On this week’s episode of Broker’s Playbook, join real estate expert Danielle Demerino as she shares her 15+ years of experience and tells us what it takes to be successful in the downtown Toronto real estate market. From the strategies she used to crush 40-50 deals a year to how she became an advisor to over a thousand people, you won’t want to miss this inspiring conversation about what it takes to make your mark in this competitive industry. Tune in now to get all the answers from Danielle and tap into her 15 years of success in the real estate business.
Simeon Papailias: Hello once again to my brothers and sisters. Coast to coast Broker’s Playbook is back. I am Simeon Papailias and today I have the pleasure of welcoming Danielle Demerino, a force to be reckoned with in downtown Toronto’s real estate market. She’s been at it for just about 15 years, crushing 40 to 50 deals a year. Every year we’re going to get a little bit into her head, and she’s going to give us some insight on how she remains consistent, what does she value, and what is she doing to make her market a better place? Stay tuned. We’ll be right back. Welcome back and welcome to the show. This is Simeon, and I am welcoming Miss Danielle Demerino to the show. Welcome to Broker’s Playbook, girl.
Danielle Demerino: Thank you. Thanks for having me. Happy to be here.
Simeon Papailias: We’re happy to have you here. And I’m very excited about today as we were arranging for you to come on the pod. We’re talking about ideas of what to share, how to share it, what’s going to give the most value to to our listenership. And I think just sticking to what you’ve been doing for the last 15 years and giving that insight is far superior than us trying to speak about something that we may think is of interest. Right. I think what you do for a living is extremely. Important meaning you’ve become an advisor to over your career. Now almost maybe over a thousand people that made their biggest decisions along your side. So I really want to dive into kind of what drives you, how you got started. Sure. Your story. Yeah, because you’re in downtown Toronto. You’re you’re you’re a city girl through and through.
Danielle Demerino: I am a city girl. I didn’t grow up in the city. I mean, my a lot of my close family lived in North York, but I grew up in Pickering. But I grew up as a child. A father who owned a real estate brokerage, who became a builder later. And I was an only child. So all through my childhood, I was really used to being in the real estate realm. You know, I’m comfortable in on home or a new home sites at five years old walking around. And I think that when I got into the industry, I found it to be natural. I wasn’t intimidated by everything, although my parents didn’t give me leads or really give me any information on what was going to be like, I had confidence from them. So yeah, I moved downtown at 20 or 21 and went into advertising after university. That sucked. What did you study? I did communications in university, and then I did a post grad in advertising and marketing. So, you know, the culmination of my education, my experiences and my upbringing led me to be here and be successful at it. So I went into real estate at 24 after quitting advertising and being sick of bartending, and which I find a lot of people do. Yes, without.
Simeon Papailias: Bartending.
Danielle Demerino: Without the education.
Simeon Papailias: I bartended through my university years. It is what it is. It is.
Danielle Demerino: So, you know, I got sick of that, went into real estate early and I grinded like, I know there’s the whole work smarter, not harder adage out there, but like, you do need to work really hard in the beginning. And that’s a bullshit lie of anybody telling you you don’t.
Simeon Papailias: I still work much harder than I do smarter, and I can tell you the result isn’t going to smart itself into my life. Yeah, it’s going to be grinded into my life totally.
Danielle Demerino: You know, I bring up this story a lot with people, but like, I had two kids back to back during Covid and I went into labor, and then I went to work 30 minutes later because there was work to be done. And I knew I had like a seven hour period here. And then I had my child in the next day, I started working again. And I’m not saying that that’s the thing that everybody should be doing, but I knew there was opportunities I wasn’t missing out on. So back to how this all came to be. I started in 2009, right when the market sucked, and I didn’t know that it sucked. Like the market sucks like today for new people. It sucked for me, but I had no clue that that was hard.
Simeon Papailias: I started in zero seven, so we got into real estate at the worst time in real estate history in a century. Totally.
Danielle Demerino: So I didn’t know any better. I was like, okay, I just got to put my time in. And, you know, I hustled. I hustled rentals for years, I hustled rentals. Anybody who’s new and tells me I want to get into the luxury space right away, I end the conversation.
