In a major move to tackle one of real estate’s most time-consuming challenges, FCT has acquired a majority stake in Fintracker, a digital identity verification solutions company.

The Oakville-based company announced the news on Jan. 28, saying the partnership is poised to streamline compliance with KYC and anti-money laundering (AML) regulations while enhancing security and efficiency in real estate transactions.

“Fintracker’s advanced identity verification technology, combined and integrated with our trusted services, will help create a more secure, seamless, and fully compliant experience for all stakeholders while shaping the future of connected and intelligent identity verification processes.,” says Michael LeBlanc, CEO, FCT.

Fintracker has contracts with many of Canada’s real estate boards and brokerages, including TRREB subsidiary PropTx. 

Why Fintracker?

Founded by former Realtor Simon Fiore, Fintracker was born out of a need to simplify the tedious FINTRAC compliance process. In a 2023 interview with Real Estate Magazine, Fiore shared that the idea for Fintracker originated in his Winnipeg brokerage. “I was like many agents struggling with these forms and not handing them in in a timely fashion,” Fiore said. His initial goal was to solve the problem for his own brokerage, but the solution gained traction.

The platform has since evolved into a tool for completing FINTRAC forms, digitizing workflows and reducing the potential for human error. During the pandemic, its ability to facilitate remote identity verification for non-physically present clients made it an important tool for many brokerages.

A shared vision for the future

With Fintracker’s solutions now integrated into its operations, FCT says its goal is to create a “connected identity ecosystem” that accelerates the home-buying process while safeguarding sensitive personal data. Fintracker’s founders, Fiore and CTO Matt Amihude, will continue leading the company as it expands under FCT’s umbrella.

“Partnering with FCT enables us to scale our mission of simplifying compliance for agents and brokerages across Canada,” says Fiore. “Our shared vision is to minimize friction for both the public and our clients, while raising the bar for KYC and AML compliance. Together, we’re fostering greater trust, transparency, and efficiency in real estate transactions.”

Fiore, who described himself as “the least tech-savvy agent in the country” when he started Fintracker, believes there’s no replacement for human relationships in real estate.

“Technology is always going to try and replace us, but one-on-one and face-to-face interactions, gaining trust and building relationships are still the keys,” Fiore told REM.

More Ontario Realtors now have access to more data as the PropTx MLS database expands to include listings from most boards in the province. 

PropTx, a wholly-owned and for-profit subsidiary of the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB), promises members access to a centralized MLS, a long-standing priority among Realtors, according to TRREB CEO John DiMichele. 

“This has been a strategic focus, and through the creation of PropTx, was a key mandate for the organization,” says DiMichele. “The participating boards and associations were essential collaborators, recognizing that working together benefits all Realtors. A unified MLS database ensures consistency and continuity as it matures.”

Participating boards and associations currently have access to the PropTx MLS system, with the final stages of data transition underway. DiMichele explains several enhancements are expected in the first quarter of 2025, including expanded mandatory fields and the integration of pre-populated external data sets. These updates are based on feedback from participating boards and new users of the platform.

Participating boards and associations

The following boards and associations are part of the PropTx MLS collaboration:

• Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (including the former Brampton Real Estate Board)
• Central Lakes Association of Realtors (including Durham, Quinte, Northumberland, Peterborough, and Kawartha Lakes)
• London and St. Thomas Association of Realtors
• Niagara Association of Realtors (NAR)
• Kingston & Area Real Estate Association (KAREA)
• Timmins, Cochrane & Timiskaming District Association of Realtors
• Ottawa Real Estate Board
• Cornwall & District Real Estate Board
• Renfrew County Real Estate Board
• Rideau-St Lawrence Real Estate Board
• Oakville, Milton & District Real Estate Board (OMDREB)
• One Point Association of Realtors (formerly Lakelands, Guelph & District, Huron Perth, and Grey Bruce Owen Sound)
• Woodstock, Ingersoll Tillsonburg & Area Association of Realtors (WITAAR)
• North Bay & Area Realtors Association (NBARA)

DiMichele explains that through PropTx, members of these associations have access to more data than ever before, and that will expand as new features are introduced.

“The move towards a single MLS database creates incredible efficiencies for Realtors, both in the operation of their business as well as in the cost of operating their business,” DiMichele says. “The move towards a single MLS database reduces the need for interboarding MLS listings as well as paying for multiple real estate board and association memberships.”

