My Story

My story or "about me" pages can be boring, so for the most part I'll stick to details about.

Why I'm qualified to write this site

Why I'm sharing this information for free

My name is Doug Cameron and this is my story. My wife Sue and I were married in 1972. We have 2 married sons and 4 grandchildren. We presently live in the city of Lethbridge Alberta, Canada.

In 1984 I wrote my real estate exam and became a Realtor in Halifax/Dartmouth Nova Scotia Canada. My wife Sue joined me in February 1985. I left the real estate industry in 1997.

Why Did I Leave?

When I was a Realtor, I played by the rules. I always put my client's interest first and foremost. There was no exceptions. There were no gray areas. To me it was black and white.

I found the professional real estate industry very frustrating because of so many Realtors not playing by the rules.

Far to many had no other interests than to make money.

I Will Fix the Problem!

Late in my Realtor career my story takes another turn. I decided to try and do my small part to clean up the industry. I put my name in to run as a member of the Halifax/Dartmouth Board of Directors.

I was elected and was chosen to be the MLS Chairperson my first year.

Very few buyers and sellers unfortunately, will put in a complaint about a real estate agent. While I was on the real estate board however, I was quite surprised at the amount of complaints we did receive. One particular salesperson just disgusted me. This salesperson was before the board several times on numerous charges.

This individual would bring their lawyer in every time, be usually found guilty, and get a slap on the wrist of perhaps a $2000.00 fine and continue on the same course.

Would a $2000.00 fine not deter someone from continuing this type of business? No. This agent made an extremely attractive income.

My Story Changes Course

I decided that I would leave the industry and start a “for sale by owner” company. I would help home owners sell without a Realtor.

My wife and I packed up, left beautiful Nova Scotia and moved to Lethbridge, Alberta. After several months finding suppliers, writing manuals and obtaining materials and tools for my new business, a new chapter of my story was written. I opened my company called, Canadian Homes by Private Sale in March 1998.

The business started slowly but started to snowball after about 6 months and by spring 1999 word started to spread about the little “for sale by owner” company that got phenomenal results.

Things get Nasty

When I first opened my company, the real estate salespeople didn't really pay much attention. There had been others before me. They came and went.

He'll be gone within a short time, they thought. I didn't go away. The company started to grow ever so rapidly. The attacks started. I was called on the phone and called names I can't repeat here. I was reported to the Calgary, Alberta Real Estate Board over and over, by some of the local Realtors. Some of my customers were told I was running an illegal business.

It didn't stop there. I was investigated. A representative from the Calgary Alberta Real Estate Board was sent to Lethbridge.

The investigator was actually very impressed and suggested I get my broker license and then she said they could not bother me.

I received a LETTER OF WARNING dated July 19, 2001 from the Real Estate Council of Alberta.

This letter's tone was that I was trading in real estate without a license and I could face fines up to $25,000.00.

Here is a list of my horrific crimes.

• suggesting to a buyer that they are utilizing a financing condition and/or other conditions for their protection

What a horrible person I am to suggest that someone should be protected when purchasing a property

• advising that a seller's property disclosure statement as being "good" for both parties

Let me see. If a seller answers a disclosure truthfully, it means that the seller is protecting themselves from a lawsuit later. If the buyer gets a truthful disclosure statement, it means they know what they are buying

• writing of ads and feature sheets on behalf of the homeowner

The seller told me what they wanted in their ads. All I did was do the layout, format, and send the ad to the paper. I guess I was suppose to have each seller help layout my ads.

• calculation of house measurements on a seller's behalf

Yes, I helped sellers measure their houses. Holding on to the end of a tape measure and when asked, used a calculator to multiply their measurements

The above is exactly word for word, what was written in the warning letter. I had to sign a Letter of Commitment that I would not trade in real estate. Perhaps you can see why this page is so hard to write.

I was constantly harassed.

Next, my "for sale by owner" magazines started disappearing out of one of my distribution boxes. I watched for several days, time permitting, until I watched a local Realtor take the whole bundle out. I reported this to the salesperson's broker and asked that the broker just tell the agent I seen her remove the magazines and not to do it again.

The Realtor denied that she ever touched them. I could not believe it! I watched her do it. How brazen can you get? The next time I went to put the new issue in, she was there waiting for me. She swore at me in a rage, called me several nasty names with spittle flying in all directions. This was in front of a small convenience store and people were watching this with their mouths open. OK, now I`m just ranting. Sorry. I get emotional just thinking about what happened.

There is more to my story here, some of which involved threats to the local newspaper. The Realtors threatened to take the printing of their real estate weekly to Calgary, if the paper co-operated with me. I talked to the people at the newspaper and was told they didn't want to lose the business from the real estate agents.

