QUICK HITS
- CREA is holding a Special General Meeting on October 18 to get direction and support on a for-profit future of Realtor.ca.
- Alberta Real Estate Association and others “don’t see a benefit to selling off a portion of Realtor.ca”.
- Any technology looking to grow and scale or enhance its offerings requires capital – the question is how to capitalize while meeting member and consumer needs.
The future of Realtor.ca may be changing. For months, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) has been working with stakeholders on whether it will move from its current non-profit status to a for-profit model.
“ … we’ve been working in consultation with realtors and leaders from boards and associations across the country (the Realtor.ca Task Force) and outside experts who have been leading initial due diligence on the consideration of moving Realtor.ca into a separate, taxable, wholly-owned subsidiary of the Canadian Real Estate Association,” says Pierre Leduc, spokesperson for CREA, in a statement.
CREA seeks endorsement and next steps at SGM
Tomorrow, CREA is holding a Special General Meeting (SGM) to request and collect directional endorsement on what’s been done so far and to go over next steps.
“This is an important and exciting journey, and we want to be sure we’re taking the time to listen and consult,” Leduc expresses. “The discussions on October 18 will help CREA’s Board of Directors in their decision-making on future work – which could include a formal vote on a detailed business plan at CREA’s AGM in April 2024. We look forward to sharing more when we know more.”
But, the process seems to have been a bit of a bumpy one in recent months.
Alberta boards take a stand
In an update to members of the Calgary Real Estate Board, Chair Christian Twomey wrote that he was invited to be on CREA’s Realtor.ca task force on May 16 and resigned from it on August 30. He wrote that initially, he felt the process had him in a state of unease and his apprehension did not go away during his time on the task force.
“Immediately after my resignation, it became clear there were significant challenges in aligning the Task Force and CREA on what is best for Realtor.ca. It is clear that there are forces involved that are undermining good governance and appear to be systemic in nature,” he wrote on September 19.
“On Sept. 12, CREA sent a notice of a Special General Meeting on Oct. 18 to all Boards and Associations across Canada. Interestingly, when writing this email, CREA has still not presented a motion for Boards and Associations to vote on. So far, CREA has advised the leadership across the country that we are expected to attend this meeting in person for a ‘directional endorsement exercise on the future of Realtor.ca’. For CREB, our goal is for Realtor.ca to continue to be a reliable source of business for our members.”
Brad Mitchell, CEO of the Alberta Real Estate Association (AREA), said part of the association’s concern is it doesn’t see a benefit to selling off a portion of Realtor.ca.
“Back in January, a number of CREA members saw (the board’s) plan to basically sell a portion of Realtor.ca. A lot of members got together and AREA, along with nine other boards in Alberta, submitted a requisition to have a Special General Meeting to propose bylaw changes to prevent the CREA board from doing it without a member vote,” says Mitchell.
“And so, this SGM is really about the future of Realtor.ca and how it’s going to work . . . the task force was struck, they’re going to bring forward some recommendations.”
Mitchell says the initial idea of CREA wanting to sell a portion of Realtor.ca came as a surprise, and it was felt that this plan needed more detail and more thought.
“We don’t like the idea. CREA hasn’t been able to demonstrate any advantage to bringing in outside investors and, of course, if you have minority shareholders (they) have significant rights. Right now Realtor.ca is owned by every realtor member in Canada and it’s a not-for-profit model. As soon as you bring in outside investors, of course, they’re going to want to make a profit.”
“Revenue should benefit all members in Canada”
Mitchell explains there’s only one way to profit: from the members themselves. “They’re the ones that have created the system. There are ways to generate revenue but that revenue should be for the benefit of all Canadians and all members in Canada, and not to a specific corporation or entity.”
He says AREA looks at one thing – protecting its members’ interests.
“When those members’ interests are threatened, we will act very swiftly and decisively to protect the people that we’re responsible to. So, any sale of Realtor.ca to anybody outside of the realtor members is a non-starter for our provincial association and many of the boards in the province,” he adds.