TRREB’s CEO calls PropTx a for-Realtors-by-Realtors solution, “The long-term strategic goal of PropTx is to continue to offer a range of best-in-class tools, insights, and applications to improve the transaction experience for realtors and the clients they serve efficiently and effectively.”

Impact on ITSO

More boards transitioning to PropTx marks a shift for the Information Technology Systems of Ontario (ITSO), a not-for-profit corporation established in 2020 with the primary goal of creating a unified MLS.

Geoff Halford, ITSO chair, says the organization was initially created to increase access to MLS data through the operation of a regional MLS System when associations were not ready to amalgamate but wanted to share data. Halford says this purpose may no longer be relevant.

Member boards such as KAREA, NAR, OMDREB, NBARA, WITAAR, and OnePoint are leaving or have left ITSO in favour of PropTx.

Halford acknowledges the evolving landscape and its potential impact. “We are proud of the success we had creating a regional system that at its peak brought together 23 real estate associations and more than 24,000 users who had access to data from 29 of the real estate associations in the province, but we also understand that the landscape is quickly changing,” he said, adding  ITSO remains committed to supporting its current member associations, ensuring that the system continues to meet their needs.

“We are disappointed that a solution could not be arranged with TRREB that would have fostered competition in the MLS services market…” Geoff Halford, ITSO chair

ITSO will operate its MLS system for its remaining three member boards, the Barrie & District Association of Realtors (BDAR), Brantford Regional Real Estate Association (BRREA), and Cornerstone Association of Realtors, for the next two years under the current MLS Services Agreement.

“We will be reviewing what is in the best interests of our members and the future of ITSO over the course of the next two years,” says Halford.”There are other MLS Systems in Ontario and in other provinces that operate with far fewer users than ITSO, so we know such a system is viable, but we also understand the political pressure that our remaining members face to solve the problem of fragmented data access.

“We are disappointed that a solution could not be arranged with TRREB that would have fostered competition in the MLS services market and enabled all realtors in the province to access all the MLS data they need in the system of their choice.” 

Halford adds, “It is especially disheartening to see Realtors who formerly used the ITSO system complain on social media about the quality and quantity of listing content they now have access to in their new MLS System, as ITSO and its members prided themselves on building a comprehensive database of detailed and accurate MLS listing content.”

Industry perspectives

Paul Czan, president of the Ottawa Real Estate Board, says the board joined PropTx last fall.

Czan explains, “This new platform promises a much better experience with more data readily available. Faster communication and smoother transactions, in a sense. Another thing is we’re able to have input on the system.”

OREB’s president has high hopes for PropTx’s impact.  “I think it’s going to be a platform that’s going to bring stability and consistency amongst a bit of a shifting landscape in our industry, meaning that Realtors can be assured that they can have access to the same quality data as their counterparts in all the other regions.”

Editor’s note: The original article stated that the Ottawa Real Estate Board had left ITSO for PropTx. The board was not an ITSO member and the article has been updated to reflect that.

The Habistat was co-founded by self-professed data and charts lover Daniel Foch, chief real estate officer at Vaughan, Ont.-based Valery.ca (and REM columnist), to make it easier to create charts and tables that he previously had to create manually.

“Originally, I did it to solve the problem—it was taking me too long to create these charts. I said, ‘There’s got to be a fix for this.’” 

“I’m probably one of the leading agents who makes charts as my source of content. That’s how I get clients and build trust,” says Foch.

Foch ended up meeting two data scientists on Twitter with whom he teamed up to develop The Habistat. The three “spent quite a bit of our own money” to develop The Habistat but Foch would not provide dollar figures.

“I’m probably one of the leading agents who makes charts as my source of content. That’s how I get clients and build trust,” Foch says. “But to do that would take me hundreds of hours of manual work. Now, I don’t have to do that work, which is a huge time saver for me.”

Foch says The Habistat enables Realtors to access data in an easier fashion than they could previously and to then communicate that data clearly to clients or on their social media.

Streamlined data access

The Habistat is available in a dashboard format that gives Realtors instant access to real-time data on what’s happening in the housing market.

“There is a need to give clients better advice,” and The Habistat enables Realtors to go into a lot more granular detail, getting as close as a neighbourhood level to provide information like sales price by location or sales volume by property type. 

Among other things, The Habistat can track market fluctuations, analyze property values, identify growing markets and access new methods of finding comparables and property history.

“Before, you kind of had access to the data, but to compile it manually and create charts is not something an agent would want to do.”

From the private sector to PropTx

Foch and his co-founders originally ran The Habistat as a private sector enterprise. They used publicly available CREA and TRREB data to provide precise information on what was going on in the housing market

However, TRREB did not take kindly to its data being used.

