Vancouver Realtor Paul Eviston Brings Heart to Selling Homes

One of the reasons realtor Paul Eviston enjoys open houses is that so many former clients drop by to say hello. After 30 years of selling homes in Vancouver, chances are that someone in the neighbourhood of his listing will know him. 
 

“I’ve had the pleasure of meeting so many fantastic people,” he says. “But a real estate transaction is highly emotional and highly intense for a short period of time, and then you’re on to the next deal. So it’s really great to catch up with people later on.” 

 

For 25 years, Eviston has been among the top one per cent of agents in Vancouver, and he has sold more than 3,500 homes. His colleagues note his exceptional ability to remember people, places and names. He has seen lots of changes as the real estate business has embraced the Internet, but he says the human element, meaning what people want out of the experience of buying or selling a home, remains the same. 
 

“I gain knowledge very quickly about what people want from a transaction, and I have that reputation of being able to move ahead and get things done,” he says. “It’s really enjoyable to work with people to achieve their goals.” 

Through the hectic years of growing his business, Eviston also managed a very active family life. Three of his four boys played several sports as they were growing up, including soccer, baseball, rugby and especially hockey. When they were young, he would coach their hockey teams, and as they progressed the time commitment for each of them amounted to 20 hours a week. “Real estate is a lifestyle,” says Eviston. “It was very demanding working around their hockey schedules and also running a business. But also a lot of fun.” 

In 2007, his second and third sons, Pearce and Bryce, had the opportunity to play hockey for a team in Stockholm, Sweden. They decided that Eviston’s wife Jaina would take them and their youngest son Quinn to Sweden. Eviston made several trips to visit them, including one in December during which the entire family traveled to the Czech Republic to watch Canada win the World Junior Championships. That year, he says, was one of the best adventures his family ever had. 
 

His travelling for hockey continues, with Bryce playing for a junior team this year in Philadelphia and Pearce playing for an affiliate team of the Minnesota Wild. 
 

Eviston’s company has become a family business, as his staff of four includes his nephew Edward Eviston and his oldest son Haydn, who has worked with him for five years. “It’s working out very well,” says Eviston. “He has a very good sense of people’s wants and needs, and he has a very engaging personality. For his age, his knowledge of the business is exceptional, and I guess that’s just a matter of having been immersed in it all his life.” 
 

Real estate, says Eviston, has extremely busy times but pays off with gratifying experiences of helping people. “I think when you’re doing something for the money, people get that pretty quick. But when you do something for the passion, and you enjoy it, the results just come a lot easier.”

  

Photo by Skylight Images