association update may 2012
DESCRIPTION
The official communications publication vehicle for the Members of the Central Alberta REALTORS® AssociationTRANSCRIPT
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Inside this
Edition:
Membership Activity
Jackie Leavenworth
Seminar Review
RECA Real Estate
Update Classroom
Course
Reports
Articles of Interest
SupraWEB guide
Employee Spotlight
The official communications publication vehicle for the Members of the Central Alberta REALTORS® Association
Central Alberta REALTORS® Association
May 2012
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Chantel Loiselle Maxwell Real Estate Solutions LTD
Allan Logue Rhino Realty (New Brokerage)
Peter Steenbergen Century 21 Global Real Estate
Alta Hughes Morrison Realty (1990) LTD (New Brokerage)
Tyler Hansen Soderquist Appraisals LTD
Craig Mackenzie Sim Management Realty to Prudential Toole Peet Realty
Stewart Walker Sim Management Realty to Prudential Toole Peet Realty
Sandi Hallgren Royal LePage Network Realty Corp Sylvan to Re/Max Real Estate
Bart Wegner Rhino Realty to Worth Metro Realty
Carol Fletcher Royal LePage Central to Coldwell Banker Ontrack Realty
Karen Dorval Residential One Real Estate to Sutton Landmark Realty
Carole Boyd Re/Max Real Estate Central Alberta
Trevor Hanson Soderquist Appraisals LTD
March 31st 2012—April 30th 2012
Rodney Schultz Sutton Landmark Realty
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Judging by the positive feedback, those who attended Jackie’s seminar
this April found her to be both entertaining and educational. Returning for
her second year in a row, the evaluations were overwhelmingly positive
and attendees have expressed their excitement for Jackie’s return. We
hope to see her again!
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RECA Mandatory Course—Real Estate Update 2011-2012
WHEN: Tuesday May 15th, 2012 12:00pm-4:30pm WHERE: 67th Street Holiday Inn 6500, 67th Street Red Deer, Alberta T4P 1A2 INSTRUCTOR: Barry Hanna COST: $55+GST PLEASE NOTE: This course is also available online via www.reca.ca. The cost for the ONLINE course has already been paid through your annual RECA dues. If you decide to enroll in the CLASSROOM version of the course, you will be responsible to pay the course fee. REGISTRATION: To register for the CLASSROOM course, please visit www.realtorlink.ca. On the home page you will find the “Real Estate Update 2011-2012 Registration” portal. Complete this digital registration form and be sure to select SAVE. Your registration is then automatically submitted. Within the next 24 hours, you will receive a confirmation email that your registration was received. If you do not receive confirmation within this time, please call or email Lauren McMurray. Cancellations must be in writing 24 hours prior to the course to receive a full refund.
(403) 343-0881 / [email protected]
Sunreal Property Management Ltd. Presents...
This course will not only assist you in gaining an understanding of
the fundamental condominium principles, it will also provide the elements you
need to know regarding the conditions on the residential purchase contract!
Take advantage of this excellent learning opportunity and register today!
When: June 20th, 2012
9:30am-12:45pm (coffee and muffins available on arrival)
Where: Red Deer Lodge, Gull Lake room
4311-49 Avenue
Red Deer, Alberta
T4N 5Y7
Cost:
Presenter: Michael Stevens, CPM®, FRI
Associate Broker
General Manager of Property Management Services
Registration (REQUIRED): Please visit www.realtorlink.ca -> Education. Complete the
Condominium Principles 101 Registration box in full and then click the SAVE button. Within
the next 24 hours, you will receive a confirmation email that your registration was received.
If you do not receive confirmation within this time, please call or email Lauren McMurray.
(403) 343-0881 / [email protected]
Central Alberta REALTORS® Association
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If you have been in real estate
for any length of time you are
all too familiar with change.
REALTORS® are often noted to
be strong, courageous, and
determined as they adapt to a
new expectation upon them.
As this year progresses one
observation has been made
very clear-the challenge with
change is not the change itself--the challenge is the
transition.
This year we are implementing process, technology,
and organization changes. That is a formidable task
and I often feel overwhelmed by the scale of the
challenge. It was never the intent of the Board of
Directors that we completely reinvent the Central
Alberta REALTORS® Association but it has been
made evident that one change seems to bring
about another. By this time next year our
Association will have a very different look.
The Succession Task Force has been working for
several months now. I believe that committee
initially thought an advertisement, receipt and
review of applications, and the selection of the new
Executive Officer would be sufficient steps. The
members that were recruited to be part of this task
force are powerful change leaders who are
passionate and committed to building a vision and
ensuring the proper foundation is laid for a
reinvented and energized association. The Task
Force is presently evaluating the role and
responsibilities of the Executive Officer and
determining the required competencies for the
successor.
Change that we, as an Association, implement is
much different than change that is put upon us. The
Directors continue to inform themselves and state
positions that they believe would be the consensus
of our membership to CREA, AREA, and RECA.
