If you had told Bethany Real Estate’s Jordie Westbrook he’d be helping his mom, Kathie Lycett, run a family-operated real estate brokerage out of Millbrook a handful of years ago, he might not have believed you.

Used to scaling internet towers in the area, Westbrook never pictured himself as a Realtor. When the opportunity to get certified arose in 2016 however, he jumped on it.

“Houses have stories,” he says two years later, sipping a latte at Millbrook’s Pastry Peddler. He says he’s always loved seeing homes and visualizing what they could be.

“It takes a certain person to see a home in a house. Every listing is an adventure. You never know what you’re getting yourself into.”

Westbrook immediately had an eye for unique and challenging listings, places he says have “souls.” His first sale came within months of officially donning the title of Realtor, the Yelverton United Church. More recently he helped a pair of buyers purchase Millbrook’s old TD Bank.

“My favourite house so far though was the Austin Powers house,” says Westbrook. The house was in Bethany and covered in gold accents and yellow shag carpets. The Bethany Real Estate duo marketed the home as a Powers’ paradise and both the sellers and buyers loved it.

“You wouldn’t touch that house except for maybe updating essential things like furnaces, the roof eventually,” Westbrook laughs knowing what a unique find it was. He says he looks for what makes a home “different and what makes it special.”

Westbrook was born and raised in Bethany. Though he now calls Rice Lake home, he remembers growing up on the area’s ski hills. Now — when he’s not out hosting open houses — Westbrook’s at home around the fire taking in the lake view and plucking away at familiar Santana tunes on his guitar.