REM was founded in 1989 by my father, Heino, only about a calendar year immediately after I was born.
The story, as he advised it to me, was that REM was mostly intended to promote his main business enterprise – a cable television channel called Authentic Estate Tv set.
It exhibited a revolving catalogue of authentic estate listings. Photographs of a property for sale would scroll by and a narrator would study the listing’s description – like, as we’d later on giggle about, lots of clichés. Each and every listing had “charming” back again patios, “cosy” interiors, “rare” sights of the city and so on.
My dad experienced still left his occupation with the Toronto Actual Estate Board to turn out to be an entrepreneur and go after starting up this cable channel, an prospect he felt was far too excellent to overlook. He was an immigrant chasing the Canadian aspiration.
When my father preferred to boost the opportunity to have listings highlighted on Genuine Estate Tv set, he determined to position an advertisement in the nationwide trade journal for Realtors in Canada. Which is when he learned a thing astonishing: There was not a person.
And that, extra or fewer, is the story of how REM came to be.
The cable television channel at some point was taken above by Rogers and all of a sudden REM turned my dad’s main small business. With out actually intending to, he grew to become a magazine publisher. It ended up being a position he’d keep for virtually 30 several years.
Much like my father, I under no circumstances meant to develop into a journal publisher, either. I went into the household business enterprise originally as our “digital media manager” – which my dad and I from time to time joked meant the “resident younger particular person.”
I went to college for broadcasting but have always had a passion for style and coding. The calendar year in advance of graduating, it was very clear to me that REM’s website experienced a good deal of area for enhancement. I provided to help with a redesign utilizing a system named WordPress, and prior to extensive I observed myself liable for acquiring and sustaining almost everything digital at REM – e-mail newsletters, a social media presence, on the internet advertisements, everyone’s electronic mail accounts and just about anything else IT-associated. In excess of the years, and as the environment of publishing and journalism changed, our digital side went from being an afterthought to a essential section of our small business.
My father retired as publisher of REM in 2018, only a yr shy of its 30th anniversary. When he did, he passed that mantle on to me. He died a calendar year later.
At the time, REM was dealing with immense force, as was – and is – the scenario for each and every news publication in the entire world. Viewers, in particular on-line, count on the very same excellent but without any price or inconvenience, and our base line was finding tighter and tighter with each and every calendar year.
My father had instilled in me a perception in the value of quality journalism, and that it was the most needed expenditure for the journal. Many other publications possibly threw up paywalls to have their on line audience fork out the big difference or reduce corners – most specifically in the top quality of what they posted. We have carried out our most effective to strike the appropriate balance, with out resorting to either option.
Only a handful of months right after Heino passed away, the globe shut down simply because of a world-wide viral pandemic. At a time when REM was presently at a turning level and attempting to locate new strategies to adapt, this was a huge setback. Our every month print journal was delivered to serious estate offices throughout the nation. If all those people places of work had been shut, who was still left to get it?
Following a several fake starts of reprieve from lockdowns, it turned crystal clear that a return to print may not be in the cards for really some time. As a consequence, our electronic facet finished up getting the crux of our overall procedure. Though it was ready to carry us to what (we hope) is the complete line of this pandemic, it sadly wasn’t ample.
So we will be suspending typical updates to our web site and electronic mail newsletters, starting off currently.
Going ahead, I will be stepping aside as REM’s publisher and CEO – a task neither my father nor myself at any time really intended on holding, but nevertheless has been as satisfying as it was tough.
We are in the procedure of obtaining a new possession team for REM, to continue its recognized id as Canada’s leading journal for true estate field stakeholders and pros.
I am certain that, with a new team in location, REM will be back and much better than ever.
In the meantime, I want to thank Jim Adair for his above 30 many years of provider as REM’s editor. He has been REM’s voice and is the man most responsible for its set up track record for integrity, independence and quality journalism.
I also want to thank you, our readers, without whom REM would not exist. All over the place I’ve gone, throughout the state, I have achieved Realtors who know and really like REM. Your have confidence in and assistance for this publication is what has created it special for about a few decades. We have witnessed imitators occur and go but none experienced the very same mix of high quality content and a loyal readership. Devoid of that, REM hardly ever would have succeeded.
Though this is the ending of 1 chapter, I search ahead to what the long term nonetheless still retains for this publication.
For now, as my father would say, keep a happy thought.