Longevity. That’s what Edith Katronis says drives her success in real estate.
After 35 years in the business – 33 in Cloverdale – the name Katronis is synonymous with the real estate business.
She believes she’s built up a good reputation with people because she’s been around long enough to build up trust – and has gotten to know so many people in the community.
“They just know that I’m here,” she says. “I’ve been here so long.”
Katronis went to the University of British Columbia for business and then went on to real estate in 1981.
After two years, she decided she wanted her own business, venturing off on her own in 1983, not quite realizing just how full-time it would be.
“I wanted to have my own business and I thought that I would have flexible hours,” she says, “It’s ended up being much more than I thought.”
To truly excel, a realtor has to be a full-time professional, she says.
“I don’t believe in part-time realtors. You can’t do it part time. You can’t do it well. To do real estate well, you have to be a full-time realtor and devote everything to it.”
Over the years, she’s been able to grow and improve her business.
Real estate, she says, offers a world of possibilities as a business.
“I chose it as something I could expand and build on and make better,” she says.
“As an entrepreneur, it gives you opportunities because you’re really running your own little business when you’re a realtor. Every realtor is in business for themselves. That just appealed to me – that part of it.”
Katronis went into real estate because she loves people. “Anyone that says they go into real estate because they love houses is in the wrong business,” she says. “You go into real estate because you love people.”
Recognizing and understanding a client’s needs is fundamental.
“You have so many different situations and you have to have empathy with these people because it’s the most expensive investment they’ll ever sell. It’s a big deal to them and you have to understand them. You have to have empathy. You have to be able to help them.”
Since starting her business, the Katronis Real Estate Team has been in three different locations within Cloverdale and has now grown to six people, including her son Jonathan who joined 10 years ago with a mind to expand the business.
With that came challenges.
“[There were] A lot of decisions to be made and you have to take some risks,” she explains.
“We had to be sure that the agents we hired conformed to our philosophy and our ethics – and they do.”
She had to train them and help them along, which she said can be a challenge and always poses a risk.
“We had to work hard to get it functioning smoothly.”
The work has paid off. In 2015, Team Katronis sold more than 230 homes, representing transactions worth more than $130 million, putting them at the year’s top sales in the region for the second year running.
When Katronis started in real estate she was a mother of two. Now a mother of three, she said women have so many abilities.
Katronis believes that women can do anything.
“You just have to want to do it. Just get out, roll up your sleeves and get it done.”
Katronis thinks women have an advantage in real estate, but adds men have their strengths, too.
She never thinks of it as male versus female, but she appreciates men in the business because they bring something different to the table.
“I think women take to real estate quite naturally because we are, basically, still nesters and . . . a female knows about families and understands family life and can sometimes understand a situation maybe a little bit better than a male,” she says.
“We can look after a household and we can have a career . . . I did this – all of this – while I had my three kids.”
Her own children were actually a big help when she was starting out in Cloverdale.
Her kids would come with her to open houses, hand out flyers and poinsettia plants – something she did to get started in the neighbourhood.
She says a lot of Team Katronis clients get a kick out of the fact that her son Jonathan used to deliver poinsettia plans in the snow, something that endears the team to people to this day.
“I’m part of the Cloverdale family, in that way.”
In turn, Katronis has helped generations of Cloverdale residents find homes.
“I have many three generations that I have helped. That is wonderful to see. The grandchildren are now buying a home.”
To her, it’s a vote of confidence that she’s done a good job. With that, comes her motto: Work Hard and Be Nice.
“That’s it. It’s so simple. You just have to work hard and be nice and stay with it.”
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