Feature Article

LEGENDARY REAL ESTATE FAMILY GOING STRONG

Written By: Angela Anderson
Published By: Calgary Real Estate News
Article Used with permission of the Calgary Real Estate Board. © Copyright Calgary Real Estate News, 2007
2006-11-23

In 1945, there were just 70,000 people living in Calgary and McKenzie King was Prime Minister of Canada for the third time. Now the population has reached one million, and there have been a dozen others to lead the country since.

While certainly a lot has changed in the city since that time, there’s one thing that has not.

The Signer family was just starting out in real estate then, and the family business, specializing in residential real estate, is still going strong today.

While father Gordon Signer passed on six years ago, his wife Helen Signer still holds her real estate license. The couple’s daughter Rosalee Krygier is still a busy REALTOR® and Krygier’s son Brad starting selling homes last year.

“I’ve been a Realtor for 26 years now, and my son Brad has been in real estate for 14 months and he’s doing really well. And we’re training my grand daughter. She’s 15 months old and she already knows how to open all the doors,” Krygier said.

Gordon Signer enlisted in the Canadian Armed Forces in 1943 and served two years in the army.

He then moved to Calgary to start a life and a family.

That’s where he met the love of his life, Helen.

Helen was born in Calgary and grew up in the then “tough” neighbourhood of Bridgeland.

“The kids in Bridgeland were tougher than anywhere else,” she remembers.

But growing up in the inner city neighbourhood did Helen good, she believes, and taught her the school of “hard knocks”.

To Helen, Signer was exciting to be with, as he was from Toronto and was always planning some other project, always on the go.

“He was always a salesman,” Helen said. “He tried many expeditions in sales.”

In addition to being a natural salesman, Signer was also a professional actor, appearing in several TV commercials and movies.

Signer entered into real estate as a salesman with Stuart Green Properties in 1945.

After a couple of years, he started his own company, Sig Bar and hired on over a dozen REALTORS®.

“He just hated it,” Helen said. “He just wanted to be a little company. He had his taste of a big company, and he said ‘No more.’ He didn’t want to.”

So Signer opened up his own smaller company, Gordon Signer Realty, and opened up the office at 1008 17th Avenue SW.

According to Helen, the company made great progress, and Signer decided to team up with Bob Nissen in 1973 to start Exclusive Home Sales, which is still around today, with about half a dozen associates.

The office was located on 17th Avenue SW for several years, but then moved to its current location, on Macleod Trail South.

A few years later, when Nissen retired and relocated to Campbell River, BC, Signer bought out his share of the company and continued the success.

Helen joined the game in 1974 and made the MLS Million Dollar Club in just three months.

And that was quite an accomplishment, as she recalls selling homes in the $50,000 price range.

“Those homes are now selling for $250,000 to $300,000,” she said.

Throughout all of the family members’ careers, they have been heavily involved in the Calgary Real Estate Board.

“Dad was very involved,” Krygier said. “He was mostly involved in the Professional Standards Committee.”

Krygier was involved herself, she was board president in 2002, and has been on “just about every committee there is,” in her career. She was also on the Board of Directors from 1998 to 2004.

Krygier said their small company has thrived in part because of the support of the Calgary Real Estate Board over the years.

“Working for a small company like we do, we don’t have the opportunity to network with other REALTORS® the way you do in a big company, so our association with the other REALTORS® really has helped,” Krygier said.

This article was written for Calgary Real Estate News, a division of the Calgary Real Estate Board, for the series “Legends of Real Estate” showcasing important members of the Calgary Real Estate Board. Please visit the Calgary Real Estate Board online.This article is part of the collection of the Calgary Real Estate News. Please visit them online.