Print Versus Online Advertising

  As a consumer, you are no doubt like me in that most of us turn to the Internet to obtain information about products or services we are looking to purchase. In addition to just acquiring information about my buying decisions, I have found my last to vehicles via an Internet search and have made numerous online purchases from eBay and Amazon including books, boat parts, computer accessories and more.

  As a long term car buff I can remember the days when the Toronto Star classifieds had column after column of cars listed for sale.  Those ads were later displaced by Auto Trader magazine followed by www.autotrader.ca In real estate, the Internet has become the tool of choice when consumers are hunting for properties and REALTORS®.  With the growing magnitude of “online” based consumer purchasing activity it begs the question, what’s happened to the print advertising market.
  The attached graph was prepared by a Wall Street Analyst that follows the U.S. newspaper print advertising market.  This graph illustrates print versus online advertising trends in the U.S. from 1995 through 2010.  From 2005 on, money spent on print advertising has sharply declined whereas online ad spending has ramped up to the point where in 2010, online ad spending exceeded print.  While these numbers are reflective of the U.S. market, Canada has always been one of the leading countries re: Internet adoption/usage, so there is no reason to doubt that we are any different.
  We as REALTORS® continue to spend large amounts of money on print ads with little or no results for our seller clients.  Sure, it helps us to “brand” ourselves and often gains us more listings but it has been years since I sold a property based on a print ad no matter where it was placed.  Increasingly, I am, finding that potential seller clients are asking “which websites will you list my property on?” When you interview a REALTOR® to potentially list your property, this is the very question you should ask as well.  With so many of the potential buyers for properties in the Georgian Triangle living outside our region in the GTA and elsewhere, a strong online presence is essential in getting you property in front of the buying public.

For Sale By Owner Listings & MLS®

  On numerous occasions I get asked by consumers about the "changes" they have vaguely heard or read about over the past couple of years pertaining to allegations from the Federal Competition Bureau that the Multiple Listing Service (MLS®) is anti-competitive.

  First, these allegations were never proven.  However in response, the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA) which owns and maintains the consumer website www.REALTOR.ca and owns the MLS® and REALTOR® trademarks adopted some changes whereby consumers wishing to have nothing more than their property listed on MLS® could do so. 

  This change gave rise to various companies and or allowed indivdual REALTORS® should they choose, the opportunity to place a seller's property on their local MLS®  system for a fee.  These listings are techincally referred to a "mere postings" wherein the seller handles most or all of the selling activities on their own such as advertising, conducting open houses, negotiating any offers they receive etc. 

  Licensed REALTORS® are responsible for the integrity of everything we do which is why we are required by law to carry errors and omissions insurance.  This includes the accuracy of the information we provide with respect to a listed property.  Taxes, room sizes, zoning, available services and other pertinent information must be accurately determined and fully disclosed regarding a listed property including "mere postings."  This is done to ensure that information going out to consumers is accurate and any pertinent facts are fully disclosed.

  CREA has gone one step further and investigated the potential of allowing "For Sale by Owner" properties known as FSBO's and non-MLS® listed properties to be included on www.REALTOR.ca  After careful consideration and upon obtaining qualified legal opinion, the decision has been made to not allow this. 

  First, in allowing FSBO's and non-MLS® listed properties on www.REALTOR.ca it would jeopardize the MLS® and REALTOR® trademarks.  Secondly, the integrity of property information available to consumers on the CREA owned consumer real estate website www.REALTOR.ca would be compromised.
  In summary, consumers now have more choices in how they choose to market their properties.  A traditional full service MLS® listing has the REALTOR® doing all the work.  A mere posting allows a REALTOR® to place the seller's property on their respective MLS® system which feature the property on www.REALTOR.ca and thje seller handles the remaining aspects of the sale process.  Finally, the seller can go the "For Sale By Owner" route handling the entire process on their own with no MLS® presence.

Where Did All The Water Go?

  Although I do not own waterfront property in the Collingwood area I do have a cottage on Manitoulin Island just off Lake Huron which is one-in-the-same body of water. In the late 1980's the water level was such that is was up into the trees in the accompanying photo.  Since then it has done nothing but recede. Admittedly is was even lower in the mid 1960's.
  As a waterfront property owner and REALTOR® engaged in selling waterfront properties, I am keenly interested and have closely followed the steadily declining water levels in Georgian Bay and Lake Huron over the past several years. Further, I have attended many of the meetings held by the International Joint Commission (IJC) pertaining to their study of water levels in the Upper Great Lakes including the most recent one in Collingwood on July 17th. Their latest study focused primarily on the regulation of water flow from Lake Superior into Lakes Michigan, Huron and of course Georgian Bay. The initial regulation plan governing the outflow of water from Lake Superior was first established in 1921 and the most recent study was to ascertain what changes might be implemented to this regulation that would boost water levels in the aforementioned downstream lakes.
  Lakes Michigan and Huron are the only two of the five Great Lakes where there is no control of the outflow of water downstream into Lakes Erie and Ontario. Water from these two Upper Great Lakes runs unabated down the St. Clair River. Following dredging that was done in the 1960’s as part of the St. Lawrence Seaway project and further erosion of the river bed since then, studies have indicated that the volume of water flowing out of Lake Huron and Michigan is much greater than prior to the dredging or as earlier calculated by engineers involved with the project.
  I am no expert but common sense would suggest to me that revising the regulation plan to potentially allow more water to exit Lake Superior will have little impact on water levels in Lakes Michigan and Huron given there is no control of water exiting these two lakes at the other end. To me it’s like pouring more water into a pail that has a whole in the bottom. I am sure that anyone concerned with the declining water levels in the Upper Great Lakes acknowledges that recent mild winters, hot dry summers such as the one we are having and climate change in general are playing some role in the diminished water levels. That perhaps would suggest there is all the more reason why a control mechanism must be installed on the St. Clair River to permit the regulation of water flowing out as well as in. If it was important to have a regulation plan in place back in 1921 governing the flow of water coming in from Lake Superior then I would suggest we are 91 years behind in implementing the same type of control plan at the other end.
  The recent meetings both here in Collingwood and at Little Current on Manitoulin Island in mid-July were politely vociferous affairs. Those in attendance were insistent that the IJC must make a recommendation(s) to the various levels of governments to implement corrective action(s) whatever they may be, to increase the water levels in Lakes Michigan and Huron. While I am in favour of both Canada and the U.S. in being good global citizens with respect to assisting less fortunate nations, charity as they say begins at home. Let’s take some of the millions of dollars earmarked to be spent elsewhere and invest it in maintaining what is undoubtedly one of our most important natural assets, the fresh water found in our “Great” Lakes.