Why Us?
Kimsha Horvath, a Montreal native, moved to Toronto after completing a Bachelor's degree in Psychology at McGill University. Continuing her studies, Kimsha obtained a second Bachelor's degree, in Interior Design, from Ryerson University. She then worked as an interior designer at a mid-size Toronto interior design firm for more than 6 years, earning the accreditation required to become a registered interior designer and to review and approve building permit plans, as well as accolades for designing award-winning spaces. This is where Kimsha met her business partner, Alan Dalquen.
Since moving to Toronto, Kimsha has lived in many different neighbourhoods throughout the city, and is mindful, on a personal level, of the sometimes daunting task of finding a place to call home in a city of this size and diversity, and of making the decisions to sell homes that had provided comfort and enjoyment for many years. From this perspective, and with the eye of an interior designer, Kimsha is well-suited to help buyers find the sometimes hidden gems in a huge market, and to help sellers uncover the full potential of their homes to get top dollar.
Kimsha currently resides in the Beach with her husband, Shawn Wolfson, a real estate lawyer, and their daughter Avery.
Born in Newcastle, England, Alan immigrated with his family as a child and settled in Montreal. As a young adult, he moved to Peterborough to attend Trent University, where he obtained an honours bachelor's degree in chemistry. Alan worked in this field for 2 years before moving on to pursue a diploma in interior design from the International Academy of Design in Toronto. Since obtaining his diploma, Alan has worked in the field of interior design for more than 25 years, working his way up to design director at a mid-size Toronto firm whose team included his business partner, Kimsha Horvath, and then to head of corporate interiors for one of Canada's largest architecture, engineering and design firms.
In the more than three decades since moving to the Greater Toronto Area, Alan has lived in such varied neighbourhoods as Davisville Village, Chinatown, Rosedale, Leslieville and Forest Hill, and, as a result, has tremendous first hand knowledge of the sometimes hard to find areas of the City that will best suit his clients' needs. Coupled with his experience in interior design, there are few sales representatives better equipped to assist buyers and sellers alike to navigate the real estate market in Toronto.
Alan currently resides in the Rouge Hill neighbourhood of Scarborough with his wife, Mai, and two sons, Liam and Aidan.
Alan and Kimsha have been working together since 2002, originally in the field of interior design at a mid-size Toronto firm. Armed with their skills as accomplished interior designers and their knowledge of diverse Toronto neighbourhoods, Alan and Kimsha contemplated becoming house renovators and flippers and, to facilitate this, obtained their real estate licences. It did not take long, however, for them to realize that their enthusiasm did not stem from the prospect of buying, renovating and selling real estate for profit, but rather from the satisfaction that comes from helping people find places to call home (whether there be a white picket fence in front or not!) and to sell their homes.
The decisions to buy or sell (or both) are often daunting ones, not merely because they are the largest financially speaking, but more importantly because people are generally ill-equipped to wade through the volumes of information available (if publically available at all) with respect to locations, types of homes, design of homes and pricing, just to name a few. Alan and Kimsha have a wealth of first hand knowledge of real estate in many neightbourhoods in Toronto, having lived in a number of them. In addition, despite the saying, location is not in fact everything. With house prices continually on the rise in Toronto, it is becoming more and more important (i) for buyers to be able to find the hidden value in homes they are looking for, and (ii) for sellers to find the same hidden value to maximize their returns and make their homes more attractive to a greater number of buyers. With their interior design training, Alan and Kimsha are experts at making the hidden become apparent.
Born and raised in Montreal, Shawn Wolfson (legal advisor) moved to Toronto in 2000 after having completed his Law Degree and MBA at McGill University. Since then he has worked as an articling student, associate and now partner in a medium-to-large size law firm in downtown Toronto specializing in transactional real estate matters. Shawn acts for a wide range of clients, including large commercial property developers and managers, financial institutions, privately-held entrepreneurial concerns and, of course, individuals, and has developed a wealth of expertise in the drafting and negotiation of agreements of purchase and sale, loan agreements and leases. As an adjunct to his practice and testament to his expertise, Shawn is often called upon to consult on best practices in real estate in the context of solicitor negligence claims.
Shawn lives in the Beach with his wife, RE/MAX Hallmark sales representative Kimsha Horvath, and their daughter Avery.