Simeon Papailias: So do I, girl. Like, so do I.
Danielle Demerino: I don’t even actually like the luxury.
Simeon Papailias: It doesn’t matter. It’s just funny.
Danielle Demerino: It is. So I didn’t try and be something I wasn’t. I came out of the gate authentically and I’ve stayed authentic. I think that’s a big thing that people are forgetting. They’re trying to be the real estate agent. Like, stop being the real estate agent. You know, you know your market tailor to them, but be them as well.
Simeon Papailias: Or if you be yourself, you’re actually going to attract the people who resonate with you.
Danielle Demerino: Yeah, yeah. Like, you know, if someone’s offended by the fact that I wore these designer sneakers to a showing, probably not the right demographic for me.
Simeon Papailias: No doubt. Right.
Danielle Demerino: Like you’re not cool enough for me.
Simeon Papailias: Funny, I was with one of my junior intermediate female agents yesterday. She’s bidding for. She’s trying to get a luxury condo listing. It’s in Yorkville. 5 million bucks. And she goes, would you be able to come with me to help me get the listing? Basically? I said, absolutely. The woman who I will not identify because she’s easily identifiable, she’s Latvian background. Clearly was a model in her previous life. She comes and she’s dressed like a model. She looks like a Russian model. And labels top to bottom. Perfect. Perfect. In this case by luck that the client resonated with that. So we do the listing song and dance. Everything is going well. We’re going to pitch all the things. This was the first, very first meeting, so there’s no happy ending here. Like we’re still working on it, but we go down to debrief now. And the debriefing, it’s exactly what you said because you said if somebody has an issue with me wearing these shoes, clearly we’re going to have different ideologies. Like we look at life differently. We do. So she goes. I asked her, I was like, what did you think of the way I pitched and the way I acted from when we first met him to how we finished. When we first met him, I was quiet. Making sure to give him space for him to show his cards, how he wants to be spoken to, how he walks. But that’s 17 years of experience. Like I don’t come in, are you? Wait. Relax. It’ll all cool. There’s time.
Danielle Demerino: Bigger the client, the more cool you have to be. Just, just just.
Simeon Papailias: Be cool, man. Like just stay. The client will show you, like they. They give clues as to how they want to be spoken to. Yes. So I said, what I did here is a classic case. It’s almost like an intake. Just let time and minutes. Sometimes awkward silence does the best work for you because somebody has to speak. And if all I’m doing is paying attention to his condo, taking care of paying attention to what matters to him, he’s going to think he needs to speak. And he will. He will, and he’ll tell me what to say next. Yeah. So she goes, okay. I was like, fantastic. So I’m just teaching her the mechanics of a proper showing.
Danielle Demerino: Great for a younger agent because she doesn’t know what to say yet.
Simeon Papailias: I’m bringing it full circle, but. And she says to me, well, what criticism do you have for me? Or do you do you have something to contribute? I said yes. I said you came here. You look amazing. This has nothing to do with the way you look. 98 out of 100 people on this earth would love to look this way, I said, but you look frozen cold. You look like you jumped out of a magazine. 98% of people don’t know what to say to you. True men and women.
Danielle Demerino: Unapproachable.
Simeon Papailias: It’s too much. Yeah, and that might be a lot to digest. And there’s many men who do the same thing. They get into real estate, they buy a $3,000 suit and think it’s. You’ve just made an error. Because if you’re coming to see me, you’re going to get laughed out the door because there’s no substance behind it. Yeah.
Danielle Demerino: Tom story. And I make that joke all the time. Tom started. He he was so young in the office and he always wore a suit. He always wore a suit. Like three years in, he ditched the suit. He always wears a t shirt and sneakers and sneakers. That’s him.
