‘The biggest thing is feeling safe’: How two Toronto agents built a niche serving the LGBTQ+ community

Julia Chopp (left) and Keanna Samuels at an educational event they hosted on June 19 for queer buyers and renters, which drew 25 people (photo: King Realty Co., Brokerage).

For many homebuyers, finding the right property is only part of the challenge. Finding a real estate professional who understands their situation without judgment can be just as important.

Keanna Samuels and Julia Chopp, real estate agents with Toronto-based King Realty Co., are building their business around filling that gap for the LGBTQ+ community. Samuels, an agent for nearly three years, and Chopp, who has been in the field for a year and a half, are building what they call a welcoming, safe space online to help people get acquainted with real estate. 

“As queer agents, we’re really looking to connect with the community and build a space where people can come get their questions answered, connect with like-minded agents and find a safe space,” Samuels said. 

“The moment that I started being myself and letting people know that I can be a trusted source for the queer community, my business really did skyrocket.”

An underserved market

Buying or selling a home can bring up deeply private questions about family structure. Samuels and Chopp told Real Estate Magazine that members of the LGBTQ+ community can be nervous to engage with professionals out of fear of being judged or misunderstood.

“The biggest thing, I think, for queer folks is feeling safe. There’s a lot of uncertainty,” said Chopp.

Queer buyers, Samuels said, often gravitate toward queer agents because they feel comfortable asking questions without fear of judgment. 

“There just isn’t a lot of us,” she said, leaving many buyers without someone in the industry who understands their circumstances firsthand.

The need for this kind of expertise shows up in financing and deal structuring, too.

Co-ownership arrangements — several people combining credit scores and income to qualify for a mortgage together — are common among Samuels’s clients, whether between co-parents, friends or couples.

She said many buyers don’t realize the option exists because mortgage brokers and agents rarely explain it thoroughly. Filling that knowledge gap, rather than relying on standard pre-approval conversations, has become a recurring part of her client work.

Chopp frames the issue as an awareness problem rather than outright hostility.

“There is a lack of education … it’s important to understand how to serve them in a way that makes them feel safe, comfortable,” she says.

In her view, many real estate professionals don’t have a prejudice, but they simply have not been taught how to ask basic questions, such as a client’s pronouns.

Building an audience on TikTok

Both agents say they chose TikTok as their primary platform deliberately, because it is where many buyers are already looking for information.

“People don’t go on Google anymore … they search things on TikTok, like a search engine,” Samuels said.

The goal, she said, was to be the result that appeared when someone searched for a queer Realtor in Toronto.

The approach was modelled in part on their broker, Bethany King, whom Samuels says built an entire client base through the platform.

The videos function as both a marketing tool and a forum where followers ask questions and, at times, share frustrations about their experiences in the housing market. Samuels said she puts extra love into her listing videos, too. 

Some videos have reached tens of thousands of views, as high as the 70,000 range, while others barely surpass a thousand. She considers both successful for a real estate agent in Toronto.

For Chopp, who began posting more recently and has a smaller following, the payoff has been less about reach and more about the clients she attracts. She says building an online presence has allowed her to be more selective about whom she works with.

Support from the brokerage

Samuels credits King with making inclusivity part of the brokerage’s public identity rather than simply an internal policy. She says the broker has been clear that the office will not tolerate discriminatory behaviour and will support agents who encounter it from clients or colleagues.

That backing has influenced how both Samuels and Chopp present themselves online.

Chopp, in particular, says she initially worried about whether clients would take her seriously because of how she presents herself. That concern has eased considerably since she began posting on her own terms.

“Entering this industry was definitely scary. Neither Keanna or I look like the typical agent that you would see on a day-to-day, and at first, I used that to limit myself because of what other people thought,” she said. 

“Putting myself out there on TikTok and using social media to grow my business, I can say that I’ve seen that reduced tremendously because I’m confidently showing up as myself.”

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