After watching the unfolding of the CREA proposal to include
a minimum level of service into its Rules and Regulations and the recent
reactions from the Competition Bureau, I wonder if it might be worthwhile
considering severing “Realtor” membership from board membership.
As an Ontario practitioner (without detailed knowledge of registration in the
other provinces) I see the (mandatory-membership) Real Estate Council of
Ontario (RECO) now as the industry’s rule-setter and disciplinarian and wonder
if “Realtor” might be given a new meaning and serve a new purpose – perhaps
solving the concerns expressed by the Competition Bureau.
 
If “Realtor” was re-defined as a term to be used by registrants who “vowed” or “professed”
to a voluntarily accepted, higher standard of service – quite separate from
membership in any board or current association, then “Realtor” could regain its
meaning as “registrant of professional standing, holding themselves to a higher
standard”.

This might mean passing the ownership of the term to a separate organization
that dealt strictly with membership standards for this new, self-governing,
private, registrant ‘club’, or perhaps dividing CREA into two sections, one
doing advertising and lobbying for the whole of board-organized real estate,
and the other dealing with maintaining the standards that the new “Realtor”
logo would signify.

Robert Ede
Sales representative
Re/Max Hallmark Realty
Willowdale, Ont.