The new association brings together nearly 9,000 realtors. Photo Credit: Depositphotos.
The Realtors Association of Hamilton-Burlington (RAHB) recently amalgamated with three other real estate boards to form the Cornerstone Association of Realtors (Cornerstone).
In addition to RAHB, the new association is composed of the Mississauga Real Estate Board (MREB), Simcoe and District Real Estate Board (SDREB), and the Waterloo Region Association of Realtors (WRAR).
As such, the new association brings together nearly 9,000 realtors serving the markets of Hamilton-Burlington, Mississauga, Niagara North, Haldimand County, Norfolk County, and Waterloo Region.
The move also makes the association Ontario’s second-largest real estate board behind the Toronto Region Real Estate Board (TRREB) which has almost 70,000 realtors.
Cornerstone says that the road to amalgamation began in the fall of 2023 when RAHB and WRAR announced their intent to pursue a merge, with SDREB and MREB then joining the initiative,
The memberships of RAHB, SDREB, and WRAR voted to approve the amalgamation at separate meetings on November 23, 2023 with MREB joining with a unanimous vote on January 31, 2024.
Julie Sergi, a member of RAHB for 19 years, was elected as Chair for Cornerstone’s 2024/2025 Board of Directors.
Sergi is a Broker with Royal LePage Burloak Real Estate Services.
Drew Hemsley, who served as the president of SDREB, was elected as Chair-Elect to serve alongside Sergi.
Hemsley is a sales representative with Royal LePage Trius Realty in Port Dover.
Finally, Bill Duce, the previous Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of WRAR, was selected to serve as CEO of Cornerstone.
Sergi says that the amalgamation of the four boards represents “a pivotal moment in real estate.”
“Members will benefit from enhanced professional development opportunities, the best possible tools and services, and a unified voice advocating for the interests of realtors and homeowners alike,” she continued.
Likewise, Cornerstone’s website says that they were “established to better serve and represent realtors” and that their vision “is to establish a new, more influential, capable, and member-centric organization designed to meet the evolving needs of realtors and help them thrive in the marketplace.”
Cornerstone says that realtors have shared that their number one concern is data gaps on the multiple listing service (MLS) properties database.
As such, Cornerstone has also announced that they are accepting interboard listings within their market areas at no charge.
They also state that they “strongly believe that all Ontario realtors should have access to all Ontario MLS information.”
Despite the amalgamation, Cornerstone also assures realtors that they will be maintaining offices in Mississauga, Hamilton, Waterloo, and Simcoe.
Based in Hamilton, he reaches hundreds of thousands of people monthly on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter. He has been published in The Hamilton Spectator, Stoney Creek News, and Bay Observer. He has also been a segment host with Cable 14 Hamilton. In 2017, he received the Chancellor Full Tuition Scholarship from the University of Ottawa (BA, 2022). He has also received the Governor General’s Academic Medal. He formerly worked in a non-partisan role on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.