Simeon Papailias: In. How successful is that, man? Because you see him and you want to hug him. He has that face. That feel of approachable, real. He’s real and good. He also looks good. Always. So. To that because we’re speaking specifically to women in real estate, and women can always be misunderstood right off the bat specifically to clothing. From both men and women. Women hating on them. Men acting a fool for the wrong reasons, and all the different things that go with it. But women real estate agents do have a tougher time in business as a result of clothing and appearance, for sure. And my advice to this brand new, gorgeous human being is you have to really consider how you want to be viewed and be very, very conscious of the effect that that may have on any given transaction and deal. Yeah, yeah. What do you think of that? I think of the judgment of appearance.
Danielle Demerino: I think that TV has created this false image selling sunset. Yeah. What real estate agents look like and how they act like on any given day, I have paint under my fingernails from going to a site or picking something off of the floor or whatever. Like, I’m just. If I’m in front of you doing this. Yeah, I’m going to be polished. But, you know, in the off time I’m not. And people think that that’s how they have you’re supposed to look. And a lot of these girls come from industries like the bar world and the restaurant world where, like, their looks got them far. And sure, it’s going to get them a certain type of client. You’re going to get the kind of like, sleaze baggy, single dude who wants to work with you because maybe they can sleep with you, or at least look at you, but don’t want that client. Sure, I want the successful older guy. I don’t think.
Simeon Papailias: Anybody wants that client.
Danielle Demerino: But those girls will take those clients in the beginning. They’ll be like, I have somebody, I have it. I’ve had a guy who a long time ago, doing showings in the car at the end of the showings, says something, and I was like, oh, well, my boyfriend, blah, blah, blah. He said, you have a boyfriend? And then please drop me off. What? Can you. This was a date for three hours.
Simeon Papailias: Can you imagine?
Danielle Demerino: Okay, bye. You know, but I’ve had guys who. And I’ll never do this again. This is for younger agents too. Never meet somebody at a property. Never meet a guy, a lead at a property by yourself. They come to your office first and meet you, and then you go out with them there because I’ve been on a 32nd floor of a condo where I met somebody there, and the guy was a total creep and was coming on to me, and I was like, I got to get myself out of this situation, sweet Jesus.
Simeon Papailias: So.
Danielle Demerino: Right. But it happens so often, you know, you just don’t talk about it. So don’t put yourself in that situation. Tell somebody where you’re going, have them meet the office, vet them before you go do that, because they’re still creeps. We’ve come a long way. Men have come a long way, but there are still opportunities for them to be that way.
Simeon Papailias: Well, you’re going to change the whole trajectory of this, of this. We’re not going to hate.
Danielle Demerino: On men in this podcast.
Simeon Papailias: Oh, no, no, no. But if this is happening and we just don’t talk about it, we don’t.
Danielle Demerino: Talk about it, well, why.
Simeon Papailias: Don’t we talk about it a little bit?
Danielle Demerino: Sure. I have another experience. Yesterday I got off the phone with an agent and she’s she’s yesterday. Yesterday she’s trying to she’s she’s trying to get a listing. The woman says to her, listen, my husband and I are getting divorced. He’s kind of an asshole. He just wants you to be pretty and you’re smarter than him, so act stupider than him when you come to the listing presentation, because that’s what’s going to appeal to him. Look hot because he’s been cheating on me with a bunch of pretty girls. You’re pretty. Look hot. Act a little bit dumb. This deal is yours. What do you do? She’s like, I don’t know yet. And she’s like, because I got the wife and nothing’s going to happen. But do I want to degrade myself to get this listing just because I want a sweet guy? Sweet happens because what’s the saying? Men are visual and women are audible. So that’s why men lie and women wear makeup.
Simeon Papailias: I have found myself in unchartered territory and I like it. Yeah, I like it a lot.
Danielle Demerino: It’s okay to be biologically a certain way.
Simeon Papailias: So why men lie?
Danielle Demerino: Why men lie and women wear makeup. Which is essentially a lie, too, right?
Simeon Papailias: Yeah.
Danielle Demerino: Yeah, yeah. We’re both lying.
Simeon Papailias: Yeah.
Danielle Demerino: You just.
Simeon Papailias: It’s so good.
Danielle Demerino: To see the lion. I want to hear it.
Simeon Papailias: It’s so good. It’s good.
