B.C. REALTOR® Transition to Designated Agency Continues
| March 16, 2012
In December 2011, Real Estate Council of Alberta staff attended the Victoria Real Estate Board/British Columbia Real Estate Association designated agency implementation pilot project orientation presentations for REALTORS® in Victoria. The pilot project was launched at the beginning of January and will be complete at the end of March. Earlier this week, we attended a debriefing session with Victoria brokers who shared their observations about the success of the pilot project along with suggestions for the Implementation Task Force going forward.
To say the pilot project has been a great success would be an understatement. Notwithstanding some technical and communication glitches, implementation of designated agency practices and the use of designated agency service agreements for Victoria professionals was portrayed by brokers at this week’s debriefing session as having been seamless.
Both the Board and the Association acknowledge adjustments will be necessary to some practice elements but both organizations expressed their pleasure with progress to date. With some minor tweaking, full implementation for all British Columbia REALTORS® will occur on June 1, 2012. Orientation presentations for real estate boards across the province will begin in earnest next week and carry through to the end of May.
Designated agency has been available to Alberta real estate brokerages as an optional business model for approximately three years. Currently, there are seven brokerages in the province operating under designated agency.
How would you react to your broker implementing designated agency as the business model for your brokerage?
