Interview by Toby Welch

REM: You’ve been the CEO at CREB since 1987?

Ron Esch: I started here in July 1987 and replaced someone who became a real icon in this industry – Frank Johns was here for 33 years. We are the only two people who have ever been CEOs of this board. I’m proud of that.

REM: Any word on who will be your replacement?

Esch: Not yet. An executive search firm has been hired, Conroy Ross. The idea is that the new person can come in and we’ll work together for a few months. I can unload all of my problems onto them!

REM: What is the biggest change you have seen in the industry since you joined the board 24 years ago?

Esch: There have been three very big changes. Certainly technology and the Internet has been a huge change to the way the industry operates. Aside from that, the way that Realtors do business has changed. In the early years, sales people were sub-agents of the listing company and of course that is not the case anymore. Now they are single, they represent either the buyer or the seller. That requires disclosure of your role. So we’ve seen changes in regulation and in the way that Realtors operate.

The other big change is the different business models that are out there now. When I started, the business was very traditional. Realtors and salespeople generally worked for a large firm and the owner would provide all of the services required to operate. You would have a desk and an office. Today a lot of the business models are such that Realtors can work out of their homes, they don’t even work in an office. That has brought about quite a change in terms of how companies operate and in commission structures.

REM: What was your biggest challenge as CREB CEO?

Esch: There are so many things. The events that challenge the CEO of a board like this one are things like changing the MLS computer systems. It touches every member. Planning a building like this is a very big event because the decisions you make represent a lot of money and it is the members’ money. Dealing with the changing roles of Realtors and how consumers relate to them and helping Realtors adjust to the changing times has been a challenge. We continue to look at what kind of services we are offering to our members and how can we make sure that we are offering the right services at the right price. We represent the members, the members pay us, and they expect a certain level of service from us and we need to deliver.

REM: In general, how do you think the role of real estate boards in Canada is changing?

Esch: Real estate boards have to provide services to their members; it’s their reason for being. They have to advocate for their members for legislative changes and advocate for making sure that consumers understand that Realtors are different than real estate practitioners. By belonging to a real estate board, Realtors adhere to a higher code of ethics and standards of business practice. The boards have to do a good job of identifying that and promoting it.

Real estate boards also have to understand that their members are looking for services at different levels of real estate. One of the concerns I have for real estate boards (and it includes the provincial associations and CREA) is that we don’t duplicate services at the different levels.

We all need to make sure that whatever we deliver at each level compliments the other two and doesn’t just add on or duplicate a service. It’s happening where provincial associations are starting to do things that boards would do. And CREA is doing a bit of that. We need to make sure that we don’t keep piling it on and then the member has to pay for the same service at two or three different levels.

REM: What do boards need to improve upon to better serve their members?

Esch: They need to improve on their service models. Real estate boards need to be more strategic in how they operate. They need to look further ahead than just to the end of this fiscal year. We’re still in many cases reacting to issues instead of being more proactive. If we were more proactive, we’d be looking five and 10 years out and saying, “This is what is coming down the road, this is what we need to prepare for, and we better start doing stuff to get us there,” as opposed to saying, “We had a problem yesterday and we need to fix it,” and just waiting for the next problem. With technology we can see a bit of what is going on but it changes so fast we can’t see too far ahead. But with things like regulation and changes in consumer attitudes, you can sense that a bit further out and see where consumers are changing their requests of Realtors. We need to be able to respond to that and think ahead about how other industries are dealing with these sorts of things and how can we deal with that.

REM: How do you think the current issues between the Competition Bureau and the Toronto Real Estate Board will play out?

Esch: This has been around for awhile, this is not new. The Competition Bureau has always been up there, that big, dark cloud hanging over us for all these years. When I came to Calgary in 1987, we were one of the boards that was under the scrutiny of the bureau. We were charged and had to go through all that. It was a very difficult time.

The bureau wants to change the industry. It wants the industry to change in ways we are not prepared to change nor do we think we have to change. We spent a tremendous amount of money and time over the years building up the MLS in this country. There is nothing like it. There is no other industry that has anything that comes close to a multiple listing service. The bureau doesn’t understand how it works. The co-operation between Realtors from competing firms is a remarkable thing.  Real estate boards help that because with our policies and our code of ethics we make sure that these Realtors, while they are competitors, are working in the best interest of the consumer.

The bureau doesn’t get it. The bureau thinks it should be just an open season and everybody should be able to do what they want. But, at the end of the day, if Realtors and real estate companies decide that the MLS system doesn’t work well for them, they won’t use it anymore and then it will disappear. It’s because of the conditions, the regulations, and the rules that we’ve put in place that make it work, it gives it credibility. If the bureau continues down this path where they want it opened wide up, nobody is going to care anymore. You’ll just put stuff on, you really won’t be concerned that the data is accurate, and the pricing will be whatever. People are going to say, “Why would I waste my time?” I think the bureau is focused on TREB because it is the biggest board in the country. If they can bring it down to its knees, then the bureau comes out looking like a hero to this country because they brought the big board down. But does that mean that other boards are doing things that much differently than the Toronto board? I don’t think so.

