The full page ad in the March issue of REM from Michael Polzler, executive VP of Re/Max Ontario – Atlantic Canada, caught my eye – hope it did yours. Nothing to do with recruiting, being above the crowd or being better than just about everyone else in the world, although you could be forgiven for not reading the ad if you made one of those assumptions.
Au contraire mes amis, the ad was written to all of you under the heading Taking back the industry. Considering the current rumble in Ottawa with the Competition Bureau commissar, you might also be forgiven if you thought Mr. Polzler’s ad was his position on proprietary rights and access to Realtor.ca by the great unwashed.
Wrong again.
One shocking statistic forms the root of his observations, that one in five members of the Toronto Real Estate Board failed to sell a home in 2009 and that more than half fail to do a deal every three months. With 28,000 or so members, I think it might be fair to assume those numbers are a representative statistic for the rest of Canada.
If you missed the ad and REM’s March issue has followed the recycling path to your bird cage, there’s a website at www.takingbacktheindustry.com (Editor’s note: This site is no longer active) with a survey and an opportunity for readers to weigh in. So weigh in.
One man and one ad and one organization will not sustain this issue – but they can start the ball rolling. In my October 2009 column (REM #178) on this very topic I wrote, “We will not stop turnover until we change entry standards to incorporate training and mentoring. We will not achieve higher standards of ethics, if in fact we lack them, until we have lifelong commitments to the profession – if it in fact is one. We will not instill a voluntary culture of learning until young people, comfortable in a learning environment, see real estate as a lifetime career path.”
So I’m aboard. But in my 40th year in the business I’ve seen this theme wax and wane with gradual improvements along the way. Slow and steady drips don’t extinguish those whose hair is on fire. More than 50 years ago, in B.C., a commission studying the real estate industry recommended progressive licensing, standard forms and practical education. Well, two out of three isn’t bad.
Back to the Competition Bureau – got another idea. I’m going to ask the Competition Bureau to force Coca-Cola to let me use their bottles, brand and distributors to sell the concoction I whipped up in the laundry tub last week. Based on the commissar’s approach to Realtor.ca I can’t see a problem. Of course, I’ll have to promise the ingredients are accurately displayed on the label, aren’t toxic and that I have the requisite liability insurance and bonding to cover any consumer complaints. I’ll promise to stay in the vicinity and be accountable because I value good references and repeat business. As for experience in the ‘concoction’ business, don’t you think that’s a little over rated? I mean they recognize the rookie of the year in every sport don’t they? Give me a break! Would I buy the product myself? Are you kidding me? Wouldn’t bathe your cat in it but I do need to get it out of the sink – it’s causing a stain and it bubbles something fierce!
As I write this column, the verbal sword fight is well underway between Commissar Aitken and CREA. CREA’s letter of March 25 made me proud. Nervous but proud. I mean two pages of tongue lashing for her “unfounded allegations” and twice using the word “disingenuous” is hardly a sissy taunt. It’s a slap across the face with a leather gauntlet, suggesting that seconds and pistols at dawn are in the near future.
There’s not much room for interpretation. “Unfounded allegation” strictly means an accusation with no basis in fact. While the Canadian Oxford Dictionary gives “disingenuous” a break by offering “insincere, lacking in frankness” the Canadian Thesaurus is much bolder. In alphabetical order, “deceitful, dishonest, duplicitous, false, fallacious” – my favourite because it sounds dirty –“sly, sophistic and specious.”
Phew. Pretty much called her a liar, didn’t we? If her pants aren’t on fire, they are smoking. We’re all in this together so none of that, “Not me, I wasn’t there!” or “I was only following the orders of the Grupenfuhrer!” or “Don’t blame me, I voted NDP!” No doubt there’s an appetite to tussling with the bureaucratic bully once and for all. At a recent meeting of VIREB’s managing brokers, one asked about our commitment to fighting the Competition Bureau over agency and the pillars of membership: “Is this the hill we want to die on?”
By the time you read this, all may be dishwater long under the bridge. But I doubt it. And that’s the problem facing Michael Polzler’s campaign to take back the industry. While he is trying to rally the troops inside the moat, a dragon is at the gates and we are on the barricades facing out. But our industry challenges will be here when the Competition Bureau has gone away.
Where will you be?
Marty Douglas is a managing broker for Coast Realty Group (Comox Valley) Ltd., managing two of 15 Coast Realty Group offices on Vancouver Island and the Sunshine Coast of B.C. He is a past chair of the Real Estate Errors and Omissions Corporation of B.C., the Real Estate Council of B.C., and the B.C. Real Estate Association, and is a current director of the Vancouver Island Real Estate Board. Email [email protected]; 1-800-715-3999; Fax (250) 897-3933.
