How many first-time buyers can say that their agent actually made the process of house-hunting fun AND found them exactly the right house at a reasonable price? Not many, but we can!

At first we thought we would “shop around” for an agent but Arthur inspired us with so much confidence during our first meeting that we decided there was no need to look beyond him. We were impressed with this professionalism, his background as a renovator, and his perspective on Toronto as a city of unique neighbourhoods. We also immediately took to this very personable manner. We walked away knowing we had met an agent with a lot of wisdom and integrity and our instincts proved right.

He listened carefully and patiently as we described our circumstances and the kind of house we wanted, right down to the particular neighbourhood. Then he set to work and within a day or two, he was already showing us the houses on the market that fell within our range. One of the things we really appreciated about Arthur’s approach to showing us houses was that it was designed to teach us exactly what we needed to know in order to make good decisions. Instead of being pushy and manipulative, Arthur spends the time necessary to show his clients the range of properties that will allow them to put things into perspective for themselves.

That said, he is more than willing to provide expert advice – always backed up with thorough explanations – as soon as it is asked for. Arthur makes sound, perceptive judgements about the market and always researches recent selling prices in the pertinent neighbourhood. His background as a renovator also makes him a wonderful resource when it comes to evaluating older houses. He is always happy to share his instinct about “the bones” of the house and the possible costs of repairs and improvements.

Looking at houses and making offers can be alternately thrilling and depressing, but during this entire process Arthur was consistently cool-headed and diplomatic, a firmly-grounded rock in the buyers’ storm of hope and anxiety.
In the end, it was only Arthur’s incredible resourcefulness and dogged determination that got us the house of our dreams. We had given up on the neighbourhood we had initially hoped for, but the very morning that an affordable house needing a bit of superficial work, came on the market, Arthur had us down there to see it. Then, putting off the planned start of his own vacation, he spent the afternoon drawing up our offer. We got the house. We got the neighbourhood. A year later, we can still hardly believe it. We thank our lucky stars we worked with Arthur Irwin.