Meet your 2017 RAHB Directors

Jan 11, 2017 | RAHB News | 0 comments

Lou Piriano, 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.  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.

Lou feels very humbled and privileged to represent, as President, the over 3,000 members of the REALTORS® Association of Hamilton-Burlington for 2017 and looks forward to actively engaging with all members as much as possible.  He extends an open invitation to anyone at any time to contact him at president@rahb.ca.

Jack Loft, President-Elect

Jack is a retired police officer and has been a member of our Board 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 loves wilderness and long distance hiking, fishing, golfing and cycling.  He and his wife are avid travellers and readers.

Donna Bacher, Immediate Past President

Donna joined RAHB in 1983 and is a Broker with Royal LePage State Realty.  Donna has served as RAHB President (2015) and Past President (2016), and as Chair of the Finance and Communications/Government Relations committees and the Joint (RAHB/HDAA) Rental Licensing Task Force.  She has also served on various other RAHB committees.

Donna served as a director for the Ontario Goat Breeders Association and as a Founding Members’ Association Rep to the Toronto Livestock Land Development Board from 2001-2003.  She is an avid fundraiser for various charities and a volunteer for Big Brothers/Big Sisters annual bowl-a-thon.  Donna holds a Canadian Private Pilot license and has completed her Canadian Commercial Pilot written exam.

Ann Forbes Arndt

Ann is a Past President of RAHB and has returned to the Board.  She has been a member of the Association since 1990 and is a Broker with Royal LePage Macro Realty Inc.  She has served as Chair of the Finance and Member Area Representation committees, as a member of numerous RAHB committees and task forces and 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 enjoys coaching all ages. Ann will be attending the World Masters Games in Auckland, New Zealand in the spring of 2017.

Nikola Bucalo

Nikola is a Salesperson with Coldwell Banker Community Professionals.  He joined RAHB in 2010 and is finishing his first year as a Director and as Chair of the Government Relations Committee.

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-Nebbia

Kathy is a Salesperson with Royal LePage State Realty.  She first joined RAHB in 1986 and has served on the Government Relations Committee and Charity Auction task force.  She will Chair the Government Relations Committee in 2017.

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 Frisina

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

Ralph has spent most of his life in the family business, doing everything from working the gas bar, car wash and parking lot at 100 Main St. East to being a labourer on the C21 building project.  He opened his own brokerage in 1981 and 30 years later wound down the business.  In the early 90’s, the Frisina Group  moved into more new home construction, custom home building and residential infill sites. He has been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows since the early 1990s, and has served as 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 looks forward to working on the Board to continue building on the work started by past and present directors.

Paul 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 decided to run for the RAHB Board of Directors for two reasons:  he wanted to give back to an Association that had provided him with so many tools to carve out a very successful and satisfying career and he felt his past career had 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!

Diane Price

Diane is a Salesperson with Keller Williams Complete Realty.  She joined RAHB in 2004 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 has been a member of The Rotary Club of Ancaster for 10 years, for which she has been involved in raising $2.5M for water wells and sanitation in Haiti and has 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 one grandchild, and there’s another on the way!

Andrew Robertson

Andrew is the Broker of Record of Keller Williams Complete Realty.  Since joining RAHB in 2005, Andrew has earned a number of sales achievement awards and has served on the Government Relations and Communications committees, as well as the Joint Rental Housing and Buyer Registry task forces. Andrew also serves on the Hamilton District Apartment Association`s Public Relations Committee.

A passionate real estate investor, Andrew owns and manages his own portfolio of 27 residential units. Andrew is married with two daughters aged 11 and 12 (going on 20!) and lives on the West Mountain.

Bob Van de Vrande

Bob is the Broker of Record of Apex Results Realty Inc., and has been a RAHB member since 1988.  Bob has served on the MLS® Committee and the DDF, Charity Give Back, Report Solds and Lonnie Bushey task forces.

Bob enjoys attending his sons’ school and extra-curricular activities as well as travelling, particularly to tropical destinations, with his sons Nicholas and Tyler.  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 45 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 founding his brokerage in 2012, Bob was with a national franchise for 20 years.

Richard Weima

Richard is a Broker member with Right at Home Realty Inc.  He was a member of RAHB in the 1980s, then rejoined RAHB in 2015.  He served as Chair of the Burlington Division and as a member of the Member Engagement Committee.

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 60’s and 70’s. At 21, Richard obtained his real estate license, gravitating to new home sales and then resale. He was one of the first in the industry to develop his own website and personal online marketing. A member of the Oakville-Milton & District Real Estate Board, Richard served as OMDREB director, Vice President and President, and apprciated the opportunity to learn trends and bring changes to the real estate industry.