Who’s going to win? I don’t know. At the end of the day, you’d hope that the consumers are still well-served by whatever comes out of that. I am concerned that the bureau’s approach to all of this is to dismantle the MLS. If it does, it’s going to lose credibility and people are going to say, “It doesn’t work for us anymore.”

Particularly today with all these different business models, the consumer can go to any variety of real estate companies and get all kinds of services or not get services, pay this commission or that commission. They can tailor it to their own needs.

The bureau has been after our industry since 1986 in my recollection. I have no great respect for the Competition Bureau.

REM: Any thoughts you would like to share on what you hope your legacy will be as past-CEO of CREB?

Esch: I do what I do because I like doing it. However that will translate into whatever I have been able to accomplish, I hope it’s good and I’ll be happy with that. I have no aspirations to have my name on a wall somewhere or anything like that. I am proud of this building. We built it in 2000; we used to be downtown. We put on a lot of education and classes so the parking lot is often filled. We built the current building with two classrooms, a computer lab and a third floor that we rented out for future expansion. Last year we didn’t renew the lease for the tenant upstairs and we’ve now built more classrooms upstairs. We have five classrooms and two computer labs. Training and education is serious business for us. We are going to continue our focus on training and education so Realtors can do what I said earlier – show value to the consumer. We bought the building behind us and a vacant lot to give us more parking so we’ve expanded quite a bit. We’re the fourth largest board in Canada (5,300 members) and we take it very seriously, the business of providing service to our members. We’re proud of that.

There are three things I want to point out that other boards don’t do that I’m really pleased with. We were one of the first real estate boards to start a charitable foundation. We started our foundation in 1987 and in 1988 it officially got its status. Our charity, the Calgary Real Estate Board Charitable Foundation, has given out more than $3.5 million into the community for housing and for other shelter-related projects. I’m very proud of that.

There are two other things I don’t think any other board has. One is the Critical Illness Benefits Society. If any Realtor member gets critically ill (there’s criteria around what that means) and they can’t work, we will give them a cheque for $10,000. There’s no other board in North America that I know that does that. Realtors don’t work on a salary so when they are not out there actively working, they are not bringing in any money. We’ve had members who had to go to the food bank because they are so ill they couldn’t work. We needed to do something. All of the members contribute to it and it’s $20 a year. We’ve helped 15 Realtors in one year, 10 in another year, for example. The families really find that that is the thing they need to help them through such a difficult time.

The other thing we have here is the Realtor Assistance Program. The Realtors and their eligible dependents are entitled to 12 hours of counselling by a professional psychologist if they are having problems. It’s all anonymous and they get this counselling free of charge. It has been great.

Realtors are human beings. They live in the community, they work in the community, they’re proud of the community. We want to make sure they can do their job in the best way that they can and that their families are happy.

REM: What do you think is the biggest issue facing Realtors today?

Esch: Probably one of the biggest is to ensure that they are able to demonstrate to the consumers what their value is. What value do they bring to a real estate transaction? What value do they bring to a seller wanting to sell his property or a buyer who wants to buy a property? Today, with technology being what it is, we can all find tons of information about any subject, real estate included. One would think it’s really easy for a consumer to buy or sell on their own and yet it is a very complex transaction. While they can do it, are they doing the right thing? Often you would think no because it is such a large financial transaction. They want to make sure they are doing it right.

Realtors have to demonstrate what value they can bring when they are counselling somebody or marketing somebody’s property. They don’t do it as well as they should and that’s one of the challenges we are facing here today.

At the CREB, we are focused on training and education to ensure that Realtors really appreciate all the things that they should be doing and can demonstrate that to the consumer. I have found over the years that Realtors don’t do as good a job of selling themselves as they should. Part of that challenge, too, is keeping up with all of the things they can do; social media, for example, is becoming a very viable marketing tool. Realtors need to be really good at that to help consumers embrace and use it properly.

REM: What do you plan to do with your time starting in January?

Esch: I think about it as it is going to happen and I don’t believe in operating in a void. My father used to say after he retired that you always need a purpose, a reason to get up in the morning and get dressed and do something. I’ve always believed that. I need to make sure that my life is filled with purposeful things. I would like to stay involved in the industry but not in a capacity that’s near the CREB. I may serve on a committee or a task force within the industry somewhere for a short period of time rather than leave cold, if you will.

I’m a member of the Rotary Club and we do a lot of volunteer work. That could become a full-time job if I wanted it to, which it won’t. A good piece of my time will start to focus on that. And family. I’m fortunate to have two little grandchildren, one nearby, and I want to spend a little more time with him before he starts school and make the connection there. I have the typical projects around home and want to do a bit of travel and a bit of golf. Not too much structure but a little bit of structure. Maintaining my health and enjoying family is uppermost.