which brokerage to join?

oasis100 wrote: ↑ You won't be a very successful realtor dealing with others with no access to Stratus or anything else for that matter.

First you say CREA/OREA is required. Now you change your tune after I prove you wrong only to make another false statement. Sheesh!

Platinum award winner indeed... You might want to brush up on what it takes to be a realtor. Start with the basic rules.

oasis100 wrote: ↑you have to pay crea and orea fees. treb you can avoid if your brokerage is not part of treb.

There are some brokerages catering to what they call 'parking' your registration which caters to RECO registrants (not Realtors as they are not CREA members) who may be retired but want to stay viable, property managers, part-timers, along with failures and cheapos hoping to hang on.

Probably the most prominent such GTA brokerage is Net More Realty who has a TREB registered office in TO and non-board office in Ajax.

And you're correct, these members have to rely on 3rd party sites for sales, and listings information according to their format, while terminations, suspensions, cancellations, listing history information along with a host of other things such as MPAC, Geowarehouse, Teranet, and all sorts of details a Realtor (CREA member) has at the touch of their fingertips to assist their client is only available to them piecemeal are greater costs. So whatever they save from non-board/ brokerage/board/CREA fees are either erased in a multiple of 1+ or they don't know or don't care to utilize those valuable assists to begin with. Board listings too are made in the BoR's name since the registrant doesn't have access which means the listing rep has no direct and real time access to promote the listing. It's great promotion for the BoR though.

To each his own - it's a free world.

The site I mention is http://www.netmorerealestateinc.com/

eonibm wrote: ↑ First you say CREA/OREA is required. Now you change your tune after I prove you wrong only to make another false statement. Sheesh!

Platinum award winner indeed... You might want to brush up on what it takes to be a realtor. Start with the basic rules.

Do you know what it takes? From what I can tell, not at all. Just another keyboard warrior.

You can try to penny pinch and not join any association, but you are not going to have access to information that any potential clients will need from you. I find it humorous any of your friends or family rely on you when you are not equipped to provide them valuable information.

eonibm wrote: ↑ First you say CREA/OREA is required. Now you change your tune after I prove you wrong only to make another false statement. Sheesh!

Platinum award winner indeed... You might want to brush up on what it takes to be a realtor. Start with the basic rules.

You can use those free websites to find sales data, but they are limited in scope in how you can narrow down properties. You do not have access to Mpac, Geowarehouse..etc

oasis100 wrote: ↑ Do you know what it takes? From what I can tell, not at all. Just another keyboard warrior.

You can try to penny pinch and not join any association, but you are not going to have access to information that any potential clients will need from you. I find it humorous any of your friends or family rely on you when you are not equipped to provide them valuable information.

Thanks. I rest my case.

Lots of misinformation out there - - particularly among new agents and those with very little experience in the real estate industry.

To clarify, for the benefit of others...

All real estate brokerages in Ontario MUST be registered with a local real estate board.

All realtors actively involved with buying or selling real estate in Ontario MUST be registered as a salesperson of a brokerage and pay local real estate board fees.

Once a realtor pays board fees they MUST pay both CREA and OREA fees.

Any realtor who is not a member of CREA, OREA and a local real estate board is prohibited by law against representing buyers or sellers in any real estate transaction.

REBBA 2002 is the legislation that spells this out...

4 (1) No person shall,

(a) trade in real estate as a brokerage unless the person is registered as a brokerage;

(b) trade in real estate as a broker unless he or she is registered as a broker of a brokerage;

(c) trade in real estate as a salesperson unless he or she is registered as a salesperson of a brokerage; or

(d) trade in real estate unless registered under this Act. 2002, c. 30, Sched. C, s. 4 (1).


Unregistered persons

(2) A person who is not registered as a brokerage, broker or salesperson shall not,

(a) directly or indirectly hold himself, herself or itself out as being a brokerage, broker or salesperson, respectively; or

(b) perform any of the functions of a brokerage, broker or salesperson as provided in this Act. 2002, c. 30, Sched. C, s. 4 (2).

Donnie740 wrote: ↑ To clarify, for the benefit of others...

All realtors actively involved with buying or selling real estate in Ontario MUST be registered as a salesperson of a brokerage and pay local real estate board fees

Donnie is back forcing his imagination on others.
To clarify, for the REAL benefit of everyone involved:

Any participation in local boards is voluntary - TRUE.

Eevery real estate licensee/salesperson has to be registered with a brokerage in order to provide services - TRUE.

A real estate licensee/salesperson can not call himself a Realtor if he is not registered with the board - TRUE. (“Realtor” is the board’s trademark that can be used by the licensees registered with the board, it’s that simple).

