Linda Ing-Gilbert

Broker, RE/MAX Hallmark Realty Ltd., Brokerage

MY STORY

Growing up in the city, I enjoyed a short walk to school, anticipating the summer opening of public pools, ice skating on the rinks in winter, or tobogganing the hills in local parks. I had embodied the Canadian inventive ingenuity to entertain myself on a budget. Like the time, I flattened a penny into quarter-size by putting it on the streetcar tracks, and my bemused excitement when it worked in the arcade, as I watched the lights & sound start up on the pinball machine.

My hard-working parents emigrated from Taishanese speaking, Guangdong Province, China. As a socialist country, all land is subject to government ownership or collective ownership. In principle, municipal land is subject to government ownership and land outside cities is subject to collective ownership whereas Canada has private ownership. The dream for many Canadians is to achieve home ownership. Having been born, raised, playing, living, and loving Toronto, I have those same ambitions.

At the age of 11, I had my first experience earning my own money. After school, late Friday afternoon I was walking along Gerrard St. as I passed the beer store, a man just emerged carrying 2-cases of two-fours, heading to his car, he said to me, “Hey kid open my car for me my hands are full?” I was pretty street savvy, knowing I’m not supposed to talk to strangers, let alone strange men. I trailed behind him from a few feet away, as we got closer to his car, he turned his head back & said to me, “It’s the blue Oldsmobile Cutlass, push the button on the trunk.” I ran ahead pushed the button, trunk popped open, I jumped away from car, watched him place the cases into his car, he dug around in his pocket, handed me a fistful of change, said thanks and drove off. My initiative & entrepreneurial spirit was born, I would spend a couple of hours in the parking lot on the weekends, each 2-Hr shift would garner me $20-$30. I’d give half to my working-class family to contribute to the household. And I remember gushing with pride the first time I paid for my own food, the iconic Canadian staple, french fries with gravy, and still my go-to favourite.

After completing my post-secondary education, I climbed up through the ranks of the corporate investment banking world. On the flipside, my husband & I were on our 2nd house, interest rates were in the double digits. We thought we were in our forever home, but our mutual driveway neighbour wasn’t in our foreverness plans. After a brief and very stressful 8-month reno we sold, moved to our 3rd house, in doing so we realized our sweat equity, and paid out our mortgage. We were then in our late 30s and mortgage free. When one door closes another one opens, we just had to walk through and embrace it.

In 2005, I gave up my 6-figure corporate job, and jumped into commission sales. I’ve had the privilege of working with all facets of real estate from, Pre-Con purchases/Assignment sales, First-time Buyers/Move-up Sellers, Downsizers/Estate sales, as well as, Investing to Buy/Reno & Flip. What started as a creative outlet, in renovating houses, interior design, staging has parlayed into my dream job. I can empathetically walk in your shoes as I’ve done in my own experiences.

This ever-changing market with its policy changes have shifted the landscape. I’ve successfully guided and worked through the Highs of the 1st Quarter 2022 to the Lows of the Real Estate Crisis in 2008 and again in 2017. I’ve had the privilege in helping 600+ Canadians attain their home goal dreams. On the flipside I created my own family of 5 and built our real estate investment portfolio valued at $15M+. I would be humbled to help, and share in yours.

Did you know? Canada has one of the world’s highest rates of home ownership that increased during the economic boom of the mid 2000s. In 2008, of the 12.4 million households in Canada, more than 8.5 million, over two-thirds (68.4%) owned their home, the highest rate since 1971.

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