Anthea Poon | Stilhavn

I am Matt Parker, your host of the House Rich Homeowner podcast. Managing your home finances is hard. After many years in the mortgage industry, I've decided to combine my knowledge, resources and connections and turn them over to you. Each week, I'll be featuring different home finance experts or my own personal insight to help you achieve financial peace at home. Let's. Hey, Matt Parker here. So grateful to have you with us. Very, very excited to have Anthea Poon with me today. Anthea, thank you.

Thanks for having me. Looking forward to this.

Oh, yeah, you know, I'm looking forward to it as well. Anthea has been in the industry for over 15 years, buying and selling real estate for clients and focuses primarily on, primarily on Vancouver property, certain areas within Vancouver, South Granville, the West End and the west side and that sort of thing. We're going to get a lot of very good information today, so I'm very excited for that. Anthea, just a quick, fun question. I like to say, what is one thing not many people know about you?

One thing that not many people know about me, if you just met me on the street, is I'm really into sports and I really enjoy that. And somehow that's actually carried over into my career, which is pretty cool. So I grew up, grew up in Calgary. I played tennis in badminton as a child, and somehow I got really into the sport of badminton, which is a pretty unknown sport in Canada. And I was fortunate enough to play that until, I guess, from the age of 12 to 23, 24. And I got to travel a lot internationally, and I just, I would train a lot and I went to some really flexible schools, which was really cool. So I had a lot of flexibility. And then after I finished that, I thought, okay, that's it. I'm just gonna work, and that's no more. But it kind of crept up on me. After about five, 10 years, it's back in my life and I really, I feel so fortunate. I play badminton and tennis at the Vancouver Line Tennis and Badminton Club, and I love it. So I feel very fortunate to have that part of my life back.

Oh, very cool. I, you know, I grew up playing hockey. I played hockey my whole life, so it was more of a team atmosphere. I've always been, I've always been interested in individual sports like tennis and where it's just, it's all you and, you know, no one to fall back on. So it takes a special person.

I don't know. Team sports are really cool too, though, because it's a completely different dynamic and it Takes also very special people to be able to play on teams together. Like in the sports that I play in, you do have like partnerships where you have like a doubles, mixed doubles team, but not like a large team like that too. So that's really cool. I've never had that opportunity.

Yeah, wonderful. How did you, what drew you to real estate? How did you get started and sort of what, what made you want to do this for a career?

That's a good question. I guess I have a marketing background and so when I was competing in badminton, I was doing my studies as well, but I wasn't that focused on it. I didn't. I didn't really know what I wanted to do and I kind of stumbled my way through it, which was very lucky. And somehow I got a letter from the University of Calgary saying that I had exceeded the maximum number of credits allowable in the general studies program and please select a major. So I looked for the courses that I completed and I was two courses shy of the prereqs for a business degree. And I always knew that in my mind. And so I got my degree in marketing and I got out of university and my first job out of there. I was a cold caller for a husband and wife team of brokers who I'm still friends with to this day. And they were so amazing to me and they basically kind of said, look, this is going to be a hard job. It's going to be a great experience. You're going to do it for a year to a year and a half from there. If you want to continue in this industry, we'll guide you and if not, then go along your way. So I did it for a year and a half and it was really humbling and it was really tough, but it was also very rewarding. And then I ended up living in Toronto. I moved with my partner at the time and so I was working in Toronto with some two other marketing positions. So one I was an account coordinator and one I was an account manager. Then after that, kind of took a step back and ended up moving from Toronto to Vancouver and had some friends that were in real estate here. And then I decided I was going to give it a try. And it just sort of seemed like all of the, all of the jobs that I had leading up to it sort of came, was all encompassing. So I moved here and gave it a shot and now here we are.

Yeah, it's amazing to hear how everyone gets involved in the business. I know I grew up around mortgages, being that my father started a company in the early 90s. So I always say it was easy for me to understand and take that leap in, but I give a lot of credit to anyone that just found it and has success in it and is still doing it till today. Because I think that brings us to why do you love what you do? What has kept you in this profession and serving clients all these years?

