Cocktails with KB | Judy Marsales

Three words to describe Hamilton?

Location – Citizens – Heritage. Wonderfully located, passionate citizenry combined with history and heritage.

What’s the best thing about what you do?

Interacting with people! That one is easy…I thoroughly enjoy people. People in all stages and ages of life.

What’s the worst thing about what you do?

Sorting out challenges between people. Sometimes it is difficult to make everyone happy. Sometimes it is difficult to find that delicate balance in sales between good intentions and positive outcomes.

What’s your motto?

I don’t think I have a motto per se. If I did, it would be “to act with integrity”. Integrity is an easy word to throw around but sometimes in the real world, people can be disappointing. A silly example — I was out with some friends at the casino and somebody had left a $10 ticket in the machine. I tried to give it to one of the supervisors thinking that it could be returned but nobody seemed interested. So, I gave it to the coat clerk as a way of acknowledging his good work. I felt I had given someone a positive experience. I do hope that I can do my best to live with integrity.

What are you most looking forward to in 2015?

This may sound funny, but cleaning my office. Back in the beginning of last year, we put a new front on our office building in Westdale. Because my office is in the front, all the windows had to come out so I had to literally move out of my office. So, everything was put in tubs. That was almost a year ago and I still have a pile of tubs in my office. The idea was that I would get rid of a tub a week. I still have ten tubs but this is also a good platform for me to really think about organizing my office, my life, and build the next stage of life.

What’s the biggest learning experience of your life?

Learning to accept that disappointment comes with some people in your life professionally and personally and to move on to greater experiences.

If you found 10 dollars in your pocket, what would you do with it?

I would go to Tim Horton’s and buy a coffee and croissant.

How do you find that real estate in hamilton has changed over your time in Hamilton?
I think the impact of dynamic female participation in real estate has had a positive impact. As I mentioned, when I came into the business, it was very dominantly male. I was the first female president of the Real Estate Association in 1992. I also think that the dynamics of the industry have changed dramatically in terms of expectations and technology — the availability of detailed information allowing consumers to make a much more informed decision. The broader context of interest in real estate as an investment is too often misunderstood through social media. Too often the consumer will read a story which they interpret to have impact on Hamilton and it can mislead their thinking when it is based on another community half a continent away.

Lightning Round