Danielle Demerino: I think about it a lot.
Simeon Papailias: Like that breaks so many things down to such. Yeah.
Danielle Demerino: Wow, I do that. There’s. I had a client who, you know, he was a bro.
Simeon Papailias: How is this saying that what you just said? How have I not heard that before? I don’t know, is this a common. Have you heard this many times? No, I think.
Danielle Demerino: Probably someone said it in passing and I adopted it, but I like. No keep it.
Simeon Papailias: Oh my God, you can use it. It’s the biggest truth.
Danielle Demerino: It’s the biggest truth. Yeah. Even even my husband, you know, like I think, oh, we’re married. He’s we’re so happy. We love each other. I’m like, I still got to look good for this guy. He’s a visual guy. I still got to do it. I still got to put it together.
Simeon Papailias: How many millions of mornings do I wake up to my wife saying, don’t even look at me. I’m not even ready. Like what?
Danielle Demerino: She’s right though. Like you just said, she’s a beautiful wife. She stays beautiful for you.
Simeon Papailias: Like, you know what we just did, right? Like, it’s all good. Like it doesn’t matter. I love you, girl.
Danielle Demerino: Still want to see it? Yeah. Yeah, and we sell out. Yeah. You got a little bit. We still want a little bit of it.
Simeon Papailias: That’s it’s. What a what a truth bomb. What a great. Let’s bring this straight into business. You get started, you start building your business, you’re doing rentals, you’re grinding, you’re meeting people. I know where you are today. Meaning you’re banging out 40, 50 deals a year consistently. Uh, ever since I started with the brokers that I met that you’re a part of, um, I have seen you do these numbers. Your growth always and forever. So tell me, for the whole audience, men and women. But even I think more women are going to resonate with you because you don’t have. This isn’t a magic wand story. This is hard work. This is hard beats meets strategy.
Danielle Demerino: Meet strategy. I don’t talk about it. I don’t believe that I’m smarter than anybody else. I don’t believe I have more advantages than anybody else. I’m the same as anybody watching this. My drive is high. Maybe that’s different, but you can find your why and your passion. And that was mine. My drive is to see as many women, whether they’re single or in, in relationships, build. Equity through real estate to create financial freedom for their future. That’s it. I want to know what your numbers are. I want to know what your trajectory is. I want to know how much you make at your job. And I’m going to create a wealth management plan using real estate to make sure you have a nice life. And so I find these women and they love that plan. Women love plans. And then they go, wow, this is really cool. And then I get referred on not just because I sold them a pretty place, but because, like, I had a strategy for their life.
Simeon Papailias: And you made them a quarter million dollars in the last five years. I did.
Danielle Demerino: And I also have a big construction background, and I love construction. And I can walk into a condo or a house and I can price things out and I will I will see your project if I need to. I will get you all your contacts. And I think the added value from whatever your added value is, is necessary in today’s market when there’s how many thousands of agents going, I’m good, I’m good, I’m good. What is your good? Find your good.
Simeon Papailias: Well, a few weeks back I actually had Phil Soper on the show and Phil talked about how today’s agent needs to have an increased knowledge in both financial instruments, financial news and current affairs trends and mega trends to be able to offer a value proposition to an increasingly intelligent population and audience, of course, to a savvier audience, to an audience that’s paying more for the same real estate than ever before. Yes, of.
Danielle Demerino: Course.
Simeon Papailias: With that said, you dropped a couple of bombs and I want to go back to I love Construction is what you said. I walk in and I can price things. To all the men and women out there saying, well, there’s the secret. So she knows construction. I don’t know my head from my ass and construction learn it are. So it’s something you can learn very easily. How does one go about it?
Danielle Demerino: I think you can take courses at Home Depot in the morning that teach you this. You can get the Mike Holmes Handbook. You can actually call trades and say, hey, how much does it cost per square foot to install hardwood flooring right now? What’s an average plumber cost per hour. What’s this going to like? I mean, do a project alongside somebody. If you’ve got somebody on your your team or in your office that’s helping somebody with a construction project, ask to help. Ask to shadow for free. Learn.
