Longtime Oak Bay resident Scott Piercy is one of three Victoria realtors who are making the move to an international brokerage.
Piercy will be joined by partners James LeBlanc and Shelby Donald in opening a new office in downtown Victoria for Engel & Völkers, an international brokerage focused on luxury residential sales and property management, commercial real estate and yacht brokerage.
This is the second high-end real estate announcement in Victoria in the past few months. Newport Realty announced an affiliation with Christie’s International Real Estate in fall 2014.
“Engel & Völkers is a good fit for the calibre of real estate we have been focused on throughout our careers in Victoria,” said Piercy. “We were attracted to a firm that offers local ownership with the kind of premium level service we know our clients appreciate.”
Founded in 1977 in Hamburg, Engel & Völkers has grown to more than 540 offices around the world, with more than 5,000 employees. Other Canadian locations include two offices in the Greater Toronto area, an office in Calgary and a second Vancouver Island location in Nanaimo expected to open in April 2015.
Piercy, LeBlanc and Donald have each had long real estate careers in Victoria. Donald is a partner and the managing broker at Engel & Völkers’ Victoria office. She was most recently the owner and managing broker of Sovi Properties.
“It is a thrill to be joining a firm that has such a high-level of international experience in premium real estate,” said Donald. “Although we have many high-end listings, we are also a neighbourhood realtor, many of the properties we sell are family homes at a variety of price points throughout the city.”
Piercy has worked around the world, including in Australia and Costa Rica. He developed his reputation in Victoria working for Sotheby’s, working with clients locally and internationally. LeBlanc has a 20-year career as a licensed realtor. In 2012, Piercy and LeBlanc co-founded the Canadian branch of The Luxury Network, a consortium of luxury brands that cross promote one another.
“About 35 per cent of our buyers are from out of town, anywhere from Dubai to Luxembourg to China,” said LeBlanc.
Piercy, LeBlanc and Donald currently represent properties including James Island, listed at $75 million, as well as a $13.2 million home on Swanwick Road in William Head and a $5.5 million property on Salmon Road in Coles Bay.