Trailblazing Real Estate Broker, Cailey Heaps, Recognized at RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards
Wednesday, November 22, 2023
TORONTO – For the first time in its 31-year history, a real estate broker was a finalist in the RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards in acknowledgement of the bold, trailblazing approach Cailey Heaps, President and CEO of Heaps Estrin Team, has taken to build her company into a consistent #1 performer in Toronto and in Canada as a whole for Royal Lepage, achieving over $750 million in sales volume in one year. Year after year, the brokerage is in the top .1% of realtors in North America.
Out of 11,000 nominations from across Canada for a Women Entrepreneur Award, Ms. Heaps was a finalist in the most prestigious category – The Excellence Award.
Ms. Heaps has changed the perception of what a real estate company can be by building a business that celebrates and acknowledges the deeply-charged significance of home and the emotional investment – quite apart from the financial one – that consumers make when choosing to sell or buy a place to live. “To me, real estate is about community, connection and lifestyle,” she says. “I am immensely grateful to my team who share my desire to build a community that is invested in the wellbeing and happiness of others.”
She brings an intuitive, nuanced understanding of home as a place of yearning – for happiness, security, respite, and personal expression.
Contrary to the traditional approach of most brokerages, Heaps Estrin doesn’t view marketing with the same perspective. Ms. Heaps encourages a team approach for her 27 sales agents and 28 employees who engage with the needs of the communities they serve and build meaningful, trusted relationships. HERB, the Heaps Estrin Real Estate Buggy, which operates as a mobile coffee shop, rotates between local schools in key neighbourhoods during drop-off times to give parents a treat in their busy day. The team organizes Ice Cream Socials at popular neighbourhood parks in the summer and at the start of the school year. The company hosts skating parties and movie nights for free at local theatres or outdoor venues.
In 2022, Ms. Heaps opened The Lobby, a community space in Toronto’s popular midtown, bordering the Rosedale and Summerhill neighbourhoods. “The idea behind The Lobby is that there is no progress without innovation, “ Ms. Heaps comments. “The space is the physical embodiment of everything we do in addition to real estate.” The first real estate concept store in Canada, The Lobby functions as a retail environment, art gallery and event venue for presentations, charitable gatherings and panel discussions on a range of subjects. Pumpkins and apple pies are distributed at Thanksgiving. Santa Claus visits during the holidays.
She minted the concept of a “community concierge“, a dedicated staff member with a detailed knowledge of local home improvement experts and popular retail outlets . She has brought in designers who don’t otherwise have an outlet in the city, including the iconic sustainable line of Babouche slippers by Paris-based Canadian designer, Calla Haynes, and craftsmanship items from Fogo Island Workshops in Newfoundland, among others.
In early 2023, Ms. Heaps launched BEYOND, a luxury hybrid shelter/urban/real estate magazine at a time when many companies are abandoning printed marketing materials. With its second issue published in fall 2023, BEYOND grew in size and saw an increase in advertising clients. It has a print run of 27,000 with copies dropped on select doorstops in central Toronto and is sent electronically to a client database of approximately 35,000.
“It is about so much more than real estate for Cailey,” says Karen Yolevski, Chief Operating Officer, Royal LePage Real Estate Services.
“She understands that the people and community are looking for more. In many respects, the real estate business is about trust and feeling understood. Her team is working not just on a transactional level but as real builders of community. What Cailey is doing is unusual and daring, and we should applaud the creativity and risk-taking. I wouldn’t be surprised if we see more people following her idea because it has been so successful.”
Growing up in a family of entrepreneurs, Ms.Heaps, a mother of three children, learned from her parents about being what she calls “risk aggressive.” Her father, Frank Heaps, founded Upper Canada Brewing Company in the 1980’s, later selling the company to Sleeman Breweries. All three of her brothers are also entrepreneurs. Her eldest brother, Ian, is the founder of the Australian Boot Company, responsible for bringing Blundstones to Canada. Angus Heaps, the middle brother, owns a property appraisal business in Vancouver. Cameron Heaps co-founded Toronto-based Steam Whistle Brewing in 2000. Her mother, the late Heather Heaps, started a real estate career in 1986 and quickly became a top performer for Royal LePage. Cailey Heaps joined the company in 1999 and worked alongside her mother until her death from ovarian cancer in 2019. She has built on the foundation of what her mother started, continuing an ethos of “people above all else.” Deeply influenced by her mother’s legacy of giving back to the community, Ms. Heaps is well known for her team’s widespread and generous philanthropic initiatives in support of many community and charitable causes, including Princess Margaret Hospital, Make A Wish, SickKids, Community Food Centres Canada, Habitat for Humanity and LGBT Youth Line, among others.
Data on Heaps Estrin
Heaps Estrin has been the #1 top performer for Royal LePage in Canada since 2019, which means that Ms. Heaps and her team are outperforming more than 20,000 realtors across the country. In Toronto, the team competes with over 77,000 members of the Toronto Region Real Estate Board and is the #1 performer in the highly-competitive Central Toronto market for any brokerage. The company has achieved over $2.5billion in sales since the start of the pandemic. Their 2023 sales volume exceeds $700 million. Projected for 2025 is the target to achieve $1billion in sales volume in a year. Year after year, the company is in the top .1% of realtors in North America.
About RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards
The RBC Canadian Women Entrepreneur Awards is the leading women’s awards program in Canada, now in its 31st year. Over 11,000 nominations are submitted across the country for a total of eight categories of awards. The Excellence Award category is the most prestigious. Through innovation, strategic thinking and smart execution, the recipient of this award has built and managed a business for a period of ten years and has a proven track record of growth, profitability and industry leadership.
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