I think it's a combination of things. Part of it is from that sports background and it's the drive. And I like the negotiation aspect of it. I find that very interesting. The other thing is I just, I've been able to meet a lot of really nice people along the way. And then when you do that, you start having some really, really interesting experiences. You, you know, you, you work hard for them, they're happy. And I think that's what keeps driving you. And obviously, you know, we all have to work in Vancouver, so if I had to pick a job.

Yeah, it's, you know, it's a, it's, it's a great place to be. We're so lucky. And you know what, if you weren't doing this, if you weren't in real estate, do you see yourself doing anything else? Maybe something to do with sports or anything along those lines?

Yeah, that's a good question. I think I would probably want to be in sports. Maybe like a. Maybe like on one of those shows where you like, you know, it's like the late night sports shows. I think I would be in something like that or I would do something completely different and I would be in like. I think I would be a hairdresser or something. So I know that I find a lot of things very interesting. So as we are in this Covid situation, I think that a lot of people are concerned about their haircuts.

That's true.

I've been giving, I've been giving some haircuts to friends. So it's been working well to fill my need for my side hustle.

That's funny, right? It's like it's an underlying concern for everybody that, you know, you just don't think of when you're presented with this.

This is it. The services people use. And then everyone, you know, everyone's kind of. All the ads I'm seeing on Instagram now are all about, like, services that now you would convert to at home, which is interesting too.

But that's super interesting now. I mean, we are in a unique time with COVID 19. And just as we're, as we're speaking, we're Coming into mid April, so still early on, still new to just sort of what impact this will have on the economy and the housing market. We've seen a lot of impact on interest rates over the last month or so. But in terms of your view or your outlook on everything, do you have any advice for anyone that is, was or is planning to either buy or sell a home, whether it's in the next couple months or within the year or so and how to navigate this or just what you're seeing in your daily situation?

Yeah, here's what I've just been telling all of my clients is, you know, the real estate market leading up to this from let's say January through until March, it was quite strong. There was a lot of demand in all different property types, different price ranges as well, and the demand was strong. I'm sure you saw it as well with the, with the mortgage applications. So what we run into right now is I think we're at a bit of a pause or we're a little bit on hold. And you know, just taking a step back, I think the numbers for B.C. in terms of cases, of cases of coronavirus in B.C. versus like Quebec and Ontario is significantly lower, which is great. I hope that means that we come out of this a little bit sooner. And I think that if anybody is planning on doing anything this year or has any intentions, now is the time to talk to your realtor and put together a post Covid plan. And whether that includes getting your pre approval, whether that includes figuring out what areas you're looking at, drive around the area, figure that out. Then you know, once, once we do come out of this, you're not going to be with, you know, set back with everybody else who's just kind of getting their footing. You're going to be ahead of the game.

Yeah, no, it's a great point because I always say to clients, let's be as, as prepared as we possibly can so we can act quickly and take advantage, not take advantage, but be ready to act when and if needed.

This is it. And I mean now, now more than ever we have time to look at our real estate. We're at home all day. Right. You can set aside some time, figure out what your game plan is. The other thing that I've been telling my clients is I think after this whole thing with COVID when we do come out of it, a lot of first time homebuyers are going to be not in the same position that they are, that they were leading up to it. So I think that's going to open the markup to sort of. It's going to open the markup market up to different segments in that price brackets. We're going to see more investors, we're going to see maybe some downsizers, some people doing some lateral moves, but we're going to see some shifting in the market. But even right now, even though I said we are on hold and we're kind of at a pause, we are still seeing competing offers. We're just not seeing as many. It's a lot more serious buyers and anyone that's just not sure has taken a step back, which is good because safer for everyone in the community. And you know, we're not. We're being very efficient in terms of how the market is running. So we are still seeing competing offers across the board. From detached homes to condos to townhomes.

Yeah. And I think, I mean people will always want or need to move regardless of what the external factors are. So I think that, you know, being classified as an essential service is very important. And I don't know what your thoughts are on this, but I've been thinking a lot on when we get through this, however long that takes, three, six, however many months to actually get through to a new normal. Do you have thoughts on my projection is there's potential that we could have a very low inventory, but then because we're not seeing as much new inventory over the coming months and then everyone will probably have cabin fever and be ready to buy or spend money again if they have it or if they have, you know, employment, all that kind of stuff still, which, which is probably very, very possible. Do you see a lot of activity in terms of it turning more into a seller's market because of low inventory and, and everyone ready to maybe get back into the market when, when things start to clear up?

