Nanaimo Real Estate Agent, Ryan Coffey | Coast Realty Group

I suppose the best word to describe me is "eclectic". So far, I've had a life that has blended the typical everyday kind of life with things that really aren't. I'm one of those people who tries to get as much out of life as they can, and I do that by balancing simple pleasures with exploring new things on a regular basis. This is not to say that I'm a jack of all trades, as I've gotten proficient at a few things as I have spent much of my life studying the things which I wish to have a deeper understanding of.


Without going into dull details, I have a few backgrounds beyond that of Real Estate. The first 18 years of my life were pretty much devoted to becoming a chef.  Until I finished university, cooking professionally was how I made money when I wasn't going to school. If you live in Nanaimo, you may know the Wesley Street Cafe for example, I have been a cook there and at many other restaurants. Some fine dining, some not.
 I went to Malaspina (find it in my links section) to study Jazz music and eventually transferred to St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia to earn my B.A. I had been planning to become a High School music teacher because I had been inspired by a handful of teachers growing up, and disappointed by others so I wanted to make the same positive difference for some young people the way some of my teachers did for me.  After university, I spent four years living in Japan teaching English and studying some of the deeper aspects of Japan's cultural heritage. (Ask me about this if you're curious.) Most of my time there, I worked for a company called Berlitz where I taught mostly private lessons to various professionals who paid the big money to go to our schools, Doctors, Lawyers, Middle and Upper Management. Those sorts of jobs.
This is where most people ask me how good my Japanese is. Well, it's alright I guess, just don't expect me to make any speeches. My French is much better though as I grew up taking the French Immersion program at school.
Anyhow, after having gotten used to having a job and not being a poor student anymore, as well as having talked to a few of my cohorts who had already gone into public music education, I started to have second thoughts. I would have had to move back to Canada, become a student again and then be a substitute teacher for x number of years before I was hired for a job which I was no longer sure was for me. I was in my late 20's at this point, and although still young, I felt it was time to stop travelling like a gypsy on the run  and start a career that I could excel at while enjoying myself. I've never seen any reason why someone can't have fun doing a job and be good at it, they just have to choose the right one and make certain modifications to their habits and knowledge base. (i.e. work at it continually, and pay attention to the details)

I had become totally comfortable with the business world, living and working in the world's biggest city and teaching English to so many professionals from various fields had given me a rare opportunity to learn a great deal about the workings of the world of big business in so many professions. As my job was to teach business English, and to customize it to the life of each student,  it was part of my job to learn about their jobs and to strike up conversation about their work by learning what it is they do everyday and how their business world works. It made me realize that the world of business is not that intimidating at all, you just have to really want to do it and be able to recognize opportunity when it presents itself. After living over there for a few years, I had a chat with my mother, who does Mortgages for CIBC,  because of it, I realized that Real Estate would be a natural field for me. I had grown up hearing about real estate from her, I'm social, I like to do quality work, and I'm self motivated. I signed up for the licencing course from UBC  and began my studies while in Japan, as the course is one that is done by correspondence. Here's the part I'm proud of, I did most of my studying under these conditions and still managed to pass my exam on the first try (most don't):

http://youtube.com/watch?v=xCResA6IFQ8&mode=related&search=

Here's the busy time of morning (probably around 8am):

http://youtube.com/watch?v=_bNnQOMwxYs

Reading, underlining text, staying focused and doing all this while not really being able to hang on to anything because my hands were busy was pretty challenging.

After having spent 7 years away from B.C., I was so excited to return to my home island. There was no question in my mind that I had to live on Vancouver Island. Canada is definitely the country for me to live in because of its generally polite and well mannered population and it's carefree lifestyle, not to mention that it's my real home.  After having lived in Nova Scotia for three years and briefly Ontario, and then having driven across the country from coast to coast I knew that B.C. had to be the place. It was the combination of the mild winters and the stunning natural beauty of the area, not to mention the cultural diversity which gives us the potential for endless exploration of different ways of thinking and living. (You should see the kaleidescope of people from different cultures that show up at my dinner parties. It's always interesting.) It was just a question of which town, I had originally considered Victoria for a long time, but after some pondering I decided that the best place for me to live would be Nanaimo. Life here is certainly more affordable than Victoria and Vancouver, and if I feel that if I need my 'city fix' those places are easily accessed from here. I also feel safer here.  I value being near nature, and there are some incredible areas of true wilderness that are within one or two hours drive from my front door. Not to mention the lakes, waterfront and forest walks that are within walking distance of most places in this town. In short, the more I travel and see the world, the more I feel lucky to have been born on this island. Life here has a good balance of all the things I value most. There are those who complain about life here, but when I hear that, I always wonder what they think the rest of the world is like.