A month or so ago I spent two days in meetings in Edmonton with 22 other individuals from the 11 other Real Estate Boards in Alberta followed up by an addtional meeting in Calgary. The goal of these meetings was to review and make recommendations to standardize the data feeds and harmonize rules that organized real estate operate under across the province. This initiative was set in motion several months ago by the Alberta Real Estate Association (AREA) and is one of the projects that I have been very fortunate to contribute to.

Just wanted to take a minute to update some of the current events from the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) AGM that I just returned from in Ottawa April 2 and 3, 2011.  This year’s discussion, debate and focus was on a proposed Data Distribution Facility designed to ensure that our data, trademarks and marketing options online are not only accurate, but members’ intellectually property is protected and displayed in a positive manner.

Those of you who know me know that I am usually a pretty reserved person with my opinion – okay, I can be a little outspoken at times; some even go so far as to call some of the topics I take issue with "rants.” The goal of my "rants," however, is not to hear myself speak; it is to engage others who hopefully have more information than me to speak up and give me an answer that is better than the view I have created watching on the sidelines. In saying that, today’s rant is on a topic that every person in organized real estate should be concerned with along with every customer using a REALTOR(R) and that topic is the use of Bing maps for REALTOR.ca

Just a short blog to touch on a couple of the topics discussed at the Inman Connect 2010. Lots of discussion about the future of real estate in North America.