In a meanwhile, not being a member of a local board severely limits the licensee’s ability to acccess information and conduct business. Unless you are parking your license, there is no obvious benefit to it.

Sam286 wrote: ↑ Donnie is back forcing his imagination on others.
To clarify, for the REAL benefit of everyone involved:

Any participation in local boards is voluntary - TRUE.

Eevery real estate licensee/salesperson has to be registered with a brokerage in order to provide services - TRUE.

A real estate licensee/salesperson can not call himself a Realtor if he is not registered with the board - TRUE. (“Realtor” is the board’s trademark that can be used by the licensees registered with the board, it’s that simple).

In a meanwhile, not being a member of a local board severely limits the licensee’s ability to acccess information and conduct business. Unless you are parking your license, there is no obvious benefit to it.

Participation in a local real estate board is voluntary - - but as I explained previously, if you're not a member of any local real estate board in Ontario you will be prohibited by law from actively engaging in the trade of real estate.

Donnie740 wrote: ↑ Participation in a local real estate board is voluntary - - but as I explained previously, if you're not a member of any local real estate board in Ontario you will be prohibited by law from actively engaging in the trade of real estate.

I would love to see a copy of such rules or regulations. Kind of contradicts the voluntary participation. There are no prohibitions you refer to.
Though it is understanbaly not advisable to practice without the board support

Sam286 wrote: ↑ I would love to see a copy of such rules or regulations. Kind of contradicts the voluntary participation. There are no prohibitions you refer to.
Though it is understanbaly not advisable to practice without the board support

Go back and read Post #27 again.

REBBA 2002 legislation makes it explicitly clear - - "No person shall trade in real estate as a salesperson unless he or she is registered as a salesperson of a brokerage."

If you want to actively trade real estate in Ontario - - ie represent buyers and sellers - - you absolutely MUST pay annual dues and be a member of a local real estate board, OREA and CREA.

To say it's "voluntary" is self evident. Of course it's voluntary. If you want to park your licence and save the costs, go right ahead. Nobody is holding a gun to your head forcing you to pay dues and be a member of a local board, OREA and CREA. But that means you will be prohibited from representing buyers or sellers in trading real estate in Ontario.

I can't dumb it down for you any further than that, my friend.

Donnie740 wrote: ↑
If you want to actively trade real estate in Ontario - - ie represent buyers and sellers - - you absolutely MUST pay annual dues and be a member of a local real estate board, OREA and CREA.

Nobody is holding a gun to your head forcing you to pay dues and be a member of a local board, OREA and CREA. But that means you will be prohibited from representing buyers or sellers in trading real estate in Ontario.

Though it is understandable that being a board member puts you at a different level in terms of access to data, webforms etc. Board membership is a must for anyone who wants to promote and grow his/her real estate business.

You didn't go back and read Post #27 again, did you?

Please do so before attempting to comment further.

To summarize my previous explanations...

All real estate brokerages in Ontario MUST belong to a local real estate board.

Anyone wishing to actively trade real estate in Ontario MUST be registered with a brokerage.

In order to register with said brokerage, the realtor MUST join the local real estate board and pay dues.

Joining a local board means the realtor AUTOMATICALLY pays dues and us registered with OREA and CREA.

Sam286 wrote: ↑
Though it is understandable that being a board member puts you at a different level in terms of access to data, webforms etc. Board membership is a must for anyone who wants to promote and grow his/her real estate business.

REBBA 2002 is the legislation to govern realtors in Ontario.

Perhaps things are different in BC?

That might explain your confusion with Ontario regulations.

Donnie740 wrote: ↑ You didn't go back and read Post #27 again, did you?

Please do so before attempting to comment further.

To summarize my previous explanations...

All real estate brokerages in Ontario MUST belong to a local real estate board.

Anyone wishing to actively trade real estate in Ontario MUST be registered with a brokerage.

In order to register with said brokerage, the realtor MUST join the local real estate board and pay dues.

Joining a local board means the realtor AUTOMATICALLY pays dues and us registered with OREA and CREA.

Post #27 is my post. Perhaps you refer to post #26, or maybe another post?
Anyone who wishes to trade real estate has to be registered with a brokerage. Totally agree. It’s a must. Otherwise it’s illegal (unless a narrow exemption for lawyers etc. applies).

Your other statements come out of nowhere. Please add a link to a document that makes it a MUST for a brokerage to join the board and that makes it a MUST for the realtors to join the board.
If you are licensed, you may also clarify the issue with your managing broker just to stop this whole embarrassment.

You have a choice to “automatically” pay the dues to the board and be a member. And 99% of the realtors Canada-wide choose to do so. It is also totally worth it, it puts you at a different level at a simple click of a button. But under no circumstances it’s a must to be a board member.

