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CT-20 11-003) THE COM IP' ETIITION TRIBUNAL IN THE MATTTTEEIR~ OF the Competition Acet, R.S..C. 1985, c.. C-34, as amecndced;; IN T~I·IE MATTER OF an appllication by thce Commiss ioner of Comp ce tit iion purSsulIHantl"to scction 79 ofthec CO/llpetitioll/ AIlcet;;
AND IN THI·IE MATrTr ERll OF ccertain rullcs, policies and agrccmcnts reclating to thec multiplec listing servicce o0 f the Toronto Real Estatc Board..
BElnTWEEN: THE COMMISSIONER OF COMPETITION App li cant - and -
nTll-IE TORONTO REAL ESTATE BOARD Respondcnt - and -
HTHI E CANADIAN RIlEAL ESTATE ASSOCIATION and IRmEALTYSSELLERI~S REAL ESTATE INC.
In tcrveno rs WITNESS STATEMENT OF JOHN PASALIS REALOSOPIW REALT V INC.
I, John Pasa li s, orthe City of Toronto, in the Province o rl' Onnttario, state as (f-oolllows: I. I am the President, flounder and Brokcer o f Rccord o f Recalosophy Rea lty Inc.. ("Reca losophy"). I worked aus a recall estatce portfolio manager (l-or eco mmcercial and invlc)stmcnt
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- 2 propertices lor morce than 10 ycears and 1l'o01r' Scotia Bank whcrce I worked as a Scenior Programmcr Ana llyst. I hold a Baecheclor of Sceiecncce in ececonomics Iii'om thec Uniivcers ity of Toronto..
2. I am a li ccnsced brokcr in Onta rio and havc bceen a mcmbecr o rf thce Toronto Recall Esta te Board ("TREB") since 2006. Alltlecr launching thce Internect webs itec www..rrcealosophy.co min 2007, I co- Io undecd Rcea losophy as a brokecragce in 2009. As part of working as na broker; I proviidec analytics and rca l ecst atce commecntary "f1"0o1r' our wcebsitc and in the pub lic mcedia..
The Rl~e;allosophy Business 3. Rea losophy is a H1'\.1li1l1 service rea ll estatec brokceragec that providces services to customers thro ugh two Internet webs ittes, located at www.realosophy.eo lmll and www. movecsmartlly.ceom and through our storcenli'ont oflflice in thce Lces liceviillle area of Torronto, at 11 52 Queecn Street East.
4. I havc recad thce wittness statemcnt of my co llceaguec, Urmi Dcsaii, and I agrecec with it. As shec is address ing our marketing approach and "lead" genceration, I wi ll address othecr aspcects orf" Reca losophy's businecss and, in parttiicu lar, providce addiit ionall dctaiills on our dcvce lopmcnt of analytics and usc of"TTREB MLS data..
5.. As Ms Decsai has indicatecd, a kcey part o0f1" Rcea losophy's markecting stratcgy is to prov idec fl'allCctt-d ri vcen analys is about home buying and scllling in Toronto , which also gcncratces nI:i'cce onlinec servicces including too ls f-or consumecrs.. We also diffffcerrentiatec our cliicent secrvicce ollering by providiing adviisory servicces based on our data analysiis and toolls. I havc bcecn anallyz ing MLS data avaiilab lec to all TR EB membecrs sincce I bcecamce a mecmber ofTREB in 2006, and havce usecd rcea l cestatec data as part 0 If" my work lfor thce past 15 years.
6. Reca losophy's business Imllodecll decpecnds on having acccss to data, particu larlly !n"i'o m thc TREB MLS systecm.. Wec co uld not opceratc our businecss modell without it. Unllio:J rtunuatecly., as decscribecd lfurthecr bcelow, our inabiility to havec a data lfecd with so ld, pcndiing so ld and ,"irca I l timec" data such as price changcs limits our ab iilliity to providce secrvicces to co nsumecrs on linec and to our c1liecnts. Thce process f[-or obtaiining thiis data li'om TREB and then converting it into a usceab lce lformat is vcery labour and cost inten s·ivc. Whiille in sOo lmlle ecascs,, thc ava ilab ility o0 f1" dclata has improvced duec to the introd uction of TREB's VOW data feecd, if that ftecd containcd such
PUBLIC - 3 addiitional inlbo rmation, we could provide enhanced scrvices to o ur customecrs whiile ma intaining low costs and compete more effectivelly lfob r new business.
Access to Real Estate Ilnlfonrmallt'ionll o01n1 Websitecs 7. In my view, there has been a fundamentall shi lf1l in the expectations o f I:ea l estatle consumers large ly due to the Internet. At least amo ngst the large number of.'' peoplle who usc the Internet to obta in information abo ut the real estate market and listings (and likely as a broader trend amongst Internet users), consumers wa nt inlfbo rmatiion, lIob r f!'ii·'ecce and w ith minimall strings attached. Today's consumers ex pect to get ffir'ee access to bas ic inll''o rmation so they can inl'olr'mlll themse lves.. They then ex pect us to add va lue-added adv ice that adds to the ir know ledge. Consumers hire a realtor to put their research into context to match it up wit h what is actuall y happecn ing on thec gro und in thecir particular nec ighbo urhoods and to app ly this inlo rmation to thceir partiicu lar homec buyecr or secllecr s ituat ion. Recal ecstate transacttions arec co mpllex and high riisk and whiillce thecre arc a lfew consumcrs who arec ceomf'o rtab le doing transactions on thceiir own, most prcli''er to engage profless io nall hcelp, no mattecr how wellll-iinflborrlmllecd they arec.
8. To decmonstrate to our consumcers and potenttiiall c li ents that we undecrstand what they wa nt, we usc o ur blog and o ur webs itec to share o ur data-driven ana lysis a nd too ls. My co lleague Urmi Desa i has exp lained o ur o rigiina l content in some dettaiill and I will expand on thce lise o0 rfdatla and ltecchnology 1to0 gecnerate Ithiis contecnt morce speciificalllly.
9. Recallosophy in vestls a sig niilfki cant amount of timec and money to ana lyzec hous ing trecnds and statistics so we can help o ur c li ents make better deciisiions. For examplole.:, we Ih'oceus our resea rch o n thec important questio ns that most home buyers ask - which ne ighbo urhoods arc apprceciiating the 1l'i[lstest in Toro nto, which havec the most upside potentiall, ca n I a lflord to buy a home in a good schoo l diistriict on a $500,000 budget, how much is school quallity go ing to impact my ho me's va lue in the future? Where tradiitiionall reall estate proftess ionalls may attemplt 1to0 answer these questions based on li tt le more than anecdota l evidence, at Rea losophy wec lfeec li it is criitiica l lthat we proviide clicents with answers basecd o n concrete data and ana lys is.
