Between selling homes and renovating homes, I have to get some weightlifting in. I love the physicality of renovating and selling homes. Renovating is back breaking work. I lift heavy so I can wield a sledgehammer to put in signs or to take down walls. Yesterday to the horror of everyone at the building supply store, I hefted two toilets out to the parking lot, lifted them into my van, then carried them into the house we’re renovating. I can say I did that with no problem, and wouldn’t have been able to if I didn’t lift at the gym multiple times a week.  

People ask me all the time how to get into flipping houses, Real Estate or Renovations. The truth is most successful folks in any profession didn’t get there just from work experience alone. Education, be it through UBC Sauder School of Business for Real Estate Licences, or Trades from Camosun or BCIT is the foundation for success.

Employers don’t want to teach you how to use excel, market properties or hold your hand teaching you a skill or trade. Employers and clients want YOU to be educated and bring skills TO them. Make yourself so skilled and educated that no one can refuse your talents. And that starts with educating yourself.

When I started in Real Estate there was no mentoring program at my brokerage. I had to beg a Realtor at each point of the transaction how to market, write offers, broker-load properties into MLS. My renovation skills happened over decades being surrounded by skilled tradesmen and tradeswoman in my family. All of these skills learned are the result of wanting to learn! 

So to anyone interested in Renovations or Real Estate - don’t expect an employer to arm you with skills. Go out and learn them for yourself, bring something to the table. 

Get a licence, get a trade. Don’t expect to learn everything from work experience, and keep learning. Did you know the supplemental Property Management and Strata Management exams, Broker’s exam all count as credits towards our manditory PDP credits needed to reinstate our Realtor licences? Well they do! :) 

As a General Contractor and Realtor I’m not just stacking up my licences I’m stacking up my skills. Drywalling, minor plumbing and electrical, basic framing, painting, roofing, welding, you name it I’m always picking up new skills and trades from Camosun, YouTube, DIY books. If you’re a woman who’s curious to pick up a trade check out this BCCWITT offering - recruiting for a ‘Try a Trade’ program - awesome! 

After renovations and showings with buyers I’m sitting down to study at night, recording audio files of condensed chapter notes to pass the UBC Sauder Strata Management exam. I’ll be forever upping my game, and encourage those wanting to break into Real Estate to do the same.

Big thanks to Dad Stack who raised me like a son. Women can do anything. 💪

Enjoy ICF construction & panoramic views from this incredible custom home that has won multiple building & design awards. This west coast luxury home opens to a dramatic foyer with 20ft ceilings leading into an open concept living area situated to soak in the south facing ocean & mountain views through expansive picture windows.

A luxurious kitchen features white ash cabinetry, granite countertops & an integrated range also positioned towards the view, perfect for entertaining. Main floor also has large office and incredible sunroom. Upstairs you will find a media room and impressive private retreat. The main bedroom includes a soaker tub backed by a feature hand crafted glasswork art piece, with walk in granite tile shower, walk in closet, & private deck.

Enjoy panoramic views from this incredible home built from ICF (Insulated Concrete Form) meeting (2006) R-2000 standards. Awarded the Gold CARE Award for Best Custom Home over 4,500sf and the Award for Indoor Environmental Achievement & Energy Efficiency, this home was also the ICFA Sustainability Award Winner, as well as an ICF Builder Association Award Winner.

Downstairs has a 2nd bedroom & studio perfect for a home based business, PLUS a 2 bed suite. Features; exotic tigerwood & polished concrete floors, smart wiring, expansive decks, storage areas & garages.

Floor Plans - Upstairs and Main Level

Upon entry, 20ft soaring ceilings lead you towards the entertainer’s kitchen. High end appliances, dual ovens and a cooktop positioned towards the view and breakfast bar. Cook and entertain at the same time!

Gorgeous tigerwood flooring and surround sound speakers complete the living area with oversize fireplace and windows to take in the breathtaking views of ocean and mountain range. Mt. Baker is front and centre on a clear day.

The expansive sunroom is wired for a hot tub, and currently set up as an office with seperate entry to the backyard.

The entire upstairs is the Primary retreat - perfect for today’s executive. Large decks off the 3rd level and landing above garage, a soaker tub with a view in the Primary as well as large walk in closet and luxury bathroom with hand blown glass feature shower.

This home was not built en mass or by a builder making a cookie cutter home in a subdivision. This home was custom built with every detail considered.

Floor Plans - Lower Floor

Downstairs does not dissapoint! Double garage with 3 extra parking spots outside for guest parking or boats, classic cars, this garage features a utility room with sink (perfect for gardening supplies) as well as a large storage room (labelled Utility). With this much storage you can use your garage as a garage!

Office/Utility noted on plan is currently used as a home hair salon but would be perfect for a home office or home based business with seperate patio and entrance.