CREA’s agenda
In the SGM agenda package, a note from Larry Cerqua, chair of CREA, and Marina James, chair of the Realtor.ca Task Force, says the platform is instrumental to the success and reputation of realtors in Canada by putting realtors at the heart of consumer real estate journeys and delivering millions of leads to members each year.
“We know how important this asset is to the entire realtor association community. As stewards of Realtor.ca, we must prepare to lead future technological change while ensuring the long-term sustainability of this unique and extremely important asset that generates tremendous value to realtors and their clients,” they wrote.
The pair said the task force has been leading initial due diligence and helping it chart a path forward for the platform that would be turned into a separate, taxable, wholly owned subsidiary of CREA.
A huge force in property searches
Lynette Keyowski, Managing Partner of REACH Canada, a real estate technology scale-up program, says the national program is affiliated with the National Association of Realtors out of the United States – CREA’s equivalent in the U.S.
REACH has a venture capital arm called Second Century Ventures which invests in real estate technology companies for the benefit of their realtor members.
Keyowski says there are plenty of statistics and market data pointing to Realtor.ca being a significant force in property searches for Canadians.
The future requires capital
“From that perspective, it’s obviously a viable technology. It has grown its market share for a few different reasons. This comes down to a business model that is employed, and Realtor.ca – by virtue of its ownership through CREA – has enjoyed essentially a monopoly on its asset, which is the listing inventory.
No other portal can point to a monopoly on acquiring that listing data. Any other real estate portal needs to acquire the data through some other means, whether it’s monetary or financial, (and) whether it’s through affiliation or membership or through a partnership of some nature with the folks that own the data,” Keyowski comments.
She says CREA has been able to grow the Realtor.ca brand through that lens because they have the most listings available.
“From a pure future viability perspective, I suspect it’s around how do we continue to deliver the product that the marketplace demands, given our current ownership structure, regardless of the fact that we have a monopoly on input … I suspect that is likely the conversation being had,” she suggests.
Keyowski points out that, based on REACH’s knowledge and work, any technology function looking to grow and scale or enhance its offerings requires capital.
“So, the question then is how do you capitalize that growth, how do you capitalize that expansion, how do you capitalize continuing to meet the demands of a continually evolving and changing consumer base?
I think it really comes down to two things. It’s how you operate the business and it’s how you capitalize the business.”
Mario Toneguzzi is a contributing writer for REM. He has more than 40 years of experience as a daily newspaper writer, columnist, and editor. He worked for 35 years at the Calgary Herald, covering sports, crime, politics, health, faith, city and breaking news, and business. He now works on his own as a freelance writer for several national publications and consultant in communications and media relations/training. Mario was named in 2021 as one of the Top 10 Business Journalists in the World by PR News – the only Canadian to make the list.
How to Sell REALTOR.CA to For-profit Entities.
1. Consolidate as many listings to MLS as possible via “REALTOR Co-operation Policy”(DONE in April 2023).
2. Consolidate paying Customers/Clients(REALTORS) Data to REALTOR.CA via “New National Login Experience”(DONE in September 2023).
3. Complete a valuation of REALTOR.CA with data consolidated in Step 1 and 2.
4. Find Buyers and Solicit Offers.
5. Force a vote to OKAY the transaction at an AGM/SGM by Member Boards who are not accountable to their REALTOR Members.
You know it is a done deal when they have already completed Step 1 and 2. They are simply waiting for the right time to let you know about Step 3, 4, and 5.
The real question here: who is going to benefit from selling REALTOR.CA to for-profit entities?
As I said previously, all the changes to MLS with TRREB and CREA were not for the benefit of real estate agents (not realtors, real estate agents), the exclusive listing mandate is a good example. It was for the benefit of privatization which will be either directly or indirectly mandated on us. If you think this is a good thing you are wrong. Time to move on folks before there is nothing left. We need to stop calling our selves “realtors” and start calling ourselves “real estate agents” and acting like agents.
