Brad J. Lamb

Brad J. Lamb (born 1961) is a Toronto-based real estate broker and developer. He is one of the most well known figures in the Toronto real estate industry, and has a reality television show named Big City Broker on the HGTV network.

Lamb was born to middle class parents in Vancouver. His father was an Air Canada pilot and his mother a registered nurse. In 1967 the family moved to Montreal where they settled in the Beaconsfield neighbourhood. He attended Queen's University where he obtained a degree in engineering. Lamb worked as an engineer for a few years, but also began to pursue investing in property. He bought his first townhouse in London, Ontario in 1984, two years later selling it for enough profit to purchase three other townhouses. While profiting from these transactions Lamb also noted how much his real estate agent was making on his property deals. Also bored with engineering, Lamb obtained his real estate license and began working as an agent in 1988.

He went to work for Harry Stinson's real estate company and became a specialist in selling condominiums. He quickly became one of the most successful agents in Toronto, prospering in the late 1980s property boom. In 1995 he left Stinson to start his own firm, Brad J. Lamb Realty. While remaining a small agency, it rose to become the most prominent seller of condominiums in Toronto. In 2007, at the height of the property boom, his company's agents sold some 2000 condos worth about $700 million. The market slowed considerably in 2008, but the firm still moved about $550 million in real estate. His company has specialized in selling entry level condos with a focus on first time buyers.

In 2001 Lamb founded Lamb Development Corporation. It has specialized in smaller condominium projects, such as Flatiron Lofts, Glas, Mondrian, and One Six Nine. It has built, or is building, some 1400 residential units. The company has also spread beyond Toronto to build structures in Ottawa, Montreal, and Philadelphia. Lamb has consistently advocated in favour of urbanism and for quality design and urban planning. Unlike most Canadian development companies Lamb Development Corp. has not entered the lucrative suburban subdivision business. Lamb has also criticized the suburbs for their ecological and social effects.

Lamb rose to prominence in part from his ubiquitous advertising in Toronto. His firm has long advertised through billboards, and the ads have focused on Lamb himself. The best known of these ads was the 2007 campaign that depicted a lamb with Lamb's head and the slogan "This Lamb Sells Condos." His ostentatious lifestyle has also attracted much attention, including traveling about the city in a Rolls Royce or Bentley. He is also physically imposing, being 6'5" in height.

A "fictional manifestation of Lamb" was the subject of a song "This Lamb Sells Condos" on the 2006 Polaris Music Prize winning album He Poos Clouds by Canadian songwriter Final Fantasy.

References

• Whyte, Murray. "Not just a condo wolf in Lamb's clothing?" Toronto Star. Mar 29, 2009
• Torontoist - Tall Poppy Interview: Brad J. Lamb, Real Estate Broker
• Pupo, Mark. "Mr. Big" Toronto Life. February 2007
• "Condo king rides boom." National Post. January 9, 2008
• "King of Condos." National Post. August 6, 2005