PUBLIC - 4 -10. On our wecbsitce, consumcers can accecss a !n'i'e'cec onlince secrvicec ca ll ced Neighbourhood Match. This tooll matl eches peoplce to nceighbourhoods that arec a good l'liit lor thcem basecd on diverrs!e! criit cer ia such as housce va luces, and school qualliittyy. Our analytics arc also vecry hcelpfull to support and reclince thce kind of advicec I and our agecnts can providec to our clients as parti oFf our "tlor I"'cce" scerviicecs. For instancce, wec usc a morce advaneccd vecrsion of our Nceighbourhood Match tooll to ceducatce and hcelp our clliiecnts zcro in on thceir best choiicces. An examplce of a Nceighbourhood Match rceport lor cliiecnts is attachced t10o Ms Decsaii's statcemcent as Exhibit "F".
II . Likce thc I!'i'cec wecbsiitce scervicec dcsecribecd by Ms. Dcesa i (and attachced as Exhibit "E" (to0 hecr statcemcent) , this tooll works on a propriectary scearch algorithm but thec vecrs ion usced by Rcea losophy agecnts for cliecnts providces morce informatiion, including a list of Il-'illtlececn matching necighbourhoods, rankced by thce number of housces that so ld thec prceviious yecar wiith thce chamractceristics that cli cents dcesiirce, whiich allows thcem to assecss thecir chancecs or\" succcssfrullll y buying into thce ncighbourhood.. It allso includes data on avecragec housec pricec and yecar ovecr yecar pricec changecs, allowiing cliecnts to undecrstand thec dynamics of ceach particular necighbourhood. Thce usc ofr thiis tooll allows mce and my agecnts to adv isc cli cents on a widce rangec orf necighbourhoods, thcereby incrceasiing consumcer options, includiing lfi'inndiing nciighbo urhoods that arc a good lfit at a lowcer avecragec housec pricec.. By contrast, a traditiionall individuall agcnt wou ld havec to rclly on thecir knowllecdgec ofa handfull of nnceighbourhoods to adv isec cl iecnts.
12. We also cengage in particular research initiat ives and publliish most o f our lindings If"or !n'i'e'eec on our blog. Wec publlish our nI'indings for li'cece because consumecrs va luce cexcecllecnt content and it is thce becst way lor us to advecrtisce thec type of research andd ll'or-tIcc secrvices wec olflfer to our cli cnts. We know that our approach rcesonatces with today's homec buyecr becceausec many of\" our cliecnts indiicatce that thcey ecngage our " 1l'0o1r' tfcec" secrviices aftcer folllowing our blog recgularly which shows that our blog Ilceads directly to necw cliecnts. I-laving information on our wcebs itce not onlly attracts necw cliiecnts, it also makces our brokecrage morce efliceiient beccausec our clliiecnts arc becttecr inll"bormced about the reall cestatce markcet becll'-orce thcey activec ly cengagec with mce and our othecr agcen ts . .
13. For cexampllce, wce havce rcececnttlly started anallyzing thce reclationship bet wceen housce va luces and schoo l quallity (as mecasurecd by proviinciiall standardiizecd tcestiing).. Our anallysis has ecnablleccdi us to publliish a secriecs ofl' top 10 necighbourhood llists, 1/-'0o1r' cexamplce, necighbourhoods with good qualliity
PUBLIC - 5 schoo ls o n a $500,000 ho usec budgect and nec ighbourhoods wiitth thec grceatestt number o rto p quallitty schoo ls. We have a lso resea rc hed the impact that schoo l qua lity has on ho use va lues by research ing sa les statistiics by schoo l district over a {fo-ouur year period using our proprietary data mapping techno logy; to do this, we leveraged o ur ex isti ng ab ility to map data to the neig hbourhoods and to get to the more granullar leve l of schooll diistri cts. We did this to address concerns man y home buyers havec, such as sho uld they buy a home i fr its va lue may be nega t ively afffected due to it beiing in a below average school diistrict or docs a buyer have to pay top dolllar to get into top qua liity schoo l districts? As my co lleague Ms. Desa i exp lains, we presented our li nd ings o n o ur blog and a lso oflf'ecred weekend workshops whcere I took potential home buyers and o ur ex isting clients through o ur resea rch and helped address the ir particu lar questio ns. Aga iin , I did thi s by drawing on data-d riven anallys is rather than just relying on anecdotal ev idence and my personal experience as an agent.
14. As another example of the type o0 fI' Rea losophy anallytiics we share on o ur blog, in 20 1I1I wrote an artiiclle o n the purchasing power across Torontto neighbourhoods. Sec Exhibit "A".. To do this, I used a s imillar approach to the "Big Mac"" index used by Tile Ecoll1olllllisl magaz ine to compare purchasing power in vario us countries aro und the world , instead us ing a house with dcelf'ined cehamracteriist ices such as number of bedrooms and size to compare buyers'' purc hasiing powcer across neighbourhoods in ·T1'oronto.
15. Wce a lso diisseminate o ur work thro ugh platilb'onns other than our websiite and o ur blog lor the bene lliit ofr consumers. In April 2008, we began a partnership wiith T he G lobe and Maiil newspaper to publlish a co lo ur-coded map of Toronto neighbo urhoods showing the yea r-over-year percent change in resalle house va lues. Rea losophy analyzes TREB sa les ligures us ing o ur proprietary data mapping techno logy, deve loped fo r (a nd used o nl y by) Rea losophy that maps sa les statistiics to neighbourhoods. T he map, a long wiitth commentary o r a live chatt, is publiished in the newspaper and on line twiice a yea r, with our most reccent anallys is being publli shed in Apriill 20 12..
16. Articles and other ana llyt ics onlten lead to media coverage, as Ms Desai exp lains in hecr statement, which is important to o ur ml11aarrketi ng strategy. T he Gllobe and Ma,~i l initiiated thi s partnershiip and contacted us a lter see ing the webs ite anall ytiies on o ur webs itte, as did Toronto
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- 6 -Lifl'ce Magaz ine, lfor whom we provide neighbourhood anallytices lto r theciir annuall rea l estatce guides. Thiis approach to marrketing has generated many enquiiries Itji'om readers which lhi ave o llllen econvcerted to new cli ents and rcdlebrra ls 1f'0o1r' Reallosophy.
17. As a result of o ur approach to marketing our brokerage and providing serviices, we arc ab le to o lnlcer se llers a commiiss io n rate of 1.5% ofr the purchase price. On the buy s ide, we recommend that se ll ers o nlkcr the typica l 2.5% to cooperatiing brokerages, in order to max imize thce chances that the home will be so ld thro ugh the MLS.
18. As wii ll becomce c lear bellow, we could do more wiith better access in a data I'ced to the raw,, diisaggregated data. In genera l, by rece iiving more data e lf'illieieney, I expect to lower the costs both in time and labo ur o fr doiing o ur data-driven analys is; I a lso expect to be able to prepare mo re anallys is 1'0 1' o ur bllog, publlish mo re reall estate maps a nd reports mo re !l'i'cquecnLtlly lai nd updatecd wit h mo rec timecly statistics and expand the range of consumers and clliient toolls we can onfferr.