RECA has held several meetings across the province
and presented their new Strategic Plan and Self-
Regulation Workshops. We appreciate the extent
to which RECA has gone to consult with and
engage the industry in a discussion about self-
regulation but felt it necessary to speak against
some of the direction and practices of RECA. With
the support of AREA, the boards of the province met
and compiled a unified statement. Some of the
areas of concern are increasing confusion that is
arising within the industry about the respective roles
of the Regulator, provincial association, and the
boards; sending out practice tips or advice when
their role is to regulate (is it a tip or standard?); a self
-regulating industry should be governed by a body
that represents its peers or at least a representative
number of seats on the Council; and, with the ever-
growing amount of real estate trading that involves
parties that fall outside the realm of industry
regulation, the definition of what constitutes a „trade
in real estate‟ and the scope of registrants that
RECA regulates needs to be revisited.
CREA continues to consult and engage the
members of organized real estate across the
country. The Organized Real Estate Collaborative
Strategy-Map to the Future can be found on
Realtorlink.ca on the CREA tab (Futures). Leadership
across the country voted in favor to permit the
committees to bring detailed action plans back to
the fall conference for voting. Some of the areas of
expected change are:
Consumer Insights: Transparent evaluation of
consumer experience with buying and selling their
property; Rate the REALTOR®
Technology and Data: Efficient and cost effective
MLS® systems-as opposed to the fragmented
spending occurring at all 3 levels, meeting the
demands of consumers with open and transparent
data, independent organization to run REALTOR.ca
and CREA‟s technology services, evaluate If and
how best to have FSBO and non-MLS® data on
REALTOR.ca (Design mock-ups are available to look
at on Realtorlink.ca as well)
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Professional Development: National competency
standards, including apprenticeship and
mentorship programs; national virtual college; post-
licensing certification and education programs,
establish an enforcement process for the REALTOR®
code that is acceptable in all jurisdictions. CREA
has been training 3 pilot boards (35 brokers and 153
agents) in the 1st quarter of this year with the DATA
DISTRIBUTION FACILITY. For the months of February
and March, pilot participants listings garnered over
89,000 property detail views across the selected 3rd
party destinations and 2000 clicks for additional
information. It was impressive to hear that CREA
also cut off the DDF feed to one of the pilot third
party destination sites, as they were not displaying
listing data to the standard specified in the
agreement. The DDF dashboard should be
available to us by the end of the 2nd quarter. It will
be an efficient way to gain exposure for listings
while simultaneously preserving data integrity. It
also provides statistics to help brokers and agents
gauge the effectiveness of their marketing efforts.
We will be meeting with AREA in May and expect
to have further updates at that time in regards to
the progress of the Data Co-op. This is a tool
external to the core MLS® services that we provide,
offering the ability for REALTORS® to view listing
information in regions within Alberta but outside our
own board region. This will be very beneficial for
our members that work in outlying areas.
We are in the time between the old and the new,
when people feel overwhelmed by the possibilities
that change is presenting and all the work that
needs to be done. I am very grateful to all the
Directors, the members at large who have
answered the call to be part of the process, those
who share their experience, observations, and
opinions, and those who have taken the time to
call and offer words of encouragement or
gratitude. Together we can create the Association
we desire. After all, it belongs to us.
Respectfully,
Tracey Christensen
President 2012
We are working on developing a member
survey to collect data regarding where and
how the members donate. With this
information we will use Social Media to
celebrate all the ways REALTORS® are making
a difference in the world around them. We will
ask the members to send us their stories and
pictures and this will give them the opportunity
to promote their causes. The member can
connect our site to theirs and all of their
“friends” will then be hooked in and see
REALTORS® making a difference. It is a way to
get likeminded people connected.
We will no longer be a fund-raising task force,
but will focus on celebrating what our members
are already committed to. Our members are
already passionate about the areas they give
to and it is too difficult to get them to come out
to a charity event we think is important. We will
use the REALTORS Care® logo on everything
we send out. Why re-invent the wheel!? If
someone came to us and said “hey, let‟s do
this event and give the money to this…” we
want the option to do that, but will not focus
our time thinking of fundraising
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Hello All,
I am sure you all have questions and are
wondering when our new operating system is
coming.
CoreLogic is the company who is providing the
new operating system "MATRIX". Our new 'Matrix' is
scheduled to be ready for full operation by
August 1st of this year. As any change over there
are sometimes delays and hiccups, but all is
looking good. The people involved on our side
with the switch over have been working hard
cleaning up our current Interface database. I
believe most of the towns and cities have seen
purging of duplicate streets and also the
s u b d i v i s i o n a l i g n m e n t w i t h e a c h
municipality throughout our board area.
On the CoreLogic side they are currently inputting
all of our data, mapping and forms and are
confident for a summer launch. Our goal is to
provide training for everyone in a group setting
before the launch. Everyone will be
encouraged to come sit during one of the
training sessions to see how the Matrix
operates. Those dates will be announced
closer to our launch.
As most of you know the Matrix system is a
web based operating system, so you must
have internet access to operate. Another key
component of the Matrix is that it operates on
all platforms meaning you will be able to
operate it on an Apple product as well on a
PC.
I am quite excited for this project to become
part of our real estate daily lives. Just
remember that with any new system there will
be a learning curve, but technology today
makes learning easy and fun. We will keep
you informed as things progress.
