I hope that REM readers will forgive a departure from my usual column and permit me this personal message to readers in Toronto.
Bringing the real estate industry to a higher level of professionalism has been a work in progress that I have watched for over three decades. It is a project that goes on today through the hard work of special people on behalf of the men and women who work in this business as real estate brokers and sales representatives.
One of those special people is Maureen O’Neill.
During the 1970s, I remember a very demeaning expression people used toward real estate sales representatives that went like this: “If you can’t do anything else, you can always sell real estate.”
Maureen O’Neill has worked hard to make that expression the relic of the past that it is today.
I remember the day in the 1980s when things began to change. It was the day that Maureen O’Neill arrived at the Toronto Real Estate Board to take charge of the education department. “It’s all about attitude,” she said.
It was as like everyone involved in a stagnating industry suddenly got a wake-up call. Her unbridled enthusiasm was as like a cannon shot in the executive halls.
Back in those days recruiting real estate sales representatives was done through crass newspaper ads that read like, “Do you need a part-time job? Make money. Sell real estate. Come to Joe’s basement and find out how to sign up.”
This new education leader brought a dramatically new attitude to the image of real estate sales representatives.
Maureen went out and booked booths at university trade fairs. She spoke to recent graduates contemplating their life careers and she turned a lot of MBA degrees into real estate licenses. She went to lofty sounding business gatherings and spoke to marketing professionals, bank executives, and business managers about life changes. “Have you given any thought to a career in real estate?” she would begin.
The high and mighty executives at TREB were flabbergasted. They were not as forward thinking as they are today. But they were soon impressed enough to make her an executive officer.
Maureen raised the profile of the real estate profession throughout the business community and pushed it, kicking and scratching up a steep hill of dignity and respect.
Throughout her career, her ability to motivate has become legendary, from her days at TREB through the transition to her present management role at one of Toronto’s most respected real estate companies.
If there is a secret to Maureen’s incredible ability to motivate anyone to success, it has to be her sincere belief that the most humble and timid person in any real estate office can become its most successful.
Maureen will nurture and guide them. She will make them believe they are the most important people in the world and she will believe it herself. The truth is, she cares genuinely for the real estate business and the people who work in it.
Maureen’s achievements for this industry are many. But I think the most significant one was her role in getting sales representatives the right to vote in the business affairs of the Toronto Real Estate Board. Prior to that, only brokers could vote at TREB.
Maureen advocated for that change for a lot of reasons, including the opportunity to widen the talent pool available for the Board of Directors. But the most important reason was her belief that if you make someone pay fees, they must have the right to decide how their business association operates.
It is the height of irony that she put so much energy into giving sales representatives the right to vote, and yet so few exercise that right.
An opportunity exists right now for members of the Toronto Real Estate Board to give something back to someone that has given so much to them. After all these years, Maureen is running for president of TREB. If you are one of the few members of TREB who are not aware of Maureen, I am pleased, as her friend and unabashed fan, to ask that you exercise your right to vote in the coming election and cast your ballot for Maureen O’Neill as president. Between June 8 and June 13, TREB members can vote for a new president by going to the Toronto Real Estate Board site and clicking on the vote icon.
I believe with all my heart that with Maureen O’Neill as president of TREB, the real estate industry in Toronto will rise to a greater level than ever before.
Heino Molls is publisher of REM. E-mail [email protected].
