Holiday Weekend Approaches!

The RAHB Directors and staff wish you a safe and happy holiday weekend! (Please note the RAHB office will be closed on Friday, March 30. We will re-open at 8:30 a.m. on Monday, April 2.)

RAHB Easter Hours Poster

RAHB Dues Deadline is March 31, 2018

RAHB Dues Notice

The quarterly RAHB dues have been billed and e-mailed to you as part of your February monthly invoice.  Please note that dues are payable no later than March 31, 2018.

Full Member:   

$125.00 – RAHB dues (April-June)                     
$28.75 – OREA dues (April-June)                       
$77.50 – CREA dues (April-June)                       
$30.06 – HST   
$261.31 – Total             

 

Acceptable methods of payment are:

In person: Visa, MasterCard, Interac, cash or cheque

By phone: Visa or MasterCard

Online through Matrix: Visa, MasterCard, AMEX, Visa Debit – http://my.rahb.ca

Online: CIBC/PC Financial, Royal Bank, Scotia Bank, TD Canada Trust – for assistance to set up, please contact Karin at 905.529.8101, ext. 258.

Pre-Authorized payment subscribers will be processed on Wednesday, March 21, 2018.

 

A reminder about notifying RAHB of terminations in your office

Brokerages are responsible for notifying RAHB when members in their office resign or otherwise leave.  Notice must be received by RAHB within seven business days of the member leaving.  If notice is delayed beyond the seven business days, the Brokerage will be assessed a penalty of $50 per incident. (RAHB Bylaw, Article 4, Section 1.02.)

First Lunch with the President!

Kim Perosa of Keller Williams Edge Realty had the first lunch with RAHB President Jack Loft! Jack reports that Kim had many good ideas. She has concerns about how some area listings appear in our MLS® System, and was particularly interested in a more user-friendly Matrix phone app and being able to use her client list in Matrix more effectively.

Have you sent in your name for your chance to have lunch with the RAHB President? Just email your name to president@rahb.ca, and you may be next!

Have Lunch with the RAHB President!

Want to have lunch on the President’s dime?

If you have ideas on how to improve the association, or have constructive criticism for RAHB, send your name to 2018 RAHB President Jack Loft!  Every couple of weeks, Jack will choose a name and take that member to lunch to talk about the association. This could be your opportunity to present your great ideas and enjoy a lunch on the President. To participate, send your name to Jack at president@rahb.ca.

Jack Loft Lunch RAHB

A Message from Jack Loft, 2018 RAHB President

As we enter 2018, I want to wish all of you every opportunity for success in the coming year.

Our Association, through many programs and efforts, is committed to empowering our members to succeed. Directors, our CEO and staff are responsible for governance, finances, contract negotiations, futures planning, a robust MLS® system, education and other areas of performance to serve our members and to make RAHB the Association of choice within our profession. With a successful data sharing agreement in place, REALTORS® have options. We will work hard to be the best option.

During the coming year, I want our Board to focus on two themes in particular: effective communication and professionalism.

I encourage you to reach out to Directors and staff when you need a question answered or you have a constructive idea. I will also be encouraging the Board and staff to do a better job of keeping members informed of changes to service, the latest developments, or any issue that affects your ability to provide excellent service to your clients. We will do a better job of listening and at keeping everyone informed.

We are committed to raising the professionalism of our industry. There has been a strong message from the public and from within our ranks that we need to raise the bar. Our everyday interactions with clients and fellow REALTORS®, every conversation, every phone call, every social media post, every part of the buying and selling negotiation demand integrity and professionalism. This can be accomplished in many ways. By adhering to our Bylaws, our Code of Ethics and statutes governing our industry, we can raise our reputation as true professionals. We should not wait to be forced to do this. We need to regain the respect of the public and each other – respect that is hard to gain and quick to lose.

My commitment to you is that throughout this year, in addition to the recognized functions that the Board undertakes, I will regularly look to these themes of effective communication and professionalism and work toward improving both.

