“An Open Letter from OREA President Ray Ferris and CEO Tim Hudak to Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) concerning the quality and standards of the Continuing Education (CE) Program.”
February 17, 2017
Mike Cusano, Chair
Kate Murray, CEO
Real Estate Council of Ontario
West Tower, 3300 Bloor St W #1200,
Etobicoke, ON M8X 2X2
Dear Mike and Kate:
We are writing to share with you the widespread concerns that Ontario’s REALTORS® have expressed about the RECO Update and Continuing Education (CE) Program.
We continue to hear from our members, brokers and board leaders that they are dissatisfied with the RECO CE program. To be direct: standards have been severely watered down. In this regard, the CE Program does little to challenge our members and afford them the opportunity to learn and grow. This is the reason why so many in the profession now consider it a significant step backwards.
In its 2013 announcement about taking the CE program in-house, RECO cited flexibility, quality control and increased focus on consumer protection as the positive reasons for this initiative. However, our members tell us that RECO’s CE program falls short of achieving this. In addition, a large number of our members continue to be disappointed that they no longer have the option of attending these courses in person. We believe strongly that there needs to be an in-class component where REALTORS® can interact with one another and learn from their colleagues.
Members feel strongly that the current CE program is not sufficiently challenging and much too easy to complete, which we believe contributes to the undermining of the profession as a whole.
We have heard from our members of many instances where individual members are not even completing these courses themselves as there currently exist no controls to verify the individual who is actually taking the course or writing the exam. This is deeply concerning and hugely problematic.
Our main concern is that RECO’s CE program is not assisting our members in the way that we feel it should. The program is no longer geared to challenging and facilitating growth in our members and enhancing professionalism.
It has always been OREA’s goal to raise the bar on REALTOR® education and help members achieve greater professionalism. We would welcome the opportunity to discuss OREA’s ideas for improving the quality of CE in the province.
Our end goal should be a program that reflects RECO’s original vision of CE that truly benefits REALTORS®, the profession and ultimately the consumer.
We look forward to hearing from you.
Yours sincerely,
Ray Ferris Tim Hudak
President, Ontario Real Estate Association CEO, Ontario Real Estate Association
Cc: Mike Cusano, Chair, Real Estate Council of Ontario
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