Posted by: Karim Ali
Coffee with Karim
How Military Service Built Real Estate Success
Before I got into real estate, I spent nearly seven years in the Canadian Armed Forces as a Military Police member. People usually don’t connect military experience with showing homes, but truth is, that job gave me many of the tools I now use to serve clients every day.
This business isn’t just about knowing house prices or writing offers. It’s about how you think under pressure, how you treat people, and how you stay calm when the stakes are high. That’s where my military training really made a difference.
1. Structure and Discipline Help You Avoid Mistakes
When you’ve worked in a high-stakes setting like the military, attention to detail becomes second nature. That’s how I treat every transaction. Timelines, paperwork, follow-ups, inspections – I run it all with structure.
That means fewer surprises, fewer delays, and fewer mistakes. When I say I’ll follow up, I do. When I book a showing or prep an offer, I triple-check it. Clients don’t always notice the details behind the scenes, but they feel the results: smooth, stress-free experiences.
2. Calm Under Pressure = Better Deals
In real estate, things can move fast. Multiple offers, tough negotiations, or unexpected inspection issues can all push emotions high. My time in uniform taught me how to slow things down when they get intense.
I don’t rattle easy, and that helps my clients stay calm too. Whether I’m helping you win a bidding war or walking away from a bad deal, I bring clarity and strategy. That calm presence means my clients feel confident, even in uncertain situations.
3. Strategic Thinking Gets Results
Military work trains you to assess situations quickly and adapt. That’s exactly what I do with buyers and sellers. From reading a seller’s motivations to figuring out how to position your home for the market, I’m always thinking a few steps ahead.
It’s not just about data or gut feeling. It’s about strategy. Knowing when to push, when to wait, and how to use every tool to get you a better result.
4. Service Comes First
In the military, the job always comes with a strong sense of duty. That mindset stuck with me. I’m not here to chase commission. I’m here to serve people. If that means driving across the city for one showing or having tough conversations about pricing, I’ll do it.
I’ll always put your interests first. I won’t sugar-coat things just to make a sale. That kind of trust takes work to earn, but it’s why most of my business comes from referrals.
5. Built-In Experience With Relocations
If you’re with the military, government, or RCMP, chances are you’ve moved more than once. I get what that’s like. I’ve lived it. Fast & unexpected timelines, new cities, changing budgets; it’s all familiar territory.
That’s why I love helping families relocate. I know what you’re going through, and I’ll help you cut through the noise and get settled faster.
Grateful!
At the end of the day, military life gave me the discipline, calm, and service mindset that now guide every part of my real estate work. If you’re looking for someone who takes your move seriously, keeps you grounded, and won’t waste your time, I’m always here to chat.
2 Military Stories
1
Own it, fix it, move on. I’ll never forget the first time I was put in charge of navigation – 3am, pitch black, middle of nowhere near Gagetown, New Brunswick. We’d been running on barely any sleep for several days. I took a wrong turn that sent us 45 minutes off course. Brutal. But I didn’t make excuses and my peers didn’t even mention it. I owned it and was forgiven pretty quickly.
2
I earned the nickname Ambush during a particularly rough field exercise near Sudbury, ON. My battle-buddy and I were tasked – in the middle of the night – with advancing to a forward operating base, both of us dead and hallucinating from sleep deprivation. At some point, I started hallucinating enemy forces ahead. Certain we were walking into an ambush, I convinced my battle buddy to trust my gut and went off – on my own – to split off and outflank the non-existent enemy from the right.
I left my battle-buddy behind, fully committed to pulling off this solo ambush. In the process, we lost communication with each other… and I ended up getting lit up (just with blanks) by my own platoon, who thought I was the enemy.
Thankfully, no one was hurt – and most of the team doesn’t remember any of it, given how exhausted we all were. The platoon commander, though? He completely forgot my real last name and just started calling me Ambush from that point on.
Even years later, whenever I ran into him back in Ottawa, he’d light up, smile, and exclaim, “Ambuuuush! How are you doing?”
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