I was just speaking to my colleagues today, saying, “How many professions give away their valuable information for free?” We are all saying a hearty yes to the suggestion of a user pay system for mls.ca.
Another issue we discussed is our relationship to buyers. Under the new privacy legislation, we are to protect the buyer’s privacy. As we have no definition of who our buyers are, how then do we ascertain when a relationship starts? Are we never to mention another’s name or address in the remotest chance that the person could become a buyer tomorrow? Let’s start defining the buyer’s relationship and give full-blown support and education and possibly even think about mandatory buyer’s agreements so that Realtors will stop being abused by clients who have several agents on the go. We have done a lot to educate ourselves and we will only be treated as well as our association thinks we should be treated.

Patricia Parker
Tradewinds Realty Inc.
Chester, N.S.