Yeah, I think we're going to see something similar to. And I'm not forecasting anything, but I think we're going to see.

I know, I know.

Number 0809. In January of 2009, when we were just kind of at the tail end of the recession, you could buy a house on the east side for $550,000. I'm not saying that was the average price, but the fact that you could buy a home for $550,000 in January of 2009 was pretty insane. Anybody during that time who had their post recession plan in place had everything lined up. When it was time to pull the trigger, they were ready to. So those were the people that were getting the $550,000 deals. And I think what we're going to see right now is the same thing. Anyone who's ready will be able to move forward pretty quickly. But I think a lot of people are hesitating right now or somewhat apprehensive. Hold on. I'm just losing my thought here. I think people are going to try to wait out the market and try to time it so that when it's right, then they'll start to buy. But the thing about this bird mentality is everyone does that at the same time, so you're actually not gonna get what you're looking for. And we're gonna have, I would say, low inventory to start. I really think that we're gonna have a strong back half of the year. And so it is something for us to look forward to just kind of where we're at right now. So hopefully we have enough listings and there's the high demand, and everyone can kind of just get back into it.

I think that brings us back to that. Being prepared, planning, being organized and taking this time to be able to do that with a little bit more potentially free time or personal time available to organize and to think of what is the plan, what do we want to be and what do we want to achieve. Yeah, exactly. Wonderful. I mean, you've seen probably a lot of properties, a lot of transactions over a few years here. Is there one that stands out as the most memorable to you, whether a property or just a situation that you want to speak on?

Yeah, I have two, actually. Is that okay?

Yeah, of course.

So the one. Okay. They're both very memorable because the first one was my first house sale ever, and I just gotten into the industry. I just moved here. It was 2005, let's say, and I started working with somebody who was really, really kind to me, and they'd been in the industry for about 15 years. And so I called him and I said, can I buy some buyer leads off you? And he said, well, I'll tell you what, I'm actually looking for a partnership, and I want to free up some time. I'm going to show you the ropes, and, you know, we're going to work. I said, okay. So he showed me how to call on an expired listing. So this house on Nanaimo and East first, it's very busy corner, had been on the market for probably like six months. So me being the cold caller, I was the voice. So I call, and it's this old Italian man, and I don't even could barely even understand each other. And somehow he told me to come down to. On Commercial Drive. Do you know that sports bar where they play poker in the back?

Oh, okay. Yes.

I want you to come in the back room and we'll talk there. So during this poker game, I had to go in there, had this conversation with him, basically got the listing, signed up as the hardest house I ever had to sell, but the best experience ever. Remember my friends when I first got the sign up? Like, I saw the sign, it's so great. And I was ecstatic. Yeah, it is. It's fantastic. Right then the sign. For three months, I saw your sign. But then, you know, it was. It was. It's crazy. That house as well, at that time was $525,000. I can remember it. It sold for 525. And now it's gone into an assembly. And they've raved in probably two, three times that. So most memorable, the second one is I just moved into. I just bought my apartment eight years ago, and I threw a party and I had some. Had a housewarming party, and I guess my neighbor had also moved in the same week. So he was very nice, he was outgoing. We didn't even know each other. And he came and knocked on the door, and I put up signs in the building saying, come by anyone, like, feel free, drop by. So he said, well, I just saw your sign, so I'm dropping by. And I said, oh, great, come on in. And then we became friends. And he was a really, really nice man. And then it was just interesting because I've sort of gone from. He decided he wanted to sell his apartment and carry on his life plan, and he had it all planned out, and I've been beside him doing the purchases and sales to. The last one where he bought, he had this Coal harbor sub penthouse unit in this building called Cielo. And I remember when we. When I was helping him sell him into it, he loved it. He thought it was amazing. And then last year, it was the right time to let it go so that he can move on to his next property and retire there. So that's all happened. I think the whole progression is very memorable for me. And those are the kinds of clients that I really love.

