a bit of a bio...

In 1980 Tony Welland was licensed as a realtor. It wasn't his dream job when he jumped in, it was a bit of an experiment, a hope more than anything. And here he is, four decades later, doing it, enjoying it.

In 1984 he started his first company, REMAX homestead realty ltd. Over the years he has experienced almost all aspects and roles in the Ottawa area real estate world. His company, TONY WELLAND REAL ESTATE, works almost entirely with repeat and referral clients, and while residential real estate is Tony's forte, he'll also handle your income or investment property. And if he can't handle your real estate project, he'll point you in the right direction.

When Tony graduated from Carleton University in Sociology and, of course, Psychology, in 1968, the world was a little different. It was the Sixties after all. He travelled a lot. Son of a sailor, he seems to have been programmed to move. His footsteps are everywhere, on most continents. He has scrubbed decks on a yacht in the Caribbean, picked blueberry fields in BC, and been mesmerized by beer bottles on the production line of a defunct brewery in Ottawa's Lebreton Flats. Throughout the '70's Tony was a social activist living in and out of the Inuit arctic and is a co-author of the Inuit Land Use and Occupancy Report, ground-breaking research used as a basis for the formation of the Nunavut Territory. Tony worked with the Canadian Wildlife Federation, at Parks Canada, with the Office of Native Claims, and carried a briefcase as a Special Assistant to the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs. Over the years, and often with a backpack, he has wandered South America, Australia and New Zealand, Western Europe, parts of Africa and Central America, and scoured almost every corner and coast and nook of North America.

His adventurous and enlightening real estate career has brought him face to face with many people, many markets. There have been a lot of changes, ups and downs. 20% interest rates. Stock market crashes. Booming economies. Others less so. Now COVID-19. There have been so many clients. They keep him going, keep him here. A long real estate career brings the bearer in close, often wrenching contact with many of people's deep emotions. Most of you are excited, thrilled when you're buying that place of your dreams, the home for your children to grow, that sanctuary for your own growth. But some people must sell for reasons that they really don't like. Personal changes can be forced, sad, very difficult. Tony's there with his clients, all of you, doing what he can, and keeping it to himself. Private. Today his business is well over 95% by referral, and of those people, more than 75% are repeat clients. And as that weathered realtor, riding shotgun with people's real estate lives, he has found his place with friends and clients, and with your children and with your aging parents. Full cycles of life.

His business has evolved into a passion where he follows you, his client, wherever you have moved or want to move, in Ottawa and the area and even to other parts of the world. His work is a big part of who he is. And he is an expert. He's a listener, an advisor, an analyst and a facilitator. He believes fairness should drive every transaction. He is the negotiator you want on your side. He works closely with other realtors, with lawyers, photographers, building inspectors and handymen, septic guys and city planners, bankers and mortgage brokers, and is well known and respected throughout Ottawa's real estate community. As one of Ottawa's most experienced realtors, he'll get the most effective job done for you. As a client recently reminded him, he is the consummate professional.

Tony is a family man, father, grandad, step-father, husband. He's a naturalist, a birder, a writer and photographer, a traveller and hiker, an old-timers hockey player, golfer and boater, and once and for always an idealist at heart. When he goes off to see lions in the Serengeti, warblers at Point Pelee, ruins in Ireland or Crete, the Resplendent Quetzal in Costa Rica... or when's he's sitting by the Rideau or relaxing with his family, he always has backup, a compatible and responsive colleague to help you with whatever it is you need during his short times away. Tony works his business full-time, all the time, but has learned how to enjoy the benefits and freedoms that accompany his work. He values the recharge times as necessary and beneficial, not just to himself and his family, but to all who work with him.

His are the hands of experience. He's here to share them with you.