OPINION: The problem with ‘sales reps’

The views expressed in this column are solely those of the author.

There’s a word nobody in real estate wants to say out loud.

Sales.

It follows us around like a bad reputation — and for a lot of people in this industry, it fits. But for a lot of others, it doesn’t. Not even close.

I came from advertising sales. Started young, learned fast, and had the honour of working alongside some of the best businesspeople, negotiators, trend-setters and community builders who ever slung a briefcase, knocked on a door, pulled a relationship out of an argument, raised a fund or composed a magical deal.

So when I ended up in real estate — an industry that too often takes itself way too lightly — I noticed something that bothered me right away.

The title doesn’t fit the job

Realtors are often seen less as trusted advisors responsible for three-quarters of a million dollars and more as the person in the shiny suit who would sell their grandmother a timeshare.

I’m not ashamed of real estate. I think it’s one of the most important industries in this country. I just think “sales rep” is a wildly small name for the size of the responsibility.

A Realtor is not selling shoes or a cell phone.

A Realtor is often standing beside someone while they make the largest financial decision of their lifetime. Their home is their dream and their retirement plan. It can be an emergency fund or an inheritance. Sometimes it vanishes in a divorce settlement, and sometimes it’s a fresh start. It can be a safety net, or the one thing keeping a family financially upright.

What’s more, one bad transaction can ruin a neighbourhood. The community counts, too.

That’s not sales.

It’s stewardship.

In Canada, residential real estate represents one of the largest components of household wealth. Statistics Canada reported the value of household residential real estate at approximately $8.47 trillion in the first quarter of 2026.

So when Realtors act like door-openers in a Banana Republic suit, I understand why the public gets a bit cynical. But I also know the right Realtor is no less important than a lawyer, a banker, or even a doctor in certain moments. It’s a different job, obviously. But the decisions can still change someone’s life.

A bad diagnosis can kill you.

A bad mortgage can trap you.

A bad real estate decision can follow you for life.

What the job actually looks like

I don’t see myself as someone who “sells” houses. I try to advise people around risk, timing and value. I try to negotiate well, prepare properly and deal with emotion on the fly. I try to understand individual debt, resale value, neighbourhoods, repair costs, fear, greed — and sometimes people’s own worst instincts, let alone those of their neighbour’s niece who just got registered.

Here’s the thing: some sellers renovate to add value. Others renovate to bury evidence.

My job is knowing which is which.

The only real “sale” a Realtor makes is usually across the table from another Realtor who desperately needs their first commission of the year. That’s where the poker starts — not with the client.

The client deserves clarity, honesty and someone who can say, “No, don’t buy that,” even when saying yes would pay them faster. Or even, “How do you expect me to do that?” when a seller thinks Playboy Mansion money is a reasonable ask for a 750-square-foot, wood-panelled bungalow.

There are far too many people registered to sell real estate and far too few Realtors.

The respect problem

Our industry’s future is wasted spending its present trying to repair its past.

We spend too much time apologizing and making excuses. That’s why the industry has a respect problem.

Without doubt, part of it is unfair. People see a large commission but not the liability, the failed deals, the unpaid hours, the advertising costs, the staging and photos, the market knowledge, the Zoom meetings and paperwork. They don’t see the showings people don’t show up to, the agents who don’t know how to open a lockbox, the negotiation (with everyone, including the second ex-stepfather), the hand-holding, the crying — so, so much crying — the risk management and the 11:38 p.m. phone calls. Let’s not forget the association fees and registration renewals. 

But part of it is earned, too.

Too many people in this business act like getting registered is the achievement.

It is not.

That’s the permission slip. The work starts after that.

Armies of the underprepared

We are an industry that pays for its job. One might think that would make everyone more motivated to be great. It tends to work the other way. After getting “in” — after the Humber degree, selling an aunt’s house (who is still furious) and paying thousands just to stay registered — desperation starts sounding a lot like a business model.

And so we get armies of underprepared, misdirected registrants walking the streets, scrambling for any transaction they can find.

When that happens, guess what suffers first?

Commission. Our own pay.

The whole thing flips from quality to price.

Discount models and flat-fee brokerages are not automatically the enemy. Consumers deserve choice. Competition matters. The Competition Bureau has been examining how real estate rules affect competition in Canada.

But when the entire conversation becomes “how cheap can I get this done?” instead of “who is protecting the largest asset I may ever own?” — everyone loses. The public starts believing Realtors are interchangeable. Some registrants start behaving like they actually are. And the good ones spend half their careers proving they’re not part of the circus.

Real estate built this country

Real estate helped build Canada. Land, housing, labour, banking, construction, immigration, local business and family wealth are all tied together. CREA’s 2025 economic impact report found that between 2020 and 2022, MLS home sales generated billions in spin-off economic activity and supported more than 233,000 jobs annually across finance, insurance, real estate, construction and professional services. The Niagara Region alone is planning for major growth: 694,000 people and 272,000 jobs by 2051.

Housing is not a side issue. It’s the infrastructure for human life.

So no, I am not a sales rep.

If our industry wants more respect, we need to earn it the hard way — registrant by registrant. Better educated, more honest, more prepared, more accountable and less obsessed with golf, purses and hollow AI content.

Brokerages should take note. No major industry earns respect through the “throw enough at the wall” methodology.

Let’s be a little better.

And maybe — just maybe — some of us can stop calling every listing “stunning” when it’s actually a Pall Mall beige living room, two windowless bedrooms and just enough space and optimism for a two-four of OV and a $7,000 commission.

The public does not need more sales reps.

They need professional advisors. Maybe even an anthropologist.

Nothing less.

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