KAMSACK — A man who has been in the insurance business for more than 20 years and who began a real estate and insurance branch of his Roblin-based company in Kamsack nearly four years ago is expanding his Kamsack building to accommodate additional office space.
Ryan Keown is the owner of Ace Real Estate and Insurance Services, a business which began in 2021 when he obtained his real estate broker’s licence. He works from his offices in Roblin, Man., and Kamsack.
“We’re a full-service real estate brokerage and can now offer a full line of general insurance services for the home, farm and cabins, as well as extended auto insurance in Saskatchewan directly through Ace,” Keown said Aug. 19 during an interview conducted in his Kamsack office. “We also offer private hail insurance for farmers.”
“When we moved into this building in 2022, we only handled real estate,” Keown said. The construction, which is expected to be concluded in October, will add 1,136 square feet of additional office space.
Keown had purchased the Kamsack property, formerly known as Express Excavation, located at the intersection of Third Avenue and Third Street, from Dereck Wolkowski.
It’s a great location, highly visible on Main Street as well as from the highway and it is convenient for clients, he said, adding that his clients, in addition to being from the Roblin and Kamsack areas, come from the Swan River Valley and Madge Lake.
Born and raised in Roblin, Keown graduated from Goose Lake High School in Roblin in 1996 and then attended Brandon University. He began a career in the agricultural industry, managing agricultural sales and grain buying sites in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. He said that this ultimately led to him finding the insurance business through selling hail insurance to his farm clients.
In 2001, he obtained his insurance licence, which allows him to work in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, and began working in the insurance business in 2004. In 2010, he was named a Canadian Accredited Insurance Broker (CAIB) with honours.
With an extensive network of clients across Manitoba and Saskatchewan, Keown also began selling real estate in 2013.
“This is where I found my true passion, helping to personally connect clients looking to buy and sell properties.
“It is very rewarding to assist clients through the daunting and emotional process of buying and selling a property,” he said. “I am there to explain each step in the process, so that my clients are comfortable, and more importantly, enjoy the process.”
In 2014, he obtained his real estate licence and in 2021, when he received his real estate Broker’s licence, he started Ace.
“I really enjoy helping people finding solutions for their insurance and real estate needs and I am looking forward to working with the people,” he said, emphasizing that he has a “local mindset.”
“Our premise is being local,” he said. “We serve local people and maintain a small-town mentality of providing excellent service and being friendly and accessible.
“We strive to offer the service of a city in a small town.
“Our dedication to client service is truly what sets us apart for insurance and real estate. We promise to go to great lengths to make our clients feel important and valued by providing sound advice. We create unmatched, customized marketing plans for each property that we list for sale.
“I feel there is too much complacency in the real estate business when marketing properties. The days of just putting an ad in the paper and a sign in the front yard are gone. At Ace, we use cutting-edge technology to set us apart in everything we do with marketing, making it difficult for other companies to keep up or copy our methods.
We have established and offer a unique, exclusive free opportunity for our Ace clients to capitalize on, called the Ace ‘Home Team Advantage’ program. Our extensive online marketing network and personal local contacts assist us in unmatched success now, and even beyond the sale.”
Currently, the business employs three persons, all of whom are Level 2 licensed insurance brokers. Carmelle Lilley looks after the Roblin office, while the Kamsack office is staffed by Natalie Rauckman, a notary public, and Courtney Maitland, a commissioner for oaths. In addition, his wife Zoe is the office administrator for Ace.
The Keowns have three sons, whose first names together spell out the word Ace: Austin Ryder, who has graduated from biochemistry at the University of Calgary and is now taking his master’s degree in business management. His sons Ethan, 20, and Corbin, 18, are students at the University of Regina, where they are studying business.
Offering a side comment with a laugh, Keown said that all three of their sons were born on the 23rd of the month, although each was born in a different month.
Country music fans will have heard of Keown as a country music entertainer. He has performed for three years at the Smoke on the Water fundraising events at Madge Lake.
Among the numerous awards he has received for his musical talents are: Manitoba Country Music Association Male Artist of the Year, Single of the Year, 2017 Canadian Male Vocalist of the Year held at the Nissan Stadium in Nashville, TN and Single of the Year in 2023 for A Lie I Can Live With (held at the Grand Ole Opry) for the Josie Music Awards in Nashville.
He has also had his song, Best Thing, reach No. 44 on the National Canadian Country Radio Charts.
His son Austin, a singer and guitar player, recorded a video at Madge Lake for a single entitled Spin, which has had radio play.
Currently Ryan, as a member of a seven-piece band, performs as A Tribute to The Highwaymen - Waylon, Willie and Cash, a show which will be staged in the Club Regent Casino in Winnipeg on Sept. 17; the Dauphin Art Centre on Oct. 4, and at the P.W. Enns Concert Hall in Winkler, Man. on Oct. 25.
The show was named the 2024 Tribute Act of the Year by the Manitoba Country Music Awards Association.
‘We encourage people to stop by, visit, say ‘hi,’ meet the staff and feel welcome,” Keown said, adding that he plans to have a grand opening of the renovated building with its addition in the future, probably in the spring.
