Month Year BCBusiness 99 bcbusiness.ca
T O P R E A L T O R S
S p e c i a l F e a t u r e
A Driving Force
The Ruth & David Group is building relationships
throughout East Vancouver, one property at a time
I
n 1991, Ruth Chuang met David Jones
at an Oakridge
RE/MAX o-ce, where
they were both working. In 11 days, they
were married. Soon after, they moved to
Commercial Drive and began building
the real estate business that they now
describe as a "seamless" operation. "We
don't know where one starts and the other
ends," says Chuang. Their success as a top-
selling team in the Commercial Drive area
stems from their long-standing commitment
to customer service.
Against the conventional wisdom of the
early 90s, they began focusing their eŒorts
on their East Vancouver neighbourhood.
As a team, they each used their strengths,
bringing together a wide variety of skills.
Jones worked on new marketing initiatives
and Chuang supported the clients. "We've
always felt that we didn't want to change
who we are," she says. "I'm more of an
introvert so I'm better person-to-person. It's
always been about how can we be totally
ourselves in servicing our clients. Living
and working in Commercial Drive where
people know us is a big part of that."
About 15 years ago, they started hearing
from clients who felt they were held hostage
by the competitive nature of the market.
As soon as they saw a property they were
interested in, they felt so much pressure to
make an immediate oŒer that they couldn't
ever go away for a weekend. "We took a
couple of those calls to heart and thought,
'Is there anything we can do to make this
process easier for people?'" says Jones.
He came up with a new idea, which was
to show the property on a Thursday evening
before the weekend open house. Those
interested could then schedule a property
inspection on Friday, see the home again on
the weekend and then present their oŒer.
He called this model the "Sneak Peak,"
and it worked for several reasons besides
allowing people to go away for the weekend.
Potential buyers could see the home at
diŒerent times of the day and in diŒerent
weather conditions. It also resulted in
higher oŒers. The idea was so eŒective that
many other realtors took it up as well.
Jones's nephew Corey Martin joined
the team several years ago, and works as a
buyer's agent. Willo Jackson also works for
the team as a buyer's agent, and Joy Yiu is
the o-ce coordinator.
Chuang says their business is growing
"organically," with a consistent focus
on East Vancouver and on the values
they ™rst embraced. Now, they enjoy
relationships spanning decades with many
clients. One of those, Chuang says, has
recently been trying to ™gure out whether
to rebuild her home, or sell it and move.
"I'm looking at it from a step back and
saying, 'I will tell you what these diŒerent
choices are, the pluses and minuses and
risks and rewards. Until we have that
sorted out, I wouldn't recommend we do
anything too fast,'" she says. "A lot of our
job is not just the buying and selling part,
it's being a sounding board. That's how
we build relationships."
In Vancouver's competitive real estate
market, a values-based approach to
selling can make all the difference
