Jesse Honch has received national recognition for his work (submitted photo/Jesse Honch)

By Michael Joel-Hansen

Prince Albert Real-estate

Local realtor receives national praise

Aug 21, 2019 | 2:21 PM

A Prince Albert realtor is being recognized on the national level.

Jesse Honch, who is with Coldwell Banker Signature in P.A. has made the list of top 100 agents in Canadian Real Estate Wealth Magazine for his overall sales performance.

Honch said being named to the list for the fourth consecutive year is an honour he is happy to accept.

“I really appreciate the accolade and them looking into our numbers in some of the smaller markets and taking those into consideration,” he said.

While he appreciates being acknowledged on the national level, Honch said getting positive feedback and accolades from his clients is what is most important to him. He credits taking care of his clients for helping him get more business through referrals.

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In some parts of the province the real-estate market has been coming back. This has not been the case in P.A. where sales have slowed and remained that way for some time. Honch explained the slow down is a by product of new stress tests and an overall economic slowdown.

“We saw a real loss of buyers, specifically the first time homebuyers that lost their qualification capabilities to purchase and that low end of the market needs to have stimulation,” he said.

Along with first time buyers, Honch said there has also been a real decrease in the number of people buying properties for investment purposes.

In response to this change in the market, Honch pivoted his business to focus more on listing as opposed to buyers.

“I really changed my marketing and advertising to focus on the sales side,” he said.

Carrying more listings is something Honch credits for helping to get his name out more.

In terms of selling in the current market, which is a buyer’s market, Honch said people need to look at putting in the extra effort to make their property attractive. This includes making sure the outside is well kept up and that the inside is cleaned before showing.

Honch said for the market to turn around in P.A. there needs to be changes on the local economic front.

“I think the municipality needs to do more to attract people to our area,” he said.

Besides the local economy, Honch said changes to lending rules which were intended to cool down the overheated markets in Toronto and Vancouver have had consequences in places where there were not the same issues and he thinks an change in policy is needed.

“We need to have buyers in the market and not every single municipality in Canada is inflated like Toronto and Vancouver are,” he said.

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MichaelJoel.Hansen@jpbg.ca