Spring has Sprung at Vantage West

The trees are budding and the flowers are blooming. Spring has come to the Okanagan.

Vantage West is in bloom too. After a successful 2008 in what was described as a "tough market", our small but expanding company has continued it’s torrid pace, expanding both our sales and our staff.

Thriving with a small office of eight licensees in an industry that boasts over 800 on the Okanagan Mainline Realty Board, Vantage West took a substantial 14% of the market share last month. Our office has become a group of young and hungry agents, people proving themselves to be capable of working harder, faster and smarter than their competitors.

That’s under 1% of the people doing 14% of the work. Somehow, Vantage West became that smart kid in class that got put in with the group of slackers. Everyone knew he’d be doing more than his share, but in the end, he’s the one people want to hire.

The rising prominence of Vantage West in the valley has brought new buyers, new sellers, and with them, new work. To maintain diligence in keeping customer care our priority, we wanted to take further measures to meet the growing demand, and that’s lead to one thing: new staff.
We were excited to have the opportunity to bring aboard three new employees, Veronica Campbell, formerly of Coldwell banker, Lucas Jackson from Sarras Marketing in Calgary, and Justin Bourne from Creative Fire.

When you have the opportunity to hire young talent, you take it – just ask the Canucks. Veronica Campbell has two years of productive service under her belt, so when the opportunity to lure her to Vantage West came about, we did our best, and sure enough she made a smooth transition to joining the our team.

Veronica is ready to help us meet the demands of our clients. She knows Kelowna inside and out, is well connected in town, and is willing to put in the hours needed to keep up with the hectic pace of the Kelowna market.

But there’s more: In a clever move for the future of the company, we managed to pick up Lucas Jackson to be a part of our marketing team. He’s a perfect fit for the feel of our office: ambitious, talented, and hell-bent on doing a good job.

Lastly, we brought in a copywriter who can bring life and color in capturing the unique traits of our clients properties. Justin Bourne, who plays hockey better than most writers and writes better than most hockey players, has built a following in The Hockey News, Max Hockey and his own personal blog, which has been recognized by the New York Times as must-read material. But above all, he is a product of the Okanagan who understands what makes every property special – and has the words to convey that to others.

So, with a long winter behind us here in the Okanagan, we turn our focus to spring. The sun is scrapping its way through the clouds to give us golf weather while the Canucks are in the thick of a playoff run full of promise.

How could you not be excited? We look forward to seeing you in Kelowna this summer!

Great Line I had to Post.

I recently came across this great line as I was getting my daily intake of real estate newsletters and books... This may be a little pointed but the point he is crystal clear. Enjoy!

A BUYERS MARKET SHOULD BE JUST THAT – A Buyers Market. It’s not a fence sitting, waiting, loitering, delaying, doddling, postponing, vacillating, hesitating, wavering, faltering, pussy footing, foot shuffling market. It’s a buyer’s market. By its very name it means buyers should be doing one thing and one thing only, Buying! So where are these buyers and why aren’t they buying.

So Lets go BUY.

Joel