CREA’s membership has spoken,” says Georges Pahud, incoming president of the group. “CREA accepts the results and will continue to ensure the accuracy and quality of the information on boards’ MLS systems that Canadians have come to trust. This result will not change how CREA operates today, tomorrow or in the future.”

Canada.com

How is HomeZilla (and other Canadian Real Estate startups) going to benefit?

More people will use our services because they help the home buyer, home seller and the Realtor ® save time. As more people use a ‘pay for service’ model they are going to need more tools to help educate potential buyers. HomeZilla is Canada’s Neighbourhood Expert and I am sure home seller will be printing our neighbourhood reports.

The only concern we have is the Competition Bureau is probably still going to go after CREA to change more. The reason, the Bureau didn’t like that CREA allowed local boards to install their own set of regulations on realtors. The is almost no way for the Competition Bureau to police local boards. In our opinion, this is the main reason the Bureau send the complaint to the tribunal and will pursue it faster.

Until more changes comes, HomeZilla expects to see a increase in usage as more people try and save time during a house transaction.

If there is a “Yes, to change” vote there will be a lot of changes… if there is a “No, to chaneg” vote there will probably be even more change in the long run. A “No” vote might get the Competition Bureau worked up and they might go for opening up Canadian real estate data.

Here are just a few article on the CREA vote with some interesting snippets take out:

Financial Post on the CREA vote

The measures, which ultimately give consumers some ability to decide how much they use a realtor on a deal and allow consumers to conduct parts of a transaction without using a realtor, are not expected to be enough to satisfy the Competition Bureau which has filed a complaint with the Competition Tribunal over what it says is anti-competitive behaviour.

CBC News on the CREA vote

The real estate association requires all sellers wanting to use the MLS to pay for a full suite of services, she told CBC News Network’s Lang & O’Leary Exchange in February, while some of its members are willing to sell only some of those services and charge a lower commission.

In the bureau’s view, this requirement interferes with competition, she said.

Globe & Mail on CREA vote shaking up the industry

The bureau also has something to prove. When Commissioner Melanie Aitken was appointed last summer, she promised to improve the bureau’s record of challenging organizations accused of anti-competitive conduct. By taking the case against CREA to a tribunal, the bureau will have to convince a specialized body that the association’s practices are limiting competition in the home-selling business.

CTV on the CREA vote give buyers some wiggle room

About 300 real estate agents from across Canada will vote on proposed changes that would give private citizens the ability to negotiate the sale of a home without the help of a registered agent while still taking advantage of the extensive database of MLS property listings

Which everway… there is going to be lots of fallout…hopefully all good!

At CREA’s AGM on March 22nd, members are going to vote on proposed rule changes to appease the Competition Bureau. These changes let home sellers choose the services they want to buy from an agent (i.e.: it puts more options in the market.) More openess in a market is a good thing so let’s also open up the data to help home buyers.

Sidenote: I haven’t read any articles regarding real estate agents being 100% commission based. This is an important thing to remember, if they don’t sell a house they don’t get paid…try and find a lawyer who works like that.

Is it too late for the Competition Bureau to think about Open Data?

The Competition Bureau could have, and may still, greatly increase innovation in the Canadian real estate market. Opening access to real estate-related data, which is inevitable, would benefit everyone in the home search process. Major cities in Canada (Toronto, Vancouver, Edmonton, and more) and around the world (such as San Francisco), have opened up their data and the citizens of these cities have benefitted.

Open access to this real estate data would be a great thing:

1. Open up access to historical home sale prices
2. Reduce barriers to showing listings on 3rd party websites
3. Recommend that CREA open up Realtor.ca to 3rd party widgets

Opening access to these three pieces of data are smaller changes than affecting a Realtor’s © commision. And adding innovation to an industry is always a good thing for the consumer.

With access to more information, websites like HomeZilla, Zoocasa, and View Point Realty could provide better research tools to home buyers. Home buyers being able to find a home they love is at the heart of any real estate industry. Helping home buyers would help the entire real estate market.

This is Canada, let’s keep everything fair; if the sellers of a house are getting a benefit then so should the home buyer. Let the innovation accelerate!

How do you feel about Open Data in real estate?

For companies like HomeZilla, Zoocasa, ViewPoint, and others changes in the industry can only be good. For consumers, more choice is always better. But if you are one of 98,000 agents, then change makes you nervous.

Every industry hates to see government intervention and they usually put up a great fight (ex: Microsoft & ATT). Usually, the industry in questions puts together a fantastically crafted message and repeats that message again and again. (This worked especially well for Obama and George W. Bush)

That is why I was shocked to see a ‘rough’ interview by CREA president Dale Ripplinger on CBC. In fact, I double checked the page to see if it was a REAL CBC page. Here are some of the questions and awkward answers are:

Q. And the average commission is how much?

A. There’s no such thing as an average commission.

Q. The one most of us have paid is around six per cent.

A. Yeah, well, we don’t comment on commissions because the Canadian Real Estate Association doesn’t get involved in negotiations between our members and their clients. If a realtor won’t work for what a client is willing to pay, then that client has to find another realtor who will, and believe me, they will, because there’s lots of competition and lots of choice.

Isn’t the average commision of a real estate agent common knowledge? Even more importantly, doesn’t CREA know exactly how much agents make on each transaction? Being evasive about provable numbers isn’t going to help CREA’s case in the public’s eye.

Q. Well, it’s not me that’s putting this forward. It’s the Competition Bureau, which doesn’t often get up on its hind legs and roar like this.

A. I’m not sure what their motivation is.

Q. What would the motivation be beyond taking care of consumers? What do you think is.…

A. We’re taking care of consumers by providing service that brings confidence to Canadian consumers when they handle the most important transaction of their life.

For such a big and common question, you would think that CREA would have a better crafted response. Real estate agents pay a lot of money in dues to support their board structure and I have to assume they would be concerned with these type of interviews.

Could it be possible that CREA wants the Competition Bureau to shake things up?

You can read the entire CBC interview here.