There have been many courses, conferences and training sessions over the years to keep up-to-date with the tools and trends in this business. As with everything in this internet-of-everything world, the pace of change keeps accelerating. Buying and selling real estate does require special thought because of the large dollar amounts involved. I maintain membership in a number professional organizations including the Ottawa Real Estate Board (OREB), the Ontario Real Estate Association (OREA) and the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA), plus NAR (the National Association of Realtors) and NAGLREP, the National Association of Gay and Lesbian Real Estate Professionals.  These provide me with great tools, information and forums for the continual updates on changes in technology, perspectives and techniques for marketing, as well as insights into real estate sales. They are also invaluable in building referral contacts for clients transferring cities. I was born in Montreal, lived a couple of years in Ottawa, then Los Angeles, then back to Ottawa. Here I completed high school and university, plus a diploma in Interior Design. I began full-time work at Carleton University in the Computing Services department. From the beginning I was hooked: it was so easy to have these great big machines do so much work! There were always complications of course, but that was half of the fun of it. The most challenge, and the most fun, was to be able to translate what people needed to accomplish into computer programs that could deal with most of the routine. That experience has been invaluable for incorporating useful systems to assist our Real Estate buyers and sellers. I’ve lived in small houses, large houses, town houses, and condos. I’ve owned and I’ve rented. I’ve lived in several different cities, and visited many more in Canada, the US, Mexico, and around the world. Australia, Amsterdam, Greece, Italy and Mexico are but a few of the wonderful places I’ve been, and it’s been fascinating to see the different ideas that people have for their housing. I have renovated every home that I’ve lived in, from simple paint to removing walls. One reno even involved turning the kitchen into a new front hall, and the back bedroom into the kitchen. I enjoy creating attractive and eye-catching presentations to convey important information.