We promised to keep the conversation going and that’s exactly what we did at Wednesday’s town hall—thanks to an incredible turnout from CREB^® members and industry representatives alike.

It’s never easy to address complex topics, but it’s so incredibly necessary for us to drive toward solutions. We call them courageous conversations at CREB^® and they’re part of our internal mantra to speak fearlessly, while also balancing the need to be respectful of other ideas and perspectives. I suggest Webster’s add to the definition of “courageous” — a CREB^® town hall meeting that has both At Risk Commissions and RMS on the agenda.

Anyone who attended the spring town hall would’ve seen these kinds of courageous conversations first hand. Whether it was our guest speakers who confronted member questions head on, or CREB^® members themselves who spoke candidly about business concerns related to the RMS and other topics, there is no denying that the town hall served its purpose—to foster an environment of rich discussion.

If you didn’t make it out, here are some takeaways from each of the major agenda items that were covered:

At Risk Commission Task Force 

Brad Mitchell, AREA finance and government relations manager, provided background on the scope of task force work being done. The province-wide survey conducted by the task force confirmed respondent concerns about the handling of brokerage closures. There are no easy answers and it appears that some independent solutions may be developed.

This work has involved surveying of members, legal opinions and actuarial studies—which all take time, but are nonetheless already a work in progress. 

Some members expressed concerns about the lack of opportunity for input from members and the flow of information from the task force to date. Brad committed to distribute results from the province-wide member survey and to circulate information on potential solutions as soon as possible.

Residential Measurement Standards (RMS) 

RECA representatives, Joseph Fernandez, registrar, and Charles Stevenson, director of professional standards, were up next to review RMS enforcement.  

They shared analysis around the transition to the new RMS, which was implemented nearly one year ago. As part of their outreach process, RECA has toured the province after having initiated a request for feedback last November.

Over a three-month period, they invited members across the province, as well as real estate boards, to provide feedback on the new standard. CREB^®’s town hall was an opportunity to revisit these outcomes and gather more real-time feedback from REALTORS^®.

More detail on the RMS and CREB^®’s position can be found here. RECA is also about to launch another round of consultations that will consider improvements to the RMS.

Database integrity

An update on database integrity capped off the meeting and was presented by CREB^®’s presidential task force representatives, Member Practice manager Gemma Beierback and CREB^® director Sarah Johnston.

With the high-level goal of protecting CREB^®’s MLS^® System, Sarah walked members through an overview of the System’s past, present and future state, with a clear message that the task force will not rest until its integrity is intact.

Gemma then explained how/why the new RMS is the only acceptable measurement standard used in our database. She also shared how re-enforcement of residential property measurements in the MLS^® System will be implemented this summer using the RMS as the measurement standard.

The task force continues to explore technology solutions to enhance this work and provide more information and transparency to members. There were some interesting discussions on how greater use of supplements in the MLS^® System for measurement diagrams could be a proactive solution, but again, our eyes are open as we continue to listen and learn down this path of discovery.

Thank you for being part of our town hall and for your willingness to join us in a courageous conversation.