Pat Rudiger, Chair

Busy Summer for Council

The August meeting of Council was a culmination of a number of initiatives and a new beginning for others. Council formally approved its new three year business plan and its budget for the next fiscal year. I am pleased to announce that Council can meet its objectives for the next year with no increase in fees for industry members.  

Council recognized through its planning processes the amount of change experienced by the respective industries over the past few years and attempted to avoid new initiatives that would directly affect the day-to-day activities of industry members unless necessary. I believe we have accomplished this with the approval by Council of its three-year Business Plan. A strategy is now in place for planning and implementing a number of new initiatives in education, communication and delivery of our core services. RECA’s Strategic Plan is available through our homepage at www.reca.ca. Some of the more significant projects are:

RECA will take a more active role in the development end delivery of pre and post licensing education courses. It has established core values for the delivery of these offerings.

• RECA will develop and deliver licensing education courses in areas that are common or that RECA has the expertise

• Continuing professional development will now be referred to as the Re-Licensing Education Program (REP) to further define what RECA’s role is in education.  There will be no mandatory course for real estate industry members in the 2008-2009 registration year. 

• Work with industry partners to develop “work ready” licensing courses, a new brokers program, mortgage associates and brokers program

• A specialty education implementation plan has been tabled for Council’s next meeting in November.

Council agreed to revise the composition of the Residential Real Estate Advisory Committee to allow for the Alberta Real Estate Association (AREA) to appoint two individuals to the Committee.  These two individual are to be industry members who sit on the AREA Board of Directors during their appointment to the Committee.

Council continues to consider recommendations from the Mortgage Brokers Advisory Committee regarding the issue of syndicated mortgages.  More work will be required on this important issue and input provided from the mortgage broker industry has been invaluable.

After a robust year of changes and clarifications of the Real Estate Rules and the proclamation of the Real Estate Amendment Act in July, 2008, Council understands the need for industry to take the time to incorporate these modifications into daily practice.  It appears there are no large changes on Council’s agenda for the near future.  The work from this the past year shows Council’s strong desire for continued improvement in industry member relationships with consumers and increased integrity throughout the industry.

 

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