David Visentin is a jeep man. The veteran realtor and host of Love it or List — W Network’s popular series in which he and co-host Hilary Farr, an interior designer, compete for a homeowner’s decision to keep their house and renovate it, or sell it — doesn’t have just one jeep. He has two: A 1977 CJ5 Jeep, which he calls his “fun, summer car,” and a 2005 Jeep Liberty, which he uses all winter.
“I do a lot of winter driving, especially because I’m in real estate. And I’m north of the city, so I’m going up and down a lot of hills,” he explains. “The Jeep has one of the best four-wheel drive systems there are.”
Visentin first got into real estate two decades ago. After finishing school, he got his real estate license in order to work at his dad’s thriving company in the town of Rosemont, just north of Toronto while he figured out what he wanted to do with his life. He never got out and says he still loves it.
It seems that when Visentin finds something he loves, he sticks with it. In fact, he’s had five different Jeeps over the years. “They look great and they’re great in the winter,” he explains. His one tip, a lesson he learned the hard way, is to always bring the top with you.
Visentin animatedly recalls a road trip he took with a girlfriend a couple of years ago. “It was a gorgeous weekend and we were driving the CJ to her folks’ place in Cobourg, about two-and-a-half hours away,” he says. On the drive home, along rolling rural roads, the pair looked up to see the sky quickly turning from blue to black.
“I look in the back and realize I don’t have the top,” explains Visentin. “All of a sudden, the clouds open up and it’s pouring and we’re getting soaked. Cars are driving by us and the people are laughing. “I’ve never forgotten the top since then,” says Visentin.
Love it or List it airs on the W Network on Mondays at 9 p.m.
– Heather Buchan is a Toronto-based journalist whohas worked at Homemakers,Canadian Living, Canadian House & Homeand, most recently,Hello! Canada, where she cut her teeth in the world of celebrities.
