Edmonton Realtor Wayne Moen is the 2012 president of CREA, in one of the association’s most tumultuous years in recent history. The ongoing Futures project is examining all aspects of how organized real estate operates in Canada and not everyone is happy. So far four boards and the Quebec Federation of Real Estate Boards have announced they will leave CREA at the end of the year. The Montreal board voted to leave as well, but its Board of Directors has decided to wait to see how the Futures project plays out before making a final decision to leave.

Prior to CREA’s upcoming Special General Meeting in Winnipeg in late October, REM editor Jim Adair interviewed Moen in Ottawa. Also at the interview were CREA chief executive director Gary Simonsen and media relations officer Pierre Leduc. Here’s an edited summary of the interview.

REM:  You picked a great year to be president. How’s it going so far?

Wayne Moen:  I’m really enjoying it. I’ve been involved in volunteer work for well over 20 years now as president of the Edmonton board and president of the Alberta association.  I love the dynamics of board work and I love the challenges – I’m enjoying it.

REM: It hasn’t been the easiest year.

Moen: No, and I’m glad of that. You don’t want to be bored. I find it stimulating and I’ve had great support from my executive officer and my board.

REM: What is the current status of the Futures project?

Moen: Last fall the Futures Implementation Team identified four strategic focus areas that they wanted to concentrate on:  development of a state-of the-art technology platform, providing information and tools to Realtors and to consumers; increased emphasis and enhancement of professional development to increase our value to consumers; looking at restructuring organized real estate – the governance – to expedite decision making, and ultimately reduce costs and duplication; and finally to acquire consumer insight so organized real estate can understand changing consumer needs and improve our relationship with consumers.

Out of these strategic areas, we had 23 initiatives that were proposed. One of them that generated a fair amount of controversy was the proposed action to consider putting for-sale-by-owners and non-MLS data on realtor.ca. But the Futures Implementation Team looked at it, looked at the legal considerations, and decided there was too much risk to the trademarks and so decided not to pursue that any further.

Gary Simonsen: It will be subject to our assembly approval, but that’s the recommendation.

REM: Are the other 22 initiatives going forward?

Moen: They are looking at these things. They are still being studied; they are looking at the pros and cons.

REM: Have there been a lot of changes since the proposals were first introduced?

Simonsen: We are going to initiate a consumer engagement strategy that will be done on a national basis. We will use a consumer panel, which is not something we have done previously. That’s a facility we will be making available to boards and associations across the country. We will be talking about at this upcoming assembly meeting.

We are going to be consulting with members about things like Rate Your Realtor and also seeking some input with respect to the roles and responsibilities of the various levels of organized real estate. We have some study groups that are working away on those and they will be presenting some preliminary reports and seeking input from the members in attendance.

REM: So at the Winnipeg meeting you are not looking at coming up with a final plan?

Simonsen: No, this is a work in progress. In terms of the Futures plan itself, we identified various timelines for a couple of projects. Some other ones will come out further along in the process, probably in 2013. So we will be giving members an update about everything.

REM: What are some of the other hotspots you have heard about from members?

 Moen: The Rate Your Realtor (idea) is one that has had some response on both sides of the equation.

 REM: Why is CREA looking at Rate Your Realtor?

Moen: It’s not CREA, it’s the Futures Implementation Team and the whole Futures process – so this is a member thing. There are pros and cons. Is this a way to improve engagement with consumers and improve professionalism? There are other groups that have tried it and there have been some negatives things as a result. So they are going to look at both sides and see if there is enough of a case to try and institute something and set up the right rubric for installing it if that’s the ultimate decision. I think there is a major board in the United States that has had it for some time and it’s been pretty successful.

REM: What are some of the initiatives that you feel strongly about?

Moen: We are going to review the governance structure (of organized real estate). Is there a lot of duplication? Are there things we can do about it?

I think the buzzword is that we have to be more nimble. The way it goes right now, something coming from a member or a smaller board, it might take two or three years to really look at it and get a consensus and actually implement it – that’s way too long.

REM: What do you think CREA’s role should be?

Moen: Traditionally our role has been lobbying the federal government and one of our big wins, of course, was the federal government’s Home Buyer’s Plan. There are very few Realtors in Canada who have not benefited from that over the years and we have been involved in keeping it current, raising the limits with inflation – that’s a huge one and that’s a big part of what CREA does.