Guest bedroom and two more large utility and storage rooms including laundry and another bathroom. The 2 bedroom suite with 9’ ceilings features an open concept kitchen and living area as well as private patio.

This home has been well looked after and is a treat to show. Book your showing today! 48 hours notice needed to show.

We found some cool Vintage FSBO House For Sale Signs at our latest project and decided to clean them up for the StackHaus office! 

Stackhaus Realty is excited to have our office in action for clients to drop by and talk shop. Real Estate is done mostly over the phone, on location of the listing or via docusign, but sometimes my clients do need to meet in person, and we at StackHaus Realty encourage it! 

We’re talking confidential information and that’s sometimes easier face to face. Plus we can go over documents, options and inventory together, in person. It’s the in-person interactions that convey a lot in Real Estate. I love to present offers in person and of course do listing presentations face to face. It’s a dialogue, and you’re hiring us to negotiate in your best interest. 

In the next month we’re bringing 3 new houses to the market! We’ll be bringing a a super luxury WestShore Award Winning house to the market with 20 foot ceilings and ICF Construction, a starter house with room for further development also in the Colwood area. Tomorrow we’re getting media ready, pics and videos for our new furnished house rental in Esquimalt. StackHaus is busy! 

Our construction and renovation side of the business has also taken off and we’re going to have to start an entirely new company to keep up. Again, what better than to have a physical office to go over finishes and plans? We’ve got plenty of coffee and a vary misbehaved corgi on retainer here on Wordsley St. in Esquimalt :) 

Meetings are by appointment only and we’d love to have you over - contact us anytime for any of your Real Estate needs! 

Big meeting in the big city calls for a round trip on Harbour Air & as someone who used to commute between Vic & Van for work, I know what a treat it is! I used to spend $$$$ a month on ferries, they knew me in the buffet! Ha. RIP Pacific Buffet, you are gone but not forgotten. 

✈️⛴️🏝️ Victoria to Vancouver is at least 4 hours via BC Ferries which would have been an 8-9hr commute, cut down to 2 x 35 minute flights - just the best.

Living in Esquimalt I’m only a $12 cab ride away from the Inner Harbour Seaplane Terminal, so nice to be home so fast! We truly do live in paradise, and so awesome to see those gorgeous North Shore mountains and gulf island farms sprinkled in snow.

Check out my trip over our snowy wonderland via my personal reels via instagram below. 

A few weeks back it was halloween and I was about to purchase 2 wigs to do a Milli Vanilli short video for some funny social media content, one of my listings had sold and in the video I was going to be singing “Girl I’m gonna miss you” as a goodbye to my listing…..

Welp, my husband reminded me that I’m a Managing Broker, Award winning 15+ year Realtor, Property Manager, Broker Owner, And Entrepreneur for 20 years. He basically told me I was selling myself short and far too professional to be making a video for cheap laughs with a wig. 

At first I was mad that he stopped me from humiliating myself (lol) but after a couple of months I get it. I AM a boss and I don’t need to be making shorts for cheap likes. People hire me for my expertise, and I don’t need to make videos begging for likes based on my hotness or beauty. I prefer to be hired for my brain, my years and years of proven success, professional marketing expertise and general contracting knowledge.

It’s a fine line between being engaging and entertaining, and unless I’m marketing a listing I’m not dancing for my dinner. If you want to see my Milli Vanilla dance you’ll have to hire me as a Realtor, Property Manager or General Contractor :) 

Back to work - Christina 

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When I wrote my Broker’s exam and became an Associate Broker, my clients were confused. I still get people asking me if I can help them with their mortgage. Let me explain, I’m a Real Estate Broker, NOT a mortgage broker. 

What’s a managing broker? 

A managing broker's responsibilities apply to all activities of the brokerage that require licensing under RESA. The managing broker must be in active charge of the business of the brokerage and must ensure that there is an adequate level of supervision of the professionals engaged by the brokerage.

In short, I am a Realtor, who operates and owns my own Brokerage as Managing Broker. I am also a Licenced Property Manager. Because I hold both Real Estate Trading Services AND Property Management, as a Broker I am able to employ agents with either licence under my own brokerage. And will! 

Being a Broker means being held to a higher standard of responsibility. Period. I am invested in the future of Real Estate in Greater Victoria, celebrating 15 years of award winning service in Real Estate. I have been renovating and self-employed in a General Contractor capacity for over 20 years. 

Having been a member of the Victoria Real Estate board for 15 years I have experienced first hand the ups and downs of the Real Estate market, I’ve found dozens of buried oil tanks, lived through hundreds of shocking building inspections, and mitigated and negotiated hundreds of stressful offers and transactions. 

As managing broker of my own independent Real Estate firm I don’t send a single dollar to any non-Canadian franchise. All of my hard earned commission and renovation profits stay right here on Vancouver Island. 

