Coldwell Banker cleans house
Yk office wins multiple accolades at company's annual awards
Jessica Davey-Quantick
Northern News Services
Tuesday, March 7, 2017
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Yellowknife's Coldwell Banker office is the best of its kind.
Yellowknife's Coldwell Banker cleaned up at the company's annual awards last month. Co-owner Della Fraser, back row, left, stands with Kelsey Sernoskie, who ranked second in the total number of units sold. Molly Milligan, front right, who won Rookie of the Year in Canada, poses with co-owner Rod Stirling, front right. - Jessica Davey-Quantick/NNSL photo
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In an internal competition, it was named the number-one office in North America with less than 10 sales associates on Feb. 27.
Coldwell Banker Northern Bestsellers Ltd. co-owner Rod Stirling said he's not surprised by the honour, as out of the 21 years he's been with the franchise he's only seen the office miss top rankings once. But even with a history of accolades, he said others in the company tend to be a bit stunned by their performance.
"I went down to a couple of awards things, and they (say), 'Oh you guys sell igloos,' and, 'Oh and they melt in the summer and you have to resell,'" he said. "And then all of a sudden they do the awards, and we're getting every award, and they go, 'Oh holy. You guys sell a lot of real estate,' and it's instant respect."
Out of around 250 offices across Canada, with about 3,000 salespeople, Yellowknife's Molly Milligan won Rookie of the Year in Canada, while Kelsey Sernoskie ranked second in the total number of units sold for an office its size.
"Even head office, they're based out of the US, they go, 'How do you guys do the numbers that you do, you do the numbers with eight or nine salespeople that 30 and 40 person offices do.' They just don't know how we do it," said Stirling.
The key, says Sernoskie, is knowing how to operate in a small town.
"Small town - everyone talks. And repeats. So that's huge," she said.
Sernoskie started her career in Ottawa before moving North three years ago.
According to the most recent data available from the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the average residential sale price for 2015 was $417,049 in Yellowknife. Stirling said these prices can actually help move real estate.
"We're happy when people come from Vancouver and Toronto, because they think it's cheap," he said, adding that although other cities have expensive areas, Yellowknife's real estate on average does tend to be more expensive than other parts of Canada. Despite this, many renters are deterred by the high cost of rent and one of the tightest rental markets in the country, with a 1.9 per cent vacancy rate in 2015. Sernoskie said this means even people who expect to be in Yellowknife for three to five years are taking the leap and buying instead of renting.
Both Milligan and Sernoskie attribute their success to hard work and a positive atmosphere in the Yellowknife office.
"We have a really nice environment, and that helps," said Sernoskie. "We're busy, we can barely keep our heads on straight! Literally."
