The REALTOR^® brand is in crisis.

This was the message that Michael Bourque, Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) CEO, delivered to your Board of Directors during a recent visit.

He was referencing the REALTOR^® Code, which is supposed to stand for integrity and professionalism in our industry. However, as discussed at CREA’s AGM this Spring, there are too many REALTORS^® not following the Code and too many boards not enforcing it.

As an industry, we pay dearly for this. The cost of not enforcing the Code is the reputation of REALTORS^® and the strength of the REALTOR^® trademark. As such, CREA is launching a national consultation process with members and associations to help determine how we can ensure the REALTOR^® Code is enforced.

At a local level, it’s been a month and one day since the Residential Measurement Standard (RMS) diagrams became mandatory in supplements. 

I want to sincerely thank all the members that are complying – who recognize the importance of database integrity. Because of your efforts, we are trending upwards, hovering around a 90 per cent compliance rate in the last two weeks. For more compliance metrics and the latest FAQs, click here.

Unfortunately, there are still some members that are struggling to comply and, in some cases, defy this change. This is interesting to me, because I don’t just see this as a compliance issue, it’s a reputational issue. It’s about our brand and our conduct in the marketplace.

Is the CREB^® REALTOR^® brand in crisis? Now that’s an interesting question. 

As a collective, time and time again, you tell us that the number one problem you face is other REALTORS^® and their lack of professionalism – that this lack of professionalism erodes the REALTOR^® brand and makes us all look bad. And you know what? You’re right.

Our MLS^® System is only as powerful and accurate as the data we put into it. In many cases, the data being inputted was bunk. If you want to see what I’m talking about, just watch this RMS video. 

Not only were some members unable to prove how they derived their measurements, in some cases, they were submitting a cocktail napkin or a receipt from a measurement company as a supplement. 

Let me restate that: members were loading cocktail napkin diagrams into Matrix™. 

Actions like this kill our credibility as an industry – making the RMS diagrams mandatory in measurement supplements stops this kind of behaviour in its tracks.

I know that change is messy. It’s hard. It can even be scary – especially if it forces you to alter the way you were doing business. But making this change was the right call and it’s one I would make again, without hesitation.

Getting the details of our listings as accurate as possible, right from the second they go live, is the start of the new value proposition for CREB^® REALTORS^®.

After all, if consumers can’t trust the information in MLS^® System, why should they trust us? 

Respectfully,

Tom Westcott
2018 CREB^® President