Simeon Papailias: Danielle. For me, these are rhetorical questions because I exclusively do commercial and investment focused real estate. So when you talk about a wealth plan, we we proprietary in our team, the Canada team, we call it the real estate Action Plan. And this is what we’ve been doing for 15 years, relentlessly educating and putting value first into the marketplace. And then of course, when you give, the more you give all of a sudden things start coming back. So am I shocked or surprised that you’re getting referrals out the ying yang? No, because you can look at your client in the eye and say, remember the property I sold you five years ago, Mr. and Mrs. Client? That’s worth $300,000 more today. Yes. Today, in this market that has taken all the hits, it’s still worth x, y, z. Yeah. And it’s because you took the action you listened to. Good advice. You did what you did, and now you’re going to do it again.
Danielle Demerino: Yeah. And I mean, even if the market isn’t working in your favor, if the numbers aren’t going up quick enough for you to show your client that they’ve made X amount of dollars in a certain amount of years just based on the market, you can do that through helping them, like I said, renovate or, you know, force appreciation. Yeah. Force appreciation. Why do we.
Simeon Papailias: Give a small lesson? Because you brought this up for anybody considering the vertical of investment real estate that you’re in that I’m in. Yeah. There’s a there’s a few different types of income associated to real estate, which is unique. When somebody buys real estate, the first way they win is by values over time going up and mortgage going down. Yes. The second one hopefully. Hopefully. Sure. With good advice. It’s 100% because you always go to market over time. Yes. The second is passive. So passive appreciation is the value going up. Active appreciation is what you’re referring to. Active or forced appreciation is when we add value to real estate through either renovation, rezoning, repurposing any of the Rees. Break that down as to how somebody can make how an agent can coach their client on winning in real estate. Sure. So active appreciation.
Danielle Demerino: Let’s take an example that I did on one of my own properties. I bought my first house, not my first condo, but my first house in Toronto in 2017, in the peak of the market. Okay, I didn’t care.
Simeon Papailias: I remember that April like it was yesterday. Yes, it was April. It was a painful April.
Danielle Demerino: It was a painful April. It doesn’t matter. I sold that house last year. I made a ton of money. And the reason is because I looked for a house that was on a laneway. That I could create parking in. I knew I couldn’t afford a house that actually had parking at that time, but I wanted to create parking. And the only way you were creating parking is if you found a house on a laneway and you cut in and I cut in and I created a parking spot. And so you.
Simeon Papailias: Researched something that was missing in the market.
Danielle Demerino: What’s what is this house missing? Yes. And then added that, you know, I noticed that things were becoming more expensive, rents were going higher and more multi rise was being demanded. I was like, you know, before basement apartments weren’t as common downtown. Like now it’s like everybody has one. Everybody needs the extra income. So I was like, oh can I, can I do it? Was there a walkout? Whatever. So I added value over that. And now I teach my clients how to do that. I say, is this property? Can we build a basement apartment? How much is that going to cost? And we add that up right away when we’re, we’re offering on a place or. Yeah, I don’t know. I guess I kind of forget what the question was, but I think.
Simeon Papailias: That it’s all the question was around active appreciation, forced appreciation, best methods of doing it, how another agent can coach their clients on doing.
Danielle Demerino: It. I think that first of all, you need to have a good working knowledge of construction and what construction costs are, and as soon as you have that under your belt, you’re going to feel a lot more confident walking through a house and saying to a client, hey, I know this isn’t the house that you wanted. Like it’s not everything that checks the box, but it’s like dramatically underpriced because of its appearance. So let’s get this for $150,000 less than you thought, and let’s add 100 to it. And then you’re going to make that 50 to 100 more on this, because I’ll show you what this property costs once it’s finished, because that property exists right now, let’s say as.
Simeon Papailias: Finished value.
Danielle Demerino: As finished value. Let’s go through that house right now. Oh you don’t want to pay one three. You’ve only got one one. No problem.