The Habistat “wasn’t compliant with TRREB’s data rules. That’s why we had to shut it down,” Foch says. “We worked over two or three years to become compliant with them and they basically licensed the product from us during that process.”

TRREB is now fully onboard. “The Habistat is a user-friendly tool helping Realtors navigate housing market data, providing value-added analyses and reports for buyers, sellers, landlords and tenants,” TRREB CEO John DiMichele said in a statement. 

The launch of The Habistat shows that the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) “continues to grow the lineup of technology tools available to Realtors using the PropTx MLS System,” DiMichele said.

Scaling for the future 

Among other things, DiMichele says The Habistat allows members to explore reports and dashboards for active and inactive listings, and easily produce comparisons based on different locations and home types. Customized map boundaries can be produced, and market activity reports can be created for individual condo buildings. 

DiMichele said the system will evolve and enhance market statistics, trends and overall property intelligence. 

PropTx, the wholly owned technology subsidiary of TRREB, now owns the global license for The Habistat, in a deal that was finalized by Foch’s two partners.  “I think the objective of PropTX is to scale it to other real estate boards,” Foch said. Most Ontario boards now subscribe to PropTx.

Training Realtors for data-driven success

While The Habistat does not currently produce real estate projections “that is something we’d like to include in the future,” Foch says

On the other hand, The Habistat does provide a clear picture of what’s happening now.  “Because it’s real-time data, whenever a data point is updated on TRREB, it’ll be reflected in the charts. You can spot a trend early if you’re trying to advise a client rather than having to wait for a monthly report to indicate that that trend exists.”

Although it will be easy to learn for people who are data-minded or analytical, “I think the average agent would probably require a little bit of training,” Foch adds. “I’m hoping to be doing some ongoing free training for the program in the new year.” 

Realtors can spend up to 35 hours on administrative tasks to close a single deal, according to Raz Zohar, who left his job in tech to work as an assistant in the industry to uncover its pain points. This realization sparked a “lightbulb moment,” inspiring him to create Mave—an AI-powered assistant designed to streamline tedious workflows and empower agents to focus on what they do best: serving clients and closing deals.

At its core, Mave uses AI technology to streamline tasks. Realtors interact with the tool through messaging platforms like WhatsApp or iMessage. For instance, an agent might text, “What’s the pet policy for ‘X’ building? When was it built? Does it have rent control?” Mave retrieves and organizes relevant information in seconds, enabling agents to provide instant answers to clients—avoiding the dreaded “let me get back to you” response.

Supporting agents in two key roles

Zohar identifies two primary roles agents juggle: consultant and marketer. Mave is designed to support both areas.

When representing a buyer, agents must act as consultants to help solve their problems, while for sellers, he adds, it goes beyond winning the deal. “Clients want agents to sell their property as fast as possible for the most amount of money,” Zohar notes.

Tasks that traditionally take days—such as creating social media strategies, filming scripts and promotional campaigns—can now be completed in minutes. Agents can quickly produce polished, branded content for platforms like TikTok, Instagram and email, driving engagement and results with minimal effort.

Mave is set up to adhere to brand guidelines for compliance. This means if agents need to market a property with, say, a social media post, a feature sheet or other collateral, they can text their request, and in a few seconds they’ll have branded content ready to go.

How Mave was born

Zohar’s curiosity was born from his own experience in buying a home—he knew his Realtor was working hard behind the scenes, but admittedly, he didn’t know what they were doing. He saw an opportunity for innovation in an industry often criticized for being slow to adopt new technology. 

He began with a question: What do Realtors actually do during those 35 hours? To understand, he quit his job in tech to work as a real estate executive assistant, immersing himself in the processes behind winning listings, staging homes, arranging repairs and managing marketing.

“The only way was to become someone in the industry doing the dirty work that no one sees.,” he explains. This hands-on experience revealed inefficiencies, particularly for brokerages grappling with shrinking margins and limited resources to hire full-scale marketing teams.

Agents often relied on outdated processes or had to wait days for in-house teams to deliver materials. With Mave, Zohar says those delays are eliminated, allowing agents to act quickly and decisively.

Adoption and growth

Mave started small but has rapidly scaled, onboarding nearly 6,000 agents across 90 brokerages in the Toronto area. Of the 1,000 beta users actively engaged, about 60 per cent use Mave daily, according to the company’s founder. 

