How Do You Measure a Year?

Five hundred, twenty-five thousand, six hundred minutes. How do you measure a year?

At the Real Estate Council of Alberta, we measure years, not in minutes, but in terms of the number of phone calls and emails responded to, the number of times we have the opportunity to interact with industry professionals across the province, and the number of authorized industry professionals.

Never do our means of measurement kick into higher gear than in the month of September when all industry professionals must renew their registration (or licence, in the case of real estate appraisers and candidates)

At the beginning of October, we provided some of the highlights of activity for the renewal month of September and now, we want to share more information about the work RECA does—not only during that pivotal month—but also throughout the year.

Our information services staff responded to more than 3,000 emails during the month of September, that’s likely a surprising number—made even more so when you realize RECA has only two licensing officers, plus one coordinator, responding to those emails. Of those 3,000 plus emails, 97 per cent of them were responded to within two business hours. There were more than 1,200 phone calls received by RECA information services staff in September, and all but 10 phone calls were returned within 8 business hours.

On the licensing side of things, RECA’s two full-time licensing staff processed more than 1,500 packages of documents (brokerage amendments, criminal record checks, etc.).

The annual numbers are even more astounding.

RECA information services and licensing staff received more than 9,300 telephone inquiries between October 1, 2010 and September 30, 2011, and more than 17,000 emails during that same time period. Again, those calls and emails are answered and responded to by only four full-time staff. Additionally, those numbers don’t include the individuals who visit the RECA office in person in order to speak with a licensing or information services staff member.

For those who are interested in the number of authorized industry professionals, year-over-year, here are those numbers:

Total individuals authorized (Nov 1, 2011) = 14,433

Total individuals authorized (Nov 1, 2010) = 14,818

Though it’s a decrease of approximately 2.6 per cent, it is not unexpected and a slight decrease was anticipated and planned for during RECA’s annual budgetary planning process.

More RECA renewal and general statistical information will provided in the 2010-2011 Annual Report, which will be published at the end of January 2012.

Do any of these statistics surprise you? Are there any statistics you would like RECA to report on?