Simeon Papailias: So for those who don’t know, there is ways to, if not ways the way these deals are funded. And this is very important. The ARV, the after renovation value is probably one of the most key metrics in any real estate investment purchase. Yeah. So if if you’re adding value, if it’s a value add if it’s passive, it’s different. But in any active investing project, the the renovation or that projection, it’s called the ARV. It’s the after renovation value of said property. And when you buy it today. So when you’re coaching a client, you take them on showings and you’re going to show this new couple they’re first time homebuyers, but they want to live in Toronto. They make a $220,000 a year. They’re limited to here. The minute you add a $2,200 basement rental or a $3,800 main level rental, and they’re upstairs or they’re downstairs, you can actually create people’s wish lists by adding this value, by creating deals that otherwise wouldn’t exist for them. Yeah.
Danielle Demerino: And I mean, depending on how ambitious they are. And I’ve met some clients that are, we teach them about the method and like, you know, some some people take you up on it. I now I see that the ten year lifespan of with this client that’s done it now three times and you know, they’re forever grateful because they didn’t even know about this option before.
Simeon Papailias: So again, I want to unpack it because I would love to see nothing more than comments coming back that I googled when Danielle said the Bir method. And that’s buy, renovate, refinance and repeat. So it is probably the real estate investing strategy that is the most timeless. Classic, reliable, sometimes very boring, but it’s the most reliable, safest. Wealth creator. That we have ever known in our lives. Because I’m biased to real estate investing, I love it. I’m good at it too, and that’s happiness. So anybody who really cares to do something about changing their fortune, as if you’re a real estate agent and you’re not a real real estate investor. I personally do hold issue with that. If you’re going to counsel people on a big asset, you need to be looking at that asset the same way you’re coaching people to do it. If you’re not there yet is a different story.
Danielle Demerino: That’s okay. If you’re not there yet, then part of the journey, the people that are not there yet, that’s okay. I love it. You don’t have to. You know, you and I both have kids and you teach them right away. You don’t have to be good at this yet. You just have to start it.
Simeon Papailias: And you need reps and you need to talk it. You need to live it. You need to be passionate about it. What do you teach your clients? So I know you have a website. It has a lot of content on it. Tell me a little bit about how you go about leading with education.
Danielle Demerino: Sure, I mean, I lead. On the financial front, you know, just teaching them how to use money, how to get more of it, where to find it, you know, can you get it privately? How can we elevate you financially? I teach them on the construction end. You know, a lot of my blogs are just like, what is knob and tube wiring? Like, you need to know this in an old Toronto home. You know, and then obviously education on micro markets and and neighborhoods. And also a big focus of mine is living authentically. So I want these people to live in houses or neighborhoods that they identify with so that they can become the best versions of themselves so they can go out into the world and they can spread that positive authenticity with other people. Like, you know, I teach a lot about the real estate game at hand, but I’m also teaching them a lot about life at the same time. I don’t know if I’m qualified to do that, but it seems to.
Simeon Papailias: I think Danielle and the city is qualified to do anything.
Danielle Demerino: Thank you. You’re welcome. A lot of my if you look at my content on my my Instagram, it’s all education based. So like a lot of my videos that are just about to drop are like, what happens if you get divorced? What’s the appraisal gap? You know what? What are the differences in variable mortgages? Like kind of boring stuff made fun. Uh.
Simeon Papailias: But not knowing what an appraisal gap is is a significant problem.
Danielle Demerino: Right now.
Simeon Papailias: Right now to both consumers and to agents.
Danielle Demerino: Agents need to know what that is. If you want to know more of these little tidbits, you watch my Instagram. I’m covering a lot of them this year. I pump out like, you know, I’m pumping out like 50 videos this year about topics that we need to know about as industry leaders.
Simeon Papailias: So you feel content is obviously has served you and will continue to serve you. Um, how is your content evolving as a business woman and where you what do you plan on doing to spread even more awareness? How do you plan? What’s your growth plan from a content perspective?