Zohar emphasizes that trust is non-negotiable. “If an agent’s showing a home and Mave says it’s 10 bedrooms but it’s really one bedroom, you’re just not going to trust it,” he says. Mave’s engineers ensure data accuracy and train the AI to minimize errors.

Still, Zohar and his team see certain situations where AI needs to be fact-checked and reviewed “because it’s performing about 30 steps in one.” So, they advise users to thoroughly review any deeper analysis from Mave to be sure the results look right.

Collaboration with boards and data providers

The tool’s functionality hinges on partnerships with real estate boards and data providers. Zohar cites PropTx, a tech-focused initiative of the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB), as an example of industry interest in innovation.

While TRREB President Jennifer Pearce clarified that the board has no formal partnership with Mave, highlighting in a statement, “TRREB is a facilitator of technology for our members who are permitted to have individual contractual agreements with Virtual Office Website providers of their choosing.”

Mave takes data security seriously, adhering to strict protocols from real estate boards and brokerages. “Whenever we onboard a brokerage, we must go through a legal process we’ve guaranteed with the boards to sign off on the right to access data,” Zohar explains.

Human touch meets AI efficiency

Despite Mave’s capabilities, Zohar believes human interaction remains at the heart of real estate. “Psychologically, consumers are going through what’s usually the most meaningful purchase of their lives. They want support, a human touch and to feel that there’s a trusted companion by their side. This isn’t going to change because of AI,” he says.

Currently, Mave has onboarded one thousand users in Southern Ontario to its beta program with plans for expansion across North America. 

Zohar’s ultimate goal is to reduce administrative time by up to 90 per cent. For now, Mave continues to refine its features and onboard more users, aiming to revolutionize real estate by giving agents their time back.

For years, Ontario’s real estate boards were the gatekeepers. Need MLS access? You joined the local board—no questions, no choices. But that’s history. Today, with most Ontario boards subscribing to PropTx, MLS services are no longer region-locked. Instead, the majority of Ontario Realtors are or will be soon, operating on the same shared MLS platform. 

Shared MLS access redefines membership value

This shift fundamentally changes the equation: the core value every board used to offer—exclusive MLS access—is now a standard feature across (most of) the province. So the question becomes: what else do boards offer, and is it worth the price? If boards want to keep members, they’ll need to bring something new to the table. They have to compete.

This competition should mean better pricing, improved services and tangible value. And it’s not just Realtors who will benefit; brokerages can too. In a standardized MLS world, brokerages now have the option to choose boards that best match their cost and service priorities, creating material savings for their agents. This choice gives brokerages a new edge in recruitment, allowing them to align with boards that deliver the best return on dues. In a market as tight as Ontario’s, this competitive choice is a recruiting advantage that’s as valuable as it is overdue.

Power through choice

But competition also empowers individual members. Not happy with the direction of your board? Feeling like your concerns are ignored, or that your dues aren’t delivering value? You no longer need to wait for quorum or for your brokerage to make the call—you can vote with your feet. The ability to choose a board that better aligns with your priorities creates a new level of accountability and responsiveness that was unheard of under the old system.

At the same time, this level of choice exposes the weaknesses in the current multi-board structure. Despite the increased pressure to compete, many boards are doubling down on costly mergers and amalgamations that fail to deliver meaningful improvements in service or value. If the goal is to provide better options for members, shouldn’t these efforts focus on addressing redundancies and inefficiencies at their roots?

And here’s the issue: despite the shifting landscape, only one board in Ontario seems truly prepared to compete at scale—TRREB. That is to say that there is likely not a board in Ontario that can offer competitive pricing even if all that is offered is the most basic of services. If most boards aren’t in the game to win, why are they spending valuable resources on mergers and amalgamations that won’t increase their competitiveness? At what point do realtors have the right to ask: where’s my money going, and why isn’t my board focused on delivering more value? 

Mergers without meaningful results

When I have this discussion with clients—whether broker/owners or franchise corporate offices—I’m often met with concerns that autonomy or culture is at stake, that a merger risks “losing the board’s unique character.” But let’s be clear: mergers and acquisitions are meant to add value, not size. If you’re a member of OnePoint, Central Lakes or any of the Eastern Ontario Boards, it’s fair to ask—what value is being added by these changes? Are these amalgamations truly making boards more competitive, is your dollar stretching any further when it comes to providing you value in your real estate business or are they just merging to delay the inevitable? Without measurable improvements, these mergers are little more than costly reorganizations, creating larger, equally uncompetitive boards that fail to meet members’ evolving needs. 

