RILEY'S WORLD

A Career in Real Estate...
How, Where and When? Turning Negatives to Positives.
March 2003

In 1950, I came from Georgetown, Ontario, population 2,500, to Toronto to seek my fortune – young, hungry, and broke! My friends said you need Aptitude Testing; go to a well-known Placement Officer under a Dr. Moore. After a $35.00 fee (hard to part with) and innumerable tests, he said, “You are a salesman born and bred. I’m not too sure of your honesty, but that is what you are. Let’s try Real Estate! The man you suit is A. W. Farlinger – I know him, and you are not unlike him. And if he hires you, he’ll pay the $35.00.”

I made an appointment and hustled up Yonge Street to his office.

There I was slightly intimidated by his receptionist and his large personal office. A big man – he looked at me, in my one good but badly-fitted suit – and shouted, “You tell Moore no more green kids from the farm, particularly one with manure on his shoes. Out!!”

I hastened back to Dr. Moore and said in a shaken voice, “He didn’t want me!”

Moore, a little man, jumped up and shouted, “You are a salesman, so don’t run with your tail between your legs like a whipped dog. Go back and sell yourself.” And he gave me a formula: Turn Negatives to Positives.

Back I went, “quivering” – didn’t knock, just charged into the office, threw my suit coat across the room and shouted, “Too young? You need some youth in your office. Someone with hunger, energy and fire! Green from the farm? I’ll put it over on the city slickers! Mr. Farlinger …..you need me – now!”

Farlinger stood and angrily sputtered, “You get the hell out of my office!”

There was a builder meeting in his office, Mr. Farlinger and two other men who sat spellbound at my noisy intrusion. Slack-jawed and bug-eyed, one of the men (Nat Silver) said, “Farlinger, if you don’t hire him I will!”

So began my real estate career (age 24). Bud Farlinger, my mentor-teacher, became my good friend, and Nat Silver and Sam Shields (builder partners) became one of my first contracts.

My first five sales were new homes for builders – young men like myself – Nat Silver, Sam Shields, Vince De Marco, Vic Demelis and many others who went on to build Toronto into the city it is today.

In 1956, trade-ins replaced 1300 re-sale houses sold. However, by the end of 1956, we were in serious financial trouble, as mortgage rates had escalated and the market slowed. In addition to a large brokerage operation, in 1954 and 1955 we built several hundred houses, but everyone in the business was hit with a faltering economy.

Gerry, my partner, went by himself into the mortgage business (very successfully), and I joined a large corporation, Consolidated Building Corp., trading on the Toronto Stock Exchange. I learned a great deal from Consolidated (my master’s degree in sales and marketing, really), and the emphasis was on regular sales meetings, weekly and monthly. The big edge was constant training and re-training for sales people.