Long before launching the CHIA Podcast, I believed that one of the best ways to create value in commercial real estate was to share knowledge openly and bring people together.
Between August 2018 and the end of 2023, I founded and cultivated the “Invest in Montreal Real Estate” Meetup Group, an educational community dedicated to helping investors, entrepreneurs, newcomers, developers, and real estate professionals better understand the Canadian and international real estate markets.
Over five years, I organized and hosted more than 30 educational events, primarily in person—with a few held online during the COVID-19 pandemic—bringing together hundreds of participants and a wide range of industry experts. Rather than focusing on sales, every event was designed to foster education, share practical insights, and encourage meaningful conversations.
Our events took place across multiple cities around the world, including Beijing, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Taipei, Vancouver, Toronto, Dallas, and Montréal, reflecting the increasingly global nature of real estate investment and cross-border business.
Throughout this journey, I had the privilege of inviting professionals from many disciplines to share their expertise, including:
- commercial and residential real estate brokers
- mortgage specialists
- lawyers and notaries
- property inspectors
- appraisers
- accountants and tax specialists
- succession planning advisors
- immigration professionals
- developers
- architects
- financial institutions
- investment specialists
- experienced real estate investors
The topics evolved alongside the market and the needs of the community. Sessions covered commercial real estate investment, multifamily properties, pre-construction projects, property inspections, financing strategies, immigration and investment, succession planning, legal protection, first-time buyers, international investing, market trends, passive income, and many other practical subjects.
Several events were presented in English, French, Mandarin, and Spanish, making knowledge more accessible to diverse communities and encouraging dialogue across cultures.
Looking back, these events were never simply seminars. They became a platform where people could ask questions, exchange experiences, develop professional relationships, and learn directly from practitioners actively working in the field.
As technology evolved and audiences increasingly sought flexible ways to learn, the educational mission naturally expanded beyond physical events.
That evolution led to the creation of the CHIA Podcast, which now reaches a much broader audience through long-form conversations with industry leaders, investors, developers, entrepreneurs, and specialists. While the format has changed—from conference rooms to microphones—the mission remains exactly the same:
To make commercial real estate knowledge more accessible, connect people across industries and cultures, and help others make better-informed decisions.
Looking back, the Meetup community was not the end of a chapter. It was the foundation of everything that followed.
