Carolyne (Realty) Corp. Real Estate Brokerage in Brampton, Ont. recently celebrated its 20th anniversary. Founded by Carolyne Lederer in 1991 as a then-unique business concept in Brampton, the company operated as a boutique-style operation and was one of the first to implement the Internet to market homes locally and abroad.
Lederer continued her 24 per cent market share of all home sales east of Hwy. 410, above the $250,000 price range, which she had developed during her tenure at Royal LePage. She was the company’s No. 1 sales representative for all of the region then called Western Ontario (the areas from London to Ottawa, from the west side of Yonge Street in Toronto to Burlington in the far west, and all points within that circle of business area). Working alone, with no team, she says she typically wrote in excess of $14 million in annual sales.
“Some colleagues warned me I wouldn’t last six months,” she says. “Didn’t I know we were in a recession in 1991?”
Lederer lived in Brampton for nearly 30 years and although she says she was always somewhat of a loner, she developed a base clientele over the years who repeatedly did business with her and sent her their friends, relatives and neighbours. She still services clients personally, working on her own, with back-up administration people off-site.
“I became known as ‘That Girl Real Estate’ eventually,” she says. “No one seemed to be able to spell my name right, and often referred to me as that girl…saying, ‘Let’s Call That Girl’ you know, the one with the hot pink and teal signs with the gold star in the corner.”
She purchased the URL for www.ThatGirlRealEstate.com, deciding she might as well use the name for marketing purposes.
In 1998 she went online with her residential real estate home site at www.Carolyne.com, and started writing consumer education articles. She says the articles are read both by consumers and colleagues from all over the world, and she receives requests regularly for reprint rights so that others, even in the U.S., can send them to their own clients.
Lederer says she built her business on referrals, relocations she personally developed with major corporations and using residential farming concepts that she has shared in online forums both in Canada and the US. She proudly says that on her next birthday she will be 70 years old, having spent the last 30 years in real estate.
Lederer is the resident Gourmet Cooking for Real Estate Professionals contributing writer at REM.
A colleague recently wrote: “I always remember your impetuous drive and motivation. But above all, your knowledge and insight into real estate that many did not understand to their downfall. I silently was a true follower…
And then added: I love to read your columns in REM more so because I know who you are. I just read your comments in the latest issue. I’ve also seen your gourmet recipes… You are quite the chef!
Realtors are a different bunch of creatures. Jealously seems to dominate and drive them. I was always envious of your success and wanted to be so much like you. I admired your success and hard work and how you stood
out amongst the others. You are one of a kind!!! There are many that would love to be just like you. Success comes with hard work… Too bad more realtors don’t try that… “Everything comes to he who waits, if he
works hard while he waits”. Some can work hard but not smart…you had both!” — Karen Lewkowicz, Tllsonburg, ON
