Ask Martyn Balsky why he’s working in real estate and he’ll tell you it’s because he enjoys helping people.

Dig a little deeper and you’ll learn that all his experience have led to this career, beginning in his early days at a family business that manufactured menswear to working as a commercial real estate agent and recently in the remediation business.

In one form or another – from residential and commercial real estate to land development and remediation related to brownfields — he’s been putting together deals, scoping out sites and trying to find value for his clients.

The difference between what he’s done and what he’s doing is that now his energies are directed at finding the right fit for clients within an increasingly feverish real estate market.

“To be good at real estate you need to be a bartender, a wet nurse, a psychiatrist,” says the 51-year-old married father who is one of Freeman Real Estate’s newest agents. “You need to listen really well and to read between the lines as to what people really want. Sometimes clients can’t articulate their wants and needs. Our job is to ferret it out through profound questioning. You have to be able to articulate what most people can’t visualize.”

The Toronto native is skilled at reading people thanks in part to a vast and varied educational background that started with a philosophy degree from the University of Toronto, followed by a business degree program in management and administration (CIM), and a diploma in construction engineering.

What clients can expect with Balsky is a cool head, experience and a deep understanding of the dynamics of the real estate marketplace.

“I’m brutally honest if someone asks me for their opinion,” he says. “I will tell them what I think regardless of how gung-ho they might be. I think candour and truthfulness and integrity are values my clients appreciate and eventually warm to. This business is often fuelled by a lot of emotion and not a lot of reality. You need to have a clear head and a clear mind.”

Because his name and reputation are of paramount importance, Balsky rolls in a way that might be considered different than his colleagues. He worries that people are over leveraging themselves by buying houses that are over inflated. “People are buying on fairy dust they are so over leveraged.” If there is a significant correction it will be because those buyers who chose to purchase with mostly borrowed funds, could pull the market downwards.

A vocal critic of multiple offers for his clients, Balsky is the first to tell clients to steer clear whenever possible and have a maximum in mind that they are willing to pay regardless of the amount of offers.

“I always tell my clients it’s not preferable to engage in bidding-war scenarios,” he says. “It’s too emotionally charged and precarious and I think at the end of the day people may be over paying. I’m in this for the long run and I don’t want my clients to get burned.”