Gerry Thomasen, REALTOR®

Interests: Lots of time outdoors - hiking, finding history, camping, swimming, taking photos.
Personality: I'm outgoing and I relate well with people. My sense of humour is a bit "out there" but I take the business very seriously.
Character: Clients like my straightforward, ethical, honest approach. I align my interests with those of my clients, and I want to do a good job for them.
Family: Raised 4 boys with a great woman; 1 kid still home with us.

I spent my childhood in Port Coquitlam near Vancouver, but always felt a sense of HOME when I visited the Island. After high school when my friend moved to Nanaimo, I came to visit - we went to wild art school parties and beautiful seaside parks. I fell in love with Nanaimo and moved here - I've been here over 25 years and never looked back.

I got a degree in Liberal Arts at Malaspina/VIU, started a family with an island girl, built a Nanaimo information website to pay off my student loans, and spent 13 years helping to build a successful real estate web development company. It was inevitable that I would become licensed as an agent and start working with people looking for homes in Nanaimo. I love this city BIG TIME and I think it deserves the attention.

Do you think we'd work well together? Give me a call or use my contact form.

About 460 Realty, Inc

Real estate agents are regulated by the BC Financial Services Authority; we're required to work in connection with a brokerage, whose job is to oversee our work. But a brokerage does much more - they provide an office environment where agents can share information and develop their practice alongside other professionals.

While there are many good real estate brokerages in Nanaimo, I chose 460 Realty (back in 2017) for a few good reasons:

• Their scope is limited; Vancouver Island is only 460km long (hence the name)
• Picture an excessively flashy agent. We don't really have those in Nanaimo, but if we did, they wouldn't be at 460 Realty.
• The managing brokers at 460 Realty are always promoting best practices. That's probably true of nearly every brokerage, but I'm proud to say it's a big thing for the 460 principals.
• The founders and management have a very Island-ey sensibility when it comes to people and community. They think locally and they care about people. 

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NANAIMO AREA REAL ESTATE SERVICES

So what do I do? Well, I'm the classic residential real estate agent; I can list and market your property, helping you negotiate terms of a contract and other paperwork. For buyers, I'll give you direct MLS access, discuss geography and implications of all the property's physical and legal features, meet you on the ground to access the properties, discuss the market and handle everything involved with making offers and overseeing your takeover of the property after completion.

The technical name for my work is "agency services" - that means I am your fiduciary - someone trained in a particular matter who acts as an agent of your interests with confidentiality, obedience and competence. I'm legally required to put your interests ahead of mine! And that's fine with me, because it makes you happy and likely to recommend me.

I'm described as enthusiastic and honest, critical and approachable. I have high standards and will take your purchase or sale very seriously.

Buyers

My approach to helping buyers works like this:

1. We discuss your needs - I have a great top-down view of the Mid-Island area including Gulf Islands.
2. I create an MLS account for you. It lets you see more listing info than you'll find on any public website (even sale prices), and it sends you an email when there are new listings based on your needs.
3. You reply to those emails with questions about those properties, and I respond in detail.
4. We go and see properties, and if you want to make an offer on something, I help you with the negotiations and paperwork, but also (most importantly) setting up your offer with clauses for due diligence.
5. I help you through that diligence period (especially jumping through hoops for your lender/insurer), then I ensure you get the keys on time and that the terms of the contract were also followed by the seller.

You'll find that I'm very knowledgeable about the city - the "feel" and future of the neighbourhoods, and the locations of amenities.

When I visit a property with you as a buyer's agent, I am not "selling" the property to you. That's a common misunderstanding and it dates from when all real estate agents legally represented the seller. They had to sell it! My role during your showings is to do my own little inspection and point out material features that may affect you.

Want me to create a search for you? Use this form to email me and let me know your search parameters.

Sellers

It's all about getting the most eyes on your property, and knowing all the subtleties around disclosure, managing showings, and negotiating our way through the buyers' due diligence period until we have a firm, enforceable contract. Here are some details of my approach to listing property:

• Professional photography – I'm good with my iPhone, but a full-time professional with an SLR camera and editing software is far more likely to show your property in its very best light.
• Appropriate copy – I have a background in writing and I’m quite comfortable drafting a paragraph that emphasizes the saleable elements of your property. Many agents write a lot of "promo" fluff and there simply isn't room for it when a user is scrolling through properties. Get to the point! You only have a few seconds to showcase the property's standout features.
• I listen – When you show me around your property, you will tell me about all the things you loved when you bought it. I know that these will be the same things I need to focus on when I promote your property. If it worked before, it will work again!
• A Well-Calculated Price: Although I'll study the comparables and use my experience to come up with the right price for your place, I am not the kind of agent to try to "talk you down" to a price that works better for me than it does for you. I've seen a lot of "successful" agents whose practice is to use their persuasive skills to get the seller to list low, and then when it sells for more than asking price, the agent posts on social media, "Sold for asking price!" The pricing of your property is something I take very seriously. It's a lot of money.
• I'm Always on Hand - The current market requires agility because things happen very quickly. Agility requires availability. I don't take a listing if I don't have time to give it enough attention.
• My Relationship with Buyer's Agents - I maintain a respectable profile in the industry, acting with integrity and friendliness in all dealings with other professionals. There is value in this! It means that more agents will want to bring their buyers over to our place.

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Testimonials

Although I've overseen many real estate transactions and my clients have been quite happy overall with my services, I don't ask people to give reviews or testimonials. Many agents do that as part of their business checklist and as a result, they get dozens and dozens of insipid, forced reviews. My reviews were all given without me having to solicit them .

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Ethics Policy

As someone who helps people with very important transactions, a real estate agent must act according to strict ethical rules. They are morally required (also by federal and provincial laws) to act only in the best interests of their client. Here are four basic rules I must follow:

• Full disclosure: I'll tell you everything I know about a transaction and the people/properties involved, even if that will make my job harder.
• Confidentiality: I'll keep your secrets. That obligation remains even after our work is done.
• Avoid conflicts of interest: There are situations in real estate where an agent can find themself trapped between conflicting obligations. For example, what happens when my buyer client is interested in my seller client's property? The industry has tight rules about how to deal with such situations, and I abide by those rules. I have never "double-ended" a real estate transaction (partly because it was outlawed in 2018!).
• Loyalty: I will act in YOUR best interests, even when it conflicts with my own. (See above) This has been a fairly easy one to follow. I have a natural inclination to want the best for my clients; I get a good feeling when my client gets good pricing for their sale or purchase, for example.

I've been criticized for being too morally focused; a colleague once said "Gerry is the moral center of the universe". He did NOT mean it kindly - but he would have, if I had been working for him!

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