CREA Youngs

CREA’s Young Members Task Force, from the top left to right: Greg Kelford, Re/Max Metro-City Realty, Ottawa; Sergio Tassone, HomeLife Benchmark Realty, Langley, B.C.; Tanya Rocca, Royal LePage Burloak, Burlington, Ont.; Katie Burkard, Blu Realty, Vancouver; Adam Hennigar, Sutton Group Professional Realty, Halifax; Jessica Fink, Exit Realty Fusion, Regina; Nadia Habib, Century 21 First Canadian, London, Ont.; Beth Crosbie, Coldwell Banker Proco, St. John’s (chair); Christan Bosley, Bosley Real Estate, Toronto; and Lynn St-Germain, CREA staff liaison. Stephen Gammer, Macdonald Commercial, Fraser Valley, B.C. was not present when the photo was taken.

Time and technology are changing the real estate industry, and to be sure the new generation of Realtors gets the information and services they need, CREA has formed a Young Members Task Force to help lead the association into the future.

“We’re trying to get ahead of the curve to provide what the next generation of Realtors needs to do business,” says task force chair Beth Crosbie. “There are generational differences and different thought processes. We put together a task force to find out what we’re doing right, what we’re weak in and where to make changes.”

The task force was selected from nominations made by CREA directors and members of local associations. “The youngest is 23; the oldest is a 40-year-old commercial Realtor with good insight. One Realtor has been in the business only nine months,” Crosbie says.

“Our mandate is to advise the Board of Directors about where the real estate industry is going,” says 31-year-old Tanya Rocca, a member of Royal LePage’s President’s Club, which honours the top one per cent of sales reps. “It was felt my volume of business is an asset,” she says.
“Personally I have observed the business for a long time and have worked in the business for three years. Things have been stagnant and my intention is to freshen up the industry.”

Rocca is one of several members with a family history in real estate. Her family has been in the industry for more than 30 years. Her brother Patrick Rocca, an agent with Bosley Real Estate, has been in the business for 20 years.

Fellow task force member Christan Bosley is daughter of former Toronto Real Estate Board and CREA president Tom Bosley, and Ann Bosley, who has served as a TREB director and CREA president.

Task force members have family real estate background, work in management or have inherited a business, says Rocca. “It’s a solid group of people.”

The task force met for the first time in Ottawa January 12, discussing everything from how to strengthen the lines of communication to technology. “It was ideal to bring to light expectations of younger members and where this generation is going next,” Rocca says. “It was a good opportunity to network (and) to throw out ideas.”

She says that group discussions brought out concerns that were on the top of everyone’s minds, including the importance of technology.

Being part of the task force is a great opportunity, she says. “We got to sit down with the people who devised the MLS system and talk about its short-comings.”

Often, she says, members have suggestions or criticisms but don’t know how to make their concerns known. “It’s advantageous to speak to people who can do something,” Rocca says.
The task force also met with CREA’s technology council, on a fact-finding mission to create a strategic plan.

Rocca, who works with sister Cathy as the Rocca Sisters, says print ads are being used more for branding. The green aspect of technology is attractive to the younger generation. She says there’s a dramatic difference in the number of Internet leads from just three years ago when she became a Realtor.

CREA is not alone in forming a young members task force. Some provincial associations are realizing the importance of tapping this source of information and are doing the same thing, she says.
The second meeting of CREA’s task force will coincide with the association’s annual meeting in Ottawa this April.

“This group is excited,” says Crosbie, CREA’s Atlantic director for a year and a Realtor with Coldwell Banker Proco in St. John’s for 11 years. The task force is a wonderful opportunity to have a say in the association’s direction for the next 10 to 15 years, she says. “I’m really enjoying working with this group.”

At the first meeting, talk turned to creating an online forum. Crosbie said she explained why that couldn’t be done. A member asked her to stop telling them what couldn’t be done. “I didn’t mean to come across negative and say, ‘No we can’t do it.’ We do need to look at other ways to approach problems. It was a good lesson. We need to take a new approach to figure out ways to do things.”

Source: REM Online