The legion of REALTOR® volunteers: shaping the future of Canadian real estate

REALTORS® are volunteers extraordinaire. Anyone who has browsed http://REALTORSCare.ca, the official website of the Canadian REALTORS Care® Foundation, can’t help but be struck by the varied and creative ways REALTORS® give back to their communities. Bake sales, soup kitchens, golf tournaments – you name it, REALTORS® have done it to make things better for those around them.

But there’s a different type of volunteering we don’t talk about as often: the countless hours that REALTORS® contribute to better their profession. Each year, hundreds of REALTORS® across the country share their expertise and passion for the industry by volunteering with their local, provincial, or national real estate Board or Association.

Some serve on committees that deal with government relations, professional development, advertising, or other issue-specific teams that match their interests. Others stand for election to a Board of Directors in order to shape the way their Board or Association is governed and influence its strategic direction.

Regardless of role, each volunteer works to make things better for those around them.

This volunteer ethic is integral to the effective functioning of the community of real estate Boards and Associations that serve REALTORS® in Canada. And more – and new – volunteers are always needed to keep this important system running.

To highlight some of the benefits of joining this legion of volunteers, we went to the experts and asked some of our most seasoned REALTOR® volunteers about their experience. Here’s what they had to say…

Some offered advice for those considering volunteering:

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Others talked about how being a volunteer helped their business:

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This Past-President revealed whether he’d do it all over again:

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And all those interviewed were able to sum up their years and years of volunteer experience in “one word”:

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If you are interested in serving your profession and sharing your talents with those in the REALTOR® community, contact your local or provincial Board or Association to learn about what opportunities exist where you live. And if you want to contribute at the national level by volunteering with CREA, visit leadership.crea.ca.

After serving eight years as Director of Communications, Linda Kristal shifted her focus to Federal Affairs and more in her role as CREA’s Vice-President, Advocacy. Linda’s career in Ottawa began on Parliament Hill working for an MP, Ministers and the Prime Minister for almost a decade as a political staffer. During that time, she got to see the ins-and-outs of life on the Hill and a bird’s eye view into policy making. Linda is a devoted fan of winter and can usually be found outside from December to March.


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