Please consider volunteering for any of the various RAHB committees and task forces in 2018. It is a rewarding  learning experience that will make you a more informed REALTOR®.

Sincerely,

Jack Loft
RAHB President
president@rahb.ca 

 

Meet Your 2018 Board of Directors

Want to know more about your 2018 Board of Directors? We’ve compiled all of their biographies in one convenient place. They look forward to serving the membership in 2018! For their contact information, click here.

 

Jack LoftJack Loft, President

Jack is a retired police officer and has been a member of RAHB since 2004. He is a Broker with RE/MAX Escarpment Realty Inc. and has served as a member or chair of various committees, including CEO Selection, Finance, Professional Standards and various task forces. He was first elected to the RAHB Board of Directors in 2015.

Jack loves wilderness and long distance hiking, fishing, golfing and cycling.  He and his wife are avid travellers and readers.

 

Bob Van de VrandeBob Van de Vrande, President-Elect

Bob is the Broker of Record of Apex Results Realty Inc., and has been a RAHB member since 1988. Bob was first elected to the RAHB Board in 2016 has served on the Arbitration, Audit Finance and Risk and MLS® committees in addition to various task forces. He will serve as President-Elect in 2018.

Bob enjoys family trips and gatherings and combines this with his love of travelling and photography. Bob has a passion for education, having earned an MBA as well as Bachelor of Commerce and Bachelor of Education degrees. He has previously served as a trustee, Chair and Vice-Chair of the Halton Catholic District School Board. Bob’s special interest is gifted education and he has worked to promote educational options in this area.  Bob has been an active member of St. Patrick parish in Burlington for more than 46 years and is president of Project Maranatha for Youth, a charity promoting youth leadership, education freedom and pro-life issues within the Catholic and broader community. Politically Bob has been active at both the provincial and federal levels with the Conservative party. Bob’s hobbies include reading, swimming, travelling and stamp collecting. Prior to converting his current brokerage to Apex Results Realty Inc. in 2012, Bob was a founding partner of a successful office operated under a national franchise since 1992.

 

Lou PirianoLou Piriano, Immediate Past President

Lou is Broker of Record of L. Piriano Real Estate. He has been an independent REALTOR® in Hamilton since 1973 when he first joined RAHB. He was elected to the RAHB Board of Directors for the 2014 term and served as President-Elect in 2016 and President in 2017. Lou has chaired the MLS® Committee, Regional Rules Task Force and the Audit Committee and has also served on the Finance, Arbitration and Professional Standards committees and previously chaired the Technology Task Force. He holds a mortgage broker’s license to further assist his real estate clients.

Originally a native of Brooklyn, New York, Lou was brought up and educated in Hamilton followed by additional education at the University of Guelph. Real estate brokerage was Lou’s first career choice out of university. After raising a family and successfully operating his brokerage, he is now able to commit even more time to the Association’s goals for members.

 

Ann Forbes AdrntAnn Forbes Arndt

Ann has been a member of the Association since 1990 and is a Broker with Royal LePage Macro Realty Inc. She is a RAHB Past President and has served on, and chaired, numerous RAHB committees and task forces over the years. She has also served on OREA and RECO committees. Ann was named RAHB Volunteer of the Year in 2005.

Ann is involved in the Dragon Boat community as a coach and steers person. She was pleased to be part of a Canadian team that attended the World Masters Games in Aukland, New Zealand in 2017.

 

Nikola BucaloNikola Bucalo

Nikola is a Salesperson with Coldwell Banker Community Professionals. He joined RAHB in 2010 and was first elected to the RAHB Board of DIrectors in 2016. Nik has served as Chair of the MLS® and Government Relations committees and as a member on the Government Relations Committee and the Strategic Options Task Force.

Having grown up in a real estate household, this Millennial has been in and around our profession for over 20 years. These deep roots in the industry are a real motivation to contribute to the long-term success of organized real estate.