We purchase Canadian materials, bank at local credit unions and have been fiercely supporting the local economy for the entire time I’ve been self-employed here in Victoria. I don’t buy fast fashion or shop on Amazon, it’s hyper local all the time - very Vancouver Island. I wouldn’t be celebrating 20 YEARS of entrepreneurship if I wasn’t so conscious to support my fellow island entrepreneurs. I appreciate them so much, and owe a great deal of my success to my fellow local self-employed businesses. 

8 years ago I was living in downtown Washington D.C., a foreign correspondent covering the Women’s march, Inauguration, and administration turnover. My German passport is still valid offering me EU Residency, and my US Green Card arrived in the mail last week. I’ve lived in England, New York, Melbourne for a total of 5 years outside of Canada, and travelled over 45+ countries. I speak English, broken German and Manhattan slang. 

The only place I want to be? Home. Home is Canada, and home is Vancouver Island. 

To be self employed in Canada vs. USA is a big difference. Universal healthcare in Canada fosters entrepreneurship. I am not tied to a job or company because of the ‘Golden Handcuffs’ of Health Insurance provided by employment like so many in the USA. I am free to work for myself and still have health insurance. It’s something I don’t take for granted. 

Canada has been good to me, and I can say that as a First-Generation Canadian. I have no extended family here, have earned everything I have through sheer hard work and determination. There was no Mommy-Daddy start up fund given to me, no financial support from any family member or spouse, just me and my work ethic. 

If you’re thinking of starting a business or are interested in becoming a Realtor or Property Manager, please reach out! I’m always happy to help - collaborations, marketing advice, incorporating support, pep talks :) 

Let me introduce myself again! I’m Christina Stack, CEO of StackHaus Realty Inc., full time Realtor and member of the Victoria Real Estate Board since 2010, Multiple Silver and Bronze MLS Award Winner, Property Manager and General Contractor. 

StackHaus Realty Inc. has grown SO MUCH in the past few months, we have hired multiple skilled tradespeople to help us with our new listings coming up, and starting 2 other renovations next month. We also have new rental listings coming up! So exciting! Going to be bringing a couple of GREAT rental listings to the market soon as well, we’re so so so busy and couldn’t be happier! 

Today I dropped off 8,000 more postcards to be delivered to our hometown of Esquimalt! So if you’ve come here as a result of our trusted Canada Post Service - welcome! We are StackHaus Realty Inc., a female-owned, female run independent Real Estate Brokerage that is Victoria’s TRIPLE THREAT firm! We are Real Estate specialists that represent Buyers, Sellers, Property Management AND offer in-house General Contracting. 

Our value added construction skills offer a one-stop shop to maximize your Real Estate investment and transaction process. We can spruce your listing up to get top dollar and sell FAST. Check out our recent renovations here on the blog, Lampson St. or our new Colwood listing - flipping to sell. 

We are also able to offer buyers the same benefits - check out our recent work on Albina St. here on the blog where we helped a new buyer (and great young family) paint out their house as well as swap out some easy fixtures before they moved in. StackHaus has got your back! 

Mind for Real Estate, Heart for Construction

I love the physicality of renovating a space. As General Contractor I’m mostly the boss lady behind the scenes — drafting floor plans, applying for permits, ordering supplies and fixtures, scheduling, calling folks.

I owe my hands on skills to great folks like my late step-father Norm who taught me how to paint like an professional, and my former partner Chris who taught me everything about furniture and high end finishing.

Interior painting and landscaping are my true trades and I always make sure to be involved in both aspects when our team is flipping or renovating a property.

I just love painting and hardscaping/landscaping, it gives me immense pride and joy to breathe new life into a tired space.

We’ve had multiple people chipping away at this large estate in Colwood! We’re sorting things for an estate sale and will have some amazing opportunities for folks to purchase vintage diesel Mercedes’ (plural!), beautiful mid-century German furniture, German books and records, basically everything is made in Germany :) 

Turns out there’s a house behind these shrubs! As a Realtor, my ultimate pet peeve is overgrown trees, trees and bushes that are not pruned can take over your entire property! Check out the after results below…we’re getting there! Working hard to get this house ready for the spring market….

After our Buyers took possession of their new home we got to work the next day! Spackling, caulking and prepping the entire house with the help of the buyer’s and their family.

Ceilings were painted with Cloverdale Paint’s ‘Ceiling White’ of course, walls were the Cloverdale dupe of Benjamin Moore’s Oxford White, named ‘Marshmallow’ and we all loved the colour! Trim was done by the buyers later in a crisp no tint white in a satin finish. With the help of their family and friends (which was many! A testament to how great these new home owners are :) we went through 17 gallons of paint and finished in 4 days. 