And that's what keeps me in this business so organic. Right. Just from a normal conversation creates a relationship, which creates trust, which is lifelong friends and. And business partnership for the long term. That's so cool. Thank you for sharing.

Oh, my pleasure. What about you? Can I ask you that same question? What's the most memorable?

No one's ever come back. I've had quite a few memorable ones. That's a great. You know, anytime that. Well, my own. Anytime I've had to get my own mortgage, I realize how stressful and challenging it really is. So it puts me right back into the client's shoes. So those probably are actually the most memorable because I realized that, you know, it's. I do this every day, but it's not that easy to be on the other side of things. What I would say would be being able to help client facilitate financing to open businesses and to open and move on and get into sort of their career dreams or their family dreams. I mean, you know, transaction wise, we see a lot more. We don't get into the house with you, with them, as much as you're able to do. So. Yeah, we've definitely had a lot of very good experiences over the years. But thank you for catching me off guard there. That's a good one. I do talk to clients a lot about the plan and building wealth and creating wealth with real estate and leveraging lines of credit for other investment, that sort of thing. So that's sort of why I talk about being house rich instead of house poor. It's not about. It's not about, you know, how much can I pay? It's how much do I want to pay and how do I access funds out of the property to create comfort, create wealth going forward. When I say house rich or when you think of anything in terms of property rich or just in terms of Vancouver and our market, what do you think of when I say that term, house rich?

I think, I mean, it's really interesting that you asked this question right now because it puts this whole. This whole Covid crisis puts everything into perspective. It's definitely made me realize there's certain things that we don't need and there's. Especially living in Vancouver, I think what I see a lot is there's a lot of people that play house because it is Vancouver and you get. And it's probably everywhere as well. But you get into these relationships where you're playing house and you've got these big houses, and there's so much pressure. I think for me, house rich. The way I see it is, do you like your neighborhood? Does your house meet all of your needs? Are you comfortable in your house? Like, do you love coming home? Do you love spending time there? Doesn't matter what sizes, it doesn't matter what personally do you like? And I've come To realize that after moving here to the west end, that for me, I feel so fortunate to have Stanley park in my backyard. There's tennis courts. Same thing. There's tennis courts a block and a half away. Obviously, they're shut down right now. My apartment is just west of Denman, and so it's a really nice, quiet location. And I used to live near. In Yaletown, downtown Gastown. When I first moved here, I actually lived in a lot of the different neighborhoods because I wanted to get a feel for them. And I was really lucky to be able to do that, too. It was just very different. And I was obviously younger then. Once I moved to the west end, I normally move every four years. I've been here for eight. So I've come to realize that for me, house rich is not just what's inside the house, what are your surroundings, and, like, how happy are you to go home to that? Right. I don't know. How do you see house rich? Sorry to throw this back at you.

Yeah, well, I talk about when I talk to clients, it's where do I want to be? Where's our sort of where's my dream location? And then how do we. Then does that fit the budget? And it's not about what can I afford. I think. I think too many people focus on that. It's about what do I want to pay or what actually fits well with a professional budget so I can live life, have fun, and enjoy the things that I want to do. Because we're in a city that you want to get out and enjoy the things that you want to do and live your life and not. And not just work to work to live, I guess, which is sort of my sort of philosophy on it. So it's very much exactly what you said. It's not what can I get, it's what do I want and what am I comfortable with and where do I want to be and how can I live life to the fullest? By achieving that.

Yeah, I agree.

Wonderful. Well, Anthony, thank you so much again for joining me and sharing your wisdom and your experience. Where would be the best place to. For anyone that's looking to buy a home or thinking about selling their home going forward, where would be the best place to find you?

You can find me. Well, you can find me my office is at still haven, which is 36 East 5th Avenue. It's right just outside of Olympic village. So you can find me there. You can easily find me online. My phone number is there, and you can find me on Instagram. I have a lot of people that actually message me directly there and by email. So my website is pretty straightforward. It's my first and my last name, so it's Anthea Poon.com and you can, you can find me there and find all the information as well.

Wonderful. Well, thank you again. Grateful for your time. We'll be in touch and we'll talk to you very soon.

Thanks Matt. Thanks for taking the time today to talk. I had a really nice time and I really liked your questions.

Thank you. Thank.

You.

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