Merritt, Bc - 6 April, 2006 -

Jill Coster came to Merritt on a leap of faith, and she ended up finding something unexpected. Coster has spent most of her life in the Interior. She was born in Kelowna and grew up in Kamloops. When she headed to Victoria to get her political science degree she thought she would continue on to become a lawyer. After graduation her life took a different course. "I chose to travel instead," she says. "I spent two years exploring." In that time she visited many different countries and worked for a while in Egypt as a nanny. When she finally returned to Canada she headed back to school completing her paralegal training at Capilano College in North Vancouver. "It was a quick way to get into law without doing a law degree," she explains. Soon wedding bells rang and Coster and her new husband decided to leave the city and return to Kamloops where he had found work as a land surveyor. "We knew we wanted to raise kids in a smaller place," she explains. Coster worked as a paralegal up until her first child was born, then she spent 12 years raising her three children, Paige, 13, Alex, 16 and Harrison, 18. During this time Coster discovered a new passion, old houses. After returning to Kamloops she and her husband bought an older home in Kamloops. Through the years she changed a little something here and there and found it gave her great satisfaction to uncover what hidden potential was captured in that first home. After a few years they sold it to move to a small hobby farm in Barnheartvale, just outside of Kamloops. Soon construction began again. Down the road after she had seperated from her husband, the travel bug bit her once again. This time she was off to Mexico. "I spent a few years travelling there and taught ESL (English as a second language)," she says. "But I just couldn't stay away from the kids." So she returned to Canada and bought another little house in Kamloops. This was her fourth house and she again found she was renovating it and making it her own. That is when Merritt came into her life. Through his work in Kamloops, Coster met Alan Sanders. Gradually she started spending more time in Merritt until it only made sense to move here. "After about six months I became Merritt's biggest booster, so I started to look for work here," she admits. Finally in September 2004, she decided to take the plunge and bought another old house on Douglas Street. She came here planning to buy an existing business, but when that fell through she started considering her options. "A friend of mine was always encouraging me to become a realtor," she says. "But I didn't really like the reputation many realtors have." But she did love houses, so when she discovered PropertyGuys.com she decided to take a chance. PropertyGuys is the largest network of for -sale-by-owner property sales franchises in Canada. They offer owners a new way to sell their house on their own while still maintaining control. After she did a little research, Coster realize this was more her style. "I saw a PropertyGuys.com franchise in Merritt up for sale," she says. "It was one of the last ones in British Columbia so I just snapped it up." She believes people should be in control of how they sell their own home. With PropertyGuys.com the homeowner makes all the decisions and she is there to help them along the way. The fact that it was for sale by owner sold me on it," Coster explains. "I've sold all my houses that way and I believe in it." She adds that the fact that the owners, who are located in Moncton, N.B., are very professional and well established helped her make her decision. Now Coster is doing something she enjoys in the community she now calls home. Actually, it goes well beyond the boundaries of Merritt. Coster travels throughout the surrounding area offering home owners a chance to sell their homes on their own terms. She explains that for a flat fee of almost $500 the home owner gets basically the same services they would from a real estate agent without having to give up the commission. Coster admits there isn't enough real estate in Merritt to get rich with this new career, but it gives her great satisfaction knowing that she is helping someone sell their home. "It feels so good to do this for people," she says. "I like helping people sell their house. I love houses and looking at houses, this gives me a way to do that and help people." But Coster believes there are other opportunities available in this field in Merritt. She is considering getting into house staging. This is a method of making a person's house more appealing by making a few inexpensive changes before putting it up for sale. She said you can do a lot with a fresh coat of paint or a few new pictures or pieces of furniture. "When you live in your home for so long you sometimes forget what makes it special," she says. Coster believes she has been building up to this new path ever since she bought her first heritage home almost 25 years ago. But she admits it hasn't been easy in Merritt because people are set in their ways and it is hard to convince them that there are different ways of selling your home than just posting it with a real estate company. Still, Coster believes moving to Merritt was a great decision. She says living and being engaged to a guy who grew up in Merritt makes it a lot easier to move here. "It gives you a different way to look at Merritt," she explains. "I really like it. It is like Kamloops when I was growing up there." She thinks about how different it would have been for her if she had been successful in purchasing the business when she first moved to town but says she has no regrets. "Like a lot of things in life, I guess it happened for a reason," she says. "I love what I am doing and it allows me to come and go as I please and spend time with my kids." She is also becoming accustomed to the small town way of life. "I don't miss the city at all," she says. "Merritt is great and in three hours I can be in downtown Vancouver if I want to be." About PropertyGuys.com Established in 1998, PropertyGuys.com is Canada's leading private sale real estate marketing company with more than 60 licensed franchise units across the country. The company is a member of the Canadian Franchise Association (CFA) and has been recognized as one of the Top 25 Most Successful Canadian Franchise systems by Canadian Franchise Magazine. For more information: Jill Coster Owner/Operator ? PropertyGuys.com Merritt, BC Tel: 250-378-8311 E-mail: jcoster@propertyguys.com Ken LeBlanc, BBA President, PropertyGuys.com Inc. Tel: 1-866-666-9744 E-mail: kleblanc@propertyguys.com

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