Prominent Ottawa real estate agent Marnie Bennett suspended ...

Real estate broker Marnie Bennett shown here in a Sun file photo. (Darren Brown/Ottawa Sun)

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A prominent local real estate broker who?s been dubbed the condo queen has been fined $206,250 and had her registration suspended for four months after pleading guilty to six counts of trying to obstruct an investigation by the industry watchdog.

Marnie Bennett was being investigated by the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) last year over allegations she hired non-registered employees to trade in real estate and improperly paid registered real estate agents.

Provincial Offences Court heard that between September and November of 2011 Bennett tried to obstruct the investigation by counseling an employee to make false statements to an inspector and trying to provide documents purporting that payments to her salespeople were loans rather than commissions.

Bennett, a radio personality and newspaper columnist who?s earned a long list of accolades including being named Ottawa?s professional businesswoman of the year, was fined $165,000 plus a victim surcharge after pleading guilty Friday.

When it was revealed early this year that Bennett was facing 18 charges, she issued a statement saying that ?it is no coincidence that these false allegations have been made by disgruntled ex-agents? and that none of the allegations related in any way to dealings with customers.

Under Ontario law, anyone trading in real estate has to be registered with RECO and only a brokerage is allowed to pay salespeople and brokers.

megan.gillis@sunmedia.ca

Tuesday afternoon Marnie Bennett released this statement:

"On November 2nd, 2012, I pleaded guilty to six charges under the Real Estate and Business Brokers Act, 2002. I take full personal responsibility for the conduct that led to these pleas. However I wish to make clear that these are regulatory matters and not criminal offences. The charges relate to an investigation by the Real Estate Council of Ontario (RECO) into direct payments of real estate commissions on new-home sales.

I would also like to clarify that the '"victim surcharge fee" referred to in the news release issued by RECO is legally required to be paid on all provincial offences fines in Ontario and does not reflect the existence of any "victim" in these regulatory matters. No consumers were harmed in any way by any of my conduct.

I appreciate the continuing support of my professional team, clients and colleagues in the industry. I can assure you that I and our company will continue to offer to all of you the best in professional service and expertise."

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Source: http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/11/06/prominent-ottawa-real-estate-agent-marnie-bennett-suspended-fined

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Analyzing Failure: It's Not a Mistake IF You Learn From It : MOMeo ...

Posted by Carla Young on November 5, 2012 ? Leave a Comment?

It has been said that our greatest successes follow our greatest failures. That and other glib generalizations are meant to reassure us when we run into roadblock after roadblock. While the mere utterance of such hollow words is enough to drive us over the edge, there is a tiny grain of truth to the statement.

It, however, should be rephrased: from our greatest failures come our greatest opportunities to learn and THAT is what gives us both the knowledge and the courage to succeed. Ignore the hard lessons taught by failure and you are guaranteed to repeat them over and over again.

What We Can Learn from Failure

Check for Warning Signs ? Examine the early phases of development, even as far back as the seed of the idea. Ask yourself if there were any warning signs that you could have or should have noticed? Did you see them and choose to ignore them or did you not dig deep enough to discover them at all?

Pay Attention to Subtle Hints ? Think back to any of the subtle cues from friends, family or colleagues that they thought your idea sucked (but were too afraid to tell you directly). How did they try to nudge you in another direction? Did your intuition try to give you a hint that something wasn?t right?

Evaluate the Decision-Making ? Review how you came to the key decisions. How did factors other than the facts weigh into your decisions? Did emotion or ego play a part in the decision-making? Did you ignore certain facts in light of your overwhelming enthusiasm?

Understand External Factors ? Learn from looking back with the knowledge of how the external factors impacted your success. While it?s impossible to account for all the variables and possibilities, it is important to understand how the external environment affects your outcome.

Learn How to Plan for the Unknown ? Get in the habit of drafting a contingency plan in the event that everything that could possibly happen happens, that way the success of your project isn?t impacted by the unknowns that can (and will) happen.

Know Yourself ? Move forward with the knowledge of the entrepreneur you are (or aren?t). Are you comfortable taking big risks or do you need to play it a little safer? Are you the type to ignore warnings signs or do you need to trust your intuition more?

Failure tests us to our limits. It is what holds us back and pulls us down, but if we really take an honest look back at it, failure holds the key to understanding how to navigate the many roadblocks and obstacles and reach our ultimate success.

About Carla Young
Carla Young, MOMeoMagazine.com Publisher If there?s living proof that women can have it all ? and then some ? it?s Carla Young. Building her multiple businesses on a virtual work-at-home model, Carla is an inspiration to other mothers who want to start a lifestyle business. During her early days as a mom entrepreneur, Carla made every single mistake in the book (and a few new ones for good measure). Realizing that ?doing it all? was unhealthy and unsustainable, Carla started by getting organized to the extreme, developing support systems for both her work and family. After other mothers started asking how they too could enjoy her lifestyle, Carla launched MOMeoMagazine.com to support moms at work, at home and at play (because every mommy deserves a little me-time)!

Source: http://www.momeomagazine.com/analyzing-failure-its-not-a-mistake-if-you-learn-from-it/

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