RAHB President Bruce Moran, MARC Chair Tom Peddle and CEO Ross Godsoe met with members in three communities in a series of Town Hall meetings in April. Members in Caledonia, Burlington and Dunnville came to hear updates on initiatives RAHB is exploring in 2013 as well as to offer comments and ask questions.
Topics on the agenda included the Home Price Index (HPI), electronic lock boxes, Single Sign On (or members’ portal), Young Professionals Network (YPN), the upcoming RECO election and RAHB member Ann Forbes Arndt’s run for Director of Region 2 plus updates on “housekeeping” issues. Members brought forward various questions and issues for discussion.
The Burlington Town Hall was scheduled to be broadcast live via Google+ Hangout, but unforeseen technical issues prevented the airing of the meeting. Efforts to broadcast more RAHB meetings will continue.
Home Price Index (HPI)
What is HPI?
The Home Price Index, or HPI, is the most accurate way to identify trends in the real estate market. Developed by CREA in association with the Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal real estate associations, the HPI measures Canadian home prices based on quantitative housing features such as number of rooms, number of bathrooms, living area, age of home, and qualitative housing features, such as finished basement, new or resale, proximity to schools, golf courses, etc. The HPI is comparable to the Consumer Price Index (CPI), but for homes.RAHB has been given the opportunity to participate in the MLS® HPI. The subject has been raised at recent Broker of Record/Manager meetings and Town Hall meetings to give members a chance to hear about the opportunity and to provide feedback on whether the HPI would have value for members.
More information about CREA’s HPI and how HPI is reported for the Vancouver, Fraser Valley, Calgary, Toronto and Montreal real estate associations is available at www.homepriceindex.ca. General information about the HPI and how it works can be found through the Home Price Index button on the CREA home page in REALTOR Link®.
Members will be asked for their input at the next General Membership Meeting.
Single Sign On
The RAHB Board of Directors has approved the development and use of a member’s “single sign on” (SSO – also known as a member portal, gateway or landing page). The idea is that members would log in once through the single sign on and have access to Fusion, Geowarehouse, other shortcuts, applications, alerts and features.The advantage to members is that they would log in once and then be able to navigate to various sites without having to log in again.
Members at the Broker of Record/Manager and Town Hall meetings were shown a sample of what an SSO could look like – no final product has yet been chosen or recommended.
Further information about the SSO will be provided prior to the next General Membership Meeting.
Young Professionals Network (YPN)
RAHB hosted a Young Professionals Network (YPN) kick-off on Friday, April 19 with 23 members in attendance. The purpose of the meeting was to determine if there was a need or desire for a RAHB YPN.RAHB Director Rochelle Edwards chaired the meeting. Presentations by Aime Ferris – President of the Simcoe and District Real Estate Board, Past Chair of the OREA YPN and first International Appointee to National Association of REALTORS®’ YPN Advisory Board – and OREA representative Anna Vozza provided information about OREA’s YPN group and the value of the group to both younger real estate professionals and those who are new to the business.
A lively discussion regarding the “wants and needs of the next generation” took place, and it was determined there was interest in creating a RAHB YPN committee/focus group to look at opportunities for younger or newer members to become engaged with RAHB and their peers and to grow as future leaders.
Next steps for a RAHB YPN are being investigated; watch for further updates and information.
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RAHB Town Hall Meetings
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