What's in a Title? Simplified guide to what us real estate professionals call ourselves& wha

In Ontario you may have heard lots of different terms for real estate professionals. Signs with asterixes and small print titles.. and wondered what it means and who is best qualified to help with you with your real estate needs. Rest assured- here is a simplified version:

TL;DR all of us have the same basic education other than Brokers who have taken some extra courses mostly on management of a real estate office.

Salesperson:

Someone who has completed the mandatory initial training provided in Ontario and is registered/regulated to trade real estate in Ontario.

Note: During our first two years we are expected to take additional courses. Depending when we started training it could 1-3 additional courses during our first two years trading in real estate- the rest were taken before we could start. The end result is the same in all cases, to make it beyond year two we will need to have taken a total of 6 courses. Once all 6 are complete we get this incredibly distinguished certificate. Orange, red, blue, green and black.... a clip art diploma, more fonts than I can count. It's truly a graphic design nightmare but rest assured it does mean I completed all the fundamentals to serve your real estate needs!

Sales Representative:

Same as above- a variation one can use depending on their preference. I use this title!

Real Estate Agent: Common term, but not really accurate if describing a job title. The agent relationship is actually with the brokerage not the employee. So the real estate "agent" is the company that your Sales Representative/Salesperson/Broker works for. But like a nickname from childhood we can't seem to shake- we'll all answer to it... just don't expect to see us call ourselves this, it's not allowed.

REALTOR®

This is a registered term, if a real estate professional is registered with their Local Board (in my case LSTAR- London St Thomas Association of REALTOR®s) and CREA (The Canadian Real Estate Association) we get to use this fancy title, and we also get a stunning lapel pin.

Many of us continue to use the Sales Representative tile because then we don't have to hunt for the ® key every time and include a legal blurb when we use it. (See bottom of this post for those exciting details).

There is no additional education or experience required to become a REALTOR® vs a Sales Representative/Salesperson- it's just joining/paying dues to the aforementioned organizations.

There are some real estate professionals who opt not to become REALTOR®s, one example would be retired agents who simply want to keep their registration in good standing there are Brokerages that offer an option to "hang your license", some even allow those who join to trade in real estate without being a local board member, the biggest drawback to that arrangement is that if they were to list a property, they wouldn't have access to the MLS/Realtor.ca so it's not a practical option for the bulk of us who are making this a career.

Broker:

Once someone has been a Sales Representative/Salesperson for 2 years, they could become a broker by taking additional training. The training gives information on all aspects of real estate but particularly managing an office/brokerage as that is something one with this designation could opt to do. It's essentially one additional elective from the initial training, and then 60 hours classroom instruction on the finer points of real estate transactions, legalities and owning/running an office. I haven't taken the course (yet) so I can't answer many questions on the content.

Broker of Record:

The head cheese at any specific brokerage. Every brokerage has one. No additional training over becoming a broker- it just indicates that you are the one responsible for your brokerage (which may be owned by, or employ many other brokers/sales representatives).

The Broker of Record is the one who takes my calls and questions when I find myself in an unusual situation and coaches me to make sure I am handling everything ethically and in the best possible way. They would also handle any complaints, and ensuring that our office is in compliance with all legal and regulatory policies.

Well there it is, hope that helps to get a better understanding of what Real Estate professionals in London Ontario (and beyond) are calling themselves. And what I mean when I say I'm a Sales Representative (and a REALTOR®). Any questions or to point out anything I haven't explained correctly, don't hesitate to let me know!

The trademarks MLS®, Multiple Listing Service® and the associated logos are owned by The Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) and identify the quality of services provided by real estate professionals who are members of CREA. The trademarks REALTOR®, REALTORS® and the REALTOR® logo are controlled by CREA and identify real estate professionals who are members of CREA.