REM: Some people who are critical of elements of the Futures project think CREA is involved in areas that should be left to the provinces Do you see areas where CREA could step back and leave things to the provincial associations?

Moen: That’s part of the whole process, exactly what we are looking at with the governance. We recognize there is diversity right across the country, in regulations, etc.

REM: One of the Montreal board’s concerns is, as they put it, Realtors from across the country making decisions that affect them in Quebec. How do you respond to that?

Moen: We are working for the benefit of all our members across the country. We’re open, we listen, we are doing the best we can to provide the best services for everybody.

REM: You have small boards in Quebec that are pulling out of CREA and Montreal voted to pull out but they are going to wait until next year. Do you think there is a place for special rules for them?

Moen: I think we have to be really careful about that. I’m from Alberta and Albertans think they are special. We have 10 different provinces and the territories and we need to act in the best interests of our members right across the country.

REM: What do you think is going to happen if Montreal does pull out? How will that impact CREA, losing that many members?

Moen: We don’t think they are going to pull out. We have a year to communicate with our members and communicate what we do for them. I think they will see there is great value and I’m very confident they will stay.

REM: What about the other boards? Are you making any effort now to get them back?

Moen: We have met with a number of boards and now it’s a matter of communicating what we do and we think the more we do that, the more they will see our case. I’m very optimistic.

REM: Communication with the members is important. We get a lot of complains about CREA on our comments on the REM website. People don’t write Letters to the Editor when they are happy about something, so we do get a disproportionate number of negative comments. Are you seeing a lot of the same comments?

Moen: There are those comments but we’ve been quite happy – people have thanked us for communicating with them directly. We now are communicating with over 90,000 of our members directly and I think that’s a real positive step – and we are getting very good feedback on that. Some of the comments say we wish you had done that before. Because of the protocols, we were not necessarily able to. But I think generally our members are quite excited to hear from us.

REM: Do you listen to the members if they lodge complains? Do you read their comments?

Moen: Absolutely. We all try to listen and respond and the staff has been great. That’s our job. You can always improve communications at all levels and we are working on that.

Simonsen: We undertook a communication initiative earlier this year to all members across the country that briefed them on some of the key issues in the Futures plan, and we asked for their input. That’s unprecedented. We have had literally thousands of members who have engaged in that process, which is ongoing.

REM: Are members more engaged now or is there still that mass of apathy out there?

Moen: More people are engaged and it could be because there are some more controversial issues, but it’s easier to communicate these days. And with increased professionalism, our members realized they have to become more involved.

REM: A lot of the anger we see revolves around realtor.ca. How can you improve it?

Moen: That’s one of the big issues the Futures Implementation Team is looking at. Should we continue in house, should we farm it out, should we establish an arms-length corporation to run it and still own it? This is a big one, they are looking at it very diligently and hopefully they will come forward with some proposals in the next few months.

Simonsen: It’s been long recognized, the need to ensure that realtor.ca is an effective tool for members. In the last year there has been a release of a whole series of mobile applications that have been tremendously successful – in excess of half a million downloads of mobile applications. We just launched an ipad application that was downloaded 35,000 times in just one week.

It was made an editor’s choice, which I understand is a real compliment to the calibre of the application. We have launched mobile applications for ICX.ca. We know that traffic on realtor.ca is quite extraordinary. Can it be better? Absolutely and we are taking steps to look at ways we can improve it. There will be a launch later this year that will make it more consumer friendly and update the look of the site.

REM: Some members have also said that CREA should have fought harder against the Competition Bureau, rather than sign the Consent Agreement. Do you think that was the right decision?

Moen: I think we made the right decision at the time. Under CREA, there is room for every kind of business model.

REM: One of the Montreal board’s concerns is the cost of the legal battles currently taking place with RealtySellers and the Competition Bureau. Do you think you’ll require more money from members to cover the legal fees?

Moen: I think under our budget right now we’ve planned for that and we’re in good shape.

Simonsen: There’s no expectation of that being required. I think that’s the ongoing role of any national association, to get involved in national issues, represent the interests of the members.

REM: So do you think the sales rep on the street, through his reps at the board levels, is getting the representation they should be getting and are they getting a chance for their voices to be heard?

Moen: Absolutely – I really have valued my time as a volunteer and I’m amazed at the quality of contribution of my fellow board members and the staff. But there is always room for improvement, and we’re listening.

REM: Is there anything else you would like to tell the members?

Moen: We are there for them and we are listening. Please call us. Let us know what you are thinking.