East Gardiner

To fall or not to fall? The East Gardiner Expressway has attracted much attention and debate. I've decided that this debate has created two segregations - people vs cars, congestion vs economic development. At the end of the day we need evaluate what exactly our city is built for. The highest and best use of that land could definitely be improved. The economic growth that Toronto could experience by tearing it down could exceed 500 million (conservatively)and it would remove the barrier Toronto has with the water front. In the link I included, it shows what Toronto would look like without the Gardiner Expressway, and the potential it could bring. Keeping a world-class city mind set, I agree that the Gardiner should fall. CityBuilders quote

With the right decision on the Gardiner East, these areas collectively have the potential to provide thousands of new ownership and rental residential units, extensive affordable housing, new cultural landmarks, parks, schools and a substantial number of jobs...

Any thoughts?

Inspirational Women in Real Estate

After a long day at school, I came home to find a realtor sitting at my kitchen table with my parents. I interrupted paper shuffling and details being discussed with an older gentlemen, probably late 50s (whose name I won't mention here) and quite effective and well known in the GTA for residential real estate. My mother bragging about me as usual, informed him that I recently took an interest in studying real estate at school. He went on to ask me where I intended to go with it, and I told him that I'd like to either start off in commercial real estate or a real estate analyst, to one day developing. His reaction was brute and blunt "Women don't succeed in real estate, especially commercial or corporate". Taken off guard, I politely excused myself from the kitchen. Gender equality is lagging in the real estate industry. The 'big boys club' mentality is still very alive and well in this industry where construction companies and developers are mainly male, real estate agents are predominately male and of course this gender inequality is exuberayting in this mans statement to a young ambitious student like myself. HOWEVER, I am attempting to bring some kind of positive outcome from this by shedding some light on three great Canadian female leaders who are kicking butt and changing the game in real estate!

Sherry Schluessel is a senior managing Partner at Procura Real Estate Services with over 26 years of real estate experience in Calgary.

Jane Gavan is the CEO of Dundee International REIT. She oversees investments in real estate outside of Canada. Mrs. Schluessel says, “As a woman, you have to value your skills. If you don’t exude confidence in yourself, it will be a bigger barrier than what others will place in front of you. Typically, when I am at an executive meeting or dealing with a municipal government, I am still the only woman in the room, and that can feel like I am scaling mountains, until I remember that my credentials got me to where I am, not my gender.” These are only a sample of the hundreds of ambitious women in Canada breaking grounds in real estate. Women may very well be under-represented in the top ranks, but it is what makes the field appealing to me- gives me much hope to change that. Let me know what you guys think, any opinions?

The Under-served Market of Business

I am always trying to redefine myself by making the right decision as a 2nd year business student in the heart of Toronto at Ryerson University. Last semester I decided to switch into a new Real Estate major opposed to my original plan- marketing (yawn).



My first attempt at a blog, I invite you to embark on this journey with me as I step into the real estate industry in this great city!