Danielle Demerino: Know sometimes I don’t know if I can keep up with all the content. I’m like, am I going to still be pumping out videos in five years? Because like, we need to, because clearly the internet is just videos. Do I have it in me to keep going? So I think pacing myself is important. Obviously staying relevant with what’s going on in the market is important, but what I like to do too, is actually research things that other people aren’t talking about. It’s easy enough to regurgitate what you’re hearing in the media and from other agents. Everything. But like do your own research on what you’re passionate about. I recently started getting into climate change and migration patterns, and how that was going to affect the Toronto real estate market and like, watch out, like watch out the projections for 2050 and how many people need to migrate to this part of the world is insane. If you ever need any information on why this market is going up and why people from other countries should move here, that’s all you need is climate change. But no one’s talking about climate change. So what else are they talking about?
Simeon Papailias: I’ll tell you who I was talking about it yesterday. A good friend of mine said, taking a trip down to the Florida Keys.
Danielle Demerino: That’s where I have a house. Don’t sensitive topic.
Simeon Papailias: Other person in their room says good because you won’t be able to go in the next couple of years. Totally. And I was just like it’s gone.
Danielle Demerino: My we have a house in Naples where the there’s a conference there right now. We have a house in Naples. Insurance money went up.
Simeon Papailias: This is.
Danielle Demerino: Real. This is real. It’s going it’s going to be gone. Sell that within ten years because it’ll be underwater. And where are they going? People are going to the 49th parallel, okay? They’re coming here because of the Great Lakes and the cooling effect. People are coming here. You need to tell your clients why the value of real estate is here. It’s baked in already and it’s going up.
Simeon Papailias: So not only is our market, in your opinion, safe, you believe that it’s so I believe that Toronto real estate is as blue chip as it can possibly be. So do I. As a matter of fact, it’s blue chip. Blue chip with the powers of a startup because the world still does not understand the reason people are flocking here. You uncovered one of the least talked about ones, which is actual fact, and anybody can research it by simply googling it. But again, I have the privilege of hosting so many great guests on this show, and everybody leaves their little tidbits behind. I’m going to again, because it’s fresh in my mind and he’s one of the smartest humans I know. Phil, when he was here, we uncovered. We were making a comment on immigration. A million people. Some people say, stop exasperating the problem. Just stop immigration. Well, you can’t stop immigration, and it’s not because of what people think. The retirement rate. So the amount of tax paying people, retiring and not paying taxes and start collecting is far higher. The boomers, they’re either dying or retiring and our birth rate is a third. Living longer and they’re living longer. So we have a massive gap in the economy that needs to be filled by working professionals in this country.
Danielle Demerino: We have a pension problem.
Simeon Papailias: Precisely all tied together. So when people ask, why are we bringing in a million a year, you’re going to end up with empty cities, with decrepit infrastructure because nobody is around to pay to keep them. Yeah. So there’s many reasons why we keep bringing a million people in the fact that our housing policy is not even close to caught up and or able to support the tidal wave of people is the only reason we can sit here and look like geniuses saying, this market’s going to go up because it has no choice but to.
Danielle Demerino: Yeah if you.
Simeon Papailias: It’s a constraint choked. There’s a throttle on the supply and there’s a firehose of demand. So there is an artificial choke on the supply called red tape. Call it call it whatever you want to call it. All the reasons why. But me and, you know, the demand is a fire hose. And that’s why we can stand here confidently saying, Will the market go up that in five and ten, and in 20 years it’s going to be astronomically different.
Danielle Demerino: I mean, look at the big cities in the world. I always do a cost per square foot comparison. Take London, take New York, take Singapore. Singapore is like $3,500 a square foot. London’s 2000, New York’s 2000, like we’re sitting at a thousand right now for resale, of course. And it’s like, I don’t think that 1400 square foot is astronomical for for new construction, but. Other people do and people who are from here do. I mean, I know you this people from other countries do not. Especially when they do a USD conversion. They’re like, oh yeah, here.