Access to the M LS Data 19. The Toronto Reall Estate Board provides members with inlf'o rf'mll1atiio n tfjr'om a .varietty of so urces. TR EB''s MLS (Stratus system) system g ives agents accecss to a websiitec contaiining actiive listings, historiica l so lds and propertiecs that wcere li sted lo r sa le but never so ld . Gceowarehouse is access ible Ij·'ij·'om TREB's Stratus website and g ives realtors access to MPAC in lfbormation, land regiistry inl'o fr'mll1ation and demographic stati sti cs..
20.. One of the problems with structuring data this way is that it is disaggregated , makiing it diifrltiiceult Ffoor clliients to get a compllete and precise picture about a parrttiicular property; in addition, agecnts must invest time to pulll together informatio n fboIr' clients on ecvery ho use a c li ent is intterested in, reduc ing the time avaiillablle to analyze and adviise o n propcertiies. In contrast, thce neiig hbo urhood proliles on Realosophy.eom arce va luab lec to users because we aggregate data !'i'om a num ber of dilllcer rent so urces (Googlle, TREB, StatsCan, EQAO, Wikiped iia) to give users a more co mplete picture of a ll the inl'bormation relevant to a pallrticu lar ne ig hbourhood; we arc
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- 7 providing this serviicce vcery eflti cicentlly wiitth no ialdditional costs o r time invcested pCI' addiitiionall c li ent req uest lo r inltbormation.
2 1. I I ' Rcealoso phy had more access to dailta (including so kls and pendiing so lds) we coulld provide a more compllectce and precisec picture of a parrtiicullar propcerty by aggrecgattiing all inli'-oorrmatiion in much the same way wce did wiitth our necighbourhood proll'iilces. We co uld also prepare diiflflcrent reporting too ls to meet various client needs, 1'011'' exa mplle, ial dilflt'crenlt reponrt co uld be progra mmattiica lly deveclloped 1f'0or1' investors looking to invcest IInI mu lti-unit propertices which genecrallly rcequire morec analys is than thce averagce homce purchasec.
22. I havec bceen anallyz ing TREB MLS data 1l'0or1' a long tiimce on recua losophy.eo m and in blog artiiclles and mecdiia intecrv iews. I have done so by obtaining the li stings and "so ld" data in a vecry labour-intensive ffas hion Ilii''om the TREB M LS system and adding it to my own sp!'ecadshecets whcere it can be ana Ilyzed..
23. It has bceen Ifih-allnlklly ecxtrecmecly diffliceullt and time-consuming to anailllyzce tllieC data I·'ij·'o m thce TREB MLS without access to thce data in bulk or "Itceecd" Ilb'o l'l1l1at;; it tialkces brutce lforceec and hours of painstaking work.. Several years ago when I startecd analyzing TREB sa les data Ifbor thiis purpose, TREB proviided a downlloiald link to its membecrs that ecnabled us to obtain a bulk download ( 100 li sting at a timce) of MLS data . I bclieve that this featurce was disabled as ial resu lt of issuecs between TREB and Rea ltysell lcers or Fraser Beach.. Around the timce of tthat litiigailtiolli, a TREB represecnttative contactced me to inquire how I was preparing our aggregate . neighbourhood statiistics on Reallosophy.co m. He spececiiff'icalllly wantced to know if I was scrapiing data and ilf' lI had a copy 0 fr thce ecntire M LS databasec. He appearcd to single mce out becausec 0 fro ur inl1nQo.·vat ivce usec o01f' dailtail and statiistics. This prcesentced a risk to the Reallosophy modcl, not bcecausce I was doing anyytthing wrong but beccausc TREB has thce abii li ty to block ial ll aceccess to thec MLS data.. At the timce, I diid havce a ceonccern that TREB was taking similar stcps aga inst otthers who were attcempting to innovate using websiites and the data in thec MLS systcem. I exp lainecd that I waa~s doing nothing impropecr and that others were also using data (incll uding so Ids) in the TREB MLS system in a similar way.. HI-laviing studiced the issuec carcelfilrlill y, I tfi'irm ly bclievecd that Rea lnosophy was not the on ly brokcerrage using data in thiis manner (for exa mplle, thcerce arc nOonIl-mcembecr companies that obta in M LS data to give adviicce to brokeragecs). I also knew that I was not
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- 8 -"scraping" the data (using so fltlwarre to download it) and I was not se lling the raw data to a non-lm11eml11bber. Rathecr, I was access ing data the way any Realtor lm11eml11ber ofTREB cou ld and using it to provide adviice in my reall estate business.. I was therecf'ore econlident that TREB could not legiit imate ly interrlf'e re wiitth lm11y usc of the data and TREB did not attle lm11ppt tto do so.
24. S ince then, I have updated this data every six 1m110onths or so, so that I can provide analys is to T he G lobce and Mail l'Or a se lm11ii -annuall report in its Reall Estatce section and Ilhor othecr Realosophy rescearch initiatives. To do so, I estili1m1ate that I have had to spend upwards 0o(r, 50 hours ceach tiil1m1e to lm11erely gect access to the in'li''ol'l'l1llattion wec need because it is buried in TREIB3's M LS systecml11 and ca n o nly bec viewed 100 records at a timec.
25. To be sure, I ca nnot rea list ica ll y analyzec the data manually fl'i'o lm11 TREIB3''s MLS systec lm11 1m110ore o llcen than I do.. Right now, I cuan do so once or twicec a year, which mCeaJn;s thec data is liltlr' less he lpl'ludl than it would bec if it werce up-to-the-ml11ininute. I havec tri ed to do it 1m110ore olllcen, liollr' spee ilic neighbo urhoods, (lo'or exalm11plce, but it is silm11ppll y too lm11uceh wo rk - and too ecxpensive - to do so.
TIR~EBB''ss VOW Data Feed 26. Recently, us ing externa l webs itec desiignecrs and consulltants, wec havec buiilt a bectter wecbsiite property secarech flulnllction flor www.rea losophy.eoml11us ingTRREEBB··svviirtuall o llliee webs ile (VOW) data Ilececd..
27.. The inlormation and services we can provide to ceustoml11cers, and o ur abiility to attract new customl11ecrs through this new web sea rch arc halm11pered by the lack of inllorlm11ation in TREBI3's VOW data I·ced.. T he lack of inflhorl1m1ation interferes with o ur abiility to providec the accuratec and tiil1m1ecly inll'o l'll1lattio n about hOo lm11es uand the Toronto reall estate lm11aarket to buyers a nd sec llers based on actua l (I'l~lctsS and data l(i'o lm11 the MLS systecm, both through reallosophy.ceo lm11 and through our adviecec in pecrson to buyers and sec llecrs. It also il1m1pedces our ab ility to lm11aarrket Realloso phy's va luecadd services by proviiding 1m110ore adva nececd ana lytices and cOo lm11lm11entaries o nline a nd through the ml11ed ia, which generates ncew customecrs to r o ur business.