The concerns around autonomy and culture aren’t unique to large mergers; these challenges arise in smaller amalgamations, too. Boards are pouring resources into combining forces without a meaningful plan to compete on a broader scale, leading to expensive exercises that result in larger, but still uncompetitive, boards. If these mergers aren’t driving efficiencies, improving services or creating real value, they’re ultimately a waste of members’ dues.

The case for a single-board model

In the for-profit world, mergers are strategic, and designed to increase efficiency, expand market reach, or add unique capabilities. Successful acquisitions often preserve the best parts of a company’s culture and structure—consider Berkshire Hathaway, which buys companies but allows them to retain significant independence, or Disney’s acquisition of Pixar, where cultural preservation was a priority. These models thrive because they combine strengths without losing what made each company valuable in the first place. Ontario’s boards could—and should—take a page from these playbooks, focusing on creating competitive value and preserving unique benefits instead of just merging for the sake of consolidation.

If mergers aren’t solving the core issues—redundancy, inefficiency, and lack of value for members—it’s worth asking if there’s a better way forward. Rather than continuing to consolidate small, struggling boards into larger but still inefficient entities, consider a fundamentally different approach: moving toward a single-board model.

Provinces like Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Newfoundland and PEI have demonstrated the benefits of unified governance. A single, consolidated board eliminates duplicative costs and invests resources directly into what matters most for members—training, advocacy, and technology. This structure creates a streamlined system that serves the entire province’s interests while maintaining local insights and autonomy where it counts.

The business of boards and a call for accountability 

With one board, Ontario realtors could also overcome challenges tied to vote distribution and representation. Consider last year’s ORWP vote through OREA—a win that left many members questioning how the outcome was reached. A system incorporating referendum tools could have provided a broader and more equitable resolution. Unified governance simplifies decision-making, ensuring every member has a clear and equal voice in shaping the industry’s future.

The shift toward competition places a new and necessary responsibility on associations: they must operate efficiently. Just as businesses must streamline operations to stay competitive, boards must be prepared to deliver greater value and service—faster, smarter, and with a focus on real results. The boards that can’t meet this standard will inevitably be left behind, while those that embrace this challenge set a new bar for value and relevance in the industry.

Ultimately, organized real estate is a business. Realtors owe a fiduciary duty to clients, and our boards should behave no differently. Why should realtors accept less from their boards than they give to their clients? Realtors deserve boards that focus on tangible value, evolving to meet real needs rather than clinging to outdated structures or protecting internal interests.

Ontario’s real estate boards are at a crossroads. Realtors and brokerages deserve value, transparency, and innovation—not outdated systems. It’s time for boards to compete, consolidate or step aside for a streamlined provincial model that better serves its members.

Artificial intelligence is reshaping industries worldwide, and real estate is no exception. From streamlining property searches to automating listings, AI-powered tools are rapidly becoming integral to how homes are bought and sold. 

Toronto-based real estate platform Wahi has launched Canada’s first consumer-facing AI image search tool. This feature allows homebuyers to filter property photos for specific features like “renovated kitchens” or “finished basements,” promising a faster, more tailored search experience.

A game-changer for consumers?

Wahi’s new feature, developed with Western University researchers, uses generative AI to analyze property photos and prioritize listings that match specific buyer preferences. Instead of scrolling through listings, buyers can search by visual attributes, making it easier to find homes that align with their needs and wants. 

Eman Nejad, Wahi’s head of data science, highlights the potential of this technology, noting that it “adds a new dimension to the real estate industry.”

AI tools Realtors are almost using

Realtors may find Wahi’s news familiar. In 2022, the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board (TRREB) announced a partnership with Barcelona-based Restb.ai to integrate AI into its MLS system. The technology promised to analyze listing photos, tag features like architectural styles or interior finishes, and even detect property conditions, all while speeding up the listing process.

At the time, TRREB described the technology as a “Pinterest-type experience,” with CEO John DiMichele touting its potential to revolutionize how agents work and match buyers with homes. Realtors anticipated faster workflows, greater listing accuracy, and a new level of search sophistication.

However, despite claims that the Restb.ai integration would be complete by early 2023, PropTx, TRREB’s for-profit subsidiary, lists the feature as “coming soon” on its website. It remains unclear when the promised technology will become available to its members. TRREB did not respond to REM’s requests for comment.

The Saskatchewan Realtors Association announced it integrated the technology into its MLS in November 2023.

