Attendees should expect a congenial atmosphere and lots of networking at today’s Mississauga Real Estate Board’s annual general meeting, if previous meetings are any indication.
Current MREB president Jerry England has attended the annual meetings for the last eight years and said he is looking forward to this year’s event.
“Everyone’s a happy camper,” he told YourMississaugaBiz.com. “There are no issues at all. It’s almost a social event – there’s nothing untoward ever discussed at these meetings. It’s a tight ship and there’s never anything contentious.”
Like other parts of the GTA, house sales in Mississauga have dropped – 15 per cent year over year though prices are up slightly – and there’s sluggishness in the condo market. But local realtors have generally been optimistic better times will return.
However, MREB does not run their own MLS system, which in the past has caused some issues, according to England. “In the early days all sorts of questions arose about dissatisfaction over service,” he said.
The main source for real estate activity for local realtors is still the Toronto Real Estate Board, which England said affects the way the organization markets itself. “We’re really an association that involves community activities and things like that so nothing controversial arises,” he said.
By comparison, Toronto mayor Rob Ford is scheduled to speak at the TREB’s AGM later in the week. “We’re a great supporter of him in,” England said, “as he has promised to remove the land-transfer tax eventually.”
Ward 5 councillor Bonnie Crombie, a former Mississaugs-Streetsville federal Liberal MP in Ottawa, is the meeting’s keynote speaker. The marketing and sales expert was elected in 2008 but defeated in the 2011 election and will speak about the differences between the Ottawa and Mississauga real estate markets.
Crombie won a 2011 local by-election and has long been rumoured as a possible successor to Mississauga Mayor Hazel McCallion when she retires before the 2014 local elections.
The AGM will report the organization’s finances for the previous year and will take place at the city’s Grand Banquet and Convention Centre on Brunel Road starting at 8:00 a.m.
With files from Jon Cook
Karen K. Ho 