PUBLIC - 9 -28. Our wcebsiitce IS hm~mnpecrecd by thce lack of many fiecllds of dat~a in TREB's VOW Iced, including::
(a) thce lack o f gceographice informatiion or "gco mapp ing" ( latiittude and .Iongiitudec,, whiec h is ecrit iica l lfor mapping and nceighbourhood ana lyti ces);
(b) the lack o lf" virtuall to urs; (ec) lacek of open housce inlbrmation ; (d) lack of pr icec cha nges since the property came o n thec markct; and (e) lack o f hiist or icea lI sa lcs data and "pending" sa les data.. 29. I brought most o0f1" thesc issuces to TREB's attcntion by IJcettter to Riicha~rd '' S il vcer, TREB''s ceUurlTrent prces ide nt, dated April 10,20112 (copy attachecd, Exhiibiit "1B3"). My Ilecttcer add recssced certaiin neceds of Rea losophy, particul arl y w ith respecet to gceocod ing, that I hopcd TREIB3 c<.;oQ ulid address on a technicall Ilecve l. I did not inc ludec direcct rcefl"Ccrence to thce "so ld" data bcecausce of the o ngoing casce commcnccd by the Co mmissio ner of Compect itiio n., To my knowlledgec, there is no techno logica l imped imcent to providing the data as raiisecd in o ur letter to Mr.. Sil ver; the data should be ab lce to bce proviidecd through a Ifecced. For examplce, I understand that CREA's rcea ltor.cena wcebs itce uses TREBI3's geomuapping data.
30. A lllecr recceiiviing a short lettcr li''om TREBI3 in April (copy attachced, Exhibit "C"}), 1 did not hecar I·'ij·'om TREB unttiill I rcece ivced an cema il Ili-'o m Don Richardson, thce CEO 'ofTTRREEBI3 on Junce 8, 20 12. Mr. Richardson askecd ilf' lI wo uld attcend a meetiing oft thce TREB VOW Task Forcce on JJunec 13, 20112, whiceh 1 did.. During that meceting thce Task Force li stenced to my concerns, tried to c1larii fy thce scopce o0 fI" data bceing rcequcestecd and asked a numbcer o0 fI' questi io ns rcegard iin g our necced lor this typce of datta.
EI~ nhanced Sell"'v ices Us ing "Sold" and Other Data in the TREB VOW ID}athal Feed 311.. Iff' wce had a constant, li vce Icecd of thce MLS data that includecd so ld and pcnding so Ids, pricce changces a nd o thecr status changes', a lo ng with thce mapping lIkields a nd o ltlhi eIr' data miss ing
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- 10-If'i'om the VOW lJe' ecd as I just descriibed, Realosophy would have an evecn stronger busincess model in terms of generating oriigina l content and tools' lfor consumers to drive our marketing and scrv icec dec li very. We wo uld be able to integrate the in lfbornmnation eftieciientlly andi! on a rea l-timce bas is. As examples, at a high level, Realosophy wo uld be able to determi ne both larger and more micero market trcends including rea l-time housec priices trends by neighbourhood using so ld and pcending solld data.. I-lousing data including average house priice, currently displayed as part oJf' our Neighbourhood IP' rof('i les wo uld be automatica lly updated on a monthly or even more l!"ii'cequent bas is; we currenttly update our prof'i les secmi-annually, which is much less ofl1lecn than we wou ld li ke.
32. With the add itionall content in the data tI'eced, rea losophy.com would proviide much more detai led and accurautec market ttrecnds analyses, based on the 1filcts in the data stream.. This anallysis co uld be proviided in evecn more detail and customizecd lfor pecoplce working with us. Especciially wiith geocoding and livce updates of so ld inff'onrmnation and status changes, wec cou ld do this on a ncighbourhood by neighbourhood basis, and on a dai ly, week ly or monthly basis in speci li ce gecograph ic arecas, or usc even more precisec comparators to secec trends in the markect that can nott be seen without a detailed analys is oJf' thec raw data. We co uld determine and advise customers whecthecr pricecs wecre go ing up or down in the past week in each neiighbourhood, and whetthcer that has changed since last week or last month.. We could also ca llculate the percentage of homes secllling 1lo'01r' more than l ist price which is a good indiicator tfor how many houses arc geltlting mu ltiple oilllecrrss. In short, we co uld dectermiinec, using MLS data, how "hot" the markct is in a nceighbourhood whcereas now, wec simplly cannot kceep up or do so on a neighbourhood bbasis, due to lack of managecable data l!'i'om TREB.. This kiind of market trend adviice is givcn by many brokers, without data, based on pecrsonal observations or anecdotal evidcence. WIith access to the raw data in livec, bulk If'orm lfi'om TREB's MLS system, we could proviide much more in-deptlh and aeccuralte markct and neighbourhood analys is. Such opinions would be basecd prin'c ipa lly on f1i~lcts, rathcr than anecdotal cexpericence in the markcet.
33. Adding thce new MLS data to thc exist ing It'ceatumres of our website wou ld allow customers to ced ucate themsec lves bcelttler abo ut propelr1ty prices and markcet trecnds in neighbourhoods as consumers would be able to sec statistics on a more dynamic basis which wou ld improve their understanding of the rea l estate market, which is highly responsive to micro-market cond itions
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- I I -(s uch as the number o f li stings avaiil ablle in a parti cular neighbo urhood) and a lSsOo' cyc li ca l Il'ahcto rs like seasonallity. Under our bus inecss modell, consumers would be attracted to o ur webs ite and bllog more lI·ij'·equentlly as we update them more o lftlen on the rea l estate market, allllow ing uUSs to engagec wiitth po tentiia l clli ents more lfi''equently; aga in, our o nline analyti cs wo ulld demo nstrate o ur ability to add vallue-add market analys is lfo r our c li ents as o ur "t1'0o1r' Icc" c li ent too ls wOo uldld a lso be updated with this reall-time data.
34. In tUurI'nll , Oo lullr' agents wo uld need to spend less time mere ly ga thering datail IlColr ou r c li ents and instead he lp cllients understand the data and repOorltis they arec getting, he lping c li ents bett er understand the options avaiillable to them, such as when to enter the market as a sell er, or when, as buyer, to ex pand ne ighbourhood optiions to inc ludce less co mpetiitiive o nes. This prov ides the agent s a nd o ur bro kcerage with obvio us cost sav ings and e ffiicienciies and 'helps ensure a smoother, less stress ing and time-consuming reall estate transaction Itbo r both buyer 'and sell er c li ents.
