We began our journey with Gord in June 2019, full of anxieties and uncertainties of typical first-time home buyers. My wife and I are both overthinkers prone to analysis paralysis, but Gord was the perfect navigator to guide us along the way. 3 months later, we completed the purchase of our first home. Of course, the satisfaction of living under our own roof is nice, but the confidence and the security of knowing that we have arrived at the right choice, I can’t imagine getting to this point without Gord. We first met Gord during an “audition” at a local coffee shop, and I remember vividly the two flashbulb moments when I knew that he would be the right fit for us. First, he showed up in a polo shirt and dress slacks, driving a Toyota Highlander. Now, Gord is by no means frumpy, but he was a stark contrast from other real estate agents that we had encountered—sporting slim-cut suits and slim-cut hair, driving successful vehicles like a BMW or Mercedes—and clearly (to me) he was more about substance rather than image. Gord shared plenty of that substance with us too, as we pored over an exhaustive collection of information he organized in handy booklets during our first meeting. At one point during our conversation I asked about the current state of the Calgary housing market, and rather than giving us some vague description (“It’s a buyer’s market!”) or a sales pitch (“Now it’s a great time to buy!”), Gord pulled out his pen and some scratch paper, and drew a line graph of some indicator over the last 5 years. Honestly, I had forgotten what the graph was about maybe 15 minutes later, but Gord’s general approach to our questions really left a lasting impression: here are the facts and here’s a visual summary of the data, now here’s my interpretation of the data, but only you can decide what that means to you. After that meeting, we felt comfortable choosing an agent who is not only professional and knowledgeable, but also objective and patient with our choices. We decided to work with Gord right away. For the next three months, our experience with Gord confirmed our first impressions. He was a great source of knowledge, always prepared with information about a potential house or the neighborhood. As clueless first-time home buyers who are easily distracted by shiny objects like wall features or staging furniture, we really appreciated Gord’s eye for practical details like furnace condition or yard grading. At times our viewing sessions can feel like an introductory course on home ownership—which was exactly what we needed. We also appreciated Gord’s methodical approach in his evaluation of a potential house’s fair value: he mostly avoided providing ballpark figures on the spot; instead he would get back to us the next day, after researching comparable sales in same or similar neighborhoods, and after accounting for major features or upgrades. With Gord, it always feels like you are supplied with the most thorough information, with no corners cut and no details overlooked. We are even more grateful for how Gord guided us through our indecisions. We thought we knew what we wanted, but with Gord’s gentle prodding and questioning, it quickly became apparent that having a rough checklist of a nice home and expecting to just fall in love with “the one” when we walk inside might work on HGTV shows, but buying a house in reality demands much more. As my wife and I worked through our actual needs and wants, separately and together, for the second and then for the third time, Gord was patient with us every step of the way. Our 3-month house search had some bumps and detours, but for all the frustrations and disappointments, Gord never once made us feel we were wasting his time for not doing our own due diligence, he even gave us extra homework to make sure we got there! Compared to the search, once we settled on the place, the actual process of making an offer, negotiation, inspection, walk-through and all the other legal steps felt like a breeze. At this point after 3 months, we were hardly surprised about Gord’s streamlining organization: armed with a checklist of to-do items, a calendar of appointments, and regular updates via phone, text, and emails, the actual process of buying the house actually felt easier than it should be. When the selling agent handed me the keys to our new home, a small part of me thought, “That’s it? Well that wasn’t too hard!” Like everything else, Gord made it easy. With Gord, we lucked out on a gem of a real estate agent. We somehow found him on rankmyagent.com, hopefully this review will help you find him too.