John’s Story

“I started the Nice Agents team in 2008, when I realized that I wanted to focus my efforts on providing a more friendly and relaxed real estate experience to my clients. The team has changed a lot over the years, but one thing remains the same… our clients deserve a pleasant real estate experience.”

John Carle began as an agent in 1999 at the young age of 24. Being so young, he struggled hard to make a living as an agent. He leaned into the real estate experience, determined to make real estate a successful choice. He took a very different approach to his first few years, a mindset of apprenticeship or education rather than starting a career or job. 

He was an avid student, reading every book he could find, interviewing successful agents, and generally being a sponge for all real estate knowledge.

25 years later John is well known as an industry leader, coach, and mentor. His focus on industry relations and goodwill have shown that he is about more than selling a lot of houses. He is proud that many agents at other firms either began their career as Nice Agents or came to the Nice Agents to hone their skills and, in some cases, save their careers. 

When asked how he feels about training his competition, he smiles and says “It’s great. When I run into them on a transaction, I know they’re going to handle things properly and we already know how to work together. That’s good for my clients, their clients, and really everyone.” 

​John Carle lives in St. Albert with his wife Cathy and their golden doodle Boomer. They are a blended family; her 3 kids are grown and moved out while John’s 4 kids are nearing that stage of their lives too. Family dinners are always busy in their home, with well over a dozen people at every meal.

John is an avid supporter of his local community by participating in the local Chamber of Commerce and Rotary Club. It’s not uncommon to see him volunteering for the SAiF Society, St. Albert Foodbank & Community Village, St. Albert Rotary Club, or Special Olympics. He’s a committed supporter of Inclusion Alberta, Movember & the Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride, the Realtors Community Foundation, local youth arts, and many other local charities.

In their spare time (what’s that?) John & Cathy love to travel, sail, and camp. They have a dream of one day retiring to a sail boat and touring the world. In the mean time, they have a small sailboat at Wabamun where she practices her sailing skills, and he gets to spend his time learning to fix pretty much everything on the boat.

Working With John

He strongly believes that his clients need to hear the truth, buying or selling a home is a difficult and stressful time for most people. Sugar coating or smoothing over important information for the sale of being polite just doesn’t make sense to him. If you need to hear it, he’ll tell you.

John is a straight shooter. A lot of people say that, but in John it’s the truth. A colleague once said, “John can rub some people the wrong way because hearing the truth can be hard.” Most people appreciate this honestly, but it’s something that can catch some people off guard.

He’s also extremely strategic. Often times, while others are working on the issue in front of them, John is looking ahead at the future issues because he planned for the current issue days and weeks ago. The best way to explain this is to compare it to a game of chess; John’s usually 5 or 6 moves ahead of the rest.