The buyers, helpers and us painted out 4 other rooms not shown, and Nicky and the buyers switched out some electrical fixtures in the living room and kitchen as shown, the buyers even painted out the trim before they moved in! Most buyers will not fix anything after the 6 month date after moving in. Do it right away when the furniture isn’t in the way and enjoy your new home. So proud of these new home owners! 

Being able to broker the deal was a real treat. It took me 2 hours of work to convey this deal, and I encourage more Realtors to get their Broker’s licence. Of the apx 30,000 Realtors in BC, only apx 2600 have their broker’s licence (apx 1300 are managing brokers). How many of those are independent non-franchise owners? The are the minority. How many of the non-franchise brokerages are owned by a woman? Not many! It is a privilege. 

We were invited by the buyers (who are old friends) together with their family that helped get their home ready to celebrate Solstice over a fire roasting marshmallows and hot dogs :) The family knew all the words to an Italian Christmas Song, “Dominick the Donkey” which of course Nicky Valinoti knew the words to as well! 

Congratulations to the new home owners! xo 

Congratulations to my wonderful buyers on the purchase of their first home, a 1940’s character house in the Gorge area of Saanich. Legendary listing agent Jerry Bola was wonderful to work with, friendly and knowledgable! So proud of my buyers for working so hard and sacrificing so much to make home ownership in Victoria a reality. 

I’ll be there on closing day in my overalls, with painting supplies and champagne! We’re also starting our next huge flip, a house in Colwood that needs another gut renovation - our favourite! 

Call StackHaus Realty for all your Real Estate needs - Buying, Selling, Property Management. 

Check out the video we did highlighting all of our renovation and marketing skills. Thank you to our awesome seller and congratulations to the new owners - welcome to Esquimalt! 

When the owner of this townhouse called me and said they needed a local company to transform their rental into a freshly updated home they called the right folks! StackHaus Realty of course! 

Nicky and I got to work removing the old carpets and garbage left by the previous occupant, and gave this home a beautiful turnover in just a matter of weeks. No renovations needed! This property was updated as a tenant turnover, which involves fixing things that have broken over time like shower curtain rods, toilet lids, replacing fixtures like door knobs and updating appliances. Then cleaning and painting every surface! 

As a former NYC Building Superintendent Nicky has turned over plenty of co-ops and apartments (or condos as we say here:) We’ve implemented the NYC co-op paint scheme (UWS Manhattan, you’ll see the same colours used in many listings there). Ceiling white for the ceiling, two coats, walls got Linen White with built in primer, and trim and cabinets are painted in crisp white no tint semi gloss, doors as well. 

There’s a great Rustoleum product that gives countertops a fresh update - buy it on Amazon. We went with plain white but you could bring it to a paint store to tint it any colour you like. 

We donated the plants to friends and used Atlas Junk Removal for the bin rental, they were great with their timing and dispatch. They took the old fridge and stove and were extremely good with timing the removals (we filled 4).

The garbage removal took a week, including removing the upstairs carpets. The deep cleaning and paint prep another week. Each wall was scrubbed, literally, with a big scrubbing sponge and a TSP solution, then rinsed. Your reminder that when washing walls with TSP you want to be extremely careful to wear goggles and long rubber gloves, it’s nasty, but the best way to get a perfect paint finish. 

After the entire place is washed up we started on the other step to paint prep. Replacing some baseboards and damaged trim, caulking everything everywhere, filling ten million holes, waiting for them to dry, sanding and repeating :) It’s a lot of work and very time consuming but necessary. Taping the flooring downstairs, covering windows and baseboards, the prep is WERK. 

Painting the walls seems to take no time at all, but I would argue painting trim takes years off my life. Door frames, doors and doorknob removal, trim, window trim, trim on trim. The kitchen cabinets got a fresh coat of paint and so did the countertops.

Outside we pressure washed, gave the outside landscaping a hard pruning and clean up. Usually carpets take forever to coordinate installation in Victoria with a month lead time, but the folks at End of the Roll got us an awesome deal on high traffic berber and coordinated with us on a speedy installation. 

One of the toughest things about scheduling a cosmetic makeover like this is timing the flooring and appliances. Appliances (and furniture I would add) take forever to order when not in stock. We didn’t replace any cabinets so the oven and fridge were replaced where they were before, just now in shiny stainless steel. They came after the listing went live so we did some virtual staging to show potential buyers what the kitchen would look like with the fridge.

We’ve put the listing live on the market and have had a lot of interest! Leads have been coming in from Realtor.ca, buyer’s agents and open houses. Thanks to our Seller for the opportunity and very excited for the new owners to take over this space and call it their own. 

We had the nice folks at Real Foto do our photos and floor plans (including the virtual staging) and got to work marketing the property with online marketing and open houses. The open houses were super busy and we SOLD QUICKLY thanks to all the attractive fresh updates. 

Here’s our video again showcasing our before & after process. StackHaus Realty is YOUR Greater Victoria FULL SERVICE Real Estate Brokerage.