Sometimes an idea seems so simple, so obvious in hindsight, that the automatic response is: "Why didn't we do this sooner?" For the more than 23,000 members of the Toronto Real Estate Board (TREB), this question may become a common response to TREB's Buyer Registry Service.

TREB is banking on members across the Greater Toronto Area discovering that the new online Buyer Registry Service (BRS) is as useful and versatile as the Multiple Listing Service® (MLS) that its members now consider essential. TREB's Chief Information Officer John DiMichele is among those who feel members and their client buyers will expand the BRS in ways that may be difficult to foresee: "[The Buyer Registry Service] is new enough that, of course, there will be a [learning] curve, but I believe we are seeing people embrace the concept. The time has come and perhaps this is just the beginning of something."

With buyer broker and buyer agency on the rise, it's no surprise that at Canada's largest real estate board, the number of buyer agency agreements created each year keeps increasing. It is these contractual relationships that will be listed on the online BRS as "buyer listings" in the name of the real estate salesperson and brokerage -- the buyer's name is kept strictly confidential.

Canadian real estate has forged ahead on momentum built by the MLS and compounded by MLS.ca and other online variations on this information sharing system. Real estate brokers and brokerages enter into contractual agreements known as listings with property owners and sellers, and then post details of the sellers' offer to rent or sell their property on the local MLS. Through MLS services offered by their local real estate board, listing brokers spread the word about the new listing to the entire membership -- within days when paper was king and within minutes of posting in this electronic era. Instead of one brokerage listing a property and then spending its resources to search for a buyer, an MLS listing is simultaneously broadcast to all registered real estate professionals on the board. With professional real estate representation and MLS exposure, sellers are on the way to gaining the highest possible return on their real estate investments.

Now TREB has created a parallel, but completely independent, system based on the same philosophy of cooperation that is entrenched in MLS. Instead of one brokerage, through its salespersons, signing a buyer agency agreement to help a specific buyer locate a specific type of property, an anonymous buyer profile is posted on the BRS. Members with new property listings, or who are preparing to list a property, can search out likely qualified buyers who are actively in the market. DiMichele tells of situations where buyers have been located and shown properties within hours of listing.

Since the Buyer Registry Service, is not mandatory for TREB members, buyers may have to search out participating brokerages. Only buyers with signed agreements will be registered. TREB President John Meehan predicts that informed consumers will begin to demonstrate a preference for representatives who utilize the BRS.

TREB also expects the BRS to reduce the likelihood of duplicate buyer agreements, which in turn protects buyers from the liability of signing two overlapping contracts. Duplicate agreements usually arise out of misunderstandings where buyers do not realize or remember which buying situations they committed to. The registry will enable real estate professionals to ensure they do not encroach on existing agreements.

Some buyers may not realize the advantage of signing a buyer agreement for exclusive professional services in specific locations, for definite price ranges or for property types like condominiums or bungalows. Conceivably, buyers who would consider a few locations or types of real estate within their budget may have more than one, carefully-delimited agreement. For instance, a buyer may sign with a condominium expert in one location and a freehold specialist in another since C$500,000 may buy a condominium apartment in one neighbourhood and a townhouse or detached house in others. Ideally, real estate brokerages and salespersons, as confident of buyer commitment as they are of seller loyalty when a listing exists, will feel free to make an equivalent commitment of their knowledge and resources to assist buyer clients who have exclusively retained them.

Buyers in the BRS may be alerted to listings ahead of the usual MLS release. The registry system has a reverse search function that can help listing agents and brokerages locate potential buyers, through their exclusive agents, even before the listing process is complete. Once a significant proportion of buyers have registered, statistics based on BRS volumes and data may prove to be useful market tracking tools and may help sellers and buyers time their entry into the market.

"The more [the registry] is used, the more it can be tailored for buyers' interests," said DiMichele stressing BRS will encourage dialogue and head off conflicts and misunderstandings. "Like any other system, once you get going on it, ideas and creativity [result]. You can build a client relationship management system, reverse search ... it may become a proactive communication tool."

According to DiMichele, the concept is not unique to TREB, but its system has unique features, including search results that identify three registration conditions: yes, maybe and no.

"The field will say, 'Why can't I do this?' or 'Can we do this?' and the buyers will have ideas too," said DiMichele inviting feedback to develop BRS further. "BRS will help us shed some light on the buyer agency concept and what it is meant to do. When it is a hot market, when it is a bit faster, I'd want someone dedicated to me who has some service levels to offer. I think we really have a system that will advance the interests of everyone and advance understanding of the process."