I had the great privilege of interviewing my very good friend Kelley Skar this week about some pretty big changes in his career. Bottom line…. he’s announcing his achievement of being Canada’s VERY FIRST Verified Agent.
What the heck does that mean? WELL….it actually means a lot! VerifiedAgent.com is in the business of actually Raising The Bar by verifying agents based on third party investigation of your last deals, your last clients, and your peer agents who have negotiated with you as well as your local associations to make sure your license is in good standing! We believe that being a professional is more than just a flashy website or a declaration of “I’m number 1!” and the consumer should be respected and enabled to identify who will best represent their needs. Hear what Kelley has to say about the verification process!
Congratulations Kelley!
About Teri Conrad
Hey Teri,
Thank you very much for your kind words, this post and the interview, I always enjoy speaking with you because we both have the same passion for our industry.
One thing I would like to mention in terms of RTB that we didn’t touch on, is the responsibility our national association needs to be playing in this discussion. I saw something disturbing on a message board below an article that was written in the Regina Leader Post. I am going to paraphrase as most of what this person said was crap…”They(REALTORS, CREA) keep trying to scare people into using a REALTOR with the advertisements on TV to make people afraid they will get sued.” This is in referrence to CREAs ad campaign trying to show the ‘value’ of a REALTOR. I honestly must agree with this statement, this is something I have been saying for the past 5 years, that CREA has done a horrible job in Raising the Bar and showing the value of an Agent.
It is time for our National association to take a leadership role and start to show the general buying and selling public what our true value really is. This is partly why I am so in love with VPA, as it is a strong value proposition on my professionalism as a Full Time Real Estate Agent.
Hey Kelley ~
I could not agree more. The current ad campaign is an embarrassment and instead of increasing the value of a REALTOR® I believe it actually does the opposite. An Agent is not responsible for picking your neighbours! Good grief!
As you said I am very passionate about Raising the Bar and Organized Real Estate and will continue to happily highlight great stories like yours that illustrate what it actually means to be a professional!
Congratulations again!