35. Know ing those trends that would also allllow us to proviide better, mo re aoceurate advice to buyers o n how whether ho mes with particular charaectceristices des ired by the buyer in a speec il I'iced area o r ne ighbo urhood retain the ir va luec over time, whether a certa in property is well priiced, and how much to o fl'f'ce r lo r a ho me that is currentlly fo r sa le. This kiind o f data analysis is d iffcerent l!i'i'om, auncdl much mo re prec ise than, T REB's broader Market Watch pUublica tions. I 36. Impo rtantlly, whiil e so me o f thi s kind o f advice can and somcetimes sho uld be provided o n a o ne-to-one bas is, techno logy can as s ist us to automate some or a ll o0 If' the processes agents currentl y Ip erlo rm manuall y. For example, a comparable market analys is (C MA) is o licen do ne to ass ist se llers to determine the liist price and to ass ist buyers in makin g 'an ofll'ber. C MAs arc depende nt o n so ld data, parti cul arly recent so Ids. Much o f the preparato ry and educatiion work lo r do ing so may bce auto matced if we had a data It'ceed wiith thce so ld and pendiing so ld d.ata, as we co uld more quiickl y lfiind comparable propelrti es ancdi usc so lftiware to automati ca llly ana lyze the phys icea I d i Ilecrcencecs bcet wecen thec subjjcect propecrty and the ceomparables. Whi Ie sati les representatiives wo uld still ha ve to reviiew the C MA to make adjustments o n mo re subjjecti ve characteriistics, the pre liminary ana lysiis that wo uld be poss ible wo uld both speed up the process o f generating C MA's and wo uld improve the ir aecceuracy. By be ing ablle to lf'oOceus more timce on
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- 12 the customized adv ice we need to provide to our clients ( in other words, the ana lysis that is too subjjective to automate), my agents and I would save time and provide better va lue-added service.
37. Beltler accecss to TREB data would also enable us to cexpand our oth.ecr analyt ics serviices. , For exa mple, wiith I·"lli.ll·rtther detaill in the data tceed !"ii'·om TREB, I cou ld do a mucJh more detaiil ced anallys is orft the relat ionship bectwecen housec va lues and school qua lity, as an cexpansion orft the wo rk we arc currcently doing, we could perhaps look on a schoo l-by-sechoo l basis to look ltor microtrends, including trcends as thecy cehange over time as schoo ls gain or lose success in the annua l standardized testing. Current ly, it is simply unmanageable to manua lly analyze and co rreclate MLS data n!"i·'om 175 neighbourhoods in the GTA with school data. Beyond the market ing of this intormation through our blog and wcebsite to attraect consumers to Rea losophy, access to a live data feed would allow us to proviidec much more nuanced and compllex advice to our buyecrs and se llers whosec deccisions arec motivated by sechoo l quality, and wou ld help Reca losophy atltl ract new potent ial new clients using higher level analytiiecs..
3S8. I f we had access to the data about sa les of speci lic propecrties, including very recent sa les, we woulld display them on our website to the extent we were permitted.. IH-low much would be put on our website to consumers gecnecra lllly, and how much would be delivered our clients whom we arce work iing directly w ith, is something we wo uld have to considcer when we ~K additional data wi ll be ava illable through a feed.. Certaiin ly, as part of our VOW (our website
search fborI' l istings), we would expand thec infbormation given to consumers lor each individua l l isting to automat.iica lly generate and display price trends fIbor that neighbourhood and comparable homces, along with so ld prices, flor that particu lar l isting..
39. The data Hanallytiies ava ilablce on our website or blog will not recpllace the expeitise o r an agent, because there is both art and sc iecncee in giving advice to clients : To . hcelp us ensure consumers and clients make betltler decisions, it wo uld be beneffiicial to ensurec that consumcers and cliients do not have impress ionistic be liicei"l·s abo ut m~arrkkeett trecnds derived Il·ij·om media headlines or industry press and to also reduce the time that agents have to spend on routine tasks l ike manuallly ga ther ing raw d~ata so that thcey can spend more time analyzing and advising on each decision that a client has to make.. Recognizing that housecs l ikely ca nnot be fllui ll y co mpared lor comparat ive market ana lyses (CMAs) without rev iewing the specitice characteristiics of a~ home
, n ow how much I
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- 13 and the c ircumstances and des ires o f a buyer, whiech necess itates o n-s ite vis it s and speciilliic conversatio ns, both agent adv ice and cli ent decisions can be materia ll y improved with better access too iflillcets abo ut a li sting, the neiighbourhood and the market. T hi s woulld o lflfer ano ther I competiti ve adva ntage to Rea losophy based on our own understanding o ilr' wh~hi,itt today's
consumers wa nt and o ur ability to usc the data and techno logy to respond to these demands.
40. We ha vec allso bececn considering how wec might bce ab lce to furthcer ass ist our c li cents aillecr thecy co mpllete a transactiion. T hiis "a iltler care" may include the provis io n ofr regu lar updates o n ho use pricecs 1l'o0 r1' the type o r ho use a c lient has purcehasecd in a particular neighbourhood, proviid ed o n an annua l or Imllore lI'i''equent bas is a lller the ir transactions c1losec. This inllb rnmnatiion coulld be genera ted programlllmillattiiceallly us ing data techno logy and bec prov idced to clients thro ugh ec imllail news letters fo r examplle. Thi s wo uld inltbo rnmn rceecipiients how theciir hOo lmllces arec doiing I·'ij·'o m an in vestmecnt pcerspecettive so that they ca n usec rea l-t ime data to inlo rmlll theiir dceeciision to sell and choose Rea losophy to he lp themlll to do so. Again, with the current state ofr data provided by TREIB3 , thecre is no way we could cOomlllpile the so ld and pending data that wo uld a llow us to providec thi s service in a man ner that wou ld be speeil'ie enough and thus usecll'ilill to' a c li ent ; haviing a ll thce necceecssary data in a li ve strea lmll wou ld enable us to do so.
4 1. T hecre may we ll bce o ther kinds of ana lys is we eca n and wou ld a lso do o ndce: we look at the enhanced data we have aeccecss to,. We soOmlllectimllles do not know what we cean do with data unttiill we seec it and begin to usec it. For examplle, unttiill T REEIB3 madec its current VOW lIceced avai lab lec to usce, we had not tho ught o f necw ways to a llow consumers and c li ents to sea rch and work wiitth thi s liisting data., We came up with our concept o f being able to search by schoo l district, a lillecr seceing our own cliecnts put together theiir own rudimentary sprecadsheets whiech attemptced to kececp track ofr li stings by schoo l diistri ct.