Ken Devoe
Chair - Technology Committee
events and then deciding who should get the
money. We want to roll out the “celebrating” what is
already being done and do that well before we look
for other projects.
Social Media will play a large part in spreading the
message to not only our members about what
everyone is involved in, but also getting that
message to the public so they see REALTORS® care.
Sandi Gouchie
Chair - Charitable Foundation
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An estimated two million* Android-toting Canadians — plus
millions more around the world — can now use their Android
device to take advantage of the many useful functions
available with the REALTOR.ca app including searching for
properties “near me”, connecting with REALTORS®, and saving
time by letting the Property Tour dynamically create a route to
direct them to a list of selected properties.
Up to the end of March we recorded 11,961 downloads of the
App. *Reprinted from MTC Tech News
As described in previous issues of NEWS2Me, CREA and your Boards and Associations have been
engaged in a Futures strategic planning process to help position our industry for a strong, sustainable
future. Important decisions that will affect you are being made and your input is needed. In late
May/early June you will receive a series of mini-videos that outline the strategic plan that has been
developed collaboratively by over 1,000 of your colleagues across the country. You will be asked to
answer a mini-survey on your smartphone, and be invited to visit a website where you can review
additional information and provide more detailed feedback. Watch for them!
*Reprinted from NEWS2ME
ICX.ca users are now benefiting from new features introduced with ICX.ca 5.5. The site now auto-
sizes to fit HD monitors, making the most use of the viewer‟s display. And users now have the ability to
collapse or expand the criteria and thumbnail side panels to see a larger or smaller image of the
map. The map features have been extended to allow users to view chosen points of interest
including financial services, transit stations, buildings, shopping centers, fire stations, schools and
police services. We‟ve also incorporated the new polygon tool (introduced with REALTOR.ca) which
enables users to draw free form shapes on the map to more precisely focus their property search.
Finally, users can also immediately connect with, and join, REALTORS®‟ and offices‟ social networks
by clicking on direct links from ICX.ca to REALTORS®‟ social media pages on Facebook, Twitter and
LinkedIn. *Reprinted from MTC Tech News
Want a sneak peak of innovations coming down the pipe with the view to making REALTOR.ca an
even better consumer site? Click here to view preliminary design concepts and fill out a survey. *Reprinted from NEWS2ME
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Training on the Data Distribution Facility Module Three with the 3 pilot Boards continued through the
1st quarter in Ottawa, Cornwall and Renfrew. To date the CREA team has trained 35 brokers and 153
agents. For the months of February and March 2012, pilot participants‟ listings have garnered over
89,000 property detail views across the selected 3rd party destinations with over 2,000 clicks for
additional information on these properties. CREA also cut off the DDF feed to one of the pilot third
party destination sites who was not displaying listing data to the standard specified in our agreement.
The DDF offers a number of benefits for brokers and agents as it offers an efficient way to gain
exposure for listings while simultaneously preserving data integrity. Additionally, it provides statistics to
help brokers and agents gauge the effectiveness of their marketing efforts.
Module Three Pilot Participant, Penny Toronto with Assist 2 Sell 1st Options Realty Ltd. in Ottawa sums it
up: “I‟m finding the DDF Module 3 Dashboard easy to use. I was keen to take part in the pilot
because there‟s so much going on out there on the Internet it‟s important that listings stay consistent
for the consumer. This will make it better for all of us.” *Reprinted from MTC Tech News
SupraWEB Guide www.supraekey.com
SupraWEB is the agent website where you can go to:
• Obtain an update code for your key
• Identify the name of a keyholder by key serial number
• Manage your keybox inventory and listing information
• View, email, and schedule activity reports
• View and send showing feedback
• Manage your bill
• Change your PIN code (eKEY users)
• Set up your market area (eKEY users)
• Obtain an authorization code for installing eKEY software (eKEY users)
• Set up your ActiveKEY Alerts if your Board/Association has this feature activated
(ActiveKEY users)
SupraWEB can also be accessed using your mobile phone by navigating to http://
supraweb.suprakim.com.
Need help?
Call for free support 7 days a week, 5am to 7pm Pacific time, toll free 1-877-699-6787.
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Brief description of what my position entails
A/P, A/R, GST & Payroll
Length of service with CARA
2 & 1/2 years
Hometown
Frontier, Saskatchewan
Favourite part of working at CARA
The people I work with
Hobbies, talents, and special interests outside of work
Reading, singing, watching my kids play sports
Favourite vacation
Any place hot with a beach and fruity drinks!
Three words to describe me
Helpful, kind, funny
Something I would like CARA members to know about me
I am married and have four children. Together, we own &
operate a family business called “Dinger Rings Mini
Donuts”. It is a seasonal mini donut concession trailer. I’m
kind of a workaholic.
Favourite food
Anything that I don’t have to cook!!
Favourite type of music
70’s & 80’s Rock
Favourite movie
“The Natural” with Robert Redford & Glenn Close
Favourite author
John Irving
If I were stranded on a deserted island, three things I
would like to have with me
My husband, sunblock, Corona Light
Accounts Manager