Cleveland Real Estate News

In order to be a Realtor®  in the State of Ohio there are licensing laws I have to follow. I had to take 40 hours of classes (I did, at Hondros College). I had to get a brokerage to sponsor me. I signed on with Smythe Cramer Co (now Howard Hanna) and  proceeded to take my licensing exam.  I passed, and then met the second requirement: joining a Board. By law I had to do this. Cleveland Area Board of Realtors® (CABOR) was local so of course that is the board I joined. I then had to pay dues to the computer listing service (NORMLS) for the privilege of using their area wide listings. (When you see me posting data regarding homes sold in a given month, this is where I cull the data).  I did all of the above and proceeded on with my career, renewing all of these at the appropriate intervals to keep all memberships up to date. 

Over the course of about a year we went web 2.0 with our listing service (it is now called Tempo 5 even though it is still part of NORMLS) and efforts began to examine the idea of NORMLS combining forces and information with another listing service called CHRIS. CHRIS serves a large area South of us that includes Akron-Canton.  Considering a lot of ‘local’ brokers and agents live and work in areas like Macedonia, Twinsburg, Solon, etc, it was cumbersome (and more expensive) but they found themselves joining two separate systems in order to get all the information their clients needed. A lot of studies and due diligence reports were done and the end result was a vote taken to go ahead and plan for the merging of the two systems.

I do most of my work North of the CHRIS system, but I saw it as an advantage. Suppose I had a client (and I did) moving from Cleveland to the Akron area because of work or a pending marriage? If I had the CHRIS system, I could have helped this client look into possibilities in Akron and then eventually referring him to an agent who worked that area.  If he did not move for one reason or another, at least I could have helped by providing a more complete service while he was making up his mind. Does this make sense?  Regardless of how frequently this would have happened, there are still hundreds of agents and brokers affected because of what area they worked and I was happy to support the idea even if I was unlikely to utilize the Chris system frequently.

It was seemingly a done deal, when my board, CABOR, voted against the idea. They were the only vote against it.  Most of us were surprised and many of us (myself included) disappointed. The goal really is to provide more service in the best possible way. As a matter of fact it also cuts down on costs all around, so therefore should make for a more efficient system.

I’m not sure what the end result will be, or how long it will take….but I am voting with my feet.  The State of Ohio says I have to belong to a board, but they don’t care which one. So I am switching to GLCAR, The Greater Lake County Board of Realtors. I was (and am) proud of my Company because they have been vocal in their disappointment with CABOR.  Most of you who read my blog on a regular basis (for which I thank you) know that I think grassroots efforts in politics and neighborhoods can make a big difference.  This whole saga points out to me how none of us can escape politics. Even if you don’t vote on election day, politics permeates your workplace, your school, heck, even your family! lol. 

I don’t usually post about this ’stuff’  because I think it might put you to sleep or bore you lol. But maybe not,  I actually had a client ask me about it (they had a relative who was in the business) and it is what we in the local real estate world are dealing with at the moment. I know there are thousands of workers in our area who belong to non-profit boards, pharmaceutical boards, etc. These kinds of things happen to you too? Luckily, I spend 99% of my time happily concerned with houses or buildings and not all of this!  Peace Out – 3C