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Inside this

Edition:

Membership Activity

Jackie Leavenworth

Seminar Review

RECA Real Estate

Update Classroom

Course

Reports

Articles of Interest

SupraWEB guide

Employee Spotlight

The official communications publication vehicle for the Members of the Central Alberta REALTORS® Association

Central Alberta REALTORS® Association

May 2012

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Chantel Loiselle Maxwell Real Estate Solutions LTD

Allan Logue Rhino Realty (New Brokerage)

Peter Steenbergen Century 21 Global Real Estate

Alta Hughes Morrison Realty (1990) LTD (New Brokerage)

Tyler Hansen Soderquist Appraisals LTD

Craig Mackenzie Sim Management Realty to Prudential Toole Peet Realty

Stewart Walker Sim Management Realty to Prudential Toole Peet Realty

Sandi Hallgren Royal LePage Network Realty Corp Sylvan to Re/Max Real Estate

Bart Wegner Rhino Realty to Worth Metro Realty

Carol Fletcher Royal LePage Central to Coldwell Banker Ontrack Realty

Karen Dorval Residential One Real Estate to Sutton Landmark Realty

Carole Boyd Re/Max Real Estate Central Alberta

Trevor Hanson Soderquist Appraisals LTD

March 31st 2012—April 30th 2012

Rodney Schultz Sutton Landmark Realty

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Judging by the positive feedback, those who attended Jackie’s seminar

this April found her to be both entertaining and educational. Returning for

her second year in a row, the evaluations were overwhelmingly positive

and attendees have expressed their excitement for Jackie’s return. We

hope to see her again!

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RECA Mandatory Course—Real Estate Update 2011-2012

WHEN: Tuesday May 15th, 2012 12:00pm-4:30pm WHERE: 67th Street Holiday Inn 6500, 67th Street Red Deer, Alberta T4P 1A2 INSTRUCTOR: Barry Hanna COST: $55+GST PLEASE NOTE: This course is also available online via www.reca.ca. The cost for the ONLINE course has already been paid through your annual RECA dues. If you decide to enroll in the CLASSROOM version of the course, you will be responsible to pay the course fee. REGISTRATION: To register for the CLASSROOM course, please visit www.realtorlink.ca. On the home page you will find the “Real Estate Update 2011-2012 Registration” portal. Complete this digital registration form and be sure to select SAVE. Your registration is then automatically submitted. Within the next 24 hours, you will receive a confirmation email that your registration was received. If you do not receive confirmation within this time, please call or email Lauren McMurray. Cancellations must be in writing 24 hours prior to the course to receive a full refund.

(403) 343-0881 / communications@carassociation.ca

Sunreal Property Management Ltd. Presents...

This course will not only assist you in gaining an understanding of

the fundamental condominium principles, it will also provide the elements you

need to know regarding the conditions on the residential purchase contract!

Take advantage of this excellent learning opportunity and register today!

When: June 20th, 2012

9:30am-12:45pm (coffee and muffins available on arrival)

Where: Red Deer Lodge, Gull Lake room

4311-49 Avenue

Red Deer, Alberta

T4N 5Y7

Cost:

Presenter: Michael Stevens, CPM®, FRI

Associate Broker

General Manager of Property Management Services

Registration (REQUIRED): Please visit www.realtorlink.ca -> Education. Complete the

Condominium Principles 101 Registration box in full and then click the SAVE button. Within

the next 24 hours, you will receive a confirmation email that your registration was received.

If you do not receive confirmation within this time, please call or email Lauren McMurray.

(403) 343-0881 / communications@carassociation.ca

Central Alberta REALTORS® Association

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If you have been in real estate

for any length of time you are

all too familiar with change.

REALTORS® are often noted to

be strong, courageous, and

determined as they adapt to a

new expectation upon them.

As this year progresses one

observation has been made

very clear-the challenge with

change is not the change itself--the challenge is the

transition.

This year we are implementing process, technology,

and organization changes. That is a formidable task

and I often feel overwhelmed by the scale of the

challenge. It was never the intent of the Board of

Directors that we completely reinvent the Central

Alberta REALTORS® Association but it has been

made evident that one change seems to bring

about another. By this time next year our

Association will have a very different look.

The Succession Task Force has been working for

several months now. I believe that committee

initially thought an advertisement, receipt and

review of applications, and the selection of the new

Executive Officer would be sufficient steps. The

members that were recruited to be part of this task

force are powerful change leaders who are

passionate and committed to building a vision and

ensuring the proper foundation is laid for a

reinvented and energized association. The Task

Force is presently evaluating the role and

responsibilities of the Executive Officer and

determining the required competencies for the

successor.

Change that we, as an Association, implement is

much different than change that is put upon us. The

Directors continue to inform themselves and state

positions that they believe would be the consensus

of our membership to CREA, AREA, and RECA.