The Ottawa Real Estate Board (OREB), with the Renfrew County Real Estate Board, Rideau-St. Lawrence Real Estate Board and Cornwall and District Real Estate Board, recently announced their adoption of PropTx, a technology platform with tools, insights and applications that provide a secure real estate transaction process.

The Kingston and Area Real Estate Association says it too will adopt PropTx. Several other Ontario real estate boards and associations are currently using the platform.

The move will help OREB in its mission to provide its 4,000 members with “leading-edge resources to achieve success in our community’s real estate market.”

OREB President Curtis Fillier explains: “The progression to using PropTx is about harnessing shared data and combined buying power to provide a comprehensive suite of tools that will empower realtors and their clients to make informed strategic real estate choices in a rapidly moving industry.”

PropTx’s suite of tools includes:

• Realm, a mobile-first platform that merges land registry and MLS data
• CoreLogic, a platform that realtors currently use
• SkySlope Forms and SkySlope Offers, for the offer experience
• HoodQ, which offers hyper-local data and more
• Fintracker, an identification and verification tool compliant with Canada’s financial intelligence, anti-money laundering and anti-terrorist financing initiatives

“Buying and selling property are among the most important transactions in a person’s life. With PropTx, OREB is building more capacity to help members provide unparalleled service with confidence,” Fillier says.

Information Technology Systems Ontario (ITSO) held its second province-wide meeting on November 26 to discuss a few options for increasing access to MLS data. The organization warns that a data divide is hurting Ontario realtors.

ITSO, a not-for-profit corporation, was established in 2020 to provide Ontario realtors with seamless access to complete and accurate MLS listing data and technology. 

Allison McLure, executive director of ITSO, says it was a really great meeting. Co-facilitated by Trevor Koot, CEO of the British Columbia Real Estate Associate and Alan Tennant, CEO of the Calgary Real Estate Board, the meeting began with brokers beginning the session by explaining the problem.

The data issue

“The reason we were there is because they’ve been really frustrated having to manage multiple sets of MLS rules and data input forms and different professional standards processes. Also, they don’t have the data they need all in one system,” she mentions. “And it’s hurting them.”

McLure indicated there was concern expressed about it also affecting the reputation of realtors. “Consumers see all information on realtor.ca and VOWs and they can’t understand why realtors don’t have the data they need. That was the problem. And that’s what we’re trying to solve.”

Proposed solutions

Proposed solutions were made through presentations by Corelogic and PropTx. The meeting was held in Toronto with 23 boards from the province represented.

ITSO operates a regional MLS system for 15 of its member real estate associations in the province. McLure says its members have wanted ITSO and the Toronto Regional Real Estate Board to share data for years now. 

“We have had task forces in the past that negotiated with TRREB but those resulted in concerns about a lack of transparency. ITSO hosted the meeting (on Sunday) so that the conversations had by the leaders of the associations would be out in the open and heard by everyone in attendance.”

She says the Corelogic solution would be to make a shared pool of data and centralized database, and then push all that data back into the various MLS systems. So, no one would have to change MLS systems — they would just have all the data in their native system.

McLure added that the PropTx option was for all the boards in the province to start using its blockchain-enabled MLS platform and adopt its rules.

A divide across boards

“Those are the two solutions on the table. We went around the room and had some very honest and open conversations. TRREB made it very clear that they will not share their MLS data with any of the other boards in the province, as they feel that puts their data at risk,” she explains.

“We didn’t necessarily all agree because we feel our MLS systems have protection as well, but we at least now know TRREB’s stance. I don’t think they’ve ever clearly said that before. So, with the Corelogic solution off the table for TRREB that only leaves one viable option if we really want to solve this problem … and that’s everyone switching to PropTx.”

McLure said some of the boards expressed interest in learning more about PropTx while others raised concerns about the platform’s governance. 

“So, I think there was clearly a divide in the room … Each of those boards now has to go back to their board table and have this discussion and see if they want to move to PropTx or if they want to continue kind of status quo and focus on other problems,” she says.

“I think definitely there will be some more people that will move to PropTx if they feel that’s the way the future is going, and I think there’s going to be others that won’t.”

Impact on consumers

For consumers, McLure indicates the current situation is inefficient as it’s forcing some realtors to put listings in three different systems. This ends up costing the real estate industry time and money, which is passed on to consumers.

“There’s also a sense of people wanting to get past the politics that exist and to solve the problem,” she adds.

There are seven MLS systems in Ontario and different data in all of these systems. McLure says realtors need access to all of this MLS data to fulfill their fiduciary duties to their clients, to do their jobs and to appear professional in the eyes of consumers.