REALTORS® in Calgary-Are we staying educated and ahead of the curve?
Today I attended a focus group of sorts at the Calgary Real Estate Boardwhere myself and 100 other REALTORS® had the opportunity to give our input to help shape where the future of real estate education is headed. I met some really great people today and was able to catch up with others that I have not seen in quite a while. It was great because everyone that was there was serious about helping CREB find some direction when it comes to educating its membership.
In 2007 the Real Estate Coucil of Alberta mandated that all REALTORS® were required to do a certain amount of education every year at their own expense. It didn't matter what course you took as long as you were upgrading and maintaining your education. In 2009 RECA mandated that we no longer had to take mandatory upgrading, in my humble opinion, this was a huge mistake.
It has allowed our membership to become complacent and rely more and more on their brokers or fellow REALTORS® to help in problem solving or business development or something as simple as measuring a house. Now I am not saying that I haven't leaned on some of my fellow agents in the past, and if you are reading this you know who you are and I thank you immensley. However I continue to keep up on my education and take courses that not only interest me but courses I think can help me improve as a REALTOR® and as a small business person.
I am taking this opportunity to call on the Calgary membership to continue to upgrade your education through the courses that CREB has to offer. After attending the Education and Technology Summit today I have to say that there are some very exciting courses that are going to be offered and there was some really fantastic ideas floating around out there today! I encourage you all to take advantage of what is being offered to you! We are very lucky that we have a board that wants nothing more than to be the real estate education hub of Alberta!
Kelley Skar-REALTOR®
Sutton Partners Realty Group
