First meeting Vicky Huang, experiencing the innovative spirit of real estate in Financial Street
I first met Ms. Vicky Huang, the President of Financial Street, on the fifth floor of the Financial Street Building located at 8300 Woodbine Ave in Wanjin. Vicky walked over to greet me with a smile on her face and took me into her meticulously decorated office. Due to Vicky's frequent interviews with various media outlets, today's interview will adopt a more open and free spirited approach. Therefore, Vicky will begin to talk about how she embarked on the entrepreneurial path of financial street real estate:
Before starting a real estate company, Vicky was an investment manager at a famous investment bank on BAY STREET. She had always wanted to start her own business and finally left her familiar profession at the right time to become a real estate agent. When the opportunity was ripe, she founded BAY STREET Real Estate Group. From the origin of this name, it can be seen that Vicky is a person who knows how to be grateful, nostalgic, but also knows how to let go of the past.
Financial Street Real Estate was established in 2016. By April 2017, the first anniversary of the establishment of Financial Street, 150 brokers had joined. By the second year, the number had increased to 300 brokers, and by the third year, the company had already had 600 practicing brokers. The growth rate of brokers every year is basically double that of the previous year, which is also a considerable miracle in newly established Chinese brokerage companies. Three years later, Vicky chose to temporarily halt the development of the company and slow down the pace of recruitment in order to keep up with various functional departments. Therefore, in the following years, she focused on improving the internal system of the company, including attracting outstanding talents, improving training plans, and introducing new technologies to help franchisees provide additional services to clients.
In recent years, although the company no longer prioritizes recruiting more people, the number of employees has steadily increased. In 2022, Vicky chose to help her agents start their own real estate company, but the hard cost for an agent is relatively high. Vicky, who cherishes her talents, turned the Financial Street Group into an incubator for entrepreneurs. She helped brokers who wanted to start their own real estate companies as a reliable backend. Therefore, in 2022, Vicky started several companies and entrusted them to brokers who wanted to start their own businesses. And treat these companies as sister companies at the same level as herself, rather than as chain subsidiaries. Specifically, Vicky allows her agents to establish their own branded real estate companies, rather than subsidiaries named "Bay Sreet".
Looking back at the market before and after the pandemic and after interest rate hikes, Vicky described it as a 'roller coaster'. The real estate market before 2019 was still very easy to operate, and many brokers felt that they had caught up with this wave of low interest dividend period, and their business was doing smoothly. The lockdown during the epidemic has had a significant negative impact on the buying and selling of houses. The more significant interest rate cuts after the epidemic have stimulated the real estate industry, which has led to another roller coaster ride in the second half of 2021, soaring to the peak like a rocket. The continuous interest rate hikes in 2022, and the magnitude of the rate hikes, will be a difficult stage for the entire real estate market. At this point, buyers who invested in pre-sale properties in the past few years will find that the houses they invested in are not profitable at all. This period can indeed be called a cold winter in the real estate industry.
According to Vicky, in the market of 2024 this year, it will be a situation of a tiger's head and a snake's tail. In January and February, it was relatively good, but in March, there was no upward trend in the market from March to June as in previous years. The delay in implementing interest rate cuts also failed to restore customers' confidence in entering the real estate market. Vicky also pointed out that information is becoming increasingly transparent. A few years ago, the sold price of a house was not disclosed. Now, customers can easily search for it on real estate software, and in the future, the bidding price for each offer can be disclosed. This way, buyers and real estate agents see almost the same real estate information, which gradually weakens the role of agents in the transaction process.
When it comes to the future trend of Canadian real estate, Vicky believes that Canadian real estate prices will continue to operate in an upward trend, with some fluctuations in between. However, due to the existence of inflation, in the long run, real estate is still the best investment choice to resist inflation.
When it comes to managing numerous brokers, Vicky said that this is a pain point for various real estate companies, and there are still quite a few brokers who violate regulations. In the process of participating in real estate transactions, brokers may encounter some borderline issues and bring about many disputes, which can damage the economic interests of buyers or sellers. Real estate bureaus often protect the interests of clients and prevent them from being harmed by unscrupulous brokers. For financial street real estate companies, frequent training of various types is provided to franchise brokers, and the training manager will pass on some examples of illegal operations to the brokers one-on-one. Vicky pointed out that when the agent has not personally committed some mistakes, it will be difficult for them to listen, especially in the face of interests.
There are six training managers on Financial Street, and Vicky herself is also on duty. She will tell real estate agents that if they are complained about, the Ontario Real Estate Bureau Reco (which issues licenses to agents) and the Toronto Real Estate Bureau Treb (which provides transaction data and requires you to comply with its rules if you want to place a house on MLS) have increased their fines for non compliant agents in recent years. This is also to deter agents. Once you make a mistake, not only will your commission for this order be lost, but your fine may be higher than this order, and the fine may be tens of thousands.
At that time, illegal brokers will not only suffer economic losses, but also accumulate a professional stain on themselves. If the agent makes a serious mistake, it will be publicly available on the Reco website and you will be visible to others. And every time you make a mistake, it will give you a black mark. If you make another mistake, when it evaluates you, it will consider whether you have a previous criminal record, so this is quite serious. We can only provide such a social platform through the mode of class and asking them to ask questions, as well as the more interesting broker roast conference, so that brokers can learn something in a more relaxed environment, so as to make education enjoyable. Vicky pointed out that if a client provides false information during the buying and selling process, causing damage to the client's interests, the real estate company will try its best to coordinate and see how the matter can be resolved peacefully, acting as a lubricant to reconcile the conflicts between the two parties. If it is not feasible, it can only be done in a public manner, but the broker may face the dilemma of being fined heavily or losing their license.
When I asked our Chinese in the process of buying and selling, whether the commission rebate promised by the broker was recognized by the real estate bureau?
Vicky replied that Reco is allowed. I asked again, if the agent changes jobs, will the commission still go to the real estate company at the time of signing or to the new real estate company? Vicky replied that it was entered into the old real estate company at the time of signing the contract. When it comes to whether there will be a situation where a broker agrees to a commission but refuses to accept it in the face of profit, Vicky said that if there is paper evidence or WeChat call records, it is difficult for the broker not to execute it. Moreover, the brokerage industry is basically a reputation based business, and most clients are accumulated one by one. It is also not good to spread one's bad reputation for a small profit. It is important to maintain relationships because more than 80% of business comes from previous clients or referrals from previous clients, which is very important for the service industry.
Unconsciously, the one hour interview ended in a pleasant conversation. Vicky's courage to face difficulties and innovate left a deep impression on me. I hope that Financial Street Real Estate Group can gain more and more market share in Toronto's real estate market.
Easy Canadian journalist: Janet Wang