I tried to work with a local mortgage broker company. Threats again. Work with that guy and we`ll stop sending you referrals. Again, the mortgage brokers backed down, under threat, and won't work with me.

My story includes going to the Competitions Bureau of Canada and lodging a complaint. No luck.

In fairness, I also had local real estate salespeople that looked at me as a competitor and nothing else. There was, and is, some very honest and good people in the real estate industry here. Those bad apples, and there were far to many, really stood out!

My story involved a lot more horrific attacks on my business that I will not disclose here. It would not really serve any purpose, but you get the general idea. Right?

Shut Down

After 4 years, a sad chapter of my story happened. I had to shut my business down in June 2002. I so loved what I was doing, but the stress was unreal from the relentless attacks.

It may seem a bit paranoid, but I actually started to fear that I might be physically assaulted.....or worse.

I guess if there is any good to be taken from telling my story, it would be, that it proves beyond a shadow of doubt, how successful and threatening my for sale by owner company was, to the real estate industry in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. Now it is yours for FREE!

My methods and teachings worked so well I had to be eliminated. Imagine a for sale by owner company obtaining over 15% of all the residential homes for sale in a given city, and having a 95% sold rate!

I most certainly can understand their concern, but when you have competition, you rise up and make yourself better, not try to kill the competitor. It should be all about the client, not the commission cheque.

New Beginnings

In June 2002, my story takes a hard turn to the right, or is that left? :-). I started long haul trucking, delivering goods throughout Canada and the United States. Many long hours on the road and lots of time to think.

July, 2006

4 years later, I had an idea. Why don't I take all the information that I used to help the people of Lethbridge Alberta sell their own houses with that 95% success rate, and put it all on the web? Why not indeed. I could spread the word throughout the world, instead of one small city. It will cost me some time and some money, but it will be worth it.

I will offer all the information free of charge and I'll only ask that the people do not sell or copy the information, except for their own use. I'll also ask them to spread the word.

Help others get out from under the yoke of the overpriced real estate commission.

One Small Problem

Building a web-site and being a long haul trucker doesn't fit to well. The story of my life was, long hours driving with a bite to eat when able, and then off to sleep. Repeat cycle.

When I was home, I wanted to spend time with my wife so time was a problem. I never gave up on the idea and started studying how to build an efficient web-site that would generate traffic. I printed out large volumes of information and then put them in 3 ring binders. I'd read, highlight and study some more.

February, 2008

As my story continued,I found a local trucking job that paid well and allowed me to be home every night and on week-ends. Finally I had some time. More preparation.

More study. December 2008 I purchased a program, including web-hosting. Lots more study and then I started writing these pages and my home page went live on the 6th of June 2009.

My mind was working overtime. So much to tell. So much to write about. So much to share including my story. So many I hope I can help. I'm loving this! I have so much passion inside of me sharing my knowledge with you.

Looking Ahead

Because this web-site takes up a large portion of my time and also costs real dollars from my pocket, I'm hoping to generate some income from the site in the future, including perhaps some advertising.

The information you receive on how to successfully sell by owner though, will always be FREE.

Update December 2011

I have started adding some advertising to my site. This includes Google AdSense® and some affiliate links to merchants, where I may receive a small commission on sales generated from my site.

The Google Adsense® I have very little control of the advertising links. I can and do, block certain types of ads.

The affiliate links, are personally chosen by myself.

Please rest assured, that I will NOT recommend any merchants that I do not feel, provide a great product or service, to my readers.

I do extensive research on all vendors that I provide links to their web-site.

The vast majority of websites that I link to, have nothing to do with affiliates, but are there to add to your knowledge and experience.

Use Enjoy Pass it On

So dear reader, now you know my story and my motives. Use this site to save you thousands of dollars and send your friends, relatives and co-workers the address to this site.

Let people know what's available, in the forums you visit, on Twitter, Facebook and where ever else you roam. Arise FOR SALE BY OWNERS. Take charge!

To the Real Estate Salespeople

To the real estate agents that visit this site and read my story. Hey, some of you are good people. I know that. Unfortunately, you have far to many greedy agents in your industry.

As a professional, people trust you to look after their interest when they are buying or selling property. Do the right thing. Put the client above all else. When I was a Realtor® , I had a saying. "Take care of the client, and the money will take care of itself."

Your industry is always promoting the "Code of Ethics". They are only valuable, if you adhere to them. Remember, there are no gray areas, only black and white.

Something is either right or wrong, true or false.

There, I Done it!

My story was a very hard page for me to write. I wouldn't bother at all except, I believe you deserve to know something about me and my qualifications to write the information on this web-site.

Everything you read on the pages of this web-site including my story, is from my personal experience and is written from the heart. It is written with unabated passion. Besides, this is probably good therapy for me! :)

To Your Success!

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