With a 40-year tenure in the real estate profession, Richard has been 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.

Meet the President, Lou Piriano

Jan 11, 2017 | RAHB News | 0 comments

We sat down to talk with 2017 RAHB President Lou Piriano.

Q. First of all, congratulations on becoming President for 2017! Being on the board of directors and now being President is a big commitment of time, and you do this as a volunteer.  What makes you want to spend that time on behalf of members and the association?

A. The real time commitment here is the one our members have made to being a REALTOR® belonging to Ontario’s finest association!  Members have put their faith in the board of directors so we owe it to them to do whatever is necessary to empower them to succeed.

Q. The big thing coming up in 2017 is RAHB’s new Matrix MLS® System.  What else do you intend to focus on this year?

A. Once again, I only represent the hard working board of directors and so the entire board will determine priorities along with our CEO.  Those priorities are based in part on member surveys. MLS® services , a core competency,  is consistently rated as members’ prime concern. Therefore, along with Matrix, we will be adding complementary services to give members an edge in their daily work which they can use to up their professional services and image to their clients. Increasing professionalism and conveying REALTOR® value to the public are also high on members’ priorities. It’s now our job to demonstrate the delivery of these services.

Q. Are there any particular challenges you see for members or the association in 2017?

A. It is clear that government, particularly at the federal level, is trying to “cool” the market. Tighter mortgage rules will feed into that effort.  I am confident our location near the GTA represents the optimum value for buyers and we will continue to have a strong market in spite of those changes. Technology is also a huge challenge. As everyone knows, it changes at the speed of light and affects how REALTOR® services are delivered in some cases. Therefore, we need to be ready to adapt quickly when necessary.

Q. If you had to name one thing you wanted to accomplish this year, what would it be?

A. I don’t want to restrict our goals in any way. We can certainly walk and chew gum at the same time and I see no reason why we can’t complete multiple goals that members need and want. A huge goal is to share as much data with as many associations as possible so that members are not caught without information when their clients ask. Other associations have told us they aspire to the same goals.

Q. Any last thoughts to pass on to members?

Just know that we on the board of directors are members just like you and make the best decisions we can based on facts we have. As a member not on the board I often wondered why certain decisions were made. Now I know. As transparent as we are, there are still facts that can’t be “public” immediately.

My door is open to any member if I can help, 905-308-2988 is my cell number.  Most questions are operational in nature and we have an incredible staff who are more than willing to help. Just try’em  at 905.529.8101… tell ‘em Lou sent you.

Update – my note to you dated December 22 regarding ORTIS

Jan 11, 2017 | RAHB News | 0 comments

from RAHB CEO George O’Neill

On December 22, 2016, I sent an email to each RAHB member about an ORTIS communication just before the year end holidays that may have caused some confusion to anyone who read it.

I would like summarize what has transpired:
We unexpectedly received a letter from ORTIS – the managing company of the regional Matrix system – that they unilaterally declined to continue negotiating a data sharing agreement that RAHB and ORTIS had been working on for several weeks.

ORTIS also advised that as of Wednesday, February 1, 2017, Access Members of RAHB (that is, users with computer access only) will no longer have login access to the regional Matrix system, and listings interboarded to RAHB’s MLS® System will no longer be forwarded to the regional system.

We understand from ORTIS’s communication they may have made their decision in order to generate revenue from creating their own subscriber category and may charge additional fees to interboard listings to the regional system. RAHB respects that ORTIS is a separate company, is not governed by OREA or CREA and is therefore entitled to make its own independent business decisions. However, RAHB is simply trying to protect our members from paying additional fees and desires to secure an ongoing commitment from ORTIS to share listings.

What does this mean for you?
If you are a full RAHB member, your listing data and access to the regional Matrix system will continue as it is for now.  For you, it will be business as usual.

Access members will continue to have login access to RAHB’s MLS® System and accompanying listing data, but may no longer be able to log in to the regional Matrix system after February 1, 2017.

Non-RAHB members who interboard listings to RAHB’s MLS® System may no longer have those listings uploaded to the regional Matrix system after February 1, 2017.

I assure you that RAHB continues to have confidence that the boards and associations participating in sharing listings via the regional MLS® System have the same goal we do: that our collective members benefit from access to complete listing data across the region.  We continue working with our neighbouring boards and associations to achieve this common goal, and are also working with them to urge ORTIS to amend its decision. Currently, ORTIS has not committed to share listings for RAHB full members past our cutover to RAHB’s Matrix system.

I will update you as soon as more information is available.

Regards, George O’Neill