An Accidental Realtor: A Little About Me
Very few Realtors start in this career as their first one. In fact, even after fourteen years I can count the number on one hand out of the hundreds I’ve met, and I’m no exception to the trend.
My choice to embark on a career in Real Estate was a pragmatic one, but it’s a choice that I’m very grateful that I made in 2012. In the years since then I’ve been fortunate to have met many wonderful people, made a home with my family in our fantastic city, and work with a team that I love and respect.
The "Plan B" That Became "Plan A"
Today, I’m the leader of our team of six: four Realtors and two marketers. I’m proud of the way that we serve our clients, what we’ve achieved in for them in our local market and the way that our team supports each other. I really enjoy working in our business each day, but the path to here was not a straight line.
I actually started out as an elementary school teacher; I studied my B.A. (Social Sciences) at the University of Lethbridge and grew up around Alberta. In 2002 I met my wife Gillian when we were camp counselors in Campbellsville, Kentucky for Tim Horton Children’s Foundation and decided to move to Ontario to be closer to her. I completed my B.Ed at Brock and when I graduated, I thought that my path ahead was a career in public education until retirement in 30-40 years.
After some time teaching in the Limestone School Board and living in Kingston, ON, Gill (also a teacher) and I went to an international school hiring fair that changed our lives. We took positions at the International School of Macau, a Canadian international school in a Special Autonomous Region of China. We taught there for five years, made some amazing friends and took every opportunity that we could to travel in the region.
In 2011, with a home purchased in Gillian’s hometown of Ottawa and dreams of starting a family near her extended family, we arrived back in Canada. Gill landed a role as a substitute teacher in the OCDSB, a foot in the door for a permanent position, but I wasn’t as fortunate. While I looked for other work and watched the school job boards, I took my Ontario Real Estate licensing courses as a fallback. In 2012, freshly minted, I signed on at Royal LePage Performance Realty and have been here ever since. I started as a solo Realtor, but have had some great team members join me over the years, leading to the ones that you see today when you work with us. Although I miss the classroom sometimes, I bring an educational approach to our clients and really enjoy helping them navigate the uncertainties of the market safely.
The Moment I Knew I Was in the Right Career
My teammate Chelsea can pinpoint an exact moment that she knew that this business was right for her. For me, it’s been dozens of little moments along the way, and if you’ve worked with me then you were part of that. Here are a few that stand out to me:
- Calling clients to let them know that their offer has been accepted, or that we get to put the “SOLD” sign up in front of the house.
- When I meet my clients’ new babies, or I see their kids get bigger year after year at our client events.
- When a team member navigates a tricky negotiation and I get to see them grow and learn.
- Working with first-time homebuyers and teaching them about the process ahead.
- A family that bought their first home with us, then sold it and bought their second with us, and then divorced and both of them still chose our team to work with. It was such an honour that they trusted us at a challenging moment in their lives.
- Families that entrust us to work with their parents, or their best friends, and the important people in their lives.
My Approach
Buying or Selling a home is one of those “big life moments” and I’ve always thought that it’s really special to be a part of that for someone.
When Gill and I bought our first house together on Gardner Street, we really appreciated how we felt that we were in good, experienced hands with our Realtor. As a teacher, that’s the approach that I always try to take when I’m working with someone, whether it’s their first or their fifth time moving.
When we work together, you can expect:
We’re approachable and friendly – Our clients know that they can reach out to us anytime with their questions, their concerns, their hopes and their fears. No question is too trivial and we welcome their challenges. When Karim takes the time to help a homebuyer buy the right home by patiently understanding their needs, that client becomes part of our community and shares their big life wins with us. By being a joy to work with, we make our business a joy to work in.
We’re client-centred – Everything that we do is focused on getting the win for our client first, even if it’s not the easiest path for us. When Chelsea drives out for a set of showings in Rockland on a Friday night, it’s not because she loves driving in small towns in the snow, but she understands that we meet the clients where they need us to meet them, and that they can trust us to keep them at the heart of all of our decisions.