RECA has held several meetings across the province

and presented their new Strategic Plan and Self-

Regulation Workshops. We appreciate the extent

to which RECA has gone to consult with and

engage the industry in a discussion about self-

regulation but felt it necessary to speak against

some of the direction and practices of RECA. With

the support of AREA, the boards of the province met

and compiled a unified statement. Some of the

areas of concern are increasing confusion that is

arising within the industry about the respective roles

of the Regulator, provincial association, and the

boards; sending out practice tips or advice when

their role is to regulate (is it a tip or standard?); a self

-regulating industry should be governed by a body

that represents its peers or at least a representative

number of seats on the Council; and, with the ever-

growing amount of real estate trading that involves

parties that fall outside the realm of industry

regulation, the definition of what constitutes a „trade

in real estate‟ and the scope of registrants that

RECA regulates needs to be revisited.

CREA continues to consult and engage the

members of organized real estate across the

country. The Organized Real Estate Collaborative

Strategy-Map to the Future can be found on

Realtorlink.ca on the CREA tab (Futures). Leadership

across the country voted in favor to permit the

committees to bring detailed action plans back to

the fall conference for voting. Some of the areas of

expected change are:

Consumer Insights: Transparent evaluation of

consumer experience with buying and selling their

property; Rate the REALTOR®

Technology and Data: Efficient and cost effective

MLS® systems-as opposed to the fragmented

spending occurring at all 3 levels, meeting the

demands of consumers with open and transparent

data, independent organization to run REALTOR.ca

and CREA‟s technology services, evaluate If and

how best to have FSBO and non-MLS® data on

REALTOR.ca (Design mock-ups are available to look

at on Realtorlink.ca as well)

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Professional Development: National competency

standards, including apprenticeship and

mentorship programs; national virtual college; post-

licensing certification and education programs,

establish an enforcement process for the REALTOR®

code that is acceptable in all jurisdictions. CREA

has been training 3 pilot boards (35 brokers and 153

agents) in the 1st quarter of this year with the DATA

DISTRIBUTION FACILITY. For the months of February

and March, pilot participants listings garnered over

89,000 property detail views across the selected 3rd

party destinations and 2000 clicks for additional

information. It was impressive to hear that CREA

also cut off the DDF feed to one of the pilot third

party destination sites, as they were not displaying

listing data to the standard specified in the

agreement. The DDF dashboard should be

available to us by the end of the 2nd quarter. It will

be an efficient way to gain exposure for listings

while simultaneously preserving data integrity. It

also provides statistics to help brokers and agents

gauge the effectiveness of their marketing efforts.

We will be meeting with AREA in May and expect

to have further updates at that time in regards to

the progress of the Data Co-op. This is a tool

external to the core MLS® services that we provide,

offering the ability for REALTORS® to view listing

information in regions within Alberta but outside our

own board region. This will be very beneficial for

our members that work in outlying areas.

We are in the time between the old and the new,

when people feel overwhelmed by the possibilities

that change is presenting and all the work that

needs to be done. I am very grateful to all the

Directors, the members at large who have

answered the call to be part of the process, those

who share their experience, observations, and

opinions, and those who have taken the time to

call and offer words of encouragement or

gratitude. Together we can create the Association

we desire. After all, it belongs to us.

Respectfully,

Tracey Christensen

President 2012

We are working on developing a member

survey to collect data regarding where and

how the members donate. With this

information we will use Social Media to

celebrate all the ways REALTORS® are making

a difference in the world around them. We will

ask the members to send us their stories and

pictures and this will give them the opportunity

to promote their causes. The member can

connect our site to theirs and all of their

“friends” will then be hooked in and see

REALTORS® making a difference. It is a way to

get likeminded people connected.

We will no longer be a fund-raising task force,

but will focus on celebrating what our members

are already committed to. Our members are

already passionate about the areas they give

to and it is too difficult to get them to come out

to a charity event we think is important. We will

use the REALTORS Care® logo on everything

we send out. Why re-invent the wheel!? If

someone came to us and said “hey, let‟s do

this event and give the money to this…” we

want the option to do that, but will not focus

our time thinking of fundraising

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Hello All,

I am sure you all have questions and are

wondering when our new operating system is

coming.

CoreLogic is the company who is providing the

new operating system "MATRIX". Our new 'Matrix' is

scheduled to be ready for full operation by

August 1st of this year. As any change over there

are sometimes delays and hiccups, but all is

looking good. The people involved on our side

with the switch over have been working hard

cleaning up our current Interface database. I

believe most of the towns and cities have seen

purging of duplicate streets and also the

s u b d i v i s i o n a l i g n m e n t w i t h e a c h

municipality throughout our board area.

On the CoreLogic side they are currently inputting

all of our data, mapping and forms and are

confident for a summer launch. Our goal is to

provide training for everyone in a group setting

before the launch. Everyone will be

encouraged to come sit during one of the

training sessions to see how the Matrix

operates. Those dates will be announced

closer to our launch.

As most of you know the Matrix system is a

web based operating system, so you must

have internet access to operate. Another key

component of the Matrix is that it operates on

all platforms meaning you will be able to

operate it on an Apple product as well on a

PC.

I am quite excited for this project to become

part of our real estate daily lives. Just

remember that with any new system there will

be a learning curve, but technology today

makes learning easy and fun. We will keep

you informed as things progress.