In his spare time Nik loves to run, play volleyball, compete in triathlons, read about fringe science and play a few musical instruments.

 

Kathy Della NebbiaKathy Della-Nebbia

Kathy is a Salesperson with Royal LePage State Realty. She first joined RAHB in 1986. She was elected to the RAHB Board in 2016 and again for 2018, and has served as Chair of the Government Relations Committee and member of the MLS® and GR committees and Charity Auction Task Force.

Kathy first joined organized real estate as Kathy Fournier with Montreal Trust. She left real estate for about 12 years, started a family and returned in 2004 when her youngest was in grade one. She considers herself blessed in so many ways with family, friends, colleagues, business, health and her journey of learning and growth through this life. She is passionate about learning, involvement, people and family. Her favourite quote is “life is not about learning how to weather the storm but about learning how to dance in the rain”.

 

Ralph FrisinaRalph Frisina

Ralph joined RAHB in November 1977 and is now a Broker member with L. Piriano Real Estate. He is a long-time member of the Arbitration and Discipline committees and served as a member of the Finance Committee in 2017.

Ralph has long been involved in the family construction/development business and in the early 90’s helped move the Frisina Group into more new home construction, custom home construction and residential infill sites. He opened his own brokerage in 1981 and 30 years later wound down the business.

He has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows since the early 1990s, and has served as treasurer, noble grand and district deputy grand master. He is proud of the organization’s involvement with Camp Trillium and “OuR Island”, a camp for children with cancer, and their families.

Ralph is married and is, as he says, blessed with a large extended family – he proudly noted he became a great uncle twice in August. He looks forward to continuing to build on the work started by past and present directors and to facing all challenges of a changing real estate market.

 

Paul HammondPaul Hammond

Paul is a Salesperson with Keller Williams Edge Realty. He has been a member since 2007 and, since joining RAHB, has served on the Burlington Council, Golf Tournament Task Force, and MLS® and Discipline committees.

Paul serves as a RAHB Director because he wants to give back to an Association that has provided him with so many tools to carve out a very successful and satisfying career. He believes his past career provided him with skills he could utilize to make RAHB even better for all members.

Paul is a life-long resident of Burlington and surrounding area who is both a 12-year share-holding member at Burlington Golf and Country Club and a contributing member of their board of directors. As a previous owner of Servicemaster of Burlington for 15 years, Paul developed many skills, contacts and knowledge that he believes has prepared him to help elevate RAHB to new exciting levels!

 

Stephanie PinetStephanie Pinet

Stephanie is a Salesperson with RE/MAX Escarpment Lisa Weber Realty Inc. She joined RAHB in 2014 and served on the RAHB Government Relations Committee in 2017.

Stephanie grew up in Burlington and notes that she’s travelled around the world enough to know that the Hamilton-Burlington area is truly one of the great places on the planet. She describes herself as “obsessed with investing in real estate” and is a member of the Real Estate Investing Network. Her passion for real estate investments has prompted Stephanie to turn two single family homes into legal duplexes, and there are sure to be more projects in the future.

Stephanie notes that her time on the Government Relations Committee in 2017 and now on the Board of Directors are her first steps into volunteering and she expects to find working with the Board to be as rewarding as her time on the GR Committee. In her free time, Stephanie enjoys playing hockey and softball, as well as hiking, sailing and snowboarding.

 

Diane PriceDiane Price

Diane is a Salesperson with Keller Williams Complete Realty. She joined RAHB in 2004. Diane was elected to the RAHB Board of Directors in 2017 and has served as both member and Chair of the Charity Auction Task Force, and as member of the Discipline and Arbitration committees. Diane received RAHB’s Outstanding Community Service Award in 2006.

