Feature Article

REAL ESTATE LUMINARY BRINGS ETHICS AND PROFESSIONALISM TO INDUSTRY

Written By: Krista Goheen
Published By: Calgary Real Estate News
Article Used with permission of the Calgary Real Estate Board. © Copyright Calgary Real Estate News a division of the Calgary Real Estate Board.
2005-06-30

When Al Montgomery joined the Calgary Real Estate Board(CREB) in 1957, he says he was warmly welcomed by executive vice president, Frank Johns, who would later become a mentor to Al. The kindness and patience with which Frank treated Al in his early days were attributes Al carried with him throughout his career. Even on the brink of retirement, Al could be found in his office, hours after work, ensuring everyone who came to see him received the help they needed.

I just couldn't turn all those people away, he says.

Born in 1928, Al grew up on a farm near Tees, Alberta, a little town about half an hour from Stettler and east of Lacombe. After graduating from Lacombe High school in 1948, he worked for Mobile Oil for several years before joining CREB, sprung from a passion he still pursues today.

I'm interested in geographics and sights and land work and it kind of started from that, he says.

Although he sold real estate for a few years after receiving his Fellow of the Realtor’s Institute (FRI) designation in 1961, with CREB he pursued a different career path.

During CREB’s formative years, he says the presence of the organization was vastly different from what it is today.

The staff consisted of Frank Johns and myself together with four and a half girls, Al says.

Four and a half because Frank’s secretary, Mrs. Carter, worked half days.

The average house price at the time was around $10,500. There was also fewer than 100 agents and licensed salesmen were not compelled to join the board, Al says.

Eventually membership became mandatory and the fee for members was $15 annually, of which $5 went to the board, $5 to the Alberta Real Estate Association (AREA) and $5 to the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).

Imagine, you could get all those MLS listings for $5 a year, he says.

It was $2 to list a property on the MLS, then called the Real Estate Co-op, and the gross sales commission was 7%, of which the board received 0.5%, the listing company 2% and the selling company 4.5%.

In his time with the board, Al developed his skills as a jack-of-all-trades with responsibilities involving office management, facilitating real estate courses, arbitration, accounting and ensuring green sheets (sheets including listings and sales) were properly circulated. The board itself operated out of an old, two-storey house on 5th Avenue.

At the time, three real estate courses were offered in Calgary, Al says. The primary course was taught at the board, the intermediate at SAIT and the Fellow of the Realtor’s Institute at the University. Al would often find himself up to his elbows in work.

At all three of these courses I used to introduce speakers, he says. At the FRI course they had the first year and second year classes running at the university in two separate rooms. Sometimes I'd have three classes in one night and I'd be running back and forth, introducing the speaker, thanking the speaker, picking up assignments, he says.

He resigned from CREB after 19 years with the organization, eventually joining AREA. Here he employed his personal and management skills for 12 years and was heavily involved with provincial legislation and licensing procedures.

In addition to his responsibilities at both AREA and CREB, he edited two monthly publications; the Calgary Realtor and the AREA Round-Up.

In 1968 he became the president of the Canadian Real Estate Executive Officer’s Council and is a past director of the Alberta Personnel Association.

In 1990 he retired due to health reasons.

Al says his biggest accomplishments in the real estate industry were promoting ethics, standards of business practice and proper training and respect.

He says he and Frank always placed ethics and morals of utmost importance.

Whatever we did, we did for the benefit of the association and followed the bylaws and the constitution, he says. We were always backed by the board of directors for CREB and AREA.

Al’s passion for the study of geographic locations and historical sites (particularly highways and rivers), which led him to a fruitful career, is still one he actively pursues today.

At one point, [I] was knowledgeable of all the highway numbers in Western Canada, from their starting point to their finish.

Al takes great interest as well in the study of rivers, their headwaters, incoming and outgoing tributaries and where they flow to form other rivers or larger bodies of water and relishes the time he now has to pursue his hobby.

When I was working I had to travel a lot, I was on the go all the time and I lived in various cities, but whenever I passed a river anywhere in Western Canada I would pull over, look at a map, and know, 'That’s river such and such and it starts there,' he says.

Al is an antique car enthusiast and can often be found cruising the streets of Calgary in a salmon and white 1959, four-door Chevrolet Impala hardtop with his wife of 55 years, Ruth. He drives the Impala daily in the summer and houses the restored car in his garage in winter. Al and his wife also have two sons and two grandchildren.

As an energetic 77 year-old, Al is still helping people as a volunteer with various organizations. He is actively involved with the Confederation Park Senior Citizens Centre where he served on the organization’s board of directors for seven years and was president in 1997.

He has also volunteered as a director for the Interfaith Housing Corporation, an organization that works for the construction of housing units for low-income families and Al still volunteers with the STARS Air Ambulance service and has been a volunteer with the organization for 15 years, since STARS' formative years.

As a member of CREB’s Old Timer’s group, he says he enjoys the fellowship and updates on the personal activities of his friends the monthly meetings bring. So, although retired from work, Al is still a familiar face around the Board, a reassuring fact for so many who have been influenced by his professionalism and kindness.

This article was written for Calgary Real Estate News, a division of the Calgary Real Estate Board, for the series “Legends of Real Estate” showcasing important members of the Calgary Real Estate Board. Please visit the Calgary Real Estate Board online.This article is part of the collection of the Calgary Real Estate News. Please visit them online.