Over 130 members attended Town Hall meetings in Grimsby, Burlington and Stoney Creek – and 20 more joined the Burlington meeting online – to hear RAHB news and initiatives and updates on the CREA Futures project.

The item which generated the most discussion was the CREA Futures update.  RAHB President Cameron Nolan asked for input on the three items being considered at CREA’s special assembly meeting at the end of October:  the recommendation that CREA not pursue including FSBOs on REALTOR.ca; the request for input for a “Rate Your REALTOR®” site and the recommendation that CREA continue their investigation of creating a separate, for-profit corporation for technology services (including REALTOR.ca).   A straw vote at the Burlington meeting – which drew the highest number of members – showed those in attendance were in favour of having CREA proceed with investigating the development of a “Rate Your REALTOR®” site and that CREA and the Futures Implementation team continue to work toward creating a CREA-owned for-profit corporation for technology services.

Burlington Town Hall meeting broadcast live!
Just in time for the Burlington Town Hall meeting, RAHB introduced their new Google+ Page and issued an invitation to members to join the meeting online through Google+ Hangout.   Twenty members watched the meeting online.

RAHB will be webcasting other membership meetings in the future.  To view and participate in the meetings online, members must have a Google+ account of their own and then join the “RAHB Members” Google+ page, which is open to only RAHB members.   Members must join the RAHB Members page by “liking” the page and adding it to one of their own circles.  Whenever RAHB webcasts an event, a notice with a link to the event will be sent to members’ Google+ accounts.

Joining the webcast through Hangout will give members the chance to participate in the meeting by sending questions to the meeting and commenting to others tuned in.

Other topics covered at the town hall meetings included:

Fusion Update – now that CMA is available in Fusion, Fusion is complete and the MLXchange interface will be closed down in 2013.  While no date has been set, it will likely be mid-year.  More information is available in the November BITS & BYTES.

RAHB Bylaw Changes – RAHB Bylaw changes are being recommended for approval at the upcoming Annual Election Meeting on November 27, 2012.  For complete details, see RAHB Election Meeting items in this issue.

Burlington Survey and Future of the Burlington Council – Based on the results of a recent survey completed by Burlington members, the Burlington Council  recommended that the Burlington Council be removed from the RAHB Bylaw.  Further details can be found in the “RAHB Bylaw Changes” section of the Election Meeting item in this issue.

Discussions with Oakville, Milton & District Real Estate Board (OMDREB) – RAHB and OMDREB are in the beginning stages of discussions about a shared RAHB/NAR/OMDREB MLS® database.   There are technological and philosophical issues to be addressed, some of which require input from third parties.

RAHB Building Lease – RAHB has signed a 12-year lease with a new tenant for the second floor of the RAHB building on York Blvd.  The new tenant will move in March, 2013.