Diane was a member of The Rotary Club of Ancaster for 11 years. In that time, she was involved in raising $2.5M for water wells and sanitation in Haiti and travelled to Haiti six times. She has also served on the Police Services Board, Interval House board and school councils. Diane started a criminal harassment support group and raised money for women who have been stalked. Her past experience includes being an aesthetician, working for her father’s Customs business, public speaking and owning a fishing/hunting store. Diane has two sons and two grandchildren.

 

Richard WeimaRichard Weima

Richard is a Broker Manager with Right at Home Realty Inc. He was a member of RAHB in the 1980s, an Access Member then rejoined RAHB as a Member in 2015. He served as Chair of the Burlington Division (1986-88) and as a member of the Member Engagement (2016) and Nomination (2017) committees.

Richard’s passion for the real estate business began early, when he accompanied his father, a home builder and developer in Sarnia, to his many new home sites during the 60s and 70s. At 21, Richard obtained his real estate license, gravitating to new home sales and then resale. Richard volunteered as Director and Vice-President on the Sarnia Lambton Real Estate Board until transferring to the Burlington and Oakville area. Becoming a member of the Oakville-Milton & District Real Estate Board, Richard served as OMDREB director, Vice President and President (1993).

With a 44 year tenure in the real estate profession, Richard remains a part of tremendous transformation. Information sharing, public access and technology have all contributed to improve the speed and efficiency of service provided to the real estate consumer. Richard understands the challenges a real estate salesperson faces daily in an ever-changing environment and invites communication with opportunity to learn and succeed together.

RAHB Holiday Hours

Happy Holiday NewsReal Ad

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Association Holiday Hours

Closed: December 2526, 27 & January 1

Open regular hours (8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.): December 28 & 29

Re-opening for regular business: January 2

The ​Holiday Schedule fo​​r​ ​​listing package​ ​d​eliveries​ is​: 
December 28, 29 & January 2. The ​regular​ ​schedule ​resumes on Wednesday, January 3​, 2018.​

Matrix help

If you require help with Matrix when the RAHB office is closed, you can:

  • Access online help directly in Matrix by clicking the blue Help tab, where you will find Matrix Training Guides or Tutorials

Photos

The Association’s photographer will be unavailable to take photos for broker-loaded listings entered on December 22, 23, 24, 25 & 31, 2017.

If you need help uploading your photos to RAHB Matrix, check out this tutorial.

Call for RAHB volunteers

Be part of the action! Volunteer on a RAHB committee or task force in 2018!

Just complete the Volunteer Form and forward it to the RAHB office by Friday, January 5, 2018. Complete details, including descriptions of committees and task forces, are on the form.

Call for RAHB volunteers

Monthly service fee reduced starting in January!

Effective January, 2018, your monthly service fee will be reduced to $39 from $44. This new fee will be reflected on your January, 2018 invoice.

This fee reduction is a result of prudent financial management on the part of the Audit, Finance and Risk Committee, the CEO and the Board of Directors throughout 2017. Even after a significant upgrade to our MLS® System in 2017 and with more, enhanced services coming in 2018, you – our valued member – will benefit from a lower monthly fee.

If you have any questions about this fee reduction, please get in touch with Jack Loft, 2017 Chair of the Audit, Finance and Risk Committee, at jackloft48@gmail.com or at 905.929.4994.

RAHB dues deadline December 31, 2017

The first quarter 2018 RAHB dues have been billed and e-mailed to you as part of your November monthly invoice.  Please note that dues are payable no later than December 31, 2017.

Full Member    

$125.00 – RAHB dues (Jan-Mar)

$28.75 – OREA dues (Jan-Mar)

$77.50 – CREA dues (Jan-Mar)

­­­­­­­­­­­$30.06 – HST

$261.31 – Total

 

Acceptable methods of Payment are:

In Person: Visa, MasterCard, Interac, cash or cheque

By Phone: Visa or MasterCard

Online through Matrix: Visa, MasterCard, AMEX, Visa Debit (New) http://my.rahb.ca

Online: CIBC/PC Financial, Royal Bank, Scotia Bank, TD Canada Trust – for assistance in set-up, please contact Karin at 905.529.8101 x 258.

