Re: Are bogus bidding stories bogus? (REM, December 2007)
 
I read with interest the recent article regarding bogus bidding.  I would like to clarify a few points as far as I understand things.  Michael Manley, owner of Prudential Properties Plus, past member of the Board of Directors of TREB, was running for election as president of TREB against Ms. O’Neill.  He ran on two platforms:
 
 1.  Creating an on-line offer registry system to ensure all multiple offers were open and above board, the details of which would be hammered out at a future date.
 
 2.  The rebranding of mls.ca and changes to same so that leads would be distributed fairly to all members paying dues (not the bulk of leads going to top producers who generate a substantial number of listings).
 
Before the election Mr. Manley was interviewed by The Toronto Star and much of what he said was mis-stated; very shortly thereafter Ms. O’Neill was interviewed and it was indicated that she had never heard of phantom offers. Mr. Manley was interviewed a second time and the journalist got a lot more of his intent in that article.  In the meantime, Mr. Manley received quite a number of letters and emails from sales reps across Toronto thanking him for airing this problem. 
 
In Mr. Procter’s article in REM, Ms. O’Neill is quoted as saying, “My opponent was going around saying that Realtors are playing dirty pool, saying there were all kinds of phantom offers out there.”  I would like to correct that once and for all.  Mr. Manley was clearly quoted the second time around when things were clarified, as stating that “the vast majority of real estate agents are ethical and honest and put the best interests of their clients first.” He actually said this both times he was interviewed, but the first journalist didn’t represent him correctly. He was also vindicated after the fact, when almost immediately after Ms. O’Neill became president of TREB, she claims that a sales rep brought phantom offers to her attention, and thereafter called for a task force to examine more transparent forms of bid registration. (Sound familiar?)
 
Unfortunately, in Mr. Procter’s article, Ms. O’Neill is quoted clearly, other presidents across Canada are quoted, Re/Max Hallmark is said to be creating a company-wide policy to deal with offers in an open and transparent manner, but Mr. Manley is never named, only referred to as “my opponent”.  In fact, to the best of my knowledge, Re/Max here in Toronto followed Mr. Manley’s lead, when he decided his techies were going to create an on-line offer registry system for our offices to use.  Mr. Manley and the owner of Re/Max discussed his idea together.
I hope you print this letter in its entirety, so that the truth is told.
 
Cathy J. Morrison
Sales Representative
Prudential Properties Plus
Brokerage
Toronto