42,. In sum, I believe that the advantagecs to Rea losophy - the " Iillll" to our bus incess - ar is ing lI;'j'o lml1 bceing able to obtain a teed o f the so ld, pending so ld , status change and gecomll1apping datta to usec in these ways, wou lld be s ig niftiicant. It wou ld a llow us to diffTfeCrerennttiiate our business in the market, ceompete bettecr agaiinst other mo re estab li shed brokerages and provide betllte Ir' secrvicee., I be li eve that almost no one e lse is do ing what we arec do ing with lalna lyt ics in Toronto, because we appealr' to be the o nly o necs currentlly us ing M LS data in thiis way; ha ving moroc ecOo lmllpre hcens ivec
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- 14 data , cefl'liiceicentlly proviidecd, will allow much bcetltlcer diftflcercentiation and ecnhancced scerviice, and wce wiilll do things wce havce not bceen ab lce to do bcl'ore. The lack orf data in thce TREB MLS Ifcced IisS a constraint on thce gro wth oFf our bus inecss.
Registration 1t:o0 Usec a VOW 43. Att t hce momecnt, brokeragcs that takce a VOW data FI'ceecd Il"i'om TREB arce rcequiirecd to ecnsure that uscers of thce VOW rcegistcer in ordcer to havce access to inlfoormation in the VOW If'cecd.. T he ceonsumcer has to go to thce wcebsiitec, center a namce and e ma il addrecss and provide it to thce wcebsitec.. T hce consumcer thecn must cex it thce wecbsiitec, go to hiis or hcer emaiil and opecn ani ema il If'ij'om thce brokeragce that opecratces thce websiitec. In that ecma il , thce consumcer clicks a link, which serves to conl'i rmtheiir ecmaii l add recss. T hcen thce consumcer must rceturn to thec wcebs ite and rce-centecr thce namce and ecmai l, and o nly thecn is he or shce ab lec to havce acccess to thce VOW I'cced inl'ormatiion.. In add ition, thce uscer must agrcece to Tcerms orUusec recquiired by TREB.
44. In thce proceesss orf tcesting o ur ncew VOW secarceh capabiiliti ecs with users, o<"! ur tecstcers had a strong ncegativce rceaction abo ut thce requircemcentt to recgistcer (somecthing TREB's rul,ecs recq uirec when I ceustomcers want acccess to thce VOW I'ced data on our websiitec).. Pceoplce did not wlalnl to do SsoO, cons istecnt with my commecnts abovce that today's ceonsumcrs, particul arlly Intcrnect users,. belliievce that inlormation shou ld bce avaiillablec and access iblec ltor fi"·jc'cce with minima l strings attachecd.. As it currecntlly stands, thce recgiistratiion rceq uircemcent w ill prevcent Rcea losophy lf"'ii'"otl m hav inl)g a morec actiivce and dectaiilecd convcersat iio n with potecnttiiall customecrs thro ugh o ur website. In lf'ilct, it may ncegatce all the cons idera blce Ifi'ninHaneiall and time investment we have madec in mak ing our websitce sea rch lfor listiings innovative, for exa mplle, by a llowiing users to sea rch by schoo l diistrict o r ne ig hbo urhood, ceasi ly to usc and visua ll y co mpcelliing bcecausce vis itors to our sitce may c hoosce not to rcegistecr to acccess thecsce fl·catturecs. T hey may ecvcen bce sufii'l''iice iecn tly an noyecd by what is pcerce ivced to be an unwarrantecd Rceallosophy rcequecst 1f'0o 1r' persona l contact information to avo id our wcebsiitc altogcethcer.
45. I wo uld prcelecr to proviide ItilJllli acccess to o ur wcebsiitec, inc lud ing o ur wcebsitce list iing sea rch incorporati ng a nallytiiecs us ing so ld edlata, to any UusSCeIr' of thce wcebs itce. At lml1iinimum, I beliceve brokcerages sho uld bce ablce to diisp lay the same information, w itho ut rcegiistratio n, as is avaii labllce
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- 15 on CREA's wcebsiitec, rea llto r. eca. On that website, a user must agree 1t0o Terms of Usc but docs not need to register w ith personal contact information such as an emaill address. T his econifluisecs consumers who do not understand why they arc not req uired to recgister o n recallto r. ca but asks them to regiister on brokerage VOWs such as Reallosophy's.
46. I would have less objection to the reg istratio n requirecment by webs ite users i If' suech access were limited to speceiiliec so ld and pending so ld data on an individual li slting bas is. But I do not
believe there sho uld be any suceh barrier to the proviis ion of aggregated inlo rmation abo ut so ld propecrtly prices. I If' thecre is au regiistration requiremecnt lo r a wecbsite, it sho uld not be dillT'lcrent li'o m thec circumstancecs where a Realtor provides inll'Ooln'Innation to someconec wLl~o wa lks into a
brokecr's o'lttiiee, callls on the telcephonec o r sends an ecmaill inquiring flor inlto rl'mll1atiio n. I stronglly doubt that agecnts mecect ing a potential necw c li ent in tradiitio nall brokecragecs obtain contact inlormatiio n suc h as an ecmaiil addrecss, or keep a record of prrecisely whautt tthey proviide to potentiall , customecrs (uas ca n be done us ing a webs ite), prior to shariing the so ld o r pecnding so ld inlformation
requested by the consumer.
Lack of oOf ffferr's of Commission Dla1ta in the TREB VOW ID) altlal Feed 47. I believe that the ofllhe r of commission lIi'o m the li sting brokerage to the "cooperat ing" or buyer's brokerage sho uld be part oft thec data fI'ceed avaiilabllec to TREB mecmbecrs, a ltho ugh lo r our I purposes thecse data wiill not be percecivecd by consumers to bec as va luabllec as arec "so ld" and thec
other addiitiona l data mentiio necd above.. Consumecrs usua ll y do not undecrstand the co mmiss ion systecm lo r buycers' agents bcecause the commiss ion is bundlecd into the purchase price aund paid by , the selll ec r's brokecragce to thec buyer's brokeragce (rathecr than direcctly by thec buyer to the buyer's
brokeragec). We bceliceve that as a maillter of consumecr ecducation, disclosure ofr thec cQmmiss ion bceing olftlered to buyecrs' agecnts is appropriate.. If consumecrs arec lIilliill y awa r.e ofr the co mmiss io n being o lfTl'eredcl to theciir agecnt, [I''o r ecxamplce, by bce ing ablec to secce thi s inlt·o rmatiio'n o n a webs ite, buycer agents arc Ilecss liikec ly to "screccen o ut" any propecrtics o lllOc ring a lowcer than decs irced commiss io n tlo thcem aund insteacdl w ill discuss how to proceececd witlh tIheciir c li ecnts. More gceneralll y,, transpa recntl display of thi s co lm11miss io n amo unt will increcasec the like lihood o fr ccol nsumecrs asking , and lea rning how commiss io ns work in the reca lI ecstatec industry.. Disclosurec 'ofr thec offler o fr
. I
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- 16 commiss ion wo uld Iimprove transparency and consumers' truus~ t luind ceon f-idence Iin real e~tlaltc agentsts_.
SIGNED TIH-IIS 22D> DAY OF JUNE, 20112_.
