Feature Article

COMMERCIAL REALTOR® NEARLY MISSES HIS CALLING

Written By: Bryan Douey
Published By: Calgary Real Estate News
Article Used with permission of the Calgary Real Estate Board. © Copyright Calgary Real Estate News, 2007
2006-07-20

Calgary is still a very young city, so there aren’t many people who can boast nearly 100 years of local family history. But living legend of real estate Rex Hammill is one of them.

“I’m born and raised,” he said. “My parents came to Calgary in 1916.”

Born in 1921, Hammill has witnessed the ups, the downs, the twists and the turns of life in this city for nearly nine decades, a great bulk of that time spent as a REALTOR® and a broker.

Hammill has participated in many business ventures in his life, but the one that he seemed to be made for was real estate, which snuck up on him while he was pursuing other ventures in the early 1950s.

“I participated in a real estate venture and became very interested in it,” he said.

Never one to shy away from a new opportunity, Hammill applied his considerable work ethic to finding out more.

“I decided I would learn more about it,” he said. “A friend encouraged me, and sponsored me to take a course with the Calgary Real Estate Board.”

Hammill dove right into the industry, deciding very early on where he would focus his efforts.

“I became very interested in commercial real estate and purchased a small, existing company from a REALTOR® called Glenmore Realty Company Ltd,” he said. “I took evening courses at the university to become a broker, which was the early days for that kind of course, and soon I was an owner/broker.”

Calgary was very different back then according to Hammill. It was a very small city, not much further than the Scarboro area in the west, and not much further south than the Elbow River.

“In those days we had green sheets, which were the listings and sales posted daily,” he said. “We would drop down to the real estate board downtown to see what was listed. It covered all of Calgary, because it was so much smaller in those days.”

But Calgary was growing, and fast, so Hammill wasted no time expanding his business and his skills.

“I branched into industrial lands and buildings, and became so knowledgeable that I could conduct feasibility studies in order to show clients what they might be able to buy,” he said.

Hammill’s secret to success was hard work and knowing the players in your area of interest.

“I was known for dealing with companies that were moving into the area,” Hammill said. “My secret during those days was to give personal service. When they knew they were dealing with the owner of the company it helped a lot.”

Contacts are very important, according to Hammill, and so is knowledge. That’s why he attended as many conferences as he could manage.

“I attended conventions both at home and overseas,” he said. “I went to gain knowledge and contacts, and it helped me immensely.”

Hammill helped out his fellow REALTOR®s as much as possible, co-chairing volunteer lecture series along with Al Polsky for other members of CREB®.

“In those days the real estate board had no industrial/commercial division like there is today,” he said. “We had very knowledgeable REALTORS® who volunteered to give lectures and courses to other REALTORS®.”

Hammill’s biggest deal came in the mid 1950s, when he was approached by a purchaser who needed help convincing a seller to make a deal.

“The owners were suspect,” Hammill said. “They thought that he (the buyer) knew something about the land they didn’t. So the purchaser came to me and said they would write me a cheque for $50,000 if I could close the deal.”

Hammill did close the deal, through honest knowledge and his own reputation, making $50,000 in the process, which in those days was an awful lot of money.

“My big business was through referrals,” Hammill said. “I was very proficient at repping purchasers.”

Hammill worked hard his entire career, and retired in 1991 at the age of 70. But life wasn’t all about work. Hammill married, and had three children, who took up the bulk of his spare time.

“I worked hard,” he said. “But I really spent most of my time enjoying and participating in sports with my children.”

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.