Successful Kelowna, British Columbia realtor, Christine Boisseau, and her team have moved from Royal LePage to independent brokerage eXp Realty.

Today, the KelownaHomes Team leaves Royal LePage with $500 million in sales volume under its belt since 2014.

Boisseau and her team join a growing list of realtors in Canada moving over to the revenue-share concept. Her team includes two other realtors and one administrative staff member.

Plans to grow

“We are small but mighty,” says Boisseau.

“We want to grow. To me, it’s super important that my team members can shine and not be overshadowed by the team, yet have all the tools and benefits of being on a team. And I think (with the) eXp model, there’s revenue share and there’s all these programs that are high incentives for me as a team leader, but (that) also really do trickle down to my team members.”

Why eXp?

Boisseau and her team are “drawn to the exceptional savings with lower caps and fees and the ability to take advantage of eXp Realty’s popular revenue share and agent equity programs.” She says the eXp model includes an innovation and growth mindset that is unmatched. 

“For clients, their shifting expectations of a more streamlined and faster buy or sell is easily achieved through eXp’s cutting-edge marketing tools and unsurpassed real estate technology. All these perks enhance my ability to provide better opportunities for my team to flex its entrepreneurial muscles and, by extension, consistently serve our clients at the highest level,” she explains.

“I really feel like this move will allow me to grow and grow my team, but also give them something else than just the next deal. They have opportunities to have other streams of income come in as well, which is very motivating for a realtor on a team.”

On top of this, other high-producing eXp Canada teams attracted Boisseau to transition to eXp Realty, and it was the chance to collaborate with Canadian real estate leaders such as Justin Havre of The Justin Havre Real Estate Team (Calgary), Katrina Amurao and Neil Bellosillo of Katrina and the Team (Fraser Valley) and Ibrahim Hussein with Affinity Real Estate Group (southern Ontario) that made her decision easy.

Grateful for support from others

Boisseau is grateful to others for helping her succeed: “Justin Havre is a really good friend of mine. We were business partners in Kelowna on a venture for years, a few years back … He has been a supporter and mentor for the past nine years, and I owe much of my success as a real estate agent to his wisdom and experience.

The Royal LePage family of Royal LePage Kelowna has also been instrumental to our team’s performance in the Kelowna market from the beginning.”

A growing trend

She notes there is definitely a wave happening right now with more realtors and their teams leaving long-established real estate brands for eXp (the David St. Jean Real Estate Group is one of them).

“I think we’re going to see more team leaders flock to eXp because the model is absolutely unmatched (in) what they offer you so that you can create a life for your team members that’s better in the long term for everybody.”

Getting to today: Her journey

Boisseau received her real estate license in 2007 and initially set up practice in Quebec City. She moved to Kelowna at the end of 2013 to be with Royal LePage.

The realtor used to have a bigger team, but in 2021 she had some family issues come up with a baby born at 27 weeks. She had to spend a lot of time in the hospital during COVID. Then, she decided to take a year off and focus on her child’s health, moving back to Quebec to be closer to family. 

About a year ago, Boisseau returned to Kelowna to re-focus on the business.

A bilingual, award-winning team

KelownaHomes Team serves Kelowna and the surrounding greater Central Okanagan region and, for four straight years, has been among the top one per cent of Royal LePage sales teams in Canada.

While with Royal LePage, Boisseau and her team have received numerous awards, including Top Tier Circle, Chairman’s Club Award, Rookie of the Year and others. And, in 2018 and 2019, the team received the Top Ten Award in B.C.

As one of the few bilingual real estate teams in the region, KelownaHomes Team is a go-to resource for French-speaking buyers looking to move to the province’s wine country.

“What we have to offer is unmatched for lifestyle. Our market is doing well”

Boisseau says there has been a little slowdown in the Kelowna market recently because of the economy. “But, we are a destination area. We’re only four hours from Vancouver, six hours from Calgary. We are a small city with a lake, beautiful vineyards, golf courses. We have Big White and SilverStar, two very big ski mountains only a 40-minute drive away. It’s a destination area and people who come here usually don’t want to leave,” she adds.

“Our market is always good. We will never have too much inventory and we are cheaper than those big cities. There used to be a lot of Calgary oil people who came down here. (Now), we’re seeing a lot of people from Vancouver. Especially with the pandemic, people are being able and allowed to work from home. They don’t necessarily have to live in the downtown of a big city. And what we have to offer in this city is unmatched for lifestyle. Our market is doing well.”