BORN TO SELL
Amir Mizrahi has invested a part of himself in Leaside Manors development
Amir Mizrahi recalls visiting his grandmother in Tel Aviv, catching crabs on the beach and placing them in a bowl.
“I sold them on the street,” he says, “$1 for crabs with one claw and $ 2 for crabs with two. When I went inside my grandmother’s house, there was nothing left inside the bowl. ‘ You’re going to be a salesman one day,’ she said.”
At age 44, Mizrahi has racked up an impressive 24- year streak as top salesperson at Bridlepath Progressive Real Estate Inc., a full- service brokerage that happens to be the exclusive agent for luxury properties built by The Shane Baghai Group of Companies.
“Amir came to us as a 20- year- old,” says company president Shane Baghai. “We were impressed with this chic and debonair young man who understood the type of properties we were developing so well that he could soon describe them to customers as well or better than I could. He always inspires me to prepare myself to answer hundreds of detailed questions he’s likely to ask about each property he represents. He presents each sale to clients like a beautifully wrapped gift, skilfully opened to reveal what’s inside.”
Mizrahi uses his encyclopedic knowledge of properties to make it easy for clients to choose the right property. He’s also leveraged his detail-oriented approach to developing several properties himself. He’s renovated seven homes and built two, including the home in which he lives.
“I’ve always had a keen eye for design,” he says. “Going into so many well- designed homes and knowing them thoroughly inspires you to want to build homes yourself.”
That’s no threat to Baghai, who says he feels a sense of accomplishment when a protégé makes a first foray into building. He’s trained many of Toronto’s most successful custom builders.
“The more successful some of them have become, the more proud I am,” he says. “I often think of my enterprise as an institution of learning. We’re all mortal, but we can live on in the legacies we leave behind.”
Mizrahi has sold homes created by t op builders across Ontario, but he says he feels a special relation- ship to the Baghai developments exclusively represented by his sales team. That’s because sales agents are involved on the ground floor in each of these developments.
Baghai’s current development, Leaside Manors, located in Toronto’s Leaside neighbourhood, was designed by Rafael + Bigauskas Architects. However, a handpicked team of 10 top agents, including Mizrahi, have been involved in development at the ground floor. They confer with the architects, the engineers and the designers. They meet with the tradespeople who will build it and are intimately involved in the design process. The original plans for the luxury building included as many as 70 suites.
“But we looked at the area and realized that people in the neighbourhood were looking for something larger,” Mizrahi says. “Perhaps they’re ready to move from homes in the area but aren’t ready to move into a smaller condominium unit. We recalibrated the building to 39 units featuring two bedrooms and den or three bedrooms and den — large enough to accommodate people used to living in a house.”
The development features an electronic concierge, living room fireplaces, 80-inch flat-screen televisions, Miele appliances, kitchen cabinets imported from Italy, porcelain floor tiles from Spain and doors and trim by Baghai’s in-house custom cabinetry division.
“Choosing these luxury appointments and features and l ooking f or ways to keep maintenance fees affordable is a team effort,” says Mizrahi. “Being part of that team and knowing this building inside and out allows me to look for the specific buyer who can appreciate the location, the value and the details that have gone i nto creating these avant-garde suites.”
When buyers are matched to the right property, something magical happens, he says.
“The character of the individual who lives there begins to radiate from that sanctuary. I’ve already invested part of myself into this building. The success of this project and the contentment of those who find a sanctuary here is also my success.” For more information: Bridlepath Progressive Real Estate Inc., brokerage (416) 449- 0090; Amir Mizrahi (416) 722-5255