We’re intentional about everything that we do – We don’t do anything by accident. There are no random acts of marketing on the Nick Fundytus Team. We host our tire change days every year to show our clients that we love them, because we do love them. We include staging, touch ups, amazing marketing and all of the extras that we do because we know that they work to sell our clients’ homes. The A/B testing and refining that Hannah does to our Meta ads? That’s not by accident; that’s the work of professionals setting ourselves apart from our competition.
We’re community-builders – We believe in the social contract that says that we give back to the community that has given so much to us. Our community’s trust has provided us with opportunities, flexible schedules and the roofs over our heads, and we owe it to lift them up wherever we can, whether that’s our clients, our neighbours or even our colleagues. That’s why Hannah signs us up for Coldest Night, and why we build our business through events rather than just through advertising. Most of all, it’s why we have the type of team that sits on school councils, volunteers to coach and makes the connections that our clients need to thrive and grow in Ottawa.
We’re generous with our knowledge – We believe that great ideas are meant to be shared. An idea becomes more powerful as it spreads. This is why I post regularly on Reddit; not just because we might get some work from it, but because a real person needs the right answer to their question, and he can help them. It’s why we all demonstrate our professionalism in our newsletters through the year, and why I teach classes and techniques to colleagues.
Outside of Real Estate
When I’m not working, you’ll usually find me learning or exploring something, though I’m also a pro at relaxing when I need to, especially if it’s a nap in my hammock in the back yard.
If you described me as a nerdy dad, there would be a lot of truth in that, even if it didn’t cover everything. Here are a few things that I love to do:
- Sharing moments with Gill and our two sons, Jack and Aaron. We love to game together, listen to or play music, and explore the world.
- Try new things, like this year when I was an amateur comedian at the Laugh for the Cure fundraiser. It was way on the edge of my comfort zone, but such a rush to perform stand-up!
- Travel. Gill and I were so fortunate to explore so many corners of South and East Asia when we lived in Macau; soon we’ll be exploring Europe with our boys and my dream is to take a year sometime in the coming decade to travel the world as a family.
- Host and gather with friends. I love catching up with friends for a meal or hosting at our home, or giving friends an experience. One of my happiest moments this year was hosting a Name That Tune! fundraiser at my curling club.
- Curling at the RCMP Curling Club.
Fitness is something that is becoming a larger part of my life as I age; I’ll need to keep all of my parts working if I want to keep travelling, working and playing with my family! I enjoy swimming, make some time for the gym each week, and (begrudgingly) have taken up running, with my eyes on a 10K race next Race Weekend.
A perfect Saturday for me starts with an early run through the quiet streets of my neighbourhood and along the Ottawa River pathway, and then a family breakfast at Gabriel’s Pizza (I ought to petition a name change of my go-to dish, the Gabe’s Fave Omelette, to Nick’s Fave after 10 straight years of Saturdays). From there a family activity or puttering around the house, followed by a family movie night.
If I had to choose a favourite Ottawa neighbourhood, it would be Beacon Hill North where I live now. I love the mature trees, the sense of community and the proximity to the river. It’s a place where I love seeing my kids grow up in, and one that I can picture happily growing old in.
A Few Fun Facts
- Current obsession: Planning a big family trip. My youngest, Aaron, has been almost as into the planning as I have and we’ve created the world’s most thorough spreadsheet and trip plan. In another life I’m sure that I’m an event planner.
- Go-to coffee order: No thanks. I’ve never taken up coffee, but if I have to have something at Starbucks I’ll get a steamed milk. I do, however, have a bit of an unhealthy Coke Zero habit.
- Song currently on repeat: Blood on the Stage by the Cat Empire
- Dream travel destination: The Tiger’s Nest monastery in Bhutan.
- Bucket-list Summer activity: hammock naps. It’s been a busy summer, so I’m only up to two so far this year.
Looking Ahead
I really am grateful every day for the choices that led me to becoming a Realtor. It’s often busy, it’s always at least a little stressful but it’s given me the opportunity to meet some amazing people, to carve out a life with my family and build a team and work in a way that my kids can feel proud of me.
Thanks for taking the time to learn a bit more about me! If we already know each other, I’m always happy to learn more about you, too! If you don’t know me yet, I hope that you feel like you know me a little bit now, and I’m happy to meet you sometime!
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