A non-profit organization formed to serve the more than five thousand real estate professions in Canada is the Calgary Real Estate Board. The Calgary Real Estate Board is a voluntary membership-fee based organization. The goal of the Board is to provide assistance, including the MLS (Multi-List Service) to their members and clients. The MLS is an important tool used in the buying and selling of real estate.

The Calgary Real Estate Board was originally conceived in the 1920s, and registered under the Statutes of Alberta on March 20, 1929. The organization was relatively inactive until 1943, when Mr. Kennett Lyle a real estate professional took an interest in revitalizing the board to help serve the needs of the real estate professionals. At the time there was no other professional organization representing the needs of realtors in the Calgary area. One of the earlier Presidents, Mr. Clair J. Cote, Sr. was elected as chairman and Lyle as secretary. The board also put together 5 committee members to rewrite the organization’s constitution. The Board at that time charged a fee of $5 to active members and $2 to associates.

Although the MLS is their primary mission, the Calgary Real Estate Board also serves to provide the public and agents with up to date info on buying and selling real estate. One venue they use is their weekly publication, Real Estate News. This magazine combined with their monthly ‘Home to Home’ publication provides the general public with an extensive overview of the real estate market along with many in-depth and educational articles.

The Calgary Real Estate Board lists on their MLS more than 90% of the properties available in the Calgary and surrounding areas. The nature of this advanced technology gives the sellers more potential buyers and the buyers more options in property selection and price. Because they represent over 260 member offices, The Calgary Real Estate Board can quickly pair up buyers and sellers.

The Calgary Real Estate Board also keeps an eye on trends and related economic concerns for its members. One of these recent trends, as mentioned by The Calgary Real Estate Board, is the potential drop in selling prices for the upcoming year. The board has indicated that this recent trend will cause a drop of as much as $10,000 on an average selling price. This drop could be an economic boost for the sagging real estate market, as buyers will realize discounts. However, the Calgary Real Estate Board does not expect this drop to last too long. Their predictions for a 10% increase in home prices are expected to occur in early 2010.