Issue N°07 — The Practice
We keep the roster small on purpose.
Field & Key is three people — a broker and two agents — covering a handful of neighbourhoods well rather than a whole city thinly. Every house gets the same person from the first walkthrough to the closing.
Principles
Four rules.
Written down in 2019, pinned above the drafting table, unchanged since.
- 01
One house, one agent.
The agent who walks through your house on the first day is the one who hands over the keys on the last.
- 02
We measure and photograph it ourselves.
Every listing is drawn to scale and shot in-house. No stock angles, no fisheye lenses.
- 03
No open-house theatre.
Viewings are private and booked ahead. Buyers see the house, not a crowd.
- 04
An honest number.
We tell you what it is worth, not what you would like to hear — even when that means we don’t take the listing.
Drawing 04 — Method
How a listing works.
Six weeks, give or take, from the first knock on the door to the last set of keys.
W0
Walkthrough
An hour in the house with your agent, before any paperwork.
W1
Measure & photograph
Floor plans drawn to scale; every room shot in daylight and at dusk.
W2
Write the feature
A written piece about the house, not a list of its features.
W3
List
Published to our listings and sent to a short list of waiting buyers.
W4–5
Viewings & offers
Private viewings, then offers reviewed together, line by line.
W6
Close
Keys handed over by the same agent who started.
Drawing 05 — Section
So far.
2019
Helen Ostrowski leaves a large brokerage after a decade and opens Field & Key with a single listing on Argyle Street.
2021
A second desk for the ridge towns north of the city, as buyers start looking further out.
2023
Priya and Marcus join — Priya on the ravine lots, Marcus on the downtown towers. The practice passes 200 houses.
2026
Still three people, by choice. Issue N°07 goes out this autumn.
The office
142 Yonge Street.
- Hours
- Mon–Fri 9–6 · Sat by appointment
- Phone
- (416) 555-0100