CREA and local real estate boards are putting the industry at a competitive disadvantage and stifling creativity because of rules and regulations regarding Realtor.ca and the display of listing data, says Michael Polzler, executive VP and regional director of Re/Max Ontario – Atlantic Canada.

In a full-page ad in REM, Polzler says, “What’s clear is that CREA, local boards and associations are not serving the best interests of their membership.” He says the Realtor.ca website is “antiquated and difficult to manoeuvre” and that “the system, as it stands, is far from fair and equitable.”

He says third-party, for-profit industries that compete with Realtor.ca, local boards and real estate company websites are establishing a foothold, and that “while the tech-savvy U.S. market grows in leaps and bounds, Canada is slowly dropping off the radar of the progressive new real estate world. Our closed system has stifled creativity.”

Re/Max has been working with Century 21 and Royal LePage for some time to create “an open environment through the co-operative advertising of each others listings, with the ultimate goal of allowing any member of organized real estate to participate in the data share. Obviously, our preference would be to reach an agreement on shared listings with CREA, local boards and associations, but that remains ever elusive, despite our best efforts,” Polzler says.

“The industry’s future is dependent on an open listings system. The time has come to level the playing field,” he says. Polzler is asking Realtors to challenge CREA and the local boards to “take a leadership role in exacting positive change through a truly co-operative system.”

The ad appears in the January issue of REM, but only in Ontario and Atlantic Canada – the regions where Polzler’s company owns the master franchise rights. The ad can be viewed as the last page of the Virtual REM, here.