Ross Godsoe has just retired as CEO of the Realtors Association of Hamilton Burlington (RAHB) but that doesn’t mean his more than 40-year real estate career has come to an end.
Godsoe, who left the association at the end of August after a 14-year stint, sees himself doing volunteer work in the real estate industry and stepping up his consulting work.
He’s had a company for 16 years called Reasman (Management) Services, which has done consulting work for board associations across Canada in governance and leadership priorities. “Frankly, I really enjoy working with those associations and I sort of see myself carrying on that and probably expanding that,” says Godsoe, noting he’ll now have more time on his hands.
About four years ago, Godsoe was involved in the formation of a shared MLS system for RAHB and three other associations in Southern Ontario – Niagara, Brantford and Simcoe. The shared system has given about 4,500 members better access to data.
“It’s functioned very well for every Realtor in Southern Ontario because there’s no such thing as boundaries any more. It’s one huge and large trading area.”
More recently, associations in Oakville-Milton, Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph and Cambridge were looking for an improved MLS system. Godsoe suggested they come under one umbrella and form a regional MLS system.
The challenge to take eight associations – each with its own rules, regulations, policies, forms and data schema – and to merge everything under one system is huge, he says. “It really was a major project, a huge initiative, but it’s quite rewarding. By the end of October, the one regional MLS will include about 7,800 Realtors in Southern Ontario. “The good thing about this, the way it’s set up it has the opportunity for expansion in the province,” Godsoe says.
He says the regional project is “a major accomplishment in Ontario and in Canada for that matter because we set up a separate corporation to run and manage this MLS system.”
While there are many models in the U.S. of separate organizations or corporations running and operating the MLS system, it’s the first time in Canada that a separate organization is doing this.
“We’ve had a lot of eyes on us right across Canada. I’m really pleased to see we’ve succeeded.”
Godsoe admits that if he had been asked nine to 12 months ago whether all eight associations would be onside for the “mega-project” at the end of the day, “I would probably say, ‘I wouldn’t bet any money on it.’” Building consensus and getting everybody onside to work together for the best interests of members were major challenges, he says.
“I’ve always been very passionate about this business and this industry. I started very young in it and from my personal perspective, I think it’s time to move on,” he says of his departure from RAHB. During Godsoe’s tenure there, membership has grown from about 1,700 members to about 2,850 but now it’s time to bring new blood into the organization and take it to the next level, he says.
Godsoe opened his first brokerage in 1973 in Oakville, Ont. and expanded it into Mississauga and Barrie. The brokerage did both residential and commercial real estate. Godsoe wound it up when he started to work for the association in 2001.
While running the brokerage, he spent 18 years volunteering at all three levels of organized real estate, including serving as president of the Mississauga Real Estate Board in 1986, president of the Ontario Real Estate Association in 1994 and president of CREA in 2000. He says this was rewarding: “Giving something back to an industry or profession that you actually support and you’re passionate about, I think is very good.”
When Godsoe arrived at what is now the RAHB it was called the Metropolitan Hamilton-Burlington Real Estate Board. The aim of the name change was to put members and Realtors first, something that was well-received by members. It was so well-received that a lot of associations across the country followed suit and replaced the word “board” with the word “association” in their names.
Godsoe also quickly took steps to replace the association’s MLS system with a new state-of-the-art system that was clearly superior.
“We’ve made it a purpose here at the association to try to stay not only up to speed with technology but ahead of technology,” he says.
Godsoe sees real estate becoming increasingly more challenging for Realtors, with regulatory issues far more prevalent than they were even five or 10 years ago. “In the ʼ70s or ʼ80s I had to go for a course for a week and I had my brokers’ license. That’s not the case anymore. The education requirements are far greater.”
All levels of organized real estate face major challenges in keeping up with rapid changes to technology. “At the end of the day, consumers are getting a lot more demanding for information and there are a lot more facilities out there from a technology perspective that will give them that information.”
The newly retired Godsoe plans to spend time at his home on Florida’s West Coast, where he put his real estate savvy to use by buying when the market there was at a low following the 2008 recession. That’s where he plans to “raise the bar on my golf game” to get it back to where it once was.
Danny Kucharsky is a contributing writer for REM.
