We
Have
Arrived

The rules governing Ontario REALTORS® are badly out of date, which is impacting our professional standards. Last year, OREA fought hard to modernize REBBA, the legislation that governs REALTORS® in Ontario. We lobbied for a full review of the Act and engaged thousands of members in a conversation about the future of the profession.

Our REBBA Review Taskforce shared 37 recommendations with the provincial government that, if implemented, would raise the bar on education, strengthen professional standards, allow for personal real estate corporations, create a specialty licensing class, and hold those who break the rules to the highest level of discipline. This January, we heard the great news – after years of knocking, the Ontario government opened the door for REBBA reform and a review is officially underway.

rebbareform.ca

The dream of home ownership is slipping away for thousands of young families, due to lack of supply, mortgage stress tests and slowly rising interest rates. In 2018, we launched our Keep the Dream Alive campaign, urging governments at all levels to make home affordability a priority by tackling the housing supply crisis. In response, the provincial government launched its Housing Supply Action Plan, inviting OREA to be a key advisor. This plan will lay the ground work to increase housing supply and lower taxes to create a new generation of home owners.

keepthedreamalive.ca

The Home Energy Rating & Disclosure program was a damaging piece of red tape that would have forced mandatory time-of-listing home energy audits. A scheme that would have punished home sellers, especially seniors and low-income families who do not have the money to pay for expensive retrofits. OREA fought against it, and this past fall, Premier Ford announced the death of HER&D.

Put the Brakes on Mandatory Home Energy Audits

In June 2018, we partnered with the Toronto Real Estate Board to stop the spread of the MLTT to York Region. That tax would have added over $15,000 to the cost of a typical home in York Region. We said 'no' to the municipal land transfer tax back in 2015 and won – saving home buyers $1 billion/year. So, when it popped up again in York Region, OREA said 'no way' and the Provincial Government agreed.

Ontario REALTORS® are exposed to new technologies every single day. Staying on top of them can be challenging.

In 2018, OREA hosted its first ever REALiTY Conference, where we insisted on having some difficult but necessary conversations about the changing nature of real estate. The Conference featured over 100 speakers, 50 vendors and 900+ attendees from all over the Province.

Highlights and speakers included OREA’s 360 Presentation from 2018 President David Reid & CEO Tim Hudak, Zillow, marketing guru Tony Chapman, Royal LePage CEO Phil Soper, real estate futurist Rob Hahn, North American famous real estate coach Jackie Leavenworth and consumer trend expert Amy Erixon.

The conversation continues in 2020, when we will take our REALiTY Conference to Niagara Falls. Stay tuned…

realityconference.ca

OREA’s EMERGE series are professional and personal empowerment events that dive deep into the relationship between real estate and technology. 2018 marked the sixth-year hosting EMERGE events which were held in four different locations: Durham, Orillia, London and Ottawa.

In keeping with our goal to host fewer, but better events, OREA will no longer be offering the EMERGE series of events. Resources and funds will be reinvested in our principal events – Ontario REALTOR® Party Conference, Peak Leadership Summit, REALiTY Conference – and priorities identified through working with our local boards.

A review of the entire Real Estate and Business Brokers Act is officially underway.

The government is exploring parts of the Act that, once updated, will raise professional standards in our business.

For example, we need to eliminate two-tiered consumer protection and close the builder exemption loophole. Anyone trading in real estate needs to subscribe to the same high standards, including builders selling new homes.

We also need a more demanding education program for real estate licencing – graduates need to be better prepared and more practice-ready coming out of the real estate education program.

REALTORS® also deserve to have the right to incorporate. If accountants, mortgage brokers, insurance agents, architects and engineers, can all form personal corporations, then REALTORS® should also be able to.

OREA will continue to push for these updates, and many others, that will make Ontario REALTORS® North American leaders when it comes to professional standards.

Standard Forms & Clauses are the most important tool in a REALTORS’® toolbox; and OREA keeps them up-to-date and legally vetted making it so every single REALTOR® across Ontario is on the same page and speaking the same language when they do business.

In 2018, we ramped up our Standard Forms outreach, with nearly 70 in-person talks at local boards and associations across the Province, and direct access to our experts and resources.

From new government standard lease forms to the growing use of electronic signatures and cannabis legalization, we covered a wide range of topics in our 8 webinars, 12 tutorials and direct conversations with thousands of members.

This year we are going to do even more. For the first time ever, we’ll be using Artificial Intelligence to communicate with our members in real-time about Standard Forms.

At OREA, we put a big focus on developing our leaders and volunteers to become some of the strongest in the country. Strong leadership at the provincial and local levels better positions real estate boards and associations to respond and anticipate changes affecting the profession.

That’s why we hosted the Peak Leadership Summit – a two-day learning and networking event with a focus on advancing leadership skills. In January 2019, we opened our Peak Leadership Summit to all of Ontario’s local Board Directors, with twice as many people attending Peak compared to last year.

We are committed to building a bigger and better Peak Leadership Summit for 2020, with something for everyone. We will be incorporating more speakers, more interactivity and more networking opportunities to help board leaders achieve even better outcomes for their members.

It’s important to be prepared to take on the challenges that face our profession, and we’re looking forward to continuing to support the leaders that work hard for our members.