Ken Devoe

Chair - Technology Committee

events and then deciding who should get the

money. We want to roll out the “celebrating” what is

already being done and do that well before we look

for other projects.

Social Media will play a large part in spreading the

message to not only our members about what

everyone is involved in, but also getting that

message to the public so they see REALTORS® care.

Sandi Gouchie

Chair - Charitable Foundation

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An estimated two million* Android-toting Canadians — plus

millions more around the world — can now use their Android

device to take advantage of the many useful functions

available with the REALTOR.ca app including searching for

properties “near me”, connecting with REALTORS®, and saving

time by letting the Property Tour dynamically create a route to

direct them to a list of selected properties.

Up to the end of March we recorded 11,961 downloads of the

App. *Reprinted from MTC Tech News

As described in previous issues of NEWS2Me, CREA and your Boards and Associations have been

engaged in a Futures strategic planning process to help position our industry for a strong, sustainable

future. Important decisions that will affect you are being made and your input is needed. In late

May/early June you will receive a series of mini-videos that outline the strategic plan that has been

developed collaboratively by over 1,000 of your colleagues across the country. You will be asked to

answer a mini-survey on your smartphone, and be invited to visit a website where you can review

additional information and provide more detailed feedback. Watch for them!

*Reprinted from NEWS2ME

ICX.ca users are now benefiting from new features introduced with ICX.ca 5.5. The site now auto-

sizes to fit HD monitors, making the most use of the viewer‟s display. And users now have the ability to

collapse or expand the criteria and thumbnail side panels to see a larger or smaller image of the

map. The map features have been extended to allow users to view chosen points of interest

including financial services, transit stations, buildings, shopping centers, fire stations, schools and

police services. We‟ve also incorporated the new polygon tool (introduced with REALTOR.ca) which

enables users to draw free form shapes on the map to more precisely focus their property search.

Finally, users can also immediately connect with, and join, REALTORS®‟ and offices‟ social networks

by clicking on direct links from ICX.ca to REALTORS®‟ social media pages on Facebook, Twitter and

LinkedIn. *Reprinted from MTC Tech News

Want a sneak peak of innovations coming down the pipe with the view to making REALTOR.ca an

even better consumer site? Click here to view preliminary design concepts and fill out a survey. *Reprinted from NEWS2ME

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Training on the Data Distribution Facility Module Three with the 3 pilot Boards continued through the

1st quarter in Ottawa, Cornwall and Renfrew. To date the CREA team has trained 35 brokers and 153

agents. For the months of February and March 2012, pilot participants‟ listings have garnered over

89,000 property detail views across the selected 3rd party destinations with over 2,000 clicks for

additional information on these properties. CREA also cut off the DDF feed to one of the pilot third

party destination sites who was not displaying listing data to the standard specified in our agreement.

The DDF offers a number of benefits for brokers and agents as it offers an efficient way to gain

exposure for listings while simultaneously preserving data integrity. Additionally, it provides statistics to

help brokers and agents gauge the effectiveness of their marketing efforts.

Module Three Pilot Participant, Penny Toronto with Assist 2 Sell 1st Options Realty Ltd. in Ottawa sums it

up: “I‟m finding the DDF Module 3 Dashboard easy to use. I was keen to take part in the pilot

because there‟s so much going on out there on the Internet it‟s important that listings stay consistent

for the consumer. This will make it better for all of us.” *Reprinted from MTC Tech News

SupraWEB Guide www.supraekey.com

SupraWEB is the agent website where you can go to:

• Obtain an update code for your key

• Identify the name of a keyholder by key serial number

• Manage your keybox inventory and listing information

• View, email, and schedule activity reports

• View and send showing feedback

• Manage your bill

• Change your PIN code (eKEY users)

• Set up your market area (eKEY users)

• Obtain an authorization code for installing eKEY software (eKEY users)

• Set up your ActiveKEY Alerts if your Board/Association has this feature activated

(ActiveKEY users)

SupraWEB can also be accessed using your mobile phone by navigating to http://

supraweb.suprakim.com.

Need help?

Call for free support 7 days a week, 5am to 7pm Pacific time, toll free 1-877-699-6787.

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Brief description of what my position entails

A/P, A/R, GST & Payroll

Length of service with CARA

2 & 1/2 years

Hometown

Frontier, Saskatchewan

Favourite part of working at CARA

The people I work with

Hobbies, talents, and special interests outside of work

Reading, singing, watching my kids play sports

Favourite vacation

Any place hot with a beach and fruity drinks!

Three words to describe me

Helpful, kind, funny

Something I would like CARA members to know about me

I am married and have four children. Together, we own &

operate a family business called “Dinger Rings Mini

Donuts”. It is a seasonal mini donut concession trailer. I’m

kind of a workaholic.

Favourite food

Anything that I don’t have to cook!!

Favourite type of music

70’s & 80’s Rock

Favourite movie

“The Natural” with Robert Redford & Glenn Close

Favourite author

John Irving

If I were stranded on a deserted island, three things I

would like to have with me

My husband, sunblock, Corona Light

Accounts Manager