Impartiality is the most imperative ingredient for choosing any panel of jurors, and for proof look no further than the Canadian Mortgage Awards selection of jurors for the 13th annual awards show
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Impartiality is the most imperative ingredient for choosing any panel of jurors, and for proof look no further than the Canadian Mortgage Awards selection of jurors for the 13th annual awards show.
Thomas Davidoff, a University of British Columbia associate professor in Strategy and Business Economics and director for the Centre of Urban Economics and Real Estate, doesn’t have a horse in the race but, because of the nature of his work, he does keep abreast of Canada’s real estate industry.
“I teach real estate finance, so it’s important for me to stay on top of what people are up to in the industry, and any way I can be helpful is terrific,” Davidoff told MortgageBrokerNews.ca. “With any judging, you want to reward people for work well done, and if somebody doesn’t have reason to vote for one candidate or another, other than their good work, it makes the prize more credible and valuable to people who earn it.”
Davidoff further expounds the importance of having jurors from outside the mortgage industry.
“You wouldn’t want to have a panel dominated by RBC or Bank of Montreal, or any big bank, because they would give their own people the award,” he said. “On the panel, we have builders, academics, lawyers and real estate brokers, so it’s a good mix of people familiar with the mortgage industry professionally, but who aren’t personally involved with anything to be judged.
“When I look at the jury on which I’ll be serving, I see people with a lot of expertise in the real estate industry who can be both knowledgeable and impartial.”
Another one of those experts is Jill of all trades, Tahani Aburaneh, who runs Tahani Developments Inc., a building company; Tahani international, a coaching, mentoring and education firm; Urban Living Realty, a brokerage in the Cambridge and Kitchener-Waterloo area; and Tahani Holdings, a real estate investment firm. Given her wealth of knowledge about the industry, there aren’t many better jurors.
“It is important to recognize people who put more energy and effort into what they do—people who go above and beyond their duty,” she said. “I recognize the importance of hiring the right broker because I work hand-in-hand with mortgage brokers on deals to achieve the best results for clients, and I recognize those who are outstanding in this field.”