1 UlUllLU 1~'t.l::al1 DCMlilaallt:: auu 1l''jtta:lguuuurmnuuus D1lUg I I!VlUVt:: ,~:I)IlIlaafrlulyY:: rurn{;;uuaasmg ruwer rarrllLY ror 1 oraomao Toronto Real Estate and Neighbourhoods Blog I Move Smartly 18
~Home Top 10 Toronto Neighbourhoods Toronto Schools Real Estate Statistics Real Estate News 5 Questions August 23,2011 Purchasing Power Parity for Toronto Neighbourhoods
John Pasalis in Toronto Real Estate News, Top Ten Nei&ghlJbboouurrhoods, Home Buying Purrchasing~ power parity is an economic theory that helps us understand how overvalued or undervalued currencies are by comparing their currencies purchasing power for identical products. A common example of purchasing power parity is the Economist Magazine's annual Big Mac index where they compare the price of a Big Mac internationally to see how overvalued or undervalued different currencies are. The theory is that if a Big Mac costs $4 Canadian, I should be able to convert my $4 into any other currency and have exactly enough money to afford a Big Mac in that country.
Last week we stumbled across a series of posts from mortgage rate website Ratehub where they extended this concept to Canada's real estate market. Ratehub decided to look at the cost of a typical home (detached, 3 bedroom, 2 bathrooms) across a number of different cities in Canada and compare the sale price in each city to the national average..
We decided to do the same to what we know best, Toronto neighbourhoods.
Layers
Aceetta~te !;;;~_~_~ - JC=-~Daatta from OSM eand Nattlulrlalll Eartth ~ ;ac.;;;;",;;;.;o~;p Tip: Click the green arrow to minimize the legend To calculate the implied purchasing power parity for each neighbourhood we divide the average price for a typical home (detached, 3 bedroom and 2 bathroom) in each neighbourhood by the city average for the same type of house.
For example, the average price for a typical home in Riverdale is $681,103 compared to the city average of $498,270. When we divide the average Riverdale home price by the city average we get an implied purchasing power parity of .73..
This means that houses in Riverdale are overvalued relative to the city average and that your dollar doesn't stretch as far in Riverdale as it would in an area where the implied purchasing power parity is higher.
http://www.movesmartly.comIl20 11l08/purchasing-power- parity-for-taoranto-neigh bourhoods.html
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PUBLIC 10romo Keall JtSjSLLate ana l'~elgnDuurnuuuss .owg I IlVlUVt: .;:>)marruy: run;':lllasmg ruwt:lr' rarrllllY lUI 1 UlUlllilU 1I''l1t:t:..... ragt: ~ UIl ~ We loaded all the data into the above heatmap so you can play around with the map and see the implied purch a s i n g p1o9wer parity for each neighbourhood. Neighbourhoods in dark red are where you'll find the best bang for your buck. (Remember that we aren't factoring in things like neighbourhood stability, school quality and so forth..)
Top 5 Neighbourhoods Here are the Top 5 Neighbourhoods with highest PPP (Best bang for buck);: Neigchbourhood Sales PPP Malvern 45 1.73 The Entertainment Disttrict 1 1.50 Smithfield 79 1.50 Kennedy Park 75 1.49 West Hill 67 1.48 Bottom 5 Neighbourhoods Here are the 5 Neighbourhoods with lowest PPP (Worst bang for buck):; Neighbourhood Sales PPP Criicket Cc lub 6 0.46 York Mills 9 0.45 Casa lorna 1 0.40 Rathnelly 1 0.37 Llaawrrence Park 4 0.31 Editor's appeal: In today's world, you're nobody tin facebook likes you. So if you enjoy reading the Move Smartly blog, please scroll to the right column of this blog and click on the facebook "like" button just under the the subscribers box. And thanks for the love!
John Pasalis is the Broker Owner ofR ealosophlul Realty Inc in Toronto. Realosophy focuses on researching Toronto neighbourhoods to help their clients make smarter real estate decisions. Email John
Subscribe to the Move Smartly blog by email Share on Facebook • Email thiiss · Twit This! Posted at 07;:00 AM in Home Buying, Top Ten Neighbourhoods, Toronto Real Estate News I Permalink Tv.eet I Like 4 © Copyright 2012 Realosophy Realty Inc. Brokerage. All Rights Reserved.
http://www.movesmartly.coml20 11108/purchasing- power-parity-for-toronto-neighbourhoods.html
2012-06-14
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21 I{.'Q~~(~~~·>phjl l! ~. 1, "' •. { ';" ~ f. .. : '. :i"t·f. . 4\.t. .. .l .,·i <:. J" t··,f" ··;(· l.,r-· ·\;"'';j' · \.~ '~- -..( ·~,f ·t. . ·,",. ..................................... .. ........................................................................................................ ................ j\{·,·tcJ- ~"Y ,~ 11.;' ",-\.,., Richard Silver April 10, 2012 President, Toronto Real Estate Board 1400 Don Mills Road Toronto, ON M3B3N1
Dear Richard, We are writing to express our concern with the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB)'s current Virtual Office Website (VOW) policy. In developing our own VOW we have become aware of significant limitations in TREB's policy, limitations that restrict the utility of our VOW for consumers, which contradicts the Competition Bureau's ongoing direction to TREB regarding open access to information.
Brokerage VOWs are intended to allow consumers to browse homes online and have access to the same information they would at a bricks-and-mortar brokerage office. Brokerages, in turn, innovate and invest in new technologies to offer consumers unique online browsing experiences through VOWs, improving access to information and enhancing consumer choice in the industry as a whole.
As a TREB member in good standing, we are frustrated that TREB's continuing strategy appears to be to protect the status quo, a strategy which risks our industry as a whole in the 21 $I century marketplace.
Geographic Information First, TREB currently does not provide latitude and longitude (lat/long) co-ordinates in its VOW feed, which significantly reduces our ability to display listings accurately on our VOW and forces us to invest in costly technical workarounds. Currently, TRESB members can view their listings and correct lat/long coordinates on the MLS, creating an accurate dataset that should be shared with brokerages through TREB's VOW feed.. Instead, because TRESB has excluded this from its feed, we have incurred thousands of dollars in development costs to develop our own geocoding tools and must spend tens of thousands more to develop a more complex tool that can somehow catch properties that have been geocoded incorrectly and either correct the problem or leave the property off of our website. This advanced tool may Iinvolve a staff member manually scrubbing the data every day including weekends to catch all exceptions.
TREB's decision to withhold lat/long coordinates is a clear barrier to competition. Brokerages either face prohibitively high costs to ensure accurate and up to date geocoding of listings or the prospect of losing consumers who could not be sure that properties are mapped accurately on
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brokerage VOWs.. Clearly, the omission of lat/long data may be considered advantageous to TREB which has a vested interest in making realtor.ca the most accurate and up to date listings website for consumers, but it is clearly disadvantageous to the consumer who cannot choose to browse listings on the website of her choice because brokerage VOWs have been rendered a less plausible option through TREB's actions.