I don’t get it..
For years they have created a monopoly and make it nearly impossible for any private company trying to create their own portal to coexist.
Now they want to sell the their assets? Why? Look at NAR and realtor.com that didn’t end well
By stating their intentions they just opened to door for possible litigation from anyone they have tried to crush in the past.
Wait until the competition bureau gets wind of this and nails CREA for restrictive business practices and anticompetitive behavior.
We are witnessing the fall of organized real estate
Because for all those years, the best interest of the organizations and the membership was the name of the game.
We are living in times of the great wealth redistribution.
All eyes are now on anything and everything that generates money but is not owned by some for-profit corporation.
If you want an example to see how this is going to work, just look to the National Association Realtors in the US. Voiceless at best.
Their demise has been diminished from the time they became not for profit entity. They no longer have a leg to stand on, clearly NOT, what us as Canadian currently have in CREA, remaining not-for-profit.
I am so sick and tired of the small group members who vote in secret, looking for a photo opportunity for themselves, to look good, when in the end in the end the diminishes us as a profession.
OREA’s ORWP, sadly was orchestrated by a similar small group of executive voters voting for the larger body of Realtors, and to our detriment.
It just reminds me of people shooting themselves in the foot, when organize real estate for Canadian professionals like OREA and CREA is imploding.
I agree with Karl Liu.
This whole scenario stinks. It smells like OREA and it’s ORWP except it’s a step ahead. OREA has yet to form its for-profit division but that’s what is in its sights. Stop the Mandatory ORWP.
The new National login was suspicious but we went along with it. And now, at least at NAR we will be charged a $100 administrative fee for any requests to adjust the listing and/or Buyer salesperson name on a listing that has been amended to pending or closing.
Another admin fee? Will our Boards be so pre-occupied with collecting “dues”for OREA that any MLS admin stuff now needs a dollar amount attached to it? The new fight fight (or maybe I should say another fight) for realtors will be the preservation of realtor.ca and CREA as a non-profit. I say NO to a for-profit realtor.ca
Your “no” falls on deaf ears. The question should be how do we stop OREA, how do we stop CREA and of course, lets not forget TRREB. Equal and opposite reaction is needed.
Kudos to the Alberta board for stepping up to try to stop this train. I’m so sick of the corruption at every level of governance in OREA and CREA at this point.
After all- realtor.ca is owned by the realtors. It’s our data. It’s our listings being posted on this platform which is free to the public. They will now take OUR data and sell the leads back to us. THEFT. They don’t own the data…we do. There is no reason CREA should be for profit. There seems to be plenty of money left to pay the working staff of CREA even though it is currently ” not for profit”. Once you factor profit in there-the corruption and theft begins. There is always someone trying to get into the wallet of a realtor isn’t there? The profit they foresee will be coming from US and we are already paying fees upon fees, upon fees.
What if they made loading your listing to realtor.ca “optional” so you could keep your own leads from our own website? (We all know there is no such thing as optional -aka ORWP)…but imagine if they made it optional for us to upload our listings to realtor.ca and we all declined there would be nothing left for CREA to have any relevance…nothing to sell. realtor.ca would be no more. THEY ARE NOTHING WITHOUT US AND OUR LISTINGS/DATA.
We must protect the “not for profit” model at all costs.
The decision at hand here is to take a platform funded by the membership, content driven by the membership, 100% advertising free to ensure an unbiased consumer experience, and sell it to one or two private entities to monetize it. Changing the consumer experience and benefiting one or two private companies in the process. What could go wrong with that?
Once again the top can’t see the trees, let alone the forest. The value of realtor.ca is the content and the ad-free experience for the consumer enhancing the value of what we offer to our clients.
I am pleased with this article highlighting true leadership being demonstrated and that was by the actions of Christian Twomey.
