Real Estate Agent Experienced Growth in Family and the Market

Story collected by Will McGuirk, website: www.slowcity.ca

Chris Vale is a realtor at Keller Williams Energy in Oshawa. He became quite busy, not just at work as the real estate industry took off, but also at home with a new baby.

“I got into the real estate industry in Sept of 2019. Obviously the pandemic hit shortly thereafter. We really didn’t know how things were going to play out. When the first lockdown hit, we didn’t know if housing sales were going to collapse or not. They did for a very very short time. What happened afterwards, nobody could have predicted. We were very lucky to be one of the only industries that was left virtually untouched by the pandemic, our industry thrived. It was a little nerve wracking working with clients at first while others were still in lockdown. It was a surreal feeling. Our industry is very lucky and I feel very fortunate because so many other industries were decimated by the pandemic.”

“COVID impacted our family in a very different manner than most. My wife became pregnant during the pandemic. I was not able to attend any of her appointments due to the pandemic restrictions and she had to ride all of her appointments alone. To protect the pregnancy as we have a history of losses, she never left the house for any reason whatsoever except for doctors appointments. It was a very different way of life. The story does have a happy ending as we gave birth to a daughter on June 23rd of this year. We kept our pregnancy secret from everyone, even most of our families. We made an announcement on Facebook a week after she was born and everyone was so happy for us given our history.”

“This experience has taught me to be a lot more aware of how others are feeling. The pandemic has made us a very divided society. I have gained a lot more patience and understanding for everyone else’s varying viewpoints on society as a whole. I’m also just very thankful to be a parent again with having a child during the pandemic”