Virtual Tours Second, TREB currently does not provide Virtual Tour Link (URLs) data in its VOW feed.. Virtual Tour Links (URLs) enables TREB members to upload multimedia marketing for the houses they are listing for sale. Multimedia tours contain critical information about properties that consumers need to see to make an informed decision about whether or not they want to view a property. However, while consumers can see this information in a broker's office by browsing TorontoMLS or at home by browsing realtor.ca, they will not be able to see this information on our brokerage VOW.
TREB's decision to withhold Virtual Tour URL data is another clear barrier to competition. Again, TREB has a vested interest in ensuring that only TorontoM LS or realtor.ca has thiis popular feature. This again works against the consumer who may prefer to browse listings on brokerage VOWs, but is unable to do so knowing that all features are not available to her.
Open House Information TREB's VOW feed also does not provide brokerages with open house information including days and times for upcoming open houses so this information cannot be shared with consumers through our VOW.
Home buyers depend on this information to plan their open house tours on the weekend. Again, home buyers can view thiis information at our office by browsing TorontoMLS and online at Realtor.ca, but cannot view this information on our company's VOW for some reason.
This data restriction puts brokerage VOWs at a competitive disadvantage because home buyers will need to browse houses on realtor.ca in order to access open house information.
Open house data is well-suited to mobile applications that allow home buyers to view open houses that are geographically nearby. TREB's data restriction means that brokerage VOWs cannot build mobile open house applications that could compete with CREA's realtor.ca app.
Previous and Original Price TREB tracks previous and original price for listings as part of their ML LS data. This information is critical for buyers who want to track historical price changes for a particular property since it has been listed.
TREB currently does not provide brokerages with this information as part of its VOW feed. This means that a buyer browsing our VOW will get less information than they would if they were browsing listings
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on TorontoMLS at our bricks-and-mortar office and from unofficial real estate websites operating in Toronto like guava.ca. Clearly, this does not live up to the intended purpose in enabling brokerage VOWs.
Registration Finally, TRES's policy to force consumer registration on brokerage VOWs demonstrates that TRES continues to focus on "buying more time for the status quo" rather than embracing more progressive policies that improve choices for consumers.
In TREB's current policy, all consumers visiting brokerage VOWs will have to register (providing their name, phone and email information) before they can view any properties on our website. This means that we have to ask consumers to provide us with their valuable information before we can provide them with the chance to try the listing browsing experience on our website. Would you sign up on a website without knowing exactly what type of information you would get in exchange? Most consumers wouldn't.
TRES's registration requirements could have been simplified significantly if consumers were allowed to log into a VOW using a Facebook or Google account rather than TREB's cumbersome registration hurdles. Instead, TREB policy is generating another clear barrier to competition, one that serves no real purpose or benefit to consumers, as proved by developments in the U.S.
VOW policies that require users to register were introduced nearly a decade ago in the U.S. market. Since then, many real estate boards have moved to eliminate the need for user registration. The most prominent VOW in the US, Redfin.com, is an example of this. Users of the site can not only browse all active listings, but historical sold data as well, without jumping through any registration hoops. This practice has been in effect for several years without reversal suggesting that no compelling reason to restrict consumer access to brokerage VOW listings through forced registration actually exists.
Is it the intent of TREB to ensure that its members are ten years behind in our ability to innovate and provide value to consumers simply because we are Canadian?
Taken together, these actions by TRESB put its member brokerages in an untenable position. We may find that, after spending thousands of dollars and deploying considerable creative capital to develop and introduce new technologies, our brokerage VOWs are not used by consumers who find them to be less accurate or less useful than realtor.ca. This would mean that brokerages would suffer financially, not as a natural result of our own poor decision-making and not because realtor.ca provides a superior consumer experience, but because TREB is simply withholding data and failing to live up to the spirit of its VOW policy.
We value TREBS as a strong institution in the residential real estate service industry and appreciate the many interests that TREBS must consider and balance. To date, however, there has been no attempt by TREB to balance the call for reactive, "status quo" protecting behaviour against the need to enable more progressive, pro-consumer brokerages to emerge in our industry. We continue to be frustrated and
PUBLIC IVllunnrruuu.u.:,J,_uUuUuUuUuUuUuOo 24
disappointed thatTREB chooses to evade its potential role as a progressive leader in our industry, leading us successfully in the 21, s1 t century marketplace, where we must be able to effectively demonstrate our value-add directly to consumers or risk the extinction of our industry as a whole.
I am hopeful that some of these issues may be the result ofTREB oversight rather than intent and I remain at your disposal to discuss our concerns further with you. I look forward to working proactively with you to address the current limitations ofTREB's VOW policy for the benefit of our industry as a whole.
Yours Sincerely,
John John Pasalis Broker of Record Realosophy Realty Inc
PUBLIC lj-. ,'1I 26 / Toronto I Real Estat e Board SCctI'ving Greatclr' Torontt(o) REAJI;Jr'ORS®Oil IwVww:.TI'ol''oOnltIotoRRccaaIIEssttalittcHoaalr'd.colll
Presldonlt: April 16,2012 Rlichuard Silver, ARSR
Proslldenlt Eloe<tll: Ann iItiunnnuoh John Pasalis Pastl Presidenlt: Broker of Recorrd Willlimamn E. (W01i1l1l) Johnstloen, M.A., Ll.B . Realosophy Rea lty Inc. 11 52 Queen Street East Toronto, Ontario
Diirretclteors: M4M IL2 SItuurt Brlnluncdi C. Anno BrislcOoo Dear John, Lorry (oOrrqlIUuOo, REI Thank you for your letter outlining recommendations for improving the John (Jorry) Engllund VOW feed from the Torontto Reall Ebstate Board. As you are aware this IP'uoul Etlhhorlingtlon is a new vehiclle and we have the door open and the welcome mall out IIioconlthor A. Fullllor for ways to improve effectiveness.. Kouronll Goerrlmlrldl Lydio IlnIg)osl, ARSR, GREEN TREB has kept the Task Force which originallly analyzed and recommended the VOW policy and rules in existence for this very RoOsluollilnld Monory purpose. We anticipate that the Task Force will be reaching out to you Shellloy Porrilll to discllliss your feedback and that of others shortly. lLuurrry Purclihllnlsoe
Josoeph C.W. ShulmIl I understand and appreciate your offer to worrk proactively f'or the Oiioulnilnieo Ush~orr benefit off' our profession as a whole and wi lIlI furtherr correspond with you as to how that can best be done..
Personall regards, (Chiioefl Execultivoe Olfl/iclcor Toronto Real Estate Board 0D0o1n1 RIi(chhuurrcdilsOenIl
Richard Silver, ABR 1r1l1l1l1l 1l lOll" President H140OO0 0D0on11 Miills Rond Torolnltlo, ODlilinmrio (nulnlundu M383Nl Tel: (416) 443·8B1l00 Fux::(4116) 1443·0797