By Sheldon Spackman

Local realtor named Century 21’s top listing agent in Canada

Mar 5, 2019 | 7:13 AM

A local realtor has learned he is Century 21’s number one listing agent in Canada, selling 320 units in 2018.

A few weeks ago, Gavin Heintz was called into the office for an important meeting by his broker, Patrick Galesloot, the owner of Century 21 Advantage in Red Deer.

“He didn’t tell me what it was for,” explains Heintz. “He said you need to be at the office and I said, ‘OK, sure, that sounds great’ and he told me I had to dress nice. So I show up to the office and when I get there, two of the executives from Century 21 Canada, they flew from Vancouver just to meet me and pass along the news that I finished number one in the nation.”

Heintz says it was exciting news after finishing number three in the nation the year before.

“I was on cloud nine,” admits Heintz. “You don’t do this job for the accolades but it was very nice to be appreciated. They do give you some statistics, each quarter they provide an update of where you stand, so I was number one at the midway point and then I fell back a little bit but they don’t tell you at the end of the year, they like to build some suspense.”

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Heintz says the accomplishment means a lot.

“It is a great honour,” he exclaims. “It certainly means a lot that the hard hours, the long hours that we do put in as a team that it is paid off and there’s some recognition amongst our peers really that we’ve gained and earned.”

However, Heintz acknowledges a lot of organization that’s needed in order to reach such a milestone.

“I’m a very organized person and our team works very hard together,” he explains. “Everyone is a little cog in the wheel, so I do my part, our support staff does their part and together we make it all work. My family is very important to me as well and they’re very supportive of me if I have to go deal with clients and offers. They’re very understanding of what we do and how we do it.”

According to Heintz, it’s important a realtor just be themselves.

“Drive, ambition, organization and commitment might be the biggest one,” adds Heintz. “You get what you put into this business and if you want something, you can achieve it. You just need to take the time and put in the effort.”

Heintz believes receiving the honour will have a positive impact moving forward.

“It will help us with our colleagues and potential referral partners as they may look upon that achievement as thinking, ‘Boy, you know what? We sure can send a buyer or a seller to Gavin and his team and they will get the job done’, knowing the amount of homes we’ve sold this past year.”

Heintz is also quick to point out the supportive nature of his colleagues in central Alberta.

“My fellow realtors in this community here, you can’t say enough good things about all of them,” beems Heintz. “I know we’re competing against each other but every agent in Red Deer and area, they’re wonderful people. I do think that we work well as a community and especially with one another, everyone works together to achieve their goals.”

Heintz describes the current real estate conditions in central Alberta as a ‘recovery market’.

“We were down from 2018 at the start of this year but we were up over the years previous to that, 2015, 16 and 17.” he explains. “Our market has shown signs of life here recently. We are still in the recovery stage though.”

With 320 units sold last year, Heintz says his goal in 2019 is to sell one home per day.

“I think realtors in smaller centres, we have a more affordably priced home, as opposed to larger centres like Vancouver or Toronto,” declares Heintz. “I believe it’s very difficult to buy a home in those larger centres, even an entry-level home can be unattainable sometimes. But we have more homes the general public can afford.”

Heintz concludes he’s happy to share the award with the entire team he works with.

“It’s not just me,” he explains. “It may be my name that receives the accolades but I’m a small cog in a much larger wheel that receives this award here.”