WHEN his co-workers heard what he was about to do, they thought he was crazy. His mother, Cecilia, even pleaded with him repeatedly not to go through with it because the majority who do ultimately fail within the first three years. Then his boss warned, "in six months you'll be begging me to give you back your job!" But in spite of it all, nothing could deter Les Twarog. His mind had already been made up, so in the early part of 1988, he did it. He gave up his safe, secure position at Canada Safeway Limited to begin a career in real estate sales, a field where there are no guarantees. Gone were the six week paid annual holidays, the ATO's (accumulated time off; extra day off every 2nd weekend), the company benefits, the retirement plan and, most importantly, those wonderful, regular, bi-weekly paychecks he had grown so accustomed to receiving!
Then an interesting thing happened. Six months later to-the-day, Les returned to the Safeway store where he had been previously employed, not to ask for his old job back, but simply to say hello and let his former colleagues and boss know how things had worked out for him. Well... You can just imagine the looks on some of their faces when he stepped out of a large, upscale automobile. Les had become so successful in such a short period of time, that he had been able to acquire it in order to service his real estate clients in complete safety and comfort! But this was only the beginning.
Les started his Real Estate career on February 14, 1988 with a local company called Mulitple Realty. In 1989, Les became an official member of the prestigious Medallion Club, a distinction reserved only for the top 10% realtors of the Vancouver Real Estate Board. He left Multiple Realty in 1990 and opened a new company called Reemark Realty which specialized in condo conversions by taking existing stratified rental buildings owned by one owner and selling them to individual owners. His business was a great success, selling an average of 250 units per year for the following 3 years. However, the market turned toward the end in 1993 and the condo conversion supplies dried up so Reemark Office was closed. Two years later, his creative marketing system and shrewd business decisions made him one of the 50 top producing realtors in the entire Lower Mainland and catapulted him to the Medallion "President's Club" or the Top 1% of all realtors. www.6717000.com/achievements.html Incredibly, Les had reached a point where he was completing over 60 transactions a year--almost seventeen times more than the industry's average! It's a feat he's never failed to accomplish ever since, despite fluctuating market conditions, which can only mean two things in the end: to get consistent results like that, you have to be innovative and extremely efficient.
In 2000, Les launched www.6717000.com – an interactive 7 map web site for over 1100 downtown buildings including Fairview, False Creek South & Kitsilano - www.6717000.com/map_floors.html or video www.6717000.com/video . After that successful launch, a few years later in 2005 he continued with another revolutionary web site called www.vancouverfloorplans.com This web site has floor plans for over 350 downtown condo buildings and the floor plans are all attached to all MLS Listings. Check out the floor plan user video to see how this service works at; http://vancouverfloorplans.com/instructional-video.html Most recently (Dec 2011) Les launched www.bccondos.net This web site has over 5000 buildings on line for the lower mainland. It has MLS info, sale info, news articles, developers brochures, building technical info, common area photos, Walk Score, HomeZilla and building & area rentals – http://bccondos.net/city-vancouver-west - sample city landing page , http://bccondos.net/living-shangrila sample building link, http://bccondos.net/living-shangrila#rentals – sample rental link. This site gets over 5000 unique visitors per day and growing. He believes information is King! Whether you're a buyer, seller or and Agent, once you are on his site you do not need to go anywhere else.
"One big reason for my success in real estate sales is delegation," says Les. "By having my own personal support staff to handle matters like office administration, I can focus all of my attention on locating the right kind of properties and finding qualified buyers for my vendors. The result is better service and faster turnarounds." Moreover he adds, "This attracts a lot of new business, giving me a larger budget for marketing and advertising."
With Les it doesn't matter whether you're interested in buying or selling an entire building complex or a one bedroom, $200,000 condominium, you're guaranteed the same quality of service regardless. So if you're thinking of making a move to or from Greater Vancouver, call Les Twarog today at (604) 671-7000 or, if you prefer, send him an to [email protected] . Either way, Les is ready to help you and he'll be more than happy to show you what he can do for you .
Born in Krakow, Poland, Les Twarog immigrated to Vancouver with his family at the age of seven to escape repressive communism. Always one for overachieving, throughout much of his youth, Les usually held two or three jobs concurrently while attending public school. At age 16, he began working at Safeway as a bagger and general helper and later rose to become Night Shift Manager prior to entering real estate. He has a flawless command of both the English and Polish languages and his post-secondary studies include Power & Process Engineering and Electricity & Industrial Electronics.