Pre-Authorized payment subscribers will be processed on Thursday December 21, 2017.

 

A reminder about notifying RAHB of terminations in your office

Brokerages are responsible for notifying RAHB when members in their office resign or otherwise leave.  Notice must be received by RAHB within seven business days of the member leaving.  If notice is delayed beyond the seven business days, the Brokerage will be assessed a penalty of $50 per incident. (RAHB Bylaw, Article 4, Section 1.02.)

 

Musings from RAHB CEO George O’Neill

At RAHB we strive to continuously improve everything we do, focused on the three core competency areas of our association:

  1. managing an efficient real estate marketplace;
  2. providing effective local advocacy; and,
  3. offering the best professional development opportunities for our members.

You may remember that in May of this year, in this column, I talked about how RAHB contributes to the efficient real estate marketplace in Hamilton, Burlington and our outlying areas. The three pieces that work together to provide an efficient marketplace are the MLS® System itself, the rules and regulations for ensuring the system is fair for all, and the discipline process that is invoked if a member works outside the rules.

A data sharing agreement has been achieved with the seven regional boards and associations around RAHB, and our new Matrix 7.0 MLS® System will be rolled out later this fall. The new MLS® System will enhance how you work in the marketplace and will improve what you can offer your clients. As for the other two pieces of our market – rules and discipline – there are indications that change is coming from outside our association.

There is a move by the provincial government to overhaul REBBA 2002. If that occurs, it may change the rules you currently work under and may possibly change the discipline process as well. RAHB may need to re-visit our rules and processes to accommodate whatever adjustments are made by the government, and manage how those changes affect the marketplace.

OREA is taking the lead in discussions with the government and in recommending measures to strengthen the real estate licensing legislation while taking into account how REALTORS® work in their respective marketplaces.

Local advocacy and government relations have been an important part of RAHB’s place in the community and our service to you. We will be placing greater emphasis on those two roles and looking to place RAHB more firmly as a voice for the real estate community and home ownership. We intend to forge stronger relationships with municipal elected officials and representatives, and continue working closely with OREA and CREA to develop those same kinds of relationships with provincial and federal representatives from our market area.

As you will read later in this newsletter, this is the last issue of Realinfo in both print and digital versions. We are putting aside the monthly format to bring you RAHB and industry news in a more timely, weekly manner.

Earlier this summer, we initiated weekly emails under the name of NewsReal. So far, NewsReal has covered updates on Matrix, some general news and reminders of upcoming events. Starting in mid-September, NewsReal will also include RAHB and industry news, plus the features such as Realty Shoppe specials, Ethics Corner, new members, Professional Development and more that you’ve come to expect in Realinfo. Going forward, NewsReal will be your weekly newsletter.

We have taken this step for several reasons. First of all, we want to be able to provide you with information about issues of importance to you when the information is still current, but without filling your inbox with additional emails from RAHB. Once-a-week communications will have us in touch with you regularly but not too often.

We are also concerned about conservation – conservation of paper and staff resources. Printed copies of Realinfo were historically circulated to all member offices, yet recently only a few members indicated an interest in continuing to receive a paper copy.

I’m excited we can be in touch more regularly, and you can be kept more up to date on RAHB news.

Last but certainly not least… I would like to encourage you to attend one or more of the four community open forums coming up in September. Your Member Engagement Committee has planned informative meetings in Burlington, Caledonia, Dunnville and Grimsby – come out and hear officials from the respective Planning Departments. Also on the agenda will be opportunities for open discussion – bring your questions and be ready to talk about the hot topics on your mind. I look forward to seeing you there. If you can’t attend, the Burlington meeting will be live streamed via Facebook Live. You must belong to RAHB’s Members-only Facebook group to see the feed, so join today!

Best regards,

George O’Neill
RAHB CEO