Letters to the Editor

I thought I’d take this opportunity to state my grievances about our current real estate industry. I’ve read some of the REM articles and felt compelled to send this to you.

In this age of super-fast technology and the gadgets that make our real estate transactions work, I’m suggesting that we not totally lose sight of “old school” approaches every now and then.

I hadn’t really understood the role of industry associations like AREA. However, when my charter rights were threatened by RECA, I found that AREA was there to defend me by providing moral support and legal advice.

The new law passed by Doug Ford stating that landlords cannot evict tenants who don’t pay rent and/or who cause damage to the landlord’s investment is a grossly unjust, unprecedented and highly prejudicial law.

I have previously spoken to the paradox that interest rate cuts, made in response to economic weakness, can bolster housing markets. Many of our major cities are enduring structurally persistent housing shortages.

In the September issue of REM, Bill Johnston wrote that until April 1974, Ontario didn’t have a land transfer tax. The fact is that Ontario’s first Land Transfer Tax was introduced in 1921.

iPro did not purchase Kingsway Real Estate Brokerage at all. Not even one share of the corporation. Kingsway brokerage is fully operating.

The myths presented in the letter are erroneous. We don’t host cocktail parties. We have made over a dozen submissions on FINTRAC. We advocate regularly on the stress test.

Realtors live in a results-oriented environment every day of their careers: if we don’t get results, we don’t get paid, it’s that simple.

If this country would start a universal basic income there wouldn’t be the need for everyone to crowd into our two or three high-priced cities where all the jobs are and be enabled to move to lower cost rural areas as well.