Simeon Papailias: So I think just looking at pre-construction in general in this kind of current climate, the reason that industry specifically had slowed down is not because of a lack of buyers. It’s a lack of buyers who understand the global context. Yes. So because because foreign buyers have not been a significant player in this country, period. Never, never have. No, like actually foreign buyers, people who are in Singapore, in London, in Milan, buying here. We’ve never had too many of those. So. Now seeing only locals, though now there are the people who squawk when they see that 15 $1,600 because they’re not used to it. It was the same when it went from 600 to 900, from 900 to 1200. And it’s the same thing now going to 15 and 1600.
Danielle Demerino: You know another reason why this is going to go up. Okay. So right now the great transfer of wealth has not really started. But they say that $30 trillion is going to be transferred from the baby boomers to our generation. $30 trillion is going because there they have it all in their investments, not just their houses. They’ve got, you know, their secret money. It’s getting transferred over. And then, you know, people like us and younger than us go, oh, my parents love me. 3 million bucks. This isn’t a big deal. Just go buy that condo. No one’s thinking about that. People have a hard time with foresight and projection.
Simeon Papailias: Yes, I agree, and Gen X and millennials are the great Gen Xers are going to be the inheritance recipients. Millennials are going to be the actual benefactors because the Gen Xers already are have worked. They’re getting into their, you know, mid 40s. 50s. Yeah. And the millennials are the biggest consumer, biggest consumer demographic on this planet has ever seen.
Danielle Demerino: You’re considered a millennial.
Simeon Papailias: I’m on the cusp. I’m a 1980. So like some people say I’m a millennial. Some people call me a Gen Xer.
Danielle Demerino: Yeah, yeah, you’re right there.
Simeon Papailias: I’m the oldest millennial that can be.
Danielle Demerino: I believe.
Simeon Papailias: Yeah, the cusp.
Danielle Demerino: Cusp. Yeah. That’s where it’s at.
Simeon Papailias: Listen, I want to I want to sign off on this podcast. I had a lot of fun on this podcast. I want to congratulate you on all your achievements, and I want to. I would like to have you come back. Every so often. Should you have had a good time today?
Danielle Demerino: Had a great time.
Simeon Papailias: I’m also going to encourage, I think this is a big missing piece specifically to women, and I think the biggest advantage that women salespeople have is the fact that if they gain the understanding and knowledge. As a woman, you can take down way more business for many different reasons. Should you narrow the knowledge gap? Um, men automatically either fake it or just have more exposure to more construction because of their buddies or whatever the case may be. They just feel more comfortable. Call it faking it, I don’t know. But women always, not always, many times just put up their hand. That’s not my strength. Make it your strength.
Danielle Demerino: Well, it’s. Before we go to. I’d like to say that I think that. Women are not accepted or encouraged into the space. When women talk to each other, they usually talk about, you know, day to day stuff and families and kids and whatever. But you go and hang out with your guy friends and you’re talking about politics and investments and this and that. So the same discussion matter is not happening with the sexes. So women need to be included in those discussions more and so that they can motivate and role model for other women. And that’s what I’ve always tried to do is just involve more women to learn.
Simeon Papailias: So I’m going to go further to definitely as a man, I’m going to try to make it my to make it cognizant to include more women when I.
Danielle Demerino: Want to know just because they haven’t said something.
Simeon Papailias: But I also want to ask women to demand to be in the conversation. We have to.
Danielle Demerino: Also take our responsibility and say, I’m supposed to be here. I want to be.
Simeon Papailias: Here and include me included. It’s that simple. It is. It’s that simple. Okay. I mean, I’ve had everything that I wanted to come out of here today, come out. That was really nice, I appreciate it. I like being here. If somebody wants to find you, what is your. Are you on all socials? I’m on.
Danielle Demerino: What’s your favorite Danielle in the city website? Danielle in the city. Okay, I am everywhere.
Simeon Papailias: I mean and I encourage any and all of you to reach out. Danielle is an absolute. Resource that you can reach out to. She’s approachable. She’s always willing to share. I am here to help and.
Danielle Demerino: Bring each other up.
Simeon Papailias: Bring each other up. I absolutely love that.
Danielle Demerino: Over competition for.
Simeon Papailias: Collaboration all day long. Until next time. Thank you for watching. We’ll see you soon.