JMO.
We only need to look south of the border, to see NAR’s biggest blunder in selling off their realtor.com years ago. We must maintain ownership 100%, if needed sell shares to your members in good standing, raise the technology fee, sell ad space. But do not sell any portion of this off unless it is to realtor members.
This is a sign of the times. Take any public property and turn it into profit.
It is always about $$$. It won’t be the realtors whose dues go down, it will be corporate whose salaries go up. It’s always the same song and dance. Cash out before the Federal Govt takes over real estate.
I believe the monopoly that Realtor.ca is built upon, that of MLS’s being the sole purveyor of all listings, will be eroded by continuing litigation and the Competition Tribunal moves against organized real estate. Eventually, MLS systems will be forced to share listing data with third parties, and it is already starting to happen. (Witness the pilot project to do that in Nova Scotia.) I see the move by CREA to move Realtor.ca into a separate business subsidiary as a move to get ready for that new day. In the future, Realtor.ca will need to adapt quickly to the new competition and will need to make significant financial investments to stay relevant. This new structure will give them a chance to survive and continue to thrive. Once Zillow, Trulia and other online competitors get unfettered access to Canadian listing and sales data, the game will have changed irreversibly.
Our board just joined DRAR which includes TREB. We know have a large membership. Big enough to use our own online public site and dump realtor.ca.
Please folks, don’t just blame OREA and CREA for the issues. TRREB plays a big supporting role too with the amount of voting power they have. Even if you are not in Ontario, keep that in mind. So mention them as well.
Realtor.ca should remain Non-Profit, Advertisement Free and 100% Wholly owned by ONLY the Realtors it represents. Look what happened to NAR when they privatized theirs, should we not be smart enough to learn a lesson here? Think about the 407!
I need to repeat what was so well written by a fellow agent: ”The value of realtor.ca is the content and the ad-free experience for the consumer enhancing the value of what we offer to our clients.” Our clients know that Realtors are shaped by education and regulations. Excuse me but the name of the platform should speak for itself; Realtors is by realtors serving clients! Realtor.ca distributes the information of its members who have sustained it since its creation. Let anyone else create and maintain their own platforms; they are free to do so but only professional realtors have been associated and have paid for the platforms and others have not. I have been paying fees since 1981 contributing to its development and progression. Why should the Tribunal force our private organization to give access to non-members???
If the purpose is to provide fair competition, perhaps, we should allow anyone to take over our homes too! Free for all! Would it make sense to allow strangers to come and live in our homes even though we have been paying our mortgages and taxes for years, and maintaining it for years? I don’t think so! Well then, in that same parallel comparison, private is private. The Tribunal is overstepping our right to continue our private enterprise which we have invested in in order to create it and maintain it. It has been generating information and has been paid for by a private group of professionals. It is not about unfair competition; it is about the fact that we are professional realtors providing our services. This right is ours!
The Competition Tribunal must acknowledge and respect our professional trade, our history, our mission, and our right to continue to be private because we own realtor.ca. I believe that allowing non-members on the platform will kill the platform and most professional agents will abandon it, defeating the true purpose of its existence. It will be as good as another Kijiji. Perhaps, people can advertise their garage sales on it too! Why not?
I don’t know if people don’t know the facts or are just ignoring them. Realtor.ca is not and will not be sold as per the meeting today and as per previous statements by CREA.
Creating revenue to keep R.ca competitive is the issue. Today was a vote of confidence to continue with a business plan for next April to vote on it.
It’s December 5th. Where is the business plan for the vote next April. Is there a date for publication.
I agree with what Patrick Hulley said, we need to keep realtor.ca 100% advertising free to ensure an unbiased ad free consumer experience.
All associations don’t seem to care too much about us right now. They all appear to have self interest and be in a money grab and run state of mind. Definitely not in our best interest and they are not disclosing all to us. Auditor General time in my opinion.