Up for the challenge

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This article was published 07/03/2022 (1061 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Akash Bedi was given an interesting start date for his term as president of the Winnipeg Regional Real Estate Board: Jan. 1, 2022.

Yes, it was a chance to begin the new year in an exciting fashion, by beginning to lead the 11-person board of directors and represent the organization’s 2,200 members right as the new calendar was flipped open.

But the first day of the year also coincided with a major shift for local realtors, aside from a new president taking charge: the implementation of the Real Estate Services Act, a long-planned update to the decades-old Real Estate Brokers Act, representing several key changes to how realtors in the province do business.

Though the change had been advertised in 2021, and training to help brokers address the changes had already been underway, there was still some confusion from industry pros, who quickly gave the new president a jingle.

“I started Jan. 1, and by Jan. 2, the phone calls had started,” said Bedi, who credits the board’s CEO Marina James, the rest of the board of directors, and all other industry pros for helping to smoothen out the transition to the new regulations. “I knew what I was going to be facing. All through November and December, I took time preparing for the changes.” As a head broker, he had to understand them, too.

The experience gave Bedi some quick confirmation that the role of president would take lots of work. “Will it be an easy year? Absolutely not,” he said of his added duties. “Am I up for the challenge? Absolutely.”

After all, Bedi, 44, has been a realtor since birth.

Well, not officially speaking. But his father, Baldev, has been a realtor in Winnipeg for all of Bedi’s life, and the younger Bedi has been his right-hand man since he was in elementary school. “My dad has a photo of me when I was six years old going to an open house with him,” said Bedi. “From a very early age, I’ve had a passion for real estate.”

That started by stuffing calendars into envelopes for his dad, who until 1996 worked out of an independent office — first in the basement and then at the dining room table. “He was a one-man show,” Bedi says. The son became Ed McMahon to the father’s Johnny Carson. “I remember seeing him and asking if I could help in any way,” Bedi said. That meant learning to interpret and manage the perforated cards for the MLS system, which was still in the form of a catalogue.

Bedi was impressed by not just his father’s business acumen, but by his and his colleague’s enthusiasm for what they were doing. “They had fun,” he said. “You could tell they enjoyed the work.”

But however impressed Bedi was by the profession, when it came time to attend university, the young man studied biochemistry and sociology. After graduating, though, he followed in his dad’s footsteps. “I made up my mind to be a realtor,” he said.

In 2003, he got his accreditation and went to work for his father, and true to what was to come on his first day as president nearly 20 years later, Bedi had an eventful first day: he was determined to make his first sale, and set out to do it as soon as he could.

The day his licence was approved, Bedi called an acquaintance from university he knew was interested in purchasing a condo, and quickly set up three or four viewings. One unit on Plaza Drive, selling for $50,000, stood out, and she wanted to put in an offer. So Bedi went to a nearby Robin’s Donuts to write up the offer; it took him about three hours, and he remembers sweating.

When the offer got accepted, he was ecstatic.

Things have changed: back then, everything was done by hand. “Now it can be done from your phone,” he said. Indeed, electronic signatures and file storage are now standard and accepted procedures, according to the new services act.

The thrill of the experience gave Bedi confidence he’d chosen the right career, and he’s continued to work with his father and licensed assistant Paul Storozuk. Bedi also obtained his broker’s licence in 2015, and is the owner of two Re/Max franchises.

When he became a broker-owner, mentors in his field advised him to get involved with the real estate board, and Bedi took their advice, serving at various times as director, treasurer and vice-president before beginning as president this January.

He said one reason he wanted to take on the role was to create strong ties between different brokers and realtors from different companies. “A big part of my focus and vision is building, maintaining and nurturing relationships, both between members, between realtors and the board, and between our board and the general public,” he said.

A key priority is also to align the board’s activities with its strategic and operating plans, along with encouraging integrity, professionalism and adherence to the ethical code of realtors; each of those elements is fostered through professional development and communication, he said.

Beyond the initial challenge related to updated regulations, Bedi is aware he’s stepping into the role of president at a time when the industry is experiencing a bit of a strange predicament: despite there being tremendous demand for residential properties, there is significantly lower supply than this time last year, meaning somewhat counterintuitively that sales are lower as well.

As of the end of February, there were approximately 1,800 listings available in the city, Bedi said, which is about 28 per cent lower than the same time last year. Year-to-date, sales are also down about 24 per cent as compared to the end of February 2021.

“Demand is high for properties of all types,” Bedi said. “It’s still a heated seller’s marker,” he added, with inventory, not just of detached properties, but of available lots, lagging behind the intense demand. That is an issue which will hopefully move back toward an equilibrium point, but for now continues to be a point of concern for consumers and industry pros alike.

So Bedi, who still of course has his own business to manage, has his work cut out for him until his term expires in March 2023. He chairs monthly meetings for the board of directors, attends monthly meetings for the Manitoba Real Estate Association, and sits on three committees, while also serving as a point person for the board.

Thankfully, he said, he has many mentors and colleagues who have helped him make the transition, but balancing workloads and managing his time has understandably gotten tougher.

Maybe more help is on the way: Bedi’s children, age 10 and 14, are “well-versed and immersed” in real estate. “They loved giving people the feature sheets at open houses,” he said. “They see that I love what I do.”

ben.waldman@winnipegfreepress.com