Who We Are

Timothy R. Groulx, FRI CRA

After returning home from university, Tim started working with his dad, Wilf Groulx, who had founded Lakewood Realty Limited in 1965 as a real estate brokerage firm that also offered general insurance and real estate appraisal services. Wilf retired in 1978 and Tim took over Lakewood. Soon Lakewood added mortgage brokerage to its real estate sales and appraisal services.

In 1979 Tim was named a Fellow of the Real Estate Institute of Canada (FRI). In 1980, he was elected the president of the Thunder Bay Real Estate Board, a position Wilf had held before him. Tim is still a broker member and past-president of the Board. The Appraisal Institute of Canada designated Tim a Canadian Residential Appraiser (CRA) in 1985.

Also in 1985, Lakewood's other activities were closed and the firm concentrated on residential and recreational real estate appraisals in the City of Thunder Bay and eventually across Northwestern Ontario.

Tim taught the Introduction to Real Estate Appraisal course throughout Northwestern Ontario for the Ontario Real Estate Association for 11 years. He continues to offer a series of workshops, some of which have been presented to the Thunder Bay Law Association, legal firms, private groups and individuals. These workshops include: Real Estate Appraisers and Appraisals, which is an introduction to what is an appraisal, who are appraisers and how to read an appraisal report; Appraising a Real Estate Appraisal, this presentation is aimed at litigators who retain a real estate value expert in anticipation of litigation and need to decide if the expert's report is creditable, and; Real Estate Appraisals for Capital Gains Tax. This presentation covers the issues that arise from Capital Gains calculations which need to be reflected in the instructions to the appraiser asked to prepare the estimates of value and forewarns the potential client of the difficulties that will be faced by the appraiser in preparing those estimates which may affect the client's instructions. This presentation is appropriate for property owners, financial advisors and legal counsels.

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Mr. Groulx has appeared as an expert witness in the Superior Court of Ontario on a number of occasions and has been before Ontario's Assessment Review Board both as an expert and as an advocate. Two cases that Mr. Groulx testified in were:

Fraser v. Fraser and Olson v. Olson. The links for theses cases will take you to the respective judgements on the Canadian Legal Information Institute's ( CanLII ) web site.

Tim Groulx had been appointed by the City Council of Thunder Bay as a member of the Local Architectural Conservation Advisory Committee ( now known as the City's Heritage Committee ) and currently holds Council's appointment as one of the three members of the Property Standards Committee.

Tim, like his father Wilf, has a long record of community service including 15 years as an Army Reserve officer, 25 years a member of Rotary, as well as being a member of St. John Ambulance, the Order of St. Lazarus and numerous other local organizations. Among other awards Tim has been presented in recognition of his service, the Governor General has awarded Tim the Canadian Forces Decoration, the Anniversary of Confederation Medal, the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medals and the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Medal.