Regarding the underlined, there is no such requirement.

REBBA demands that all registered persons belong to a brokerage and that's it. Boards, provincial associations and CREA which is the federal association are not mandated by law. The provincial associations are strictly membership organizations. That is actually all that is supported by your excerpt.

Donnie740 wrote: ↑ Lots of misinformation out there - - particularly among new agents and those with very little experience in the real estate industry.

To clarify, for the benefit of others...

All real estate brokerages in Ontario MUST be registered with a local real estate board.

All realtors actively involved with buying or selling real estate in Ontario MUST be registered as a salesperson of a brokerage and pay local real estate board fees.

Once a realtor pays board fees they MUST pay both CREA and OREA fees.

Any realtor who is not a member of CREA, OREA and a local real estate board is prohibited by law against representing buyers or sellers in any real estate transaction.

REBBA 2002 is the legislation that spells this out...

4 (1) No person shall,

(a) trade in real estate as a brokerage unless the person is registered as a brokerage;

(b) trade in real estate as a broker unless he or she is registered as a broker of a brokerage;

(c) trade in real estate as a salesperson unless he or she is registered as a salesperson of a brokerage; or

(d) trade in real estate unless registered under this Act. 2002, c. 30, Sched. C, s. 4 (1).


Unregistered persons

(2) A person who is not registered as a brokerage, broker or salesperson shall not,

(a) directly or indirectly hold himself, herself or itself out as being a brokerage, broker or salesperson, respectively; or

(b) perform any of the functions of a brokerage, broker or salesperson as provided in this Act. 2002, c. 30, Sched. C, s. 4 (2).

I've often wondered -

What do agents/teams in the GCI Chairman's club earn with Lepage?

Sam286 wrote: ↑ Post #27 is my post. Perhaps you refer to post #26, or maybe another post?
Anyone who wishes to trade real estate has to be registered with a brokerage. Totally agree. It’s a must. Otherwise it’s illegal (unless a narrow exemption for lawyers etc. applies).

Your other statements come out of nowhere. Please add a link to a document that makes it a MUST for a brokerage to join the board and that makes it a MUST for the realtors to join the board.
If you are licensed, you may also clarify the issue with your managing broker just to stop this whole embarrassment.

You have a choice to “automatically” pay the dues to the board and be a member. And 99% of the realtors Canada-wide choose to do so. It is also totally worth it, it puts you at a different level at a simple click of a button. But under no circumstances it’s a must to be a board member.

Donnie740 has no clue as you, me and licenced have pointed out numerous times.

However, having said that, there is one thing he is continually right about:

Donnie740 wrote: ↑ Lots of misinformation out there

Because he is the one spreading it! Talk about inexperienced!

Donnie740 wrote: ↑ Go back and read Post #27 again.

REBBA 2002 legislation makes it explicitly clear - - "No person shall trade in real estate as a salesperson unless he or she is registered as a salesperson of a brokerage."

If you want to actively trade real estate in Ontario - - ie represent buyers and sellers - - you absolutely MUST pay annual dues and be a member of a local real estate board, OREA and CREA.

To say it's "voluntary" is self evident. Of course it's voluntary. If you want to park your licence and save the costs, go right ahead. Nobody is holding a gun to your head forcing you to pay dues and be a member of a local board, OREA and CREA. But that means you will be prohibited from representing buyers or sellers in trading real estate in Ontario.

I can't dumb it down for you any further than that, my friend.

Simply untrue. You are not prohibited from representing buyers and seller in trading real estate in Ontario. Call RECO and find out given you are so clueless about the basics. Talk about dumbing down! You take the cake...my friend.

eonibm wrote: ↑ Simply untrue. You are not prohibited from representing buyers and seller in trading real estate in Ontario. Call RECO and find out given you are so clueless about the basics. Talk about dumbing down! You take the cake...my friend.

As per REBBA 2002 Section 4.1(c)

"No person shall trade in real estate as a salesperson unless he or she is registered as a salesperson of a brokerage"

Seems pretty clear to me, but I can understand how a new and inexperienced realtor such as yourself might be confused.

For your own benefit you should seek additional training from RECO - - I hate to see you lose your "licence" for violating a REBBA mandate.

Back to the original question by the OP. you are best to sign up with a brokerage like Right At Home. they have low monthly desk fees and a per transaction flat rate take. You intend to do this part time and full time eventually in the toronto area. you will need access to stratus and everything else to best serve your clients.

all the stuff about not paying crea treb orea are for people parking their license. those non board brokerages will not allow you to practice and will only allow you to earn through referrals.