen of Rossland? 

Ali: All hail-- 

Dame Linda Pinizzotto: Okay. 

Shaun: You know, being a host of REAL TIME, I've learned so much about all aspects of real estate, but today, we're going to talk about something very specific: niche markets in real estate. With those niche markets come very specific niche REALTORS®. Today on the show, we're going to be talking with Jesse Robertson, who deals specifically in the military world, and our amazing military having to relocate, how do they find houses? How do they find accommodations, and what kind of time frame do they have to deal with? Then we're going to be talking to Ali Worsfold, who works in the vacation rental/purchasing market out west in beautiful British Columbia. Then we're going to be talking to Dame Linda Pinizzotto. She is-- Yes, she is a dame. She has been knighted, and she works with athletes, and sometimes movie stars. 

You guys all represent very specific groups in the game of real estate. You guys are all dealing with and working with niche clients, and I want to talk about that today, because that's something that gets really down into the details, and I love it. Thank you so much for coming on today. Why don't we start by going around the table, if you will, and telling us what your niche is and how you got into it. Why don't we start by-- Well, first of all, I think we have to give the lead to Dame Linda, who actually, I found out, you have been knighted. I mean, I ain't going to mess with you. I ain't going to mess with you. 

Ali: She gets to go first all the time. 

Jesse: That's right. 

Shaun: Yes, everything-- 

Ali: All hail-- 

Shaun: Dame Linda. First of all, tell me about that. How did you get knighted? Like, that's amazing. 

Linda: In March of 2010, I felt that the Condominium Act, the provincial legislation was wrong, and it hadn't been updated since 1998. I made the decision to create the Condo Owners Association of Ontario, and I challenged the provincial government, the McGuinty government. It took two years for them to open up a review, I sat in all the stages of the review-- It is a nonprofit, I funded it from day one. By 2015/2016, I ended up finally getting our wish-- property management companies had to be licensed. I decided at three o'clock in the morning, I woke up, and my husband said to me, "What are you doing?" 

I said, "I'm going to start a nonprofit." 

He's like, "Go back to sleep." 

I said, "You know what? This is really important." 

I was government relations chair for eight years for the Real Estate Board, and vice president, and I got to go to Parliament Hill, Queen's Park, and so on. Anyway, as a result of all those initiatives, the military came along, the Order of St. George, and I was knighted as a Dame of the Order. 

Shaun: We are honored to have you at our table, Dame Linda. Tell me about your niche. You've done amazing things. You are now a part of the Jedi Council as well. Tell me about your niche and what you focus on right now in the Toronto market, and probably beyond, but let's start there. 

Linda: Well, my niche is pretty much diversified. I have actually entered every market you can imagine. I'm flexible, honestly. All of my business is referrals and people that I've met and worked with over the years. 

Shaun: You also are very specific with athletes, right? Working with athletes, bringing them into town, helping them find new places, and I'm sure you work with entertainment people as well. Tell me a bit about that market. 

Linda: Okay. This is a really weird, crazy story, how it came about. I used to be with Eleanor Fulchers when I was a teenager. I was into modeling, and then I added real estate into the picture when I was 19. Interestingly enough, in 2000, what happened was Eleanor Fulcher called me and asked me to go to IMTA, International Model, in order to perform, which was in Hollywood, and it was amazing. I actually won three out of six competitions, and when I came back, I got invited everywhere under the sun. And so this whole new life of the Downtown Core started to be coming into play, because I was-- You know, Kelvim Escobar, I met him at his birthday party, for instance. 

From there, it went to the different teams, and different developers, and whatnot, and then I was buying the condos. So, the market kind of switched from being this mom who had all her kids in hockey here in Mississauga, and of course AAA, high-level hockey and junior hockey, into being Linda-- Not Linda Pinizzotto, Linda the REALTOR®, you know? I had these multiple hats, and it was-- Yes, it's word of mouth, so once you get into the sports world, it pretty much continues. I got into the media world, they started knowing more about me, the COA pushed things even further. With the athletes, it's pretty exciting. A very close friend of mine, actually, Susan Stewart, she ended up-- she was in the Olympics. So, yes, it's kind of like you get a snowball, and it's a tiny little snowball. All of a sudden, it starts rolling and growing and growing. Next thing you know, you look back and you think, "Wow, how did that happen?" 

Shaun: Which teams do you work with now? 

Linda: That's the interesting part, because with the teams, we're locally. Most of the time, it's the Jays and the Leafs and the Raptors, but local, because they're looking for local accommodations. Believe it or not, I was involved with Wisconsin way back when, helping one of the-- because I know a lot of the scouts as well. But the level of things have changed. Like, they switch all around, if you know what I mean. Because in the sports world, you get your first round picks, and your second rounds, and thirds, and fourths. Like I said, there's a whole internal story on sports that a lot of people don't totally understand in the way it all manifests itself as far as the income levels, so depending on the income levels is the key. That's why the diversity of where they're going to stay and whether or not they have family-- do you see what I mean? Some athletes, believe it or not, get married very young. Other ones don't. 

But that opened another door, because what happened is when athletes left their system and came back home, they're not actively playing anymore, but they are in the world. Until they can get organized with permanent housing, they need short-term housing. 

Shaun: Right. That sounds amazing. You're dealing with multi-level, different incomes, different locations, all these different demographics. It sounds wild and complex, and I love that. We'll come back to that. Let's go on to Ali. Ali, you are not yet knighted, but you will one day. I'm very confident about this. 

Ali: I can't believe I have to follow that. 

Shaun: I know, right? 

Ali: I'm eight months in, okay? 

Shaun: So, you're fresh-- Like, you're fresh into the market. 

Ali: I just started, yes. 

Shaun: Amazing. Welcome. 

Ali: Thank you. 

Shaun: I'm not even a part of-- this is the only thing-- I bought houses, but I'm also now a podcast guy with you. So, tell me more. You're now in that market, but what is your specific niche in terms of the clients you deal with and the market you deal with? 

Ali: We're based out of a small brokerage in Rossland, British Columbia, so it's kind of in the southern interior of BC. We're right on the USA border, we're right on the border with Washington State, so for us, because we're also home to the fourth largest ski resort in Canada, as you can imagine, it's just-- businesses bustling up there right now, it's crazy. For me, the niche that I've fallen into is selling these vacation properties. Also, another thing that fell onto my plate when I started real estate is short-term rental property management. That was something that fell onto my plate basically as soon as I joined this brokerage. It was an opportunity that I couldn't pass up because, as you know, as a new REALTOR®, you're not really making money for a while. Like, it's a grind, and I have a son, and I have bills to pay, too. Also, not only just that, but it's just such good